The Indianapolis journal., 1897-05-30
NO MORE SALES OF pAUPERs.
An Old and MUch-Practiced Main0
Custom Falling Into Disuse.

Bangor Letter IN New York Sun.
This is the first year since Maine was
set off from Massachusetts that the support
of from one to five hundred town paupers
has not been put up at auction and sold
off to the lowest bidders. Careful inquiry
among the seleetmen and other town off,
cials has failed to find a single case of this
kind in 1897, though 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, hav-
ing but few paupers, cannot afford to sup
port an almshouse, so they let out their
poor at so much a week, and allow every
body of good repute to make bids, the low
est 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 usu-
ally 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 moderator, or first
selectman, was the auctioneer. Standing
on the platform of the Town Hall he would
give an account of the pauper he was
about to sell, telling his age and general
habits and dwelling upon the work he was
able to perform When he had made cat
alogue of the paupers virtues he would
ask for bids, and the man who felt the
need of pauper work or who wanted the
money which the town would pay for the
paupers support, would make offers, split
ting dimes and scent 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 a barrel of New England rum housed
up alongside of the molasseS hogshead the
annual auction sale of paupers was looked
upon as a general holiday for the men,
who came from all parts of the town and
never went home until the last pauper was
sold off. Jordan Batchelder, ,pauper who
died in the town OF Prospect about twenty
years ago, was sold at auction thirty-one
years in succession, and was always pres
ent to speak for himself and show his
strength when anybody doubted his ability
to labor Bill Greene pauper of the same
town, who was also a shoemaker, used 10
take his bench and cobbiing tools to town
shoes while the citizens made bids for his
keep. AS this was before the day of shoe
factories men who had large families 70
keep in footwear We're always impressed
with Greene'S talents, so the old man was
frequently sold as low as 30 cents a week:
Swansvlle, 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. Danlet
Hartman, q reputable citizen of SearSport,
remembers seeing paupers sold at auction
in FRANKFORT, Stockton, Orland 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 per-
sons became paupers, but the habit of SELL
ing at auction had fallen into disrepute.
and pauper market day, as it was called.
no longer drew big crowds of spectators.
In spite of the strong sentiment against
the practice, auction sales of paupers were
held in several towns until the middle or
the present decade, and two cases of this
kind were reported in 1896 This year not
town official will confess to having fol-
lowed 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 support OF
the towns poor until a fixed date, after
which the letters will be opened in public
and the contracts awarded to 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 any one of the paupers has q
trade or other accomplishment which Will
enhance his value the fact Is mentioned IN
the notice. At the expiration of the speci-
fled time which is always long enough to
allow prospective bidders to make a care
full examination, the bids are unsealed ana
the paupers are redistributed for another
year. .
From purely humanitarian point or
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 pauper
grows greater every year.