The (almost really) Complete Works of Lewis Carroll

To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette

Sir,—At this inclement season, when the appeal for aid from the benevolent is rising from all quarters, it seems a fit opportunity for discussing methods of facilitating and stimulating the flow of national benevolence.

I believe that a great deal of possible charity is retarded, or altogether withheld, through the difficulty, first of selecting the objects for benevolence, and secondly of reaching them when selected.

Let us take the case of some wealthy and charitably disposed Englishman. By reference to the advertisements, and to the lists of contributions acknowledged in the newspapers, he can with some trouble collect for himself the names of the principal institutions in need of help. Such a list will of course be far from complete, and that is of itself unsatisfactory to any one wishing to do the best with the means at his disposal. Let us suppose, however, that he has selected half a dozen of these, and has decided on the sums to be contributed to each; he will now have to procure half a dozen post-office orders, payable to as many different secretaries, and to post each of them in a separate envelope. Now, without diverging into a discussion of the existing system of post-office orders, it is enough to say that no one can have often gone through the process of procuring them without retaining a tolerably lively sense of the tediousness of the operation; and in addition to the trouble, there is a clear waste of money entailed on our charitable friend. I do not think that the process of sending the money by cheques (which would generally be paid into different banks) would be found, on the whole, less troublesome or less expensive.

Now the charitably disposed Englishman, like the rest of his countrymen, is a lover of ease, and not unlikely to limit the flow of his benevolence to those directions in which he found its exercise least troublesome and least trammelled with the necessity of additional and (so far as his object is concerned) wasted expenditure.

It is much more easy to point out an evil than to suggest a practicable remedy; but I am inclined to believe that if the following ideas, Utopian as they may seem, could be in some form realized, the cause of national benevolence would be furthered. The object to be aimed at I take to be a central point, to which, and again from which, the streams of benevolence should flow: one where contributions could be received, by some simple process, from all quarters, and for all charitable purposes, and handed over again, without deduction, to the objects designated, and from which information should be circulated of the names, purposes, claims, and progress of the various charitable institutions. Could such an object be attained, I believe that the giving of charity would be made so much more easy and attractive to those who, having abundance to give, need only information as to where and how to give it, that probably much more would be given.

To give this idea more of a tangible shape, let us imagine the existence of a “National Philanthropical Society.” It would have something of the character of a bank, in which money might be deposited to be hereafter assigned to charitable objects, if any chose so to do. It would receive as money cheques on all country banks, and would transfer the amount without deduction to the accounts of the various charities designated. There would be a register kept, in which, by paying a small annual fee, any charitable society or institution might have its name entered, with a short statement of its history and objects, and might add any further statement by paying for it as an advertisement. This register, with list of contributions, would be published from time to time, as cheaply as possible, and also largely circulated gratuitously (for instance, copies might be sent to all ministers of religion, to libraries, waiting-rooms on railways, &c.) And it would be a great addition to the usefulness of this society if there were a committee, who would receive money sent for general purposes (such as hospitals, churches, &c.), and make grants from time to time from such “general” funds to whichever particular institutions they considered most in need of help.

The necessary expenses of such a society might be defrayed partly by the fees for registration, partly by the advertisements, and partly by voluntary contributions.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,