CHAPTER IX 



THE PROBLEM OF PAUPERISM 



In Mexico and in Persia a shaft of wood and 

 a stick make a plough, and in the greater part of 

 the earth the dole of money is about all there is 

 of charity. Even in Europe and America efforts 

 at reform have heretofore seldom advanced be- 

 yond attempts to cure individual suffering and sin. 

 Now, however, certain neglected factors in the 

 problem are beginning to receive more attention, 

 and though the progress toward a solution is as 

 yet small, the trend of things is in the right 

 direction. " How is it possible to relieve want 

 and destitution without serious moral harm to 

 the recipients, injury to the community, and, in 

 the end, increasing the amount of suffering .'* " 

 This inquiry Mr. Francis Peek placed at the 

 beginning of a paper read at one of the Charity 

 Organization Conferences in London, in 1879. 

 It is the inquiry which puzzles all who seek to 

 ameliorate the condition of the poor. An attempt 

 to discuss the question in a single chapter would 

 be sure evidence of never having studied it. 



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