A NOTE OF WARNING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 26, 15 September 1911, Page 3

A NOTE OF WARNING.

“LET THE STATE 1)0 .UM

“‘How much longer are we,, going, to feed everybody with a spoon and allow them to neglect duties 'and responsibilities, oven when these duties cost them absolutely nothing P” “This question; put by Colonel Hughes at a meeting of the Sheffield Education Committee, is one which many thoughtful men and women aye putting at the present time, and. ( it is one which will have to he faced' speedily if we are to save the nation from a softness which must compass the downfall of England,” says tlie “Leicester Mail.” Wlsat’s tiis Errii?, I ■ “It is so easy to swim rivitl/j the stream, and to say smooth thirfgs; so easy for politicians to say to the working man, ‘Leave it to the State-let the State do it.’ But the case which was before the Sheffield Education Committee recently rouspd men of; both parties from their lethargy and made good Radicals, whoc spouts, plali-* tudes on public platforms, ask themselves, ‘Where is all this going to end ?’ “The- point is one worth fairing. Last year in Sheffield, as the result of examination by school duedical officers, 3981 children were reported as .haying defective vision or eyes which needed attention. The parents of the whole of these .children were communicated with, and advised to get suitable treatment, but in spite of several warnings only 1541, or less than half,. received any treatment whatever. ‘Poor people,’ we shall be told, ‘how, sad that they could not afford to obtain the necessary treatment when j they knew their cfiiildron were; likely to be handicapped ’lay defective vision.’ “Nothing of the* sort. Of the 1041 children who were attended to 856 received ‘recommends,’ and we had it on the .authority of the Lord Mayor of Sheffield that in every‘case where th.o parents satisfied the Committee that they were- unable to pay medical attention was freely and gratuitously, given to the children, and where spectacles were required these were also provided at the public cost. The Chairman of' the School Management Committee /(who was Radical candidate for one of the Sheffield divisions at the last Election)' frankly confessed that the real difficulty was that ‘so large a proportion of the parents were indifferent to the appeals made to them, and, neglected all the facilities offered, even when at no expense to , themselves.’ y “That; is tlie worst tendency of; modern legislation. Nobody would wish that a child should either he hungry , or sick; and he denied help because its parents had not the wherewithal tc furnish tlie needful. Our hospitals, our free dinner funds, the many voluntary institutions so generously supported by the public, testify to the readiness of English people to help the needy,- and especially;: childreJi. What is eminently disheartening is to. find thatf the more the State does in, this direction the more we seem to‘ undermine- parental responsibility’ in certain quarters. It is quite 'true, and wc gladly acknowledge the; fact, that many working moiv still take pride in their families, and would scorn to ask for public help in any direction where they can help themselves.' But every--'one who is engaged ,ip public life, or in social work, will, tell you that it' •is equally true that ' the number of •parents who are prepared to ‘shirk their obvious duty’ ingrowing greater; every year, and that , mqdern legislation seems to sap the' independence to which we used to point so proudly as a trait of the character of the English working man. That Which Men Sow. :

“For the moment politicians maytickle the ears of the mob Jiy- decrying that ‘self-help’ which used to be a cardinal plank 1 in Radical platform. They may substitute for the old motto of helping "‘people to help themselves tile-'' new motto, ‘Leave everything the State,’ and for the moment they will have their reward. Yet even in the twentieth century men do. not gather grapes of thorns or-'figs of thistles, and amid muqh which changes in this changeable world one law. is immutable. That which men sow—whether as individuals or as parties—that shall they also reap.”