ENGLISH CHARITIES NEVER HEALTHIER OR MORE PROGRESSIVE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:] Sin,—I rejoice to note that in the Spectator of December 29th, 1894, you express "pleasure in putting anything before your readers which is not pessimist, even if it be only a vague ground for hope." I would therefore venture to state that it is an undoubted fact, as I have abundant evidence to show, that the lean years very often prove happier for the nations than the fat years, when the rush to get rapidly rich con- sumes mankind. It is the same with our charities. When money is most plentiful, then the managers of these institu- tions are apt to spend unduly upon new buildings and to be too lavish in their expenditure all round. I could wish that the Spectator would add the weight of its most con- vincing and sober authority in favour of the statement that "English charity was never in a healthier or more progressive condition than at the present time." The force and truth of this assertion is emphasised by the circumstance that the total sum expended annually in charitable gifts is not £7,000,000 as you suppose, but upwards of £1O,000000, the £7,000,000 I mentioned in ray letter to the Times only repre- senting the income of the greater charities which have their head-quarters in London. If we include all English charities, then the income is probably not far short of from £15,000,000 to £20,000,000 per annum, a sum so immense as to make most men wonder, all men of knowledge and authority declare; and that if overlapping could be prevented, as it can be, then the income of English charities is large enough to provide adequately for the needs of the whole population whose necessities require relief or succour during some portion of
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