?^^ i ^ Jl 3 •^ J REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ©crrrectioit mxtX ^Ixilavitlxvopy I. GENERAL EXERCISES, Etc. II. THE PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM General Exercises OF THE, INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES, CORRECTION AND PHILANTHROPY, CHICAGO, JUNE, 1893 TOGETHER WITH LIST OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS, PROGRAMME AND RULES BALTIMORE THK JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS » LONDON THE SCIENTIFIC PRESS, LIMITED 428 Strand, W. C. 1894 > 9 J Copyright, 1894, by The Johns Hopkins Press. The Friedenwald Company, Printers, Baltimore, Md. I c cell < t t t 1 1 « • * • •- 1 1 «. t I *. *■ * *. t. %. « t » * * t * • • « <« • • ft • . « •• • '•' 1. 1 * • • • , * ' * « • • .-/ r ^ TABLE OF CONTENTS. o C/D PAGE i Officers : Programme of Sessions and Subjects 8 .. Rules g Members 12 Preface . 21; ;»• General Exercises 29 . Sermon : The Relation of the Church to Charities and Reform. By ;; Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer 36 Appendix: What is the True Work of Humanity for Humanity? By Mrs. Abby Morton Uiaz 44 a: 430358 THE WORLD'S CONGRESS AUXILIARY OF THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. GENERAL OFFICERS: President, Charles C. Bonney. Vice-President, Thomas B. Bryan. WOMAN'S BRANCH: President, Mrs. Potter Palmer. Vice-President, Mrs. Charles Henrotin. DEPARTMENT OF MORAL AND SOCIAL REFORM. Mrs. James M. Flower, Chairman of Joint Committee. THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES, CORRECTION AND PHILANTHROPY. June 12-18, 1893. committee of organization. Frederick Ho\vard Wines, John G. Shortall, Mrs. James M. Flower. Correspojtdittg Secretary and Sec'y to the Coininittee of Organization, Nathaniel S. Rosenau. OFFICERS OF THE CONGRESS. President, General Rutherford B. Hayes.* First Vice-President, Frederick Howard Wines, LL.D. Second Vice-President, Robert Treat Paine. * General Hayes .iccepted the presidency of the Congress, but died Ijefore it met, 'I'he vacancy was not filled. D INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. Honorary Vice-Presidents. JEnglandf Henry C. Burdett. ' France, Marquis de Chasseloup Laubat. Austriaf Dr. Isidor Singer. Russia f Michael Kazarin. Italy, Mme. F. Zampini Salazar. Sivitzerland, Edward Boos-Jeglier. BelgiuTn, Prosper Van Geert. A astral ia. Miss Catherine H. Spence. General Secretary, * Alexander Johnson. Secretaries, John M. Glenn. Joseph P. Byers. £xecuti7/e Committee , The President, First Vice-President, General Secretary, and the Chairmen of the Eight Sections. SEOTXOISrS. I.— The Public Treatment of Pauperism. Chairman, Ansley Wilcox, Charity Organization Society, Buffalo, New York. Secretary, John H. Finley, Ph. D., President of Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. II.— The Care of Dependent, Neglected and Wayward Children. Chairman, Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, Board of Control of State Home and School for Dependent Children, Providence, Rhode Island. Secretary, Charles W. Birtwell, General Secretary of the Children's Aid Society of Boston, Massachusetts. III.— Hospital Care of the Sick, the Training of Nurses, Dispensary "Work, and First Aid to the Injured. Chairman, John S. Billings, M. D., LL. D., U. S. A., Washington, D. C. Secretary, Henry M. Hurd, M. D., Superintendent of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland. OFFICERS. Subsection on Nux'sing. Chairman, Miss Isabel A. Hampton, Superintendent of Trainini» School for Nurses, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Marylan Secretary, Miss Emma Cameron, Assistant Superintendent of Illinois Training School for Nurses, Chicago. IV.— The Commitment, Detention, Care and Treatment of the Insane. Chairman, G. Alder Blumer, M. D., Superintendent of State Hospital for Insane, Utica, New York Secretary, A. B. Richardson, M. D., Superintendent of Asylum for Insane, Columbus, Ohio. v.— The Prevention and Repression of Crime, and the Punishment and Reformation of Criminals. Chair-man, Charlton T. Lewis, President of New York State Prison Association, New York City. Secretary, Rev. John L. Milligan, Secretary of National Prison Association, Allegheny, Pennsylvania. VI.— The Organization and Afllliation of Charities, and Preventive Work among the Poor. Chairman, Daniel C. Gilman, LL. D., President of the Charity Organization Society of Baltimore, Maryland. Secretary, Richmond Mavo-Smith, Ph. D., Professor of Political Economy and Social Science, Columbia College, New York City. VII.— Sociology as a Special Topic in Institutions of Learning. Chairman, E. Benjamin Andrews, LL. D., President of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Secretary, Amos G. Warner, Ph. D., Professor of Social Science in Leland Stanford, Jr , University, Palo Alto, California. VIII.— The Care and Training of Feeble-minded Children. Chairman, George H. Knight, M. D., Superintendent of School for Imbeciles, Lakeville, Connecticut. Secretary, Gustavus A, Doren, M. D., Superintendent of Institution for Feeble-minded Youth, Columbus, Ohio. PROGRAMME OF SESSIONS AND SUBJECTS. Monday, June 12. 10.00 A. M. — Opening Exercises. Address in Memoriam of General Rutherford B. Hayes. By Rev. Frederick H. Wines, LL. D. Oration: " The Problem of Charity.'' By Rev. Francis G. Peabody, D. D. 12.00 M. — Luncheon and Conversazione. 2.00 P. M. — Section Meetings. 8.00 P. M. — General Session. " The Public Treatment of Paitperism." Tuesday, June 13. 10.00 A. M. — Business Session. 10.30 A. M. — Section Meetings. 2.00 P. M. — Section Meetings. 8.00 P. M. — General Session. " The Relation of Public and Private Charity.'^ Wednesday, June 14. 10.00 A. M. — General Session. ''Hospital Care of the Sick; the Training of Nurses ; First Aid to the Injured.^^ 2.00 P. M. — Section Meetings. 8.00 P. M. — Gener.al Session. " The Care of Dependent, Neglected and Wayward Children.'" Thursday, June 15. 10.00 A. M. — Business Session. 10.30 A. M. — Section Meetings. 8.00 P. M. — General Session. " The Care and Training of Feeble-minded Chil- dren.'' RULES. 9 Friday, June i6. lo.oo A. M.— General Session. " Sociology as a Special Topic in Institutions of Learningy lo 30 A. M. — Section Meetings. 2.00 P. M. — Section Meetings. 8.00 P. M. — General Session. " 77^i?r capita on all immigrants, within twenty-four hours after leaving the vessel. The result, of course, was that the commutation money was always assessed on the emigrant at his place of departure. The law directed the commissioners to pay from such money the cost of maintaining such immigrants as became a public charge within the state, but not beyond a period of five years from landing. This' statutory indemnity was inadequate, on account of the short term of maintenance and of the small sum of " head money "; by reason of which the commissioners, though restricted by the five years' clause, incurred debts which their resources would not cancel. While about nine thousand foreigners were thus maintained from such commuta- tion money between the years 1868 and 1873 inclusive — a period just prior to the first subsequent legislation hereafter mentioned — there were foreign-born inmates of county poorhouses and city alms- houses in the state during the same six years to an annual average of thirty-five thousand to forty thousand, being about two-thirds of the tofal population of these houses, though foreign-born persons were only about one-third of the total census of the state. Another inevitable limitation in the law was that it could cover only the ports of entry within its jurisdiction, while the classes of defective and dependent persons provided against were in large numbers shipped to Canadian ports, and thence forwarded over the border, with their destinations practically fixed, as if ticketed, to the poorhouses and almshouses of the counties and cities of the state. This statute provoked comments from jurists on the question of its validity. Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Henderson ct al. v. Mayor of New York et al., decided in 62 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. October, 1875,* declared that the provisions in the law for levying the tax on immigrants, and the penalties leading to it, were in regu- lation of commerce, and therefore in violation of the federal con- stitution. After this decision, cutting off the inflow of the "head money," the unnaturalized paupers, who had floated on the currents of immi- gration and had. become moored by our charity cables and the five years' clause, were supported by the commissioner of emigration on Ward's Island, from appropriations by the legislature of the state, in the years 1876 to 1883, amounting to $1,140,500 ; and on credit in county poorhouses, city almshouses, incorporated hospitals, orphan asylums and other charitable institutions, in the further amount of $105,008.96, which is a debt against the state to be paid from the pro- ceeds of the sale of its property on Ward's Island ; and also from a loan of $200,000 made in 1875 by the Emigrants' Industrial Savings Bank of New York, secured by a mortgage on the Ward's Island property, which mortgage was, in 1882, assigned to the comptroller of the state as an investment for the United States Deposit Fund, thus making the funny combination of a mortgage held by the state on its own property and as security for trust-funds. But these various sums represent only a small part of the deficiency of the " head moneys," as already shown by reference to the ordi- nary statistics of alien pauperism, which was a public charge not on the state at large, but on counties and cities. The proofs demon- strate that the Supreme Court, in cutting ofi' the commutation con- tracts, released the people of New York state from a most destructive and deplorable policy of inviting foreign convicts, lunatics and paupers to come under an implied covenant of maintenance for five years and probably for life. At the time of this decision (1875) there was no national statute on the subject. Subsequently federal legislation was repeatedly invoked by the State Board of Charities of New York, in correspondence with the State Department and senators and representatives at Washing- ton, and with the National Conference of Charities and Correction, and the boards and authorities of other states. The result of the agita- tion was the act of Congress to regulate immigration, passed in 1882, by which it was provided, among other things, that if there shall be found among emigrants on vessels, "any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becom- *92 U. S. Reports, 259. CRAIG. 63 ing a public charge, . . . such person shall not be permitted to land." This law was, in pursuance of its provisions, at first executed by state authorities, but subsequently by virtue of further enactments was enforced by federal officers, under regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Assuming, for argument's sake, that its administration has been reasonably diligent, the fact remains that great numbers of alien paupers have annually eluded the federal examinations and obtained a footing on our shores, perhaps the majority of whom infest the city and the state of New York. The legislature of the state has provided for the return of such foreign and unnaturalized paupers as are assisted by cities, charitable societies and other agencies to emigrate, after the expiration of one year from their immigration (which is the period limiting such action by officers under the federal statute). Under the alien pauper law of New York, enacted in 1880, and enforced by the chief secretary of its State Board of Charities, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine of these assisted immigrants, most of them being remnants of the imperfect execution of the law of Congress, have been sent to their homes or places of settlement, by through tickets to those places in foreign countries. Such returns have been accomplished in humane ways, at an expense of less than twenty-one dollars pe7- capita, or about one-fifth of the cost of maintenance for one year, computed at two dollars per week, and about one seventy-fifth of their support for life, on an estimate of expectation of fifteen years, which is verified by experience. Thus at a total expenditure of $40,916.40, the expul- sion of these organized invaders of the soil of New York has saved to the taxpayers of the state over $2,890,000. These general statistics are taken in substance from the annual reports of the State Board of Charities to the legislature of New York, from the last of which the following data are copied, to wit : " During the fiscal year ending September 30, 1S92, the Board removed 150 alien paupers from the poorhouses, almshouses, hospitals, asylums and other charitable institutions of this state, and sent them to their homes in different countries of Europe, pursuant to chapter 549 of the laws of 1880, as follows : To England i6; to Ireland 1 1 ; to Scotland 9; to Germany 34; to Austria- Hungary 14 ; to Kussia 1 1 ; to Italy 39; to Switzerland 8 ; to France 4, and to .Sweden and Denmark each 2; total 150. "The examinations showed that these persons were deported to this coun- try from their several European homes by the following agencies, viz. : By cities, towns and other municipalities, 13; by various benevolent, charitable 64 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. and immigration associations and societies, 38; by relatives, guardians and friends, 77 ; by individuals and companies under agreement to labor, 22 ; total, 150. "According to the statements of these persons, they were landed in this coun- try as follows: In New York, 125; at other United States ports, 17; at various Canadian ports, 8 ; total, 150. " Their condition at the time of landing, as developed by the examinations, was as follows : Lunatic, 9 ; imbecile, 6 ; epileptic, 3 ; paralytic, 5 ; vagrant and diseased, 27 ; old and decrepit, 22 ; blind, 2 ; crippled, 7 ; deformed, 4 ; feeble- minded, 26; otherwise diseased, 39; total, 150." Preceding the alien pauper law was the state pauper law, enacted June 7, 1873, and amended in 1874 and 1875, which is still in full force and effect. Under its provisions, the secretary of the State Board of Charities returns to their homes or friends in other states of the Union and other countries, state paupers, that is to say, dependent persons having no legal settlement by sixty days' resi- dence in any of the counties of the state, and found by the secretary in the state almshouses, which are certain county poorhouses selected and designated by the state board as receptacles of these classes. The report of the State Board of Charities, transmitted to the legislature for the fiscal year 1892, shows that the whole number of persons committed as state paupers under this act since it went into effect, October 22, 1873, has been 25,520, viz: males, 19,908; females, 5,612. Of these 15,980 have been furnished transportation to their homes or places of legal settlement in other states and coun- tries, and this state thus released of the burden and expense of their support and care through life. To have maintained these paupers in the poorhouses and almshouses of the state, at the low rate of ' $100 each per annum, would have involved an annual outlay of $1,507,100; and, calculating the average duration of their lives at fifteen years, they would, in the end, have entailed the enormous expenditure of $24,928,800, by the various cities and counties of the state. The average annual expense since the law went into effect, for maintenance, supervision and care, and for the removal of 15,980 helpless paupers to their homes or places of legal settlement, has been less than $40,000, or about $25 per person. Every invasion of the delinquent, diseased and destitute classes which is finally turned back by the state government, if not at first repelled by the federal authorities, deters unnumbered irruptions of similar sorts ; by making such experiments of vagrant mendicants CRAIG. 65 through interstate migration uncertain, or rather rendering it almost certain that their ventures will prove unprofitable and unpleasant to themselves ; and by discouraging benevolent societies, municipali- ties and government agencies in Europe, from their bolder attempts to organize such immoral incursions into our territory. Thus the state pauper law and the alien pauper law have not only immediately effected an actual saving of over $25,000,000 as already computed, but on a fair estimate of probabilities have resulted in sparing the resources of the state the useless expenditure of still larger sums of money. These results are due to the conservative but effective execution of these laws by the secretary of the state board, Dr. Charles S. Hoyt, whose wise exercise of discretion has prevented occasion for any well-grounded complaint during the whole period of his admin- istration. The residue of alien and other unsettled paupers not returned to their homes are maintained by the state in certain county poorhouses selected by the State Board of Charities and designated State Alms- houses. At the beginning of this fiscal year there were thus main- tained in the various state almshouses, 159; at the several state hospitals for the insane 53, and at an orphan asylum i, making altogether 213 state paupers. Comparisons with other states show that this special work in New York has been accompanied with similar labors and results in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania on the seaboard; and, as to inter- state migration, in other commonwealths of the Union ; and that regarding state almshouses, the West has generally followed not the law of Massachusetts for their separate establishment, but the law for their selection from county houses which obtains in New York. While these improved methods for reducing the number of alien and unsettled paupers have been followed, improved measures have been adopted for the dispensation of indoor relief to the diseased, defective and dependent inhabitants of the state. The organization of such relief has been developed by differentiating the beneficiaries, first, on lines of classification under the poorhouse roof; and second, on lines of separation and segregation in institutions respectively adapted to various sorts of special needs. The classification of the inmates of the poorhouses has not been carried far beyond the distinction of sex. But this distinction has come to be well observed in most of the poorhouses and almshouses, 66 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. both day and night. The contrast in this respect between the present time and the beginning of the quarter-century of the State Board of Charities is marked. The second report of the state board represents the conditions at the beginning of the quarter-century, from which the following is an excerpt : " But few of the poorhouses of the state, owing to their arrangement, admit of a proper classification of their inmates. The authorities, in most of them, aim to keep the sexes separated at night, but this is only partially accom- plished. During the day there is an indiscriminate and unrestricted associa- tion of all classes, including the aged and respectable, children, insane, idiotic and blind; together with the middle-aged, able-bodied, slothful, debased and profane of both sexes. In most cases they partake of a common fare at a common table, and not infrequently share with one another a common dormi- tory. The effects of such an association can be better conceived than described. Its fruits will be reaped in a large increase of pauperism and crime, coupled with grievous and burdensome taxation. During the year 304 children were born in these establishments, a large proportion of whom were illegitimate; and 799 of their inmates absconded, many of them to become, quite probably, a public charge, as vagrants or criminals." Other features of this picture of 1868 are as follows: "An examination of the foregoing table shows that, at the time of visitation of the several poorhouses of the state, there were found present 7,019 per- sons of all classes. Included among the number were 1,222 children under sixteen years of age; 1,528 insane; 314 idiotic; 87 blind, and 44 deaf and dumb; all others, 3,825. Full one-fourth of the latter were middle-aged, and apparently without infirmity or disease. There were also a considerable number of sick and crippled, many of whom, it was stated by those in charge, had been inmates for a long time. A few were observed presenting appear- ances of intelligence and respectability, but these were mainly among the aged and children. " Nearly all the poorhouses throughout the state are old, and most of them are out of repair. With but few exceptions they are badly constructed, ill arranged, and are without proper ventilation or suitable appliances for bathing. In a large proportion of them the rooms are small and the ceilings low. At the time of inspection, in many of them the air was hot, foul and oppressive, and to the casual visitor hardly endurable. The rooms are often crowded, especially in winter, and much of the sickness and wretchedness of their inmates doubtless results therefrom. " In the absence of proper hospital accommodation, the sick in most of the poorhouses are treated and cared for in the ordinary rooms associated with others ; and in several instances, owing to the lack of suitable buildings for the isolation and treatment of contagious diseases, the infection has spread CRAIG. 67 among all the inmates, resulting in great mortality. During the past year 841 deaths occurred in these institutions, in an average population of a little over 7,ooo persons. Such a large ratio of mortality would seem to indicate inexcusable negligence of the sick, and it should attract public attention and the attention of the authorities responsible for their treatment and care. . , . " In nearly all of the counties of the state the authorities have provided separate buildings for the insane. These are generally small and ill arranged, and, with but few exceptions, wholly unsuited for the purposes to which they are applied. None of them are constructed so as to admit classification of the insane, with reference to the various forms and stages of the disease — the acute and chronic, the maniacal and quiet occupying the same floor, and not unfrequently share with one another the same cell. The sexes generally are kept separated at night, but in most cases they hold unrestricted inter- course during the day, nor are the insane protected from the intrusions of the ordinary paupers. Instances frequently occur where insane women become mothers in the poorhouses, and two such cases have fallen under observation, at the time of inspection, during the present year. " But few of the county institutions contain the appliances necessary for the treatment of the insane, yet recent cases are being constantly received and held in these institutions, without effort on the part of the authorities to secure them admission to the state asylum. Several such cases were found at the time of inspection. When excited they are locked up in cells or chained ; when quiet they are allowed their liberty, and escapes often occur. Two hundred and thirteen were found thus restrained at the time of inspection, many of whom, it was represented, had been confined for years, and several of them were nearly, and two entirely nude. ... "The condition of the insane, idiotic, blind and others, unavoidably com- pelled to accept a home in the county poorhouses, is truly deplorable, allusions to which will be fully made in the detailed accounts of the inspection of these institutions in the after pages of this report. The poorhouses of the state, to a considerable extent, have become the abodes of the vagrant and idle, and if by chance respectable citizens, in consequence of poverty, infirmity, disease or misfortune of any kind, are compelled to accept a home in them, they necessarily become their associates. Vice and poverty assemble under the same roof, and this association in a great measure defeats the objects for which the institutions were established. The citizens generally manifest but little interest in their condition, and really know but little of their true character. They are usually visited annually by the board of supervisors ; but are seldom inspected, except upon the occasion of such visits." But over these chaotic conditions there hovered the brooding spirit of humanity, evoking order and reforms and remedies for ahiiost all the evils here depicted. The exception is in the failure properly to classify the inmates under the poorhouse roof, save as has been already stated on the distinguishing line of sex, where classification is now well observed and maintained as a rule ; and save also on the 68 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. line of plain demarcation between the merely infirm, who at present comprise the great majority of inmates, and the very sick, who now are usually cared for in hospital buildings or rooms set apart. With these two saving clauses there is no proper classification. The separation of the sexes, which has been effected in the county houses, will, it is believed, be followed by better classification of the inmates. The obstacles now in the way are not so frequently the results of mal-administralion as they are the necessary effects of bad construction of old buildings. But all obstructions must give way to the obligation of respecting the worthy poor, who have become dependent through losses of friends or health or property, and of separating them from vagrant or vicious paupers. Such classifica- tion for indoor relief, with private charity properly organized outside, will remove the last excuse for the public dispensation of out-relief The consummation will afford another illustration of the harmony between humanity as a social and political duty and public policy. This imperfect distribution and administration by classes is, in large measure, due to defective construction of buildings. To secure relief, much attention has been given by the State Board of Charities to " poorhouse construction," chiefly through Mr. Letchworth, one of its members, whose paper on this subject, appended to the report of the board to the Legislature in 1879, and his subsequent article read before the state convention of county superintendents in 1891, are authorities. Among the exhibits furnished by the state board, and now in the Columbian Exposition, is the model of a poorhouse in a rural county. But while complete classification within the walls of the poorhouse for the protection of the cleanly against the filthy, of the morally clean against the defiled and the corrupting, and of the refined against the vulgar and the brutal, has not been secured ; the segre- gation in separate institutions of the blind, the deaf, the insane and the feeble-minded, as well as of children, has progressed to present certainty and promised completeness of development. The domi- ciling of these classes in their respective schools, hospitals and asylums clearly indicates the humanitarian spirit of the last quarter- century. It was even earlier that asylums or schools for the blind and the deaf were inaugurated. CRAIG. 