Bismarck weekly tribune., 1886-02-05

The general eastern advertising agent Of the
IRIBuNE ie a. e. Richardson, Room 85, Tribune
Rglding New York Az adyeEseents ~ fST The h
sent to him. gF% EEE e.. ssgtea gjs Se1s
THE COUNTY's POOR.
"A reader Of the TRIBUNE, signing him
self w. w. Thompson, living near Memo
ken, asks some pertinent questions rela-s
tive to the county's support of needy
poor in town when the county owns
poorhouse and farm. The correspondent
says:
]" The worst curse of all is the horde of
internal paupers that pollute Bismarck at
the hard working farmers expense. The
worthless devils never did lick of work
in their lives, if they could help it, and
now they find a set of fools ready to take
them in and feed and clothe them, and
the expense Of the county. If that kind of
work don't soon change the commits
si0ners will find that dynamite will find
its way to Bismarck, right under their
very houses. We have built a poor house
at our expense to chuck them cursed lazy
the farm to build it on. Now why not put
them in it and set the worthless wretches
to work There is no use Of an expensive
poor house if we have to hire houses in
town for the paupers and also pay such ex
travagant board bills as are reported in the
TRIBUNE. This is what sets us against
farmingin Burleigh county, and the pauper
trouble in Bismarck, The idea Of having
county poor house empty and hiring board
in town at such extortionate prices for a
set of despicable, worthless paupers is more
than we will always stand. If they will
not go on the county poor farm and stay
there is no call for paupers and no need Of
any. If / had them all in a row l would
like to practice using a Winchester on them
just for fun. >@ j.,
It is evident from the above that Mr..
Thompson has been seriously misin-
formed, or else is unpardonably ignorant
OF the facts connected with the govern
ment of county affairs.
In the first place, the TRIBUNE will ad-
NIT that the buying of a poor farm was
unwise policy. But it was done, and can
not now be helped. It is the present we
have to deal with. The farm was pur-
chased in boom times and cost $4,000 for
the 160 acres. The poor house is an ex-
cellent two-story and basement building,
and cost but So, 500, making the total cost
of the poor farm less than $4,000. So
much for the poor farm transactions of
two years ago. Last year the board of
county commissioners figured carefully
on the expense of running the poor farm
as compared with the expense of main
tanning needy poor in the city. Investi-
cation proved that Burleigh county has
no "lszy, worthless, despicable" paupers.
Burleigh county is called upon to sup
port only the sick and disabled. Very
different from the eastern experience,
where nearly all the work on poor farm
is done by inmates, and the farm thus
made self-sustaining. Here every inmate
would have been an invalid and increased
the expense Of running the institution,
because they would have needed medi-
cal assistance and careful nursing. And
then again, Burleigh county never has
but few paupers and needy poor at a
time. The cost of running the poor farm
would have been just as much for five
inmates as for twenty-five. Let us see
what the county has paid for paupers and
temporary relief of every nature during
the past few years. The records show as
follows: ~-
For the year ending Oct. 81, 1sSs.. .s7,2Oo.OO
For the year ending Oct. 81, 1884,. 5,649O3
For the year ending Oct 81, 1885,. 4O298O
From October 81, 1885, to January 81,
1886, three months, it has cost but
$7l3.10, which ratio, if continued for the
year 1886, will bring the expense of keep
ing the poor down to $2,924, which is GER
tainly low figure, considering the bust
ness depression and consequent idleness
of men.
The house rent referred to by the cor
respondent is an economical move on the
part of the board. By paying the simple
item of rent the county is spared the ex-
pense of a large family being thrown
upon it's mercy. As it now is, the
father Of the children, with the assistance
;of his faithful and hard working wife, is
able to keep the "wolf from the door," In
another case the board buys "a worth of
groceries each month. All the other
cases are invalids, for which the county
pays the hospital 81 per day. Here they
are nursed and cared for, and it is the
history OF every case, and it is human ma
ture that they get out of the
hospital and out of the county's charge
as soon as possible. One item of ex-
pense which amounts during the year to
several hundred dollars, is the purchas-
ing Of railroad tickets to send the poor
sick people, who are able to travel,
back to their friends in the east By pay
ing ont twenty to fifty dollars in this way
the county often saves hundreds that
would eventually be paid for keeping
them here.
Mr.. Thompson says ahe would like