1 30 HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



ment of the fit, but for the care of the unfit : agencies 

 whose chief mission is to provide shelter, food, 

 clothing, comforts, medical treatment and other forms 

 of assistance for those of proved mental, physical and 

 social incapacity ; and even for those who, having the 

 capacity, will not exert it. ... I have no hesitation in 

 saying, from personal experience, that nowadays the 

 degenerate offspring of the feeble-minded and chronic 

 pauper is treated with more solicitude, has better food, 

 clothing and medical attention, and has greater 

 advantages, than the child of the respectable and inde- 

 pendent working man. So much is this the case that 

 the people are beginning to realize that thrift, honesty 

 and self-denial do not pay." 



From such a competent observer as Dr Tredgold 

 this is a terrible indictment of the result of indis- 

 criminate and uninformed humanitarian legislation and 

 charity. But when we pass from the consideration of 

 the direct effects of such action to the more wide-spread 

 indirect consequences, we come to see that even more 

 harm is done than appears at first sight. 



All these methods of relief cost money. Whether 

 given voluntarily in charity, or compulsorily in rates and 

 taxes, that money goes in unremunerative expenditure. 

 Helping a competent man to establish himself in a 

 secure position may benefit immensely the resources of 

 the nation. Assisting a " feeble-minded and chronic 

 pauper " to bring into existence and rear to maturity an 

 indefinite number of feeble-minded children, increases 

 incalculably both the present and future drain on the 

 wealth of the community, besides increasing the stock 

 of preventible misery in the world. Even giving those 



