The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-07-08


such n person and one requiring as
sistance on account of disability re-
sulting from such causes as accident,
| disease, financial misfortune or in
dustrial revolution, but who does not
lose thereby his spirit OF Independence
| and his desire to earn his living as
soon as circumstances permit.
with this definition, there would be
| no paupers In an ideal state of society.
| There would be people OF small means,
| in some cases perhaps, of no means.
| There would be persons and families
who would occasionally, from the ac-
| cidental causes suggested above, suffer
| for want of some of those things that
| support a normal standard of living,
| and perhaps from need of change and
rest, and would therefore need assist
ance; but they being constitutionally
4 independent, --independen in heart and
soul could receive such assistance in
| the spirit in which 1t would be given
| the spirit OF human brotherhood, and
| with expectation, as matter Of
| course. to square the account with So
| ciety as opportunity might offer by
furnishing like assistance to some one
| in like need. There would be no sense
OF humiliation in receiving assistance
under such circumstances and with
such a spirit in both giver and recipi-
ent, and no embarrassment In the CIV
ing.
1t used to be the custom in the from
| tier settlements of America, when a
| man and woman were preparing to
marry and establish a new home, for
| all the neighbors to quit their own
work on a particular day and assist
| the home-builders in raising the frame
| work of the new house or putting up
| the logs and slab roof of the log cabin
Such assistance was accepted in the
| merry mood in which II was given.
There was no embarrassment in the
| giving and receiving and no one
| thought of any. 1t was between
neighbors. Yes and all assistance be-
| tween man and man,-those whose
spirit Is one of independence and self
| respect, Is between members of the
human brotherhood.
When, however, the relation Is with
one who 'has lost the sense of the hui
man brotherhood, who regards society
as his debtor or trustee and whose only
anxiety Is how to realize on the trust
| fund and who is without any feeling
of responsibility toward others, 1t be-
comes injurious to both sides. The re-
| ceiver is strengthened in his untenable
view of his claims on society, and the
giver becomes accessory to such mis-
chievous result. When, however, the
pauper becomes disabled by accident
or disease, even though it be through
= ll.tt 80 to-.
toward him changes and 1t not only
becomes meritorious and useful to help
him, but a duty.
There Is always in large communities
a percentage of the population who are
barely making a normal living; they
have enough food and clothes and fuel,
| they pay their rent and taxes, but
have nothing left. When times OF in
dustrial depression come or prices rise
without a corresponding increase Of
| wages. or there is illness in the family,
they suffer and come to need some kind
of assistance 1t may be that the de-
mand for work has fallen off so that
| not only have wages diminished but
there Is not enough work to go around.
| There Is generally among this class
some who have enough latent pauper
spirit to make it easy for them to slide
into the pauper status If the way is
open and If such status promises the
physical comforts of life to an extent
approaching the precarious living they
are experiencing. These are the peo-
pie to be watched; assistance for them
must have no quality of permanence;
they must be given no chance to choose
OF
which is based at least upon the the
DRY of self support.
Expericene in England has shown
that legislation which tended to make
paupersm easy and comfortable in
creased the number of those entering
its status with appalling rapidity.
With these facts and tendencies in
view, some of the conditions indicated
which would be influential toward the
prevention of pauperism are, supply
of work,-regulations and methods
which make 1t uncomfortable for the
able bodied to live without work.
Improvement of sanitary conditions
protection of young people from vicious
influences, and opportunities of bor-
rowing small sums of money at mod
crate rates.
In the Honolulu community scarcity
of work is occasionally a cause of dis
tress needing alienation. and is espe-
cially so at the present time, with bust
ness dull and the dismissal of a number
of government employees under its
policy of retrenchment The obvious
and best relief in these circumstances
Is supply of work. This is not an
easy thing to furnish with the prevail
ing tendency toward economy among
employers.
Among the several things that might
be done In this direction, the establish
ment of n wood yard in the center of
some city block where the rent would
be low, is one. Such an enterprise
would require manager, who would
make purchases, take orders. look after
the woodsawing and splitting by the
candidates for employment, pay them
and keep the books, and "A two
horse dray, team and driver. Fire
wood to be purchased by the guam
tity. TO be sold and delivered to pur-
chasers after being reduced to stove
wood by the applicant for work. Pro-
vision for work In stone cutting might
I.Nl