THE NEW POOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20898, 13 June 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE NEW POOR.

TRAGEDY OF UNEMPLOYED. BY ELSIE K. MORTON. A few years ago one heard a good deal of a class generally known as the " nouvcau richc." They swam into the , limelight on a wave of sudden prosperity; starting usually in a humble way as small tradesmen, or workers in some obscure avenuo of employment, they amassed fortunes rather late in life, and tho "new rich," with their crude pretensions and desperate efforts to scale thrf social heights were tho subject of a good deal of derision and good-natured contempt. Tho class that is most deserving of attention to-day is the new poor. Thero is ' often something ludicrous about tho sudden accession of wealth; it goes to the head, and drives men and women to strange excesses. There is nothing at all ludicrous about a sudden plunge into poverty. It cuts to tho heart and leaves the victim dazed and fearful; it lays a pall of dark foreboding on mind and spirit, and only a very strong and living faith in the doctrine of "whatever is. is best" can stand up against tlie onslaught of worry and fear. It is tho problem of the new poor that is challenging every social worker, every Christian thinker, in New Zealand, as in other countries, to-day. Everyone who knows anything of the problem of social work soon learns to classify those .who seek heh) —tho improvident, tho "won't workers, the unfortunate an'' those suffering from physical or mental handicap. But theso new poor! They aro very different. They would sooner live on dry bread and shiver over empty fireplaces than breathe a word of their dire need. Last year they were in salaried positions; they were putting their hands in their pockets to help some unfortunate fellow man or woman. To-day their pockets are empty, and they aro walking the streets with boots worn beyond the mending with long tramping in vain search of work. The Burden of Despair. Are there none of tho new poor among your own friends or acquaintances ? '1 hero aro many among mine, and ono hears every day of fresh cases of men and girls who have lost their positions owing to the hardness of the times. Tho man with wife and family, of course, is the one who is hardest, hit. Have you ever thought for a moment what it must bo like for a man, able and willing to work, to havo to deny his children the smallest request, to seo accounts for the very barest necessities of life accumulating, and havo literally not a pound in the world to call his own 1 Presently you hear your friend is on relief work. His hands are rough and blistered with unaccustomed handling of spado or pick—still, it is work, poorly paid, arduous, but work. Work that is all the new poor are asking for, not charity! But if we cannot find employment "for them, what then? That is the problem each one of lis should be willing to face. It is much more difficult now than in t*» old days, when one simply turned such matters over to tho social workers. It is our own people who aro the new poor, and daily that sad army i§ gaining new recruits Thero aro young men of education, skilled workers in their own special line, who are existing— hardlv living—in enforced idleness to-day, who for long months past have been seeking work and earned not a penny. They must find money to pay tho unemployment tax, and often it has conic from a widowed mother's tiny allowance or from a father's old-age pension. " They should bo willing to take on work of any kind, under such conditions!" you exclaim with righteous fervour. Of course they should, and they arc. The onlv trouble is that there is no work of any kind offering. You cannot send them to dig people's gardens or to milk a farmer's cows, because householders quite rightly object to paying for having their gardens wrecked by a novice who does not know a tulip from a turnip, while the cows, as well as the farmers, have an instinctive prejudice against the experimenter with a milk pail between his knees. Of course, they are doing what they can, the new poor. Thfey are dutifully following all the kindly hints of their friends, sewing newspapers into old covers to keep out tho cold these bitter winter nights, going to bed early to save the gas. and buying the cheapest cuts of meat when they buy meat at all. But what of the growing despair, the wretchedness of hope deferred that lies heavy upon thousands of hearts to-day ? You cannot keep black depression out of tho human heart with a hundred newspapers sewn into old covers, and you cannot really brighten a despairing man up very much by slapping him on the back and telling him to cheer up, this is the best of all possible worlds! A Stone for Bread, Meantime, what is this enforced idleness going to do to our younger men and women, for the women are in it, now as never they have been before in this happy country? The sapping of those springs of high courage and resolve with which youth sets out, tho gradual relinquishment of long-cherished ambitions, tho bitter realisation that as a world's worker r\ne simply is not wanted—how aro theso things going to affect the young men and girls just starting out on the pathway of life? They looked to life for bread—is it going to offer them only a stono ? These are things we may well hear in mind when we read of " the unemployed," and hear of fresh recruits to the pitiful ranks of tho new poor." And bearing them in mind, what can wo do? It seems to mo we can do a good deal in quite a practical way. We cannot rush round showering indiscriminate sacks of coal and bowls of soup, but those of us who still hold good positions could put our* hands iri our pockets or purses and send a donation to the social workers, just by way of a thank-offering for jobs that are steady. If each one. sent only a few shillings, what an uplift for those who are trying to ease, tho burden of their fellow men and women, whose sorrows and troubles in true Christ-like spirit they are making their own. That is one small practical suggestion. I make it because those who need help most urgently will often accept it from a social worker whoso work is done unobtrusively in the spirit of tho Good Samaritan, whereas their pride would rebel against acceptance of tho dole of charitable aid through official channels. Sharing the Burden. There is another way in which all can help, and that is by the creation of a general spirit of sympathy and kindly feeling toward those who havo fallen under the lash of ill-fortune. Theso new poor, please God, will not, like the other poor, bo with us always. When brighter days dawn, they will find work again in their own trades and professions, but wo must hearten them up and help to tide them over the lean and hungry days of winter. Once create this spirit of" goodwill, once let a community resolve to give all its unfortunate members a helping hand with their over-heavy burden, and there will bo no cause for worry as to how that kindly spirit is going to find practical expression. The way will bo shown. Let the light shine forth and weary feet will soon bo stumbling toward it 'through the dark . . . The Light shone but once, two thousand years ago, but millions aro still patiently following the path consecrated by feet that bled, by tho anguish of Ono who carried on bowed shoulders tho heartbreak and sorrow of the whole world.