The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-12-21


income of the country were now thre
and four times what they then wer
The eli, 900 instead of being VI
z ward Of 21A per cent. of the income c
Of community which had heavy wa
burdens was less than 1 per cent. G
the income of community which wa
, lightly taxed by comparison. Even i
the most recent years, notwithstanding
the increase in the eXpediture on poo
relief, the improvement, when they com
pared the burden with the aggregate in
come of the people, had been pregres
sive. The burden of the legal poor wac
found to be diminishing relatively t
the income of the community and re
latively to the taxation Of the communi
ty for imperial purposes. 1t might be
affirmed then that anxiety about the
problem of pauperism was for the mo-
ment at least not what it was in form
err times, looked at economically. 1t was
evident that the legal poor were not in
quilting the resources of the country or
threatening to ingulf than. The COM
parison would not look quite so well If
they We're to compare the burden with
rateable property only. though it would
/
raj way that the matter was now being
considered they must look at the re-
sources of the community as a whole.
And in this view it seemed to him there
| could be no question. The main reason
for being anxious about the problem
of pauperism was not Immediately at
| least though it might become so il
/ they were careless, the weight of the
burden on the resources of the com
munity.
This brought him to the next point,
the question of pauperism as a social
disease, which it was the interest of the
whole community to diminish, and, if
possible, to eradicate In this aspect
conclusions could neither be so certain
nor so satisfactory as the previous con-
illusions that had been stated. Making
the best of the available data, he was
inclined to say that, as far as legal
pauperlsm itself was concerned, they
ought to be partly satisfied with the
official figures giving the number of
paupers on certain dates in the year.
These figures might not show the ex-
tent of the social disease in the com
munity at given moment, because
they did not show the numbers of the
class from which paupers were recruit
ed. But If the disease maintained the
same character from year to year and
the proportions Of the total number or
paupers in the community and the
classes from which paupers were re-
cruited to the actual number in receipt
of relief at a given data remain the
same. then the latter figure told them
nearly all they wanted for purposes of
comparison. The conclusion, however
depended entirely on the correctness of
the assumption made, and they must
not rely too absolutely upon 1t, AS
social disease, then, paupersm on this
assumption had declined even more in
recent years that 1t had done economic
ally. The stationariness of the legal
pauperism in the face OF a rapid growth
of population seemed to indicate as far
as it went the contraction of the dis
ease itself
1t might also be affirmed that the
classes on the verge of pauperism were
diminishing in number, for the simple
reason that wages had been steadily
rising for many years past, and not
least the rate of wages for unskilled or
partly skilled labor while at time like
the present there could be no possible
complaints of want of employment for
any one who was willing to work
There might be a want of thrift and
care among large masses of the work
ing population, but the percentage of
the masses affected from time to time
by causes which compelled them to
seek poor relief was apparently not
really large on increasing. Every year
in which this condition Of things ex-
listed must tend to improve the condi- |
ton Of the class and to remove from
them the faint of pauperism. At least.
they might fairly indulge the hope that |
this would be the result of good wages |
and steady employment continued for
some years He however, regarded |
With great alarm the existence Of some |
IF the charitable agencies, which might |
De producing an unknown disease
which they deprecated in the form of
egal pauperism. Charity was almost |
forced upon some of the poor. The very |
wealth, then, which made the burden
If legal pauperlsm so light was being
applied, unwlttingly to some extent
to create disease of the same sort
Nothing was much needed as the edu-
cation of the charitably disposed in the
method of conducting charity so as to
prevent the growth of habits of care
essness and dependence among large
masses of the community
His last point was that if pauperism |
was to be treated as social disease, |
rom the point of view Of gra dually dim
nishing and finally Graduating it, the
precise nature and extent of the dis
Ease must be thoroughly understood |
md understood not merely by experts,
out in broad outline by the public
and the various authorities
Who administer the poor law itself On
his head however, in certain directions
nformation-already limited-appeared
o be somewhat lacking. The statistics
# pauperism were usually confined to
he numbers relieved on one day. This
vas a very proper limitation for many
purposes. There appeared to be reason,
owever. for having a good account of |:
not merely as it existed on
ne day but as 1t had existed during a
iven period of time, the numbers re-
eVed during that period noted as well
S the numbers on a given day at the
eginning, middle or end of the period.
ir Robert discussed this point at con-
iderable length and said that what had
ccurred to him as a means of making
useful to have returns for a given