For all these reasons and others of a similar character that will suggest themselves, the place of relief in a pro gressive society is naturally a large and permanent one, even aside from all of the causes upon which emphasis has ordinarily been placed, such as the congestion of popula tion in cities and the injuries to wage-earners resulting from industrial crises.
Such recognition of the place of relief is not pessi-" mistic, as might at first sight appear. On the contrary, it implies a confidence in the efficacy of relief. It implies that the beneficiaries of such a system of relief as would be inaugurated are constantly and ever rapidly changing ; that there is no such thing as a permanent class of depend ents, but rather a succession of individuals or groups, who on a laissez-faire or a half-hearted policy would become de pendents, but on a policy of thorough relief are caught up once for all into a position of self-support and entire self-respect; into a position of public usefulness and public esteem? The recognition of the need of a consistent relief policy not speaking English, bad been employed for over a year, and lost his position only by the closing out of the architectural branch of an impor tant building firm.
I For a fuller discussion of the meaning of relief, and of such other terms as prevention, reconstruction, and elimination, the reader may con sult the chapter entitled " Some Elementary Definitions," in the author's "Practice of Charity," 2d edition.
and the adoption of public measures in accordance there with, brings the only possible reconciliation between democracy and charity. It solves the riddle of the relat tion between charity and justice ; it gives firm ground for those who are unwilling to pass by human misery without an attempt to alleviate it, and who at the same time believe in human progress, and refuse to place themselves in an tagonism to the forces of civilization. As soon as relief becomes adequate in amount from the social point of view, the act of giving and receiving ceases to be one in volving shame to either donor or beneficiary, assuming that fraud is eliminated, and that the treatment accompanying the relief is intelligent and sympathetic. A sound relief policy demands, however difficult the task, a clear demar cation between those who are and those who are not to receive relief. Many crude and unsuccessful attempts to find such a line have been made. The naive exclusion of
Italian immigrant families from the bounty of one lady who had decided that they were " unworthy," because it occurred to her that they were taking employment which belonged to native American citizens, is, after all, a typical illustration of the manner in which this line is frequently drawn. One person of catholic views will consider only whether there is actual present destitution ; another will add a test of residence, such as is common in poor-law relief statutes ; a third will limit his charity to " worthy " applicants, i.e. those whose past lives meet with his approval ; and a fourth will make as a condition of assist ance some promise in regard to the future. Besides these avowed conditions, there are others less freely admitted, and even less consciously recognized by the benefactor. When a euchre club, a majority of whose members happened to be Presbyterians, relinquished a plan for devoting the surplus funds on hand at the end of a season to a public playground in a crowded district on learning that the playground was frequented chiefly by Roman Catholic children, it afforded an instance of the manner in which the instinctive consciousness of kind sometimes operates in determining the direction of chari table gifts. Those who are especially impressed by the far-reaching consequences of intemperance, may consider it wrong to give to any person who uses, or has habitually indulged in, alcoholic beverages. Another will under no circumstances aid able-bodied men, while others draw the line in such a way as to discriminate against deserted families, or old persons who are supposed to be suitable candidates for the almshouse, or chronic invalids, or those who are afflicted by contagious disease. Sometimes the basis of discrimination appears to be nothing more than a personal prejudice, or an arbitrary and unaccountable choice of beneficiaries. Usually, however, it is a more or less conscious recognition of a personal or group obligation toward a particular class. To some extent such selections and exclusions neutralize or supplement each other, a par ticular charitable resource arising in the community for each class of dependents, and nearly every one who is in need finding himself a qualified candidate for the benefits of one or more individuals or groups.