Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-21
CHARITY THAT CURSES.
Giving Results in
Chronic Pauperism and Want.

iphh iF'Aiif : W tthlS
1t may seem ungracious to quarrel with
a virtue, or with what passes as a virtue
but 1t cannot be doubted that some Of
the heaviest curses that rest upon civil
lied society today have come upon it
through the exercise of unthinking and in
discriminate charity. It Is this kind Of
charity-the scattered dole, the aims
thrown out with free and open hand to all
who will receive-that has filed many
parts of the old world with a pestilent null
utude of professional beggars, a lazy,
filthy, lying horde of parasites, a heavy
burden upon the honest and Industrious, a
menace to society, and terror to ALL the
native and the stranger alike.
The same kind of charity, kindly meant
but grossly INSTRUCTED, has bred within
the borders of our own busy and prosper
Gus land that creature who is always seek
ing but never finding work. and who lives
upon the community meanwhile, the crea-
ture known the tramp. There are 30,pJ
of these professional beggars and semi
criminals in the United States today. -
army whose ranks are constantly recru
by men and women who find, unhapDI!y
for themselves and the community, that
the display of few rags and a whining
lie about want and suffering are all that
is necessary to open to them the purses or
the kitchen doors Of a sOft-hearted and
easy going people. All these and a vast
support partly If not wholly from beg
gary, have come to be what they are
chiefly because their self-respect and in
dependent spirit have been broken down by
a false and vicious philanthropy.
Considerations of this character are
urged with force and appositeness in an
article contributed by Bishop Potter to one
of the periodicals for the current month.
He makes a plea for systematic and or
ganiZed charity, a charity based on sound
and true philanthropy. OF the evil results
of the false kind he gives many illumina
tive examples drawn from his own Obser-
vatiOns and experiences. One of these re-
lates to a woman who had been for years
the beneficiary of a clergyman in a city
parish, but who on her death was found
to be in possession of several thousands of
dollars, which she bequeathed to relatives
in a distant land. Another example cited
is that Of a woman who had connected
herself with no less than seven parishes,
from every one Of which, as poor widow,
she was receiving monthly allowance.
A more striking illustration of the inf
mite mischief that may come from a we'll
meaning but inconsiderate act Of kindness
is afforded In story which the bishop
tells of a man who came to him for help
and made his plea on the strength of let
ter written for him by the bishops own
, father, who had been dead for twenty
years. The letter was a general letter, ad-
dressed to no one, and therein lay the mis-
chief. When read 1t had In each instance
been returned to its bearer, and he soon
discovered that he had in It a talisman
that would open almost any pocket. The
man had been originally an industrious me-
chanic temporarily disabled by illness and
worthy, at the time, OF judicious help. But
the letter proved his undoing. By means
of it he had lived for years without work
and become a chronic loafer and a fraud
Bishop Potter says that he offered the
man ten dollars for the letter, but the fell
low was mot SO innocent as to surrender
his whole capital in trade.
This is but one instance out of many
that might be cited to show what ruin and
degradation may result from easy-going
and thoughtless aims giving. The best and
wisest charity, as pointed out by Bishop
Potter, is that which embodies the giving
of ones self, the help that helps up and
not down. This is the kind OF charity that
found expression in the noble service of
Edward DennisOn in England, and Is find
ing expression in our own land today in
the work of our college settlements, free
kindergartens manual training schools
women's exchanges and other agencies and
institutions where the poor and the needy
are taught how to help themselves and en-
cOuraged by personal influence and exam
pie to better and more thrifty ways of Iiv-
ing This is not the easiest kind of phi
lanthropy but 1t Is the only true kind
Human nature is nowhere weak as on
the side which charity touches. There is
sad truth in the saying that laZiness is
one of mans besett!nS sins 1t is his con-
slant temptation to make his way in the
world somehow other without work
Woe be to him who yields to this tempta-
ton, and equal woe to him who makes
himself, though unwittingly, the tempter