Amongst them there are very few decent and helpable men and women who are capable of rising to a higher life.

Say what we will, be as pitiful as we may, those of us who have much experience of life know perfectly well that there exists a large class of persons who are utterly incapable of fulfilling the duties of decent citizenship.

It may be that they are wicked, and it is certain that they are weak, but whether wicked or weak, they have descended by the law of moral gravitation and have found their level in the lowest depths of civilised life.
And they come from unexpected quarters, for some who have known comfort and refinement are now quite content with their present conditions.
Whether born of refined parents, or of rude and ignorant parents, whether coming from a tramping stock, or from settled home life, they have one thing in common.

It is this--the life they live has a powerful attraction for them; they could not if they would, and would not if they could, live lives that demand decency, discipline and industry.

Nothing but compulsion will ever induce them to submit themselves to disciplined life.