69 By chapter 325, of laws of 1863, as amended by chapter 180 of laws of 1870, chapter 548 of laws of 1871, and chapter 213 of laws of 1875, deaf children of indigent parents are provided for as follows : "§i. Whenever a deaf-mute child, under the age of twelve years, shall become a charge for its maintenance on any of the towns or counties of this state, or shall be liable to become such charge, it shall be the duty of the overseers of the poor of the town, or of the supervisors of such county, to place such child in the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, or in the Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, or in the Le Cou- teulx St, Mary's Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, in the city of Buffalo, or in the Central New York Institution for Deaf-Mutes, in the city of Rome, or in any institution of the state for the education of deaf- mutes. " §2. Any parent, guardian or friend of a deaf-mute child within this state, over the age of six years and under the age of twelve years, may make appli- cation to the overseers of the poor of any town, or to any supervisor of the county where said child may be, showing by satisfactory affidavit, or other proof, that the health, morals or comfort of such child may be endangered or not properly cared for, and thereupon it shall be the duty of such overseer or supervisor to place such child in the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, or in the Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, in the city of Buffalo, or in the Central New York Institution for Deaf-Mutes, in the city of Rome, or in any institution in the state for the education of deaf-mutes. " §3. The children placed in said institutions in pursuance of the foregoing sections, shall be maintained therein at the expense of the county from whence they came, provided that such expense shall not exceed three hundred dollars per year, until they attain the age of twelve years, unless the directors of the institution to which a child has been sent shall find that such child is not a proper subject to remain in said institution." Besides such provisions for county pupils, there are provisions for the education, care and maintenance of state pupils between the ages of twelve and twenty -five years, being deaf, which further provisions are incorporated in the statutes relating to public instruction, being laws of 1886, chapter 615, §1, and laws of 1875, chapter 213. In addition to the institutions named in the foregoing acts, there have been several new ones since established with provisions of law bringing them within the same terms respecting county and state pupils. All of these schools, eight in number, are private corpora- tions receiving public aid, of which the following is a complete list, with census, October i, 1892, to wit : 70 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Males. Females. Total. New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, New York 208 88 296 Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, New York 97 93 19° Central New York Institution for Deaf-Mutes, Rome 66 67 133 Le Couteulx St. Mary's Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Buffalo 70 60 130 St. Joseph's Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, Fordham 141 158 299 Western New York Institution for Deaf-Mutes, Rochester 87 56 153 Northern New York Institution for Deaf-Mutes, Malone . 51 33 84 Albany Home School for the Oral Instruction of the Deaf 7512 Total 727 570 1297 The aggregate number of pupils in these schools has been stationary during the last decade. The average per capita cost for each pupil, for the last fiscal year, was a little less than $300; but the aggregate cost was more than the public appropriations. The said schools being close corporations, there are, in the proper sense, no state institutions for the deaf. Hon. William Rhinelander Stewart of the State Board of Charities has made careful inspections and examinations of the methods obtaining in these schools during past years, and his reports have won recognition throughout the United States. "An act to authorize the establishment of the New York State Institution for the Blind," passed April 27, 1865, with "An act to define the objects" of the same, passed April 24, 1867, has resulted in a flourishing school for the blind at Batavia, the end and scope of which are ordained as follows : "§4. The primary object of the institution shall be, to furnish to the blind children of the state the best known facilities for acquiring a thorough educa- tion, and train them in some useful profession or manual art, by means of which they may be enabled to contribute to their own support after leaving the institution ; but it may likewise, through its industrial department, provide such of them with appropriate employment and boarding accommodations as find themselves unable, after completing their course of instruction and train- ing, to procure these elsewhere for themselves. It shall, however, be in no sense an asylum for those who are helpless from age, infirmity or otherwise, or a hospital for the treatment of blindness." Besides this one state school for the blind there is a private insti- tution for the same class, incorporated under an act passed April 21, 1831, which was continued in force under chapter 333 of the laws CRAIG. 71 of 1852, which was amended by chapter 166 of the laws of 1870. Section i of the act of 1870 is as follows ; " §1. The managers of the New York Institution for the Blind are hereby authorized to receive, upon the appointment of the superintendent of public instruction, made for a term of not exceeding five years, all blind persons, residents of the counties of New York and Kings, between eight and twenty- five years of age, who, in the judgment of the board of managers of said insti- tution, shall be of suitable character and capacity for instruction, and shall have charge of their maintenance, education and support, and shall receive compensation therefor from the state in the same manner as is now provided by law. The term of such appointments may be extended, from time to time, by the superintendent of public instruction, on the recommendation of the board of managers of the said New York Institution for the Blind, for such further period as they may deem advantageous in each individual case." The census and the cost for each pupil in the respective schools for the blind, the State Institution at Batavia, and the corporate body- in New York, both of which have their current expenses met by the state, are as follows : State Institution. Corporate Institution. Average population, 130 Average population, 202 Per capita cost per year, $250.64 Per capita cost per year, 5286.52 The aggregate number in public schools for the blind, 332, con- trasts strongly with the aggregate number in public schools for the deaf, 1,297. But during the same period there were in the alms- houses of Kings and New York counties, and in city almshouses, 212 blind persons, besides 67 in the Home for the Blind, New York, making a total of 705 blind persons, indigent and dependent for maintenance or education, upon public provision. This total it seems is about one-half the total of indigent deaf persons similarly depend- -ent. The tables published by the State Board of Charities in 1891 ■show that in the county poorhouses and city almshouses there were for the preceding fiscal year, 299 blind persons and 54 deaf persons. "An act to establish an asylum for idiots," passed July 10, i85i,is the first enactment for such a state institution in New York. Under acts amendatory and supplementary the asylum has developed into a school for the education and training of teachable idiots. Chapter 220 of the laws of 1862, as amended in 1867 and 1878, provides among other things for the selection, admission, removal and support of pupils as follows : " §20. There shall be received and supported gratuitously in the asylum one hundred and twenty pupils, to be selected in equal numbers, as near as 72 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. may be, from each judicial district, from those whose parents or guardians are unable to provide for their support therein, to be designated as state pupils; and such additional number of idiots as can be conveniently accommodated may be received into the asylum by the trustees, on such terms as maybe just. But no idiot shall be received into the asylum without there shall have been first lodged with the superintendent thereof a request to that effect, under the hand of the person by whose direction he is sent, stating the age and place of nativity, if known, of the idiot, his christian and surname, the town and city or county in which they severally reside; the ability or otherwise of the idiot, his parents or guardians, to provide for his support in whole or in part, and if in part only, then what part ; and the degree of relationship or other circumstance of connection between him and the person requesting his admission ; which statement shall be verified in writing, b^ the oath of two disinterested persons, residents of the same county with the idiot, acquainted with the facts and circumstances so stated, and certified to be credible by the county judge of the same county. And no idiot shall be received into said asylum unless the county judge of the county liable for his support, shall certify that such idiot is an eligible and proper candidate for admission to said asylum as aforesaid; provided, however, that idiots may be received into said asylum upon the application therefor signed officially by any county superintendent of the poor or by the commissioners of charity of any of the cities of this state, where such commissioners exist." An offshoot, under the patronage of the State Board of Charities, was planted at Newark for the " enforced custody and protection, during the child-bearing age of feeble-minded young women of proper physical development to become mothers." Chapter 281 of the laws of 1885 enacted, among other things, as follows: "The asylum established by the State Board of Charities at Newark, Wayne county, for feeble-minded women is hereby continued " ; and pro- vided for the government thereof by trustees to be appointed by the Governor by and with the consent of the senate. Besides these two state institutions there is an idiot asylum depart- ment in the almshouse of the city and county of New York, which is educational as well as custodial. The following table shows the pop- ulation of idiots and feeble-minded women at the beginning of the last fiscal year in public institutions of the State of New York, to wit : State institution at Syracuse 510 State institution at Newark 345 Idiot asylum, city of New York 386 Kings county almshouse 39 Other county poorhouses 251 City almshouses 12 Total 1,543. CRAIG. 73 the care of whom is educational as well as custodial in all but 302 cases. The weekly average expenditure per capita in the two state insti- tutions for idiots and feebled-minded women, for the last fiscal year, was as follows: in the institution for idiots, $3.12 ; in the institution for feeble-minded women, $2.32. There is no public institution in the state of New York, save poor- houses and almshouses, for epileptics. The Legislature of 1892 passed and the Governor signed a bill charging the State Board of Charities, which is an unpaid body, with the duty of selecting a site and obtaining an option for land, not less than one thousand acres, and reporting an organization for an epileptic colony. At great expense of time and labor the State Board reported to the legisla- ture of 1893 a site and an organization for such a colony, which both the senate and the assembly passed unanimously, but the Governor vetoed on alleged grounds of economy. There are now in the poorhouses of the state about five hundred epileptics, and in very poor families many more, most of whom are incumbrances upon the productive labor of the people, while in such a colony they would become self-supporting by their labor expended for their physical and mental benefit under medical direction. At the beginning of the quarter-century there was the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica for the acute insane, and there were in process of construction two other state institutions, viz : the Hudson River State Hospital for the insane at Poughkeepsie, which was also designed for acute cases, and the Willard Asylum for the chronic insane on Seneca Lake. The Willard Asylum was the first state provision for the chronic insane, the only public accommoda- tions for whom, by previous law, had been the poorhouses and alms- houses. The statute establishing this asylum made it incumbent on the counties to be designated by its trustees to send to it all their pauper and indigent insane who were proper subjects of public care, and not proper candidates for either of the two state hospitals ; and in pursuance of its authority the trustees of the asylum designated all the counties of the state as properly under its supervision except New York, Kings, Monroe, Albany and Jefferson. Subsequently it was found that the capacity of the asylum was not one-fourth the demand ; and a new statute entrusted to the State Board of Charities power to exempt counties from the operation of the Willard Asylum act. During nineteen years this board exempted nineteen counties. 74 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. acting on the rule of the choice of the less of two evils, and preferring the exempted county asylum, though a mere department of the poorhouse placed under license and regulation, to the poorhouse unlicensed and unregulated. At length, however, and in the fall of 1888 the standing committee on the insane appointed by the State Board reported to it facts concerning these exempted asylums showing great evils and abuses, and conclusions, from which, as the writer was chairman of the committee, excerpts are made as follows, to wit : " Your committee are united in the conviction that a revised lunacy code should enact one of two alternatives, viz : either, first to abolish county care ; or second, to restrict and regulate it. . . . Your committee are of the opinion that county care can be made what it should be, if at all, only under some such system as will take it entirely out of political control, and subject it to some such authority as that now committed to the state board, with the more flexible and elastic powers to be conferred by some new provisions as proposed. . . " In conclusion, your committee cannot refrain from referring to misappre- hensions and misconceptions which sometimes prevent and arrest reforms and remedies in lunacy legislation and administration. Some of these mistakes, with their corrections, may be stated as follows: " I. A misapprehension that lunatics and voluntary paupers are generally the products of the same causes operating in similar ways is often expressed, when, in fact, the contrary is the case, as shown by the opinions of alienists as well as by statistics. "2. A misconception that the right of the county, as the unit in political organization, is to dictate the treatment and care of its indigent insane, is sometimes represented ; while on the contrary, lunatics are, as infants are, but as paupers are not, the special wards of the Supreme Court, which has control over their persons and estates, in chancery and by common law, as well as by statute, thus exercising a special jurisdiction, which is not of the county, but of the entire people of the state. " 3. A misunderstanding of Darwin's law of natural selection, or of Spencer's law of the survival of the fittest, provokes criticism of attempted reforms in lunacy matters, as designed unnaturally to prolong the lives of the useless and wretched ; the case being in truth that such endeavors are intended primarily to increase the cures of acute, and as may be done, even cures among chronic classes, and to render the incurables more useful and less wretched ; while their secondary purpose of lengthening the existence of these unfortunates is also required by these very laws of nature acting in the realms of sociology and morality, for society has no more right negatively to leave its infirm to die or suffer than it has affirmatively to inflict on them suffering or death, either of which is in opposition to altruism, the last outcome of evolution, and in violation of nature, which executing the divine decree CRAIG. 75 selects those civilized peoples as the fittest to survive who obey among them- selves the Christian law of kindness." These conclusions, among others, were adopted by the State Board of Charities and transmitted with its annual report to the legislature in 1889. As a sequel, the bill which the State Charities Aid Association of New York city had introduced into the legislature for the state care of the insane, having been argued and urged by representatives of the association and by the committee of the state board, while opposed by the superintendents of the poor, passed the senate and nearly passed the assembly in the same year. Meanwhile, a bill for the creation of a commission in lunacy, superseding the old commis- sioner in lunacy, was drawn by Dr. Stephen Smith, a distinguished medical authority of New York city, who was then the commis- sioner in lunacy, and who had been and is now again a member of the State Board of Charities. This bill was promoted by the committee of the state board, and was enacted, being now chapter 283 of the laws of 1889, with statutes amendatory and supplementary. In the following year the bill for exclusive state care of the insane became a law, being chapter 126 of the laws of 1890, with acts amendatory and supplementary. "The New York Law for the State Care of the Insane," is the title of a paper prepared by the writer for the eighteenth annual session of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, and published in its proceedings for 1891 (pp. 92—94), from which extracts are made as follows ; "The new system makes state care coterminous with public care, with the exception of New York, Kings and Monroe counties, which were independent of the Willard Asylum act ; but with the option in each of these three excepted counties to come under the law. Monroe county has already elected to take its benefits and bear its burdens. "The new statute puts the state institutions, including the four hospitals for the acute insane, with the new St. Lawrence hospital, and the two asylums for the chronic insane, upon the same basis. These seven institutions are now hospitals for all the dependent insane. This feature of mixed hospitals or asylums for acute cases and all chronic classes of the insane was severely criticised by the former president of the state board, Mr. Letchworth, than whom, perhaps, no alienist or specialist was better qualified to speak, from study and travel among institutions in this country and abroad. His opposi- tion to this part of the new system did not, however, lead him to oppose the system as a whole. His noble nature overruled his special objection, for the sake of the general movement of progress towards state care. . . . 76 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. "There is no actor in the movement, now happily consummated, who is authorized to give a compendium of all the grounds on which all the movers were actuated in urging the enactment of the measure. But it is believed that such a synopsis would include the following summary of reasons, namely : "■First. — The medical supervision of the state hospital, with its semi-daily inspection of all its patients by competent and trustworthy physicians, and the absence of anything like it in the average county poorhouse or asylum, are reasons enough for exclusive state care. "Second. — The more beautiful environment of the state institution, with its adaptation and facilities for graduations and variations and successions of scene for different patients or phases of the same patient, tending to excite more healthy correspondence in their nervous organisms, and playing often the chief part in recovery, is sufficient to justify our contention in favor of state care. " Third. — The county institution with four wards, being two for each sex, has most inadequate means for classification, in that seldom will the cleanly and quiet cases be simply equal in number to the filthy and disturbed classes, so that almost always will such wards, which the casual or superficial observer might call homelike in the daytime, become in the night season, without night service, filled with disgusting and repulsive horrors for the better class of patients. "Fourth. — Inasmuch as one hundred patients need as many classifications as do one thousand, but with wards containing twenty-five inmates each, the former population would fill only four, while the latter population would fill forty wards, it is manifest that the state institution, with the larger census, has the advantage over the county institution, with the smaller census. "Fifth. — Moreover, the state institution alone is likely to have the means for changes of classification to meet the demands of changes of cases, and, above all, changes in the same case. "Sixth. — The labor of the state patient is for his own benefit under medical supervision, while the labor of the county patient is for his own support with- out medical supervision. "Seventh. — In fine, the state institution always, and the county institution almost never, treats its patients as sick persons, as in fact they are, whether suffering from acute attacks or succumbing as chronic invalids. "Eighth. — The pauper associations of county care, caused by putting the indigent insane in the poorhouse, or in a building adjoining or adjacent or on the poorhouse farm, or under poorhouse officials, are degrading to the indigent or dependent insane, who, as has been shown, are seldom paupers. "Ninth. — Individual care is practicable to a greater extent in a state institu- tion, though larger, because its medical and personal treatment, its more extensive, varied and inspiring environment, and its means for more correct and complete classification, differentiate the treatment in accordance with the differing cases and the changes of the same case. "Tenth. — Though the mixed system is not essential to exclusive state care, it has one important advantage in the opportunity which it gives for transfers CRAIG. 