, 1872-11-16
in 1860; s2,eo1 in 1870. In ea'

case the native far exceed the forelgn criminals
In Illinois. the numbers convicted were S16
in 1850; 812 in 1860; 1863 in 1871 There.
we're in prison on the list OF June, in 1850, 252,
OF whom 164 we're natives; in 1850, $50, lf2 OF
them foreigners; in 1870, 1885, OF whom l'Sfa
were native and 423 foreign. How out OF all
proportion the criminal statistics are may be
judged from the fact that, in Pennsylvanla, re-
turns we're obtained OF only $50 convictions
during the year, while New York, with little
more population, is charged with 68,067, nearly
twenty times as many.
The best results OF this census, tekon under
what General Walker calls "the clumsy, anti
quated, and barbarous law of 1885," are the
thorough exposure he makes Of it's defects, and
the prospect that Congress- viii replace it by
symmetrical and scientific scheme framed ac-
cording to his suggestions. Our pauper1sm,
crime, and ignorance,- these three are multi
pies Of one another, can then be studied in
telGgently. There is need they ahould be. In
our large Atlantic cities, the lower classes
are as dangerous as in any part of Europe.
high authority, O. L. Brace, Of the chi1dren's
Aid Society, says that there are the same ex-
plosiYe elements beneath the surface Of New
York as beneath that Of Paris. Let but the Law
lift its hand from them, we should see an e1p1o-
sion which might leave the city in ashes and
blood" Pauperism comes upon us in
other and unexpected directions. In the Re-
port of the Massachusetts Bureau Of Labor for
1871, General Oliver says "that the books OF
employers in nearly every department Of labor
show that the manual OF wage class is but very
| short distance removed from absolute want,
| want SO near that reyulsion like that OF 1887
| might even bring them to famine" final
argument for the revision Of the Census laws
that General Walker asks for is that in the vide
revelations Of statistics only can we discern the
agencies that will accomplish general reform.
| Individual philanthropy is an assault in detail
as impotent a. an attempt to cure the smallpox
by attacking each separate pustu1e. There is
needed something beyond sympathy, "a states-
manship inspired by sympathy which shall guide
the deep and secret springs Of social motion in
the mass. For instance, when the whole
working population Of Great Britain WAS sink
ing into abject destitution, one-fourth Of the
entire population bordering on starvation, and
when public charity, alone, vainly threw $25,
600, 600 year into what seemed bottomleas
pit, it Was the repeal OF the Corn cool act
Of legislation, far more effective than all public,
private, and religious philanthropies combined -
that reversed the motion OF the machinery thai
was making paupers. II We had trustworthy
statistics, and they verified the inference de-
duced by Commissioner Wells, that bad legis1a'
ton has driven American 1aborers nearer tt
panperism than they were in 1860, it they vert
fed the state of affairs asserted by Genera
Oliver to exist in Massachusetts, social reform
ers could demand, with much more power, the
repeal Of these injurious Laws, and legialatio1
could not fail to be improved by more intimate
acquaintance with facts. It is to be hoped tha
Congress will heed General Walkers sugges
tions.