isa-normaladvance-1903-00045

Description:	THE NORMAL ADVANCE.45One of the most obvious of these conditions ischarity. Charity, says a certain French writer,causes half the suffering she relieves but she cannever relieve half the suffering she has caused.Dr. Jordan says: Unwise charity is responsiblefor half the pauperism in the world. That we haveperpetual pauperism is due in part to the factthat, in helping the poor back to a place of usefulness, the pauper has been given a living and protection under which to multiply. If charity is toaccomplish the most good, she would take for heraim that set up by Dr. Amos G. Warner. Hesaid, The function of true charity is to restore tousefulness the temporary unfit and to allow thoseunfit from heredity to become extinct with as littlepain as possible Dr. Jordan in his lecture, TheBlood of the Nation, shows that good blood aswell as free schools and free environment is essential to the making of a nation.In a talk before the student body of this school,Dr. Butler gave a description of the pauper condition in Indiana. He dwelt more particularlyupon the relation of the township trustee to it.One of the surprises to those who heard it wasthe amount of money spent, and the number ofindividuals helped. In some townships in certaincounties it reached as high as one in six. Heshowed how the abuse of the money for the poorin the hands of the trustees, made possible the existence of many persons outside of public institutions who should be in them. That generationafter generation of paupers receive a living andprotection under which to increase in numbers,there can be little doubt. Is there not a betterway than this to protect these helpless people andallow them to bring more misery into the world ?The cry of the right of the individual whichgoes up whenever anything is attempted is responsible for so little being done. Whenever ourstate and nation is educated not to abuse this cryas it does now, there will be an easier way to solvethis problem than at present.Then society could see that each individual, whois hereditaritly unfit and who would under existing conditions leave a race of helpless individuals,be the last of his generation.There are many other forms of giving as. wellas recognized charity that bring about conditionsof pauperism. Intellectual pauperism is producedwhen men are given the truth instead of beingmade to search for it. The same law holds goodhere that made sacculina out of a crab. Whenever the incentive to search for ideas is withdrawn, whenever the student is allowed to sitpassively in his pew and have ideas dished out tohim, whenever he has his work so outlined anddiagramed that there is no place for individuality,—whenever these conditions exist we have conditions of intellectual degeneration. In many ofour schools today, we have methods that makemental paupers instead of making men who areable to think for themselves. There is a moralpauperism induced by the giving of precepts.Right conduct must be individual if it is to havestability. There is more moral training in doinga piece of work honestly than in a hundred sermons. In like manner, spiritual pauperism is induced by giving too much religious instruction.Each man must make his own religion he mustform his own ideals. In the degree that he isreligious, he must in time become his own highpriest as in the degree that he is effective he mustbe his own king.Ours P. Dellinger.
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/33786
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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