ses which are mostly beneficial for
the race, to spread enlightenment and good feeling, and to help the
unfortunate. But it is also incumbent upon us to remember carefully,
what is so often overlooked in the denunciations of competition, that
the end for which we must hope, and the approach to which we must
further, is one in which the equivocal virtue of charity shall be
suppressed; that is, in which no man shall be dependent upon his
neighbour in such a sense as to be able to neglect his own duties; in
which there may be normally a reciprocity of good services, and the
reciprocity not be (as has been said) all on one side. There is a very
explicable tendency at present to ask for such one-sided reciprocity.
It is natural enough, for reasons too obvious to be mentioned, that
reformers should dwell exclusively upon the right of every one to
support, and neglect to point out the correlative duty of every one to
do his best to support himself. The popular arguments about "old-age
pensions" may illustrate the general state of mind. It is disgraceful,
people say, that so large a proportion of the aged poor should come to
depend upon the rates. Undoubtedly it is disgraceful. Then upon whom
does the disgrace fall? It sounds harsh to say that it falls upon the
sufferers. We shrink from saying to a pauper, "It serves you right".
That sounds brutal, and is only in part true. Still, we should not
shrink from stating whatever is true, painful though it may be. It
sounds better to lay all the blame upon the oppressor than to lay it
upon the oppressed; and yet, as a rule, the cowardice or folly of the
oppressed has generally been one cause of their misfortunes, and cannot
be overlooked in a true estimate of the case. That drunkenness,
improvidence, love of gambling, and so forth, do in fact lead to
pauperism is undeniable; and that they are bad, and so far disgraceful,
is a necessary consequence. In such cases, then, pauperism is a proof
of bad qualities; and the fact, like all other facts, must be
recognised. The stress of argument, therefore, is laid upon the
hardships suffered by the honest and industrious poor. The logical
consequence should be, that the deserving poor should become
pensioners, and the undeserving paupers. This at once opens the
amazingly difficult question of moral merit, and the power of poor-law
officials to solve problems which would certainly puzzle the keenest
psychologists. Suppose, for example, that a man