accept their mere assertions if they are couched in effective
language ; but on quicksands of this kind what statesman-
like reform can be built up ?

To take an instance, there has been endless declamation
of late about the necessity of eradicating the "pauper
taint " and of removing any sense of disgrace from the
children in our parish schools, but how many people have

' Vide " Socialism," by Morris and Bax, cjuoted in Flint's Socialism,
p. 284.



i86 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xii

inquired, in the expressive American phrase, "just what
this amounts to " ?

The word pauper has come to mean not only a " poor "
man, as in the original Latin, but also a person who fails
to support him or her self and depends on others for the
necessaries of life. It is objected to by quite different
classes of persons, by Socialists who handle the Poor Law
as a political weapon, by confused sentimentalists who
tinker at externals and shrink from realities, and sometimes
by honest wage-earners who have a secret misgiving lest
they or their friends may one day fail to provide for
themselves, and so be mingled with the unworthy who
depend on the rates. With this dread and dislike no one
can fail to sympathise heartily, for it is the outcome of
that honourable love of independence that has been the
making of England, but none the less does it remain true
that the man who is supported by the Poor Law has failed
to support himself whether he is called a pauper or not,
and — and here lies the sting — that very many of those who
are in this condition are, at least in towns, the refuse of
the population.

What precisely is meant, then, by the pauper taint,
and are the children conscious of it ? The phrase is
commonest in the mouths of those who constantly assure
us that no disgrace whatever does or ought to attach to
the receipt of outdoor relief, or in fact to any form of
assistance derived through the Poor Law ; there seems,
therefore, to be some confusion when they make an
opposite statement as to the schools. Let us try to clear
up the matter so that we may at least know what it is that
we are discussing. A doubtful point is sometimes simpli-
fied by merely changing the venue, so let us ask for what
reason an artisan's wife, before the days of free education,
paid the high fees of a voluntary school where the teaching
was very inferior to that of a neighbouring Board
School, attended chiefly by the children of rough parents,
many of whom were near to and sometimes crossed
the pauper line ? Her reason was, that she feared for
her neat and well-trained children the unpleasant possi-



xn SOME ASPECTS OF REFORM 187

bilities, both moral and physical, the " taint " of con-
tact with those who came daily from dirty and ill-
ordered homes. A well-to-do parent who is anxious
for his children's good asks in exactly the same spirit
about the " tone " of the school to which he proposes to
send his son, and he would be thought strange indeed
who should choose one in which the boys were on the
whole ill-mannered, or the parents were known to be
leading unsatisfactory lives. That we have unhappily a
large number of such parents among us is undeniable ;
that when they are poor they tend to drift to the Work-
house, and that their children are dependent on the rates,
is also as true as that heredity visits the sins of the fathers
upon the children, whether rich or poor. On the other
hand, many of the children in the parish schools have no
cause whatever to be ashamed of their origin, and have
often every reason to be proud of a widowed mother
who has done her utmost for them ; and Managers and
Guardians who in long years of labour have made them-
selves familiar with the character and after histories of
hundreds of these children, can point to well-to-do youths
and self-respecting girls who have gone out from the
schools, who revisit them with pleasure, and have no con-
sciousness of a "taint," unless indeed the newspapers
inform them of it.

Here, then, we seem to arrive at the contradictory con-
clusion that there is a taint and that there is not one, and
the paradox is correct. We have only to search a little
deeper and we shall reach the underlying truth that recon-
ciles the two statements — a truth which will resist attack as
long as we retain any healthy power of discriminating
between right and wrong and of giving our preference to
the former. There is a taint which seems to be in-
eradicable, and is indeed often inexplicable ; it may almost
be said that some people in every class are born paupers,
and it matters nothing whether they are a care and a drag
upon rich relatives or upon the Poor Law, the initial
difference being that in one case their failure is whispered
about in a family circle, and in the other case they figure



i88 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xii

in " returns " and the public hears about them. The taint
is one of character that defies the influence of a good
environment just as successfully as another type of character
resists evil surroundings. The notorious "allowance men"
of Canada, who drink and live idly on the money they beg
from the old folk at home, who often can ill spare it, and
the army pensioner drawing 2S. 2d. a day who goes cheer-
fully to the Workhouse between his quarterly drinking
bouts, are instances in point of this self-made pauperism.

