1
10
1
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/9c6cd55f985ce73d801bb2d4bd233dec.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=f6urG8N7HRINfHqJAeqfsjHa3N4KSB-FgAtbaHb7P03upxMFc5yksVIAn2n86VPyTy8g4x88ddxgNA7IUhMr8cCK0b4S9c3NnWXz8bwzydXpLHND2IDtVZ5BmIy3iSQU1L-8NXjb9HcWUl4zQnLLTUapyb94Q2DCMT8Tttuk3fhOW1g4xWmg9MlODpyntiiC4o83Ljzje9hDijfuFNQe1Ilyx1XGK3injSyaweTyfGmh66bKziNcLniz2biZCOVOS6UWA3-KToCMJhzQdmcIpG7MdYpVhNnJsSN3hEL6Y7deSpCw1fTbX3PFC9g16Xkk6sKNGFIw4ReM9KsUsPR8vA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
8af9be0272c04566d139030b1ff7074b
PDF Text
Text
» ß 2.572,
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
A PRESSING SOCIAL PROBLEM.
BY CYRIL ABDY GREAVES, D.C.L.
We are constantly hearing of the distress of the
London poor, and of plans for its relief, or, if
possible, extinction. Earl Compton, in the Fort
nightly of January last, shews by statistics that
the London pauper class has increased during
the past three years by 6,000 souls. This- is
appalling!
Three causes may be given for this state of
things:—
1. The general depression of trade.
2. The special depression of the landed
interest.
3. The enormous increase of population.
(1) Under the first head little needs here be
said; except that when men live, as so many do,
from hand to mouth, every occasional slackness
of trade pushes numbers over the barrier which
divides poverty from pauperism.
(2) The second cause is more fraught with ill
for London than is generally believed. I can
�2
testify from experience, drawn from residence in
several connties, that the number employed on
the land is yearly lessening: the reason being
that their employers’ capital (whether tenant
farmer or landowner) is itself lessening.
I leave to abler minds the side-question
whether Free Trade in corn is a blessing or the
reverse on the whole ; suffice it to say that it has
rendered agriculture an unproductive industry,
and flooded the towns—especially London—with
starved-out rustics.
(3) But the third cause is the most serious : it
is a constant, not a variant.
Those who have had much to do with the poor
know that they think that to have a “long”
family is the common lot of all men. They
marry early, and look for one. Their lives are
consequently mere struggles for existence, and
when, in premature old age brought on by over
work and care (how old your poorer poor look at
fifty!), they can no longer do a fair day’s work,
the children they have brought up seldom keep
them, because, forsooth, they the children have
families themselves to toil and slave for; and so
ad infinitum.
But must this wretched series be expanded ad
infinitum, or till this poor old planet of ours be
comes a cold stone, or at least till its inhabitants
have all been reduced to such a dead-level of
poverty that Divine Providence intervenes with
the pruning-hook of pestilence and famine ?
�3
I think not.
bacy ? Ko.
There is a Remedy.
Is it Celi
Celibacy is well enough for those who have the
forethought to postpone present gratification to in
sure future comfort; and it deserves more respect
than it gets; but celibacy—real, continent celi
bacy (any other is worthless)—involves too much
self-denial to be largely practised.
What, then, for the great mass of ordinary
men and women ? This is a delicate subject,
hitherto mainly whispered in the ear; but I have
the courage of my opinion, so wish to proclaim
from the house-top that there are ways by which
married persons may limit the number of their
children, or even have none at all. Much good
could be done if the clergy of all creeds would
forget their odium theologicum and the faculty
their odium medicum. and join in a crusade
against Starvation.
But it is not in great cities alone that the
curse works. It is a far cry from London to
Lewis; but what do we hear from that largest
Hebridean isle ? We hear that the crofters are
violently seizing land and driving away tenants’
stock, in order to have more land to squat upon
and run out (as they have done their own) by
unscientific tillage. Is not over-population the
real reason of the troubles of a larger island than
Lewis ? Land hunger comes from common
hunger. The seed of most revolutions is in the
stomach.
�4
The primaeval impetus, “ Increase and mul
tiply,” has run on till the prediction of the Holy
Founder of Christianity, “Blessed are the barren
that bear not,” is getting a perpetual, not an
occasional fulfilment: if we are not to go on as
“ creatures without reason, born mere animals ”
(2 Peter ii., 12, Revised V.) we must look the
matter in the face; else one needs not be inspired
to predict that petty wars will be as common in
the twentieth century of grace as they were in the
tenth, and infanticide become as recognised an
institution in Europe as now it is in China. Both
which may Heaven avert!
I have hitherto spoken of the poor only; but,
inasmuch as the increase of the children of the
rich aggravates the pressure on the poor, I wish
my strictures to apply to all sorts and conditions
of men, whether they live in the hovel or in the
palace.
KRICB ONE HALFPENNY.
Printed by A. Bonnes, 34 Bouverie Street, and Published for the Author at
63 Fleet Street, E.C.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
A pressing social problem
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Greaves, Cyril Abdy
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 4 p. ; 17 cm.
Notes: Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
[A. Bonner]
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[n.d.]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N291
Subject
The topic of the resource
Birth control
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A pressing social problem), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Birth Control-England-London
NSS
Poor-England-London