7^ back and forth between the hospital and custodial or domiciliary treatment and care, following successive changes in the same case as well as changes of cases. "Eleventh. — While constant watch and ward by a central commission or board is impossible, it is the part of wisdom to provide a smaller number of larger institutions under the immediate control of medical superintendents of high honor, in order that the continuing influence of the supervising body may be kept alive in the intervals between its visits of inspection. Another and a similar advantage of such superior institutions is that they may be held to a reasonable standard without reducing them to a dead level of uniformity, but with the liberty which, within proper limits, leads to the differentiation which is the law of development. *' Twelfth. — Though state care is based on humanity, and not on economy, it is, as has been shown, no less economical, while it is more humane. " Thirteenth. — The system of exclusive state care is more practical as well as philosophical in its simplicity, as compared with the former exemption system of New York, or the present Wisconsin system, which introduces state administration to correct the evils of county administration, and which, so far as it insures good results, is in reality qualified state care, encumbered with useless machinery engendering unnecessary friction and producing wasteful loss of power as evidenced in limited results. "Fourteenth. — New York's new law is a development from the first principle of state care in the Willard Asylum act ; it is an evolution or growth, and not a special contrivance or creation. "Fifteenth. — While the county is for practical purposes the political unit, it is as such only a small and subordinate part of the whole, which is the state paramount and sovereign. The criminal law recognizes this principle in determining not only the nature and penalty of felonies and other offenses, but their place as well as mode of punishment. Lunacy legislation even more legitimately proceeds upon the same basis ; for its subjects, the insane, both by statute and common law, and in respect of person as well as property, are the wards of the state." The board for establishing the hospital districts of the state, com- posed of the commission in lunacy, the president of the State Board of Charities and the comptroller, was charged by the statute with the duty of providing, upon the grounds of existing institutions, cottages for the classes of the insane who are chronic in a medical sense, the legal definition of chronicity by the term of two years having been abolished. The state institutions are now all hospitals for the cure of the insane, with provisions for the proper care of such as may prove to be incurable. On the first day of October next, all the indigent and dependent insane except those of New York and Kings counties, will be domiciled in these hospitals, the new cottages of which, including the necessary equipments for heating, lighting. 78 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF I'AUPERISM. ventilation, fixtures and furniture, have been built at a cost not exceed- ing $550 per capita. The appropriation of last winter for the main- tenance of the patients in these state institutions is less per capita than the former cost to the counties of the state. This result is in part due to the contribution of New York and Kings counties by taxation. But should these two counties share in the benefits as well as the burdens of state care, it is believed that the cost would be less than under the old system, taking into consideration that the expen- ditures of the counties cannot be taken at their own estimate, for the reason that but one of the counties exempted by the state board kept its accounts or finances for the insane separate from those for its paupers, while Monroe county, which had an independent asylum created by statute, gave less accommodations at greater expense than Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane. Statistics compiled by the state board from returns by the state hospitals and county asylums for the insane, have been reported by the board to the legislature for the last fiscal year, including the following: " The daily average number of insane in the various state hospitals during the year ending September 30, 1892, was 7,173, and the number in their custody and care, October i, 1892, 7,484. The average number in these institutions during the year ending September 30, 1891, was 6,508, and the number in their custody and care, October i, 1891, was 6,961. The increase in the daily aver- age during the year ending September 30, 1892, it thus appears, was 665, and the increase in the number under care, October i, 1892, was 523. . . . The number of insane in the several slate hospitals, October i, 1891, was 6,961. The admissions during the year ending September 30, 1S92, were 2,474, making a total of 9,435 under care during the year, as against 8,777 the preceding year. The following changes occurred in these institutions during the year, viz. : discharged recovered, 561 ; not recovered, 362 ; improved, 135; unimproved, 200; not insane, 21 ; died, 672; thus leaving 7,484 under care, October i, 1892, of whom 3,653 were men and 3,831 women. . . . The number of insane in the asylums of New York city, October i, 1892, was 5,767, as against 5,390, October I, 1891, of whom 2,638 were men and 3,129 were women, the increase for the year being 377, as against 343, the increase the preceding year. The admis- sions during the year 1892 were 1,592, as against 1,401, the admissions for the year 1891, an increase of 191 during the year. The discharges in the course of the year were as follows : cured, 166 ; not cured, 457 ; not insane, 3 ; died, 589, thus leaving 5,767 under care, October i, 1892, distributed as follows: on Blackwell's Island, 1,918 women; on Ward's Island, 2,168 men and 90 women ; on Hart's Island, 78 men and 1,081 women ; at Central Islip, 392men and 40 women. . . . The number of insane in the care of the institutions of Kings county, October i, 1892, was 2,120, as against 1,997, October i, 1891 . The whole CRAIG. 79 number under treatment during the year was 2,496, as against 2,461 the preced- ing year. The distribution of those under care, October i, 1892, was as fol- lows: in the buildings at Flatbush, 518 men and 881 women; total, 1,399; '" the buildings at King's Park, 376 men and 345 women ; total, 721 ; aggregate 2,120, of whom 894 were men and 1,226 were women. The capacity of the buildings for the insane of this county is for 1,680 patients, viz : at Flatbush for 1,000 patients ; at King's Park for 680 patients. The daily average number of patients during the year has been 2,051, or an excess of 371 patients beyond the capacity of the buildings, and the excess, October i, 1892, was 440 patients, the greatest crowding being at Flatbush." Homes for the friendless, being private institutions in the state of New York, contain 2,403 men and 5,633 women, making 8,036 adult inmates. The first orphan asylum in the city of New York was established in 1806. Numerous acts, notably those of 1855, 1857, 1869, 1870, 1875 and 1878, provided for the support and care of poor children, until they were consolidated in chapter 438 of the laws of 1884, entitled "An act to revise and consolidate the statutes of the state relating to the custody and care of indigent and pauper children by orphan asylums and other charitable institutions." Among other provisions of this law are the following : "§i. The guardianship of the person and the custody of any indigent child may be committed to any incorporated orphan asylum, or any institution incorpo- rated for the care of orphan, friendless or destitute children, by an instrument in writing signed by the parents of such child, if both parents shall then be living, or by the surviving parent if either parent of such child be dead, or if either one of such parents have, for the period of six months then next preced- ing, abandoned such child, by the other such parent, or if the father of such child shall have neglected to provide for his family during the six months then next preceding, or if such child be a bastard, by the mother of such child ; or if both parents of such child shall then be dead, by the guardian of the person of such child, legally appointed, by the approval of the court or officer which appointed such guardian to be entered of record ; or if both parents of such child shall then be dead and no legal guardian of the person of such child shall have been appointed and no guardian of such child shall have been appointed by the last will and testament or by a deed by either parent thereof, or if the parents of such child shall have abandoned such child for the period of six months then next preceding, by the mayor of the city or by the county judge of the county in which such asylum or other institution shall be located, upon such terms, for such time, and subject to such conditions, as may be agreed upon by the parties to such written instrument. And such written instrument may provide for the absolute surrender of such child to such corpo- So PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. ration. Hut no such corporation shall draw or receive money from public funds for the support of any such child committed under the provisions of this section, unless it shall have been determined by a court of competent jurisdic- tion that such child has no relatives, parent or guardian living, or that such relative, parent or guardian, if living, is destitute, and actually unable to con- tribute to the support of such child. " §2. It shall not be lawful for any county superintendent or overseer of the poor, board of charity or other officer, to send any child between the ages of two and sixteen years, as a pauper, to any county poorhouse or almshouse for support and care, or to detain any child between the ages of two and sixteen years in such poorhouse or almshouse ; but such county superintendents, overseers of the poor, boards of charities or other officers shall provide for such child or children, in families, orphan asylums, hospitals or other appropriate institu- tions, as provided by law. The boards of supervisors of the several counties of the state are hereby directed to take such action in the matter as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. When any such child shall be so provided for or placed in any orphan asylum or such other institu- tion, such child shall, when practicable, be so provided for or placed in such asylum or other such institution as shall be controlled by persons of the same religious faith as the parents of such child." This act was secured by the State Board of Charities, with the co-operation of the county superintendents of the poor. The article which was destined to mark the beginning of this bright epoch of reform and beneficence in child-saving, came from Hon. William P. Letchworth, a member of this board, and was with its annual report in 1875, transmitted to the legislature; which thereupon enacted the law, forbidding the subjection of children to the evils and perils of poorhouses, and providing the proper administration of relief to them, between the ages of sixteen and three years, which minimum age was afterwards reduced to two years. In the following year, 1876, Mr. Letchworth visited all the orphan asylums in the state, then 136 in number, and reported on them through the board to the legislature. Thus in two successive years the conscience of the people and their representatives was informed of the evils and abuses respecting children in the poorhouses and almshouses, and of the remedies and means of relief and conditions in the orphan asylums. Mr. F. B.Sanborn of Massachusetts stated in the fourteenth session of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, " that at the time when the state boards were first established, poor children in most of the states were associated in asylums and poorhouses and other public establishments with the adult poor, often insane, incurably CRAIG. 8 1 diseased or vicious in life." That this state of things no longer existed he ascribed to the early and persistent efforts of these boards, selecting as an example that of New York, and emphasizing the work of Mr. Letchworth. These orphan asylums shelter 15,027 boys and 12,580 girls, besides their wards already placed in families, being an increase of 441 inmates during the last fiscal year. There is reason to believe that the tendency in these institutions has been to enlargement and aggrandizement, by omitting to place their children in families, and thus assuming to be permanent domi- ciles rather than transitional places in the transfer of their wards to family homes. If so, the remedial legislation, while succeeding in moving its wards from the poorhouses to the orphan asylums, has failed to secure its ultimate intention of removing them from asylum to family life. This may be due in part to the fact that these institu- tions are close corporations, while maintained in large part by municipal contributions. That there is a growing danger in this direction is shown by statistics gathered by the State Board of Charities. The following figures are approximate, as they relate only to the institutions that reported these special data in 1891, which, however, are a majority of the whole number. Of 18,556 orphan and destitute children in such asylums, October I, 1891, there were 3,671 orphans, 10,356 half-orphans, 4,065 who had both parents living, and 465 whose social condition was not given ; while there were supported by cities, counties and towns, 11,061 ; by parents and friends, 1,717 ; by the institutions, 2,430; and not stated, 3,348; and there were committed, by magistrates and courts, 8,130; by commissioners of charities, 1,005 5 by superintendents of the poor, 1,823 ; by overseers of the poor, 938 ; by parents and friends, 4,422 ; and not stated, 2,238; and the duration of institution life had been 5,763 for less than one year ; 5,757 for one year and less than three ; 3,051 for three years and less than five ; 2,782 for over five years ; and not stated, 303 — though the total number of sick, infirm, crippled, deformed or disabled was only about three per cent., and of feeble- minded only one and two-tenths per cent., with thirteen cases of idiocy. A high authority on these questions, Mrs. Charles Russell Lowell, in her report to the State Board of Charities, transmitted with its annual report to the legislature in i8go, has given proofs of the evils in the present system or want of system, and proposed 82 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. remedies. The report shows about $1,500,000 expended for the care and maintenance of about an average of 14,000 children for the pre- ceding fiscal year in the city of New York, with other facts, from which the inference is plain that many parents with their offspring are pauperized by removing them from the natural relations of life, with unwise kindness, if not inhumanity, to them, as well as injustice to the taxpayers. In the State Charities Record for December, 1891, published by the State Charities Aid Association, the leading article, by Mrs. Anna T. Wilson, formerly of Philadelphia, now of the State Charities Aid Association of New York, contrasts the care of dependent children in the two cities, and it is stated that, in the year 1890, the city of New York, with a population of 1,500,000, appropriated $1,647,- 295.10 for the support of 15,449 children in its private institutions, and $192,997.74 for the support of 909 children on Randall's Island, making $1,840,292.84 for an average of not less than 15,000 children ; while the city of Philadelphia, with a population of 1,000,000, appro- priated $28,724.82 for the support of an average of less than 250 children in institutions. The system of boarding-out children until they can be permanently placed by adoption in families is in Phila- delphia made the substitute for the system of asylums in New York ; and from all accounts it appears to be working well, as may also be said of the new extension of the plan from dependent to destitute children, including those convicted of felonies, of which Homer Folks writes hopefully in the Record for last November. It should, however, be borne in mind that the results have been partly due to fortunate combinations of circumstances, including the assistance of the Children's Aid Society of Pennsylvania ; and that data from large fields in other states and countries show that the boarding-out system has not always proved humane, even for dependent adults. For juvenile dependents the system is reported from England as unsatisfactory (p. 171, appendix to the last edition of the "Poor Law" of England, by T. W. Fowle : Macmillan & Co.). The ex- tended and successive reports of Hon. William P. Letchworth, mem- ber of the State Board of Charities, on the asylums for orphan and destitute children in the state, are of high authority and value, and give cogent reasons for preferring the asylum system of New York, with its incidental evils, to the boarding-out system of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Among the papers of Mr. Letchworth here alluded to is that on pauper and destitute children, transmitted by CRAIG. 83 the State Board of Charities, with its annual report, to the legislature in 1875; another in the symposium by various members of the committee on preventive work among children, in the proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, in 1886; and his article on the New York state system for the care and training of dependent children, prepared on invitation for the International Con- gress, held at Paris, June, i88g. The remedy for the incidental evils of orphan asylums, as well as for the essential evils which obtain in the absence of such institu- tions, is in the placing of children as inmates in families, but not as boarders, unless with the most protective safeguards, limiting such measure as a merely provisional expedient. The interstate agency best known and appreciated is the Children's Aid Society of New York city, the methods of which, in selecting its fields and transplanting its cases in western states, have been sometimes criti- cised, but are generally justified, as conditionally approved in the eleventh session of the National Conference of Charities and Correc- tion, by Rev. Hastings H, Hart of Minnesota, the last president of the Conference. In the incorporated hospitals of New York there were at the beginning of the present fiscal year, 5,312 patients; of whom a large number were non-paying, and in part provided for by municipalities. Such indigent patients, however, are dependent upon private charity, inasmuch as the public allowance granted seldom defrays the whole or even the greater part of the cost of their maintenance, care and treatment. In the New York State Soldiers and Sailors' Home, the daily average for the last fiscal year was 864, being 139 less than the pre- ceding year; the greatest number was 1,012, and the least number 723 present during the year. There is no public institution for inebriates, the former state asylum for this class having been converted into the Binghamton Hospital for the Insane. The State Asylum for Insane Criminals and the Criminal Insane, at Matteawan, and the adult and juvenile reformatories are not specifically mentioned, inasmuch as in their absence their inmates would be in jails, penitentiaries and prisons, rather than in poor- houses. But there is a class of intermediate institutions intended for juvenile delinquents who are not felons or hardened offenders, which come between the reformatories and the orphan asylums. 84 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Among such intervening corporations are the Catholic Protectory, with a census of over two thousand, and the Juvenile Asylum of New York city, and the Burnham Industrial Farm near Albany. None of the private institutions for the insane or other classes of afflicted persons, who do not belong to the indigent and dependent classes, and which do not receive public aid, are described, for the reason that their inmates would not in any event be residents or contingents of the poorhouse or almshouse. Including orphan asylums and private hospitals receiving munici- pal aid, and therefore treated as semi-public institutions, and already described, there are about 500 charitable corporations in the state of New York, which are generally exempt from state, county and city taxes, but not from special assessments for local improvements to real estate. These corporate charities, with state and municipal institutions, are subject to the authority of the State Board of Charities, which includes powers of inspection and of examination under oath, and other supervisory functions, but none executive or administrative, save those relating to the alien and state pauper laws already described, and those respecting the incorporation of orphan asylums and other institutions having to do with children, concerning which, the certified consent of the state board is made a condition precedent. An impression of the expenditures by public and private institu- tions for the destitute and dependent classes in the state of New York may be obtained from the tables published by the State Board of Charities in 1891, and from their returns to this board for the last fiscal year, some of the conclusions from which are here epitomized. The census of state and private institutions receiving public aid for the deaf, the blind, the idiots and feeble-minded, the insane and other special classes, having been given already, the population of the same classes, in the county and city institutions, namely, the poorhouses and almshouses, is here presented approximately and in round numbers, as follows : Idiots. Epileptics. Blind. Deaf. Children under Children between 2 years of age. 2 and 16 yrs of age. 600. 500. 200. 50. 150. 600. Of the number of children between two and sixteen years of age, five hundred and forty were in the almshouse of the city and county of New York, but classified in special departments, though not separated as they should be from the almshouse system. CRAIG. 85 The amount expended in relief, through county and city officers for the fiscal year, was in round numbers as follows : In Poorhouses and Almshouses. In Out Relief. Total. $2,700,000 $570,000 $3,300,000 The value of the establishments of the counties and cities for the poor is in round numbers $7,800,000, and the value of the labor of the inmates for the fiscal year was $75,000. The small income from employment of the paupers may be explained in part by their general condition, which is infirm, as shov/n not only by returns, but also by the observation of visitors at these poorhouses and almshouses, which in fact at the present time are, more nearly than many persons believe, in the nature of municipal infirmaries. But medical direction of the energies of these sufferers in channels of proper work would doubtless yield the greatest benefit to them in improving their physical, mental and moral condition and character, as well as lessen financial burdens in justice to the taxpayers. Returning now to private institutions of special sorts, we find that the estimated value of the property owned by the orphan asylums and homes for the friendless, October i, 1891, was in real estate $20,193,722.27, and in personal property $5,765,717.47, making a total valuation of $25,959,439.74 ; that their receipts for the prior year were $7,464,439.77, and their expenditures for the same period were $6,776,265.43 ; that the incorporated hospitals for the same year returned receipts, in the aggregate, $3,477,942.61, and expendi- tures, in the aggregate, $3,338,097.31 ; and that the free dispensaries, for the same period, show receipts $346,689.86, and expenditures $292,942.63. The total expenditures for the indigent and dependent classes, including paupers, for the year ending 1891, were $17,605,660.58. Our review of laws and agencies relating to humanity and social economy in the state of New York, has not lost sight of the vital relation between the primary work of protecting the producers in society from lapsing into indigence, and the secondary work of preventing the poor from falling into pauperism. But the means of performing the paramount duty of protection to the workers come directly within the purview of this article upon the care and cure of pauperism only in the matter of the cost of private and public charity and relief. From the tables of statistics collected and compiled by 86 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. the State Board of Charities, and appended as schedules in its annual reports to the legislature, the following comparative statement has been made, showing expenditures for charitable and reformatory- purposes between the years 1880 and 1891, both inclusive, to wit: Year. Amount expended. Year. Amount expended. 