The native American., 1838-07-28

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1t is said, that, in New Hampshire, in the year
| 1900, there was only one pauper to every 333
inhabitants; that, in 1920, there one pauper
to every 100 Of the inhabitants; and that the ex-
pense of maintaining their paupers had increased
from 1900, in the former year, to $4,000 III
the latter. When The contguity ofths State to that
of foreign Government, and its peculiarly
exposed situation to the ingress of mendicants
from abroad, are taken into consideration, few
will hesitate to account for this extraordinary in~
crease of pauperism in that State.
In the State of Massachusetts, ii is said that
the number of paupers about doubled in the ten
years preceding 1892.
In the districtspf Southwark and the Northern
Liberties alone, in Philadelphia, there were, IN
the year 1910, 800, and in the year 1890,
there were $500; their number having nearly
doubled in ten years. While the late war con-
tinuea with Great Britain, there was no emf
grafton from that country to the United States;
and for several years after the termination OF
hostilities between the two countries, the number
of emigrants hither was quite limited, And tnc:
fact is not unworthy of notice, that, in proportion
as the humber of emigrants increases or dimiI-
ishes, is the increase or diminution Of paubers
and convicts in the penitentares and poor-houses
in that and the other Atlantic cities. And at the
time when the emigration from Europe was in
terrupted the number of poor in the city OF Phila
ldelphia was reduced down to fourteen hundred;
4 and, and in 1922, when the policy of some of the
European states was in successful operation Of
relieving themselves from the burden of maintain
ing their own poor, by transporting them to Ame-
lrica, the number I'm the alns-h6usc iH that city
was increased to 5000.
1t is said that, within the last 2s .-..v-, ST
OO0,0 900 have been expended in the city and coun-
ty of Philadelphia for the support of the poor; and
while the population there has increased in a ra-
ito of 81 per cent, the poorrates have increased
nearly at the rate of 81.
! In the absence Of particular accounts in many
of the States of the number of their paupcrs, in
others of the amount paid for their support, their
numbers cannot be ascertaned with absolute pre-
cision; yet, upon the hypotheses assumed in the
annexed answer of the Native American Asso-
citation of the city Of Washington, to the inierro-
gaories propounded to that Association, it is be-
lieved the results arrived at may be confidently
relied on.
The fact is unquestionabe that large rrft,sssffsS rrftsssfs
of foreigners are annually brought 10 our country
by the authority, and at the expense Of foreign
governments and landed upon our shores i'm a
state of absolute destitution and dependence; many
of them Of the most idle and vicious class, in their
personal appearance the most offensive and foath-
1 some; and their numbers increasing with such
rapidity by emigration, as to become burdensome
| to the American people; own citizens being
obliged to contribute largely from their own earn
ings to support them in idleness. 1t is within the
recollection of all, that within the last few years
large supplies Of breadstuls nom Europe h.a,s
been imported into the United States, and not
only paid for by the earnings of our citizens, bat
applied to the maintenance of the pauper popu-
laon Of the very country from which these bread
stuffs have been obtained And it is for pro,ec-
ton and defence against evils of this descriptions
that the American citizens have impored the in
terposition Of Congress. The necessity for i'm
porting provisions from abroad has arisen, in
some degree, from the increase Of popuiation in
the United States, much greater than the natural
increment of the American people, with popu-
lation of l2,s66,OOO, the natural increase of
which would be l46,3S5 less than what it now
/ is, taking into account the natural increase OF
births over deaths. If this estimate is correct, 1t
shows that our population is increased annually
4 I46.325 from other than natural causes: and
whence this increase but by emigration from
abroad1 And when it is borne in mind that firrs
FOREIGN pauper population produce little, is any
hing from their own labor, but supplied prin-
cipav if not entirely, from the labor Of our own
citizcns the reason for importing breadstus from
abroad will be mcasuraby accounted for.
| The committee have estimated the number Of
lemigrants who arrive in this country from abroad
at 100000 annually; and the confidence m the
correctness of that estimate will be strengthened
by the fact, that the annual increase Of populations
in the United States is greater, by lf6,325, then
the natural increase Of population would aiRotnt
to annually.
On the 4th Of July, 1896, resolution was
odoped i'm the Senate of the United States direct
oft She
collected and laid before the Senate, at its then
next session, all such facts and information as
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