, 1881-08-07
PAUPERS IN THE UNITED
STATES,

PAUPERS IN THE UNITED
STATES.
Bad and Dixgrnecfu1 CondItfon-Tl1a1
| of Cook County the Worst OF the
! Lot. .....,.,
Mr. Octave Thauet has been making a
study Of American poor-llouscs. lie does
not say in so many words that he has reached
the conclusion that they are the worst i'll tile
world, but lie leaves it plainly to be inferred.
| Ills Investigations extended through yari-
| Gus States Of the Union. They did not i'll
clude Marion County [Indianapolis], Indi-
ana, which is terrible. Had they done 50,
his moral would probably have been still
| more. sharply. drawn. lie finds that the
superior to those Of the South, and
that i'll the North they are III tue
Sng sSi sfs;s e1"S neards Of ch4iss :s raaneFs af
| have the best time in the small establish
nle1ts containing from half y dozen to
| twenty or thirty. '' LII some of these, tho
paupcrs instead Of the keeper are the des-
are II keeper and his wife, a1d these are often
in bodily fear OF some ab1c-budied roXdy
who ought to be in 4 Work-liouse insteatl Of
an alms-llollsc. Often the whole ragged
llltlE CDIllIiHillt3 lilsthES UC!uIc SUllt l1lh-
ing rullian OH the PLACE" Sn far ;s life i'll
general is concerned, however, i'll summer,
the inmates Of small connly-h0uses are quite
as comfortable as the poorest class Of farnl-
ers. As to cold weather, though, Mr..
Ihauet quotes tho words Of one Of these
aims s-house keepers: My God, what life
III Winlcr!"
The very worst class Of all poor-houses
was found to be thost. in charge Of County
Supervisors. In Massachusetts, whose pub
Trit arnsiEnraf hn hos if, fhQ
country, ancient wooden rookeries, 150 years
old, are, III one OF tWu places, used as houses
for paupers. "Poor farms'' are found to
deserve tile name in more respects than one.
Able-bodicd vagabo11ds who have snoozcd
through the winter and smoked their pipes
by the fire iu the poorllouse, ut the tax
payers expense, fit like birds Of passage
wien work is to be done OIL the POOR farm
in summer. 1t is etsy enough for them to
forage tlei living among tile farms, in warm
weather, thus escaping the work they would
be expected 70 DO 1T the poor-laouse. AT tile
approach OF winter, back they go to their
old quarters to snooze and snake by the
fire at tile county's expense again. With
that sublime American way Of leaving
everything to Providence, the authorities
permit these lazy and Vicious tramps to fol-
syivania las over y,00o inmates in her aims
houses. Forty-two per cent Of the GROWN
l,aupers are able-bottied. Thus Pennsyl-
vania supports. ut public expense nearly
1000 persons who By every. law, human and
living. They crowd the homes built for the
aged ami helpless, bully these, and appro
PIRATE the comforts intended for them, and
corrupt the children of the establishment
grades arc crowded together, the wretch
hardened in the ways Of vice. the, tender
child just beginning life, the aged, the lunatic,
the IDIOT epileptic, and tramp.
''The associations Of the best almshouse
will ruin the future Of 4 child beyond hope
Of redemption" remarks Mr. Tllauct.
In SOME OF the houses in the City Of Phil
alclpha itself the writer finds that the
pa1tpcr5 were. until recently. put upon what
is ellpllonlousl,' styled s. limited diet" That
year ago it was hot the fashion Of rliladel-
pllia to give them shoes to wear. That has
been changed, however, and uur writer says
they now have ''almost enough to wear"
even i'll all Gases separated, but for want OF |
space lneit and women are crowded into the |
same ROOMS. Far too many Of these wretclled |
places Ito not even possess the attraction of |
was scanty, and the inmates, as we'll as the
Moultrie Colnty-Ho1tse the inmates ha,l
no dinlng-tab!e, and were Obliged 10 |
cat off the floor, or take their food in their |
laps. In another county, the poor-llousc,
like our OWN Longyiew originally, seemed |
to have been heated with the especial design
OF giving charity charges their punisllnent
as they went along III tile shape OF cilils and
fever. The alus-liousc was an old double |
lighthouse, ut the edge Of Il sta&nant pool.
There were seventeen lmnpcrs, all sick with
nlalarial fever. There had been nineteen,
and two died the day before.
VI az ing a'ns1louses Y Amcr,ea, how
ty in Which Is situated the great City Of Chi.
caso.-1ilay he said to take tllo cake"
When windows arc broken they are .econonl-
lcally mendcd with paper or with rags
buildings has !. fine ;!r:iticialy rolling ten
del!cy, given it hy asll-leaps, tin-cans, and
The inmates are clad III
rags, and they do not batEc in winter because
water is scarce. OurinvcStisator says Of the
by way Of sweeping. lnasniii-
cent cumparison:
1T contains, probably, more rats, roach
Is, and other small treebooters than any
alnsnouse IL the North. except tn that on
Our system of providing for paupers is
ondlcsy costly, and seems cuIningly COLI
rived so rs to perpetuate itself. The aims
louSes were meant originally. to provide for
turned into Shelter for al,le-bodied vaga-
bonds AND an asylum for lunatics, idiots,
md epileptics Those whom they were in
ended to relieve have been largely detEautlcd
If theif priyllegss ;m,on our system further
given it the most thought, to. educate the
,oor class Of our country to look on the aims
rouse shelter rs their right. Poverty alone
loes not entitle the man who is too lazy to
work tor his living to any rights.
Mr.. Thauct's picture is Il dark and dis
graceful one. lie hints at remedies. Ono is
o seek to make our alnls-llouses rcforma-
ory: The different classes or inmates should
rcn should be carefully removed from the
lie alms-house Influence. as far as posi-