The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-21
Prisoners and Paupers.

! A recent census bulletin furnishes some
/ interesting information relative to she ne
tivity and parentage Of prisoners and pau
pers in the United States in the year 1890,
the year the census was taken. At that
time there were 50, 800 prisoners in tho
prisons OF the country. OF this number
| $3.50 were of purely white blood, 24,277
were negroes. 4O7 Chinese. ID Japanese and
329 Indians.
or the 1l4,62O parents Of the white pris-
oners 45, 752 were native and 80 ,l53 foreign
born. 1t was impossible TO discover the
birthplaces of S ,735 OF them. From the
foregoing statements it will be seen that,
emitting those whose birthplsces were I'M
known, the native element among the
parents was 43.19 per cent. of the whole
number, and the foreign element 56.s1 per
cent.
Relative to the nativity OF the $3.50
white prisoners it was found that 4O,471
we're born in the United States and Is, 9S2
abroad. The birthplace of 9O7 was IN
known. Eliminating those whose nativity
was unknown it Is found that the percent
age Of native white prisoners was IL IS of
the whole number and Of the foreign whites
1926.
OF the 40,471 white prisoners born in the
United States the fathers and mothers Of
81 01 were natives of this country, and the
fathers and mothers Of 12 Col were foreign
born. Two thousand eight hundred and
eighty-one had one native and one foreign
parent and the parsntage Of ,952 could not
be definitely sscertained.
There were almost as many paupers In the
almshouses as prisoners IN the prisons The
number Of paupers was 70 ,O45; Of this num-
Der COSTS were whites, GALS negroes; Is
Chinese and SO Indians. OF the 1873, 1856
parents of white paupers IS ,2l5 were native
and 6S, 587 foreign born. The birthplaces Of
"A ,S54 were unknown. Without the uu-
known, Al. SO per cent. Of the paupers we're
OF native and S. A Of foreign extraction.
AS to the nativity Of &c, 578 white paupers
S6.656 were born in the United States,
27,64S were born abroad and the birthplace
Of 2,274 was unknown. Omitting those
whose nativity is not given, the percentage
Of native whites was 81 and OF foreign
whites IS. OF the 1866 whites born in
the United States, 21,519 had a native
father and a native mother, $3.50 had both
parents foreign born, 949 had one native
and one foreign parent. and the parentaRe
Of 10,608 was unknown as TO one OF both
parents.
Omittiug the latter, the percentage Of
native whites of purely native origin was
1921, Of purely foreign origin
1915, and Of mixed origin, 1874.
The number OF white paupers born
in the United States who had one ma
tive parent and one parent foreign born was
949. or these $40 there were 33S with
American fathers and 6l6 with American
mothers
From the foregoing figures it is apparent
that foreign countries are immense contribu-
tors to our convict and peuper population.
Although the percentage of native born
convicts and paupers is larger somewhat
than that OF tbs foreign born, the fact must
not be overlooked that very considerable
percentage of the native born were the off,
spring of foreign parents.
These census figures for 1890 furnish a
strong argument in favor Of a much more
vigorous enforcement of the laws prohibit
Ing the admission Of paupers and criminals
into this country. The burden they impose
upon the people is an enormous one. II the
paupers and criminals were shut out the
cost Of maintaining courts, prisons and
almshouses would be very much less than
it is.