ioo DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



Lawyers and law-makers have tried, with limited 

 success, to cope with these questions ever since the 

 first Poor-law in 1601 ; they have failed, perhaps, 

 because of their point of view and of approach. The 

 physician, accustomed as he is to study his cases, each 

 with their peculiar symptoms, and each with their ap- 

 propriate methods of treatment, would, perhaps, have 

 done better than his legal brother We must look 

 deeper than the mere surface, we must not be content 

 to give bread and pass away, and feel that our duty 

 is done. 



Our Poor-law Regulations are at Fault. 



In reference to the first class, those who are lazy 

 and vicious, and will not work although capable of it, 

 we have to remember that the community is itself 

 to some extent to blame for the present state of 

 things. 



Before 1834, the Poor-law in country districts 

 habitually supplied the unemployed with what was 

 considered a sufficiency, and those who maintained 

 themselves by independent industry and capacity 

 often fared worse than those in receipt of regular 

 Poor-law aid. " Poor is the diet of the pauper, 

 poorer is the diet of the small ratepayer, and poorest 

 is the diet of the independent labourer," remarked a 

 witness in the Poor-law Commissioners' Report of 



