Abolish “Dependent Classes”
By Josephine Shaw Lowell
(Quoted from “The Survey.” Mrs. Charles Russell Lowell. Mrs. Lowell served 13 years as Charity Commissioner in New York, and in many other ways was engaged in all good causes, municipal as well as philanthropic.)
I object to the term “dependent classes,” unless in speaking of the insane. That such a class, not included among the insane, does exist among us is a fact; in more than one county of this great, rich state, there are families, as you know, who for five generations have been more or less dependent on their fellow citizens and such families constitute a class; but yet I protest against the use of this phrase in a way to suggest that the existence of such a class should be recognized except to be abolished.
There will always be persons who must be helped, individuals who must depend upon public relief or on private charity for maintenance, it is true, but it is a disgrace to any community to have a dependent class, and the fact of its existence is a proof that the community has done its duty neither to those who compose it, nor to those who maintain it.