The Meeker herald., 1899-06-24
CURE FOR PAUPERlSNI
COLONIZATION vs.. CHARITY.
laassassen'stts Has Spent $4,000, 900
IN Supporting Psupors-It Would Have
oevso Homes to loo. 900 Persons.

According to the official statistics the
state OF Massachusetts last year sup
ported entirely 18,S25 paupers and par
tally supported 1902 OF the latter
$500 were under sixteen years of age:
u, ,07l mad fixed residences In towns
and cities; 1O,87S had fixed residences
in the country: 2O,214 had no fixed resi-
dencs. In addition to these, 232, 2,646
persons were reported as vagrants by
the police The census of paupers,
taken on the 1st of July, 1878, in the
state OF Massachusetts,, showed total
Of 88,611. OF these 14.222 were entire
~ supported by the state, county Or
municipal authorities and 1900 were
partially supported. The expenditures
for the support and relief of these peo-
pN amounted to $2,4OO, ,2O6.
During the last year, according to
ne oAcial statistics, 146,473 persons
we're supported more or less time in
We county almshouses Of the state of
New York. or these 1898 were ell
arely supported and 127, $40 were par
daily supported. In the city of Great.
af New York 1895 paupers were re-
ported, $1,000 being wholly supported
by municipal institutions and lis. .793
partially supported. The expenditure
Of ofhcia! appropriations in the city Of
Greater New York, which, as every
body understands, includes Brooklyn,
for the relief and support of paupers,
was $3,251 500 The counties outside
of the city Of Greater New York spent
81 .696, 735, Of which S7S9,6SS was for
permanent inmates of almshouses AMI
1905. .O67 for the temporary relief of the
suffering.
Nor do the reports above given from
Massachusetts and New York include
anything but purely official expendi-
lures. If the truth were known
the expenditures of private and relig-
lous charitable organizations would
doubtless equal those of the public au.
thorfties
l was led into this inquiry, said n
correspondent of the Chicago Record,
IN connection with the colony which
Booth Tucker of the Salvation Army
has established in Colorado. He has
been able to provide homes with ten
acres of ground, team Of horses, n
COW, two or three pigs, twentw-four
cmckens and full outfit OF farming
implements and machinery for twenty
six families at the rate Of $6OS FAM
iy. This was during the experimental
period and he believes that he can
hereafter establish them at an average
cost Of $500 family. 1t naturally oc-
ours to one who is studying this sub
1ect that 1t might be profitable for
some Of the charitable societies, If not
the municipal authorities, to attempt
this experiment The state Of Massa.
chusetts since 1878 has expended $780,
S0S,SS4, or an average of $780, 1928 a
year, for the care Of paupers. Suppose
o1e-haf Of that amount. or say $1b,.
100000, has been expended in the re-
moval and establishment of those pau
psrs upon the farming lands of the
West, at the rate of cost now paid by
the salvation Army, 25,OOO families or
parhaIs 100000 paupers who are a
public burden would have been given
q new chance in life and placed in a
position where they could contribute
10 the public wealth and the public
welfare. This suggestion Is at least
worth taking about.