TOPICS FOR REPORTS

1. Forest-Fire Prevention and Control. Report of the National Conservation Commission, Senate Document, No. 676, 60th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, 1909, Vol. II, pp. 418-438.

2. Reduction of Individual Loss from Fire. Willett, "Function of Fire Insurance," in Zartman and Price, Yale Readings in Insurance: Property Insurance, New Haven, 1914, Chap. V.

3. Prevention of Poverty Through Life Insurance. Fisher, "Economic Aspects of Lengthening Human Life," in Zartman and Price, Yale Readings in Insurance: Life Insurance, New Haven, 1914, Chap. II.

4. Methods of Conserving Human Life. Fisher, "National Vitality, Its Wastes and Conservation," Senate Document, No. 676, 60th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, 1909, Vol. III, pp. 671-723.

PART III

HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONS AND METHODS OF DEALING WITH DEPENDENTS

CHAPTER XI

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIEF OF THE POOR

1. Charity among the Jews. For ages men have been reflecting upon the problem of the poor. In Hebrew society, as soon as tribal life had given place to agriculture and commerce, social classes began to develop. Rich and poor appeared. The prophets and the >ages of Hebrew history gave attention to the problem of the poor. Their chief emphasis was upon the importance of giving to the destitute. Job's claim to mercy at the hands of God was that he had "not withheld his hands from the poor." 1 Even in the days of Jesus, the rich young ruler who would inherit eternal life, was told to "sell all that thou hast and give to the poor." Among the Jews and the Christians of New Testament times, concern for the poverty-stricken had got no further than care for them in the household or by individual gifts. There were no community efforts by the Jews and early Christians for the care of this class.

2. Charity among the Romans. The care of the unfortunate was not entirely neglected among the Romans. While it is probably true, as Lecky says, that "The difference between Pagan and Christian societies in this matter is very profound," nevertheless the circumstances in society in the days before the introduction of Christianity into the Roman Empire were quite different from those prevailing afterwards. Lecky points out that "In the ancient societies slavery in a great measure replaced pauperism and by securing the subsistence of a very large proportion of the poor, contracted the sphere of charity. And what slavery did at Rome for the very poor, the system of clientage did for those of a somewhat higher rank. The existence of these two institutions is sufficient to show the injustice of judging the two systems by mere comparison of their charitable institutions, and we must also remember that among the ancients the relief of the indigent was one of the more important functions of the State." 3

1Job 31: 16-23.

'Matthew 19: 21.

'Lecky, History of European Morals, New York, 1883, Vol. II, p. 73; see also Fowler, Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero, New York, 1913, pp. 36-39.