134 FLIGHT FROM THE CITY 



their self-respect. They destroy their sense of responsi- 

 bility and self-reliance; in short, they pauperize them. 



There is, however, in my opposition to supporting 

 the unemployed, and what I said in the beginning 

 about the imperious duty of feeding the hungry, 

 clothing the naked, and sheltering the homeless, no 

 contradiction. What we do for the temporary assist- 

 ance of unfortunate fellow creatures, particularly 

 when their misfortune is not of their own contriving, 

 is true charity. I do not like the word charity, though 

 it is the only one that I can think of in this connec- 

 tion. For this sort of assistance is really a species of 

 hospitality; when we give this sort of temporary as- 

 sistance we are only doing, indirectly, what used to be 

 the universal custom for us to do for every stranger 

 who knocked at the doors of the pioneer homesteads 

 of America's past. 



But if we are not to support the unemployed be- 

 yond giving them what I have spoken of as temporary 

 assistance what then are we to do for them at this 

 time? 



I have an answer for this question. And unlike most 

 of the answers to it, it is so completely the obvious 

 answer that I dare not state it until some sort of back- 

 ground for it has been prepared. For my answer can- 

 not be fully appreciated, it cannot be fully under- 

 stood, its complete practicality cannot be realized, 

 until we have first thought through completely what 

 the problem of unemployment really is. 



