El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-29
By La RENE HELEN BAKER.

never dreamt of in the philosophy OF
the charity mongers. How does this
charity strike the class / have men
toned? Most of them loathe the bare
idea of it BY dint eff almost heroic
exertion, they earn enough to keep
starvation from their door. They see
around them daily evidences of the
banal influence of charity. Those who
work less than they do receive con-
tribution toward their maintenance
from 100 charities. There is no
charity for any but the unfit"
Charity Hurts Real Labor.
So far 1 have only spoken of the
charitable ''doles." Some thinkers con-
denim these and favor the charity which
exacts work from the recipient. 1
fear this is as bad as the other,
Actually, in one London area which
I know Familiarity, the wages in the
wood chopping industrys have declined
and every independent fire kindling"
maker has been ruined by the estab-
lishment of i'church army firewood
factories"
These and similar Institutions were
expressly designed "to give work to
the voorhees,. There seems to be only
one way in which that can be done.
and 1t is by taking work from those
at present employed. 1t stands to
ity is a contradiction in terms.
In most cases the rich are first
placed to start the works going and
then the small capitalist is ruined in
his attempt to compete on the unequal
terms of charity versus profit; and
finally the employment of crippled
blind or merely starving labor tends
to reduce the wages of everybody In
the industry.
Stare Charity Proposed.
o. "freak charity I have little to
say I pity the mental and moral state
of mind Of those rich people who can
send an occasional meal to a perma-
nent suffer The sick should at least
receive state assistance. Civilization
has in a sort of cropping way real
lied this and it needs our COM
mon sense to make our hospitals, dis
pensaries and asylums a regular
charge on our common taxation.
When We have done that we might be-
CINE to make charity punishable Of
fence. Let the employer be regarded
as the proper tributary through which
the support of his workers must flow.
Clearing Away Counterfeit.
If any industry can only exist by
means Of outside aid. let the aid come
direct to the trade itself. I doubt If
in such case the state would feel per-
fectly Justified in perpetuating the
garment shop or the shoddy shirt bust
ness. Is there then to be no outlet to
those charitable settlements which
have been praised in all ages? On
the contrary I believe we shall be
clearing away the counterfeit in order
the better to appreciate the genuine
quality Of truer charity. But 1t must
be a different thing from the charity
of today. 1t must above all be
personal thing. We must learn that
charity is virtue which we cannot
delegate to others. We must know
before we give. We ought to re-
member the very healthy proverb that
Charity begins at home" Amongst
our own poor relations and friends or
the friends of our servants or some
where, where we can learn the whole
OF the facts, we may easily discover
fit objects for all our need of an out
put Of loving service.
Our key note is to be:
Not what we give, but what we
For the gift without the giver were
bare"
We will make fewer mistakes when
we make ourselves responsible for our
own charities, when we know the needs
of our recipients and understand the
necessity for thought as well as sym
pathy- Impersonal charity must give
place to personal love-