New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-06-20
was found would have. been wisest; but it 10
40 easy to be wise after the event
sYsTEMATIC MIGRA1IOM

"
the true sense of much abused term, is thai
which is now moving some of our best citizens
to provide for the systematic transportation o.
laborers hence to those portions OF our countrI
where they are most needed and are likely to
be best paid The plans may be crude; the
agencies and means are as yet sadly made
ouate but the idea is so good that it cannot fal
IN secure full and benefcent development We
bespeak for it the hearty good will of ever
one not specially interested in swelling tB
nopulatiOn of our aims houses, brOthels ant
prisons.
There are always at least twice as man.
people trying to live by Trade and Specu
lation as can possibly prosper therein. "
those who try TO be lawyers or doctors, no
half can subsist in those callings otherwis
than by swindling or quackery. Every city
almost every village, is crowded with persons
who whine for Something to Do" but TAKE
precious good care not to go where it is to BE-
found. They want to do what they are moi
wanted to do: hence ideness, squalOr, filth
hunger, rags beggary. and crime.
1t would be quite too generous to estimae
that half the population of this or any Other
great city is worthily, usefully employed.
Hundreds of thousands are usually doing just
nothing at all-wating for work to come o
them, but refusing to go where it is; vainy
looking for clerkships or some kindred emplor-
ment which they will never get; and meal
while begging, borrowing, or swindling, to eie
out a miserable subsistence. Very often, thy
are eating out the substance Of relatives T
friends barely able to take care of themselve';
while grocers, owners of tenements, boarding.
house keepers, &c, &C., are fearfully victim
lied by this ignobe army of suckers. Of
course, the synagogue of Satan is bounteousy
filled from its ranks: thieves, swinders, hG-
lots, and inveterate loafers, i'll regiments, ae
every day developed out of the do-nothns'
The pangs of hunger benumb the conscience /;
and thousands who at first excuse Wrong ~
Need are soon ripe for any vilainy, and ned
no excuse but opportunity.
There is crime everywhere, and always VII
be but dozen idlers will plan and perP-
trate more iniquity than five hundred workes.
If each human being had work for every day,
there would not be one reprobate or crimin,l
where there are pow dozen. r.
Our City pays, in public and private aims. 1t
least One Million Dollars per annum merely o
keep the breath of life in drones who woud
be good for something elsewhere and who
might be sent TO points where they can earn
living for less than they now cost us. They
crowd our cellars and garrets; they populate
our constitutions and potters field and our
mode of dealing with them looks solely to the
mitigation, never TO the cure, of their woes.
No doubt, if we attempt to transplant those
who are here burden, TO places where they
will be useful, we shall tempt some to flock
hither on purpose TO be transplanted Against
that contingency, we must guard as we best
can. But it is a ruinOus blunder as well as a
cruel wrong to let child grow up among us
as a vagrant beggar, and plfcrer, and thus
ripen naturally into a thief, burglar, or harlot.
We can do better than this as taxpayers
merely, and infinitely better as patriots and
philanthrOpists.
The Citizens Association has resolved TO
grapple with the mighty evil, and the Com
missiOners Of Charities and Correction are
likewise confronting it. Several other volun-
teer agencies are fighting it piecemeal. Ulti-
mately, these several efforts will be practically
concentrated; for the present, we seek only to
commend the benehcence of tho idea sHd the
magnitude of the good it contemplates. We
estimate that One Million Dollars would take
from our City One Hundred Thousand persons
who are here avowed or virtual paupers, and
place them where they would be useful -no
self-subssting; and that we should s2 ,,, nioney
by the operation, even though Fry nouShnu
equally needy should flow in - U'Ne 'no places
If those we sent away. vlie present ana pros
peetive advantage r. our country from the sys-
Ton, tbus inanr,ated would be incidentally
rot ord e.auring.