ABSTRACT
The problem of poverty, and how to overcome it, remained the mam domestic problem of Edwardian as of late-Victorian government. 'The social problem is always with us. That is the modern version of our Lord's saying concerning the poor.' So remarked the Contemporary Review in July 1910. The Victorian gospel of thrift and self-help was now under continuous attack. How could the poor hope to be thrifty in their miserable circumstances? 'If the poor were not improvident, they would hardly dare to live their lives at all.' 1 Was it surprising that they were often demoralized? Was the gospel of thrift itself demoralizing? The Manchester Guardian (12.3.1906) reported a conversation with a group of children who were asked why they were putting money into the savings bank "'For myol-dage," she said firmly . . . Poor little five-year old! Why, instead of telling you to look forward to helplessness, should not our educational system seek to give you weapons wherewith to make helplessness unlikely?'
