818 THE DEPENDENT GROUP 



of what may be called a branch of social science, differentiated as 

 " social technology." l For the steps that we take in accumulating 

 facts about the dependent group, in the classification of sub- 

 groups, in the determination of causes, in the statistical measure- 

 ment of misery, and in the definition of social aims, all culminate 

 and find their supreme value in their contribution to the solution 

 of this question: " What is our duty to the helpless poor and how 

 may we best fulfill that duty? " 



When we come to deal with special classes of dependents we 

 encounter a series of professional disciplines and arts. For example, 

 the care of the insane is a branch of the medical art, and only alienists 

 who devote their lives to this department are trusted to speak with 

 highest authority. This is also true of the public care of epileptics. 

 The care of the feeble-minded, idiots, and imbeciles is chiefly a matter 

 of a pedagogical specialty, although medicine and surgery lend 

 important aid, as in physical culture, the thyroid treatment, etc. 

 The care of normal dependent children is best determined by con- 

 siderations of general education, and here we are brought into the 

 field of the teacher and to the problems of domestic institutions. 



It thus appears that the study of the social treatment of depend- 

 ents makes drafts on almost all the funds of human knowledge, 

 uses all the methods and results of investigation, and employs in 

 turn all the great institutional agencies of the community. 



This essay does not profess to announce for the first time any 

 new discoveries or results of special original investigations as yet 

 unpublished, but rather to mark the present stage of knowledge 

 on the matter before us, and to indicate some of the points on the 

 frontier of experiment and research where further data are needed. 

 If, in thus restating the subject, some slight increment to science 

 may be added, it will be incidental to the main purpose of the 

 exposition. 



Any attempt to describe the system of charity even in one country 

 would result in a dry, tedious, and disappointing sketch. The 

 essential features of modern methods fill a large volume, and detailed- 

 accounts require many volumes. 2 



It would seem expedient to select a theme which will lead us to 

 consider the most recent and successful endeavor of students of 

 social science, (1) to construct a special discipline which is clearly 

 marked off by its subject-matter and is deserving of independent and 

 systematic treatment; and (2) to consider a method of taking up 

 particular problems of practice, so as to guide experiment into the 

 most economical and promising paths. 



1 Mv article, American Journal of Sociology, January, 1901. 



2 Modern Methods of Charity Systems, by the writer and others, Macmillan Com- 

 pany, 1904. 



