82 EDWARD T. DEVINE 



find themselves suddenly bereft of property, of accumulated 

 savings, of the means of livelihood, and even of the barest neces- 

 sities of life. The disaster may befall a community of high 

 industrial standards, with few, if any, paupers or public de- 

 pendents — a community in which there is little lawlessness and 

 crime. Under such conditions, the principle of indenmity as 

 distinct from that of charity may well have a very general 

 application. The principle of indemnity is that of the fire 

 insurance companies, and, in a modified form, also that of the 

 life and accident insurance companies. It implies the rein- 

 statement of the beneficiary as nearly as possible in the posi- 

 tion from which he was hurled by the calamity which has be- 

 fallen him. It implies that to the householder shall be given 

 the use of a house, to the mechanic his tools, to the family its 

 household furniture, to the laborer the opportunity of remun- 

 erative employment. For the community as a whole it means 

 the speedy restoration of such commercial and industrial ac- 

 tivities as have been temporarily suspended, the rebuilding of 

 bridges, the reopening of streets, the re-establishment of banks, 

 business houses, churches, and schools. It requires that pro- 

 tection shall be given to the defenseless, food and shelter to 

 the homeless, suitable guardianship to the orphan, and, as 

 nearly as possible, normal social and industrial conditions to 

 all. The charitable principle takes account only of the neces- 

 sities of those who apply for aid; the principle of indemnity 

 gives greater weight to their material losses and the circum- 

 stances under which they were previously placed. It is a vital 

 question whether the principle of indemnity might not prop- 

 erly have a wider application to ordinary relief than has usually 

 been given to it, but we may be certain that the pauper- 

 izing effects supposed to result from liberal relief have not been 

 found to follow the most generous attempts to avert com- 

 pletely the paralyzing and direful consequences of such disas- 

 ters as we are now considering. Both in Chicago and in Johns- 

 town hundreds of families were placed by gifts of money, or of 

 house furniture, clothing, and tools, in a position practically 

 as good as that which they had occupied before the fire or the 

 flood respectively. There is ample testimony that in practi- 

 cally all instances good results were obtained from this policy. 



