The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-26
NO MORE SALE OF PAuPERs.
An Old and Much-Practiced Maine Custom
Failing Into Disuse.
Bangor Corr. New York Sun

Bangor Corr New York SUM-
This is the first year since Maine was
set off from Massachusetts, that the sup
port of from one to five hundred town
paupers has not been put up at auction
and sold off to the lowest bidders Care
full inquiry among the selectmen and
other town officers has failed to find a
in former years the practice was common
in all the sixteen counties of the State.
In all the cities and in most of the
larger towns of Maine are almshouses with
farms attached, where the poor of the
municipalities are housed, clothed and fed
at the public expense, the paupers doing
what work they can in order to lessen
the cost. The smaller towns, having
but few paupers, cannot afford to support
an aim shouse, so they let out their poor
at so much week, and allow everybody
of good repute to make bids, the lowest
bidder getting the paupers for the next
municipal year.
Until long after the war there were
dozens of towns in Maine that sold their
paupers at auction, and nobody saw any
harm in the practice. The auction was
usually held on the day of the annual
spring election as soon as the officers
were chosen and the money needed to
run the town was raised. The modera-
tor, or first selectman, was the auc-
tioneer. Standing on the platform of
the town hall he would give an account
of the pauper he was about to sell, telling
his and hah linz,
upon the work he was able to perform
When he had made a catalogue of the
pauper'S virtues he would ask for bids,
and the man who felt the need of pau
per work, or who wanted the money
which the town would pay for the pau
per's support, would make Offers split
ting dimes and fve-cent pieces until they
came to cents, when the lowest bidder
would get the pauper, and another unfor-
tunate would be put up for sale.
In the days when every Maine grocer
kept barrel of New England rum housed
up alongside of the nlolasses hogshead,
the annual auction sale Of paupers was
looked upon as general holiday for the
men, who came from all parts of the town
and never went home until the last pau
per was sold off. Jordan Batchelder, a
pauper who died in the town of Prospect
about twenty years ago, was sold at auc-
ton thirty one years in succession, and
was always present to speak for himself
and show his strength when anybody
doubted his ability to labor. Bill Greene
a pauper of the same town. who was also
a shoemaker, used to take his bench and
cobbling tools to town meeting and sit on
the platform mending shoes while the
citizens made bids for his keep.
AS this was before the day of shoe fac
tories, men who had large families to
keep in footwear were always impressed
with Greene's talents, SO the old man was
frequently sold as low as so cents week
or $25 a year. Clarke W. Menden, of
Swanville, who has been State Senator,
says he has seen fourteen paupers ranged
in line on the town hall platform, and
sold off, one by one, like SO many slaves.
Daniel Hartman, a reputable citizen of
Searsport, remembers seeing paupers sold
at auction in Frankfort, Stockton, Or
land and other towns.
For a few years after the war business
was SO good that everybody prospered,
and most of the paupers either died or
were able to earn their own living. When
the panic of 1873 struck the country many
persons became paupers, but the habit Of
selling at auction had fallen into disre-
pute, and pauper market day, as it was
called, no longer drew big crowds of spec
ulators. In spite of the strong sentiment
against the practice, auction sales of
PoupCIS WCIC uelt LII SEVERAL tOWnS unUlI
the middle of the present decade, and two
cases of this kind were reported in 1885,
This year not town official will co Mess
to having followed the old way.
The new way is kinder, perhaps, but
the result is the same Soon after they
are elected the selectmen put up notices
in different parts of the town saying they
will receive sealed proposals for the sup
port of the towns poor until fixed date.
after which the letters will be opened in
public and the contracts awarded at the
lowest responsible bidders. Appended to
this notice is a list of the paupers, giving
their names, ages and an outline of their
ability to work. If anyone of the pau
pers has q trade or other accomplishment
which will enhance his value, the fact is
mentioned in the notice At the expira
ton of the specified time, which is ALWAYS
long enough to allow prospective bidders
to make a careful examination, the bids
are unsealed, and the paupers are redis
tributed for another year
From a purely humanitarian point of
view, no doubt, the new way Is better
than the old; but auction sales used to
make keener competition than sealed
proposals can ever bring about, and in
consequence of this the cost of supporting
q pauper grows greater eyerv year.