Public benefit

“ That which we are bound to consider is the benefit of all; and, in my opinion, the common good will be most effectually secured, by getting the greatest quantity of provisions for the whole community,—by giving a proper remuneration to those who produce such provisions,—and thus encouraging them to do that which is most beneficial to the community at large. ”

“ What the public really wants from business, then, is a contribution to national welfare, and it has become convinced that, by taking thought, it can make the contribution more certain and more uniform than it has been in the past. ”

“ Even such advantages as works of solidarity, benefit clubs, education, recreation, &c., profit the members in the long run. To do away with all appearance of exploitation of the public it would be better to apply the profits accruing to the society from sales to non-members or at least tfce part which is not returned to them towards some work of public utility outside the society. ”

“ And yet I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan, as proposed by this bill, to indulge a benevolent and charitable sentiment through the appropriation of public funds for that purpose.
I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. ”

“ Again, in the administration of public charity, the industry and morality of the whole laboring population depends, to a most serious extent, upon adherence to certain fixed principles in awarding relief. ”

“ On the other hand, I, and the few who think with me, contend that justice alone is to be administered by the community in its corporate capacity; and that the practice of generosity is to be left to private individuals, and voluntarily-formed combinations of individuals. Insuring each citizen's safety in person and property, as well as insuring him such returns for his services as his fellow-citizens agree to give, is a public affair; while affording him help, and giving him benefits beyond those he has earned, is a private affair. ”

“ Wherefore for the public interest and benefit of human society it is requisite that the highest obligations possible should be laid upon the consciences of men. ”

“ I promise to further social welfare; to promote the idea that prosperity consists essentially in persons and only incidentally in things; to be true to this faith in public and in private, in work and in play ”

“ It is following tradition as well as necessity, if Government strives to put idle money and idle men to work, to increase our public wealth and to build up the health and strength of the people—and to help our system of private enterprise to function. ”

“ We count, in the future as in the past, on the driving power of individual initiative and the incentive of fair private profit, strengthened with the acceptance of those obligations to the public interest which rest upon us all. ”

“ The paramount importance of the trade and industry of the country, and my anxiety that the exigencies of the public services should be provided for in the manner least burdensome to the community, have induced me to resort to the means which the constitution has entrusted to me, of ascertaining the sense of my people upon matters which so deeply concern their welfare. ”

“ If the care of the Poor be an object of great national importance, —if it be inseparably connected with the peace and tranquillity of society, and with the glory and prosperity of the state;— if the advantages which individuals share in the public welfare are in proportion to the capital they have at stake in this great national fund—that is to say, in proportion to their rank, property, and connexions, or general influence;—as it is just that every one should contribute in proportion to the advantages he receives ”

“ These men depend for their recreation on public institutions, and therefore it is of the first importance to the national health, happiness, morals, and intelligence that no thought, pains, or money should be spared in providing such institutions, adequate in number and competent in character to meet so important and so immense a need. ”

“ It is the only government which has shown due consideration for working men as such; which has recognized the value of their services, and encouraged what is the chief compensation for their condition of poverty, their participation in public life. ”

“ The personal, economic and cultural welfare of the private person shall be fundamental aims of public activity. In particular, it shall be incumbent upon the public institutions to secure the right to work, housing and education, and to promote social care, social security, and a good living environment.
The public institutions shall promote the ideals of democracy as guidelines in all sectors of society. ”

“ Most earnestly, therefore, does this Society call upon all to whom a maintenance, out of the public purse, is dear, upon those who value the places they hold at the expense of the country, or the permanence of the present Administration, to join them in promoting these objects and principles. ”

“ What the world wants to complete its education are those sound principles of public economy, which contribute most to promote national and individual wealth and happiness, by removing the obstacles to internal communication and the march of useful knowledge, and establishing among us an interchange of commodities, according to the wants and the capabilities of each community. ”

“ The growth—of our cities and the increasing complexity of our industrial life have greatly increased the number of activities which it is to our advantage to carry on, not individually, but collectively or through the agency of government. The spread of altruism and the widening of the concept of social service have caused the extension of governmental activity in such new fields as social insurance, recreation, and public health. ”

“ He may prudently help his relatives and friends; he may establish useful public institutions, [Pg 10] such as free public libraries, museums, public parks, dispensaries, &c.; he may assist in educating the poor, or promoting institutions for higher education; he may relieve any who are suffering from misfortunes which could not have been provided against; cripples, blind people, and all who are absolutely disabled from helping themselves, are proper objects of the rich man's charity. ”

“ But with regard to one subject after another, such as primary education or sanitation, or the ordinary matters of municipal government, the community has come to the conclusion that it is in the public interest that these services should be rendered to all who need or claim them, whatever their affluence. ”

“ And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account—to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day—because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government. ”

“ To assist those wishing to avail themselves of these advantages, the government appropriates a certain sum of money, and those persons who receive this public aid bind themselves, in consideration of the same, to teach on specific terms in the free schools for a period of three years. ”