1880 $ 8,482,648 71 1881 $ 9,260,147 77 1882. 9,320,14260 1883 9.938,03705 1884 10,642,76386 1885 11,538,73986 1886 12,027,99001 1887 12,574,07467 1888 13.31S.698 97 1889 14,868,73377 1890 16,349,842 43 189I 17,605,660 58 It thus appears that in this period of twelve years the expenditures have increased a little more than one hundred per cent. Though the population of the state increased only about nineteen per cent., as is shown on the basis of the federal census, it also appears from the reports of the comptroller of the state that its wealth has increased about fifty per cent, during the same period. Of this increase in expenditures — $9,123,011.87 — the sum of $1,222,282.61 relates to institutions managed by the state ; and the State Reform- atory at Elmira, and the Soldiers and Sailors' Home at Bath, two of the state institutions existing prior to 1880, did not appear in the statistics at the beginning of this period of twelve years. Again, of this increase the sum of $1,171,053.58 relates to institutions owned and controlled by counties and cities, leaving $6,729,675.68 increase in the institutions under the direction and control of incorporated benevolent associations. Thus it will be seen that more than two- thirds of the increase of the cost of public and private relief and charity is due to private charity, with public aid administered through private corporations; and that the fraction of less than one- sixth of such increase chargeable to the state institutions is further reduced on account of two of them existing, but not reporting to the board in 1880. There is no reason -to disbelieve or doubt that — excepting perhaps the Soldiers and Sailors' Home, the existence of which is justified by patriotic sentiment — each and all the state institutions for relief or reform, including the eight state hospitals for the insane, the State Institution for Feeble-minded Children at Syracuse, the Custodial Asylum for Feeble-minded Women at Newark, the reformatories and the asylums for the blind and the deaf, do save to the people more than their cost in preventing pauperism, and therefore in pro- tecting both the industrial and the indigent classes. CRAIG. 87 But when all thus accomplished for the harmony of humanity and economy, and in the reconciliation of kindness to the afflicted with prudence for the taxpayers and bread-winners and burden-bearers of society, is considered with reference to the remaining evils result- ing from the vicious habits of a large residue of the dependent classes, the problems of pauperism seem to be insoluble. The cure of the evils must be found, if at all, in radically new remedies. The paupers go by families. Hence the Code of Criminal Pro- cedure produces no appreciable effect by providing that " the father, mother, and children of sufficient ability, of a poor person who is insane, blind, old, lame, impotent or decrepit, so as to be unable by work to maintain himself, must at their own charge, relieve and maintain him in a manner to be approved by the overseer of the town where he is, or in the city of New York by the commissioners of charities and correction." While the able-bodied pauper practically has been excluded from the poorhouse, his relative, the impotent, who is " unable by work to maintain himself," but who is improvident, intemperate and incon- tinent, is supported in seasons and periods of his own election, in order, as if by express design, to prepare him to procreate a progeny of paupers. Thus the humane expedient of the revised statutes injures both the subject and society, in providing without restriction or condition that "every poor person who is blind, lame, old, sick, impotent or decrepit, or in any other way disabled, or enfeebled, so as to be unable by his work to maintain himself, shall be maintained by the county or town in which he may be." » Relief is impracticable and impossible under existing laws. The remedy, if any, may be found in classifying vicious and infirm, as well as vagrant and able-bodied paupers, with the criminal classes, and subjecting them to indefinite confinement. The indeterminate sentence is the proper and potent corrective. Already approaches to its principle have been made in cases of recidivous criminals, by legislation in several states relating to felons, and in Ohio respecting mere misdemeanants. But the despairing thought in criminal anthropology is, that criminal characters are being recruited from pauperdom faster than they can be reduced by counteracting processes. Radical and reformatory legislation is required to protect the state from crime as well as pauperism, by sequestering from society the habitual and hardened pauper, as well as the recidivous criminal, until he reforms or dies. 88 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Questions of civil or moral right are not here involved, as if the relief proposed was by the sacrifice of life or mutilation of the body. The alteration of the physical organism so as to prevent the propa- gation of the kind is not necessary, and therefore is not justifiable. Indeed it is inadequate and inexpedient, inasmuch as the data of experiments in child-saving, as well as theories of natural selection, show that the vicious and criminal classes are transmitted by succes- sion with more facility and potency through their creation of envi- ronments and external influences, thus producing correspondence in their offspring, than through heredity. The principle of indeterminate sentences for vicious paupers being not for retribution, but for restraint and reform, is just and merciful; and its application for the protection of the people has nothing to overcome except the inertia of society. The foregoing review of the New York system of indoor relief for her infirm and indigent people, who may be characterized as her worthy poor, as well as for her worthless paupers, is representative of similar systems of sister states. Though the progress of the Empire State is greater than the average of the advances of her sister commonwealths, there is one prevailing trend among them all tending toward general unity of design, if not uniformity in execu- tion. The concrete presentation confined to the one may therefore be taken as a suggestion of the many better than would be their separate consideration in the abstract. The New York dispensation through the poorhouse, with its developnient into distinct and distributive relief to children, and to the deaf, the blind, the feeble-minded, and the insane, in their respective schools, hospitals, and homes, state, municipal and corpo- rate, is therefore taken, in its imperfection, as typical of American administration of charity in public institutions. The evolution of this system is less advanced on lines of classifi- cation and administration under the roof of the poorhouse proper, than on lines of segregation and organization within other walls. While the sexes are separated, and to some extent the very sick are retired from the merely infirm, there is no distinction observed between the virtuous and the vicious poor. What of the future? Does the progress in the last quarter-century forecast the next ? Yes and No. Yes, as the segregation in separate institutions has been the proof and the fruit of development, and so will be continued until provision shall be made for all the worthy poor in separate homes. HENDERSON. 89 No, in that the proper discipHne and detention of paupers who are unworthy and unsafe, must be provided not by an evolution of the poorhouse system, but by its conversion into a place of continued security for the protection of society. PUBLIC RELIEF AND PRIVATE CHARITY. PROFESSOR CHARLES R. HENDERSON, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, The purpose of this paper is to present in outline some of the more important relations of state and voluntary charity. The ulti- mate social ideal of modern philanthropy does not contemplate almsgiving and almstaking, but rather fellowship in opportunity and justice. We are not here to patch up a decaying caste-wall which divides mankind into lofty patrons and cringing, begging clients. Perhaps there is no form of social organization which excites more distrust and hatred among wage-earners than conven- tional benevolent societies. No doubt this is largely due to the ordinary misunderstanding of their motives and aims. Often do we hear the bitter reproach of those whose earnings are scant, that philanthropy is dealing with symptoms and not with causes; that charity in the sense of relief is mockery. A brief review of the recent literature of charity will show that this reproach is not altogether deserved. Those who have undertaken to cut off this devil's grass have most of all men found the strength and length of its roots. Look at the programme of this very Congress and you will see that serious study is being given by administrators of charity to the economic, domestic, educational, and political defects which cause or aggravate the evils of pauperism and crime. It may honestly be said that one of the chief incentives to sociological investigation is the desire to go below the mere machinery of administering relief funds to the complex origins of social miseries. No one entitled to consideration regards social pathology as more than a temporary phase of social organization and development, and all feel that to heal social diseases and to promote health all the factors of social energy must be called into play. 90 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. The first duty of charity is to secure higher wages, shorter hours, better physical and moral conditions of labor. It was once thought by some persons that orthodox political economy must question or deny the possibility of making any change in these factors by any voluntary human effort. Now it seems to be more generally believed that wages, hours and conditions are not altogether fixed by fate and fore-ordination, but partly also by free will. The blind drivings of natural selection are helped out by social selection after a conscious design. Philanthropy, law, cooperation, united demands, may secure substantial, though not unlimited, improvement in indus- trial conditions. The first-rate economists of England have very frequently been misread or carelessly interpreted. Perhaps the name of Ricardo is most of all connected with the awful " iron law," that wages tend of necessity to fall to the minimum where the laborer must be in constant peril of becoming a dependent; but many forget that it was Ricardo who taught these memorable words : " The friend of humanity cannot but wish that in all countries the laboring classes should have a taste for comforts and enjoyments, and that they should be stimulated by all legal means in their exertions to procure them. . . In those countries where the laboring classes have the fewest wants and are con- tented with the cheapest food, the people are exposed to the greatest vicissi- tudes and miseries." Economics teaches us that hope may take the place of dull despair. Starvation rates of wages are not part of the order of eternal justice or of omnipotent and relentless destiny. The starva- tion of one willing to work, in sight of palaces, green fields and bursting granaries, is to our minds intolerable. The word " over- production " of coats, where there are a million bare backs, signifies social wrong and stupidity, a cover for inaccurate thinking and unjust doing. It is as intolerable to see any class of persons partly supported at public expense as parasites, who should be wholly supported by the trade which makes their employers rich. If these employers declare that they see no way of raising wages, and plead the " wickedly overworked " law of supply and demand, we accept their confession of ignorance and incapacity as " captains of industry," but we do not accept their conclusion. For the history of industrial agitation during this century has taught us something. It has not taught anarchy, hate, rebellion, but kindness, patience and strong hope. It has not taught us to curse the rich nor to despise and slander the trades-unions. It has shown the possibility of a slow but HENDERSON. 9 1 steady gain in the material conditions out of which domestic and civil progress can grow. English factory legislation has proved, what the iron and cotton kings once denied, that money can be made in face of the competition of the world without working naked women in the mines, and babies at the loom, and grown men beyond the average power of endurance. The " captains of industry " are now as sure of that as Shaftesbury and Oastler were when they formed the forlorn advance which made the fight. The trades-unions of England, with all their faults, have proved that it is safe to trust political power to workingmen, that responsibility sobers men, and that a savings-bank account or huge strike fund makes them conservative. We admit that loveless and ugly deeds deform noble aspirations ; and yet we can see that Britain has not erred in giving to unions of workingmen recognition and respect. y While multitudes are being paid a rate below the life-line, charity as a substitute for justice is cruelty. All the charity in the world can never sweep back this ocean-tide of misery caused by an unjust rate of pay and hours of toil prolonged till they kill. The average rate of life for toilers must be brought up nearer to that of the well-fed, well-clothed, v.'ell-taught people who live on rents and interest, even if thereby the rate of interest and rent falls a point or two. Worse things are happening than passing a dividend on copper stocks or distillery investments. Slavery was not indispensable to the South, and sweating-dens may be omitted without injury to the progress of the North. To assure yourself that this is the right place for scientific charity to begin, go with a volunteer friendly visitor in a city where they believe in friendly visiting. Many such have gone out with pockets full of pennies for poor children, and buoyant with expecta- tion, only to discover that pennies thrown about do no good, and that pity is not such a crying need as justice. Not more alms, but more wages, should be the aim of our charity. The " higher classes " are the persons to lead in this crusade. The best proof that one belongs to the really superior people is that he has the will and inclination and ability to help emancipate multitudes from the most degrading form of slavery, living upon public alms. Culture has no higher task. Universities may perform no worthier work than showing how a better economical basis can be laid for the future intellectual and social deliverance of the masses of mankind. It is a great achievement to describe and account for the actual systems of finance, transportation, communication, banking, tariff, and to show 92 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. how wealth is produced and exchanged. But it will be an immensely- greater achievement, intellectually and morally, for our great economists to show how this wealth can be more equitably dis- tributed. Who can doubt, when he surveys the vast strides of science and goodness in our age, that such economists and merchant princes will be found? But economists and captains of industry must have the aid of others. They must have the co-operation of " laboring men." They must even have the consent of drunkards, sots, idlers, vagabonds, tramps. All the world cannot make drunkards well-to-do. The gold of California would slip through a tramp's fingers and leave him poor. So all teachers, parents, editors, preachers, missionaries, women with varied gifts, godly demagogues, ambitious attorneys, agitators, reformers, retired merchants with time heavy on their hands— philanthropy needs them all. Before all free soup- houses, lodging inns, charity balls, gambling raffles for widows' benefit, subscriptions for orphanages, we must have diffused knowledge, means for social recreation, night schools, all preventive agencies which stand against pauperism as with sword of flame. Adminis- trators of charity know best of all that what they do is a makeshift. They know that almstaking cannot be made harmless to recipients. No one has invented a way of living at the expense of others or by the permission of others without degradation. There is boundless room for widening justice, for the fellowship of social equals, for reciprocity in services, but there is no place for almsgiving as an excuse for neglecting fair dealing. There is no territory on God's earth for a class of idle and dependent rich or idle and dependent poor. Cojnparative and Historical. While all social agencies are busy dealing with causes of pauperism , that malady itself confronts us as a tremendous social fact. It cannot scare us nor force bounty by display of numbers. We are not generous upon compulsion. It would be possible for the capable majority to exterminate the incompetent members. But this method, which was precisely that employed by our barbarian ancestors, who kept family clubs to kill off feeble grandsires, is not to be thought of in our age. We cannot endure the sight of pain. Sympathy is organized to relieve distress. Social remorse torments us in the enjo5'-ment of unshared luxuries. Sensitiveness of nerves and con- science establishes relief. HENDERSON. 93 In the modes of relief administration we discover great diversity, due to peculiarities of situation, history, temper, habits, sentiments, laws and governments of various peoples. Turning to Germany, we see that since the sixteenth century the state has recognized as its duty the public care of the poor. First, it enforces the obligation of those immediately bound to care for dependent persons, as relatives and neighboring communities. But even when a legal obligation does not exist, the public care of the poor will not forbid the free benevolence of individuals, societies, and the church. Public care of the poor must merely complete private care and enter when this is inadequate. Both pursue a common end, and they should work in harmony. More than in any other departments, those of charity are decentralized. The burden is laid on local political organizations, as parishes and poor unions, since the necessities are best known in the neighborhood, the best administrators can be chosen, and the burden of taxation is less likely to be excessive. Private persons are selected for this purpose, those who have knowledge of the conditions, a sound understanding of human nature, and devotion to the common weal. The number is so large that it is impossible to pay salaries; , the almoners work for honor and from sympathy. In Elberfeld and in the cities which have imitated its example, the public districts include all who apply for aid and show the need of it; but the officers appointed by the authorities work in harmony with private and church charities, so that none are neglected ; voluntary charity has ample scope, and abuses are swiftly corrected. The local political unit should bear the expense of those who belong to it and have a residence. If a case does not properly belong to a parish or union it is cared for by the state, and questions of responsibility are deter- mined by a state tribunal. The aid is regarded as a loan, and the relatives are expected to reimburse the parish if the indigent person cannot do so. The sources of funds are endowments, collections, gifts or legacies, fines, taxes and imposts. In France, the principles are stated by M. Chevalier as follows : "The commune will limit the circle of its action, will encourage and stimu- late the development of private beneficence, in which it ought always to see a valuable auxiliary and not a rival. It will come to its aid and will obtain for its assistance the influence necessary to have its useful counsels accepted, and to co-ordinate without confusing aid coming from both sources, Charitable legislation in France is actually dominated by this principle, that if society has the moral duty never to leave any real suffering without solace, yet assist- ance can never be demanded by the indigent as a right. The greatest liberty 94 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. is left to works of private charity. Wlien these works reach the dignity of institutions they obtain the privileges of civil life by means of conditions easy to fulfil. Public charity has no monopoly in France, not even of solicitations and public subscriptions. Charity is administered by the state, by departments and by comnmnes. The commu7ie is the unit of organization of charity, and it is there that it becomes personal and direct." In the same article occurs this criticism, which shows how we are regarded by a high authority over sea : " In certain states of the Union politics plays a rOle in public relief, and it is believed that for some politicians the functions of overseer of the poor are his part of the victors' spoils. And of what he receives for the office a part goes to the future voters for the same politician." That seems hard for a European to understand. It is only too easy for us. In the United States we have as many different systems as there are states ; and in each state as many plans as there are counties ; and in each township as many devices as there are trustees, and some of these devices are not exactly heavenly in origin and character. Out of so many competing experiments we ought to reap some results, for the process of vivisection without anaesthetics is costly enough to raise expectations. Yet it should be said that the state laws, origi- nally derived from the English sources, give a degree of uniformity to administration. Speaking of the rule, the state cares for all defective and dependent persons who are homeless and helpless in its institutions. The local officers give a certain amount of aid to the friendless and helpless in their homes. In addition to this, churches and benevolent societies, lodges and individuals, give aid to many who have not been entirely cut off from personal connections with some social group. The charitable efforts of European countries are studied, and the inventiveness of our inventive people is taxed to find new and hopeful methods of relieving distress. State supervision of private charities is much needed and hardly exists, while private charities are administered as a rule without mutual understanding and co-operation. In England, to take another example, the establishment of a gov- ernment board has helped to unify the aid given by local authorities, but, save where the organized charities are well established, there is no mode of intelligent co-operation between public and private modes of help. Indoor relief is used as a check upon outdoor relief. HENDERSON. 