SECTION E THE DEPENDENT GROUP 



(Hall 5, September 23, 10 a. TO.) 



CHAIRMAN: DR. ROBERT W. DEFOREST, New York City. 

 SPEAKERS : PROFESSOR CHARLES R. HEXDERSOX, University of Chicago. 

 DR. EMIL MUNSTERBERG, President, City Charities, Berlin. 



THE DEFINITION OF A SOCIAL POLICY RELATING TO 

 THE DEPENDENT GROUP 



BY CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON 



[Charles Richmond Henderson, Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago, 

 and Head of Department of Ecclesiastical Sociology in the Divinity School. 

 b. Covington, Indiana, December 17, 1848. A.B. University of Chicago, 

 1870; A.M. ibid. 1873; B.D. Baptist Union Theological Seminary, 1873; D.D. 

 ibid. 1885; Ph.D. Leipzig, 1901. Pastor, Terre Haute, Indiana, and Detroit, 

 Michigan, 1873-92; Professor, University of Chicago since 1892. Member of 

 American Economic Association; Academy of Political and Social Science; 

 Membre de la Socie"t6 generale de prisons; President of National Conference 

 of Charities and Corrections, 1899; President of National Prison Association, 

 1902; Membre du Comite International institu par le Congres de 1900 

 pour la preparation du Congres de 1905; Member of Executive Committee, 

 Bureau of Charities, Chicago; President of National Children's Home Society. 

 Author of Social Settlements; Social Spirit in America; Social Elements; 

 Modern Methods of Charity; Modern Prison Systems; Introduction to the Study 

 of the Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes ; and other works on soci- 

 ology; also associate editor of American Journal of Sociology, and others.] 



THE subject of the social treatment of dependents has been 

 approached through several different disciplines, according to the 

 previous training and bias of the investigator and writer. The 

 economists have dealt with the topic as a problem of finance, of 

 public expenditure, and of production, wages, and the distribution 

 of the product of industry. Since the money spent in public relief 

 must be raised by taxation, and since the method of giving relief 

 affects the efficiency of labor and the rate of wages, the economists 

 were right in giving serious attention to this matter. 1 The Poor-Law 

 has naturally been treated by legal writers because it was a vital 

 partoT the system of control by governments in all modern countries, 

 especially in northern Europe and the English colonies and their 

 offspring. The " police power " of the state covers this function. 2 



The older " moral philosophy " or " moral science " sought to 

 answer the question: " What is our duty to the very poor, and 

 how can we best fulfill that duty?" In reality that is one problem 



1 Here may be mentioned, among many, Malthus, Chalmers, J. S. Mill, Fawcett, 

 Roscher. 



2 See E. Freund, Police Power, 1904. 



