The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-06-19
Tur POOR ARE NOT
POORER NOWADAYS
.,,prE.oUARTERS OF TOTAL
hTncoME GOES TO PERSONS
lN r,oT MAKING OVER $4,000.

r,. ooor We have with you" and,
Inc p TO the end of time there
|ol !, 'I ~ richer and poorer, To the end
|wlII l., DC World also there will be mis-
r. . ,T accident and improvidence,
ioI W. " which cause poverty; but soon
Ial o asnt involuntary poverty will be
illo, ,,ateIv relieved until it ceases to
''d !'. and wilful, involuntary poverty
tS I' he dealt with by correction, as
T' ..,ond be. writes Frederick Amy,
n sn .or president of the National Con-
t9.snce Of Social Work.
ieI Th;s will be asserted at the fftieth
In-s meeting OF the National
2 a niarence of Social Work in Wash
s Co+rr' MAY 10 to %, though no such
lsst 'Um, would have been possible
sI ;.b the niggardly and indiscriminate
T a..;+y Of so years ago. From 5000
Cl'i ;6OO delegates from the United
et,tes Canada, Europe and Central
ssd South American countries will at
|a Land the semi-centennial.
Wealth Becoming Equal.
+ is not true that the rich are get
.;rg richer and the poor, poorer.
|Wss,tb is becoming more equal, for
,'orv three-quarters of the total in
no ,nl of the United States now goes
~ persons with incomes not exceed
Enc $4,000. while less than one-tenth
nav my goes to persons receiving more
Etan $4,000 a year.
Three thousand dollars a year is
rot poverty, though during the war
X # was proposed that a special prayer
ior men on such salaries be added to
tbe church liturgy. More equality of
wealth does, however, mean more
Equality OF opportunity, and of all
Gifts to the poor opportunity is the
hest. Poverty is due more to lack of
than it is to either lack
Of ability or lack of character.
Edward T. Devine, a national ex-
bert in social work, says that at least
half of our present poverty is inno-
cent not avoidable by the poor, but
oarty avoidable by the rich. So far as
lack OF character is a cause of power
" it is sometimes lack of character
among the rich, who control so many
Of its causes.
Organization Corrects Evil.
Definite figures in a typical Ameri-
can city which has kept records show
4 marked decrease of poverty since
The National Conference of Social
Work was formed. The Buffalo Char
y Organization Society, which is
the oldest in America, was founded
46 years ago. It's figures show that
in 1876 over 10 per cent of the popu-
alton we're receiving city outdoor re-
lief This fell in 1886 to about 2 per
,ent
Sickness is a chief cause of poverty,
ind doctors now agree that the gains
n publich health in the last half CEN
fury have been Unprecedented. They
agree, too. that the rate OF gain is in
reasing. The figures of the Buffalo
Society show that in 1915. a typical
YEAR, more than three-quarters OF its
money relief went to families in which
there was sickness. 1t is pertinent, in
his connection, to quote the late DR..
forgas, who frequently named as the
ole item essential for general public
ealth an income sufficient to guaran-
ee to every individual in the COM
lunity a standard of living adequate
or health.
The battle against poverty is only
artly won. Much involuntary power
Y is not yet adequately relieved, much
pituitary poverty is not yet correct
d, and much remains to be done in
the causes of poverty, but
he gain in so years is great. IF any
nan will not work, neither shall he
at is more true that it was, and
Am | my brothers keeper" is more
tten affirmatively answered.