The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-26
LUNG TROUBLE IS
 PAUPERS' SCOURGE
Facts and Figures Embodied in Report of Director of
 Census

Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. s4. 1s8 paupers were emu merafed in alnshouses in the Limited States on January 1, 1910, and 88, BIS were admitted during the year. The number of a,lnsho1se paupers in the United States increased 3 per cent. be- tween 1904 and 1910 and the number of annual admissions to alI1shouses increased 8.5 per cent, while the total population of the country 1ncreaseG 12.4 per cent. during the same period
 The ratio of alrnshouse paupers to population has steadily declined at every. census since 1880, the earliest date for which comparable figures are available. The census report, being confined to a study of inmates of aI1nshouses, does not include inmates of amy other institutions or recipients of outdoor relief. Accordingly, the number of paupers reported is not a measure of, the extent of poverty in 8 community. because it depends on the adequacy of the supply of alrns- gard to outdoor relief. on climatic con- ditions, and on the existence or mum Der of special institutions for children and for physical and mental defec- tfves
 Age of Paupers
 About third of the paupers emu nera5ted on January l.. 1910. were un- der 55 years of age; about one-third between s55 and 69 years; and about one-third. 70 years Of age and over. The ratio Of aaInshouse pa.upers to popu9aHion increases decidedly with ad- vamcdng age, about 1 person in 50 above 80 years of sage being an in- mate of an al1nsho51se. The propor- tion of aaHnslnot1se paupers in the younger age groups, in fact in all age groups under 50 years. declined from census 5Q census indicating that young persons become inmates Of alnshouses i'm fewer cases now than formerly. In 1880 more than half of the paupers Were under 50 years of age; in 1910 only about fourth
 Sex and Marital Condition
 Of the total number of paupers emu meTated in aJlurshouses on January l. 1910, were 57,0 ,049 nnaIes and 27,149 fe- males, and of those admitted during that year, 67,195 were males and 21, | 11S females. The ratio of pauperS per. 100000 population of the same sex was 1905 for males and CO.'S for females, among the inmates on a given date. Thus the males 0utnuTnber the fe- males 3 to i in alnashouses and the tendency Is toward an increasing pre- tpondeTaRlce Of males. This probably is due largely to the development Of special institutions for the care of in digerat women.
 Single persons are relatively more numerous among adult almshouse paalpers than in the general adult pop ulataon-
 Immigrant Paupers
 The foreign born in 1910 formed 163 per cent. of the total white popu ulatdon | of bhe Limited States but they formed 42.6 per cent. of the paupers enuner- ated in alrnsl1ouAes on January 1, 1910. and 4I per cent. of those admitted during the year 1910. The ratio Of aan1shouse paupers per 10o, ,00O popuIa- ton of the same nativity was about four times as great among the foreign is due in part to the fact that there are few children among the foreign born; also to the greater proportfon Of males among them. When allowance Is made however. for these factors the ra,tio stdM remains higher for the immigrants, this fact doubtless being a reflection Of the generally lower economic level occupied by them as compared with the natives.
 The natives of the countries from wludch most of the recent immigrants come have by far the lowest ratios | Of afrnshouse pauperdsm, the ratio be- ifng 75.4 for Austria Hungary, 43.7 for RuSsias and 31. for Italy. The higher ratios of ailmshouse pauperisnn for the natives of couIitrfes from which the tide of immigration was at it's height some decades ago are due in large part to the fact they colnprdse at the present time a large proportion of old persons
 The ratio of paupeuds1n among the negroes is about tine same as that among the native whites, when the country as a whole is considered. Of the men in al1nshouses whose oc- cupahfon prior to aS1ndssion was re- ported, the largest number had been unskdHled Iaborers; considerable mum I hers, however, belonged to skilled I fers and painters, glazieGs and varndsh- 1ers. Most of the women in aaa1ls- houses for whom a prior oecupaf ffoal was reported had been domestic ser wants. At the time of enumeration, however, large proportdion about l two-hfths of the alxnshol1se paupers. were reported as entirely incapaedtak- 1 ed, and nearly two-talfrds of the paul pers enumerated on January l. 1910. and more than one-thfrd of those ad- mktted during the year, were physical l Ey or mentally defeetive. The num- Der of mentally de6ectiv ive-tllat is, of the insane and Of feeble minded in alrnshoa1ses Is shown to be declining, I the reason being that special instital- tions are being provided for these classes.
 .Almshouse a Temporary Shelter
 nhree-foi1rtra. of the Ba.l2o persons fdischarged g From anlsHe uses ssdfIrang I 1910 were discharged to be self-sl1p- porting, and about one-fourth were l turned over to relatives or friends Taaz prop portaon dnschanged in the latter. way was much higher among women than among men Of those discharg- ed during the year ndne-tenths had been inmates less than one year. and of those present at the begdn11irpg of I the year a15out one-third had been there less than one year. The alns- house is thus largely a. temporary shelter rather than 8 permanent abode of the poor, the permanent inmates who are there to stay as. long as they live forming a minority Of the total almsl1use population.
 Deaths
 A totaa of 17.4s6 died in alnnshouses in the United States during 1s1o the