The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-04

Charity should not make paupers.
Here again we have an application of
our general principle that should prove
very useful in testing the value Of the
work of charitable societies, and the
wisdom of the practices and policies of
individuals who think themselves char
table. Strength and not comfort is the
end which we should rank highest among
the good things which we covet for those
who look to us for help Charity is to
relieve distress, as the police system Is
to prevent crime, but 1t is equally essen
tial that it should guard effectively
against the perversion of Its function
1t must not itself multiply the occasions
for its exercise.
Industry should not make workers un-
employable. Here Is opened up an ex-
exceedingly interesting field of speculation
Excessive hours of labor underpay, irreg-
ular employment, throwing men out Of
employment as a first resort in periods
of business retrenohment, displacing work
ers at the first sign of approaching age
by young men because of their extra
strength and pliability, are among the
features of industry which may be re-
garded not unfairly as perversions Of
its natural function. They tend to make
men unemployable which Is the very
destruction of industry Goods must be
produced, and transported and placed on
the market and sold. but all this should
be done in such a way as to converse
the usefulness of those who do the work.
not in such a way as to destroy their
usefulness.
The school should not make it's pupils
inefficient. The function of education Is
to pass on to the growing generation the
accumulated achievements of the race.
It's aim is to put the next generation on
the shoulders Of the present, both In re-
spect to earning and producing capacity,
and In respect to powers OF enjoyment
The life for which children are to be
prepared is one of work and of leisure
They should be made efficient in bonn.
The school which makes insists, either
vocational, or simply as living. rational
human beings, compelled daily to choose
between good and evil, and between the
good and the better, belongs with the
hospital, the prison, the police system and
the charity, which miss their natural
Gazing The school, whatever else 1t does
should not make insists. This Is not the
whole philosophy of education, but 1t ls
a good beginning of 1t. The axiom which
is useful when applied to other institu-
lions, will at least help us to determine
whether a given school system is falling
to meet the most elemental and funda-
mental of all tests, whether it Is pervert-
ing it's function, whether 1t Is producing
ineficiency instead of strength.
Churches should not create an fndiffer-
ence to religion. Missions should not
make bread lines. Recreation should not
devitalize. Politics should not undermine
good citizenship. Retail trade should not
result in the exploitation of the consumer.
Child-saving agencies should not exhibit
an excessive mortality. State labor de-
partments should not neglect to make an
Ineligible report in regard to the factory
conditions subject to their supervision.
A federal investigation Of the labor Of
women and children should not be una
BILE to make reports Of progress from
TIME to time, like the bulletins of the GEN.
sus bureau, and thus be compelled to
present it's results In bulk long afterwards
when the facts upon which 1t reports
are perhaps no longer of interest or value.
The perversion OF social institutions Is
oftener than not the result Of thought
less or Indifferent direction. Those who
ultimately pay the bills for their crea-
ton and maintenance have no desire that
hospitals shall make people sick, or that
prisons shall make criminals, or that
charity shall make paupers, or that fac
tories shall make workingmen unem-
playable.
Eno IIIMRER GEE