Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1851-12-18
n Ew YORK. Nov. 26, 1851.

@taH IRE do tcith tie HttugarianS,
! New YORK. Nov. 20, 1851.
EDITOR OF THE TRIBUNE
Every year, about this season, the be
neyolent people of our city, and many
+, who are not benevolent, are called upon tC
grapple with an evil, gigantic aud grow
ing evil, Of which You in the country know
but very little If, by dilating upon this
subject, can furnish you and your read
crs with some raw material for pious graf
itude for the substantial blessings of your
lot, and send you to bed with heartier
thank God" than usual. [ shall not have
written In vain The evil to which | re-
| fer Is POVERTY, consequent upon want of
work,-PovERTY, haggard, anxious. hope
/ lesS,-Clty POVERTY, IN the winter
First, let me state the facts. The aver
age number of persons in this city, who,
IN the winter, have no employment, NAV
be computed at Fifty Thousand This
vast army of our wretched fellow creatures
Is made up of several descriptions of per-
sons. Above all others, in point of num-
/ bers and in need, are the emigrants, who
having just contrived to raise the amount
OF their passage money, land upon our
/ wharves, at the rate of one thousand a day
! destitute. hungry, and eager for employ
ment. Those that arrive in the Spring or
! Summer, have not much difficulty IN OBJ
tanning employment fthey cannot find
work in this city, they can, with compare
/ tive ease reach those sections of the coun-
| try where labor is in demand But. at
J, IL I
! private building slackens, canals are clos
ed, the rivers frozen up; and here they
must remain, until the opening of Spring
gives them work, or cheap access to the
! Far West"
! Thesame contraction of business throws
out of employment thousands of our own
citizens. Steamboat and Sloop hands
brick-layers, ship-carpenters, and other
mechanics, particularly people connected
III any way with travelling, find them
selves, about this time of year, cut off
/ from their customary means of living. and
! thus 60 to swell the ranks of the needy.
y few days ago, for example, the Nov
city Works, in this city, discharged. at
one stroke. four hundred hands. Think
oft probably Twelve Hundred human
! beings transferred, without a moments
warning, from the class of the comfortable
and well provided, for, to that of the suff
erlng, or, at best, the anxious. and the
/ sore-perplexed What tidings for faith
/ er TO bring home, on Saturday night, to
/ his family, at this season of the year Il
am discharged; here is the last weeks wa
ges that [ shall have to bring YOU, until
God knows when p
Another large class of the UNEMPLOYED
/ is composed of persons, especially Young
men, who leave good homes, and sure en-
I ploymcnt, in the country. to try their for
tuue IN the city. This is the class, which
perhaps is, beyond all others, the most
/ pitiable; not because they suffer more
/ physical pain than the others-tbev do
not, generally, suffer as much but be
causc-accustomed to the sure abundance
of a country life, leaving home under
sort Of lntatuation IS to the great things
they are sure to achieve in this city. aud
! possessing, too keen appetites for the ex-
Pensive pleasures of the city-the stern
reality takes them completely by surprise,
and painfully disapronts and brushes
them. l am acquainted with one of this
class, who spent seven months in this city.
and IN parts adjacent, seeking employ
ment, before he found it. He then obtain
ed some work, in folding newspapers, at
three d0lLcIrS 7ccek! He was College
bred, and is really fine, able fellow but.
like thousands of others. he could easily
learn TO do fifty things, but had actually
learned 10 do nothingl And people in
this driving metropolis cannot stop to
/ teach young men what they ought to have
learned before applying for employment.
\ lare number of these country aSpi-
rants for city honors and city incomes, are
young gentlemen of literary turn
Most especially do they long to join the
corps editorial A distinguished htera-
feur told Inc, the other day, that. in his
opinion, there are always in New York.
one thousand persons seeking literary en-
ployment of some kind Il receive" said
he, lat least. two thousand pieces of poe
try. annually, which are offered either for
sale, or for my opinion upon their merits,
or for gratuitous publication in my paper;
and, every week, prose matter enough to
I'LL the paper twice over yet" added he,
/ IF | want man to DO a certain kind of
work, in 4 creditable workmanlike man
ner, | may seek him, for months, and not
find him. | presume there can be no
harm in saying. that the person and paper
alluded to are y. Z. Willis and the Home
Journal | have heard other literary men
make similar statements. and my own ex-
perience comedies with theirs.
This last Is the class of men who suffer
most deeply and accutely Poor and
proud, aspiring to scale the heights of
fame and fortune, but compelled to trudge
along the plain, with anguish in their
hearts, and with seedy exteriors,-these
are the men to be pitied, and if possible.
TO be helped. Let me assure you, that
no one, who has not walked the streets of
New York, looking for work. knows what
it is
How do the Fifty Thousand unemploy-
ed persons. in this city, live, during the
winter To this question, can answer,
not irreverently, but with literal truth
God only knows The poor wretches fire.