The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1903-05-07
Pauper Committee Of the City Council
Complete the Work Of Looking Into
the People on Pauper List.
MANY DESERT WIVES AND HOMES
Investigation Shows That Few of the--De-
pendents Can be Cut off but Many VIII
be Reduced by the Committee.

hGnOSnds anu tue ISpOLl VI lAiC d1uud4
visit of the pauper committee of the
city council to the homes of the depen-
dents in the city, shows that there is
little reason to expect that the amount
spent by the city IN care of her poor
will be reduced to any great extent
this time. The expense for housing
and keeping the poor Of the city, is
amounting to between three and four
thousand dollars annually, and this
great charity fund is being Increased
year by year rather than diminished.
Some idea of the expense of keeping
the poor can be seen when the report
of the committee is made public. The
report shows that the city pays meat
bill of thirty.fve dollars month,
grocery bill1of lightweight dollars
month, and a rent bill Of seventy-hve
dollars a month. It allows its depend
ent citizens twenty-five dollars month
besides these other expenses. Besides
these stated expenses there are humid
reds of dollars spent annually for
clothes and during the winter months
the amount is largely Increased by the
necessary expenses for fuel.
The committee found that there we're
seventy-three people dependent on the
city. Many of these are women and
children, while the men are, for the
most part, either cripples or inirm or
so effected by disease, that they are
not able to work. Half dozen are
comfortably housed in the house at the
city poor farm, while the others are
scattered over the city, living, for the
most part, in houses rented by the city.
Some few of them are hard working
people and are contributing in way
toward their own support, but many
are shiftless and seem to be unwilling
their aid from the city.
The crime of wife desertiou is in a
large measure responsible for much of
the suffering among the women and
children on the pauper list, and many
more than half the dependents have
been placed on the city list on account
of this crime. Eight families we're
found in which the husband had de-
serted. In some cases the assertions
have been reported to the police, and
in others the wife has remained at
home, bearing her sorrow, until she
was forced to seek aid from the city.
One of the deserters is now serving
term in the states prison, and wives of
two of the men would be glad to ap-
pear against them if they could be
found and brought to Kenosha to
answer for their crime.
Most of the paupers have no friends
and relatives in the city, and but one
is possessed Of any property. One on
the list has received aid from the city
for twenty-five years, while most of
the dependents have only been on the
city lists for few months.
Many would go to work if they could
get light work and good pay. Some
spend the little money they do make
foolishly, and then expect the city to
provide the necessities of life. There
are mothers and children among the
number who are worthy, and the
mother is unwilling to have her child
rem taken from her and taken to some
institution for care.
So the story goes and as result of
the investigation the committee finds
little hope to reduce the number at the
present time. A small amount of the
expense may be cut off by sending
some Of the able bodied paupers to
work, and the rent bills will be reduced
little by fixing up the old poor house
and making it a fit abiding place for
two or three families. A few of the
older ones will be sent to the poor
farm later on in the summer, and the
remainder will continue to draw the
usual stipend from the city.
The report of the committee is now
being tabulated and it forms a most
interesting document for the city's
records. The names of none of the
paupers have been made public but the
report is open to any citizen.
Commissioner Wares Latest.
Something must be done in the case