IS CIVILISATION CHARITABLE?

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17742, 19 April 1923, Page 2

IS CIVILISATION CHARITABLE?

TO-DAY'S SELF-COMPLACENCY. [Contributed 7 .] Behind a fanfaronade of virtue, we people of this wondenul age and country view the savage of uays gone by with a tolerance born of the knowledge that in his ignorance he knew not what he diu. now great the civilised wond is to-day. Look at our wireless teiepnony, and new nniiineij. j_low vnjiiut;i-j.iu tney all are. uut, Him au our muwi-vaunted civiluuuuu, «ue vtu more cnautabie to-uuy uuui wie suiVuge ui a of tnous>"iiu jeaio vt course, tney never uuu aii,y in uiuae days—but i/ucii i/uty never iieeutsu any. 'ints iove oi ciiudien tnat nas ever been u&sociuteu witn mankind lounu more uu'etii expression in tnose days tnan now. gave to tne neeuy without stopping ui count the cost. Today no are uuiereiii/, but it is doubtful whether civilisation has not done more to stuitiiy than to daveiop the desire to heip destitute children. i\ot tuat civilisation has killed the inborn wish to heip, ratther that civilisation lias provided such a welter of counter-attractions and side issues that natural cnanty is lost in a maze of quaiuying desires thaj coniouud the issue so tnat tne main fact is lost sight ot. It may be that a competitor, eituer in business or in the even more ruthless competition tor social prestige, nas given a donation beyond ' our means, or has apparently uiawn the limelight by giving it before we can. Are we,- then, to take second place by following the lead or by niuiung a smaller donution in keeping with our means P s No fear, we would rather give nothing tiian do that. The fact that an yiner voice teils us that no nobler charity ever appealed to us for help matters not. The fact that other people are giving their life's work to this charity matters not. The fact that in the best interests of the community our orphanages must bo supported matters not. Instead o/ helping to the best of our means, many of us find excuses to anaesthetise our bet-< ter feelings, and do nothing—politely. The savage would probably grunt, and, recognising the urgent necessity of the case, chuck a goodly share of his limited tucker to the needy one. No side issues would cloud his judgment, because he was not civilised.