Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854, 1852-03-21

I'VE commend the following article TO the
serious consideration of every reader 1t
treats of a subject of the greatest Importance
to every well. wisher of his race, and every
patriot who desires to see his country occupy
an honorable position in the annals of the
world Some two years ago, the same sub
ject was broached in our columns by DR.. j a.
cob Townsend; but up to this time we have
not seen any practical step taken towards
putting it in operation. We trust that Mr..
Sperry will be more successful.1
In addition to my former article on the
License question, there is another and still
more important subject for the considera-
ton of our citizens, on which / would Ike to
offer some suggestions.
The vast and ever increasing number of
destitute children, Of both sexes and various
ages, from mere children to those approaching
maturity, who crowd the inferior streets and
obscure places Of the city, present to the eye
and mind of the observant and rejecting cit
izen, every conceivable degree of wretched-
ness and precarious deprayity that can shock
the feelings of cOnsiderate humanity Many
of these are doubtless the children of parents
UuHVUluHVlJ &llO nOpIlCccAJ pVVA WIZ GOpu-
allv earn too little to put them in q better
condition; others are children whose parents
are disselute, incorporate and idle while
many are orpbans, Or half orphans, depend
ent upon poor friends and relatives, or upon
casual charity, for the scantY subsistence
they receive The number of these children
is SO great, that no place of relief at present
devised, could provide for more than coupar-
ativelv few Of them Our alms-houses and
other charitable institutions, are already full
and overhowiDg and excessively burtheDsOme
to the public Our public schools are wholly
inappucable to the case, for before children
can be taught, they must be fed and clothed
Yet the case cries aloud to cur city authoTi-
ties for somo remedy or other, as the evil
becomes worse every day, without the slight
est prospect Of abatement. Our criminal
records Of Juvenile crime attest the swelling
macnitude of social disease and hooks of
dopraved girls, mere children, that are to be
seen in tho streets every evening after lamp
light, are absolutely revolving to the manly
and moral sense Of the community. What
can be done That something ought to be
done. and that it is the duty of our munich
sal government to do it., if possible, no one
will DENY. It is useless to talk about more
rigorous laws in such state Of things. or a
stTicter administration Of those that now
exist. This would not reach the root Of the
evil: it would be merely intlictiDg penal
nunishment upon unavoidable wretchedness
Where, then, is the true, the efficient, the
ample remedy An answer is to be found
in a very few, very simple and obvious
reflections All men live upon the fruits Of
the earth; every thing needed by man can
be obtained from il; and there ls neither
necessity nor excuse for destitution or want
in any country where there is an abundance
of land in proportion to the population. That
this is emphatically the case in this country,
more than any other on the globe, is notorious
to the world indeed we otfsr our lands foI
the occupancy and support Of the destitute
Of all nations Ia it not strange-is 1t moi
marvellous would it not be, as a matter o.
suppositiOn, wholly incredible that, under
these circumstances, the principal city Of thiI
vast and fertile country should be throngeC
with destitute, wretched and starving chill
dren, and be oppressed by an intolerabl'
amount Of taxation for the maintenance OF 1
uauper population
The remedy must therefore be apparen
to every intelligent mind. Let the Stat
purchase Of the General Government an ad
eouate amount Of public lands at governmen
prices, on credit, say, of twenty years
, which the General Government would read
ily give, aud let these lands be appropriate
, for the settlement, industry and maintenanc
of our whole pauper population, of bot