The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-01-30
Tho Wealth and Poverty of the Metro

polls.
Though enough of the poor are always with
US, they were never, perhaps, SO superabundant
as they are now; nor have we in many years
had a season 80 hard on the houseless heads and
unfed sides of the children Of want as the pre-
sent 1t has been winter of continuously
severe weather, and promises even yet to
stretch out to the EXTREMIST possible limit All
the necessaries Of life are at what must seem to
the very poor almost fabulous prices. Coal meat,
flour, potatoes, are all very Highland it would
be strange thing, considering the constitution
of society, if there were not thousands in city
like ours suffering every day the pangs of hun
ger, and hundreds ready to die from absolute
want Yet this is, in proportion to the popula-
ton, the richest city in the universe; there is
more general diffusion of wealth than in most
other cities, and certainly lavish and even
wasteful expenditure goes to its extreme here.
To provide against the occurrence Of misery
from want in great city is doubtless impossi-
BILE so long as we cannot utterly change the
motives and natures Of the whole mass of men
and women; and to relieve the misery of the
really needy without encouraging idleness and
vice is sufficiently difficult But, though 1t be
difficult, an earnest attempt to solve tho pro-
blem is social duty. And we believe that
the problem is only to be solved by thu per-
sonal inspection of individual cases. Disburse
your own charity if you can afford any; but If
you cannot take trouble to know that you are
giving to the really needy, do not
give at al. The beggars are the worst
Of all criminals who infest our Streets
They are the murdereTs Of those who
die by starvation, and they steal on its way
catch in the Dir with their greasy caps-the
cent thrown to the mother who watches over her
hungry child. Tho necessitous poor hardly
ever make personal appeal for aims on the
street, and the only personal appeal that peo-
pie ought to respond to favorably is the cry of
child at the basement door for victuals Feed
the child anyhow-even if you do not give It
anything to carry away. But the pennies that
you give TO stalwart beggars on the street are
spent for rum, and you send the man or woman
home an Infatuated beast, TO fight and murder,
or, at tho very least, to main the little wretches
who are so miserable as to call these creatures
mother or father. II, moreover, q cripple can
sit up all day in the street. he can situp all day
at some sedentary occupation and earn enough
to live on. One Of tho worst phases Of street
beggary, as seen here, Is that Of the boys who
pretend to peddle pins at the upper part Of
Broadway, and who annoy every woman who
passes by with their importunate please, lady,
please Do buy somel Iain't sold any to-day"
Some Of these wretches make their appearance
barefoot in the severest weather, and will do 20
| II given shoes half . dozen times day, en-
during all that pain to excite sympathy and get
copper. -. .,,,.,,. ,,..,... ...,..,
charity. There Il no doubt that the large
number Of societies, public and private, organ
| lied for charitable purposes, relieve much
misery, and II is great deal better to give
! through The societies than not TO give at all.
| But we believe that one dollar spent by the
man or woman who goes personally where the
| wretched are, will be spent more effectively
| and will do more real good than two or three
| spent through the agencies Of societies. More
| over that kind Of charity relieves tho class Of
| poor that Is not in tho books Of one society,
that is out Of the scope Of another society, and
| that the red tape Of organized charity has lei
| 10 starye; but which never holds out its hand
| to the passer by, and cannot do it This class
| il the poor who usually earn q small subsis-
tcnce by their own labor, but find themselves
temporarily unable TO do so, or find that theil
email means are at present inadequate for theiI
maintenance. Notwithstanding the common
a - -
now for all, this class Is large, and In tn