IMPROVIDENCE.
"The man who has a wife and children has given hostages to
fortune."--_Lord Bacon._
"In all conditions and circumstances, well-being is in the power of
those who have power over themselves."--_J.J. Gurney_.
"Where is their common sense? Alas, what imprudence! Early marriages;
many children; poor-rates, and the workhouse.... They are born; they are
wretched; they die.... In no foreign country of far less civilization
than England, is there the same improvidence."--_Lord Lytton_.
"No man oppresses thee, O free and independent franchiser; but does not
this stupid pewter pot oppress thee? No son of Adam can bid thee come or
go, but this absurd pot of heavy-wet can and does, Thou art the thrall,
not of Cedric the Saxon, but of thy own brutal appetites, and this
accursed dish of liquor. And thou pratest of thy 'liberty,' thou entire
blockhead!"--_Carlyle_.
"Never did any publike misery
Rise of it selfe; God's plagues still grounded are
On common staines of our Humanity:
And to the flame, which ruineth Mankind,
Man gives the matter, or at least gives winde."--_Daniell_.
England is one of the richest countries in the world. Our merchants are
enterprising, our manufacturers are industrious, our labourers are
hard-working. There is an accumulation of wealth in the country to which
past times can offer no parallel. The Bank is gorged with gold. There
never was more food in the empire; there never was more money. There is
no end to our manufacturing productions, for the steam-engine never
tires. And yet notwithstanding all this wealth, there is an enormous
mass of poverty. Close alongside the Wealth of Nations, there gloomily
stalks the Misery of Nations,--luxurious ease resting upon a dark
background of wretchedness.
Parliamentary reports have again and again revealed to us the miseries
endured by certain portions of our working population. They have
described the people employed in factories, workshops, mines, and
brickfields, as well as in the pursuits of country life. We have tried
to grapple with the evils of their condition by legislation, but it
seems to mock us. Those who sink into poverty are fed, but they remain
paupers. Those who feed them, feel no compassion; and those who are fed,
return no gratitude. There is no bond of sympathy between the givers and
the receivers. Thus the Haves and the Have-nots, the opulent and the
indigent, stand at the two extremes of the social scale, and a wide gulf
is fixed between them.
Among rude and savage people, the condition of poverty is uniform.
Provided the bare appetites are satisfied, suffering is scarcely felt.
Where slavery exists, indigence is little known; for it is the master's
interest to keep the slave in a condition fit for labour, and the
employer generally takes care to supply the animal wants of the
employed. It is only when society becomes civilized and free, and man
enters into competition with his fellows, that he becomes exposed to
indigence, and experiences social misery. Where civilization, as in this
country, has reached its highest point, and where large accumulations of
wealth have been made, the misery of the indigent classes is only
rendered more acute by the comfort and luxury with which it is placed in
immediate contrast.
Much of the existing misery is caused by selfishness--by the greed to
accumulate wealth on the one hand, and by improvidence on the other.
Accumulation of money has become the great desire and passion of the
age. The wealth of nations, and not the happiness of nations, is the
principal aim. We study political economy, and let social economy shift
for itself. Regard for "Number One" is the prevailing maxim.
High profits are regarded as the _summum bonum_,--no matter how
obtained, or at what sacrifice. Money is our god: "Devil take the
hindmost" our motto. The spirits of darkness rule supreme--
"Mammon has led them on,
Mammon, the least erect of all the spirits
That fell from Heaven."
With respect to the poorer classes,--what has become of them in the
midst of our so-called civilization? An immense proportion of them
remain entirely uncivilized. Though living in a Christian country,
Christianity has never reached them. They are as uncivilized and
unchristianized as the Trinobantes were at the landing of Julius Caesar,
about nineteen hundred years ago. Yet these uncivilized people live in
our midst. St. James's and St. Giles's lie close together. In the Parks
of London, you may see how gold is worshipped; in the East End of
London, you may see to what depths human misery may fall.
They work, eat, drink, and sleep: that constitutes their life. They
think nothing of providing for to-morrow, or for next week, or for next
year. They abandon themselves to their sensual appetites; and make no
provision whatever for the future. The thought of adversity, or of
coming sorrow, or of the helplessness that comes with years and
sickness, never crosses their minds. In these respects, they resemble
the savage tribes, who know no better, and do no worse. Like the North
American Indians, they debase themselves by the vices which accompany
civilization, but make no use whatever of its benefits and advantages.
