Part 41 (1/2)

CHAPTER XXIV

DEPENDENCY: ITS RELIEF AND PREVENTION

277. THE MEDIEVAL NEIGHBORHOOD.--Throughout the earlier part of the medieval period the majority of the common people of western Europe lived in small agricultural communities. There was little in the way of trade or travel, for the area comprising the village or the feudal manor was relatively self-sufficing. The interests of the people centered almost wholly about the local neighborhood into which they had been born, and in which they lived and died. Life was stable, and the daily work of the peasants entailed few hazards. When, because of illness or accident, individuals were temporarily unable to support themselves, informal aid was extended them by neighbors and friends.

In case of a more serious dependency, growing out of physical or mental defect, for example, the aid extended by neighbors might be supplemented by help from the feudal lord. The few strangers in the community found the monasteries always open to them, regardless of the character of their need.

278. BREAKDOWN OF THE MEDIEVAL NEIGHBORHOOD.--During the latter half of the medieval period, and during the earlier part of the modern period, a number of factors combined to break down this early type of neighborhood. The Crusades, the decay of feudalism, and the Renaissance disrupted the stable, isolated, and self-sufficing life of the medieval neighborhood. The discovery of America and the growth of towns and cities stimulated trade and travel. People moved about more, strangers came into the community, family contacts and friends.h.i.+ps were broken, and community life became more impersonal. For many people a change of habitation or of occupation increased the hazards of life, while the decline of the neighborhood spirit made informal aid by neighbors and friends less available. To meet the growing needs of the dependent cla.s.ses, the Church extended and improved its system of almsgiving. To a greater extent than ever before the monasteries became havens of refuge for the helpless and friendless. The clergy not only themselves dispensed alms, but encouraged the wealthy laity to do likewise.

Unfortunately, however, the aim of almsgiving in this period was not so much to help the dependent back to self-support, as to increase the piety of the individual dispensing the alms. Pauperism was looked upon as inevitable, and the moral effect upon the giver was generally of more importance than was the use that the needy made of the alms received.

279. RISE OF THE URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD.--The breakdown of the medieval neighborhood was completed by the Industrial Revolution. The factory system drew large numbers of countrymen to the cities. Here they worked long hours in insanitary work-shops, and lived in crowded tenements devoid of many improvements which we now regard as necessary to health and comfort. Home life was disrupted, and neighborhood ties were broken in the process of adjusting agricultural laborers to the factory system. The medieval neighborhood began to be supplanted by a new type of neighborhood, one primarily urban and impersonal in character. This new type of neighborhood brought with it greater hazards for the poor, and at the same time offered fewer opportunities for mutual aid between neighbors. Under such circ.u.mstances, the problem of dependency became increasingly serious.

280. EXTENT OF DEPENDENCY IN MODERN TIMES.--One of the vital problems of American democracy is the proper care of those individuals who are unable, either to support themselves, or otherwise to protect themselves against the hazards of modern life. The extent to which individuals are dependent for help upon agencies outside their family circle is unknown. Statistics are meager, and the complex nature of dependency renders it difficult of measurement. Perhaps a reasonable estimate of dependency in the United States is that at some time during the year about five per cent of the population seeks charitable a.s.sistance. The total amount expended annually for the care of the dependent cla.s.ses in the United States is more than half a billion dollars.

281. CAUSES OF DEPENDENCY.--The causes of dependency in a modern community are difficult to a.n.a.lyze. Generally the applicant for charity is not in a state of dependency because of a single isolated cause, but because of a number of combined causes, interlocking in a most confusing way. In the effort to throw light upon this tangled situation, let us briefly survey the problem from the economic, social, personal, and political viewpoint.

From the economic viewpoint much dependency is the result of maladjustments in industry. Most laborers have little or no savings, so that when unemployment, strikes, industrial accidents, or crises interrupt their earnings, they are soon forced to fall back upon charity. Economic causes figure in from fifty to eighty per cent of charity cases, either as minor or major factors. In the majority of these cases the unemployment or other handicap of the laborer is due to industrial maladjustments beyond his power to control.

Closely connected with the economic causes of dependency are the social causes. The crowding of large numbers of workmen into cities leads to abnormal living conditions, which encourage ill-health, disease, and vice. Among unskilled laborers, poverty and the large number of children often prevent the young from securing a helpful amount of education. The lack of wholesome and inexpensive recreation, and the existence of costly and injurious forms of entertainment, encourage unwise expenditure of savings, and, to that extent, may influence dependency. Child labor and the employment of mothers in industry prevent a normal family life, and may be intimately a.s.sociated with illiteracy, low moral standards, and pauperism.

