abstract
| - He appealed to the public for £100,000 to start his scheme and a further £30,000 per year to maintain the programme. Despite a lack of immediate funds Booth decided to put his plan into action. The first thing to be set up was a labour bureau to help people find work. He purchased a farm where men could be trained in certain types of work and at the same time gain some self-respect, because often when men had been unemployed for some years their confidence needed to be restored. From this farm colony, men could be further helped through emigration to an overseas colony, where labourers were few. Whole families could be helped to a much better standard of living. Other projects included a missing persons bureau to help find missing relatives and reunite families, more hostels for the homeless and a poor mans bank which could make small loans to workers who could buy tools or set up in a trade. Booth's book sold 200,000 copies within the first year. Nine years after publication The Salvation Army had served 27 million cheap meals, lodged 11 million homeless people, traced 18,000 missing people and found jobs for 9,000 unemployed people. Booth's book was used as a blueprint for the present day welfare state when it was set up by the government in 1948. Many of Booth's ideas were incorporated into the welfare state system.
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