Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-02-28
DOES CHARITY PRomoTEPAUPER.


The strikes in Western, Northern and
Eastern cities, and especially in New
York, has sprung the question whether
charity does not promote pauperism.
The Chicago Tribune reproduees some
interesting facts bearing upon this sub
iect which deserve the thoughtful con-
sideration of philanthropists every
where Says that Journal; English
thinkers say that the prime cause of
the frightful prevalence of pauperism
in that country is the poor-law system.
The State formally assumed charge of
the extremely poor under Henry VIII.
and Elizabeth. Within the last fifty
years many efforts have been made to
get rid of this principle of announcing
that man shall be able to live at the
expense of others if he does not choose
to support himself, but all in vain.
Charity keeps ON begetting objects of
charity. The taxes for the support of
paupers are so heavy that many indus
trious artisans who pay them have less
to live upon than the recipients of re-
lief get. Moreover, many men who
would work desperately to support their
wives and children if these would
otherwise starve, agree with their
wives to temporarily desert them when
times are hard, in order that they may
get parish relief. In this country, the
problem of pauperism is beginning to
demand a solution. The evil is NJ tur-
ally greatest in New York City. The
staticn-houses there are Ihronged with
professional Migrants, many of whom
have come hundreds Of miles to get the
free lodgings and free food furnished
them in Difference to mistaken senti-
ment. Besides these professionals,
numbers of workingmen on strike re-
cruit the ranks of charity-recipients,
and SO unfit themselves for future hon.
est labor. The 'Cap-Makers' Union is
asking for subscriptions to aid its men,
bers in holding out against their en-
ployers, although wages from SO to
so a week can be readily earned at the
present rates Of pay. The cigar-makers
have struck; SO have the stair-builders;
so have very many carpenters. 1t is
4 L. h l,,,1
ing trades last year cost the
workingmen 100000. The Ne,0
York Times says: we presume
that not one-hundredth part of the
usual number of new buildings are 60
ing up The men who are thus thrown,
or who thus throw themselves, out of
employment will never all get back.
Some of them viii inevitably prefer the
easy life of beggar to the sometimes
hard life of a laborer. The better class
of them appreciate this fact. AT re-
cent meeting Of the working classes for
the purpose Of organizing some coop
erative enterprises, the Chairman said:
The present state of affairs in the city
is most deplorable. Thousands are
starving. And yet certain parties are
plunging the workers into a worse state
by serving them with cheap soup gra-
tuitously.' State charity, social char
ity, and the charity Of individuals
most Of the givers are women-com-
bine to promote pauperism. The rule
of not giving something for nothing
may be hard one to follow in cases
of immediate distress, but in it
lies the one hope of escaping the
curse that presses upon England
as heavily as the Old Man of the
Sea did upon Sinbad. Less evil viii
result from a few cases of individual
suffering than that hundreds of thou
sands should be encouraged to drag out
theirs as inert drones, permitted to tax
all honest men to get the wherewithal
to keep their bodies clothed and fed.
Illinois paid, in 1850, 5,21S for 797
paupers; in 1860, S196,lS4 for 4,62S;
and, in 1870, S556,O61 for 6,O54. The
total tax thus imposed upon the coun-
try in 1870 was about S11,OO0,O0O. |
These figures, great as they are, do not !
include persons receiving temporary !
and partial relief. When the aid given |
them is added to the tax, it is nearly |
doubled. Even this is not all. Private |
charity cannot be computed. 1t is the
ready victim of a lying story, and,
probably, does more to promote pauper.
ism than all other things combined"
There are some strong points brought |
out here which show a necessity for at |
least a more careful bestowal of public |
charity. The remedy for the abuses
pointed out is not so easily applied.
There is another evil connected with
this subject which can be more
easily remedied. 1t is quite evil
dent that the management of public
charities needs overhauling. A couple
of weeks or 50 ago Mr.. James Gordon
Bennett, Of the NelU York Herald,
placed in the hands of Mr.. Delmonico,
the great restaurateur of that city,
thirty thousand dollars to be expended
under his direction in furnishing soup
for the poor at such places as the mu-
nicipal authorities might furnish for
the purpose in various parts of the city.
The managers of some of the local
charities not liking Mr.. Benefits plan,
and thinking probably that the money
should have passed through their hands,
made some public opposition to it. On
this the Herald caused the accounts of
these institutions to be examined,
and it announces the startling
fact that some of the leading ones