266 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



seven children and a salary of $400 a year, awakened the deep sym- 

 pathy of a women's missionary society. But the question arises at 

 once and it will not down. Why should that helpless poverty-stricken 

 man and wife have had a sixth? Why should that poverty-stricken 

 home missionary have had seven ? More than that — why should either 

 of them have had any? 



Philanthropic work, in endeavoring to ameliorate the pangs of 

 poverty, begins at the wrong end; instead of trying to abolish poverty, 

 it labors incessantly to increase it and its burdens. The improvident 

 class procreates recklessly and would-be philanthropists encourage the 

 folly. They are like men in a plague-stricken town, who endeavor to 

 ease the pain of sufferers but refuse to recognize and to remove the 

 sources of disease. Tenements are made better every year to protect 

 the careless against their own negligence; public schools are inspected 

 that contagious diseases may be checked; vaccination is compulsory 

 and free; great dispensaries provide free treatment for all comers; 

 women in confinement have free medical attendance and diet kitchens 

 provide proper food for them; infants are cared for in day nurseries 

 for a nominal sum that the mothers may go out to work; education, 

 even professional education is offered to all, without cost. There is 

 free treatment in the schools for children with diseases of the throat, 

 nose and ears ; effort has been made to secure in the New York schools 

 free luncheons, free spectacles and free dental service for children who 

 appear to need them; and it is reported that in the Chicago schools a 

 fair beginning has been made, in that food for hungry children is pro- 

 vided at nominal cost. 



Everything within the range of possibility has been suggested or 

 attempted in order to free the improvident from all sense of responsi- 

 bility for their offspring. Yet those who are guilty of this sin are 

 the same with those who regale the community with illustrated lectures 

 on the horrors of the slums. Philanthropy should begin its work at 

 the other end; instead of endeavoring to alleviate the condition it 

 should endeavor to abolish it. Instead of merely lamenting the fact 

 that sewing-women's wages are so pitifully low, it should try to prevent 

 increase of competitors for work, that wages may be better for the 

 next generation. Instead of encouraging heedless procreation, its 

 efforts should be to encourage restriction. The duty of parents to 

 children should be made plain to those who are unwilling to recognize 

 them; and indiscriminate free medical treatment should be abol- 

 ished. Laws against child labor should be made more stringent 

 and should be enforced rigorously; farming out of children should be 

 made impossible. When it has been discovered that the community 

 will not bear the expense there will be hesitation, and marriage of those 

 without prospect of subsistence will be less frequent. Marriage of per- 