But as regards the schools, I do not believe that the
child of decent parents suffers from a sense of disgrace, or
that he thinks about such questions more than any other
child of his years. That the more thoughtful parents and
the well-doing children, when they reach an age for reflec-
tion, may regret that they could not be brought up in the
ordinary way at home, is not improbable, even at a time
when we are assured that dependence is quite creditable.
And of the unhappy remainder what shall we say ? Will
argument or the abolition of even a neat and serviceable
uniform take the "taint" from their blood ?^ Well may
we complain that while our theorists are agitating about
grievances, some of which are magnified if not imagined,
real needs and real troubles are being overlooked or set
aside. This is not the place to deal with particular
reforms in detail, but rather to insist on the vital necessity
of accurate knowledge acquired by personal effort, as the
first equipment of every reformer, be his plan or party
what it may. No doubt this is a hard saying for him who
desires at once to "do something," to step into the arena
in short and "drink delight of battle with his peers," and
it is still harder for the emotional superficial woman ; but
there is no royal road to the acquisition of that experience
without which the eloquent speaker is apt to be a false
guide, and the most fruitful lessons in life are at times a
trifle dull in the learning, unless the student is inspired by
that deep and robust enthusiasm which finds nothing that
is human petty or uninteresting.

We have of late had many object-lessons in matters of

' Cf. p. 51, "The Protection of Children."



XII SOME ASPECTS OF REFORM 189

reform, and they are drawing attention to the presence
and to the undeniable prominence of the professional
politician (who is the curse of the United States), as well
as to the methods by which public opinion is being more
or less influenced. The greatest efforts seem to be
directed, not to gathering and placing before the public
all the evidence for and against a particular scheme, so as
to ensure a careful and reasonable consideration of it, but
simply to gaining a party victory at any price, or to assist-
ing an unscrupulous propaganda.

When an audience is gathered nominally to thrash out
a long list of far-reaching resolutions on Poor Law reform,
— resolutions that, if passed, must have the effect of largely
increasing pauperism, — when these are carried wholesale
by the simple plan of shouting down opposition, when the
smiling leaders on the platform make no serious effort to
maintain order or to protect those who wish to argue,
when a quite reckless statement is made about certain
girls, and the lady who knows more about them than any
person living cannot obtain a hearing in their defence,
and when a party paper records the results of the meeting
with warm approval, — the time seems to have come for
plain speaking. These are the tactics of fanatics or
partisans, but they do not commend themselves to the
ordinary English mind nor create confidence in schemes
that require such support. If the London Reform Union
excuses itself on the ground that this is part of the process
of rousing London from its apathy, we may observe that
some fevers are quite as fatal as coma, and that, in the
words of a well-known writer, " the legislator may think it
hard that his power for good is restricted, but he has no
reason to complain of any limits on his power for evil."

Superficiality seems to be the sin of our time in all
ranks and quarters, and examples of it are not without their
humorous side. The Poor Law Report of 1834, justly
termed a classic by Graham Wallas, teems with illuminating
incidents, yet a representative of the Primrose League
could only tell a serious audience that we should not now
make men stand in a village pound ! " The eye only sees



igo ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xii

what it brings the power of seeing," and some of our
reformers appear to suffer from cataract.

