Social Problems And Their Peaceful Solution.

that this difference must ancl ought to exist . Without it the resources of the world would never be developed ; for if every man possessed sufficient for his needs there Avould bo no work , no interchange of commodities , ancl therefore no carrying far and wide of civilization ; all Avould

pass through a dreamy eventless existence , like the South Sea Islanders , who , finding everything to their hand , take it , ancl develop nothing , but from generation to generation remain just ivhere they always have been , and would be , Avere it not for the AvaA'e of civilization carried to their

shores by the tide of commercial enterprise . These differences of social station and extent of possessions being a recognised fact , it follows that , to say nothing of those who are unfortunate in the scramble

for Avealth , or of those who by reckless speculation or improvident extravagance fall from a position of plenty to that of indigence , there must always be a largo number of people , Avhose time being fully occupied in working for others , can lay by little or nothing for themselves .

This is not , of course , the case with all ; for some have , by dint of extra intelligence , or perseverance in some fortunatel y chosen path of labour , reversed the aboA'ementioned process , aud risen from poverty to affluence ; but the number of such cases is so small , that it need not be taken into calculation in the consideration

of that part of the subject ivith which Ave are now dealing , namely , all those classes Avithout capital . Now it is obvious that , at some period or other , the great mass of the best ancl most industrious of the class Ave have just spoken ofmust necessarilyfrom sheer

, , inability to Avork longer , if not at an earlier period from illness , be reduced to that dead level of poverty , reaching which they can no longer support themselves , but must instead be supported by those ivho in time gone by have been maintained or

even enriched by the fruits of their labour ; how they are to be supported ive may now briefly consider . Our present system known as the "Poor Laws , " is , for every conceivable reason , probably as bad as coidd by any possibility be devised ; it is degrading and Avanting in the princi ples of common humanity ,

besides being , as we humbly conceive , thoroughly ineffectual . AVitness the sad revelations so frequently dragged into light at Coroners' Inquests , of the man or woman poor , aye oven to the death , but self-respectful even to self-destruction . AVitness the starvation of many a poor

fellow-creature , who perishes rather than submit to the degradation of the conditional pittance doled out to them by our " Law . " AVhy many a poor man , not too particular Avith which brand of the "Law " he shall bo marked , prefers tho comparative

luxury of the felon ' s cell to the oft-times brutal meagreness of the AVorkhouse Ward . ll o ? 7 c-house , indeed ; for a poor old creature Avhose body is already bent double with work , and ivhose mind is well-ni gh as crooked b y reason of ceaseless toil 1 Can

it be that in this vaunted land of Christian charity the Work-honse is your sole haven of rest ? Too true , alas ! it is that this is in most eases the only relief allotted to those AVIIO have spent lives of toil in our behoofand to those wholess fortunate

, , than ourselves , early falling out of the race , have unwillingly become pensioners on our charity . But there is Out-door Relief , says one of our gentle readers , to whom Ave reply : " Dicl you ever in your hour of sorest need apply to an officer ,

Avho" Dressed in a little brief authorit y Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven As make the angels Aveep " 1 Try it , friend , ancl tell us Avhether , if even you should be sufficiently fortunate

to obtain the miserable dole , it be not so seasoned Avith a sense of infamy that you Avould not rather almost perish than again court such an ordeal . But in many places you AVIII not get it at all , but you will be offered the " House-test" with

, which precious invention our sapient Giiardians-of-the-Poor have determined to sift out now , and make a clean siveep in the future of , pauperism altogether , for

"Statesmen , they AATio are so restless in their wisdom , they AVho have a broom still ready in their hands

To rid the world of nuisances . . . have them pronoune'd A burden of the earth , "