The Washington herald., 1915-07-10
God. Poo"
~ JOHN D. DARRY

God. Poor"
~ JOHN u. BARRY. .
IT HERE is an expression, once commonly
heard. that seems to be going out of fash.
ion: Goods poor" 1t used to be spoken with
great sympathy and reverence. 1t conveyed on
the part of the speakers sense of beautiful un-
Outstanding, even of nobility.
l thought of it the other day when heard
an English traveller telling of his experience in
India. Quite seriously he remarked that much
of the poverty there due to the decline Of
war, famine and pestence, attributed to the
benehcent influence of the English conquerors.
these three forces used to keep poverty down"
he remarked. "They removed the physically un-
| fit. They left behind those who were best equip
ped for the battle of life"
In war, famine and pestilcnce, the world used
to see, or fancied that it saw, the hand of God
According to this view, God gathered in vast
| multtudes of his poor.
He also gathered in many of the physically
weak.
1t should be remembered, by the way, that
many of those considered unfit, by the physical
standards, have done great work in the world
Think of the distinguished writers that have won
fame by good work done in spite of weakness of
one kind another.
OF the three forces, war; seemingly the most
terrible, really the least effective. 1t moved
down comparatively few. They were, to be sure,
in the flower of their youth They represented
what under favoring conditions might have been
of immense value to society. But, by being for
the most part of Gods poor through destruc-
ton, they gave better chance to those lucky
enough not to be included among Gods poor.
Famine. too, was not nearly so eficacious as
it might have been 1t often let vast numbers
of people struggle on by of the resistance
OF nature. 1t showed how close to starvation
people could live without dying 1t kept Gods
poor, however, unfit physically and mentally
that they had little chance to compete with the
others who shared in the battle of life.
Pestence was the great force 1t used to
sweep away whole villages. Wherever it went
it carried fearful devastation. For those able to
resist its attack it left multitude of advantages.
in the way OF worldly possessions and of oppor-
tunities for profit and for advancement By the
control of pestilence, those of US who. under
adverse conditions, could manage to keep healthy
and strong were obliged to forego great benefits.
In former times Gods poor were so loved by
God that they had precarious tenure earth.
They would disappear in swarms. Just now there
those who go far to deny the continued
existence of Gods poor In fact they say that the
terrible poverty of medieval and ancient days has
been driven out of the world ''Where are the
poor people that the radicals and reformers are
always talking about?" rich man recently asked
in my hearing. He looked around, if in search
His tone and the expression his face showed
some indignation.
A radical, who happened to be present quietly
answered. They everywhere. If you don't
happen to them it is because you don't recog-
nize them you meet them in the street. They
live, for the most part, down in the quarters where
you never go. There are people all about US who |
are the verge of want. Throughout the big |
cities there millions who are underfed and who
perish through poverty. The disease is simply
called by other Names
The questioner shrugged his shoulders. at is
probably their fault he replied airily dis
missing the subject
This attitude interested me. 1t was so diff |
ferent from the attitude expressed by the words
Gods poor" 1t characteristic of many
people at this time. So often they were heard
blaming the poor for being shiftess and thriitIess |
and lazy and good for nothing They forgot the
part played in their own lives by luck, by adj |
vantage by privilege, by the physical and mental,
and moral conditions that helped to make them
fit. that gave them special equipment for the
battle of life.
In the legislature of great State among the
many foolish bills presented during the last ses-
sion, there was one designed to abolish poverty;
in other words, to make impossible the existence
of the thritless and the shiftless and the incom-
petent, and to keep human beings from becom-
ing Gods poor" OF course, such bill could
create only dersion and resentment. /
There must be poor people in the world" a
New York society woman remarked in a speech /
a few months ago I'VE can't all be rich" Here
perhaps, unconsciously she uttered a profound
truth. When there extremes of advantage
there must be extremes OF disadvantage. Giving
up the poor might signify that we should have
10 give up the rich We must do everything we
can to keep the world from meeting such
disaster. II
Then there are those people, always we'll fed
and we'll dressed. who like to quote the saying:
The poor We have always with YOU" They seem
10 regard this saying as justification and
prophecy; 1t really is neither: 1t is mere state
nent and it does not 60 into the future. By being
, mere statement. il might also be called an |