The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-05-13
A siN.CuRsED COUNTRY.
Startling statistics Showing the Deg
radiation of Lima, Peru.

Startling Statistics Showing the Deg
radiation of Lima, Peru.
Senior CASTOR, the chief of the bureau
of mercantile statistics in Lima, feru'
has prepared sensational document
the points of which Consul Brunt has
sent to the state department. He says:
There are 100000 population in Lima;
"a per cent of these are minors, AZ per
cent. single and widowed, 10 per cent
married. This is not matter OF sur
prise. owing to economical features
mentioned hereafter, but it must be
noted with pain that from the great
number of minors it clearly appears
that unmarried persons take almost as
active part in propagating their spe-
cies as those in wedlock. Statistics
show that 46 per cent. of the births in
1884 were the fruit of wedlock. and "a
per cent. 'llegitimate. 1t is, therefore,
more than evident that over two thirds
of the population of Lima live in state
of concubinage or something OF that
character, rather than in legal and fam
lily ties. According to census reports
there is an excess of 1854 unmarried or
widowed women over the same class OF
males, and as women are less adapted
or educated to gain their living by in
dustry than he male portion, the only
means of subsistence left to them is that
of depending upon the stronger sex
without regard to law or morality. In
society of only 5000 families this ex-
cess of $500 single women urged by
necessity, perverted through ignorance
and even Influenced by the climate, is
an element of danger to public morals
and general good. In word, OF the
100000 people in Lima, but little more
than one-third live in family ties.
There are 1894 persons under age,
"a, 159 females, and only 30,0S3 active
producers, SO that every able-bodied
man has to support more than three
persons. The cost of food, clothing,
ETC., may be reckoned at $15.02 per
head per month. Each man able to
work should earn $46.06 per month.
This amount is only obtained by the
most limited number. A condition of
the most abject poverty prevails. which
shortens the life of the people. The
consuming class is constantly increas-
ing, and every man forced to shoulder
the musket is a new burden laid on the
feeble shoulders of the producers. 1t
is, therefore, shown that the popula,
ton of Lima does not rest, as it should,
on family basis, and that from lack
of labor power and excess of unmarried
females there is wanting that great
producing element which is principal
factor in well-established communities
The result of all this is never ending
struggle between an educated minority
and the powerful resistance of ignor-
ant masses. who, almost irresponsible
for their acts, entertain deep-seated
hatred for those they hold to be their
oppressors. These are q suspicious,
selfish mass. refusing all efforts toward
their own self-regeneration, without
habits of order, unable to respect laws
of which they are ignorrnt, living in
intellectual darkness, and generally in
moral depravity, their existence passes
by without a thought being given to
their advancement, their preservation
as race or to their hereafter
When it comes to pursuits, GA, e56 are
without any. Even among those mar
ried not one-tifth of the offspring sur
vive the first years existence. and the
reason assigned is that the parents can
not provide them with the proper nour-
ishment.
Even more lamentahle Is the fate of
those numerous unmarried women
whose children never knew their faith
ers. For them there is no employment,
no protection, no support When their
children live they grow up weaklings,
owing to the privations they undergo.
and they generally end their days in a
hospital. And this condition is due to
the indifference of our government and
to our own character. Premiums are
given 10 useless and unsubstantial OBJ
jects. while talent and honorable labor
go unrewarded, Immense sums are
subscribed to build sumptuous temples
side by side with the novels where the
poor die in want and misery. Hundreds
Of people exist In damp and narrow un-
healthy dwellings, while in the main
street of the city are extensive converts
and monasteries, covering acres of
ground and affording shelter to hand
full of useless and idle monks and nuns.
On this account there are more church
es and converts than municipal schools,
mora children and women than men,
more soldiers and Chinese than active
citizens, more heggars than laborers,
more priests than men of science, more
Alegitimate than legitimate children,
more eoncubines than women legally
married, more ignorance than enligAt.
epment, more corruption than morality,
more gunpowder than bread. From
this Indifference the little good among
vs. is gradually disappearing. 1t lacks
support and appreciation. 1t is, there
fore, necessary in our own interest and
in that of our descendants to change
this vicious order Of things, to reform
these dreadful abuses, to punish these
offenses with severity and to afford in
struction, protection, and support to
those women and children so deplora-
bly, unfortunate IN their present state. -
So. Louis Globe Democrat.