The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-24

pays less than 100000 in a year.for
its dependent children; and Micbi-
gan, with almost as many inhabitants
as Massachusetts,. pays less than
$25O,OOO.
The Poorl Who Receive Family Ala
10 show how much larger is the
number of poor who receive "familv
aid" (as the French call what the
English describe by the awkward
term outdoor relief'') in most States.
than the number maintained in aims.
houses, let us look at the carefully
tabulated statistics of Minnesota. At
the date of the national census Dune
lo9O) Minnesota took census of it's
paupers, finding 5,O91 in population
OF l,3Ol 1926; of these, less than 1.OOO
We're indoor poor. Four years later,
IN June, 1894, when the State popu-
latlon may have been 100000, the
depression following the panic of
1898 had increased the paupers to
755l; but of these only 1918 Qess
than 10 per cent? were indoor poor.
Ihe cost of this class was perhaps
Sl5O,OO0, and for the outdoor poor
SzOO,OOO. The latter numbered 6473.
IN 1874; at the same date, the out
door poor of Massachusetts, with a
population estimated at 2,5OO,OOO,
were about 1900, while the indoor
poor, including the insane, were about
$4,000.
The Average Cost of Maintenance.
Thus an old State, like Massachus-
etts, had about one pauper for eyery
st inhabitants, in midsummer, while
new State, Minnesota (after allowing
for about 1000 of the insane poor, in
creasing its pauper census to $500 in
midsummer), had one pauper in 1853
OF its inhabitants. In the whole
country, the ratio of the public poor
Including the insane) to the whole
people is perhaps one in 14O, which
would give 100000 as the present
number of paupers, at a given date.
OF these, 125,OOO may be fully sup
ported, besides $1,000 insane poor;
and 100000 partially supported, or
receiving family aid.' live assume
that the insane cost by average $3.50
week, or $130 year; the sane poor
fully supported $1.55 week, or $50
year; and the partially supported
(family aid), $50 year-for these
sums can not be far out of the
way-then the whole cost of our
poor, including the insane, will
be about $35, 100000, or fifty cents
year for each person of our seventy
million inhabitants. In Massachu-
setts, the yearly cost is not much
short of ninety cents per capita; in
New York it seems to exceed $1.2O
per capita. In New Hampshire it ex-
ceeded seventy-five cents last year;
in the rest of New England it may
have fallen below seventy cents. In
Minnesota it is less than forty-fve
cents; in Wisconsin, less than forty
cents. In Wisconsin, where the ex-
penses are classified separately bya
State Board and rather more distinct
ly than in most States, the cost and
average number of the poor seem to
have been in 1898 o.
For an average of 1865 paupers in aims
houses. ,........................ S117 l4l
For an average of--paupers aided
at home. Observation-Disclosures. 326 535
For an average of 2,s67 insane in coun-
ties. ......................... 214 657
For the insane poor in two State hos
pitas (estimated). 60 900
Total. ........................ S71S Sss
Of which. full support 39l 798
Ofwhich partial support. s26 585
Assuming the population of Wis
consin as 100000 this gives but
forty cents per capita in 1894. In
the southern and southwestern
States the cost is even less: yet for
the whole Union we cannot reckon it
less than fifty cents per capita, or
$35, 100000 year. At the Massachu-
setts rate, the cost of the poor would
be $60,OO0,OOO. These figures look
large; but they indicate fairly we'll
the Importance of the subject, and
the great need of intelligence and
economy in administering so vast and
complex an interest.
CONCORD. MASS.
Illinois has now law providing for
the retirement of public school teachers,
after twenty-five years service in the