New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-01-07
The Prospect In wcxg gerss.
tFfom the N. Y wo.id.l

It is foregone conclusion with every thinking
man that the present winter viii be unusually pro-
life in suffering among the poor. The financial
condition of country has already caused the
discharge of thousands Of operatives from their
daily employment, and there is every prospect that
this army of unwilling idiers will be doubled and
trebied before many weeks have passed. Yetthey,
and their wives and their little ones, must live.
Must live! Mark the full meaning of those words.
When people cannot get work. much less money,
food, clothing, shelter and fuel, it is q fearful
thought that unless arnitten by the hand OF death,
they must live, though only to undergo the pains
of want. Poverty breeds crime-and no wonder.
If well-to.do folks could only realize the thousand
and one temptations that dazzle the eyes OF pitfa-
BILE, fmpoverishing beings, easily goaded into co.
vetousness by their cruel hardshps, they would be
amazed that crime is not morea universal among
them than is shown by our police records. As it
is, men and women frequently commit trifng
offences for the sole purpose of being sentenced to
some penal institution where their actual nacessi-
ties will be cared for.
In view of the dreary prospect tlat1oonls up, we
lay before the public q few reliable facts, showing
on one hand the extent Of pauperism now in our
midst, and on the other, what provision exists to
guard against its becoming an engine of social
evil, by judicous exercise Of Christian charity
Unfortunately, the demand for immediate relief
cannot be answered to the full, as matters now
stand. Every benevolent institution y itself more
or less impoverished, and many are obliged to in
heavy debts in order to partially appease the
cry for work for food and for SHELTER that is sent
up continually before their doors.
consequently Gctl0n must DG HaQ 81 once otIIiaf
to the emergency. Every body s, from the nature Of
society individually interested in the honest sup
port OF the widow, the orphan; the sick and tie
idle. 1t is an obligation that no person can shake
of--the safety of families, nay, even of every eiti
zen, depends upon the condition of such persons
Just clearly this class Of society is dependent
upon the rest for an alienation Of its sufarings.
The matter is strictly mutnal-and since it Is so
self-protection and common sense, if not philan-
throphy, ought to cause every individual to dis
charge his duty in this respect. A dollar bestowed
| upon poor wretch may be the means of prevent
| ing the commission OF desperate act to which her
| recipient might have been driven but for the
| timely aid that serve to minister to his pressing
| necessities A dellar! Though it be like drop
Of rain falling upon parched land. yet it helps q
little toward its moistening. The food descended
| in rain drops. Widows mites have enormous ag-
gregate values. All that ia needed is q general
loosening of purse strings and elicitous bestoWal
| of moderate aims. And this. let it be again re-
marked, must be done in order to avert the most
| serious consequences
Experience has taught that the majority of poor
people manage to sustain themselves from hand to
| mouth until the middle of January or the 1st Of
| February; then they are forced to flock to the
various municipal and religious bureaus foR relief
If, therefore. the number of beggars is already at
this early day, greater than can be provided for il
| may readily be supposed that mid-winter will find
the avenues of charity completely blocked up by
| throngs of the sick and famshing.
AS surely as this happens, the bread riots Of
1857 will be rGenacted. Menacing nnohs of nnen-
ployed men and boys will parade the streets, ware
houses may be sacked, and scenes of bloodshei
witnessed, such have never occurred in the his
tory of our city. And to this we steadily drifting
on the current of political and financial troubles.
Prompt action can modify, though possibly not
prevent the evils now breeding. A procession Of
unemployed men, mostly German piano forte
makers, turned out in the Eighth ward few nights
since, and though small in numbers and orderly
throughout its march, still it is significant of the
course which things will sooner or later take.
What our poor want is work, but work they can
not have therefore only one source of livelihood
remains for them, and that is to obeeomerecipients o
municipal and private charity. A careful estimate
shows that upwards Of twenty thousand persons
clerks mechanics, laborers and needlewomen have
been discharged from their situations. Usually suci
look South for work during winter, but this nc
more be had there than here at present. Conae
quently these people will be forced to remain il
New York, to their own individual and to eacf
others deriment. In a few weeks their ranks vii
probably be augmented vastly, and each recruit
will add his share to the general amount Of abjee
| suffering.