POVERTY NOT A NECESSITY 35 



And we notice that there is very Uttle pauperism in 

 those countries where mendicity and vagabondage are 

 criminal, and treated as such ! 



The first great lesson to be derived from these statis- Result of 

 tics, is that ours is the only country in the world which Pauperism 

 has set up an elaborate and costly system of pauper 

 administration, whereby, by legalising unlimited pau- 

 perism we actually increase poverty, by encouraging 

 improvidence, thriftlessness and a careless disregard of 

 individual responsibility. The feeling that has been 

 engendered in a very large section of the British working 

 classes by this legislation of wholesale pauperism is this : 



" I'll do what I can to get a living, but if I don't 

 succeed — well there's always the ' House ' to fall back 

 upon, which is a blessing. At any rate there's always 

 State aid for the asking." 



Now if there is anything in life calculated to rob a 

 man of grit and backbone, of stamina, energy and 

 stalwart independence, to entirely deprive him of that 

 mascuHne vigour which is his pride, it is the feeling that 

 the State is always ready to dry-nurse him, to supply 

 him with food, raiment and light work the moment he 

 feels inclined to accept such aid. 



Such knowledge reduces a man, bit by bit, to a poor, 

 feeble, inert creature, fit only to be cast up as a fleck of 

 frothy scum from the sea of human workers. Men of this 

 type, and there are plenty of them in the great army of 

 toilers, soon fall out of the ranks and drift onward to the 

 workhouses and casual wards, or seek outdoor relief 

 from the many Poor Law offices scattered broadcast all 



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