, 1859-12-03

The New York Poor for tho past Tenr.
[F1on the New York Evening Post1
The sixteenth annual report Of the New York
Association for improving the Condition of the
Poor has Just beea issued. It mentions de.
crease Of population, IN occurrence not known
before since the WAT Of 1S12. Four thousand
families left the city. Less than half the aver
age Of alien emigrants arrived here during the
same time. AT no period Of the last winter
was the dest'tnt'on IN the city Is great as had
With unexpected rapidity, iessening the neces-
sity Tor peeuniary relief:
f'auperism has attained M alarming ma.ni-
tude; aud corresponding to it, there las been
an increase Of crime, Of taxation, and insecure
ty Of life and property. Tho number of city
PanPers reliered and supported during the year
ending December LIST. 1855, was 13o, ,l5o; about
one.sescnth Of the population, and an increase
upon the year previous, Of 37,0ll, and insolr-
ing IN expenditure of about half million of
dollars. The commitment for crime numbered
s. ire. an increase Of more than IS per cent,
at an outlay exceeding 9:o0, ,o00-making ill.,:
annual cost for pauperlem and crime about
100000.
1t is not t.ue that in this city We hare little
inherited pauperisnf aud that Which Is Of native
growth. Not less t1lan thirty-eight per cent. of
the persons receiving public relief consists o:
natiEe born citizens, and the ratio in the inte-
rior counties is still! greater. 1t is steadily in
~
lation aud by addition from abroad The iaws
IN regard to the subject are generally disregard
| ed or ineffcientlY executed, 10 that paupcrs1n
and crime are swelling to blight society with an
| intoferabla sconrge. Our ratio Of pauperism
exceeds ereu that Of Eogiand, Scotland or Ire.
sixty one per cent, and Pauperism seycn hun.
dred and six per cent
| The sanitary condition Of the city is deterio-
| rating from year to year. In London the nn-
nua! mortality Is one in forty; in Paris, one in
thirty.seyen; ia Hamburgb, one in twenty
infanti!e mortality is terrible. In 1855 there
we're JAS births and q, ,042 deaths-oser half
Of them young children. In 1856 the total NOR
tality in the city was q ,gaS, Of which 1856
was Of persons under five years Of age. Ia.
wholesome food is the principal cause Of iufan-
tile mortality. Defective dwellings come n also
as predispoaing cause 1u the construction Of
dwellings, alulost every requisite f,r the health
and comfort Of the occupants has been sacri~
feed. They are generally contracted, dark, ill.,
ventilated deps, In natsow alleys, filthy courts
and damp cellars, amidst the de'eterious exha-
l.. items Of cesspools and putrid fermentations Of
refuse matter, in which It Is impossible to pre-
serre health, life, or common decency. II is
the uniform testimony Of sanitarians md moral
lists that disease and crime are the indigenous
productions Of the same localities. Health and
morals suffer from these causes to an extent
/ which fedueF3 nnEnlcfy tne moral appliances
for the benefit Of this class of our population.
The cellar population Of New York exceeds
twenty thousand. The hideous squalor aud
wretchedness Of those dens, the chosen haunts
Of darkness, debauchesy aud crime, where 50
many Of our population are doomed to lire and
die, cannot be adequately depicted. The dread.
ful hysical, social and moral degradation which
brutalize this class Of Our population, and an-
uuaily decimates their numbers, is the concom-
liant inseparable from the condition in which
they live.
This Association obtained from the Legisla.
ture Of 1857 committee which recommended
a modification Of existing lars; but bill On
the subject failed to pass; the next winter bill
passed the Senate hut was lost in the Assembly.
The Association has established the '' y orking
Mans Home" at m expense Of S90, 900 with
marked Advantage; procured IN sct OF 1egisla,
ture for the incorporation Of the Juvenile Asr-
lum the Demilt Dispensarv and Northwestern
Dispensary we're also established for the indig-
ent sick, with marked advantage. The Public
Washing and Bathing establishment is doing a
rrext work for health and morals.
Four hundred almoners 1abor gratnitously,
and hare made during the past year Il, ,9af vis-
its to the poor; relieving 9,531 families and II
| 557 persons. The cash received is ~ :5o2 4G-
/ due $a6o 06, all which has been disbursed.
There has been remarkable dccrease Of desti.
tuition aud expenditure; population increasing
| in 1859 twenty. fire per cent, and the benefcia.
ries and expenditure drawing thirsy.four per
cent.