95 Points of General Agreement. The Christian nations of our age generally agree that all depend- ents, defectives and delinquents are wards of society. The state, as the only organ of the collective will, must see to it that no citizen perishes, physically or morally, without care. Of course the fore- bodings of Mr. Spencer may prove to be wise warnings, and the most sympathetic administrator of charity will admit the peril of the position. But, for good or ill, the modern nations have launched upon this troubled sea of experiment. No man is to be driven from door to door until with curses on his lips he freeze or starve. Whatever the state permits, authorizes or encourages, it is never free from the moral duty, in the last resort, to see that relief is given. It must then be the duty of the state to see that general society is not profoundly harmed by the vicious working of a local and limited association. It is generally agreed that personal and private charity surpasses official charity in spontaneity, versatility, adaptability, idealism, religious fervor. It is thought that official charity surpasses private charity in completeness, adequacy, equality of burdens, and in the control of criminal tendencies often mix-ed up with pauperism. Thus it is agreed that it is wise to combine the working of public and private charity as far as possible. Some system is needed to secure harmony and unity between public and private beneficence. In Germany the famous Elberfeld system seems to be the one best adapted to the conditions of the country. In America, at present, that system would be impractica- ble. Our citizens have not been taught by custom to accept such tasks from the state. We are, therefore, looking to the voluntary and paid services of officers and visitors of the associations of chari- ties. In these associations visitors are secured by appeals to good- will and civic virtue. In no city have we secured an adequate supply of competent visitors, but steady advance has been made. A still further step of progress will be made when public administrators learn the value of full co-operation with these associations. The inspectors of public charity are usually shrewd detectives of fraud, but that very quality unfits them for the personal influence which a friendly visitor can wield. The salaried officers are too few to do such work as the Elberfeld visitors, even if they were inclined to do it. It seems certain that the state should never subsidize denomina- tional charities, but, if compelled to employ them, should simply 96 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. pay for services actually rendered. But there is no objection to encouraging the most cordial co-operation in the work of charity and reform. Changing the point of view, we may consider xhe private initiation of charity. And first, of the individual benefactor. The personal element is the most vital, direct, and human, especially if it is not official. It is an acknowledged social and legal principle that the relatives, associates, neighbors and co-religionists are first of all bound to assist an indigent person. It is only after all these sources have failed that the state consents to open its hand. But individual beneficence should not be insulated. The right can never be con- ceded to a man so to do as he will with his own as to work harm to society. Kindness may find ways of usefulness with organized charities, even when money is not in possession. The busy rich, able and willing to give large sums, can do most good in experimental, preventive and educational charity. The relation of church to public charity is delicate and vital. The church is no longer the chief almoner of charity. The poor apply to public authorities when they come to want. The members of our churches who are indigent are relatively few. It is the habit ol church members to refer needy persons to the public authorities in most places. If public outdoor relief were abolished, the church would again come to care for the helpless. But the necessity of civic co-operation would then be as great as ever, for ecclesiastical charities have been as much abused as state relief. Churches need to cultivate a sense of social unity. Benevolence that is insulated from a general system corrupts recipients. All religious services in public prisons and hospitals should be given by churches and the expense should never be met from the common treasury. Those who believe in religion should not ask unbelievers to help sustain religion by enforced taxation. I honor all good chaplains in army and prisons, and I know that they are rendering faithful and holy service. It would be cruel injustice not to have such men where they are, and the state should not forbid their access to those who wish their presence. But they should be paid by an alliance of churches, not by a tax. I say this just because I believe in Christianity and dislike to see it go begging to the state for appropriations. Good people should also support societies to aid discharged pris- oners. Lady Meath, of England, has shown to Christian women a McCOOK. 97 way of lightening up the cloudy, dreary days of their sisters in the county poorhouses all over the land. Public as well as private hos- pitals can be made more cheerful and successful in their divine work of healing by the ministry of flowers, fruits, songs and kindly looks of the King's Daughters. Thus we see a growing integration and unification of charity work. The university sends to London's East End students to ponder misery at its source. Church and state join hands. Private and public agencies seek an understanding. The Prince of love and peace is drawing all men to Himself, and hence closer to each other. TRAMPS. PROFESSOR JOHN J. McCOOK, TRINITY COLLEGE, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. Aimless wandering, no visible means of support, capacity to labor along with fixed aversion to labor, begging from door to door, camp- ing on property of others without their consent — no one of these by itself, but all of them together, make up the legal picture of that species of vagabond whom we have come lately to call the Tramp. In the days of Richard 11, five hundred years ago, he used to be called "sturdy vagabond, valiant beggar," and was so objectionable then and later that the whipping-post, ear-slitting and hanging were his legal portion, and a fine was the reward of the man who harbored or helped him. In those days, and for centuries, the average pauper clung to his parish because, within orderly limitations, an existence was assured him there. The sturdy vagabond must therefore have been a per- son to whom orderly life was intolerable, mere existence insufficient, fixed conditions of any kind unendurable, and who broke away from the inglorious hum-drum of the birth-spot and ventured out into the life and stir of the wide world. That is to say, he was built on the general lines of our nineteenth-century tramp ; and mere convenience and brevity seem to be the only justification for the invention of a new name for him. 98 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Whether the name tramp originated in England or America I cannot be sure. It has no place, so far as I have been able to find, in the statutes of Great Britain or Canada, while many of our states have adopted it into their legal phraseology. New Jersey began in 1876; and up to 1892, when I made an examination of the statute- books of all the states, eighteen others had followed; while a nine- teenth and twentieth use the word in the index or in defining Vagrant. The word is now freely used in England in every-day life, and in the literature of pauperism and vagrancy. For whatever reason, it is not in general favor among tramps themselves in this country. I have talked with a considerable number of them on a footing of friendliness and apparent confidence, and find that " bum " is the generic term used by them. They care- fully distinguish, however, between class and class, and there is manifestly an aristocracy among them, and a middle and lower order; although, as might, perhaps, be expected, absolute agree- ment has not been reached as to which is upper and which lower crust. A few weeks ago I had a long talk with one of the " salti- grades " — if my spider friends will permit me to borrow one of their names — one of the order of jumpers, that is, train-jumpers. He put his family first, and spoke with undisguised contempt of the " pike bum" who " hasn't the nerve to jump a train," — even rising and imitating the pike bum's long, awkward gait. He was still more disdainful in his description of the " city " or " shovel bum " and the " mission " or " religious bum." And he almost lacked vocabulary to express his feelings towards the " gay cat," an inferior order of beings who begs of and otherwise preys upon the bum — as it were a jackal following up the king of beasts. He called the nobility of the order " hobos." It was thus he spelled it. He had often asked old hobos — for he was but twenty- six — how it ought to be spelled and what it meant. They did not know. It is, however, now unquestionably the generally accepted title for the railroad tramp, in America ; and I may venture to say here, though I should not care to say it to one of the nobility for fear of unduly exciting him, it is even appropriated at times by " pike bums " and by " shovel bums," I am in almost daily corres- pondence by letter with one of the former class who not only uses it but spells it in the most approved French fashion — "haut-beaux ! " My saltigrade friend above referred to as priding himself upon belonging to the nobility of the order, gave me many incidents con- McCOOK. 99 cerning his own career which are curious. They may not all he true. In fact, I doubt not he told me more than one lie. Still men are not apt to invent things to their own discredit, and the following was not given in a spontaneous or boastful manner, but in answer to very direct and leading questions. He had " done " thirty days each in Erie county, New York ; White Plains, New York ; Brook- lyn, Connecticut ; thirteen days in San Francisco, California ; twenty days in Savannah, Georgia; ten days in Chicago; five days in the Tombs, New York City, and had been arrested in Syracuse, New York, and Richmond, Virginia. He had passed part of one winter in an almshouse — " to get a new suit of clothes"; had been nine days in Charity Hospital, Black- well's Island, for a finger bruise got in jumping a train ; six weeks in a Philadelphia hospital for a secret disease: — they have no aversion to such a disease when winter is coming on, he told me in passing, and several eminent medical specialists confirm his story; a whole winter in a poorhouse hospital in the interior of New York for a toe lost while jumping a train; five months in a Boston hospital for an abscess on his neck, caused, as the doctors thought, by the jar of riding on trucks — he had only been six months on the road at that time, he explained apologetically 1 And he had also been to dis- pensaries now and then for medicine required by some trifling cold, though he generally carried stuff with him for this. Apart from the above he had " never had a day's sickness in his life," he said, and spoke with much enthusiasm of the vigor and physical strength of the fairly initiated hobo. It would be a pity to overlook one other item in the self-confessed activities of this gentleman. He had voted eight times on one single election day in New York city, receiving therefor a total of sixteen dol- lars. The manner in which the thing was accomplished was described by him in such fashion as to convince me that he was telling the truth — and I am not naturally credulous, nor yet void of knowledge of the ways in which this branch of practical politics is cultivated in New York and elsewhere. I should, however, perhaps add that I have been assured by a New York city detective and by another tramp that this was undoubtedly a lie. The detective's confidence was based on the record of prosecutions, " showing how careful they had been!" — the tramp's, on the high price obtained. He had never got anything like that money himself! Which reminds me that nearly half of the dozen or so of tramps whom I have recently lOO PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. picked up on the street here, and with whom I have had opportunity for free conversation on this and other points, have admitted that they have received compensation direct or indirect for their vote, mentioning the four states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California as the places where they had done business. One, who belonged rather to the order of " city bums," at first resented the mere suggestion that he could ever have voted for money. Presently I returned abruptly to the subject with the question, " Do you mean to say then that your own side gave you nothing for turn- ing out? " Whereupon he lifted his head and with dignity replied, " What me own side give me for voting 's nobody's business but me own." Beyond this I could not go, and he would not. I have spoken of tramp laws in the various states. Here is a list of the states which one tramp tells me he has been in (I select the first on my note-book ; I have talked with several whose record is similar) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- ware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California (twice). New Mexico (three or four times), Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Indian Territory, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Utah, Arkansas, Michigan, Oregon, Nevada. He had been in Washington, D. C, of course, and had passed through Ten- nessee, though he had not stopped there. He had been through a great part of Canada, and had visited England in a cattle steamer, landing at Liverpool and tramping thence to Manchester. He had spent the night in a casual ward, and did not like oakum-picking, since it made the fingers sore. He thought England not compar- able with America — people would not give as freely there. He got back, he said, through the offices of the American consul, and gave details concerning the return passage which may have been wholly false, but which needed only to be half true to be painfully sugges- tive of the extent to which the brute survives in the human animal. This particular man had a rather gay, light-hearted way of talking. His face was not bad, though his eye was hardly true. He was decently dressed ; but he wore no collar, and had other earmarks which, com- bined, had emboldened me to accost him upon the street. He looked temperate and had not even the odor of liquor about him. He was, however, no total abstainer, and described with much glee what he thought a remarkably good plan for getting a drink — a plan almost McCOOK. lOI too ingenious to be either true or false. But there is no question of these three things ; that the average vagabond is no total abstainer, that he always manages in some fashion to get drink when he par- ticularly wants it, and that he is enough of a " rectifier," albeit hold- ing no license from the United States government, to know that the real thing in drink is alcohol, and that water is the cheapest and best adulterant. In this as in some other things he is a close observer and an astute philosopher. I shall presently have something to say of this in a statistical way. Both this man and three others whose faces I now recall, reeled off the names of the states they had visited, giving the railroads patronized from point to point, with a facility and a rapidity that made one's head swim. I confess it was all beyond me, though I have traveled some- what. And yet localities and lines of communication were occasion- ally identified in such fashion as to give me general confidence in the genuineness of the itinerary. In one instance I mentioned a number of places familiar to myself, but by no means prominent for size or otherwise, and purposely put them in wrong states. In every case I was arrested with, " Did you say Steubenville? Yes, I've been in Steubenville — on the Panhandle road. But see here, sonny, Steu- benville ain't in Pennsylvania ; it's in Ohio " — and so on. This man professed to be from Rhode Island. Such knowledge, it is true, could be obtained by a railroad brake- man of sufficiently wide experience. And indeed I am more and more inclined to think that many of our jumper-tramps have been brakemen, and the reverse. I have talked with several engine- drivers and firemen who are of this opinion, and in four instances tramps have personally informed me that they had been brakemen. There can be no question that many a brakeman has a very tender spot in his heart for a tramp, and that he finds ways of helping him along in spite of the universal reprobation of the management. He fails to discover him in box car, or open car, or on the hunters, or the trucks. He puts him off when he must, and is more than half pleased when he finds at the next stop that he has stowed himself away again, lie rescues him from starvation, as in one instance related to me, when he finds him only too successfully concealed for a long transcontinental stretch. Engineers, firemen and conductors are far more stern. But they too are not insensible to the pathos of "the poor devils trudging along by the rails." I02 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. This interchange explains the wonderful skill of the tramp in jump- ing: and riding trains. One of them told me he had dived from the platform into an open car — a "gondola" as they call it— while the train was passing at full speed. It tore every button from his clothes, but didn't hurt him. I thought this a lie until an officer employed in a freight station mentioned incidentally that he had seen that sort of thing himself. And I hear from all sides among railroad men of their remarkable expertness in the ordinary ways of catching on. The brakeman is the land sailor. An instance came to me lately of a man who had gone to sea once or twice, against the wishes of his family. He compromised eventually on railroading, and had crept up from brakeman to conductor. And I know a man of excel- lent family and education, who has left a good farm in eastern Con- necticut, first for braking, and then for firing on a train. In the old days he would have gone to sea. Our tramps have the instinct of the brakemen, but without the industry and laboriousness of the better part of them. However, this easy transition from the one to the other suggests the propriety of railroad managers having a more careful eye than they seem always to have had to the record and the habits of their candidates for the responsible office of brakeman. The number of female tramps of whatever kind is not large. There is, however, a limited number of them. I have heard them called magpies, petticoat bums, and bags. They mate with a male, often arranging the alliance during a winter in an almshouse, leaving the institution at different dates to avoid suspicion, meeting at an agreed-upon spot, and sharing thereafter bed and board. The man has the lion's share of this co-partnership. The woman begs, occa- sionally raises money by solicitation at extremely low rates — from lo to 50 cents — cooks, washes, and serves her lord as his will and her devotion may suggest. They camp out, occupy vacant houses, stop with farmers, or even in taverns. With the winter the partnership expires by limitation. I have been told of one instance in which such a female served, in every way, a camp of sixteen or eighteen tramps — to such a degree of baseness can the sex relation be low- ered. I have read of similar arrangements in the vagabond life of Germany, but these have been actually told me here. But I must give over this gossiping for a more severe view of the field. My observations above given have followed, not pre- ceded, an attempt at statistical investigation. And first, the number McCOOK. 103 of tramps in America. Massachusetts is the only state which, so far as I know, attempts to collect the facts necessary for a calcula- tion. In 1891, the average daily number lodged in police stations or public lodging-houses for wanderers was 427.3. In answer to the question "Where do you usually sleep?" on the blank from which I received 1,349 replies in the winter of 1891-2, 377 gave police station or other public lodging-house. Assuming this proportion of 377 to 1,349 to be approximately representative of the ratio between the number frequenting such places at night and the total, we shall con- clude that the Massachusetts total contingent to the tramp army was 1,529.7. And, assuming that the Massachusetts contingent bears the same relation to the entire army that the population of Massa- chusetts bears to that of the United States— 29.97 — the total for this country will be 45,845. I suspect this is not far from correct, though it is partly built upon assumptions. It is from five to fifteen thousand below the current guess estimates, which fact is slightly confirmatory ; since estimates of crowds are almost invariably over the truth. I have spoken of blanks with 1,349 replies. These came from fourteen different places to which blanks had been sent. The answers were taken down generally by police officers, a separate blank being used for each case. There were twenty-four questions and eight sub-questions, with a space for remarks. Besides the large amount of material thus secured, Mr. W. Vallance, clerk of the Board of Guardians for Whitechapel, London, secured for me tabulated replies to similar questions from 841 of his casual lodgers, October, 1891. The basis for careful conclusions was therefore far broader than anything ever before attempted, so far as I am aware. These results have been compared with the analysis of the 52,335 cases which have come under the observation of the German Arbeiter Colonien since their establishment, so far as the much more meagre statistical scope of these would allow. A brief account of the more important results of my inquiry may be of use here : Fifty-seven per cent, of our American tramps have trades or pro- fessions; forty-one per cent, are unskilled laborers. Ninety-eight trades were represented by the 1,349 individuals — and nearly half of the persons belonging to these were attached to employments which require constant locomotion, as sailors, firemen, teamsters and brake- men, or are associated with these occupations — such as shoemakers, I04 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. curriers, hostlers, blacksmiths and horseshoers. Three and six- tenths per cent, more are in a trade which is drawn upon for some of the most striking figures illustrative of the unrest and transitoriness of human existence — the weavers. One tramp in twenty is under 20 years of age; three out of five under 35 ; seventy-five out of one hundred under 40, and only one in one hundred and eleven over 70. Ours are much younger than the English and considerably younger than the German, though they too are in the prime of life. This was the winter when ihe grippe was raging, and yet only 8.5. per cent, of them claimed to be suffering from bad health, and 83.5 per cent, declared specifically that their health was good. In England 91 per cent, admitted that their health was good. The German colonies gave no statistics under this item. What makes people tramps ? The question designed to throw light on this was " Why did you take to the road ?" And, of course, most of them attributed it to their being " out of work " — 82,8 per cent, in fact. A few were " tired of work," or " wanted to take life easy"; still more " wanted to see the country"; more still charged it to "drink," a {qw to "roving disposition" and a very few to "won't work." 55 per cent, of them, however, admitted that they had not tried to get work the day they were questioned, which is suggestive; and 18 per cent, of them "didn't know" when they were going to work again, while 2 per cent, more frankly replied " never," to the question, " When are you going to work again ?" — which is still more suggestive. And most suggestive of all will be thought, perhaps, the reply made later on, which showed that 63, per cent, of them are confessedly intemperate. If ever accurate statistics are collected, I think it will be found that this is almost exactly the percentage of cases of pauperism in general due to intemperance. I believe industrial causes have but little to do with pauperism in general, or vagabondage in particular. Fifty-six per cent, of our tramps are of American nativity. Next follow Ireland, England, Germany, Canada, Norway and Sweden, and Scotland. There were only two Italians. A considerable num- ber, possibly a majority of the American section, are of foreign,^ chiefly Irish parentage. I have no statistical basis for this statement, but think it to be probably correct. England has almost no foreign element to deal with among her tramps, and Germany practically none at all. McCOOK. 