The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-01-27
PAUPERIsM HERE AND ABROAD
Mr.. w. p LetchwOrth's Observations in Ireland
The Report Of the State Board Of Charities.

The Report OF the state Board OF Charities.
Mr.. W. P. Letchworth, OF Glen Iris, N. Y,
President OF the State Board Of Charities, who
was sent abroad by the Board last spring as
Comml slcner to inspect and report upon the sys'
TENS and condition Of pauper and other
charitable institutions In Great Britain and on
the Continent, arrived in this city on Monday by
the steamer Gallla. II landed at Queenstown" !"
he said to q WORLD reporter, 'early last June.
The committees were at that time all still busy
distributing relief. / must confess that l did
not And that terrible, all perVading destitution
which had been led to expect, The county poor
houses and other charitable institutions were full
but did not appear to be unusually crowded, and
reports for many years past showed that they
were not. Ia County Donegal and all along the
west and northwest coasts where the d, ,stitution
was eported. do not mean TO say that Ireland
did not need aid, nor that there was no suffering,
but 1t has been painted In too high colors. So
large proportion Of the people there live from
hand to mouth, are In debt to storekUepers and
have such large rents to pay for their miserable
holdings that even partial failure Of sir gle
crop must cause much distress. l do not regret
the aid America sent to Ireland; they needed tenn
porary relief But 1t is demoralzlng to any peo.
pie to be led into belief that II they fail to &C.
Compllsh anything sid will come In from other
countries or that Government aid will be estab.
lished. The first and great cause Of the land
trouble in Ireland think, is the laws Of primo
geniture and entail. By these estates continue to
grow larger and the lahd falls into fewer and
fewer hands and the property goes perhaps
to the least worthy members Of families, The bad
effect Of "abseHtee lanolordsm ia conceded even
by many very conservative Eogishmen. All the
land in s'gIt of Lake Killarney is owned by one
lord, whose annual rentals are ETC 600. He II
spoken Of very highly by his tenants, but his in
come Is all spent In London or Paris, or invested
In steamship lines or American railways, No
country can stand continual drain like thatup
on its resources. saw novels covered with tur
on the open moors, where 1t seemed impossible
for one to raise as much as we would It from 9
little garden patch, and yet their inhabitantt
have to pay considerable rent. They have moth
ing to look forward to, as Americans have, AND
intempeIance is very common vice. The three
Fs,' 80 frequently mentioned In the cable dis
patches-hxity Of tenure, free sale and fair rents
express In q crude way the general demands o.
the Irish, which must be satisfied before there
can be an genuine improvement In their Condi
ton.
In visiting the poor houses, asylums and othel
pauper institutions l found many valuable Sug
gestions, although in some respects thoy car
hardly be said to be better than our own, Labo
ls cheaper, and as rule they have a larger pro
portlonRl number Of attendants The almshouse
are frightened up In hundred ways and asy
lums are devoid Of q chilling, prisOn.like aspect
With the insane Of England under one lunae!
commissioner I expected to find one general sys
tenn in vogue and asylums approaching thu
same standard. 1 was surprised to And Homt
county insane asylums very far behind tho re
quirements Of the age, while in others, such a
that under the charge Of Dr. Rutherford, nea
Glasgow, the non.restraint system is fully IL
vogue and with the most remarkable effects
There is, Of course, room for improvement in ou
New York institutions, especially in the manage
ment Of county houses. visited also the insti
tutions In Norway, Sweden Denmark, Germany
Switzerland and France, and find rapid chang
has been going on In all these countries In regart
to the treatment Of the pauper, imbecile and in
sane and criminal classes, progress being in th
line Of greater freedom, more occupation and, IL
fact, making the lives OF the unfortunate as ear
ly like those of the fortunate as the clrcumstan
ces Of the different cases will permit. ."-NeU Yor
World