New-York daily tribune., 1858-03-17
FROM PHILADELPHIA.
Prom Or Own Cor.spondent
PHIL,pELFHi, March 10, lScc.

must have been accompanied by vast smounfs of
destitution and suffering. As the seat OF sn m.
mense manufacturing business, greater by far than
the census would indicate, as recent local inyest.
cation has shown, there hsve been thousands OF
fam lies discharged from work and idle since Octo.
Der. Many Of these have subssted on their former
earnings. but many more less proyident than they
have become the pensioners Of the numerous public
and private charities Ia be found among US. I'll.
true We have no public dining house where sll the
world snotifed that Their spenty 10 Eat and nothing
10 paw, because cur population in the aggregate has
never been SO rowing shtess and hopeessy destitute
as 10 need IT, But there kindred institutions, the
ofsprirg of the same comprehensive humanity,
which are silently dispensing food To the hungry aud
clothing 10 the naked. in abundance suited 10 the
need. Last week single sOup-house IN MOysmen-
sing-a section noted for its immediate destltuton
gave out tun of corn meal =, 600 Oaves OF bread
snd IA, goo pints of wholesome soup thus supplying
daily $500 persons with food. Within gunshot OF
this soup p-house are more than twenty cellars IN
which the destitute victims of the grog-shop seek
refuge every night at penny head. All colors
and both sexes turn in promiscuousy at nightfall,
Ire down in hunks that rise one above the other
against the bare walls and there spend the night in
utter darkness the soft side of pine-board being
their only bed For two cents extra they may
have some filthy straw 10 lie on. Each one pays
his penny as he enters and none are admitted with
ont it. In the confined atmosphere OF these vile
dungeons the victims of the dramshOp dose the
night away. How these unhappy creatures escape
snffOcaton may be- LETT for science to determine.
But when morning breaks, though it be cold and
crisp, with snow foot deep upon the pavement,
the keepers of these dens throw open the door and
warn the miserable congregation that it is time to
get I'D and clear out Sick and shyering they rise,
and hungry and unrefreshed they are driven forth
into the street there TO wander of to the friendly
soup house, OF otherwise to pick up by theft or
beggary subsistence for another day, whose close
will be repititon Of the scenes OF the pre-
cedngOne. Strange as 1t may sound, the keepers OF
these disgusting hels almost uniformly become rich
by ministering to the wants and vices of the poor
est class of customers earth. Yet these unhappy
people are not left wholly to themselves. There are
men and women pleading among and for them az
deyotedy as our missionaries labor among the
heathens Of foreign countries. Many brands have
these selfdenyng souls snatched from the burning;
and though the volume OF pauperism seems hope
lessy great yet they labor on in faith, aud verify
they have their reward Meantime the rum-seer
plies his toddy-stick with undlmDished industry,
making new drunkards faster than treble the num-
Der of missionaries can reclaim them. The number
of female drunkards to be found in these low haunts
better days; some have been educated and lovely in
their early youth, but are now sunk almost beyond
hope OF reclamation.
Among the modest charities of our city is an insti-
tuition called the House of Industry, established
many years ago by members of the Society OF
Friends. The object of this association was To fur
nsh employment TO reputable but poor women
during the Winter and to supply them somehow
with means to live and keep their families from sut-
fering. During nearly eighty years of benevolent
exertion-for it is one of the oldest charities we
haye-its generous directors cOntriyed to make
happy one hundred and fifty poor women every
Winter, and from the contributions of the benevo-
lent to lay up handsome capital, from the income
of hch il has of late years been mainly supported
But the wicked plun6er of the Bank of Pennsy yanla
by AllibOne has swept every dollar of this capital
into oblivion! He has made the House of Industry
beggar, and compelled the managers to turn
odriit a hundred and fifty yirtuous mothers, with
children crying TO them for brSad, to save them.
selves from starving by beggary. Oh there is Il
long unwritten catalogue of horrors which the vii
lany of this unpunished wretch has Occasoned
Yet while these poor creatures shiyer in their bleak
retreats at home. or go hungry and despairing TO
their scantlly covered beds, this pous swindler ia
faring sumptuously every day, and, to the amaze
ment of the whole community, goes unwhipt OF JUS
tice. Porter, the retail swindler of the Sunday
School Union, has been indicted, brought back
from bis quiet hidirg place in Ohio, and is now
under bonds to answer before Jury. But the
wholesale robber of the bank, through some in
explicable laxty Of public duty on the part of
those ntrusted with the punishment of thieves,
struts unmOested with impudent bravadO in the face
of ALL Verify if Scripture be true, he, too, shall
have bis reward. The official appraisers of the
bank have valued its entire assets at $l52, $50 81.
Among the debtors to this institution eight of our
newspapers are returned. Two of these, now
defiInct, owe 5,s7o; one other received $652, the
fourth s. 437, the fifth 81 70s the sixth So 5l4 the
seventh 81 sig, another $3.50. Now, you may
remember that reference was made some months
ago TO the remarkable fact that, all our newspapers
were profoundly silent on the great niquity of the
management of the bank, except The Press and
The Sund0u Dispatch. What connection there may
be- between this silence and the above cited indebted
ness, others may conjecture for themselves.
Another remarkable charity is found in the Society
for Relieving the Miseries of Public Prisons. The
good accomplished by this organizations truly won
derful. II employs most humane and indefatiga-
bic man as its agent-Mr. William j. Mullen
" hose devotion TO the of prison reformation
rivals that of Fry or Howard, with results quite as
remarkable Last year alone he was instrumental
in releasing from prison less than 249 persons,
most of whom be ascertaned by personal investlga-
ton were innocent, or whose real Ofenses were OF
too trivial character to justify either imprisonment
or trial. Hundreds of these were restored to their
families and some 200, who were found 10 need it,
we're provided with the additional boon Of good
home and plenty of work. The statistics OF this WIDE
field of benevolent exertiOn 80 curious, that the
residents of all large cities ought to be made acquant
ed With them They prove conclusyely that very few
of the whole number liberated we're committed for
sufficient cause The agent, by personal appeals to
ma sgstrates and judges, made this fact appear, and
liberation followed in most cases even without pay
ment of costs He was so successful in this humane
effort as to cause 52 to be discharged without the
payment Of dollar while in the remaining "a cases