105 More than nine-tenths of them are unmarried, and a like propor- tion can read and write. This is not far from the proportion of adult white literates according to the 1880 census. In intelligence and education it is my impression that the average tramp is not appre- ciably different from the general population. He is certainly not inferior, I think. , " How they are housed and fed " is an important question. In pleasant weather they live out of doors. Eleven per cent, admitted having been at some time inmates of almshouses. I suspect this to be below the truth. But in any event the close quarters presendy become insufferable, and by April the captives are off. Some of them go south for the winter, living thus in perpetual summer. A . friend tells me that while running an engine on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad he always passed a troop of them with faces turned south in October, and another troop with faces turned north in April. Thirty-two per cent, of them admitted having been in hospital, many of them more than once. And 1 have it from hospital sur- geons and from the lips of members of the fraternity, that a hospital is considered a good place for the winter, and that certain diseases commonly regarded formidable are rather welcomed by them late in the fall, as promising indefinite asylum in this comfortable and healthful resort. Only one-sixth of them claimed to have been in hospital at their own charges ; the rest were paupers of some kind. And such slight work as is done in almshouses is done in summer, when they are away. So that the hospital and almshouse fraction may be set down as a public burden pure and simple. While outside institutional walls they are variously housed in box- cars, police stations, wayfarer's rests, cheap lodging-houses, hotels, wagons, water-closets, churches and school-houses ; and the balance accept lodging at " Mother Green's," to use the German tramp's phrase for camping out. " How do they generally secure their food ? " Twenty per cent, say they beg; nine per cent, more "beg and work"; over two per cent, more " beg and steal." Three per cent, live off their " friends." Twenty-seven per cent. " work " or " work and want." Tliirty-eight per cent, say they "pay for it." How for the most part this is done is lelt to the imagination. I am convinced that the life of a fraction? possibly the greater part of this company consists in alternations of work and travel or debauchery. The work is suspended as soon as I06 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. the means for the last named have been secured, and the " sobering up " is commonly at public expense. Counting their house-room at nothing, I am convinced that $240 a year would be a moderate, and $200 a year a very conservative estimate for the actual cost per head of our army of tramps. This would amount to about $10,000,000 annually. This has to be paid for, of course, by somebody. And that somebody is the taxpayer. Only six per cent, admitted having been convicted of crime. Manifestly they thought drunkenness no crime, for thirty-nine per cent, admitted conviction for drunkenness. I suspect that these figures give a fairly correct impression of the real state of the case. Things to eat and things to wear are probably looked upon by the vagabond as common property. That view of things is apt to come to the front as soon as men get away from the restraints of orderly life; of which the history of war gives ample evidence, and that of picnicking and summering is not lacking in it. But felony is, I believe, confined to the few. Criminal assault is possibly the com- monest form of felony known among them. I doubt if weapons are often carried by them. One of their number who has been on the move for thirty years, in writing to me complains bitterly of the lawless minority who are " mean enough for anything," and who by their evil deeds bring the quieter majority into disrepute. Since I have spoken of the con- tempt in which the ''jumper" holds the "pike bum" and other " bums," it is only fair to add that this informant lays the burden of crime upon that same proud and haughty aristocracy of jumpers. In answer to a circular containing various questions, I received replies from thirty-five chiefs of police and a number of other per- sons of supposed wisdom and knowledge. Of the chiefs of police twenty -one stated that no conditions of person — as cleanliness, etc. — were insisted upon in their cities for public lodging, and twenty-two that no conditions of work were imposed. Sixteen stated that the same persons returned frequently, three occasionally, two periodically ; ten that the same persons did not return frequently. Twenty-seven stated that applicants were always received ; four that they were not ; six that they were liable to be arrested ; two, imprisoned as tramps or vagrants, if they returned often. Twenty-two put the able-bodied at from ninety to one hundred per cent. Only three fixed it as low as fifty. • McCOOK. 107 Sixteen thought it on the whole advantageous to offer lodging at public expense; eighteen were of the opposite opinion. Of the six- teen, four favored it on grounds of general humanity, two out of regard to the possible deserving minority among the tramps. Nine favored it on grounds of public policy, of which six for protection of property, one for protection of person. Eleven thought compulsory work was the best solution of the tramp question; two confinement; two corporal punishment, of which one the shot-gun ; one severer laws ; two enforcement of present laws; one furnishing employment; three believed in the workhouse ; one thought encouragement ought to be refused ; and one thought the repeal of the McKinley bill would do it! Not a single one advocated moral measures. I am sure this is not because our police authorities attach no importance to such instru- mentalities. I fear it is because they think the tramp is impermeable to them. I should be sorry to declare myself wholly of this opinion. On the other hand, moral measures when tried have generally been unsuccessful. Two habits have chiefly to do with the conditions of vagabond existence — the habit of idleness and the habit of intemper- ance : to which perhaps a third might be added — the habit of physical uncleanness. Now moral means are very powerful as preventives of these habits, and are invaluable allies in overcoming them. But the first thing, I suspect, must be forcible restraint from all these habits, and forcible inculcation of their opposites. And from this it will be plain that 1 should recommend uniform laws in all the states committing drunkards and vagrants to places of detention where they must abstain from drink, must work, must keep clean, must avoid licentiousness — and that for an indefinite period. They might be made to nearly or quite support them- selves in such establishments. And in that event we should save $10,000,000 or so a year. And then there would be the chance of reforming some of them, of which there is now almost none whatever. But as long as they are left to roam at will, restrained only by an occasional spasm of enforcement of the vagrant laws, it would be an immense gain if soft-hearted people would stop giving them money. Be sure it goes almost without an exception for drink or worse. The person who will give any beggar a coin just because it seems too hard to refuse him, ought on similar grounds to give razors and guns to madmen and children. I08 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. VAGRANCY. A. O. WRIGHT, MADISON, WISCONSIN. Vagrancy is an offense not confined to our own country or our own time. It has been known in all lands and all ages. Perhaps the largest amount of vagrancy ever known was a little before and after the Middle Ages, in Europe, when the breaking up of the feudal state of society and the false ideas of charity inculcated by mediaeval Christianity created a large amount of vagrancy and begging. The mendicant monks had consecrated one form of vagrancy to the service of the church. The universities sent out swarms of beggar students. The artisans, after having served their seven years of apprenticeship, were then expected to spend an indefinite number of years as Wander- biirschen, traveling from place to place in search of work, and often eventually became tramps in our own sense of the word. There was no system of public poor relief, but charity was supplied either by loose and unsystematic individual benevolence or by the doles ot nobles or of monasteries, both of which encouraged vagrancy. In England, in the time of Elizabeth and James, the great increase of vagrancy was attributed at the time to the changed conditions of agriculture, which threw large numbers of farm laborers out of employment. All sorts of remedies were tried for the great evil. At one time "sturdy beggars" were hung by the hundred. Whip- ping was the common method of punishment. The authorities of each parish whipped vagrants at the cart's tail from their own parish to the next. In more recent times there are still large numbers of able-bodied beggars tramping through "merry England," although an efifective poor law system has provided amply for all the disabled poor, so amply that one-half of the laboring population of England to-day, if they live more than fifty years, will die in the workhouse. In this country there is very little begging by persons who are actually maimed or disabled, or who pretend to be so. Our systems of poor relief provide bountifully for all cases of real need, and in all ordinary times there is work enough for every one to do in this paradise of the poor man; and yet we find a large number of able- bodied men tramping around the country and living upon the public in one form or another. These constitute the tramp problem. The tramp is an anomaly in this country. Where the demand for labor is WRIGHT. 109 SO great, and the pay is comparatively so high, it is a surprising thing that we have a large number of able-bodied men tramping around the country, apparently looking for work. I remember very well, about twenty years ago, in the city of Austin, Minnesota, hearing the farmers in harvest-time offer on the streets four dollars a day for men to work binding wheat, and at the very time I saw dozens of able- bodied men standing on the streets and refusing to accept those wages. The city marshal at that time told me that, along with the annual migration of harvest hands following the northward ripening of the grain, there came also a large number of tramps, who refused to labor at any price. The harvest was merely their excuse for tramping. The characteristic of the genuine tramp is that he will not work if he can help it. I saw a tramp, some years ago, in the Waukesha county poorhouse, who had been kept in a cell on bread and water for six months, every day being offered his choice of good food and liberty if he would work, and every day refusing to work on any terms. I suppose he got some other food besides bread occasion- ally smuggled into his cell by other inmates of the poorhouse, as he could not live for six months on bread and water alone. But he was a prisoner, and he had been a prisoner for six months on very limited rations, rather than degrade himself by woiking. He was a martyr to his principles. About three years ago, while inspecting jails and poorhouses, I fell in with the state high-school inspector. As we were both approaching one of the principal cities of our state on a railway train, I invited him to spend the evening with me in visiting the jail and seeing and studying the tramps, whom I well knew I could find there in abundance; and I noted the effect of a crowd of tramps upon a thoughtful and sensitive man, accustomed to meet persons ambitious and industrious, mentally and physically. He saw in the jail some sixty able-bodied men contented to merely exist, having the form of humanity but having little of the spirit of it. It was a question which he tried to solve for several days after he had left that school of crime and vice, but which he confessed to me finally he could not solve. There is a regular organization of tramps in this country as in England, and I suppose elsewhere. Like other savage societies they have certain recognized leaders. Like most secret societies they have signs of recognition and passwords, and they also have certain marks by which they indicate the reception given them in the I 10 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. houses which they have visited, so that other tramps who follow them may profit by their experience. They also leave their cards in the police stations and railway depots on their regular routes of travel, something like this: " Chicago Kid, Nov. 30, '92. Going east," "Jersey Bill, March 3. Pointed for St. Paul," I have seen hundreds of these cards on the walls of a single police station, accumulated in one season, before the annual house-cleaning had erased them. A few years ago they were organized in bands of a hundred or more, who captured freight trains and terrorized villages. At one time the militia in Wisconsin were called out and did picket duty on the border ofthe state at Beloit, while the hostile camp-fires of hundreds of tramps reddened the evening air of Illinois. At another time the militia of Madison were called out to receive a freight train when it arrived, and captured the tramps who had captured the train, and the jail was filled as it never was filled before. The vigorous action of the sheriff at the time in compelling the tramps to work gave such a hard name to Madison in the tramp circles that for years it was shunned by the fraternity. The severe laws against these organized mobs of tramps, and their enforcement by the authorities, broke up all the large gangs in Wisconsin about the year 1880. After having seen many thousand tramps in jails and poorhouses and houses of correction, after having interviewed hundreds of them, after having talked for many hours with officers who have had them under their charge, I am satisfied that the mass of the tramps consists of men who are trying to find out where work is so as to avoid making its acquaintance. There are a few criminals among the tramps, either hiding there purposely as the best way to avoid arrest, or having been reduced from regular burglars or pickpockets to tramps by drink or by too inquisitive police officers. There are also among the tramps quite a few drunkards, who have become so broken down by drink that they cannot be trusted with work of any value. But, as a rule, criminals are not tramps ; and, as a rule, drunkards are not tramps. The mass of the tramps are simply lazy loafers who hate work and cleanliness. They are savages in the midst of civilization. At best they are persons who love to wander from a restless' dispo- sition or a desire of novelty. At the worst they are enemies of society, ready for any crime that may come handy, but restrained largely by cowardice from anything but minor depredations. There are certain classes of persons who are on the border-line of vagrancy and yet are not genuine tramps in the strict definition of that word. WRIGHT. III No one considers as tramps the Winnebago Indians, who still haunt the four lakes around Madison, as their ancestors did, even if they do add to their ancestral diet of fish and muskrats occasional cold victuals begged from the white man's table, and if they do wander from one place to another. Nor are the gypsies, whom Borrow, Leland and others have glorified, real tramps, although they lead a vagrant life. The gypsies are a curious survival, in the midst of our high civilization, ol the lower civilization of a wandering Hindoo tribe. There are many sailors and lumbermen and other laboring n.tn who have no settled home or are far away from home, who work when they can, who usually spend their money freely (when they get it) for liquor and other vices, and who are then often reduced to all kinds of shifts to live till they can get work again, I have heard of one thrifty fellow who regularly deposited his wages in a savings bank, and, as soon as navigation closed, had himself sentenced (or the winter to the House of Correction, thus compelling Milwaukee county to furnish him good food and clean quarters in return for light work. It is scarcely fair to put this class of laboring men with the real tramps, because they merely beg at private houses and because they are willing to work. Still, any measures of treatment of tramps, whether by public or private authority, will be sure to gel some of this class, and in all our plans for dealing with them we must not forget that the apparent tramps include many laboring men who are not real tramps. Tramps are rarely country-bred boys; they are mostly the young hoodlums of the great cities. A few years ago I found sixty- eight tramps one day in a certain jail, herded together in idleness and what a tramp would consider comfort. Over sixty of them appeared to be between fifteen and twenty-five years old. I ques- tioned each one where he came from, and about fifty claimed to be from Chicago. I judged that most of them told the truth. Tramps live by begging and stealing. Although charitable individuals in the last few years have largely learned to refuse money or food to able-bodied beggars, there are still enough people willing to give at least food to make it easy for tramps to live by begging. In the summer there are many tramp resorts hidden in the woods here and there, to which the plunder of the hen-roost and garden are brought, as well as the proceeds of begging and an 112 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. occasional bottle of whiskey lor a grand picnic reunion. Within recent years it is noticeable that the tramps are fairly well clothed, instead of going in rags, as they are still depicted in the comic papers, which are always behind the times in their jokes. This is due to the fact that the cheap clothing-houses have pushed their goods into the country stores, which are not well guarded at night. Thus the ready-made clothing suit which began in a sweating-shop in the city sometimes ends by clothing a tramp in the country. Tramps love to wander. In the summer, tramps follow the fashion and take long tours of the country. In winter, they partly go south with other northern tourists, partly they crowd into the great cities, and partly they find refuge in jails and poorhouses all over the country. In traveling, the tramps almost invariably follow the main lines of railroads. In the winter, those tramps who remain north are driven for shelter to various public institutions. They apply in large numbers for admittance to the police stations of the cities, where they stay night after night in places provided for them espec- ially, until warned to move on, when they try some other police station in the same city, unless committed to the House of Correc- tion ; in which case the comfortable quarters and good food recon- cile them in a measure to the very moderate amount of work required of them. In the country they pass from one county-seat or city to another, applying for admittance, and being received in this or that jail or police station very much according to the discretion of the local magistrates and officers. The fact that the tramps have become the occasion of a species of official plunder, under which the people are quite restive, has kept this question before the public mind, and is probably the occasion of this topic being selected for discussion here and now. The waste of public money in this way by the counties and cities of Wisconsin runs from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. It is less now than it was, because public opinion has really had some effect upon the officers, and because several of the counties which were most burdened have salaried their sheriffs. The root of the whole difficulty is in the foolish system of paying fees instead of salaries. The tramp problem as a serious burden upon the taxes would disappear at once if sheriffs and justices of the peace were paid no fees. It can scarcely be expected of a sheriff, who is elected for two years and is then ineligible for re-election, and who is paid by fees. WRIGHT. 113 that he should refuse to arrest tramps when they ask to be arrested, or when citizens ask their arrest to get rid of the danger of having tramps around. It can easily be seen that some sheriffs and justices of the peace would be tempted to form a virtual conspiracy to rob the public by sentencing tramps for one day each, and by making it so pleasant for the tramps that they will pass the word around to their fellows to call that way. It could hardly be expected that an average officer would take vigorous measures to drive away such profitable guests. And the few sheriffs who have worked efficiently, for the interests of their constituents at the expense of their own pockets deserve high commendation. As a rule, however, the fee system demoralizes all concerned. If the sheriff wishes to drive away tramps, he cannot oppose too strenuousl}' the justices of the peace and the various village marshals, who all get a little of the plunder. And many of the members of the county board hope to be themselves elected sheriff some time, and therefore do not object too loudly to the bills that are presented, especially as they are all strictly legal bills. The justices of the peace and the marshals also are apt to remember a sheriff or a member of the county board who is too particular, and when he comes up for some office they will " knife him." All which shows that the fee system cannot be cut off by inches but must be destroyed as a whole. Many counties in Wisconsin have attempted to discourage tramps by providing work for them in connection with the jail. The idea oflabor for tramps is correct, but the execution of it by sheriffs and their deputies is ineffective. A sheriff who is paid by fees is not likely to discourage tramps. He may not take any pains to encourage them; indeed, I think few sheriffs nowadays do so. But it is too much to expect of human nature that a sheriff shall take special pains to work directly against his own interests. In several cases the county board has employed a guard over the tramps while at work, but the guard has usually discovered very soon that he had better be on good terms with the sheriff than with the county board. And in. fact the foolish economy of county boards usually leads to the employment of such cheap help for this work as to defeat its own object, by making the guard as ridiculous to the tramps themselves as is a country scarecrow to a flock of blackbirds. Another ineffective remedy which has been tried is the reduction of the fees in all tramp cases from about five dollars to one dollar. When that bill was before the legislature I warned the committee 114 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. that it would be ineffective and- showed them why. The result has verified my predictions. The returns show that fewer tramps have been committed to jail as such, but that there has been an alarming increase of drunkenness and other petty crimes. One sheriff reported to me in one year 72 persons sentenced to jail for " indecent exposure of the person." A tramp is very accommo- datinor to an officer who is accommodating to him. He will plead guilty to any charge the sheriff brings against him, so that he can get into jail, but he is very careful not to plead guilty to a state prison charge. I was told that, after a revolution in one of our counties, so that tramps were no longer encouraged at the jail, a fellow coolly took a coat from the display in front of a clothing-store and walked along to the next corner, where he stopped and, with a disappointed look, hailed the first-comer with the remark, " Say, stranger, hain't you got no police in this town? " All of which shows that tramping may be abolished in official reports and still exist in full vigor in reality. Amid a collection of unsuccessful experiments at suppressing vagrancy, of which I have given only Wisconsin cases, there have been a few successful efforts, which I will name. A little over a hundred years ago, Benjamin Thompson, a native of Massachusetts, became Count Rumford and prime minister of the King of Bavaria. Being given absolute power over this subject, he provided factories and workhouses, and on a given day arrested every beggar and vagrant in the kingdom and put them at work at such things as they were capable of doing. He paid them according to the value of their work, encouraging them in every way not only to earn something by honest labor, but also to learn how to perform skilled labor at a higher rate of pay. By using force on the one hand and inspiring hope on the other, he converted the swarms of vagrants and beggars, with which the kingdom had been infested, into industrious and self- supporting citizens. At the present time the kingdom of Prussia has settled a large number of vagrants upon the waste lands of Westpha- lia. They are held under commitment for a time, but are encouraged to self-support, and given freedom as soon as they can be trusted. The scheme which Booth, the head of the Salvation Army.proposed . in his book, " In Darkest England," although it has had only a year's trial, is already working very successfully, and a large number of vagrants and drunkards and other broken-down wrecks of humanity have already been rescued from the slums of London and are earn- WRIGHT. 