The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-03-08
HOW TO HELP THE UNEMPLOYED

The ablest minds in the country are on
gagged in the study of the problem pre-
scented by the sufferngs Of the u1em-
pl0yed. The Social Economist of New
York takes a gloomy view of he srua-
ton, and regards the present trouble as a
natural reaction from twenty years of
prosperity and high living. The existing
siagna non in trade involves retrenchments
on all sides. ana these aggravate The evil !;
for instance, the decline of traffic on the
railways will necessitate rise in rates,
which will enhance the price of food SIM
ultaneously with a reduction in wages.
President finley OF Knox College writes
to the Chdatduquan that alms-giving, or
charity, as it is called. tends to create
race of parasites who are chroncally poor.
He observes that the indiscriminate offer
of bed and meal by the monasteries of the
middle ages to all Corners fostered the
growth of pauperism and blackened the
roads with beggars.
Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, who was
appointed Commissioner of Charities for
New York twenty years ago by Governor
Tilden and has held the Office ever since,
contributes TO the Forum paper on the
subject from the standpoint of an expert.
Mrs. Lowell insists that distinction shall
be kept in view between the chronic form
of poverty, as it presents itself at all
times, and which proceeds from a surplus
of unskilled labor, low wages and improvi-
dence, ard the acute form of poverty
caused by a temporary disturbance of the
wheels of industry. such as we are now
witnessing. Mrs. Lowell depounces chart
table relief In the case of chronic poverty
as being calculated TO aggravate, If not 10
create, the very conditions il is intended to
relieve. As to the acute form of poverty,
1t would seem that temporary relief is i'm
peTatiye, but its use is environed with
dangers. 1t must not he so administered
as to encourage chronic dependence in the
weak, nor must aid be so distributed that,
for the sake of relieving one hundred or
one thousand persons, ten thousand are
injured. 1t was found in New York that
the employment Of a few hundred unem-
plOyed tallors al sloDwork threw a thou
sand other tailOrs out of their jobs. Mrs.
Lowell lays down the principle on which
temporary relief should be granted in these
words: ITO be benefit, relief work must
be continuous. hard and underpai6." In
other words. the recipients of such relief
est to dispense with it as soon as possible,
and not TO become chronic paupers.
Almoners Of benevolent funds are too
apt to think only of immediate wants and
to neglect the future. The first thing to
be done with hungry man is to feed him,
but the pangs of hunger assuaged, it is
vital so TO conduct the business of relief
that he shall not become chronic pauper,
but shall rise out of his present condition
TO that of splf-supporting citizen. There
fore the relief should not be of the kind
which tie average man can accept will
ingly. 1t must be made irkSome to him.
so that he shall emancipate himself from
it as soon as possible. We owe a duty to
the homeless tramp, and that duty is moi
fulfilled by encouraging him to lain a
tramp.
The problem is practically new.
Throughout history society has grappled
with 1t without reaching conclusions W hich
humanity or economy can approve. There
have been times when tramps were taken
into mOnasteries and lodged and fed. The
breed naturally flourished. AT other times
tramps were whipped al the carts tail for
no other crime than their Indulgence, but
the race was not extinguished. AZ one
time in England the poor laws were so
absurd that every ninth person was a
pauper subsstiDg on public charity. At
another tine in France 10000 tramps
started south from Paris ia the hopes of
lettering their condition. As they had
no money they had 10 rob their way.
Every mans hand was against them, and
al last the troops were called out and the
entire body way exterminated. Here were
lame conclusions. This country has been
so prosperous that it could not only sur
vive econom cal error. but there was
constant surplus of the earnings of labor
over and above the wants of the people.
Thus we have surmounted the problem of
the unem ployed without injury to the en-
ployed. But it is not certain that these
halcyOn times are going to last. The
steady decline in the value of the great
slap pr oGucts may presage diminution
10 the demand for labor, and in the re-
wards of labor. II so, the unemployed
class and the underpaid class may in
crease. AID it behooves us to know in ad-