120 THE MURDER OF AGRICULTURE 



worth more than a ton of theory, so are the material 

 manifestations of our Poor Laws, per se, of far more 

 value than the academical declamations of learned 

 jurists or the speculative theories of newspaper corre- 

 spondents. 



Here we have in our midst unparalleled poverty, a 

 mass of foul, festering pauperism that is not even re- 

 lieved by the thirty-five millions raised annually by the 

 State, or by the incomparably larger sums subscribed 

 out of the universal philanthropy of millions of our 

 country men and women ; and now that we are looking 

 at this question for the first time in what we conceive to 

 be an eminently practical manner, we naturally want to 

 know the why and the wherefore of the matter. 

 The Why We know full well that our people have not been 

 Wherefore driven into poverty by the harshness of our laws and the 

 blighting restrictions of our social life ; but, on the con- 

 trary, that the mild benevolence of our Poor Laws and 

 the easy facilities presented by our own social condi- 

 tions, offer a distinct premium to that large section to be 

 found in every population which, given an opportunity, 

 is only too ready to shirk those responsibilities which 

 attach to the individual obligations of life. 



With so mild a code of national laws and so benevo- 

 lent an attitude on the part of the public, it is no wonder 

 that we have succeeded in degrading that section of our 

 countrymen which is for ever standing on the verge of 

 poverty. 



It is no wonder, indeed, that if these people are 

 offered on easy terms State aid and private charity in 

 the place of a precarious livelihood and semi-starvation, 



