New-York daily tribune., 1843-02-28
The New work-Eaouse.

The New work. Eaouse.
Now that the project of erecting Work
House is before the public, and has fair prospect
of being carried into execution, we feel great soli-
eitude that It shall be established on such plan
as shall both afford relief to the distressed and 9TH
erwise promote the public welfare. We do not
wish to see the public money of the city expended
in establishing merely place of resort for the des
,itute or degraded and which shall yet exert no
salu,ary influence over them after they leave It's
precincts.
1t is time tha, we began to demand for our pub
hc Institutions higher character than they have
heretofore borne. The world is now sufficiently
enlightened on moral science, and the true source
of Mans happiness, to know that it is utterly iu-
tile to provide expcdients which shall only atferd
relief for the present moment, while all the causes
which have brought the object of charity into MS
present suffering condition are permitted TO remain
in undisturbed operation. 70 provide an instiiu-
zion which shall open its doors only in cases OF
severe and urgent necessity, which shall furnish
.nerely shelter food and clothing, in exchange for
the labor which the individual can perform, seek
sne TO exert no geaera influence over his future
condition, to excite in his bosom no ambition to
a:hievs better things for himself, no hope that ne
can dc It; to furnish him means by which,
when he leaves its walls, he may be enabled to
preserve himself from crime, or shield himself
against temptation, would, it seems to us, be do
ing him any thing but real service.
Institutions of this, and Of similar description,
have been in operation for hundreds Of years, and
yes every one must have long since become COR
vinced, that they fail utterly to remove the evils
which render them necessary. The reason is OBJ
vious Mon have labored, legislated, philoso.
rbaed formed institutions and carried them into
operation for the benefit of man. in total or else
partial ignorance Of the principles of his conssi.
tuition. and consequently of the means that woulo
be truly adapted to remedy the evils under which
he has continually labored. They have, instead q
being cover ned by laws which as fixed and iHs-
,pu,abe in their operation as those of Chemistry,
Botany or any other natural Science, resorted to
expedien,s, 10 experiment; have tried one plan,
and finding it fail, have devised another and ano-
eder. And the greatest benefit that has flowed
from them has been the relief of extreme suffering,
whie they not snfrequently result in the aggrnva-
ton Of the very evils sought to be remedled, tlli
the mass of society have settled down in hopeless
confusion, despairing of any thing but espealenss,
and ready to rush blindly into any that otter tenn
porary relief.
We have not now the degses of ignorance which
has heretofore prevailed to plead in eztenuaten OF
the errors which we shall commit in establishing
future charities, and therefore call upon those
who have the expending of the public moneys for
,hi, purpose to look that they do not adopt the
easiest and cheapest expedient which presents it.
self merely because it is SUCH The best OF all
plans will be scarcely likely to spring spoaane-
ou,,y into the head Of His Honor the Mayor, or
sny Of tho Aldermen, and it is precisely because
snsti,u,ions of this kind have been devised by men
who have given little time 10 the study of the
subject that they have met the evils to which
shey have been addressed
The citizens Of New.York may build work.
house of sufficient capacity receive large num-
Der Of inmates, who may be employed in earning
their own livelihood aud supplying revenue to
the City, but, if they are thus employed as mere
machines-steam engines taken under shelter 10 be
protected from the rust Hne ba,tering whcht they
would be exposed outside; and, alter certain pc
riod, are turned out The same steam engines that
they were taken in nay, if they have, while inside
been exposed TO bad sir and other injurious inAu
ences go that they have russed, even though shell
sered and employed, wha, better are they True,
they, these living machines, may have been more
comfortably provided for while within, than they
could have been without. That is something
But when the time comes for them TO leave, they
should have received every psssble preparation to
aim ut better sta.e when abroad than they did
before. This were true charity. Mere relief from
hunger protection for the innocent {though this
were well worth attention if nothing
could be DONE is not what the suffering and the
destitute have q right to claim. These are the
charities OF ignorance and indolerce. Blu, the poor
raan ssks how he is to relieve himself; wake but
in him the hope that he may do so--rouse but the
ambition which sleeps under ,l. iceberg. of neces
sisy-put, or let him, by his labor, pu. few dol
lars into his pocket, by which he may ,runsaor,
himself from the crowded and pes,ferous lanes
and shoroughfares Of the city, TO some res;en
where the energies Of his hands viii be an eouiya
lent fer his bread. and he will laugh a. you1 werk
house walls and tell you that ne wants no pro,sc,
,iea there. He builds his own work house and
oshciates as Commissioner, Superintendent, Clerk
and the whole corps Of salaried officials himself.
do prcfera discharging these Offices and taking
their emoamenes TO his own use and behoof But,
Establish your work house, take n your paupers
aud vsgtanss, work them, give ,hena food, clothing
and every thing TO minister to their physical COM
iots, IN the's present condition, and in dus sme
has 49,