4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



not contribute to the realization of any such millennium. Thej 

 are a flagrant violation of the laws of life and the conditions of ex- 

 istence. Thej make difficult, if not impossible, the establishment 

 of the moral government of a democracy that insures every man 

 and woman not only freedom but also sustentation and protection. 

 In disregard of the principles of biology, which demand that bene- 

 fit shall be in proportion to merit, the feeble members of society 

 are fostered at the expense of the strong. Setting at defiance the 

 principles of psychology, which insist upon the cultivation of the 

 clearest perception of the inseparable relation of cause and effect 

 and the equally inseparable relation of aggression and punishment, 

 honest people are turned into thieves and murderers, and thieves 

 and murderers are taught to believe that no retribution awaits the 

 commission of the foulest crime. Scornful of the principles of 

 sociology, which teach in the plainest way that the institutions of 

 feudalism are the products of war and can serve no other pur- 

 pose than the promotion of aggression, a deliberate effort, born 

 of the astonishing belief that they can be transformed into the 

 agencies of progress, is made in time of peace to restore them 

 to life. 



To the American Philistine nothing is more indicative of the 

 marvelous moral superiority of this age and country than the rapid 

 increase in the public expenditures for enterprises " to benefit the 

 people." Particularly enamored is he of the showy statistics of 

 hospitals, asylums, reformatories, and other so-called charitable 

 institutions supported by public taxation. " How unselfish we 

 are ! " he exclaims, swelling with pride as he points to them. " In 

 what other age or in what other country has so much been done 

 for the poor and unfortunate? " ISTaught shall ever be said by 

 me against the desire to help others. The fellow-feeling that 

 thrives upon the aid rendered to the sick and destitute I believe to 

 be the most precious gift of civilization. Upon its growth de- 

 pends the further moral advancement of the race. As I have al- 

 ready intimated, only as human beings are able to represent to 

 themselves vividly the sufferings of others will they be moved to 

 desist from the conduct that contributes to those sufferings. But 

 the system of public charity that prevails in this country is not 

 charity at all; it is a system of forcible public largesses, as odious 

 and demoralizing as the one that contributed so powerfully to the 

 downfall of Athens and Pome. By it money is extorted from 

 the taxpayer with as little justification as the crime of the high- 

 wayman, and expended by politicians with as little love as he of 

 their fellows. What is the result? Precisely what might be ex- 

 pected. He is infuriated because of the growing burden of his taxes. 



