The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 5, 1899, Page 19

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 1899. Do Charitable oiyamfzm‘ions Gneourage Sauperiom?’ DISCUSSED BY: David Starr Jordan, O charitable organizations lessen poverty and raise the in- digent? Do they encourage pauperism? Do they create the evil they are designed to relleve? Are they breeders of idle- ness among the weak-spirited? What are they accomplishing with that great social problem—the poor? Some of those best qualified to discuss these questions have briefly answered them below: o S The question s a very complex one and I fear that these charitable institutions are regarded by many as a sort of bonus to idleness. @ The main thing is the next gpn;ratl:):, JOS E and when we strive to strengthen e DR. JOSEPH LE CONTE, | 27 Ot Propagators of the world (the Uity Stca o | Weak ana impoverished) we are pofsoning ®&——————— & the blood of the next generation by the preservation of their specles. Some years ago I had thoughts upon this subject, but it was too wide a fleld to follow up; however, I reasoned upon the following hypothesis: In organic evolution “the fittest” are those most in haIn n mony with the physical environment, and therefore they survive. human evolution the fittest are those most in harmony with the ideal, and often, especially in the earlier stages, when the race is still largely under the dominion of organic factors, they do not survive, because not in harmony with the social environment. But, although the fittest individuals may indeed perish, the ideal survives in the race and will eventually triumph. In organic evolution the weak, the sick, the helpless, the unfit in any way perish and ought to perish, because this is the most efficlent way of strengthening the blood or physical nature of the species, and thus carrying forward evolution. In human evolution the weak, the helpless, the sick, the old, the unfit in any way are sustained because sympathy, love and pity strengthen the spirit or moral nature of the race. But let us remem- ber that in this material world of ours and during this earthly life the spirit or moral nature is conditioned on the physical nature, and, therefore, in all our attempts to help the weak we must be careful to avoid poisoning the blood and weakening the physical vigor of the race by inheritance. This gravest of social problems, namely: How shall we obey the higher law of love and mutual help without weakening the blood of the race by inheritance and the spirit of the race by removing the question of self-help? This problem, I believe, will be solved by a rational education, physical, mental and moral. o e e I am unable to give any decided opinion in regard to the matter, but I think all who are {nterested in such institutions feel at times that their alms are misdirected. I should certainly oppose any radical changes in these offices of soft humanity, for the crying orphan must be fed, and we must & —————————————5 mix the tears of pity with thosg of grati- tude. On the whole I think that those who are helping others would rather be fooled once in a while than to allow a worthy applicant of charity to go unheeded. So there remains but one solution to the vexing problem—we must sustaln charitable institutions which are united in their efforts to geek and succor the feeble. | MRs. A F. MORRISON, J President of the Century Club. This subject admits of no inconsiderable diversity of opinion, and one cannot hope to reach any definite conclusions in the matter. ® If man dwelt in his natural state it is obvious that the law of the “survival of the fittest” would obtain, as it does in the existence of the wild animals. < Each individual would be compelled to provide his own sustenance or he would perforce perish, but such a condition is manifestly incompatible with the present order of things. There are many among us who are absolutely dependent on the charity of their fellow-beings. Their survival is due to the tenderness which is lodged in almost every human breast. It fs right thdt it should be so, and it is the only thing possible. But unfortunately charity does not confine her favors to those who are deserving of them, but bestows assistance where vil sometimes results from her generosity. For community there are those who prefer to depend upon the milk of human kindness rather than to earn their own living. Now if these men who beg their way through life were | MRS. LOVELL WHITE, Presidant of the California Club. Dr. Joseph Le Conte, N. P. Cole, Mrs. Judge Currey, Willlam Sproule, bread they would surely go to the wall It Is more than probable that every one of them would find means for his maintenance. But unfortunately our clvilization is such that there can be no classlfication of those who are deserving of charity and those who are not, and were the attempt made there would doubtless be much in- Justice done on both sides. And so each of us must make his own choice, using his best judgment and-being neither too liberal nor too stinted, for there are those who really deserve our help. And we should ‘be thankful, moreover, that we are not afflicted with the hordes of paupers that infest the citles of Southern Europe and prove such a pest to those who are compelied to abide with them. Our freedom from this evil is probably due partly to our beggary laws and partly to the energy and enterprise of the American character. % e 1 most assuredly do not favor the constant “‘boosting” up of the chronic mendicants, but it is human to hunt the wretched out and &————————————— this can only be done by a perfect sys- N. P. COLE, z tem of organized charities, therefore, I Presidgnt San Francisco Benevolent | think them a public necessity. The San Association, Francisco Benevolent Society used to re- &————————————¢ celve $5000 per year from the Police Court fines, which was distributed without expense to the city to the ab- ject poor. This fund ceased a year or so ago, and now were it not for the bequests made by philanthropic individuals we would have been obliged to close our doors long ago. I think that the city should tax us and the fund be applied to the lowest rate of wages for public improvement which can be obtained, and then when the unemployed desire ald let them be set to work. This method would relieve cases of poverty that cannot be remedied otherwise. R To a certain extent these charitable institutions do foster pau- perism, but at the same time they do more good than harm, infinitely more so. If it were not for thc charitable WILLIAM DOXEY, societies a great many worthy people President British Benevolent So- | Would be in dire distress. There are two clety. classes of worthy people—one i{s the man who s willing to work but is not able to obtain employment. If he is a single man he is deserving of pity, but if he has a family depending upon him it is not enough to ge]p him up; we must find him permanent means of support for that family. The British Benevolent Society gives only temporary relief to enable them to tide over a little time and will not accept chronic cases of destitution. It is particularly necessary for us to have an institution, because Britishers come from all over the world to this pivotal point. We seem to be the center of the world for the British wanderer, and have calls from Japan, Canada, British Columbia, New Zealand and India. In a great many instances the money which we have expended has been returned to us, thus enabling us to help others with the same fund. The other class of worthy poor is the sickly and unable to work kind. The great trouble that we have with this class is that they are apt to think that they are pensioners. The indiscriminate giving of meal tickets to great strapping fellows who won’t work makes the work of the society still more difficult. The general public usually support this class. I belleve that the societies are doing a vast amount of good by their careful system of investiga- tion and assistance to the worthy poor. TN T Unless charities are managed with the greatest care they be- come a means of giving something for nothing, and therefore they lower the incentive to self-help. The essence of wise charity is that it should be discriminating; giving help where help is needed or the best thing to give and @ giving advice and sympathy where they are best. There is no hard and fast rule in these matters. There is no sieve through which the paupers and beggars can be run. Each case must be treated on its merits. To do this requires brains. The value of associated charities and charity commissions is in the fact that they are able to call brains into service. Poverty is not pauperism. The person now subject to poverty may have within himself the cure for it. The pauper cannot cure himself, and all help given him but intensifies his pauperism. There are various conditions—sickness, dissipation, the weakness of age, evil associations—that may plunge the average man from poverty into pauperism. We are none too well equipped for the struggle for life at the best, and the loss of weapons may make any man helpless for the time being, but some are helpless from the time of birth. DR. DAVID STARR JORDAN: Pres. Leland Stanford University. Mrs. A..F. Morrison, C. V. S. Gibbs, Mrs. P. N. Lilienthal, Captain Oliver Eldridge. fitness is impossible. They are simply incapable, and they are the descendants of others who in similar conditions have been likewise incapable. They are born to misery, and the aggregate of misery would be sensibly lessened had they never been born. Hereditary incapacity of the few has been in all ages a burden on the many ‘who could take care of themselves. The descendants of these increase in number with the others. Thus the future of hereditary weakness is a growing problem in our social organization. The destruction of the unfit has not kept pace with their power of reproduction. We may blame the kind influence of charity for lack of discrimination in its efforts for the help of our neighbors. The indiscriminate charity of the Middle Ages is responsible for much of the misery of ours. It is only lately that science has shown that charity is to be judged not by its motives, but by its results. “Charity, falsely so called,” says McCulloch, ‘‘covers a muititude of eins, and sends the paupers out with the benediction ‘Be fruitful and multiply!’