Pauperism

Definition and stakes

Portrait of Theodore Parker Theodore Parker,  Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons…

“ See the pauperism, want, licentiousness, intemperance and crime in the midst of us; see the havoc made of woman; see the poor deserted by their elder brother, while it is their sweat which enriches your ground, builds your railroads, and piles up your costly houses. The tall gallows stands in the back-ground of society, overlooking it all; where it should be the blessed gospel of the living God. ”
Source: Gutenberg

Portrait of William Amias Bailward William Amias Bailward,  The Slippery Slope (1920)

“ What, then, is pauperism? The answer is, that it is in its essence a question of character rather than of externals. It is, so to speak, a negation, a loss of something, rather than a positive quality. Pauperism is associated in the minds of many with vice and crime, and it is true that these are often its ultimate development. But for all that they are not of its essence. Many a pauper is at first neither vicious nor criminal. ”
Source: Wikisource

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