Boetcker's Doctrine

"We cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. 

"We cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. 

"We cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. 

"We cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. 

"We cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. 

"We cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.

"We cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."
                                                      -William J. H. Boetcker

These words, often referred to as Boetcker's Decaloge, are offered here to those who have come up empty and frustrated at a search for New Years resolutions.

They have been attributed to Abraham Lincoln, as have many wise gems.

But they come from a very brilliant, deeply religious lecturer who bridged  the gap between the 19th and 20th centuries, between 1870 and 1924 .

Boetcker was an American of German extraction, deeply religious and gifted with a faceted moral and economic insight honed  on the thrust of the late Industrial Revolution and the Roaring Twenties.

There is nothing any sane person could add to this irrefutable warning.

We languish nowadays in debris and paralysis--- consequences of not heeding Boetcker's vision.


We might thrive if we devoured this every morning--- but not on an empty stomach !