Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-06-13
THE ENGLISH POOR LAW.
1t Clearly Puts a Premium on Thrift.
Less.

Less.
Thomas Burke in the Forum
There is not member of the middle
classes in England at this moment who
can afford to give his children the
splendid accommodation provided in
our cottage homes for pauper children.
They are a standing temptation to the
negiectful parent to go on neglecting.
A benevolent state will step in and re-
lieve him of his parental duties at the
cost of the local taxpayer. who does
try to pay his way and fulfill his
natural obligations. l do not object
to this except in so far as it goes to
show that the relaxing of the healthy
restrictions of the old poor-law by
reactionary government is putting
premium on thriftlessness, if not idle
ness.
Owing to the operations OF the EN-.
ployers' liability acts, men on the
shady side of forty cannot get work
especially If the hair shows signs Of
turning gray. 1t is a melancholy sigl /
to see in our warehouses; so many
men willing and able to do some work,
but prevented by conditions not of
their making. To make the work
house comfortable for such inmates
seems at first sight humane; but if
we consider the question more closely,
we see the error in the principle of
relief instead of wages, which was one
of the blots on the administration
previous to 1884, and which enabled
the INSCRIPTIONS employer to get his
labor cheap, and at the public expense.
Make the workhouse attractive, and
not only do YOU remove some of the
incentives to industry, but you keep
back the tide of reform, hiding the
very evils which make it a necessity
of our social system.
There must be some reason why
men cannot get work, some cause for
the large death rate in our great
cities. Why not face the evils in.
stead of attempting to bury them in
new dietary tables or extra priv
leges'' for aged people? By the very
machinery of local government the
greater portion for the cost must fall
upon the laborer-in my opinion all
falls on the worker. as he is the line
of least resistance-and so we go on
manufacturing paupers artificially,
rather than facing the difficulty. Old
age pensions, or rather, the promise of
them, had the effect, according to the
managers of friendly societies" OF
stopping the development of such be-
Inefficient institutions. How much more
so will the indiscriminate distribution
of public funds demoralize the work
ers of the country? The extra out.
door relief ordered for the aged is
now being extended, by a natural de-
yelopment, to other applicants, to
whom the government recommends
ton did not apply: and. what with
the cost of the new dietaries, the I'M
fortunate taxpayer is in for a rosy
time, and all in the name of humanity,
when, in fact. the refusal of Tory
minister to keep his pledges is the
bottom cause. ] may mention that
in Liverpool alone the cost of giving
one extra meat dinner to the inmates
will cost over 10000 per annum; and
if the other regulations are to be in
sisted upon, which is most likely,
many hundreds of thousands of pounds
must be expended, With the debt of
the local bodies intrusted with adj
ministrative powers at G270,000, 900,
and local taxation at the high-water
mark. this does not look encouraging
for the purse-bearer.