New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-03-16
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.

A Wisconsin frleDd Whites Us III lulFIengt1
exposition and commentator Of plan he has
for abolishipg Pauperism, Destitution and un-
willing Idleness in our City. That plan may
be summed up as follows: Let our City pur-
chase or procure a grant Of say One Million
acres of Wilderness aid Prairie in the West;
thithsr let our surplus population be from
time to time removed, due provision having
been made of Shelter. Food and Implements,
until they shall be able to take care of them
selves. Thus let some thousands per annum
be drafted away from our City until no more
shall remain than can find here steady employ
meut, fair wages. reasonable rents and CON-
Portable subsistence.
TO this project there are what seem to US
very serious objections, which We will briefly
indicate-ss follows
!. Our excess of population is not indigo
nous, but results from the focking hither Of the
adventurous the inefficient, and the desperate,
from all parts Of the world, more especially from
the cities of Western Europe Now our friends
project, being adopted, would immensely in
crease and intensity the tendency hitherward
Of the needy and dissatisfied from all quarters.
I'VE will make our venture in New-York,'
these would say, and should we fail, we can at
least throw ourselves on the City and become
her colonists in the West That will give US
Land, Shelter, Food and Implements Of Hus-
bandry, which is more than most pioneers pos
sess.'-And thus, instead Of diminishing the
Pauperism, Idleness and Misery now existing
here, we should greatly increase it. Millions
would flock hither on purpose to be colonized,
and go secure to themselves transportation to
ard homes in the Great West. One Million
Dollars year would not begin to pay the cost
Of keeping this plan in operation; aud then it
would but serve to increase the Poverty and
Destitution of our City, even though it might
diminish those Of other places. You might as
well undertake to reduce by dozen fathOms
the level Of the Gulf Of Mexico by pumping its
water into the Caribbean Sea, leaving the gen.
eral level of the Atlantic unaffected, as to d.
minish our City's Psuperism by any such con-
triyaDce.
2. We should infict lasting injury on the
West by such scheme. The class who would
consent to be colonized after this fashion, upon
the money earned by other people and wrung
from them by taxation, would be no acquisition
TO the region wherein they were colcnized.
Very few of them would know how to clear
woodland break up prairie, erect fences, and
transform the wilderness into fruitful fields and
gardens. On the contrary, they would gener-
ally be composed Of the relatively unskilled,
Inefficient iDdolent, shiftless, who, if they had
food enough put into their mouths, would still
want some one to wag their jaws. For, while
there are at this hour, and at all times, thou
sands in our city, as elsewhere, who suffer
from want when they would gladly work, il is
nevertheless true, and must not be forgotten
that it is not the more energetic, frugal, indus
trious, skillfu part of our population who are
destitute and suffering, but mainly the other
sort. Many poor woman is working beyond
her strength for an inadequate subsistence;
but The best seamstresses, like frst.rate black
smiths, wheelwrights, shipwrights, &c, are
very rarely idle, and are in the main fairly
paid. Ii is not the strong but the weak even
among the poor, who are trampled down and
run over And the less efficient and habitually
luckless portion of our Laboring Glass, who
cannot make living here, at work Of which
they have some knowledge, would scarcely do
better in the West, where there is little or
nothing to be done that they are skilled in at
al, and where very much of the labor is such
as they would need the experience of life
time to qualify them to perform efficiently.
Now We have great faith in the West as
qualified to afford us relief in the matter Of
our surplus population, and in the Freedom Of
the Public Lands as conducive 10 such relief;
but We do not anticipate the settlement Of our
most needy and dependent thousands on these
Lands. We believe very few Of these would
start westward if the Lands were made free
tomorrow But instead of these better and
more efficient class would go, making room
and securing larger opportunities for the rank
next lower in the social scale The thrifty
and frugal mechanic, porter, laborer, &c. who
had patiently and slowly saved up two or three
hundred dollars, would naturally say, My chill
dren begin TO crowd my narrow tenement,
yet cannot afford TO hire one more commo-
diOus; my grocer's and butchers bills in.
crease, while, my earnings do not l find N.Y.
self unable co add anything to my little hoard ;
and now that there is land to be had for moth
ing, / will try TO settle my children in the
broad, free West, before they shall be called
to close my eyes Aud so thousands would
be gradually drawn away from US, allowing