The late elections under the Local Government Act
display the weak points of the modern social movement,
for party loyalty on both sides has been strained to support
candidates whose sole recommendation was their adoption
of a " ticket " or their adhesion to a political creed. " Vote
for the Unionist Guardians " is surely a crowning absurdity
in placards. All sorts and conditions of men and women
regret that the fight has been on these lines and admit the
consequent weakness of their lists, and yet take refuge
behind the somewhat feeble defence that they " must " do
this thing that they disapprove, and that it cannot be
helped. Is it not possible before the next elections come
round to break these imaginary bonds and persuade our-
selves that it is our first duty to choose as our vestrymen,
councillors and guardians, men and women of honourable
and reliable character, whose conduct of their ordinary
business enables us to judge of their capacity and fitness
for posts of trust. ^ If our party orders otherwise we are
on the horns of this dilemma : either the candidates are
being selected injudiciously, in which case it lies with us,
by united effort, to improve the selection, or they are chosen
by a clique or in some other unsatisfactory way, and if in
that case we cannot influence the selection we are bound
to revolt. It is not enough that a man should be a total
abstainer or a churchwarden or a Trade Unionist if he
has not other necessary qualifications. He may be either
of these things or may be stamped with any other hall-
mark, and yet may not be wise, thorough, and honourable
in all his ways, and unless he is up to the required standard
in these respects, he will fall below it in many others, be
the hall-mark never so clear.

We have yet to see how the new Boards will fulfil their

1 Owners of houses that have been closed by the sanitary authorities,
or in which serious defects have been found, should not be recommended
for Municipal Hoards, yet both political parties have been guilty of this
elementary blunder, a singularly inappropriate one for professed
" Progressives."



XII SOME ASPECTS OF REFORM 191

duties, but judging by electioneering promises it is plain
that the administration of outdoor relief will be as fruitful
a source of jobbery as it was under the middle class
Guardians of sixty years ago. It is worth while to notice
in passing how the most " advanced " reformers are re-
actionaries without knowing it, for they are using the
phrases of that forgotten time. It was the idea of a
humane administration that opened the flood-gates of out-
door relief early in the century and produced such terrible
results, and a little later men and women demanded pay-
ment for discharging the ordinary offices of humanity
towards their aged parents. There is this important
difference between then and now, that formerly that un-
kindly temper was the result of persistent outdoor relief,
whereas now it is encouraged in advance by the socialistic
advocates of that system.

No fair-minded person can feel otherwise than ashamed
of the misrepresentations that disgraced the School Board
election, however effective they may have proved in the
hands of skilful party operators ; by far the most heated
canvassers were women, and it is probably true that until
they have learnt to take part more wisely in municipal
work and interests, we must expect from them a large
amount of partisan effort pure and simple, more especially
if a religious question is even remotely involved. That
honourable and conscientious women who blindly accept
a 7)iot d^ordre can lend themselves to the publication of
absolutely unfounded statements, is obvious to any one
who, knowing the Board Schools, listened to the cry of
the canvasser.

Unhappily misrepresentation too often appeals skilfully
to the passions, and in doing so, confuses both the issues
and the judgment. The man who repeatedly suggests to
an audience the idea that all rich men spend their afternoons
in drinking champagne at clubs, evidently desires to arouse,
however unfairly, a feeling of class hatred ; but he wquld
be the first to attack, and rightly attack on ethical grounds,
a lecturer who should present to the public as false a
picture of the life of all artisans. There is one evening



