INDISCRIMINATE CHARITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9117, 16 May 1891, Page 6 (Supplement)

INDISCRIMINATE CHARITY.

In an article on "The AdYaDtages of Poverty," which appeared in the March number of "The Nineteenth Century," Mr Andrew Carnegie says:—

I estimate that of every thousand dollars spent in so-called charity, nine hundred and fifty of them had better be thrown Into the sea. . . . The money given to prudent,

saving people, even if they may not need it, cannot produce the Berious consequences of that given to the much more numerous class who use it for the gratification of vice and to enable them to live in idleness. Unless the individual giver knows the person or family in misfortune, their habits, conduct, and cause of distress, and knows that help given will help them to help themselves, he cannot act properly; and, if he does act to save his own feelings—which one is very apt to do—he will increase rather than diminish the distress which appeals to him. There is really no true charity except that which will help others to help themselves, and which does not place within the reach of the aspiring the means to climb. I notice a prevalent disposition to think only of the unfortunate wretches into whom the virtues necessary for improvement cannot be instilled. Common humanity impels us to provide for the actual wants of human beings, to see, through our poor laws, that none die of starvation, to provide comfortable shelter, clothing, and instruction, which should, however, always be dependent upon work performed; but, in doing this, our thoughts should also turn to the benefits that are to accrue to those who are yet sound and industrious, and seeking through labour the means of betterment, by removing from their midst and placing under care of the State in workhouses the social lepers. Every drunken vagabond or lazy idler supported by alms bestowed by wealthy people is a source of moral infection to a neighbourhood. It will not do to teach the hard working, industrious man that there is an easier pith by which his wants can be supplied. The earnest reformer will think as much, if not more, of the preservation of the sound and valuable members among the poor, as ol any real change which can be effected in those who seem hopelessly lost to temperance, industry, and thrift. He will labour more to prevent than to cure, feeling that it is necesEary to remove the spoiled grape from the bunch, the spoiled apple from the barrel, mainly for the sake of the sound frnit that remains. He who would plunge the knife into the social cancer, if any good is to be effected thereby, must needs be a skilled surgeon with steady hand and calm judgment, with feelings as much under control as possible—the less emotion the better. One reads or hears everywhere of rash proposals— well-meaning no doubt, full of the innocence of the dove, but there is no task which more requires the wisdom of the serpent, which seems wofully lacking in these sensational schemes. The following from Rabbi Adler must be quoted; it is sound to the core:— "Giving, however, is an easy matter; it needs neither special training nor sustained thought. But the purpose and methods of charitable relief cannot be learned without a long and diligent apprenticeship, for which discipline in the painful school of personal experience is alone of any avail. Sorry as I am to say it, the more attention I give to this subject, the greater the genuine knowledge obtained, the higher I am disposed to raise my estimate of the evil produced by indiscriminate giving."