Captain Parry found the Esquimaux near the North Pole as uncivilized as
the miserable creatures who inhabit the dens of our great cities. They
were, of course, improvident; for, like savages generally, they never
save. They were always either feasting or famished.
When they found a quantity of whale's blubber, they would eat as much of
it as they could, and hide the rest. Yet their improvidence gave them no
concern. Even when they had been without food or fuel for days together,
they would be as gay and good-humoured as usual. They never thought of
how they should be provided for to-morrow. Saving for the future forms
no part of the savage economy.
Amongst civilized peoples, cold is said to be the parent of frugality.
Thus the northern nations of Europe owe a portion of their prosperity to
the rigour of their climate. Cold makes them save during summer, to
provide food, coal, and clothing during winter. It encourages
house-building and housekeeping. Hence Germany is more industrious than
Sicily; Holland and Belgium than Andalusia; North America and Canada
than Mexico.
When the late Edward Denison, M.P. for Newark, with unexampled
self-denial, gave up a large portion of his time and labour to reclaim
the comparatively uncivilized population of the East End of London, the
first thing he did was to erect an iron church of two stories, the lower
part of which was used as a school and lecture room, and also as a club
where men and boys might read, play games, and do anything else that
might keep them out of the drinking-houses. "What is so bad in this
quarter," said Mr. Denison, "is the habitual condition of this mass of
humanity--its uniform mean level, the absence of anything more
civilizing than a grinding organ to raise the ideas beyond the daily
bread and beer, the utter want of education, the complete indifference
to religion, with the fruits of all this--improvidence, dirt, and their
secondaries, crime and disease.... There is no one to give a push to
struggling energy, to guide aspiring intelligence, or to break the fall
of unavoidable misfortune.... The Mission Clergyman," he goes on to say,
"is a sensible, energetic man, in whose hands the work of _civilizing
the people_ is making as much progress as can be expected. But most of
his energy is taken up in serving tables, nor can any great advance be
made while every nerve has to be strained to keep the people from
absolute starvation. And this is what happens every winter.... What a
monstrous thing it is that in the richest country in the world, large
masses of the population should be condemned annually, by a natural
operation of nature, to starvation and death. It is all very well to
say, how can it be helped? Why, it was not so in our grandfathers' time.
Behind us they were in many ways, but they were not met every winter
with the spectacle of starving thousands. The fact is, we have accepted
the marvellous prosperity which has in the last twenty years been
granted us, without reflecting on the conditions attached to it, and
without nerving ourselves to the exertion and the sacrifices which their
fulfilment demands."
And yet Mr. Denison clearly saw that if the people were sufficiently
educated, and taught to practise the virtue of Thrift, much of this
misery might be prevented. "The people," he elsewhere says, "_create_
their destitution and their disease. Probably there are hardly any of
the most needy who, if they had been only moderately frugal and
provident, could not have placed themselves in a position to tide over
the occasional months of want of work, or of sickness, which there
always must be.... I do not underrate the difficulty of laying by out of
weekly earnings, but I say it _can_ be done. A dock-labourer, while a
young, strong, unmarried man, could lay by half his weekly wages, and
such men are almost sure of constant employment."
After showing how married men might also save, Mr. Denison goes on to
say, "Saving is within the reach of nearly every man, even if quite at
the bottom of the tree; but if it were of anything like _common_
occurrence, the destitution and disease of this city would be kept
within quite manageable limits. And this will take place. I may not live
to see it, but it will be within two generations. For, unfortunately,
this amount of change may be effected without the least improvement in
the spiritual condition of the people. Good laws, energetically
enforced, with compulsory education, supplemented by gratuitous
individual exertion (which will then have a much reduced field and much
fairer prospects), will certainly succeed in giving the mass of the
people so much light as will generally guide them into so much industry
and morality as is clearly conducive to their bodily ease and
advancement in life."
