St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-05
Mr.. Balfour and the Viceroy
Have a Scheme for Their
Relief.
Three Methods Of Giving
Charitable Aid to Those
Who Need It.
The Countess Of Zetland and
Miss Balfoup Will Receive
Subscriptions.
Mr.. PaPnell Announces That
He Is in the Hands Of His
Friends.

=
DUBLIN. Jan. 4.-The Earl of Zet-
land, viceroy of Ireland, and Chief Sec
retary BalfOur sign declaration which
has been issued Oh the condition of the
poor in the western part of Ireland.
The declaration says: Poverty is
chronic in some districts and will, if the
people are not aided. reach stage of
acute distress during the winter and
spring. There is neither resident
gentry nor substantial middle class to
give employment, nor areithere chari-
table organizations to aid those who
are unable TO aid themselves. Outdoor
relief, except in cases of emergency,
cannot be legally administered except
to persons holding over quarter of an
acre of land, Although none acquaint-
ed with the history of the Irish law
would regard the relaxing of this rule
as. other than a public calamity, IT'S
mainten ance undoubtedly limits the
capacity to deal with periods of excep-
tional distress. The position thus Gre
ated leaves part of the social organism
sick at all timeS-stricken with dis
ease from which, without eXtraneous
help, it has no power torally. The ques-
tion is not whether money ought to be
given, but how it ought to be givenn, to
what class and for what special pur-
poses.
Charity Ill Administered
Injuries the recipients everywhere, but
is especially injurious IN those parts
with which we are concerned. Else
where the injury may be confined to
class relatively small, but in the worst
portions of the congested districts the
whole community may be affected.
All are poor; all can piausibly appeal
for aid; and help recklessly given
in response may infect whole townships
with the vices and weaknesses of pro-
fessiOnal mendicancy. We have spoken
of this matter to many priests and others
acquainted with the condition of the
people. There was not one of them,
however keenly they may have felt the
Sufferings of those amongst whom they
lived, who did not admit that permanent
ill effects followed from much chari-
table expenditure within their expert
ence. Regarding the appeals for help,
it is needful to say that tales of distress
need not be taken as authentic because
they are couchedin strong language and
seem to come from well-lnformed quar-
ters. The desire to stimulate tagging
charity has been fruitful source
of exaggeratlon. We do not
know that there is any reason
to suppose thatin Ireland this tendency
is likely to be controlled by long-estab-
liShed habits of severe and disciplined
accuracy. 1t is not easy adequately to
check such statements, even by per-
sonal observation aided by statistics,
however reliable. In regard to the fail
ure of
The Potato Crop,
small occupiers in the West seem. at
first sight, all to live much in the same
way. They are lodged in the same
cabins, cultivate the same kind of hold
ings, and are clothed with the same kind
of dress. 1t would be natural to con-
cude that in all places where the fail
ure of the crop is the same the distress
is the same. But such is not
the case. In no district does the bulk
of the community live wholly on
the potato. Every district has
means of livelihood independent of the
cultivation of the potato, such as fish
ing, labor in England, cottage indus
tries, kelp making and sales of farm
stock. The degree of the failure of the
potato crop is, therefore, by itself, a
misleading guide to the degree of dis
tress existing among the people. Other
elements in the finding of the position
af of
savings and their debt and credit with
local tradesmen. Furthermore, in the
organization of any plan of gratuitous
assistance caution is necessary in order
that it shall not interfere with the Sys-
TEN of railway relief works. Several
thousand pounds weekly are already
distributed in the form of wages in the
districts most in need. Those getting
wages through work ought not to
get charity without it. The conclusions
we come to are that charitable aid ought
TO be confined, first, to families which
are in serious want, and which, having
no able bodied person among them, can
not derive benefit from the public relief
works; second, to providing meals in
the schools for the children attending
them; and third, to supplying
Clothes for Children
unable to procure them elsewhere.
These forms of assistance are less liable
to abuse than Others" The declaration
proceeds to discuss the requisites for a
good distribution of aid among the poor.
The authority for such distribution, it
says, should be single; for the veSting
of this authority in more than one per-
son would cause confusion as to areas
and inequality of resources, and would
lead to no rational adjustment between
needs and means. The single dis
tributing authority ought to com
mand all available means of information
as to the condition of the people trough
out the country. The declaration con-
cludes: 40 those who think that we,
who can obtain the services of poor law
inspectors, school inspectors, relieving
officers, resident magistrates, the police
and others resident in localities af-
| fected, aud who already are officially
responsible for relief works far exceed
ing anything that charity is likely to
effect-to those who think that we are
better equipped for carrying out this
work than persons not having these adj
vantageS, we offer to undertake the
management of the distribution of any
| funds intrusted to US. We believe that
money so spent will be well spent. All
assistance in the shape of food or cloth
ing through this channel or any other
which reaches children or helpless per-
sons will tighten or remove much imme-
diate suffering without exaggerating
chronic evils requiring different and
continuous treatment for permanent
cure. Subscriptions and clothing will
be received by the Countess of Zetland
at the viceregal lodge, Miss Balfour at
the chief secretary's lodge, or by the
viceroy or Mr.. Balfour,"
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