Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-06-01
NO MORE SALES OF pAupsas.


FallIA0 lato Olsuoe.
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 VI at
auction and sold OF to the lowest bid
derr Careful inquiry among the select
men and other town officers 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 pau
pers doing what work they can in order
to lessen the cost. The smaller towns,
having but few paupers, cannot AFFORD
to support an almshouse, so they let
out their poor at so much 4 week, ana
allow everybody of good reIlute 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 soio
their paupers at auction, and nopouy
saw any harm in the practice. Inc
auction was usually held on the DAY OIL
the annual spring election as soon as
the officers We're chosen and the money
needed to run the town was raised. Inc
moderator, or first selectman, was the
auctioneer. Standing on the plat1orm
of the town hall he would give an ac-
count of the pauper he was about 70
sell, telling his age and general habits,
and dwelling upon the work ne 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 pauper work, or VINO
wanted the money which the town
would pay for the paupers support,
would make offers, splitting dimes and
five-cent pieces until they came to
cents, when the lowest bidder would get
the pauper, and another unfortunate
would be put up for sale.
In the days when every Maine grocer
kept barrel of New England rum
housed up alongside of the molasses
hogshead, the annual auction sale or
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 pauper was sold off. Jor-
dan 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
present 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 shoe
maker. used to take his bench and cob
bling 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
factories, men who had large families
to keep in footwear We're always i'm
pressed with Greene's talents,s so the old
man was frequently sold as low as so
cents week. or $25 year. Clarke w.
Menden of Swanville, who has been
State senator, says he has seen four
teen 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, re-
members seeing paupers sold at auc-
ton in Frankfort, Stockton, Orland
and other towns.
For few years after the war busi-
ness was so good that everybody pros
died or were able to earn their own liv-.
ing. When the panic Of 1873 struck the
country many persons became paupers.
but the habit of selling at auction had
fallen into disrepute, and pauper mar
ket 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
IL T..
middle of the present decade, and two
cases of this kind were reported in
1885, This year not town official will
confess to having followed the old way.
The new way is kinder, perhaps, but
the result is the same. Soon after they
are elected the selectmenp 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 bid
ders. Appended to this notice is list
of the paupers. giving their names,
ages. and an outline of their ability to
work If any one of the paupers has a
trade or other accomplishment which
will enhance his value, the fact is men
toned in the notice. At the expiration
of the specified time, which is always
long enough to allow prospective BID
ders to make careful examination, the
bids are unsealed, and the paupers are
redistributed 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 support
ing pauper grows greater every year.
--Ranpnr Cor New York Sun.