The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-01-21
PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL REFORM.
CONTINUED from Page 10


| might hinder 1t. Often u supply of Social evil is
response to demand for it if we suppress the IT..
| mand, the supply ceases Many evils are Inspire
! by the hope of profit; that ccasng. they vanish
Much evil thrives because it enjoys secrecy: liz IN
| be exposed 1t Is destroyed. Whenever any circum.
stance is vital. reform Will accompstm uch b7
modifying it clone, but generally thoroughgoiug
reform will extend to thosprOcesses which produccc
the circumstance itself Thus in city governments
the process that dverts best citizenship from
public service should be neutrazcd; the process
that sends weak venal men into offices Of trust
should be destroyed. and the interest of the public
should be awakened and sustained in any adequate
reform of municipal corruption. Whether or NOT
all of this is possible or impossible does not alter
its relation to the problem. though it may affect
very directly our hopes of reform and the manner
of it.
In other problems we see the same need of pro-
cess to effect reform. A sanitary house is not me-.
| cessarily a sanitary home unless sanitary minds
make 1t so. A social process gives us msaniary
minds, another social process gives us Unsauitarv
houses The sanitary house IS really not much
more than opportunity. the reform is in the
mental appreciation of it. One can easily find un,
sanitary conditions III sanitary houses New
England employer once built good houses for his
men and installed bath tubs which the tenants re,
fused to utilize They preferred the space for
storage purposes.
Whatever the problem then, it is we'll to seek
out the processes involved and to organize reform
effort In a way to master them, and introduce such
normal and desirable processes as may insure rea-
lively permanent results. This necessity may tend
to discourage those who realize it. but on the other
hand it may stimulate greater efforts than we now
behold. Were we to investigate the whole series of
social problems with view to verify this state
ment, we would probably discover that an age can
rarely solve problems inherited from an unwize
past, and that it cannot radically solve It's own.
Wisdom Is III foresight. The safe way Is to work
through education, preparing today III the young
the elements of character. social conscience social
knowledge and faith which will give to the oncom-
ing generation the insight and power needed to di-
popular institutions wisely in advance of failure
We might discover. too, that reform is dependent
on coordination and cooperation. Where public
opinion, law. the wisdom of strong men, and the
service of true men needed to accomplish a
certain result 1t is useless to attempt it when one
two of these factors arc lacking Much of the
failure of reform is due to the fact that we ignore
this need of cooperation or knowing, we fail to
command it,
g. The problem to be met should be carefully
classified.
When we classify problem VIC locate it: when
locate, discover its relations to life and in
situations. We then discover the processes in
volved, the factors and the responsibility for Them
and thus fix properly the duty of action and re-
form. There are many centeTs of social conscious
ness; to each Of these should be referred all prob
lens which concern 1t directly. Possibly all social
problems one problem and any one problem is
potentially all problems. Some problems are pri-
mar1y political, others primarily industrial; some
fall within the domain of the law and some are be-
yond it; some problems seen in city are in fact
state or national in and relation: some prob
lens concern principles, others are merely nstitu-
tlonal, while many purely personal There IS
little value Ill appeal to religion, where law is need
ed; or to law, where conscience is needed: or TO
conscience, where enlightenment is needed: or to
enlightenment where stern measures are needed
i to Of, IL
tutions are at fault; institutions, where merely
their relation of coordination IS at fault or this
coordination when individuals alone are to blame
The advantage in careful classification is that our
knowledge IS accurate and our direction of reform
effort is wiser.
Above all. we secure more detailed knowledge
OF social processes and realize how many of
them, each in itself problem may be concerned
IN a complex fact. The concrete situation of a la
borerS family may epitomize whole epoch of his
tory The home may be an unsanitarv tenement
restricted, offering no privacy or proction; low
wages and high rent make better impossible The
father may have work irregularly because times
are dull and immigration has increased the supply
OF labor tar behond the demand. The wife may be
ignorant of cooking sewing and housekeeping be-
cause she spent her time learning useless things at
school, or because she had to work and did not 90
to school, Mrs. Florence Kelly quoted RECENTLY the
superintendent OF schools in New York as stating
that 4O,OOO school children III the city are hungry
, not from poverty, but because the mothers do not
know how to prepare food to give proper nutri
ment0 The morals of the children in the imagin-
airy family described. may be ruined because of as
soclatlon and example to which the circumstances
OF life expose them from which they neither hope
nor expect to escape. In this concrete condition of
family there appear many far-reachinp social
processes, each of which is vast problem There
Is need consequently, of careful classification and
analysis. 50 that Judgment of facts may be accu-
md l<T1OJ rIpd1rc 81 4
Once we know and realize how we are factors in
these processes, which mean life or DEATH virtue or
degradation to so many, there is hope for the de-
veiopment of judgment and conscience to bring
speedy reform.
The three suggestions presented refer to the
point OF departure in reform activity. We should
look to social processes to discover real problems,
we should aim to modify these processes in our re-
forming, and we should know the nature and rela-
tons OF the problem accurately before undertaking
20 reform them, Ehe limitations and difficulties
OF reform work Will be referred to in subsequent
article.