192 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xii

paper (all honour to it) that has uttered plain truths about
its own side and has given the electors sober and inde-
pendent advice, yet even in its pages we find it alleged
that not less but more sensation is required in the state-
ment of social needs, though it may be truly said that
sensation and misrepresentation are so frequently akin,
that reform masquerading in a sensational mantle can
hardly be, like Ctesar's wife, above suspicion. If an illus-
tration is required, we have only to turn to the persistent
attacks upon the Poor Law that have been carried on for
some time back by the Socialist party. Of thoughtful
and accurate criticism we cannot have too much, for
it is the foundation of healthy progress, but when the
criticism assumes another form the opposite view acquires
a certain attractiveness. For example, within four days
one party paper makes a sweeping assertion about work-
house diet, which, if true at all, can only be so in parti-
cular cases ; but as an inquiry on the subject was not
inserted, the authority for the statement cannot be ascer-
tained. On the following day, in a somewhat optimistic
article on the interesting subject of afforestment, we are
told that the "payment of poor-rates and the administra-
tion of a Poor Law on the cul-de-sac pattern is a difficulty."
More than one reader has vainly sought for the connecting
link. Afforestment appears to be the business of the
Woods and Forests, but even if it came under some other
department it certainly is no concern of the Guardians or
the Poor Rate. So far as it affords employment, it must,
in the ordinary labour market, attract those who are unem-
ployed and can perform the work ; and if a certain number
of men could thus be engaged in really useful and pro-
ductive labour under good conditions it would be
thoroughly satisfactory ; but where does the Poor Law
come in ? We cannot suppose that any newspaper
desires seriously to recommend what is almost the creation
of a fresh department in order that Government may pass
hundreds of loafers through its hands on one of the
common and inefficient plans of winter relief. This would
be a sham instead of a reform, and our Socialist friends



xir SOME ASPECTS OF REFORM 193

are much too shrewd to court faihire so Hghtly. We do
not doubt that afforestment would be undertaken, if at all,
on reasonable lines, but in the meantime it has been useful,
for, as the old proverb has it, " any stick will do to beat
that dog " named Poor Law.

In a similar spirit the same paper, in reviewing Oliver
Twist, recommends that a copy be laid on the table of
every Board room "for reference." Now setting aside the
question of sensationalism versus accuracy in the tale, this
suggestion, taken along with the accompanying quotations,
can only be intended to create an impression which is
substantially incorrect, as any one who examines the im-
provements that have taken place in the last few years is
well aware. It would be as just, because there are un-
fortunately still ignorant nurses, to ignore the whole
system of trained nursing and hold up Mrs. Gamp as an
example "for reference." An experienced reader dis-
counts these statements with ease, and they are important
only as indications of the spirit that underlies them. The
writers of many noteworthy passages cannot be as ignorant
as they seem, and the observer is forced to conclude that
they are mere crusaders holding with others of their party
that their "first duty is propaganda," and that "the end
justifies the means," nor does a somewhat varied experi-
ence contradict this view. Criticism is epitomised by the
poet who sang : "A lie that is half a truth is ever the
blackest of lies," and he is surely the best reformer who
maintains that his first duty is honesty, and that the
means must be worthy of the end.

Our electioneering terms no longer describe the electors,
for many a Moderate is not a Tory, and many a Progress-
ive who heartily accepts a number of the oi)inions that
that word connotes, is not a Socialist, and the sooner we
arrive at a better definition the more clearly we shall
understand the nature of our collective action.

If we ardently desire true progress, if we think a
day wasted in which we do not make some persona! effort,
however small, towards the realisation of our ideals, let us
have done with nostrums, and let us take to heart the

o



194 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xii

wise words of a man who has had ample experience of the
difficuhies that surround the modern statesman :

"There is," says Mr. Asquith, "no royal, and there is
no parliamentary, road to the industrial millennium, but if
we keep steadily before us that the object of legislation
and of government is not to place parties in power, is not
to carry on an interminable wrangle or a political contro-
versy, but is, as far as may be, to raise the average con-
dition of ordinary men and women — to bring within their
reach some of those opportunities, not merely of material
comfort, but of intellectual and of social refinement, which
are now beyond the reach of most of us ; if we keep that
purpose steadily in view, and if in the pursuit of it we do
not allow ourselves to be daunted by temporary obstacles,
or to be diverted by impossible and fantastic dreams, then
we may be sure that slow, gradual, disappointing as the
process often seems, yet as the years roll by we will
advance by cautious, but at the same time by sensible,
steps to a higher level both of national and individual life."

