New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-01-06
THE UNsOLyED PROBLEM.

! The Old lear was running Ou' lIs 1851 sauus'
| the uatroDs were preparing their sumptuous and
elegant tables and the misses trying on their
newest brocades and most bewitcbIng smiles in
anticipation OF troops Of calls; Young America
was insiIuatiDg his feet into the highest boots
and biz neck INFO the sti1est Of collars and the
most distressirg Of cravats preliminary to the
same happy day; the grocer was complying with
H. very tardiest acquisitions for fruits, spices,
Sc " bile the fancy baker and cOnfectiOner, eI-
bausted by the extent and variety of their or
ders, hardly knew how to answer the latest drafts
upon their generous stores; the viol had uttered
its initial squeak, premonitory of the ball where.
with the gay and reckless were eager 10 dance
4 the Old Year out and the New one in, when a
wall of woe Issued from the poor tenement No.
800 Water-st., Earring on the general ear in
strange contrast with tie loud hllarity every
where setting in. Into that tenement, Alarm
and Benev0lencc rushed, to see what was the
matter; out Of it they came white and sud, ased
and appallt d-and no wonder.
For thereupon awretthed pallet, in room
made ebssily by want aud wTetcbedness lay the
booy of a man who had ceased to struggle with,
almost 10 suffer from, the stiDgs and Arrows Of
outrageous fortune" and who bsd ended his
mortal career by what the penny a-liners call the
rs,b ac." OF selfdestruction John Murphy,
bonn aD EDelishmSn, bred bcokbinder, brought
biber his wife and FIVE children last August ex-
peciDg 10 support them by dlligent labor in his
calling. So he did, after the best fashion he
could, until the LIST OF November, when the in
creasiDg severity of the pressure, compelled his
employers to dis ;harge rim. That was no fault
of the.rs-.bey could not pay him wages unless
some one wanted bookbinding Of them; their
work inevitably fell OF they had no choice bu.
to discharge their wOrkmen. So John Murphy
wIt home to his poor family, and tried and
tried, from day To day, from place to place, to
find work else bere-aDy where--bus in vain.
Tie same influence that hal deprived bin Of en-
pigment still prevailed to keep him out of it.
MeanIme article after article Of their scan,y and
shabby furniture vent its IN seraole way to the
pswnsbop uotil nothing more could be pawned;
th,n the children grew hungry and cried for Dread
which could not be procured; then the father was
urged 10 apply for alms which he could not easily
dO-for the Aims House has no place for haze,
sturdy muscular men and the Ward Relief Az
socstods had hardly yet been organized; al
length the wife aud mother, driven TO the last
dire extremity by the cries of her fansblng
children, went in quest Of the Relief Committee
man of her district, but did not find him, and re-
turned TO her desolate home hepgry and empty
handed, to find her hu .band bleeding from A self
inflicted eash across the throat, and on his knees
pray ing out his last breath In little while his
youplest child, which had tasted no food for two
days, also breathsd its last, leaving the widow
and four helpless babes to the charity of strangers.
The Oldest and youngest of that family have been
buried at the Cib's expense, as the five reDsin-
ing must be supported by charity for mouths, If
not for years all because there was nowhere
within the reach of the head Of that family work
whereby be might earn their bread Aims he
be had 50 be died by suicide and his youuge,t
child by starvation leaving the residue Of tie
family to be supported by other labor than his.
Is this good Social ECONOMY. Put the ques-
ton Of humsn brotherhood entirely out Of sight,
and consider the matter simply in the light of
profit and lo.s: Would it not have been polite
to give that AN not the aims he loathej but the
work he crsved, even 81 triling loss, rather
than leave him thus TO die and throw his family
upon the community for msintensn
We bsve no sort OF sympathy with Jacobinic
ravIDgs in the Park or elsewhere, against the
Rich, OF the Banks, or the Spectators in view
of the disiressss of the Poor. We despise all
;nc.,A;.,x hsrsnoues scsinst Sonn mr. any othar
mitigation ofihe prevailing distress Ii poo. Muir
phys babes had had sufticiency of good,
nouIiships soup, he would probably haze still
lived to be useful and respected as binder of
books. Let US have no Flour Riots or other bad
devices for increasing the an.agonism, already
too marked and ominous, between WeIih and
Want. We are prof undly grateful to those who
in such times give the needy soup; We wish there
we're more Of them and IL and We maintain from
actual experience that the Rich are not generally
ptnurious and hard hearted. Individuals among
them are callous TO others suferiDgs so there
are among the Portfolios, and quite as many IN
proportions but the Rich as s class are generous;
and if they were assured that contribution Of
one million dollars would Danish suffering for
food from cur City for this single ye,r, they
would make up the money in day. But they
knew, as we all DO, that in the distribution Of
aims, the larger share 10 elutched by the most
noisy rather than the most needy and that the
distribution in the shape Of aims, Of every dollar
now on deposit in our City Banks, would not tend
TO eradicate want but rather. in the long run. to
difuse and sggrsvste it. 1t is hOpelessness, not