The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-11-09
THE CATHOLIC BULLETIN, NOV. 9, 1912.

of this sort of diseases. The problems
arising from the prevalence of ven
ereal maladies and tuberculosis illu-
portance of this branch of State pre-
vention OF social distress. Here, as
elsewhere, the State will achieve some
of its best results, merely by supple
menting the efforts of individuals, and
enabling or compelling them to do
things for themselves. The work of
our city and state health departments
| is to great extent of this character.
immortality and Crime.
Besides industry. ignorance, and bad
sanitation, there is another cause, or
series of causes, which may be consid-
cred under the head of immortality and
crime. Two conspicuous causes of i'm
morality are the saloon and the broth
ell. The former should be so regu-
lated, restricted, and supervised with
regard to numbers, internal arrange
ments, hours and days of doing bust
ness, character of ownership and
patrons, that it's evil results would be
reduced to a minimum. Brothels
ought to be utterly repressed, the
trade of clandestine prostitution merci-
lessly prosecuted, and offenders of
both sexes adequately punished. Obvi-
ously all this is the proper cuty of the
State. Theatres, dance halls, and
other amusement institutions must
likewise be regulated by public author
ity, and adequate opportunities for re-
creation must be provided in the form
of parks and Fairgrounds. All this to
prevent that form of social distress
called immortality. AS regards crime,
the State must prevent it so far as
possible by an efficient system of po-
lice, and punish it through judicial pro-
cesses that will operate promptly, and
through penal methods that will be at
once reformative, deterrent, and re-
tributive,
This hasty and imperfect sketch will
give some idea of the immensely of the
field open to the State in preventing
the various forms of social distress.
So long as the State does not attempt
to do anything which it cannot in the
long run, do better than individuals,
its activity in no part of this field will
be superf1uous or menacing to individ-
ual or social welfare.
State Relief of Distress.
Taking up the relief of distress, we
see that the province of the State is
considerably narrower than in the
matter of prevention. The ideal con-
dition would be that in which all re-
lief was provided by voluntary agen-
cies. Brotherly love, sympathy, and
personal contact with the unfortunate
would thus receive greater opportun-
| inv
! Moreover, voluntary relief has certain
obvious advantages of method. AS
pointed out by Sidney and Beatrice
Webb C"The Prevention of Destitu-
tion,' PIP. 240-25S) voluntary agencies
are more apt to discover and apply
new methods of treatment, are able
to give greater and more sympathetic
care to difficult cases, and can fire.
quently supply the powerful lettering
influence that springs from the mo-
tives and atmosphere of religion. In
a word, they can carry the work of
relief to higher, more humane, and
more varied levels than public agen-
cies; for the latter must keep close
to certain appointed minimum, and
exhibit a certain rigidity, uniformity,
and unprogressiveness.
AS. things are, however, voluntary
relief is marked by some serious de-
fects, chief of which are: the dispro-
portionally heavy burdens laid upon
the generous and the conscientious,
the excessive cost of collecting the
necessary funds, the uncertainty of
the revenue, the mutual overlapping of
the efforts of different agencies, the
inability to give complete and continu-
GUS treatment to all cases, and the
lack of power to use coercion in cases
that cannot be effectively treated
otherwise. In practice, then, we must
continue to have both public and pri.
vate relief, each doing the work for
which it is best fitted, and cooperating
with the other in whatever ways have
been proved most effective.
institutional and Private Relief.
There are two principal kinds of re.
lief, that given within institutions, and
that given in private homes, or indoor
and outdoor relief. The greater part
of the States relief is of the indoor
kind. In the moral order the State
maintains reformatories and correc.
tional institutions, especially for WON.
en- and young offenders. Other things
being equal, however, the State can.
not do this work as effectively as a
private institution conducted under
frankly religious influences. For the
correction of moral defects and the
building up of character suppose moral
instruction and training, and these
have not yet been successfully given
except in connection with religion As
a rule, then, the most effective plan
for the relief of moral distress in in
stitutions is to have the greater part
of the work done by private religious
agencies subsidized by the State in
accordance with the number of in
mates. This arrangement has long
been in satisfactory operation in many
of our commonwealth. However, the
amount of money contributed per i'm
dividual by the State, ought to bt
somewhat less than the cost of similar
maintenance in public institutions