CHARITY— THEORY AND PRACTICE 15 



Amos W. Bullor, Frank A. Fetter, E. T. Devine and Oiarles 

 It. Henderson. This commission ha.s mapped out an investi- 

 gation and divided the topics amonf^ them, and invites con- 

 tributions of information. 



In Germany the value of such universal and compulsory 

 insurance is as well reco^mized among charity workers a.s the 

 value of compulsory school attendance. The prospect of 

 securinfi; adequate protection of this kind by individual sav- 

 ings or by private and voluntary initiative is about as hopeful 

 as that of universal education without required attendance 

 and public schools. 



It may not be out of place in this survey to suggest a few 

 of the problems suitable for the studies of young graduates. 

 Thus it seems very desirable to investigate at close range the 

 question as to how far and in what ways various methods of 

 poor relief affect the rate of wages in certain industries. The 

 i>est results can be reached only by a wide and prolonged in- 

 vestigation by the permanent census bureau of the general 

 government. But private students might make experimental 

 local studies which would help formulate the wider investi- 

 gation of the government, and train agents for its service. In 

 the history of poor relief the influence of grants in aid of wages 

 has h>een disastrous in the extreme, and there are many kinds 

 of evidence in the records of city and state offices which 

 reveal a similar tendency even in America. But we have not 

 as yet adequate statistical data for a judgment, although 

 the teaching of history compels us to look for precisely the 

 same results which have followed lax administration in 

 similar situations. Unfortunately, history does not repeat 

 itself where forces of the same kind are working on the same 

 materials. 



It is especially in connection with what the Webbs call 

 parasitic industries that we may first look for such effects of 

 well known causes. There are certain branches of depart- 

 ment stores of a low grade and sweated industries, where we 

 may find the disastrous influence of living partly on wages 

 and partly on public or private relief. Local studies have 

 already made fairly clear the connection between this situa- 

 tion and the increase of pauperism. An investigation on a 



