St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-25
CAUSES OF POVERTY.

The New York World recently asked
a number of philosophers, professors,
politicians, poets, labor leaders, social
reformers and men in all walks of life,
the questions: "What, in your opinion,
is the chief cause of poverty in this
country at the present time? And
why?" The answers are numerous, and
mainly interesting because of the diver
sity of opinion as to the causes of pow
erty and the remedies for it. They all
readily recognize the existence of an
undue proportion of poverty, but
scarcely any two of them agree as to the
causes or in what manner relief is to be
had. 1t is also noticeable that pretty
much every man looks at this subject
from selfish standpoint, and,is phil
anthrophist just to the extent that his
business interests require an exercise of
philanthrophy.
Prof. SUMNER, of Yale, gives perhaps
the most exhaustive, and certainly the
broadcast, discussion of the question Of
any who responded to the Worlds in
Quiries. He is not enamored with the
multitude of reform ideas now perme-
ating society, as he thinks they are sim
ply so many propositions to have society
lift itself by the boot straps. His opin-
ions as to the causes Of poverty and the
remedies may be extracted from the
concluding paragraph Of his commune
cation, where he says: "If we work
harder, learn more, save more, and be-
have ourselves, we shall not abolish
poverty, or disease or death; but we
shall do our best, and make the best OF
the world and of our life in it. This is
the sum of human success and hui
man happiness" With that SEN
tentious style for which he is
noted, lGNATIUs DoNNELLY starts
out by saying that the cause Of
poverty is plainly the lack of property.
But he discovers an anomaly in the ex-
listing condition of affairS-that there is
more property, and at the same time
more poverty than was ever known in
the world before. Hence he inferS that
the cause Of poverty at this time is due
to the unequal and unfair Distribute n
of property, and suggests govern mental
interference as the remedy. He holds
that the instinct to accumulate is a
blessing, but the state has a right to
protect the public from its excuses.
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY traces the cause
of poverty to the ignorance and disor-
ganized condition of the masses, who
are unable to cope with the organized
few, who secure the aid of legisla-
ton to plumber the masses. The
remedy he proposes is strict adj
herence to the Sermon on the Mount
and faithful application of Christian
principles to all governmental affairs.
CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW is confident that
the existence of so much poverty is
solely due to the lack of self-confidence
in human nature. Men have no faith
in themselves, consequently they have
no push or pluck, and as a result life is
a failure. He thinks that rum and aim
lessness, or lack of fixity of purpose,
remedy is repeal OF reconstruction of
human nature. Census Superintendent
PORTER judges, from the way his
life has been made a burden for
the last nine months by applicants
for the position of census emu
merators, that the causes of poverty
are traceable to individuals them
selves. Every man is the architect of
his own poverty, and largely by his
preference for holding Office instead of
getting down to square, honest work.
Rev. DR.. BUCKLEY, the editor of the
Christian Advocate, says that poverty
is modern. There were no tenement
houses in ancient times. nor do the
ruins of ancient Greece and Rome dis
close anything primarily intended for
disinterested benevOlence The advance
of civilization has developed new wants.
The increase of money has not kept
pace with the increase of demands for
it; consequently we have poverty, and it
will increase until money becomes more
plentiful. Prof. ADAMS, of Cornell,
thinks that legislation is mainly respon-
sible for SO much poverty. 1t has tended
to increase the opportunities of the
rich and to diminish the opportunities