The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-03-10
Liberal Viewpoint
:Rr DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES:

| Barnes Phi d. on the so eiaI reform activities of
Charles Dickens, noted In gish author Interest in
Dickens being revived bcause of the fact that Dick
Life of Lord" is being published in The
| Times
~ ICKENS never tired of emphasizing the
! IL point that stubborn opposition % social
justice and a fair deal for all men was he chief
cause of revolution This is reiterated time and
! again, especially in his Tale of Two Cities"
which recountS in part the stirring times Of the
French revolution.
Just as in our own day we have had to aban-
don and combat the rugged individualism" of
the Republicans and Mr.. Hoover, so Dickens
vigorously assaulted the indivdualism of the
factory owners and the economists of his time
The latter persistently maintained that we
would have to trust TO natural forces and the
|oenevOlence of employers in order to bring about
prosperity and social well being for all classes
Looking about him, Dickens could see how
such philosophy actually worked out in prac-
tics
He saw the miserable factory towns, the long
hours Of labor, insufficient wages and the ruth
| less oppression of women and children. His
whole personality revolted against this narrow
and selfish philosophy.
In approaching the social problem Dickens
was a confirmed believer in democracy. He once
wrote: II take it that We were born and that
we hold our sympathies, hopes and energies in
| trust for the many and not for the few. Moth
ing is high because It is in high place; nothing
is low because it is in low one. =. =. believe
that virtue shows quite as well in rags and
patches as she does N purple and fine linen"
But Dickens was realistic enough to know
that democracy means nothing unless it passes
from phrases to practice. Therefore he worked
valiantly for political reforms which would give
the masses the right TO elect their representa-
tives to Parliament and would give the House of
Commons dominant position in the govern
ment.
hot c+o vyf13
the people their Just birthright and not be
handed down to them as a condeScending sop
from the ariStOcracy. Like Mr. Roosevelt, he
proceeded from the conception of the interest
of the community as a whole
He never allied himself to any narrow or spe-
cial type of social reform program, such as So
cialism He was against every form of evil and
oppression and desired to attack it With every
available means He was as one writer observed,
"the prose prophet Of the cause of social reform
itself"
THE worst forms of misery and oppression in
Il Dickens day were to be found in the work.
ing conditions in the factories and mines of
England. In a famous passage in Martin
Chuzzlewit" he asked what chance one has for
life and decency under such conditions.
'Bethink yourselves that there are scores of
thousands breathing now and breathing thick
with painful toll who have never lived at ALL nor
had a chance of life? Go We, teachers of content
and honest pride, into the mine, the mill, the
! forge, the squalid depths of deepest ignorance
and uttermOst abyss of mans neglect and say
can any hopeful plant spring up in air so foul
| that it eXtinguiSheS the souls bright torch as
| fast as it is kindled"
Such passage as this reminds us strikingly
of the novels of today. For example Jack Con-
roy's "The Disinherited," which reveals the
misery and blasted lives of the victims of the
old deal which broke down in 1929
! Dickens indignation was also aroused by the
money changers" the England of Dickens time
had to reckon with avariciOus and eXtortionate
| money lenders" They were relentless in their
collections and had no hesitation in throwing
their victims into prison or turning them out
homeless into the streets. In Dickens mind
they justified the phrase that "even treachery
shrinkS from them"
| Dickens subjected these vultures to devastat-
ing satire. His attacks upon the evils of usury
played a leading part in modifying English laws
in this field and in relieving the oppressed from
one of the most indefensible types of extortion
He here anticipated many of the problems
which Mr.. Roosevelt has had to deal with on a
larger SCALE in saving farmers and urban home
owners from the loan sharks as one of the lead
ing humanitarian aspects of the new deal
TINE English poor law came in for repeated
Il and merited criticism in Dickens works.
In his youth it had been too lax. Then came
the great reform of 1884 which went to the OPP
and unfeeling fashion, being particularly brutal
in its effect upon children.
He also exposed the savagery in the charity
schools of England in "Oliver Twist" and this
led him into consideration Of the evils of the
whole English educational system He pointed
out the inadequaceS of educational opportunities
among the poor children, and in his immortal
Nicholas Nickleby" he presents us with an I'M
forgettabe picture of the disgraceful treatment
of children in English schools of his time No
other writer has ever succeeded in making so
ridiculous the absurdities of the punitive theory
of education.
In his David Copperf1eld" and Little Dorrit"
there are appalling pictures of prison life which
never can be erased from the mind of a2y
reader. They helped more than anything else
in English fiction to bring prison reform to the
fore in England. Dickens novels must be rated
along with the work of John Howard and Eliz-
abeth Fry in putting an end to the worst forms
Of prison Savagery in Great Britain.
Dickens experiences with prisons and courts
led him logically from prison reform to interest
in legal reform. He was impressed by the de-
lays, red tape and injustices in English courts
and legal procedure. He saw how difficult it
was for the poor man to get justice.
DICKENS recognized that even if better con-
- ditions existed in the factories the life of
the working masses would be that of beasts I'M
less the miserable tene1nents could be torn down
and decent homes provided.
But Dickens gaze was not limited purely to
the cities. He recognized the miseries which
had come to the English peaSantry as result
of wholesale evictions and the growing power of
the great landlords.
Today we find the prospects of the new deal
placed in jeopardy for the specter of war on the
European and Far Eastern horizons. Dickens
showed himself sufficiently realiSt to recognize
that reforms at home were likely to be nullifed
if the country became involved in foreign wars
Therefore he ever urged that the ma triotie,,,