115 ing an honest living and are nearly if not quite self-supporting. In the United States, the state of Connecticut, although close by the great city of New York, which sends out its swarms of tramps every summer, has for many years prevented the tramps from coming near its border by sentence to a state workhouse. The superintendent of the Industrial School for Girls told me with great delight how the father of one of his charges, who was a tramp, when he came to visit his daughter, was obliged to disguise himself as an honest man in order to avoid arrest and imprisonment. In Indianapolis and other cities the provident wood-yard, by offering meals and lodging for a certain definite amount of labor, has sifted out all the vagrants who were at all willing to work, and left those who were either persist- ently lazy or vicious to be sentenced toj;he House of Correction. These examples in actual experience show that the tramp problem is not insoluble. Any agency, public or private, which will offer decent board and lodging in return for a fair amount of work is a true charity for the homeless but industrious poor. The labor test will sift out the genuine tramps from the destitute workers. Along with the labor test necessarily goes the test of cleanliness. No insti- tution but a jailor police station can afford to keep such dirty lodgers as many tramps are, without using a bathroom and a room in which clothing is steamed. Any agency, public or private, which will furnish food, shelter and cleanliness in return for unskilled labor will relieve the public of the need of giving food, clothes or money 10 tramps. But to reach the cases of the genuine tramps, legal meas- ures only will suffice, because the genuine trampwill not work unless compelled to do so. One plan which has been proposed for Wisconsin is that of a state workhouse. Under proper conditions, this plan can be made effective, as the experience of Connecticut shows. But the experi- ence of Massachusetts also shows that, where the length of sentences and the election between the state workhouse and a local prison is left optional with the local magistrates, it will work about like all other kinds of local option. In some towns in Massachusetts the magistrates sentence tramps for ninety days to the state workhouse, and the tramps of course shun those towns; in other towns the mag- istrates are more lenient to the tramps, or more anxious for fees for themselves, and the tramps patronize those towns. I have already spoken of our experience with tramps appearing on the records charged with drunkenness, with petty larceny, with Il6 PUBLIC TREATMENT OE PAUPERISM. assault and battery, or with indecent exposure of the person. This shows how easy it is to evade the law providing a state workhouse, if that workhouse is for tramps only. The way to avoid this is to have all sentences for misdemeanors executed in the state workhouse and to abolish the foolish system of sentencing for very short terms. There are excellent reasons for establishing a state workhouse for misdemeanants, entirely aside from the tramp question. In Michigan the state workhouse has been tried for misdemeanants with good suc- cess. It is nearly self-supporting, without convict labor, and it is not a school of vice and crime, as other jails are, to which misdemeanants are sentenced. Such a state workhouse ought to have its prisoners sentenced for one or two years, unless sboner discharged, with the understanding that all first ^offenders shall be discharged in about three months, but that old hands shall be kept longer. The Bertillon system of identification of criminals will detect professional criminals nnd habitual tramps, who should be kept much longer, to protect society and to weary them of Wisconsin justice, so that when discharged they shall seek " fresh fields and pastures new." But I am convinced that a yet greater good can be done if we are only willing to undertake it. The best jail I ever visited (not in ihe architecture, but in its management) is the jail at Media, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. The Quakers are the original prison reformers, and the Quaker end of Pennsylvania has the best managed state prison and the best managed county jails in the United States. The Delaware county jail is not controlled by the sheriff, but by a jailor who is appointed by a board of directors, and who is paid a salary and no fees. The jail is managed on the public account plan. Every prisoner labors in his own cell, and may earn something by a proper amount of work. As no tobacco is furnished free, all the prisoners, whether required by law or not, willingly labor in order to earii their tobacco. There being no fees, the jail is managed in the interests of the people. Tramps shun this jail, although near a large city. All the jails in Canada are governed by jailors appointed by the pro- vincial governments, and are paid salaries, and tramps are not numerous in Canada. My remedy for the tramp problem would be to adopt the Quaker idea of jail management. This will also be a remedy for all the various difficulties now surrounding the jails, the most absurdly managed and most dangerous part of our whole prison system. This plan is not an ideally perfect plan, but it is one which could be carried out practically. An ideally perfect system could only be RING. 117 attained by destroying our local self-government, which would be too high a price to pay for even an ideal prison system. The evils of centralization might prove in the end to be greater than the evils of local self-government. The tramp is one portion of the debris of our civilization. All the various forms of crime and pauperism link in with the tramp ques- tion. Whatever is done wisely in one line will irresistibly aid every- thing else. Getting rid of tramps from one state will tone up the administration of justice in petty cases ; it will prevent our jails being polluted and overcrowded by the presence of large numbers of uncleanly vagrants ; it will relieve our poorhouses and our insane asylums of many undesirable inmates; it will reduce the criminal expenses of many counties; it will relieve railroad employees of much trouble and some risk ; it will banish the annoyance and fear which tramps have brought to many homes in the country ; it will save the people from the demoralizing spectacle of idle loafers in the midst of an industrial civilization, and of lawless vagrants in the midst of a law-abiding population. Tramps may be driven away, which is a gain to ourselves, or they may be reformed, which is a gain to humanity. But to do either, we must reorganize in a large measure our defective machinery for the treatment of criminals, which is a gain both to ourselves and to humanity. MUNICIPAL PROVISION FOR SHELTER OF HOMELESS POOR IN BOSTON—TEMPORARY HOME FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN— WAYFARERS' LODGE AND WOODYARD FOR MEN. THOMAS F. RING, BOSTON. My theme is the municipal provision made by Boston for the temporary relief of the immediate needs of the transient and casual poor, who, penniless, friendless and homeless, ask for a meal or a night's lodging ; it does not extend to the poor admitted to the almshouses or hospitals. Adjacent to the Charity Building in Boston, where nearly all the public and private relief agencies and societies have their offices, is a Il8 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. large brick building known as the Temporary Home for Women and Children, owned and maintained by the city of Boston and under the charge of the overseers of the poor. Here, women and children, meaning little children, if of the male sex, are provided with beds, good food and shelter for a longer or shorter time, according to their needs. In actual experience the term has been from part of a day to even six weeks. A nursery department is provided for babies and for mc?thers with babies. The whole number of admissions for the year 1892 is stated as 3,564 (2,703 women and 861 children), but the number of different indi- viduals who entered was only 2,023 (1.283 women and 740 children), some of course entering more than once during the period. Women may have meals and lodging at the home while searching for employ- ment, but are required to do some house-work during their stay. Meals are given gratis to women who apply for them. The average daily population of the home is 30 ; some infants are born in the house (17 last year), but the rule is to obtain accom- modations elsewhere for lying-in cases when it is practicable to do so. Lost children are kept until claimed by relatives or friends. 370 children came with their mothers to this house in 1893; 127 were stated to be illegitimate. W/iaf can be said of the Lives of the Wovien who ask for Shelter ? One-half are known to be of the class that spend much of their time in the almshouses, much of their time in the penal institutions, with a brief freedom among dissipated companions while in the city. It is purely a matter of accident with them where they go next ; it may be to the Island for a term of imprisonment, it may be to the almshouse, where they may stay practically as long or as short a time as they wish, being discharged on their own application, unless the medical officer at the almshouse objects in the interest of public health. A second class is made up from women-servants who have too strong a liking for liquor, who cannot or do not remain long in a situation, and have no place to go while out of employment. Female paupers waiting investigation of their legal standing or other circumstances are lodged here, pending definite action of the city or state relief officers. Sometimes a poor, unfortunate girl, thrust into the street in the hour of her trial, asks for a bed and is tenderly carried through her confinement. RING. 119 Of the rest, little is known ; they come for a meal or a lodging and on the morrow "move on," God knows where; they are not resi- dents of the city, they have no acquaintances among us, and are going somewhere in search of employment or of friends. In this charity, Boston expended in 1892, $7,369.63, and it was for the protection of homeless women and little children that Boston's first shelter was provided. Wayfaj^ers^ Lodge and Woodyard for Men. When it became known that women were given meals free at the Temporary Home, numbers of men out of employment applied daily for meals also; they were served, upon condition that they first made compensation by sawing or splitting wood, of which a large quantity thoughtfully provided was conspicuously heaped in the yard of the house. This was the beginning of the kindling wood business, afterwards transferred to and still carried on by the Wayfarers' Lodge and Wood- yard owned by the city. The money to pay for the relatively small stock of wood and saws for the experimental yard at the Temporary Home was furnished by public-spirited overseers from their own pockets, since the city solicitor ruled that money for a speculative enterprise could not be drawn from the city treasury. The Lodge since that time has paid into the city treasury $21,000 from the profits of the business ; the payment, doubtless, is a legal transac- tion, for no objection has been made so far by the law officers of the city. The tramp, as a species, first became known in this country in the decade following the close of the Civil War. No marauding invaders were more feared in the thinly settled country places than were the tramps. In the cities they were rather a nuisance than a danger, for police control awed them into a sneaking obscurity. They congregated at nightfall about the police stations, and were admitted to the hospi- tality of the cells, which they shared with the drunken men arrested on the street. One can judge of the number of such idlers when he reads that in 1877, the year before the Lodge was opened, the police stations of Boston furnished 55,973 lodgings to men and 6,746 to women. No decent provision could be made for the miserable wretches, they were not given food nor a chance to wash, but at daybreak turned 120 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. into the street to beg or steal a breakfast somewhere. The police stations were not designed for such a swarm of human beings, and the atmosphere was next to poison for officers or inmates. Acting under the provisions of a law passed by the Massachusetts Legislature of 1875, the overseers of the poor of Boston in 1877 applied to the city for the use of a schoolhouse on Hawkins street, then badly damaged by fire and unoccupied, that they might carry out the provisions of the law enabling overseers of the poor to require some labor from persons applying for food or shelter. The city council promptly voted to supply a house and other means, and- I had the honor, as a member of the board, to be one of the committee to organize and manage the new Lodge and Woodyard, and was a member of the same committee for nine years, until I declined a fourth term on the board. Our committee studied the situation carefully, took advice from the police, read what they could find printed on the subject, and opened the Wayfarers' Lodge (a name suggested by Mr. T. C. Amory, the chairman of the committee) in 1878. A leading purpose was to get rid of many of the tramps infesting the city, by closing the police stations against lodgers, compelling all applicants for lodgings to call at the police stations for caids on the Lodge, and retaining the applicant at the station if he were noisy or intoxicated, giving cards only to men who appeared to be sober. On arriving at the Lodge, the applicant presents his card of admission, is asked his name, age, occupation, birthplace, and whether married or single. A striking proof of the wisdom of the institution of matrimony is found in the fact that very seldom is a married man a tramp; the tramp has only himself to care for, and he seems to take very poor care of that. With us he is becoming more of a rarity ; speed the day when he shall be extinct, and the last specimen of the race, after repenting oi his sins and making an edifying death, may atone for all his offenses in a dry purgatory in a glass case in the ethnological department of the Museum at Harvard University. Our applicant, after registry is completed, is given a ticket bear- ing a number, which is his number while in the house. He descends to the basement, where he completely disrobes; I have seen one tramp take off four pairs of trousers, peeling like an onion. The clothes are tied up in a bundle and placed for an hour or so subject to the action of dry steam, thoroughly disinfecting them and destroy- RING. 121 ing all germs of vermin or perhaps disease. About ten thousand suits of clothes are so treated annually, certainly a great sanitary advantage to the general public. The clothes shaken out of ihe bundle are hung on a hook numbered the same as the man's ticket, and dry in a few minutes, with no apparent damage to the garments. The lodger in the meantime has been through a warm bath^ his hair drenched with a special preparation, he has taken a clean nij^ht shirt, and gone up to the dormitory, where he has a neat cot bed to himself. There are three rooms with fifty cots in each, and some smaller rooms with more cots ready for use. From forty to one hundred and seventy men sleep here every night in the year. Gas burns low in the rooms ; closets are on each floor for use of the men ; there is always peace in the house. The men, after the unaccus- tomed luxury of a warm bath and a fresh, clean night robe, sleep soundly until called at six in the morning, when they go down and dress, then pass into the yard covered by a roof, where each man finds a foot of wood and a saw waiting for him. When he has finished the task he gets a ticket admitting him to breakfast. Some men can do the work in three-quarters of an hour, some take two hours; but unless a man is sick he must do the work before he can have any breakfast. By nine o'clock most of the men are gone, and the yard is empty until the men come in to work an hour for their dinner. The cost of the Lodge in 1892 was $9,436.68 (no rent for the use of the building is charged by the city), 32,611 lodgings were fur- nished, and 71,549 meals given. The cost of the materials used for the table makes the meals average six cents each man. Here is the menu: Soup (quart bowl), stewed beef, bread, potatoes, Boston baked beans on Sundays, fish chowder on Fridays, tea, milk and sugar at all the suppers. A man may suit himself as to the quantity he wishe^ to eat. No one watches him. He can take his time and eat what he wishes. Counting the cost of the Lodge last year at $9,400 and the lodgings at 32,000, the daily cost of a lodging is thirty cents, including meals. Each lodger could, if space were available (and not half the needed space is provided), saw and split a foot of wood, advancing the commercial value of the same twenty-five cents, and thus almost cover the whole cost of his keeping for the day. But for want of space the men are not fully employed at produc- tive labor, some are piling wood or doing something to keep them moving, so that the result is that the labor of all the men produces 122 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. about one-third of the cost of the Lodge. That, placed on the basis of one day, means that it costs the city thirty cents a day, and the lodger returns ten cents a day by his labor. On the wharf, however, the men who come during the day for meals are employed, being given a meal ticket on the completion of their task. About one-third of all the wood prepared is sawed and split on the wharf by the dinner men, as they are called, to distin- guish them from the lodgers. An attempt was made sometime ago to try a plan that had worked well in Providence, namely, to employ all comers who wanted money at the rate of fifty cents a day in cash and their meals while at work, but it was found the men so employed mixed themselves with the tramps and did no more work than they could avoid doing; the results, as far as they could be traced, were of no tangible value, and the experiment under the conditions was deemed a failure and was discon- tinued. A wharf is hired for the receipt of cargoes of wood from vessels, and if the place were owned by the city and the men were lodged there, a much larger return would be secured from the labor than is , possible now. The experiment was tried of marching lodgers from the Wayfarers' Lodge to the wharf, to do their work there before breakfast, but the men scattered in all directions on coming out from the yard. True, it is possible to have police escort, but a four dollar policeman to a ten-cent tramp would not be a profitable outlay for the overseers. Seven years ago I prepared a paper on this Wayfarers' Lodge, and since beginning the present sketch I have read over my notes and I am struck with the great changes noticeable in the classes that now come to the Lodge compared with the men as a whole who lodged in the house when it was first opened in 1878. The worst class, the stowaways from the foreign steamers, do not come at all. A law pissed or enforced since forbids the landing of stowaways. Men claiming to be strikers or traveling in search of work do not apply so often; either they have money and go elsewhere, or there are fewer looking in this way for employment. The tramp avoids the Lodge ; only dire necessity compels him to ask a shelter or a meal that must be paid for in labor. The cheap lodging-houses, of which Boston has far too many for its peace, are the places where he can find congenial company and an occasional. RING. 123 but welcome drink. As long as he can steal, or rob a drunken passer on the street, he will not face the Lodge. These men spend their winters in ease at the almshouse, from which they are discharged on their own application in the spring; then they manage to go to some penal institution for awhile ; when cold weather approaches they are snug in the almshouse again. As a means of securing conviction of some of the idle vagrants, the Lodge has failed completely to meet the expectation of the first com- mittee. The discouragement thrown by a judge on the first good case presented made the superintendent feel that it was wasting time to do anything further; he simply refuses to let the vagrant in if he recognizes him as one who has made trouble, and so dismisses the matter. The largest of any distinct class now at the Lodge are railroad laborers, employed most of the year at construction works. When the winter stops operations they spend carelessly what they have saved, and those who have no acquaintances or friends come to the Lodge for a few days (three days is the limit). Ask any one of them why he came to the Lodge and he will tell you that he was foolish with his money when he had it, but hopes soon to be at work again. Summing it all up: the Wayfarers' Lodge is useful to the city of Boston. It is not claimed that all the men cut of work can find employment here, or that all without means to pay for a lodging can be provided for, but it does this much, it contributes largely towards the health and safety of the lodgers under its roof It offers a fair test of the sincerity and capacity of the man who says he is willing to work, for many good places for laborers have been found by the Lodge. It takes no payment in money from a lodger, it supposes the applicant to be without money. All who come are humanely treated, and when they leave they feel that they have earned the cost of their food and shelter and are in debt to no one, except so far as to thank the Christian instinct ingrained in our national life, which has pro- vided a means by which a poor man may without shame eat the bread set before him, for he has already done all that was asked from him in return for it. 124 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. FREE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT OFFICES IN OHIO. AN EXPERIMENT IN SOCIALISTIC LEGISLATION. p. W. AYRES, GENERAL SECRETARY OF ASSOCIATED CHARITIES, CINCINNATI, OHIO. ' Free public employment offices, established by the state of Ohio in five of its largest cities, are certainly a unique experiment. Tht legislation establishing these offices was new and bold. It has aroused peculiar interest, because it undertakes to deal in some measure with the relation of the state to industrial action, and at the same time is a step toward government control, the end of which was not easily seen when the bill passed. The offices have been in operation a little less than three years. It is, therefore, too soon to estimate their final value. The following sketch will endeavor to show to what extent the offices have proved useful to laborers, notwithstanding the political changes in management, and to what extent they have failed to carry out the original ideals of those who framed the bill. The Municipal Labor Congress of Cincinnati, an organization composed of all the trade and labor unions in that city, started the agitation in favor of free public employment offices to be established by the state government. The bill, as introduced into the state legislature during the winter of 1889-90, made the employment offices a branch of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics, fixed the salaries of superintendents and clerks, and placed the expense upon the state. Senator M. T. Corcoran of Cincinnati, who introduced the bill, fought hard to have it passed in its original form. The shrewd farmer legislator, however, proved too much in this case for the city representative of labor, and refused to pay from the state treasury the salaries of officials, the benefit of whose work would accrue largely to the local cities in which they were employed. It resulted, therefore, that the city governments should pay the salaries which constituted the greater portion of the expense connected with the offices, while the state government should pay the rent of offices. The Plan as proposed. The original intentions of the framersof the bill were: First, that the local offices collect statistical data relating to the AYRES. 