The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-01-24

in New York, scenes of terrible privation, and
utter misery, and squalid want, such as are
paralleled only by the great cities Of Europe.
1t is not many years ago, that the spectacle of
family starving in the midst of populous
community, and in the immediate vicinity of
luxury and opulcnce, was almost phenemenalin
its rarity. In those better days absolute des-
titution was all but unknown What was then
termed poverty was wealth compared to the
hungry and famishing indulgence Of the pres
ent. The poorest artizan, the verest idler and
vagabond could command the wherewithal to
satisfy the cravings of nature. Beggary had
no indigenous existence amongst us. It is
foul and frightful exotic which has been i'm
ported by sWarms of the Pariahs of the east
|ern world-homeess wretches, reared in suf-
fering, and rendered by dire necessity alike
shameless and importunate As mendicancy
in those days was infrequent, the people had
not become Injured to the clamors of alms-seek-
ers, and hardened to the sight Of want. The
poor were relieved; the houseless were shell
tered; work was found for the willing; and
guant and hollow-eyed famine never Stalked
through the streets, or taking counsel Of des-
pair, plotted crime and violence against those
who had been better favored by fortune.
Things, it mustbe confessed, are very differ
ent now The accounts of the frighful suffer
ings of the poor in our northern cities, are nat
urally appalling. Hundreds Of delicate fe-
males in the biting sharpness of mid winter.
shiyering in the keen blast, without roof to
cover them. and perishing from hunger. Humid
reds of robust men, demanding nothing but
work, and unable to obtain it, are compelled to
claim from a wearied charity bread for their
wives and little ones. Private benevolence has
been taxed beyond its ordinary bonds. The
public eleemosynary institutions are crowded
to their utmost capacity-and still the torrent
swells-still men, women and children roam
the streets distractedly, imploring food and
shelter. This is a hideous sight to contemz
plate. It seems indeed q fearful anomaly in a
country like ours, with a boundess territory,
its millions of acres of virgin soil, its unceas
ing hum of industry, its indomitable and ever
active enterprise, its constant demand for phy-
scal toll, that there should exist in any spot on
lis broad surface a larger faction of the popu=
lation reduced to that debasement of humani
ty, when the gross wants of the body overcome
and crush out every other thought and feeling.
and the wall Of starvation fills the air with la
mentable sounds
people we are scarcely, if at all responsible for
these horrors. An American beggar is sight
never witnessed-an American vagrant is al
most as rare. Nine-tenths Of the wretched-
ness and sufferings amongst the poor is the re-
suit of the folly of foreign immigrants. Most
Of them arrive direct at the port of New York.
When they land, they are generally possessed
of some means-the treasured hoardings of
years of heavy toll. They come to this coun-
try in the delusive expectation of instantane.
ously jumping into employment at liberal wa
ges Instead of leaving the crowded cities,
where competition pins them to the wall, and
national prejudice ostracises them-instead Of
packing up and proceeding to the great west,
where occupation and its reward await them;
where the labor of few short years would en-
sure them comfortable home, and place them
above the caprices of fortune, these silly and
misguided people cling to the close atmosphere,
and crowded purlieus Of the city. There they
remain, gradually expending their slender
savings, vainly hoping that they are on the
high way to wealth, running their, own pros
poets, and effectually barring future attempts
to get away, reducing the price of labor by
keeping up the supply far beyond the demand,
until at length destitution stares them in the
face, the pnching severity of winter overtakes
them, and they are converted from honest,
hard-working and hopeful artesans into mis-
cradle, into starving beggars. Worse than
this, for multitude amongst, Of unfxed prin-
ciples and irregular habits, have not the
strength to resist the temptations which beset
them. The men become criminals, and crowd
the penitentiary.
These are some Of the prominent evils which
the excessive immigration of the laborng clas
ses have brought upon us Undoubtedly, sew
en- eights of the pauperism of the country falls
upon them Statistics have proved this too
to admit of doubt. But moi
ETY. Of this suffering might be avoided were
The ignorant and sanguine foreigners who land
upon our shores properly cared for Here, We
witness no such terrible extremes of want at
least among German immigrants, for there is
a philanthopic society established in New Or
leans, whose special duty it is to attend to the
newly arrived wanderer from Fatherland, to
ascertain his views, to give him sound advice,
and to assist him in vending his way to regions
fitted for his habltitation, and destined to be
cultivated by his labor. If in every city such
associations were organized to accomplish for
he Irish and German what is achieved only
or the latterin New Orleans, we would soon
:ease to hear narrowing tales of starving fami-
les, or to shudder at the apprehensions of
,read riots. Bee.
WHERE THE STRENGTH LTEs.-Whcre is the
trength and safety of people? Is it in their
nultitude? Look at Europe, and behold the
million the sport Of thefew-look at the nations
nd races, trampled by 1.-THE of their numbers
4 the dust-look at the myriad slaves, whom
housand tyrants and taskmen scourge in fields,
nd camps, and dungeons The strength of a
eople is not alone in multitude. Is it in the
over of revolutions and massacres, or in the
ayoDets they can fling to the CLEAN of the sun?
id hayonets save Rome-did they save Po-
md, and Hungary, and Franae, and Germany
) the people9 The strength and safety of
eople lie in their knowledge of their rights,
nd their union in defense of them! Ignorant
nd dsunited, the greater the number the great
+ the danger of a people. They are their own
arse. They fall upon and destroy themselves,
! their hands bayonets become suicidal Give
Deople a true KNOWLEDGE of themselves and