The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-08-27

I4uperlsm Is far very far, less in proportion
to population in Ireland than in England or in
Scotland On the 1st of January, 1874, there
were e29,2ol persons, or more than one in 81 of
the population in 1871, in receipt of relief in
England and Wales, while daring the Who'll @
of the first week in January, 1874 only 20 $50
persons, or one in G5 of the population, were
relieved in Ireland. The annual expenditure
per head on population for relief of the poor
was in England and Wales 6s. Cd. in Scotland
IS. C3l, and in ireland 81. II i. in 1874. Nor
do these figures fairly fully represent the
true facts of the relative condition of the three
Kingdoms as regards paper relief. Hereditary
paupers who for generations have been habtu-
ated to parish relief under Poor Law dating
from Queen Elizabeth, are totally unknown in
ireland, whose Poor Law of 1898 was first
forced into general adoption by the visitation
Of the famine in 1915 AZ. Outdoor relief is
given to more than go per cent of the English
paupers, while in Ireland it is not given to
half that proportion. Next, very large part
of the Irish relief is given under the Medical
Charities Act, to the sick, the infrm and the
aged, who do not lose their franchise or civil
status because of their being recipients of tu;h
relief The average daily number of inmates
in the 163 Irish workhouses in 1876 was
A. 800, being 2315, or 5 per cent less than in
the previous year; while the average number
in receipt of outdoor relief was 80 246, being
total in receipt of both forms of relief of
rs GAG daily. These figures indicate the lowest
descent of pauperism for several years. In
fact, over the whole period of twenty four
years, since the action of the famine subsided
pa uperism has been decreasing. The average
daily number of inmates in the Irish work
houses in 1852 was 166 921, which fell to 40, $50
in 1859, rose to 81 $40 in the severe year 1863,
and has since steadily declined to As 945 daily.
comparison of the classification and charac
ter of the inmates is, however, of still more
Importance than that of the mere numbers re-
lieved. Between 1851 and 1876 the percentage
| of able bodied male inmates has fallen by more
than onehalf, that of able-bodied females to
nearly one-third, and the healthy children
under fifteen years to about one-half. While,
on the other hand, the per centsge of all classes
in hospital has increased from ID to nearly So
| being the enormous increase of the element in
hospital, in these 25 years, of 157 per cent. 1t
is only through careful study of such changes
as these that the real circumstances of Irish
pauperism can be understood. Emigration has
thrown the support of large mass of the aged
and inirm, the blind, deaf-mutes, TIE insane,
and many classes of special affection upon the
union. These classes are prohibited by For
eign and Colonial statutes from ordinary emf
grafton. AS immense numbers of young and
athletic laborers were transferred from Ireland
to enrich the industrial resources of other
countries, the unproductive dependents that
they left behind become burden to a smaller
industrial population, and these form large
element in the present muster of Irish pau
perism.