The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-06-04
OUR OHERCROWED CITIES
Boston Pilot, Nay 27 ]

General Sherman is credited with the
statement that our cities contain four mil
lious of loafers who ought to be earning a
living on the western prairies. Without in
sisting on the accuracy of these figures,
it is plain to the most casual observer that
our great cities are overcrowded, and he
who could effect their depletion would
achieve one of the most valuable social
reforms of the age. We are prepared to be
told that this is the result of immigration,
aud to some extent this is true but if 30 it
is the defect, not the legitimate working
of our emigration laws that is to charged
with it. It is q rural and agricultural, not
an urban and idle population which our
emigration laws were made to foster. A
few figures will enable us TO understand
this more clearly. The area of the United
States may be estimated in round Numbers
at s. 600. 600 of square miles, its population
at AZ 900, 600, thus giving fourteen lnhaoi-
tants to the equare mile. lrelaDd, with
80, 500, square miles, has population of
$500, 900, OF about 169 to the square mile;
but Belgium, with ii ,3I3 square miles, has
a population of upwards OF four and one
half millions, or 4O6 to the square mile.
Hence the population of this country is in
point of density one twelfth that of Ireland
and one twenty-ninth that of Belgium.
The conclusion inevitably forces itself
upon us that, after it's hundred years of
immigration, our great republic is yet to
DO colonized. This being the case, 1t Is easy
to see the magnitude of the evil of having
our cities overcrOwded. Every emigrant
coming to the country represents a money
valae, for labor is capital, but capital that
must be placed where 1t will ''do the most
good" Sareiy this is on the prairie and in
the back woods, and rot in the fetid slnms
of our cities. The average male Irish emf
grant is an agricultural laborer so far he
is skilled in his own craft, and in that will
his labor be of more value to the employer
than in TIE female
emigrant is skilled as a farmers help or
housekeeper in that or a similar capacity
her labor will be most valuable. But to
place either of these in q great city to
make living, is to break up their old hab
it's, to fling aside their previous training,
aud to place them in new sphere where
the progress is not always of an upward
character. Life in a great city often sup
poses exposure to the vices OF a great city,
and no one will dispute that the country
boasts healthier morals than the town =
indeed the amazing disparity in this respect
is enough to startle the most sceptical.
Recently a very eminent statistician in
tabulating the crimes and offences in Ire
land, found that in the rural districts the
general average number of offences per
10 600 was less than 10, while in the Dublin
Metropolitan district it reached the enor
nous proportion of ITO. But, if We consid-
er the demoralizing Influences which beset
the poor of our great cities, it will ce Sc to
surprise rs. We know that they are fre-
quently huddled together il tenement
houses in violation of the laws of decency,
morality and health. Here is an instance
from Official documents, relating to a own
in Massachusetts,. "In q single building in
the town, thirty two feet long, twenty
feet wide, three stories high, with attics,
there habitually exist thirty mine people of
all ages. For their use there is one pump
and one water closet, within twenty feet of
each other, with the several sink spouts
discharging on the ground near by. The
windows are without weights, and the up
per sashes are immovable. No other pro-
vision is made for fresh air." Thousands
of similar over crowded and uncleanly
tenements exist and could be cited.
The effect OF such habitations on health
and morals must be inconceivably bad. 1t
is on the wretched dwellers in these abodes
| that 'thard times" fall hardest. Relief will
| not do here 1t is reform that is needed.
Transplant these poor dwellers in foul
alleys to the farm, to an atmosphere
whittier the tenement house and the saloon
cannot follow them, and twill l mill l."
they become industrious Prevention is
better than cure money Is better spent In
encouraging industry 70 colOnise our
l waafa laads than IN buiIding jaila and pay
7. 49,