This passage is pitched in a lower key than that used
by the Greek orator who saw the triumphs of his day, and
could not perceive the germs of impending disaster. But
the change is a fitting one, for the modern speaker has to
deal with far more complex problems, and amidst contend-
ing political influences must often vainly strive to maintain
those healthy conditions of life and character without
which States become rotten at the core. And as for the
Greek, so for the modern the eternal verities remain,
wisdom will be justified sooner or later, whether by the
ruin of those who disregard her, or by the success of those
who have the patience, the high resolve, and the passion
for knowledge and honesty that alone can bring them a
step nearer their ideals. Therefore, let us scrutinise keenly
the proposals that are so boldly flaunted as cures for our
social ills, remembering that chi va pimw va sano, e chi va
sano va lontano, and that no genuine effort, however
humble, to acquire and to spread thorough knowledge,
whether within or without our family circle, is ever lost to
the good cause.



XIII

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH
POOR LAW
By H. Dendy

I. The Co7iditions under which the Poor Laiv developed.

It is characteristic of social organisations which have
attained to a certain degree of complexity that any sudden
development or unprepared change in the industries by
which they are supported, tends to break up the industrial
ranks preparatory to their reorganisation in a form more
suited to the new conditions. A change of this kind
always makes itself felt through the community at large,
and however great the benefits derived from it by the
community as a whole, it is seldom that it does not entail
suffering upon some one class.^ This class is not neces-
sarily that of the labourer ; if the new industry is suffi-
ciently similar to the old to absorb all the labourers
previously engaged, or if any external cause concurs to
diminish their numbers, it may well be that they will take
up a stronger position than before ; as, for instance, in the
second half of the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. On
the other hand, it may be that the change is one to which
the adult labourer cannot adapt himself, and it then

^ This fact is recognised in a curious document issued by the Privy
Council in 1595, urging the enforced observation of fast-days, because of
the numbers connected with the fishing trade who were thrown out of
work since less fish was eaten (quoted by Ribton-Turner, p. 124).



196 ASPECTS OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM xiii

happens that we get an outcast class for whom. there is no
function in the industrial organism. Whether it disappears
in the course of the next generation, or whether it perpetu-
ates itself as a parasite upon the community, largely
depends upon how it is handled by the community, and it
is in the attempt to deal with this question that the Poor
Law, with all its problems of administration, has arisen.

There are two main tendencies in its development. On
the one hand, it is moulded by the feeling that all human
beings, even though they may have fallen out of the in-
dustrial ranks, are still members of the community, and as
such cannot be allowed to perish. On the other hand, by
the dread that the class should not only become per-
manently outcast, but that it should even increase in
numbers, unless checked by deterrent measures. It is
where the two tendencies are fairly balanced that we get
the best development of the Poor Law as at once deterrent
and constructive, and as aiming primarily at restoring the
outcast class to its status in the community.

The first half of the sixteenth century was one of the
periods when great social changes had thrown out of the
industrial ranks large numbers of men who became both a
terror and a burden to the community. For a picture of
the magnitude and miseries of this class we need only
turn to Sir T. More's Utopia, or to Harrison's Description
of England. Speaking of " roges " the latter says: "For
there is not one year commonlie, wherein three or four
hundred of them are not devoured and eaten up by the
gallowes in one place and another. It appeareth by Car-
dane . . . how Henrie the eight, executing his laws verie
severlie against such idle persons, I meane great theeves,
pettie theeves and roges, did hang up threescore and
twelve thousand of them in his time. He seemed for a
while greatlie to have terrified the rest : but since his death
the number of them is so increased . . . that except some
better order be taken, or the laws already made be better
executed, such as dwell in upland towns or little villages
shall live but in small safetie and rest."

How had it come into existence at a time when, as



XIII HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW 197

Eden points out (p. 109), "the nation was making un-
exampled strides towards the attainment of opulence and
industry"? Ashley (Book 11. chap, v.) goes at some
length into the causes. Primarily, of course, there w^as the
agrarian revolution, the accumulation of farms into com-
paratively few hands, and the change from arable to past-
ure, which rendered outcast almost the whole class of
agricultural labourers. Concurrently with this was pro-
ceeding a change in the methods of carrying on manu-