Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-12-14
E,nures ,I,nt HiIIl.ic.

Inc New ofk NOid SaiutfS from lhe laOles
Of = &.census some statistics OF paupersn
g ~as Moh~e New England and south Allan
q A. ro,,r,o,, by comparing them, arrives at
Fcent on the capmost people will be surprising.
will be expeudedaers OF New England and the
a NeM Deuioit uthcrn states out Of the ques-
and has broneh in New England, Out OF a pop.
liquors, on thG00, there arc about $4,000 pau
violation of1laWminals, or one of the former 10
Daniel Robih,e of the latter TO every 1889 OF
his lather dress IN the south Atlantic stats,
hit on thefhead b5of {, 100000, there are 1000
e ney Tei GS nii w ~ mmas, pauper to
ninal 10 every 2S16 Of the
An aged Woman natates. The Worlds con-
missing sine& Monday,
cistern in herlcear at A., ..,.,..... ...,..
noon. She lived ales OIL iue soutnern s,a'e>
Schoonar SJr,y would have 1887 paupers
Salem. in h T2, aud 2469 criminals, instead Of
BRUSH sche the native whites Of New England
west. With and moral as those OF the south
Portland ties, there would Re among them n ooI
for a. 5erS, instead of Y. 972, and but 99l
ArTi ais, instead vi posi-.
That figures will not lie is now pretty thor
oughly exploded fallacy. So far from being the
unerrng exponents Of truth, they are the readi-
est and most plausible instruments Of misrepre
seutation. Assuming that the Worlds figures
are correctly ciled from the census tables, the
inference as 10 the comparative morality and
thrift OF the people OF The two sections is quite
unwarranted. In the first place the census
statistics for obvious reasons cannot be trusted
to distribute the pauperism and crime between
the native and foreign residents Of New En-
gland. The basis Tor such distribution is not
accessible, and any attempt to make it is liable
10 serious error There is no good reason,
moreover, for excluding the colorcd people oil
the south and the foreign population of New
England in making this comparison, because
there is no paralelism in the relations of these
elements to the rest OF the people in the two sec
tions. The colored people are natives and life
long residents of the states where they are
found, and, whether better or worse, more or less
improyident and poverty stricken, they are what
the institutions Of the country have made Them
while the foreign born residents of New Eu-
gland in their character and habits are the pro-
duct of foreign training and foreign institutions,
for which we are in no way responsible. But
there is another answer TO the Worlds deduc-
lions. In the southern states, outside Of the
cities and considerable towns, there is no organ
lied system Tor relieving the poor at the public
expense. A bare subsistence IS not hard TO Sc
cure and, thousands Of the "poor white trash"
OF the Caroliuas aud Georgia live in manner
and with a paueiy Of comforts and
conveniences that would be intoerable TO
the inmates of an average New England aims
house. The number Of criminals is obtained
from the records OF convictions in The courts;
but in New England drunkenness, gambling
petty assaults and some other minor offences,
not 10 mention the selling of liquors, are regarded
as crimes, and convictions Tor such offences,
which are hardly ever the subject Of prosecution
in the southern states, make up a large part Of
the record Of the criminal courts. The rigor Of
the laws in regard to such acts, and the degree
of vigilance in administering such laws as do
relate to them, are so different in the Two sec
tions that a fair comparison between them in
respect to the number of convicted criminals is
impossible.
On the authority Of the census tables, the
World also compares The number Of churches
and church sitinas in New England and the
tion Of the Two sections is about equal, but in
the former, according to the Worlds figures,
which we will not now dispute, there are 5421
churches, with capacity TO seat 100000 per
sons, aud in the LATER II 567 churches, witt
1861 900 sttings. That is to say, with the
sane white population, be southern states have
more Than twice as many churches and two
thirds as many more church sittings as the New
England states. That looks badly, to be sure,
but, taking the statement without explanation,
there is this satisfaction, at least, that The New
EnglanS churches have capacity to seat two
thirds OF the centre population, which is larger
proportion than is ever likely to have occa-
sion to use them at the same time,
dations for all who can possibly attend them, we
are practically as well provided as il we had seats
for Two or three times as many. But, adding
the colored people OF both sections, about two
hlths Of the southern and an Insignificant frac-
lion Of the New England population, we find
that the ratio Of church sitlngs TO the whole
population is almost exactly the same in each,
b Ing sixty-six per cent, and tine claimed supe-
riority Of the south over New England in this
respect disappears. The World no doubt knew
these facts and could have corrected lis own
figures IT It had chosen, but the Opportunity to
have fling at New England, however unfairly,
IS temptation which it is haDitualy unable 10
resist.