The  right  method,  which  is  not  a  hindrance,  but  an  aid  to  social
betterment,  is  that  which  deserves  the  epithet  rational,  scientific,
evolutionary,  just  to  all,  patient  and  steadfast.  We  are  first  to
study  calmly  and  from  all  sides  each  particular  evil, —  intemperance,
poverty,  crime,  labor  difficulties,  for  instance.  "There  is  no  social
problem,"  said  Gambetta,  wisely :  "  there  are  social  problems  "  ;  and


138  THE   NATIONAL    CONFERENCE   OF

they  require  special  treatment,  while  their  interrelations  must  not  be
neglected.  The  moral  causes  of  poverty,  for  instance,  should  not  be
overlooked  in  denunciations  of  bloated  wealth.  The  owning  of  prop-
erty, in  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  implies  the  exertion  of  very  un-
deniable virtues, —  temperance,  self-control,  foresight,  tenacity,  and
industry.  No  rearrangement  of  society  and  no  legislative  methods
will  dispense  with  the  need  of  these  excellences  of  character.  A
reform  method  which  lays  the  emphasis  on  human  laws  or  external
conditions  so  far  as  to  slur  the  importance  of  personal  effort  and
self-control  is  unscientific  and  immoral.  For  the  "unseen  founda-
tions of  society  "  are  fidelities  and  loyalties  and  persistences  not  easy
to  the  natural  man.
In  dealing  with  poverty  and  crime,  especially,  there  is  danger  that
more  harmthan  good  will  be  done  by  the  benevolent  who  do  not  take
into  account  the  moral  reactions  of  charity.  Walter  Bagehot's  cau-
tion has  not  been  bettered  by  late  writers :  "  Though  war  has  become
slow,  philanthropy  has  remained  hasty.  The  most  melancholy  of
human  reflections,  perhaps,  is  that,  on  the  whole,  it  is  a  question
whether  the  benevolence  of  mankind  does  most  good  or  harm.  Great
good  no  doubt,  philanthropy  does ;  but,  then,  it  also  does  great  evil.