# Such charity has made this element, has brought children to birth and insured them a life of misery, cold, hunger, sickness. From all institutions a certain form of degeneration must arise, because all institutions tend in some degree to do away with individual effort. All forms of tyranny have their beginning in kindness. Paternalism in time hardens into oppression and checks the growth of the In- dividual man, who should become responsible to himself and for himself. Of course the conditions of life have never yet made the “survival of the fittest” the real survival of the best. The growth of civilization approaches tI end, but has never reached it. In knowledge lies the surest remedy for most social and political evils. What more can be done is the work of students of social science to determine: Dr. AmosG. Warner has well said that the “true function of charity is to restore to usefulness those who are temporarily unfit, and to allow those unfit from heredity to become extinct with as little pain as possible.” Sooner or later the last duty, will not be less im- portant and pressing than the first. Good blood as well as free schools and free environment is essentlal to the making of a nation. a S If charitable institutions are properly managed I think they are a great benefit to the community. I am interested in several of these relief homes and if it had not been for thelr existence, especially during the past year, there would have been untold misery in many homes, caused by the exodus of the heads of families for the Klondike The English visitors to these institutions are in C. V. S. GIBBS, Vice President Crocker Home. region last summer. thgimnjorlty of all nations in their appeals for assistance, and of all religious denominations the Cathollcs, contrary to the popular opinion, nreg’ln the minority as shown by the records. The ruined spend- thrifts must have ancther chance, somehow or somewhere, but we were obliged to legislate against them by excluding the unmarried of both sexes. All mankind's concern is charity, and “it blesses him that gives and him that take Do I think that charitable institutions create the conditions that say no, most emphatically. 1 do not be- lieve that it is a natural instinct of hu- make them a necessity? I S — Y manity to depend upon others for sup- Mrs. Lovell White, William Doxey, ment and begging as a speculation. Four hundred and elg! were American born, 184 were Germans and 196 were from Irc oL AT I do believe that charitable institutions create beggary. forced to do so by the experience of our own society. For years we had a relief home and v much imposed upon that we were oblig to close jts doors, and now pr vide work for the plicants in need. Wwa discovered that by constantly fur: I relief we fostered that spirit of mendicancy instead of diminishing and that our soclety, non-sectarian as it has always been, siin; was another avenue for the professional beggar. So we were ob 1 to close our doors to all applicants save those who asked for work These we are still helping and on the whole it is the most satisfact ry method that we have yet pursued. Education and employment are the most potent agents yet fo.und .to el.’adlcate the evil of pauperism MRS. P. N. LILIENTHAL, President Emanu-El Sisterhood, 1 do not belleve that charity creates the evils it is design relleve. Indiscriminate charity does create them in a very Ij sense, but indiscriminate chs: y exception—more read about th it were general it would cr je for charity more than it would allev o WILLIAM SPROULE, Attorney at Law. §g———————5 distress. That we cannot always discrim- inate in our charitles is a weak reason for declining to be charitabla, The charitable impulse often gives the sufferer the benefit of the doubt. In trying to save a man from drowning we don't stop to de-. cide whether he ought to be drowned. In our sche fit survive, the unfit go under and cry for help. So lor in the struggle for subsistence, whether because of inhe mental or moral defect or stress of environment, so ! humane seek to relieve the sufferings that follow Inca R PSL | A | of soclety the some faf hysical A1l th confronted with the proposition that unless they t fled for their dafly There is in every nation a multitude of men and women to whom 000000000000OOOOOOOOOOOO0000000000000000000000000000000000000 o IGHT WITH A GRIZZLY 3 o [} Thrilling Experience of a Fresno County Hunter While Out Camping in the Sierras. g O roll down a snow-covered moun- about as he peered between the branches my kpife into his heart. © tain side tightly clasped in the em- of the brush. “The skin measured over seven feet. I © brace of a grizzly bear is an ex- _‘Suddenly one of the horses down in found out while we were cutting him up few men pass through ana C2MP neighed lou and attracted the that when he struck the rock at the bot- © but that is what hap. DaTS attention. As the bear turned and tom of the hill