io6 DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



classes are being supported, worthy members of 

 society are allowed to pass through circumstances of 

 the utmost distress without a helping hand. The 

 numberless stories, many of them undoubtedly true, of 

 the large sums yearly made by well got-up begging 

 swindlers, show how little our emotions are guided by 

 our reasoning faculties. We are too prone to give 

 when our feelings get a shock, and we are too often 

 incapable of acting in anticipation of a catastrophe 

 which is not already before our eyes. How many 

 there are around us in difficulty, who, with some 

 judicious help, might themselves regain prosperity. 

 Too often we wait till it is too late, till all is practi- 

 cally lost till, in fact, our " feelings " have been suffi- 

 ciently acted upon. 



The Incapables. 



While the first of the classes into which we have 

 divided the " poor " are destitute as the result of 

 vicious training, and the second from the hardships of 

 their special surroundings, the third class are destitute 

 from innate incapacity. To the idiots, insane, epilep- 

 tics and others suffering from severe constitutional 

 defects, there must be added the vagrants who will 

 not, because they cannot, do regular work. I say 

 " cannot," for I believe the vagrant class forms an in- 

 teresting and ill-understood body by themselves. 



