162 . report — 1877. 



the old law, which then threatened the general pauperization of the rural and, to a 

 considerable extent also, of the urban population. In that and all his subsequent 

 writings Mr. Chadwick has always sternly denounced improvidence, idleness, and 

 waste, and consistently advocated enlightened economy and industry alike in 

 national, local, and individual work. Indeed it is a question whether he will be 

 better known to posterity and is now better known abroad, where (as is shown by 

 his Membership of the Institute of France) he enjoys more consideration than he 

 does in his own country, as the chief author and, practically for years, the chief 

 administrator of the new Poor Law of 1834, or as the pioneer in the kindred 

 work of Sanitary Reform. Dr. Farr, coming after him, has always taken 

 the same line. And I, their humble disciple, may venture to say for myself that 

 I have always fearlessly denounced, whether officially while Secretary to the 

 Poor Law Board, or publicly and privately, before and since, all legislation or 

 administration tending by its laxity to facilitate improvidence, idleness, or waste ; 

 and, on the other hand, have done my utmost to promote all legislation, and person- 

 ally to labour in all local administration, and to support all institutions tending to 

 facilitate and encourage health, industry, and thrift among our people. With this 

 object I accepted the office above mentioned and the laborious and unpaid one of 

 Chairman of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers; with this object, except 

 while serving in thePoorLawBoard, I have constantly acted as aPoor Law Guardian 

 ever since I came to man's estate; with this object I, more than a quarter of a 

 century ago, became President of the Western Provident Association ; with this ob- 



1'ect I recently took shares in, and became one of the original Trustees of, the Penny 

 3ank founded by Mr. G. Bartley. 



But the clear and fundamental difference between the old school of Malthus and 

 Mill and the newer and, in my opinion, far sounder one, to which, under the wise 

 leadership of Mr. Chadwick and Dr. Farr, I have long felt it an honour to belong, 

 is that we look to morality, intelligence, industry, and thrift, coupled (where expe- 

 dient) with emigration, instead of, like Malthus and Mill and their disciples, to the 

 mere restriction of the number of children, as the chief source of national, family, 

 and individual well-being. — F. 



Thrift as an Element of National Strength. By G. C. T. Bartlet. 



The results of thrift are so universal in the present that they are apt to be for- 

 gotten by their very familiarity. The houses we live in, the roads along which we 

 travel, the everyday things we use, even in most places the water we drink, have 

 only come down to us by the thriftiness of past generations. The effect thrift has 

 on population is various ; for where it is excessive, as in France, and where it often 

 merges into the evil of hoarding, it may be said to tend to check increase by 

 unduly postponing marriage. The application of the results of thrift is a most 

 important part of economic science. At the end of the last and the beginning of 

 the present century a great proportion went to maintain wars ; but for the last 

 fifty years in England it has been devoted generally and very largely to the pro- 

 duction of works, railways, docks, &c. &c, and without doubt it is this which has 

 influenced as much as any thing else the progress of this country. Future progress 

 must depend largely on the same habit ; and hence the importance of promoting 

 thrift, especially in children, by such agencies as penny banks &c. This thrift 

 must not be confined to money, but must include economy in time, the best use of 

 materials for dress, food, &c, and instruction in such matters should therefore 

 form a part of our national system of education. Experience shows, as proved 

 undoubtedly by the National Penny Bank, that the promotion of the habit of 

 thrift depends largely on the facility for its exercise. Thrift may be called not 

 only the science of domestic comfort and happiness, but of national progress. 