he shattered his spine. It e sgbubgenes 74P~ exposed his side I fired. Down went the! was just a piece of luck that the bear ° Lecky of Fresno about two weeks ago, and he has only a few scr s and a blg bear- skl of his terrible en- wickedest fight 1 ever got when telling of his ex- ; 1 have been in a good ing out hunting in the Sierras er, as I do. fight happenedup In the Whit- ney country. It was just a few miles east of the Minarets, and in a spot where a fellow 1s always pretty sure to find big game. “It was pretty late In the afternoon, and I was all alone In camp, as the other ad not returned from a deer hunt d on in the morning. been dozing in the tent all day, out to have a look at the sky. i along the top of a bluff a from camp I saw some- about. for me.” I got my after it. The kind ing after didn’t con- r didn’t expect nkerous bear. y through the > top of the bluff; long carefuily in ing shot and not my game too suddenly. y I caught a close view of a big body moving behind a clump of It was so large that for a mo- ving nt 1 had been stalking a 1dy to kick myself. Then & long-drawn sniff and a deep growl told me it was bear I was sighting. Instantly I was all excited with interest, and strained every nerve to get the beast in line and so plant a bullet into the right spot. The bear, however, had a mind to keep his eyes on me, and kept moving bear like a bag of wheat, and I thought my rifle ball must - have gone clean through Iits brain. Without stopping to consider whether my shot had really been fatal, 1 rushed forward. As I stooped down to see where theball struck the bear Jumped up, and then I knew I had only ‘creased’ it—that is, just grazed its head or spiral cord and knocked it senseless for a moment. “Before I could swing my rifle forward to get in a shot the bear had knocked it out of my hands, and was right on top of me. Somehow I managed to draw my knife and get in a few jabs that did no damage. The bear hugged me tighter and tighter, and I kicked harder and harder and jabbed wildly with my knife. Then we both rolled on the ground, and the bear tried to bite my face, but I kept off his fast clawing blows by huggin, tightly against him. I jabbed and jabbed as we rolled over and over, and the bear’s face and jaws were pretty badly cut and one of his eves put out of servica. The snow all around was torn up and spat- tered with blood. “Before 1 knew it we were just on the edge of the bluff, and an almost vertical wall of snow lay just beiow us for over a hundred feet to the bottom. *“This frightened me more than the bear, for I knew what it meant, but before I could think of doing anything we were over the edge and rolling down at light- ning speed. “It could not have taken more than a few seconds, but it seemed to me like years. Now I was on top of the bear, and now underneath. Bnow filled my eyes and cars, and I was scratched and wounded and bumped until I thought my end had come. “It seems to me that I kept striking at the bear as we rolled, or rather shot, downward, for we were going at the speed of a cannon ball. Then there was a sud- den bump, while I was on top, and the bear gave a moan of pain and let go of me. “That gave me my chance, and I drove struck the rock, and not myself.” MRS. JUDGE CURREY, President Woman's Exchangs port. Conditions may arise to make the applicant for charity unfit to labor, but that {ndividual prefers to paddle his own canoe as soon as the opportunity presents itself. The Woman's BX- change is a dally testimony to the fact that these institutions should exist. It is a depot where gentlewomen reduced in circumstances can dispose of their work and still be shielded from contact with the world. Each consignor has a number and is charged but 10 per cent commis- slon for the sales. = Their expregsions of gratitude from day to day because they are provided a market for their iridustries is proof enough that these in- stitutions should exist. It has often been said that the Woman's Ex- change simply supplies women with pin-money, but that is absurd, for each consignor is obliged to testify that she is dependent upon her own exertions before she is given a card. For my part I should be sorry indeed if charities should .ceaa.e to be. 1 have no doubt that injudicious benevolence tends to create pau- pers. But the Assoclated Charities is simply a.clear- © ing-house for the various charitable so- cieties, and its work js .to deal In a sys- tematic way with the culmination of the one great or universal want. During the &————————————% year 1897 we complled a statistical table showing how we Investigate the conditions of the needy: Total number of cases investfgated. Number of impostors.... Marital state of cases investigated: Married couples Widows Deserted husbands and widowers. It must be so. CAPT. OLIVER ELDRIDGE, Prasident Assoclated Charities. Deserted wives .. 20 Single men .... 112 Single women 47 One thousand and write, and the chief causes of distress were Intemperance, insufficient employ- ‘ - METNFESSEL F Bounded Down the Hillside Till Suddenly There Came a Terrific Bump and the Bear Let Go.”