“ By prescribed law, by authorized publicity, by informed public opinion, let her continue to strive to provide that all conditions under which her citizens live are worthy of the highest faith of man. Healthful housing, wholesome food, sanitary working conditions, reasonable hours, a fair wage for a fair day's work, opportunity — full and free, justice — speedy and impartial, and at a cost within the reach of all, are among the objects not only to be sought, but made absolutely certain and secure. ”

“ Renouncing the maxim of worldly wisdom which bids men "get all you can and keep all you get," they resolved rather to give all they had to advance the common cause, to use every benefit conferred upon them in the service of the general welfare, to bestow upon the world more than they received from it, and to leave a fair and unblotted account of business done with life which should show a clear balance in their favor. ”

“ But they knew the need and had an instinct for helping the right people. In seven years these boys helped in more than two hundred and fifty emergency cases; their pennies grew to dollars as they earned more; their charity developed their self-respect; they held weekly meetings for debate, and several of them made their way through college. Funds were supplied, also, from friends outside, who were glad to aid such a worthy enterprise. The great need among private agencies is fuller co-operation with one another and with public boards and institutions. ”

“ The science of education deals with ways and means of securing public wisdom. The science of government includes all facts relative to public virtue. So the facts by which we know the nature and uses of accumulated wealth in any community make a distinct study under the name economic science; it deals with certain definite groups of facts. To call everything good “wealth” and everything evil “ilth” adds nothing but confusion to our thoughts.
Mutual welfare.—Every human being in society is directly interested in the study of wealth as related to his own and his neighbors' welfare. ”

“ But it is not merely on account of the superior interest they have in the public welfare, that persons of high rank and great property, and such as occupy places of importance in the government, are bound to support measures calculated to relieve the distresses of the Poor;—there is still another circumstance which renders it indispensably necessary that they should take an active part in such measures, and that is, the influence which their example must have upon others. ”

“ Suppose, sir, that all the sales that have been effected had been made by the state, and that the proceeds had gone into the state treasury, to be returned back to the people in some of the various shapes in which a beneficient local government exerts its powers for the improvement of the conditions of the citizens. Who can say how much of wealth and prosperity, how much of improvement in science and arts, how much of individual and social happiness, whould have been diffused throughout the land! ”

“ The obligations on the part of the community extend to the provision of employment, mental and physical health care, social security, fair wages, rest and recreation, and a host of other reasonable expectations on the part of the individual members of society. ”

“ It is easy to underestimate the usefulness of human beings who finance the world of industry, and in estimating the returns that are due to members of the various social classes this form of public service that is so essential to the prosperity of all must receive recognition. ”

“ On the other hand a very small amount of public service freely and cheerfully given by every 89citizen, results in great benefits to the community which receives this service, and to the individuals who give it as well. ”

“ The problems of poverty must be attacked from both sides, therefore, and though I shall dwell particularly upon individual service in these pages, we should remember that, unless this service is supplemented by the work of good citizens, who shall strive to make our cities healthier and freer from temptation, our school system more {7} thorough and practical, and our public charities more effective, unless this public work also is pushed forward, our individual work in the homes of the poor will be largely in vain. ”

“ The government must foster education and protect property; it must encourage those occupations which increase the material wealth of the people. Increased wealth means larger revenue, and permits greater expenditures for public works ”

“ Exactness and economy in the conduct of the common business and the administration of governmental affairs begins to be demanded from those officials who were formerly suffered to share in the distribution of the riches that figured as part of the public aid and encouragement given private individuals with a view to social development. ”

“ The public can encourage the acquisition of those most essential parts of education, by giving small premiums, and little badges of distinction, to the children of the common people who excel in them. ”

“ III. That the establishment of Provident Funds, whose tendency is to give a powerful impulse to the promotion of habits of providence, frugality, and self-reliance, at the same time that they confer immediate benefit on the poor, is a most important auxiliary to the operations of this Society, and contributes in a high degree to the effecting of that moral and religious improvement which is the great end and object of all its endeavours. ”

“ The great question of today in every civilized land is, How can the accumulations of power in the shape of wealth made by this generation be used to establish a continuous welfare, not only for this generation, but for its successors? The wants of society today include not only a reasonable provision for life and health and wisdom and virtue during the life of those who are now active, but an equal provision for the same wants increased with each succeeding generation. ”

“ A policy well calculated to raise the importance, and increase the happiness of the individuals themselves, who were the objects of the change, to benefit those to whom these extensive but hitherto unproductive possessions belonged, and to promote the general prosperity of the nation. ”

“ But they can supplement the efforts of these organizations; they can bring monetary as well as personal assistance; and they can, above all, bring a mass of public opinion to bear on local and central governing bodies which will lead to the only real economy, which consists in expenditure on an adequate scale, bringing to the aid of the families of the people the preventive, the medical, and the nursing facilities of which they remain in need. ”

“ The public is also recognizing that the purpose of goods and services is to promote individual and community welfare, and as fast as public policy to that end can be worked out, it is carrying emphasis even beyond specific products and services to the social ends for which these products and services exist. In these ways society too is trying, clumsily perhaps, to take a long-time view of its business and to conserve the human values that make for progress. ”