THE PROBLEM OF POVERTY 847 



unfavorable conditions in respect to lodging, food, and education, 

 that they fall victims in frightful numbers to this disease. No one 

 who knows the circumstances can help seeing that all these meas- 

 ures, such as dispensaries, sanatoriums for consumptives, and 

 administration of poor-relief, have no importance in comparison 

 with the possession of permanent and remunerative employment, 

 which renders possible the procuring of sanitary dwellings and 

 sufficient nourishment, and strengthens the power of resistance 

 against that frightful disease. But just this knowledge points us 

 the way, not indeed of solving the problem of poverty, but of bringing 

 ourselves in some degree nearer its solution, in that we see in this 

 knowledge, which has grown up out of the social subsoil of our time, 

 the most important sign of progress, and in that we place the further- 

 ing of general prosperity and the elevation of the working classes 

 before even the very best measures of poor-relief and charity. 



And here we must not be led astray by the fact that to-day these 

 measures still demand an immense expenditure of public and private 

 means, and that in the immediate future the question will be rather 

 of an increase than of a diminution of this expenditure. And so far 

 as we strive to enlighten the public mind in this sphere, and to effect 

 improvement, we must always bear in mind that poor-relief and 

 charity must always be content with the most humble position 

 among those measures which are directed against poverty. He who 

 helps the needy to help himself does better than he who supports the 

 poor. The most earnest effort of every true friend of the poor must 

 always be directed toward making poor-relief itself superfluous. 



