The southern press., 1850-11-04


the number of receptions only, and that in this
case also the same persons having been in and out
frequenty, were counted over and over again ,''
Such is the pfetsnce not to general but 10 per-
feet accuracy" and such the "disgraeefti' man
ner IN which this critic presumes 10 write, and he
Is endorsed by the arrogant ignorance of " JUS
tice." Adding the indoor and outdoor paupers
together, aud the number is 73,264, which is aboul
one person Out Of erery fire who Is dependent more
or less on public charity" as ] asserted In con-
troverting the statement made on the authority
of the Journal Of Commerce, that in 1912 or '4j
the number OF paupers was 12, 900 permanent, and
me same number of occasional ones, the writer
makes an assertion purportlng to be from the re-
port Of the Secretary of the State, March IA, lS45
which is selfeyidently absurd. He says (page 03)
the whole number relieved was 1886 ndmber
temporarily relieved, 97,76l the latter included
IN the former, leaving I75 persons only who were
permanent paupers IN State having nearly hun
dred thousand occasional ones.
As for the addition OF the 9,SI7 paupers I" re-
ieved out of the aims houses" to the 1868 State
and city paupers of Massachusetts, which the lee
ture has done, the critic is probably right in re-
garding 1t as mistake--the only one that can
perceive he has shown in his elaborate review OF
ninety-nine pages. But, so far is my account OF
Massachusetts, paupersm from being exaggerated
even with that error that was il was stated
far below It's actual amount. My limits, however,
did not permit me 10 explain it, but since it is now
asserted that the paupersm OF Massachusetts is
less than ! represent, will present few more
facts.
The system Of supporting the poor in Massa-
chusetts partakes much more largely than in the
other States of the voluntary and associative prn-
ciple, instead Of the legal or compulsory method.
The donations for general and special objects OF
charity, hospitals, infrmaries, asylums, widows,
orphans, &C., amounts to about million and a
half in the last twenty years from Boston alone.
See Boston census, lS45. These are public. 1t
is computed that an equal amount was given pri-
vately-but say $4,000, 900 in twenty years makes
Sl00 900 year. This is ticice the amount Of the
regular appropriations by law even now made in
that city annually. And, as Massachusetts is a
State composed chiefly Of towns and cities, of
which Boston ccmprehends so large part of the
population, it is clear that have not overstated
the number OF persons supported by charity, and
that is the point involved in the argument. And
yet Massachusetts, having large immigrant pop
ulation from abroad, and from neighboring States,
and having but few children, has, as her public
writers boast, larger proportion of adult or pro-
ducing and self-sustainIpg persons than any other
State, and, on that account, ought to have less
pauperism. @
As for the pretence that the paupers OF the
North consist materially beyond their proportion
OF European immigration it is not supported by
the facts, but is against them. So that the boast
of doing the national hospitality for the suffering
humanity Of the world is merely flourish to slur
over lame conclusion. So much for the "hdeous
exaggerations" imputed to me by "Justice," (" who
gives the credit of exposing them to his friend
Mussey " Justice :" has, however, borrowed
several arguments from the same source without
Acknowledgements. There is the potato luxury
theory, the great increase by estimate of the patent
office IN Massachusetts agriculture, and many
items of the provision speculation--the building
argument and the negro-quarler suggestion, the
freehold, the rchicniar, the mortality arguments
81 w nr Ices rinfIn he
same work of this, however, do not complain.
Only think it's curious conception of sJustice -
for writer to run over some forty pages of a la
borious statistical work, like that Of his friend,
and appropriate data, illustration, argument, and
even criticism, or what were no doubt intended
for them all, and, by specifying only two three
topics as thus selected, leave us to infer that all
the rest are original. 1t indicates poverty Of IN
tellectual resources seldom visible in a Southern
man, except when he is on the wrong side. If,
however, the South borrows the institutions of
the North, the South might perhaps as well bor-
row the Northern argument, the cypheripg and
the philosophy, but then let it be openly done.
have thought it important to expose this whole
sale plagiarism or sleeping partnership in the ar
gument, as our readers may be assured that if
two such dissln1ilar minds as produced the Cincin-
natl and Louisville reviews of the North and South
are compelled to rely on what has been thus
brought forth, their cause is deperate one.
The criminal statistics of the North and the
South compel both sJustiee" and his friend Mus
sey to take flight They are so precise, so ar-
thentc, and so overwhelming, that the latter gen
tleman at drops his slate and pencil, and the
former turns a short corner and disappears. They
both tell us thatwe can 7 compare the two sections
in crime because there is no register of the crimes
Of The stapes. Then it is admitted the white peo-
pie of the North will not stand comparison with
the,whie people of the South as TO exemption from
crime The lecture does not pretend to compare
L. - IL
the South. That is an insult the author could not
commit was reserved for the champions of the
North.
The lecture undertook to present the results of
the institutions of the North and the South so far
as they could be found in high documentary au-
thority. These were so numerous and various,
that, running they do, almost universally in
one direction, they must be considered conclusive.
If they have been faithfully presented in the lee
ture, the pretensions of the North to be the supe
ror and reformer Of the South are exploded To
escape this conclusion, the accuracy and the fdel-
ity of the lecture have been assailed from every
quarter with unparalleled vehemence, obstinacy
and acrimony. It's defence has been
made, and it is submitted to the candor of the
public, net whether the lecture is not as correct
as is usual in a document containing such null
tiplicity of statements, but whether any produc-
ton Of the kind has appeared superior to it in that
respect. ta u4 a. .H s- ar ~@
The writer of Justice" applies to me the morel
quotation from Pope: 5 .. .s.,.. .......,. .. "A
ga little learning is dangerous thing"
Such taunt could come only from one who
presumes he has great deal; fact, however,
that his readers would not have suspected but for
his intimaton For my part, do not pretend to
much, particularly that of the schools. | do not
exactly adopt the sentiment Of old Angus: |
"Thanks to saint Dunstan, son Of mine,
Save Gawain, ne FER could write line"
But concur en- tirely in that saying, which, as
Plato informs us, the seven wise men of Greece
adopted and consecrated at Delphos "Know thy |
self, and know nothing too much" rejoice,
therefore, that never went to school after the age
of eleven. For, besides escaping the infiction by
authority Of large amount Of formula, of cant,
IF error, and Of rubbish, also avoided that art-
icia and arbitrary subdivision of intellectual la
Dor which inclines men to adopt some particular
professional pursuit, and to seek excellence as
awyers, doctors, clergymen, chemists and matE-
,matcians, rather than develope all their facul-
les and by preserving the unity and sympathy of
heir minds to excel as men. Persons thus edu-
lated by learning thing or something 'too
much" must of necessity fail to learn many things
enough. And truth in this life is relative rather
ba atfai ,entd denepds the ioint