Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/185

 SOCIAL SOLIDARITY IN FRANCE 169

assert that relief of all indigent persons is a duty of all the strong ; but they are not ready to modify the method on which reliance has been placed for centuries, the method of voluntary charity, nor to recognize in the government the proper organ for performing the duty. In the minds of many of the conservatives still under church influence, the very word " charity " is almost sacramental ; it has for them a supernatural significance; it is above common humanity ; and they are in revolt against the phrase " social solidarity." Perhaps those with a strong clerical or ecclesiastical bias instinctively feel that a certain kind of social power, surely an important social function, is slipping away from them; for charity in the ancient regime was administered chiefly by the church, while the obvious tendency now is to increase the activity of the commune, the department, and the state in all this field. These feelings, which are entirely natural in a people whose his- tory and traditions are those of France, have injected an element of pathos, of regret, and of bitterness into the debate. The con- troversy over the separation of church and state is going on in the Chamber of Deputies, while the Senate is considering the exten- sion of obligatory relief. To the conservative theological senti- ment is joined the economic and political prejudice against the enlargement of the functions of the local and general govern- ments.

The advocates of the new measure do not think it necessary to base action on individual motives and sentiments. "Charity" as a religious motive and benevolent disposition is beautiful and worthy when it is sincere, but it is intangible, impossible to verify by objective signs, and cannot be made the foundation of the action of a democratic people. They think that many of the works which are done in the name of this " supernatural grace " are often the result of mixed motives, in which pride, ambition, selfish hope and fear may make large contributions. The English and American student of private charity will add with regret that the vice of gambling is sanctioned by private charities, and that much money is raised by lotteries, which are legally authorized, and which are favored by some of the best people in the nation. It is less pretentious and more practical to act upon the prin-