PAUPER QUESTION IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY G7 



No Pauperism in Germany 



These extracts, although brief, are really a summary of tlie 

 impressions of the six members of the Commission iu respect to 

 the German " Pauper " question. There is admittedly a certain 

 number of destitute people in Germany who have to be provided 

 for by the various municipal bodies, and there are poor in every 

 country in tlie world ; but pauperism, as we have it, legalised 

 into a State institution, exacting from the pockets of the tax- 

 payers the enormous sum of upwards of £34,000,000 annually 

 in Poor Eates, £16,000,000 of which are actually spent each 

 year in maintaining the most aggressive forms of pauperism, is 

 nothing but a monstrous growtli on the civilisation of a great 

 country and a standing reproach to our legislature. 



Anti-Free-traders call attention to these evils, and many 

 others from which the body politic are suffering, as remedial, 

 but add — 



" If the people of this country really want to rid themselves 

 of this incubus and establish those conditions which would 

 enable them to make the most of their trades, industries, and 

 internal resources and ensure a fair amount of collective 

 prosperity instead of vast individual wealth, they must take a 

 more intelligent interest in the question." 



It is declared by many writers and speakers that wide- 

 spread pauperism is unnecessary, that poverty is avoidable, and 

 reasonable prosperity is within reach of all ; but if a thing is 

 worth having it is worth working for, worth fighting for even, 

 and the people of this country must really arouse themselves to 

 the necessities of the situation. 



By their a})athy and indifference, but chiefly through their 

 ignorance, they have, in truth, divested themselves of all real 

 political power and have handed it over to almost any smart 

 politician, who, for the time being, caught their fancy with 

 some attractive political catchword ; but this happy-go-lucky 

 method of dealing with grave political questions, which affect 

 their individual lives and incomes, must be abandoned if they 

 are really desirous of getting the best results for themselves out 

 of the commonwealth. 



Politics, like most other things in this world, are capable 

 of being used to one's own advantage or disadvantage, according 

 to the way we look at the matter, and if we are foolish enough 

 to hand over our chances to the first unscrupulous speculator 

 who happens to come along, and we lose all our political capital, 

 we must accept the results of our folly and indifference. 



