Don't Give Away Charity Too Easily

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, as we leave the Capitol for the weekend, I want to leave the body here with a little bit of thought. I am going to quote from a book called ``The Tragedy of American Compassion,'' by Marvin Olasky. It is now a 30-year-old book.

It is an interesting book in that it deals with what we have today called welfare. At the time that was all privatized. I am going to quote from the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism of the City of New York on what they felt was the cause of pauperism at the time and what had to be done to end it.

It listed 10 causes of pauperism. People in the 1820s were brighter than the people today. They listed ignorance, idleness, intemperance, which I take to mean drunkenness, want of economy, imprudent and hasty marriages--you don't hear that one anymore, but they thought it was one of the top 10--lotteries, pawnbrokers, brothels, gambling houses, and the most interesting one, the vice of charities that gave away money too freely.

When we return next week, let's remember the wisdom from the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism and not give away charity too easily.

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