JNF-The-Working-Class-Struggle-of-Half-a-Century

3 PREPARING THE GROUND
The thought is father of the act. There could be no better example
of this than in the drive that was buttressed by a man who
wanted his fellow men to take the initiative and shape their destiny.
In order to do this, he realized that they had to have power
at their command. Knowledge is power and a vast amount of
knowledge lies within the covers of books as well as on other
printed papers. It was this source of power that he wanted his
people to tap. This patriot always felt that he had an important mission
in life. He began his career in 1896 at the age of 16 years as a store
boy in Charlestown where he was employed at the Nevis Branch of the
mercantile firm of S.L. Horsfords. In October 1900 after the business of
the branch was acquired by R.B. Parmenter, the young man was sent to
the Dieppe Bay branch of the firm as a clerical assistant. A year later
he was promoted to the position of clerk-in-charge.
The spirit of adventure lured him to the Dominican Republic in
1904. He returned to his native island, Nevis in 1911 and eventually
started a small business selling cards and stationery. Two years later,
he moved his business to St. Kitts. His place, at the south west corner
of Fort and Central Street., became an attraction The sale of war pictures
and reading material about the fighting when the First World War
(1914-18) was raging drew crowds to his depot. Part of the profit from
such sales was contributed regularly to the local unit of the War Effort.
In 1920 Halbert was employed as clerk for shipping agents at
the Government Warehouse in Basseterre. But it was his business as a
book seller that created an impact. He covered the two islands completely
encouraging people to cultivate the reading habit and fill their
store house of knowledge in an inexpensive way. By reading widely he
had become aware of the historical struggles which the workers of other
countries had to put up against capitalist domination. He found that
they had to unite and depend on their own collective strength. He was
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