Year: 1879

THE SOCIAL PROBLEM AND THE EFFICACY OF


sELF-HELP-LECTURE by PROFESSOR ADLER.


We return to the field of social ethics. On that
field the battle of humanity will be fought in the
future. There the watchwords of truth and justice
Which SO often seem hollow and hackneyed,
qure new and stirring applications. and the issues
for which the contest is waged relate to the perma
mont welfare of the whole race. wish to supple
ment to-day what have said on charity in some i'm
portaut particulars. Wherever 90 on the surface
of poverty hit upon the want OF employment as
the underlying evil No charity will be radical which
docs not cope with this evil. There il permanent
impression that charity is a luxury, a kind Of
moral delicacy which we may allow ourselves after
having satisfied our appetite for substantial
things. But it should be regarded a duty within
certain limits that the State should have the right to
make charity compulsory. The reason why there is
this lack OF system in our public charities and why
our philanthropy has desultory character is to DC
found in the nordinate value set by the American
people on the principle Of self-help. We may say in
passing that the spread in FREQ religion is in part
TO the quality of selfreliance. The American
tradition and the Christian tradition are in some
antagonistic. Tho American tradition directs
every to rise by his own exertions The
Christian tradition tells men that in the most
important affair of their lives they must rely COM





tradition is opposed to extraneous authority; the
Christian tradition insists the extraneous author
ity Of dogma and Church. II must not be forgotten
that the political institutions Of this country are
silently fostering scepticism among the people. The
principle OF selfhelp being SO deeply rooted among
the American people it is natural that they should
look with disavor or indifference upon large system
attic matters of relief For q long time no one be-
lieved that there could be question of pauperism
for us. But change has como about with astonsh-
ing rapicity.


THE SOCIAL PROBLEM


The social problem. name barely known on this
side OF the Atlantic until recent times, has developed


into striking Importance. and wild and foolish
threats and fears Of anarchy uttered. The
is the existence Of permanent CLASS to whom the
principal OF self-help does not apply-who cannot
help themselves. And this class is not composed Of
idle vagabonds, but often of honest working people,
get work 10 do TO explain the existence Of such a
class IL is usual to refer to the imitation OF the
roncy the waste of capital during the civil
was one OF its most deporable consequences. But
there is deeper cause founded In our industrial
system itself, the consideration of which will show,


trust that the American principle of sefhelp justly
applies only within certain limits. aud must be sup
pemcnted by tho broader principle OF mutual help.
Wages oscillatc about certain minimum point that
point being the minimum at which tho laborer will
consent to ive IL wages TALL below this point the
supply of labor will be decreased by death and wages
must rise again. III wages rise above the minimum
point the supply of labor will be increased by the
attraction of higher remuneration from the
of marriages. The consequence will be that wages
must again fall. There Is, then, this oscillation
about the minimum point. There is constant alter
nation OF industrial expansion and contraction. Tho


introduction OF machinery greatly hoightens the dis
astrous effects of this process. With every expan-
sion thousands of laborers drawn into employ
ment. at every contraction they thrown out of
employment


THE ARMY OF STARVATION.


The question is Who're they thrown to when
they are out OF employment? They arc thrown into
what has been appropriately called the ''army Of
starvation" large host dispersed among alleys and
garrets in the neghborhood OF great industrial
establishments. or this army few have tho audacity
TO starve outright They 20 about It In a circuitous
way. They fall sick fast from want of food and then
perish in their sickness, and their death does not
shock tho community as IL would IL read 80
many hundreds starvcd' but their death Is reported
under the head of some ordinary disease Another
part of this army becomcstrasnps. Others are sup
ported by the state in prisons and for
the State does not acknowledge ts duty to support
| poor man unless he prove that he is at least q
thief To the host OF the destitute concedc two
fold rign-right to live and right TO living. Tho
right to lie is inalienable right guaranteed by
| Magma Charta to every citizen of the land. In ac-
coidance with this right we should appoint
| mission of specialists In charity aud enact
| appropriate poor laws-hrst, TO connne pauper-
ism within manageable limits by making the
\ poor of any town county charReabe that
town or county; then, to adequately supply tho bare