Often indistinguishable from social causes are the personal causes of dependency. Laziness, irresponsibility, and thriftlessness figure in from ten to fifteen per cent of charity cases. Penniless old age is often the outcome of bad personal habits in youth and middle life.

Idling, gambling, and other vicious habits are important causes of pauperism. Sickness is a factor in at least a third of charity cases, while disease figures in seventy-five per cent of such cases. Physical or mental defect is of great importance in dependency, often accompanying bad personal habits as either cause or effect. The feeble-minded, the epileptic, and the insane const.i.tute a serious burden upon the community.

Defects in government have in some cases either encouraged dependency, or have perpetuated it. In so far as we have neglected legislation designed to reduce the force of industrial maladjustments, political factors may be said markedly to influence dependency. Our tardiness in protecting the labor of women and children is certainly responsible for a share of dependency. Our failure to adopt a comprehensive program of social insurance has added to the burden upon charity.

Housing is receiving more and more attention in our cities, yet the living quarters in many districts continue to be sources of ill-health and vice. Probably we shall eliminate a share of dependency when we shall have established a comprehensive system of state and Federal employment bureaus. The wise restriction of immigration is also important, as is the matter of vocational education for the unskilled cla.s.ses.

282. THE GIVING OF ALMS.--Until the period of the Reformation in Europe, the distribution of alms by the clergy and by pious laymen was the chief method of dealing with the problem of dependency. Then the Reformation crippled the temporal power of the Church, and ecclesiastical almsgiving declined in importance. The place formerly held by the Church was filled, partly by public almshouses or workhouses, and partly by indiscriminate and unorganized almsgiving on the part of kind-hearted individuals. Individuals distributed alms chiefly to dependents with whom they were personally acquainted, and whose needs could be effectively met without their being removed to an inst.i.tution. Wandering dependents, and unfortunates whose needs were relatively serious and permanent, were cared for in the almshouse.

This latter inst.i.tution developed very early in England, and appeared in colonial America in the seventeenth century. Until about 1850 it was often the only inst.i.tution in American communities which cared for the helpless adult dependent. The almshouse, as it existed in this country a few decades ago, has been described as a charitable catch- all, into which were crowded paupers, the insane, the feeble-minded, the blind, the orphaned, and other types of dependents.

283. ALMSGIVNG PROVES INADEQUATE.--The attempt to meet the problem of modern dependency solely by the giving of alms ill.u.s.trates the difficulty of employing an ancient and simple method of treatment for a disease which has become highly complex.

Almsgiving by individuals very often pauperizes rather than helps the individual to help himself. When the dominant aim of the almsgiver is to satisfy himself as to his piety, it is only by accident that the alms really help the recipient. Very often what is needed is not money or material aid in other form, but wise direction and friendly advice.

There is still a great deal of unwise and indiscriminate almsgiving by individuals, but the spread of new ideals of social help is probably cutting down the amount.

The almshouse, as it existed in the last century, was productive of much evil. Very often superintendents were allowed to run these inst.i.tutions for personal profit, a practice which allowed the exploitation and neglect of the inmates. The practice of herding into this generalized inst.i.tution every variety of dependent had great drawbacks. Specialized care and treatment were impossible. Disease was transmitted, and vice encouraged, by the failure properly to segregate various types of dependents. Inmates were in many cases allowed to enter and leave the inst.i.tution at will, a privilege which encouraged s.h.i.+ftlessness and improvidence.

284. THE EVOLUTION OF NEW IDEALS.--After the middle of the last century our att.i.tude toward the dependent cla.s.ses began to change rapidly. There was a gradual abandonment of almsgiving as the sole method of attacking dependency. Rising standards of conduct contributed to the development of new ideals, some of them now fairly well established, and some of them still in the formative process. The general content of these new ideals may be briefly described as follows:

The primary aim of those who come in contact with the dependent cla.s.ses should be to help those cla.s.ses, rather than to satisfy pious aspirations or to indulge sentimental promptings. Rather than believing that alms are helpful because they are gratefully received, we should first discover what will help the dependent, and then train ourselves and him to take satisfaction in that which is helpful.

Poverty is not to be taken for granted. It is neither inevitable nor irremedial. It is a social disease which we must attack with the aim of destroying.

When individuals are found in an emergency they should be given relief, regardless of personal merit. The extension of relief in case of fire, flood or other accident is only an act of humanity.

A different and more productive form of help is remedial work. This type of work often accompanies and follows relief work. It is corrective, for example, the finding of employment for a friendless man, or the medical treatment of a sick man, is remedial work.