The herald., 1897-04-04
SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 1907.
THE CAUSE OF POVERTY

the expressed purpose OF determining
the cause of the prevailing poverty.
These meetings have brought about the
most fattering results in the alleviation
of suffering among the unemployed.
But there is an embarrassing mistake
about the actual meritorious intent of
those discussions. The prevailing pow
erty is simply the poverty of now"
and does not differ from the poverty Of
then" except as it may happen to be
intensified because its cause Is intensi-
fed. Have not those meetings and dis
cussions been had rather with the one
benevolent object of extending aid to
the worthy poor than for the purpose of
seeking an answer in point?
A deep and dangerous thing to exam
inc into is this question of the cause of
poverty, and an inquiry in that direction
may involve the broadest and bitterest
investigation that can come before man
kind. If the inquistor asks the ques-
ton with a serious expression, his
startled conscience nvill surely answer
with a mocking grimace, for while the
intellect may easily be duped, the con-
science will not be duped-
The cause Of poverty has always been
a most unpopular query to advance,
chiefly because the answer is an arraign
ment To answer the question fairly and
squarely is to negative our moral and
religious pretensions and to convict So
ciety OF something akin to crime. If So
ciety is required TO answer it will do so
under the craven apprehension that
blancheo the cheeks of Cain, and will
only give back the evasive answer Of
Cain: Am I my brothers keeper?"
We all know the real cause of poverty,
but fewer than dozen men have yet
been born into the world who dared to
urge the only remedy and to take the
consequences. At the opening we should
be required to reflect that there is pro-
duced enough and much more than
enough, to supply all the reasonable
wants of civilized life, and that there
are lands sufficient to give homes to all.
But, side by side with this reflection,
stands the fact that the world has its
Sophists, as it had them in the days of
Socrates, and its Pharisees, as in the
is to divert the mind from the pursuit OF
fact and to train it for the pursuit OF
shadows There are also timber and
nails and the draught of hemlock left
for all those that may be thought tc
meddla too much with the conscience
of the Sophist or of the Pharisee.
And yet, the question is mathematical
and will yield to mathematical anal
ysis: A given quantity of sustenance will
' maintain 100 individuals in comfort
Now, if fifty of these, besides the share.
allotted to them. by finesse obtain hall
the share remaining to the others, some
one will go hungry and naked. This is
the rule in its operation, andwritten vol
umes, while they may disguise the fact
will not radically change it one jot OF
little.
A French economist of fine ability anC
the fortunate possessor of a lively i'm
agination as we'll, illustrates the schem
of poverty in its operation. He tells u
that the widow goes into the byways t,
gather by the hedges basketful of net
ties, which she boils to feed her hungry
babes. Meanwhile the perfumed mon
sieur, who studies his reflection in ;
gilded mirror, surmounted by his crest
hath philter by which every fifth net
tie escapes from the basket to contrib
ute to the luxury of monsieur" Thi
is a truth very tersely expressed
These philters are the secrets of pov
erty. Whoever has a philter makes :
pauper. and he who has ten philter
makes ten paupers Ugly truths, these
and most unpleasant and terribly unpop
+ uiAc. but they will overthrow all tn.