I see in the old tins of London at least one means of establishing an industry which is at present almost monopolised by our neighbours.
Most of the toys which are sold in France on New Year's Day are almost entirely made of sardine tins collected in the French capital.The toy market of England is at present far from being overstocked,for there are multitudes of children who have no toys worth speaking of with which to amuse themselves.In these empty tins I see a means of employing a large number of people in turning out cheap toys which will add a new joy to the households of the poor--the poor to whom every farthing is important,not the rich the rich can always get toys--but the children of the poor,who live in one room and have nothing to look out upon but the slum or the street.These desolate little things need our toys,and if supplied cheap enough they will take them in sufficient quantities to make it worth while to manufacture them.
A whole book might be written concerning the utilisation of the waste of London.But I am not going to write one.I hope before long to do something much better than write a book,namely,to establish an organisation to utilise the waste,and then if I describe what is being done it will be much better than by now explaining what I propose to do.
But there is one more waste material to which it is necessary to allude.
I refer to old newspapers and magazines,and books.
Newspapers accumulate in our houses until we sometimes burn them in sheer disgust.Magazines and old books lumber our shelves until we hardly know where to turn to put a new volume.My Brigade will relieve the householder from these difficulties,and thereby become a great distributing agency of cheap literature.After the magazine has done its duty in the middle class household it can be passed on to the reading-rooms,workhouses,and hospitals.Every publication issued from the Press that is of the slightest use to men and women will,by our Scheme,acquire a double share of usefulness.It will be read first by its owner,and then by many people who would never otherwise see it.