The native American., 1838-08-25

UST 25, 1888.
i "The committee appointed to report to the
House the number of petitioners in each county
of the Commonwealth praying for the repeal, and
the number praying for modification OF the
school law, and the number demonstrating agalns
said repeal; and, also, how many OF said pet
TONERS signed by making their mark, and how
many names to the petitions were written by
other hands than the petitioners, report
"That although the number who have petition
ed for the repeal is deplorably large, yeti is but
a small minority of the whole number of voters
in the Commonwealth, to wit, about $4,000.
Those who ask for modification are only 2,0s4 !;
those who have deemed it necessary to remon-
strate against the repeal, 1875. The committee
were panied to find among those who deem a
general system of education unnecessary and ask
for its repeal, SiTty-sir who are unable to write
their own names, and who attached their signatures
by making their marks ; and according to the best
conclusion to which the committee could arrive,
more than ten out of every hundred of the peti-
toners names appear to be written by otherhands
than their own. Whether this arose from ina
bllity to write their own names, the committee
do not feel themselves called to determine. The
committee would further remark, that in most of
the petitions not more than fre names out Of fevery
hundred are 1uritten IN EngHsh; and the great
mass of them are so llegibly written as to afford
the strongest evidence of the deporable disregard
so long paid by the Legislature to the constitu-
tional injunction to establish general system of
education"
1 In New York 532, 1877 children were instructed
at cost per annum of S. ,235,256 OF, of which
only $3l3,376 81, or about one fourth was de-
frayed from the public money; while for the same
year the maintenance of her paupers in the city
alone was $2O5,50 SO, or two-thirds of the
whole expense of public education throughout
the State.
If you take, however, the amount of costs for
schools, paid by public tax, for the year 1887,
! which was $3l3,376 81
And deduct it from the cost of ..
ofpaupers that year, which was 396, 100 05
twill be seen that pauperism costs
more than education by $02,723 ID
The population of the State of New York in
1885 was 2,l74,5l6, out of which there were
S2,3l9 male aliens. The act for taking the cen
sus omitted the female aliens, and hence they
were not enumerated. The number of the latter
class was estimated in that year at sO,Ols !;
making the total aliens l62,337, or about one
alien to every thirteen native and naturulized
citizens in the State.
The total of aliens there in 1925 was 40, ,43O;
increase since that period three hundred per cent.
1t is said by political economists that dleness
and paupersm always increase in proportion to
| the means of their ready maintenance; and this
, seems to be borne out by the history of mendci-
ty. In the reign of Elizabeth the support Of the
poor was so precarous from the public purse
/ ,r xl<
. | whatever assessment they might think necessary
| for the relief of the poor
J, The delegation Of this legislative power to the
} discretion of subordinate magistrates augmented
not only the public burden but the number of the
poor to such an extent that the weekly allowance
to a pauper "frequently exceeded the ordinary
RI earnings of laborer in good times" This ad-
minisration of the laws, says writer, ''has had
such tendency to debase the character of the
] common people of England, that in some parishes
every fourth man receives relief."
The poor laws of every country tend to pro-
: duce alienation between the rich and the poor
. rendering the poor thankless and the rich hard
{ hearted; and are productive of such mischiefs in
separating the social ties, that Bishop Burnet de-
d clares they ought to be entirely abolished. Such
! had been the effect of the levles for supporting
: the poor under the power glven to magistrates
in the reign OF Elizabeth, tnat IN the time OF
S William and Mary appeal was made TO the
moral sensibilities and pride of the beggar, in the
d form OF laws, imposing badges of shame upon
# their vocation. Nothing has, however, stopped
# their increase, or even kept the number within
S reasonable bounds.
f The poor-rates in the time of James were
f g665,362; in a century (lS00) they were in.
t creased to four millions Of pounds sterling; and
e in fifteen gears more had doubled themselves,
: being then gs,O000,000
Various plans of relief have been proposed in
Parliament, from that of work houses and schools
of industry, by Mr.. Pitt, to the nobler one of
moral education and scholastic instruction, by
; which the lower classes might SO improve their
habits and emulation as to be above the degrada-
ton of charitable dependence. But they all failed,
and the parochal taxes have gone on continually
increasing until the burden in England has be-
come, both as to this species of population and
f the extent of means for its support, great, as
to be second only in importance to the great ma
tional debt.
, The experience Of our country shows that we
have followed at rapid pace in the footsteps of