The difference in thriftiness between the English workpeople and the
inhabitants of Guernsey is thus referred to by Mr. Denison: "The
difference between poverty and pauperism is brought home to us very
strongly by what I see here. In England, we have people faring
sumptuously while they are getting good wages, and coming on the parish
paupers the moment those wages are suspended. Here, people are never
dependent upon any support but their own; but they live, of their own
free will, in a style of frugality which a landlord would be hooted at
for suggesting to his cottagers. We pity Hodge, reduced to bacon and
greens, and to meat only once a week. The principal meal of a Guernsey
farmer consists of _soupe à la graisse_, which is, being interpreted,
cabbage and peas stewed with a little dripping. This is the daily dinner
of men who _own_ perhaps three or four cows, a pig or two, and poultry.
But the produce and the flesh of these creatures they sell in the
market, investing their gains in extension of land, or stock, or in
"quarters," that is, rent-charges on land, certificates of which are
readily bought and sold in the market."[1]
[Footnote 1: _Letters and other writings of the late Edward Denison,
M.P._, pp. 141, 142.]
Mr. Dension died before he could accomplish much. He was only able to
make a beginning. The misery, arising from improvidence, which he so
deeply deplored, still exists, and is even more widely spread. It is not
merely the artizan who spends all that he earns, but the classes above
him, who cannot plead the same excuse of ignorance. Many of what are
called the "upper" classes are no more excusable than the "lower." They
waste their means on keeping up appearances, and in feeding folly,
dissipation, and vice.
No one can reproach the English workman with want of industry. He works
harder and more skilfully than the workman of any other country; and he
might be more comfortable and independent in his circumstances, were he
as prudent as he is laborious. But improvidence is unhappily the defect
of the class. Even the best-paid English workmen, though earning more
money than the average of professional men, still for the most part
belong to the poorer classes because of their thoughtlessness. In
prosperous times they are not accustomed to make provision for adverse
times; and when a period of social pressure occurs, they are rarely
found more than a few weeks ahead of positive want.
Hence, the skilled workman, unless trained in good habits, may exhibit
no higher a life than that of the mere animal; and the earning of
increased wages will only furnish him with increased means for indulging
in the gratification of his grosser appetites. Mr. Chadwick says, that
during the Cotton Famine, "families trooped into the relief rooms in the
most abject condition, whose previous aggregate wages exceeded the
income of many curates,--as had the wages of many of the individual
workmen."[1] In a time of prosperity, working-people feast, and in a
time of adversity they "clem." Their earnings, to use their own phrase,
"come in at the spigot and go out at the bunghole." When prosperity
comes to an end, and they are paid off, they rely upon chance and
providence--the providence of the Improvident!
[Footnote 1: _Address on Economy and Trade._ By EDWIN CHADWICK, C.B., p.
22.]
Though trade has invariably its cycles of good and bad years, like the
lean and fat kine in Pharaoh's dream--its bursts of prosperity, followed
by glut, panic, and distress--the thoughtless and spendthrift take no
heed of experience, and make no better provision for the future.
Improvidence seems to be one of the most incorrigible of faults. "There
are whole neighbourhoods in the manufacturing districts," says Mr. Baker
in a recent Report, "where not only are there no savings worth
mentioning, but where, within a fortnight of being out of work, the
workers themselves are starving for want of the merest necessaries." Not
a strike takes place, but immediately the workmen are plunged in
destitution; their furniture and watches are sent to the pawnshop,
whilst deplorable appeals are made to the charitable, and numerous
families are cast upon the poor-rates.
This habitual improvidence--though of course there are many admirable
exceptions--is the real cause of the social degradation of the artizan.
This too is the prolific source of social misery. But the misery is
entirely the result of human ignorance and self-indulgence. For though
the Creator has ordained poverty, the poor are not necessarily, nor as a
matter of fact, the miserable. Misery is the result of moral
causes,--most commonly of individual vice and improvidence.
