CHAPTER V 



POVERTY NOT A NECESSITY — CONTRASTS IN HOME AND 

 FOREIGN STATISTICS — THE PEOPLe's ERROR AND THE 

 people's RESPONSIBILITIES 



The necessity for poverty referred to in the preceding chapter 

 may be put to many tests, but perhaps the most practical way 

 of dealing with it will be to compare the poverty of Great 

 Britain with that of other nations, because, if other countries 

 do not recognise any necessity for its existence it follows that 

 there must be something wrong with our administration of 

 national affairs. This anti-Free-trade method of dealing 

 witli the case certainly has fair play and common -sense to 

 commend it. 



The poverty of the United Kingdom, with its population 

 of about 43,000,000, costs proportionately more than it costs 

 any other civilised country in the world. 



The State spends ujjwards of £16,000,000 annually in 

 relieving only the most acute cases of distress, apart from help 

 of a private and personal nature which amounts to colossal 

 proportions and which will be referred to later. Let us, how- 

 ever, compare our pauper expenditure with tliat of our near 

 neighbours across the Channel. 



France has a population of 39,000,000 and spent, in 1908, 

 under her Pauper Act of 1905, 59,800,000 francs (£2,392,000) 

 of State and Communal funds. Other relief of a private nature, 

 similar to that referred to in Chapter XI — Private Charities — 

 is also afforded, but State funds are not used for this purpose. 



Germany has a population of upwards of 60,000,000. No 

 statistics have been compiled since the year 1895, but there is 

 very little actual pauperism outside of the capital, Berlin. 



Holland, with a population of 5,591,695, spends £1,629,201 

 on her paupers. 



Switzerland, with a population of 3,250,000, spends about 

 £635,000. 



Austria-Hungary, with a population of 46,000,000, spends 

 about £1,156,000 on the poor of the country. 



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