Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-17
|PAUPERS IN ENGLAND
In January Last They Number
ed 782,422.
RATIO Is 22.9 TO 1000
Rate Only About Half of What It
Was in 1867.
COST TO THE GOVERNMENT
Distress Alleviated by the Salvation
Army and Other Forms Of Pri-
vate Benevolence.
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.

e.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record-Heraid.
LONDON. June %. 1905
1 wrote you yesterday about the wealth
of the British people, but there Is another
side to the picture. On January l. 1898,
there were 7S2, 400 paupers supported by
the government out OF total population
of "a, 152, 927; which was a ratio of 22.9 pau
pers to every 1000 Of the inhabitants. VI
these 247, 2J6 were In public. institutions.
aims houses and homes for the friendless
and destitute while $50, 166 were receiving
outdoor relief-that is. food or money. or
both-from agencies maintained in the va
rious cities and villages for the distribution
of that form Of assistance.
1t should be said that there has been a
considerable decrease in the number OF pau
pers during the last forty years. In 1861
there were S21 .627, or nearly million. de-
pendents upon charity among a population
of q. 4O9. 634; and while the population has
increased 80 per cent. the total number OF
paupers has decreased about 10 per cent,
and the alto per 1.0G0 is only little more
than one-half what It was. In 1866 out or
every thousand of the inhabitants OF Great
Britain forty-three were paupers. In 1867
the ratio ran up to Az per 1000 with
total of 9tS9 292 out of a population of T.
600, 900: nearly one person in every twenty
two of the entire community-counting men,
women and children-was dependent upon
public charity for his support. Since that
date pauperism has gradually declined. Low
tide was reached in numbers In 1891 when
there were only 650.921 persons receiving
relief. From that date there has been q
gradual increase keeping pace with that OF
population, although the ratio per 1oUO mas
gone down and reached the lowest point in
1900 when oil per coo We're receiving re-
lief.
These are very extraordinary figures and
it must always be born in mind that they
refer to the rural as well as to the city
population of England and Wales. Very
naturally the larger number of paupers are
found in the factory towns, but no village
is small enough to be without them. The
rural paupers are usually aged people,
whose children have deserted them for Lon
don and other cities and left them to be
taken care of in their old age at the pub
Hes expense: or deserted women, or widows
of soldiers who have been killed In the war.
or cripples. and helpless children. The fig
ures, however. do nit include the inmates
of insane asylums nor institutions for the
feeble minded, the deaf, dumb and blind,
nor hospitals for the treatment of ordinary
diseases. but they do embrace the inmates
of homes for incurables and the aged. Nor
does 1t include those receiving pensions
from the government.
On the list Of January last. out of
population of 4.6o4. T94 in the city of London,
117.S81 paupers were being supported by the
government, ratio of 25.2 per 1000. OF
these 1921 were being taken care of in
public Institutions and AZ. 634 were receiv-
ing outdoor relief There has been de-
crease in the city pauperism corresponding
to that in the country at large. In 1885,
when the population of London was just
turning the three million mark. 129, 493
paupers were being supported by the gov
ment, or 42.6 per every 1000. The number
and the ratio continued to increase until
1870. when the top notch was reached, with
q total of 142, 303 persons and a ratio of
44.S per 1000 dependent upon the COM
munity. The number as we'll as the ratio
then began to decrease rapidly until 1875
when low-water mark was reached and
total OF SO,S41, or a ratio of 225 per LOCO
is reported. In 1900 the total was 99.3S8
and the ratio 221. Since that date there
has been gradual increase. attributed to the
South African war. the increased cost Of
living. industrial depression and other
causes.