CONCLUSION 409 



works of Mr. Charles Booth and others, is not within 

 the domain and the power of private charity. It is the 

 work of the State. It is legislation that has caused 

 the hideous pass ; it is only by legislation, carried 

 out on some definite principle, that a remedy can be 

 provided. Many thoughtful men have come to the 

 conclusion that the results of private charity are but 

 palliatives at the best ; that such charity is to a very 

 large extent an aggravation of the evils it seeks to 

 remedy, and, like the Poor Laws, is sapping the 

 foundation of self-reliance and self-respect among the 

 people. 



It is tiresome to listen to the perpetual talk about 

 the " deserving " and " undeserving " poor. No one 

 can justly judge of what the poor deserve unless he 

 knows the circumstances of their lives, unless he knows 

 how hard and how long were their struggles against 

 poverty, disease, temptation, and trouble before the 

 yielding point was reached. 



" What's done we partly may compute, 

 But know not what's resisted." 



Poverty may be caused by drunkenness, but drunken- 

 ness is equally or more largely caused by poverty. 



After all, the condition of the individual is mainly 

 the outcome of the economic and social systems of the 

 nation. As a great thinker puts it : " Making due 

 allowance for differences in kinds and degrees of temp- 

 tations to which they are exposed, the respective 

 grades of society are tolerably uniform in their 

 morals." ^ 



There are thousands of "Humphry Clinkers" in 

 the country, poor wretches who suffer punishments 



* *• Essays," Parliamentary Reform. Herbert Spencer. 