The Rev. Mr. Norris, in speaking of the habits of the highly paid miners
and iron-workers of South Staffordshire, says, "Improvidence is too tame
a word for it--it is recklessness; here young and old, married and
unmarried, are uniformly and almost avowedly self-indulgent
spendthrifts. One sees this reckless character marring and vitiating the
nobler traits of their nature. Their gallantry in the face of danger is
akin to foolhardiness; their power of intense labour is seldom exerted
except to compensate for time lost in idleness and revelry; their
readiness to make 'gatherings' for their sick and married comrades seems
only to obviate the necessity of previous saving; their very creed--and,
after their sort, they are a curiously devotional people, holding
frequent prayer-meetings in the pits--often degenerates into fanatical
fatalism. But it is seen far more painfully and unmistakably in the
alternate plethora and destitution between which, from year's end to
year's end, the whole population seems to oscillate. The prodigal
revelry of the _reckoning night_, the drunkenness of Sunday, the refusal
to work on Monday and perhaps Tuesday, and then the untidiness of their
home towards the latter part of the two or three weeks which intervene
before the next pay-day; their children kept from school, their wives
and daughters on the pit-bank, their furniture in the pawnshop; the
crowded and miry lanes in which they live, their houses often cracked
from top to bottom by the 'crowning in' of the ground, without drainage,
or ventilation, or due supply of water;--such a state of things as this,
co-existing with earnings which might ensure comfort and even
prosperity, seems to prove that no legislation can cure the evil."
We have certainly had numerous "Reforms." We have had household
suffrage, and vote by ballot. We have relieved the working classes of
the taxes on corn, cattle, coffee, sugar, and provisions generally; and
imposed a considerable proportion of the taxes from which they have been
relieved on the middle and upper ranks. Yet these measures have produced
but little improvement in the condition of the working people. They have
not applied the principle of Reform to themselves. They have not begun
at home. Yet the end of all Reform is the improvement of the individual.
Everything that is wrong in Society results from that which is wrong in
the Individual. When men are bad, society is bad.
Franklin, with his shrewd common sense, observed, "The taxes are indeed
very heavy; and if those laid on by the Government were the only ones we
had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many
others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed quite as much
by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as
much by our folly; and from these taxes the Commissioners cannot ease or
deliver us by allowing an abatement."
Lord John Russell once made a similar statement to a body of working men
who waited upon him for the purpose of asking relief from taxation. "You
complain of the taxes," he said; "but think of how you tax yourselves.
You consume about fifty millions yearly in drink. Is there any
Government that would dare to tax you to that extent? You have it in
your own power greatly to reduce the taxes, and that without in any way
appealing to us."
Complaining that the laws are bad, and that the taxes are heavy, will
not mend matters. Aristocratic government, and the tyranny of masters,
are nothing like so injurious as the tyranny of vicious appetites. Men
are easily led away by the parade of their miseries, which are for the
most part voluntary and self-imposed,--the results of idleness,
thriftlessness, intemperance, and misconduct. To blame others for what
we suffer, is always more agreeable to our self-pride, than to blame
ourselves. But it is perfectly clear that people who live from day to
day without plan, without rule, without forethought--who spend all their
earnings, without saving anything for the future--are preparing
beforehand for inevitable distress. To provide only for the present, is
the sure means to sacrificing the future. What hope can there be for a
people whose only maxim seems to be, "Let us eat and drink, for
to-morrow we die"?
All this may seem very hopeless; yet it is not entirely so. The large
earnings of the working classes is an important point to start with. The
gradual diffusion of education will help them to use, and not abuse,
their means of comfortable living. The more extended knowledge of the
uses of economy, frugality, and thrift, will help them to spend their
lives more soberly, virtuously, and religiously. Mr. Denison was of
opinion that much of this might be accomplished "within two
generations." Social improvement is always very slow. How extremely
tardy has been the progress of civilization! How gradually have its
humanizing influences operated in elevating the mass of the people! It
requires the lapse of generations before its effects can be so much as
discerned: for a generation is but as a day in the history of
civilization. It has cost most nations ages of wars, before they could
conquer their right of existence as nations. It took four centuries of
persecutions and martyrdoms to establish Christianity, and two centuries
of civil wars to establish the Reformation. The emancipation of the
bondsmen from feudal slavery was only reached through long ages of
misery. From the days in which our British progenitors rushed to battle
in their war-paint,--or those more recent times when the whole of the
labouring people were villeins and serfs, bought and sold with the soil
which they tilled,--to the times in which we now live,--how wide the
difference, how gratifying the contrast. Surely it ought not to be so
difficult to put an end to the Satanic influences of thriftlessness,
drunkenness, and improvidence!