Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-02-03
He FayorS Poor Houses.

One of the Commissioners of West
moreland Co writes as follows to
Clerk Meals,
DEAR SIR,-I take great pleasure az
answering your letter, and hope it VIII
help YOU in ascertaining what you
wish The cause is deep one and yod
deserve great credit for trying to learn
from the faults or failures of the sys-
TEN ere you leap. If | could answer
you in q word or two ] would say only
For God !. sake bnild q home for the
Destitute and do away al enc. Wi.L the
pernicious system of the Overseers.
do not say this from want of know
ledge but from experience with all the
systems, practical experience by BENG
associated with poor work for 3 and !
years as a director | have seen it III all
it phases and can only say again, your
system is VtoEg, Hncharitable and
cruel / wish that you could oGme
here and let Inc show you our Home
and you would indeed become christ
ian in the new faith No more could
our Home become thing Of the past
than the Ocean dry. 1t is fixtdre TO
which we point with pride, we are in
decd very proud that we treat those
who ale 4pfoGCunate to II Home better
than many 6f us oWh lItsely es. With
comforts provided by the people with
the keenest pleasure. To fail in this by
the ones in charge would damn them
eternally. | take a vast amount Of
pleasure in answering you, / know
whereof | speak and my heart was
always in the work It il still
ilere and my friend | say TO Jon
t.ID : 3. Ia.
it with all the comforts Of life make
the declining years of yQEr q4foltu
nate as happy as in your power they
are human but unfortunate, let tae
cause be what it may The man who
may kick, may kick harder in the great
hereafter, but you who know nothing
OF the working Of this treatment of the
poor and who live aH4E. hat slavery
system the Overseers of the Poor, pagat
to come and see it in its humanity and
vcu would be minister for its iElme-
diate sxDlL-icn and wonder why it
ever was n system. With over 10000
people in this county we keep three
.imps more unfortunates than Indiana
and Armstrong counties combined and
they have less than haif tbe population,
and spend more money by 100000
dollar5 than We. Why?
Your system is p gHerllla warfare
with township and borough at cease
less war; the poor are bundled from one
district TO another like common pcsti
lence is fought from our doors; human
bodies are a traffic sold to'the lowest
bidder. / have no interest in whether
sDu build a home for your unfortunate
or not, hul ~ tqmanity's cause your
system Is a disgrace a+asi a,,Spl9 10 your
fair name as good people If the sys
TEN now in use here for thirty years il
d failure. why have all the good people
in three fou,t III. Df the counties of our
state adopted itg Why haze tLey dis
carded the Overseers system? Because
it is wrong, it is barbarous and relic of
the past. J ac net know your mind on
this subject, but / can say - Ypu and
and to all the good people of your coun-
ty, Build a Home for your. destitute,
make them know that charity IS Eot
only name but fact, and ! say far
ther, you will point with pride ut the
structure reared by the people for
their poor.
II may seem strange to you when ] re
peat, ;hat ia Indiana county alone,
where the OSerseef system il III opera
ton, with about of our population,
and few public works, they pay almost
as much if not aB much for caring for
their poor as we who have thousands of
foreigners and all the evils of their
helplessncss at times when strikes come
70 them. | wish that I could go on
ana tell yCu more than | have but a. |
have much to do, viii hasten on and
end answer your questions