THE PROBLEM OF PAUPERISM j^j 



a mountain. Then there are those who, from 

 earhest childhood, have had surroundings which 

 were vicious and wretched. These are often 

 physically, morally, intellectually diseased. They 

 are children of the outcast ; they scarcely can be 

 said to have had parents, never a home ; they 

 were simply born and left. How large the num- 

 ber of these is may easily be imagined after an 

 examination of the conditions of life in large 

 cities. Members of this class seldom dream 

 that there is anything higher for them. Their 

 environment so hardens them to filth and per- 

 version that they do not know what it is to 

 aspire. These two large classes — those who 

 are paupers by heredity, and those who are 

 such by environment — are the hardest to reach, 

 and the most misunderstood and neglected. 



What are the causes of pauperism — the worst 

 form of poverty } The answer has been already 

 suggested. 



(i) Heredity. — Paupers are largely the chil- 

 dren of paupers. This is most evident in the 

 older countries. We know that not only do 

 characteristics of body and mind run in families, 

 but that diseases do the same ; not only does tal- 

 ent follow family lines, but so do criminal propen- 

 sities ; and, moreover, so do those physical and 



