The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-10-21
The Cruelty Of Kindness.

articles former President William II.
Taft says:
zone of the greatest dangers we
are facing today is the enormous
cost of government and the rapid
ly increasing burden of public
debt. BY taking too much from
the prudent and industrious to help
the unfortunate, the thriftless and
the idle, and by teaching all to
look to the public treasury for
support, thrift and saving will
be discouraged, independence and
strength of character will be des-
troyed."
If the former president had come to
Kenosha and made personal survey
Of conditions in the city he could not
have written anything more to the
point. Kenosha is one of the cities in
which the cruelty Of kindness has been
emphasized. This is not meant as
criticism on the work of the present
kindly disposed pauper officials or on
agencies which have come to the relief
of suffering humanity in Kenosh The
careful student of conditions in Keno
sha already appreciates that "discour-
aging of independence has already
become a fact in Kenosha.
Kenosha got started wrong some
time. Way back in other years-poss-
IDLY not so far back either-the rapidly
growing foreign population in the city
were given the wrong idea of the paup-
er department. This department was
once operated for the aid of the needy
poor and not with a view of making
an opening for more to enter into the
class of dependents. 1t was made easy
for the unfortunate and the thriftless
to get aid from the city and it was
even made popular. Officially the city
spends about $4,000 year paying this
bill and unoficially it probably spends
twice this amount.
On account of the fact that it has
been easy to get aid in Kenosha many
people have taken advantage of this
to become cares on the public. The eff
fol" to live and live by ones own ex-
ertions Las not been stimulated as it
might have been had Kenosha got start
el right
The sting Of adversely has many
times proven the prod to higher
achievement but the man or woman
who finds it easy to get help from
the city and its charitable organiza-
tions finds that the sting of adversely
is not nearly so hard. Making the path
to pauperism too easy is a cruel kind
ness for it takes from the man or wo-
man made a pauper that chance to try
out his or her own resources. 1t may
be a problem to work out how to get
Kenosha and her people out of the
habit. IF it is possible to do this the
present pauper commissioner will ac-
complish the end sought. He has tried
to instill thrift into the minds where
pauperism was firmly established but
he found his way hard. He has forced
thrift by making pauperism harder and
in this he should have the support of
all right thinking people. 1t will take
years of effort to get the people back
to the place where they see that it is
easier to be self supporting than to be
paupers. Organizations for relief of
suffering are more and more working
along these lines every year. Where
loaf of bread was formerly given a
word of advice, or help to getting
position is substituted The helpful
ness of these organizations is most ex-
pressed in helping the unfortunate to
help themselves. The confirmed pauper
is as far from aid as the slave to any
habit and the habit of pauperism grows
just as surely as that of the man or
woman who gets into the thralldom of
the drug habit. The first step into paup-
erism is just as much to be dreaded as
the first step into any other habit
There is no degradation greater than
that of pauperism. 1t is a degradation
devoid of hope and ambition and it
leads it's follower into life more mis-
cradle than that of the drunkard or the
drug fiend.
Teaching men and women to be thrift
ty and supporting even in time of
adversely must come to be the greatest
labor of the organizations which would
be truly helpful. Just think it over.
THE Cruelty of Kindness