125 industrial interests of the state, supplementing the statistics of the State Labor Bureau. Second, that they exchange industrial information between the various cities of the state, so that scarcity of a given class of laborers in one city could be supplied from the excess of such laborers in another city. Third, that they assist employers to secure employees. Fourth, that they furnish working men and women out of employ- ment free and reliable information as to the kind and character of employment to be had. It was the intention of the framers of this law that the free employment offices should be entirely devoid of partisan politics, that labor leaders should be appointed to the superintendencies, and that the collection of statistics should be more complete than had hitherto been made in the state. These intentions of the framers have not all been carried out. Legislation proposes ; the spoils system, like the voice of God, disposes. Prior to the establishment of the free employment offices there were " employment agencies," which were run for private profit. Some of them were leeches engaged in sucking the life-blood from the poor. It is stated that these private agencies charged men and women anywhere from one to fifteen dollars for securing them employment, and that they obtained their victims chiefly fr©m the rural districts and neighboring towns, often bound them by contract, and left them in worse condition than before. One of the chief ben- efits of the free offices in Ohio has been to prevent the evils arising from extortionate private agencies, although some continue to do a nefarious business, sending laborers to unsatisfactory places in Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, etc. Private agencies in several cities still do business limited by competition with the state office. The Dill analyzed. (Revised Siahdes of Ohio, Sectioii 308.)* The bill passed the Ohio legislature, April 28, 1890. It provides that the state labor commissioner shall have an office in the state house which shall be a bureau of statistics of labor. It authorizes the commissioner to establish in the five largest cities of Ohio free public employment offices, with a superintendent and suitable clerical help. " No compensation or fee shall directly or indirectly be *The "ijill is printed in Fourteenth Annual Report of the Ohio Bureaji of 1-abor Statistics (for the year 1890). 126 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. charged to or received from any person or persons seeking employ- ment, or any person or persons desiring to employ labor through any of said offices." The superintendent is directed to make a weekly report, on Thursday of each week, to the state commissioner, of the persons desiring to employ labor, and of the persons applying for employment, and of the character of employment in each case. This weekly list from each office in the state is printed and posted in each of the other offices in the other cities. It is provided that each superintendent shall receive a salary fixed by the council of the city in which he is employed. The salary of the clerical assistants is limited to fifty dollars per month, though a less sum may be paid by the local city council. Under this act, the five offices were at once organized in the sum- mer of 1S90; Toledo paying a salary of $1000 per year, without an assistant; Dayton paying $1000 per year, with an assistant at $600 per year; Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus paying $1200 per year each, with an assistant at $600 per year each. The report of the state labor commissioner for that year makes this criticism upon the law: "A bad feature of the law is that it leaves it optional to councils of the different cities to make and unmake salaries. This position endangers the existence of the offices, and hgis a tendency to bring the superintendents and clerks into collusion with members of the city government as against the com- missioner." Relation to Politics. The offices have notbeen kept free from political interference. When the offices were first opened the state had a Democratic governor. The state commissioner of labor appointed by him was a fair-minded man, who put into the five free public employment offices three Democrats favorable to the labor party and two representatives of the People's party. These gentlemen had no sooner become familiar with the office, having held it about one year, just time enough to learn th'e field and to begin a systematic collection of statistics, when the state changed its political head for one of the Republican party. The newly-appointed state commissioner of labor was a Republican. All of the original superintendents with their assistants weie requested to resign, and new appointments were made from the Republican ranks, with more or less regard to the labor interests. Thus there are nine more offices than formerly that belong to the spoils of state. AYRES. 127 State politics, however, are better than municipal politics, and the offices have not been interfered with by the local city councils, nor have there been places where local jobs have been given away for votes. Fortunately, the appointments have been in the hands of the state commissioner of labor, and not in the hands of the local ward politician. The political interference, therefore, has not been of that despicable variety which would change the office from free state employment to local ward boss employment. The offices have fortunately escaped the exceeding fine grinding of ihe local political machines. In the second place, the collection of statistics has not been so complete as was hoped for. The failure in this direction probably results from the failure to keep the system free from politics. The superintendents in the different cities have not been in office long enough to develop a uniform system of collecting statistics, while changes in office tend to cultivate disrespect on the part of large employers. In Dayton, for instance, the employers objected to giving the statistics asked for, on the plea that the state had no right to collect statistics from the internal secrets of business men, to be pried into by designing politicians and business competitors. Six firms absolutely refused to comply with the requests, preferring the risks of litigation, until events should prove the law a good one or a bad one, and either sustain it for its good qualities or repeal it for its alleged corrupt and unjust features. It was found also that the state commissioner of labor was obliged to withdraw the blanks sent out by the local superintendents, to prevent confusion in the work of the special agents sent out from the state office. In one instance the special agent found that the blanks from the local superintendent did not command respect, they had not been sent out with tact. The agent refused to work until these local blanks had been withdrawn. The Work of a Labor Exchange. Still further, the free employment offices have not been the means of exchanging knowledge of the industrial situation between different cities to the extent that was hoped for. The reports made on Thurs- day are sent to Columbus and printed, and returned on Monday or Tuesday, so that it is fully a week before the notices are posted in each office as to the condition of labor in other cities. When this is coupled with the fact that a large proportion of the applicants are 128 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. unskilled laborers, it will readily appear that the posted notices are not much considered. Nor have the free public employment offices rendered large assist- ance to employers in securing employees, As one employer said, " So far as the mechanic or skilled laborer is concerned, manufac- turers are overrun with applicants at the shop. Therefore they have no practical need of the services of the office." The number of skilled artisans who have received employment from the Public Agencies have been few. The vacancies, or the possibility of vacan- cies, have become known and the position applied for before the manu- facturer or contractor has had an opportunity of seeking help through the free office. The superintendent in Cincinnati reports a favorable growth in this direction, and seeks to make his office a local labor exchange. Furthermore, the work of different offices in the state has been very uneven. In the report for the year 1891 the positions secured in the Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton offices have been very largely for females in the line of domestic help, while many of the men who have secured employment have been coachmen, hostlers, cooks, butlers, etc., all in the line of household service. Take for instance the report of the Cleveland office for the week ending April 14th, 1893: Positions secured for men 38 Positions secured for women and girls, 55 Of the thirty-eight positions for men, eleven were for servants and work about the house or barn ; of the fifty-five places for women and girls, thirty-nine were for servants. Of the remaining sixteen women for other than domestic work, the positions were as follows : Wet-nurse, i; light work, 3; day's work, 6; house-cleaning, 4; laundry work, 2. For that week, therefore, all of the women and one-third of the men were sent to household work in some of its branches. It would appear that the state of Ohio has gone into the domestic servant business ! This unfavorable balance of female domestic labor does not appear in some of the other offices, though it forms a considerable portion elsewhere. The following table shows the kind of labor secured in each city and the number of male and female laborers employed through the five offices, for the week ending April 21, 1893: AYRES. 129 MALES. Laborers Carpenters Painters Marble workers . . . Moulders Upholsterer Plasterer Core-maker Shoemaker Varnish rubber.. . . Shop works Blacksmiths General work Clerks Canvassers Farm hands Gardeners To private families Dish-washers Waiters Porters Hostlers Drivers Scrubbers Boys for work Total . 1 «j c M ^ rt s B t> ■a C > 0) s- ■q V ■5 c U U H p U 22 3 19 6 14 3 8 4 I 2 I . . I 2 2 5 4 • 5 I 2 2 I I . . . . , . 2 4 5 3 I I I I 3 2 I 3 I 4 2 . 2 2 4 8 39 22 29 41 43 o 64 16 3 5 4 ID 2 3 10 3 3 3 3 7 2 15 173 FEMALES. ■ « 3 .a B ■5 U •0 c > •a H c >> « Q « c _c '0 c J3 H General housework 10 3 I 2 15 2 3 5 3 6 2 I • • 15 I I 5 3 • • 4 10 2 2 2 2 2 I 2 23 3 's 12 3 4 '6 73 9 6 Chambermaids .... , Dining-room girls Upstairs work 21 Cooks 21 Day work 8 Nurse girls 4 Dish-washers Seamstresses / 4 4 I lotel work 8 Laundresses 9 I Solicitor Factory work. 2 Total 2 1 37 30 23 59 170 Males. . . Females "73 , 170 243 for one week. 130 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Summary of Situations wanted, Help wanted, and Positions secured FROM January i, 1891, to January i, 1892. Situations Wanted. Help Wanted. Positions Secured. Males. Females. Males. Females. Males. Females. Columbus 3.128 6,308 3.859 3.351 4,811 1.739 3.830 1.799 2,118 3.428 1,534 925 2,481 1,386 3.369 2,268 3.471 2,479 2,004 3,291 915 886 2,064 790 2,312 1,481 Cleveland 2,so8 Toledo 1,391 1,119 Dayton Cincinnati 2,129 Total 21,457 12,914 9.695 13,513 6,967 8,628 Situations secured, males and females, 15,595. The amount of help wanted was 67.52 per cent, of situations wanted. Positions secured was 66.9 per cent, of help wanted. '• " " 45.2 " situations wanted. The total number of persons who secured employment through the offices in one year was 15,525. Of this number, 6,967 were males, 8,558 were females. While it appears from the tables given that most of the persons benefited by the offices are of the lowest industrial grade, few of the men or women being skilled laborers, yet it must not be supposed that the work which is accomplished is of little value. The five state offices cost the state about $10,000 per year. If each of these 15,525 persons had to pay one dollar or more for his position, the sum would have been at least $15,525, all of which has been saved to the people who need it most and at the time when they need it most. The offices are a boon to the unskilled laborers, and for their sakes should be continued. The offices have not been used by the large employers nor by skilled artisans, but they have done a work for the unskilled laborers, preventing extortion by private agencies, and directing them to places where help is wanted, to which they never would have drifted of their own accord. The chief work, therefore, of the free offices has not been to influence the labor question materially. They have done very little to change the attitude of employers and employees tov/ard each other. They have done comparatively little for regular employees, who, of course, seldom need the services of the offices ; WEBER. 131 but they have caught the driftwood of the labor market and have directed it into useful channels. They have assisted these out-of-works to $15,000 in cash which they otherwise must have spent, in addition to the service of information rendered, and thus act as preventives of pauperism in a very true sense, without in anywise being helpful in the creation of new paupers. PAUPERISM AND CRIME. JOHN B. WEBER. The ordinary definition of a pauper is one who has become a charge upon the public; but, as applied to a foreigner, there is a dis- position, widely extended and firmly lodged in the minds of many of our people, to have it embrace arriving immigrants who have little means, notwithstanding they may possess in a marked degree the physical capacity and apparent willingness to gain a livelihood by labor. Mr. Gladstone, in a speech delivered in the House of Commons on the nth day of February last, in speaking to the amendment relat- ing to destitute aliens, among other things said ; "Now the first thing we have to consider is what is meant by the words 'destitute aliens.' What aliens are destitute? .... How can we make good that definition of a destitute alien, a man who is supporting himself by wages which he earns, which his employer is willing to give him, and with which he is contented? In what sense is he destitute? He is destitute in this sense, that if he had not got employment, and wages as a result of such employment, then he would be destitute. Yes, sir, but that is the definition of the condition of the entire laboring population. They are not destitute, but they would be, if they did not get the wages which they earn in their trades." Upon this point Commissioners Kempster and Weber, who as representatives of the government visited Europe in the summer of 1891 to investigate and report upon the subject of immigration to this country, used this language: 132 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. "In investigating your proposition with reference to pauperism, the question was raised as to the definition of the word ' pauper ' within the meaning of existing law. We did not regard a person as a pauper who presented every appearance of industry, willingness and physical capacity to labor, even if his means on landing were limited, nor yet if he was assisted by friends, relatives or philanthropic persons, unless such assistance implied a leaning upon others for support. The greatest number of those arriving within the last year, who, because of special conditions surrounding their cases, received assistance en route, were Jews, yet they very rarely became a charge upon the public. Indeed, no race or nationality presents so clean a record in such respect as they. A person who by reason of unexpected misfortunes or persecutions is deprived of his accumulations, who has been subjected to pillage and plunder while fleeing from the burdens which have become unbearable, if capable of supporting himself and family — if he has one — with a reasonable certainty after obtaining a foothold, and if that foothold is guaranteed by friends or relatives upon landing or strong probable surrounding circumstances, is not, according to our definition, a pauper. The history of this country is full of instances of men from all countries who have reached great prominence in our commercial, financial, professional and legislative bodies both in state and nation, who would have been returned as paupers if the standard of pauperism was based upon money possessions when landing." It is true that foreigners contribute an undue quota of paupers and criminals in proportion to their numbers, but they are burdened with excessive conditions from which the natives are free, and in weighing the value of immigrants there should be taken into the account the vast net benefits which we derive from the influx as a whole. They come into a strange country where new customs and methods con- front them, many of them unfamiliar with our language, and to this extent start handicapped in the competition for a livelihood. We should rather wonder at the small number who become discouraged and yield to the temptation of crime or, heartsick and despondent, apply for relief to the poor authorities. Viewing the subject simply from the standpoint of dollars and cents, which is perhaps a very low but a very practical one, the incoming of foreigners has been, now is, and I believe for a long time to come will be, the best investment this nation has yet made. Charge against them all the cost of crime and pauperism — going back a generation or two, if necessary — charge against them all the real and alleged evils of their influence in the administration of the municipal affairs of our cities where foreigners or those of immediate foreign extraction predominate, and the net advantage remaining is still colossal. Formerly it was estimated that every able-bodied WEBER. 133 arrival added a thousand dollars to the wealth of the country, and if this is correct, it is not a difficult calculation to measure the gain to the state of New York for the year 1892, during which period about 40,000 families settled therein. Assuming that only the heads of those families were able-bodied producers — and this is a liberal assump- tion on the opposite side of my contention — it meant an increase of $40,000,000 to the resources of the state. The cost of the alien criminals and paupers who cannot under any system of inspection or plan, other than total prohibition of immigration, be entirely elim- inated, is absolutely insignificant in comparison. Nor is there any convincing evidence that the value of the immigrant has diminished. The fact that he comes indicates that the conditions here require him. The movement is not a haphazard one, nor is it based on whim or caprice ; except as to Russia, it is in obedience to the law of attraction, not repulsion. It is founded on the law of supply and demand. Place the figures of arrivals alongside of your years of panic or industrial distress and you have a plain revelation. The arrivals of 79,000 in the panic year of 1837 were cut down to 38,000 in 1838. In 1857 the arrivals were 246,000, falling to 119,000 the following year. The next panic year of 1873 showed 450,000, dropping to 313,000 in 1874, 227,000 in 1875, 169,000 in 1876, 141,- 000 in 1877, 138,000 in 1878, rising to 177,000 in 1879, and regaining its normal volume of 457,000 in 1880. Immigration statistics have proven an unfailing barometer indi- cating industrial conditions ; and in tracing immigrants to final desti- nation in this country, it will be found that the movement is most sluggish where development is least active ; or in other words, where the immigrant is a novelty, the sheriff is a necessity. Of course it is not contended that we should let in every applicant, simply because there is, and will continue to be, a large balance on the credit side of the account ; but I regard it as an unwise policy to close the gates, wholly or in great part, whether in express terms of law or indirectly by alleged improvement in the method of inspection. 1 am in favor of any plan practicable in its enforcement and honest in striking at real evils, having for its object the exclusion of those who are physically and mentally weak, vicious, diseased, dangerously ignorant, or whose labor is contracted for abroad to the detriment of the better paid and higher grade labor of this country. The statistics, however, should not be twisted to strengthen dema- goguery or foster narrow-minded prejudice. If the census returns 134 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. are made so as to show that about 15 per cent, of our population is made up of persons of foreign birth, the tables of crime and pauper- ism chargeable to aliens need not be swelled in their totals by adding to the foreign-born those who were born here of mixed or foreign parentage. The figures, in respect of crime at least, do not exhibit marked improvement of foreign stock by contact with our civiliza- tion. On the contrary, one nationality, according to the census returns, shows the following, viz.: Foreign-born parents of foreign-born criminals 11,118 Foreign-born parents of native-born criminals 16,695 The pauper statistics of the same nationality make a more gratify- ing exhibit, showing a reverse result, but of increased emphasis, viz.: Foreign-born parents of foreign-born paupers number 28,256 Foreign-born parents of native-born paupers number 3>758 These figures seem to indicate that the Americanized generation improves as to pauperism, but retrogrades as to crime. In analyzing the census statistics of criminals and paupers of foreign extraction there were developed some interesting, and to me surprising exhibits, differing so materially from popular belief that I append a table extracted from the returns and arranged in groups for purposes of ready comparison. Figures from the United States Census of 1890. White Criminals and Paupers. Color and Nativity. Crim nals. Paupers. Number. Per cetit. Number. Per cent. Total white 57,310 100.00 66,578 100.00 Native, white 40,471 15,932 907 36,969 70.62 27.80 1.58 100.00 36,656 27,648 2,274 49,167 55.06 41-53 3-41 100.00 Foreiern, white Birthplace unknown Both parents native or foreign Natives born of native parents 21,037 15,932 56.90 43-10 21,519 27,648 43-77 56.23 Foreigners born of foreign parents WEBER. 135 Immigration and Parentage. Immigrants 1886-1890. Parents of Native Criminals and Paupers. Nationality. One parent foreign. Both parents foreign. Total foreign parents. Same nationality. Different nationalities. Criminals. English speaking •673.158 2,229 9,104 1,941 41,584 England Scotland 330,719 85,619 6,332 250,448 {a) 457.765 449 191 35 1,276 278 9 590 240 46 7,935 293 69 514 355 36 825 211 16 5.997 1,996 Wales 343 Ireland 29,184 Canada Non-English speaking . 4,064 2,192 Italy 197,805 183,445 76,505 673.158 5 I 3 702 174 75 8 345 100 5 3 I I 33 19 16 I 2,231 4 • • 2 363 1,209 Poland, \ 339 382 262 Russia, j ... Hungary Paupers. English speaking 41,103 England 330,719 85,619 6,332 250,448 (.) 457.765 240 47 30 1,806 108 32 99 64 8 146 46 10 4,688 Scotland i>392 Wales 590 Ireland 32,421 Canada 2,012 Non-English speaking . 1,037 Italy 197,805 183,445 76,505 9 18 2 3 5 • • 2 3 317 Poland, \ 476 136 108 Russia, j Hungary : . (a) No statistics of immigrants from the British North American Possessions since 1885. Note by the Editor. — This table has been recast and corrected to con- form to Census Bulletin 352, " Natiyity and Parentage of Prisoners and Paupers." Mr. Weber's argument has been rather strengthened than other- wise by the slight alterations in his figures. The following figures, also from the Census of 1890, but as yet unpublished, may be added to those which he has given. The fairest possible comparison is that between the total population of any given nationality and the group of the same nationality which is the subject of 136 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. study. The total number of English in the United States, June i, 1890, was 907,259; Scotch, 242,197 ; Welch, 100,065 ; Irish, 1,871,339; Canadians, 973,- 488; total, 4,094,618. These figures maybe taken as divisors. There are two distinct sets of dividends, of which the first is composed of foreign-born prisoners and paupers; the second, of the foreign-born parents of prisoners and paupers. By adding six ciphers to the latter we obtain the ratios to 1,000,000 of the same element of the total population. The adoption of this process gives the following result : Ratios for Prisoners and Paupers. Elements. Population. Prisoners. Paupers. Number. Ratio. Number. Katie. Total white 54,983,890 57,310 1,042 66.578 45,862,023 41,378 902 38,930 849 Parents native Parents foreign 34.358,348 11.503,675 9,121,867 4,094,618 25,690 15,688 15,932 9,628 748 1,364 1.747 2.3SI 34.219 4,7" 27,648 17,846 996 410 3,031 4.358 Selected Nationalities. 907.529 242,197 100,065 1.871,339 973,488 574,781 1,918 479 89 S.559 1,583 1,050 2,115 1,977 8S9 2,970 1,626 1,826 1,962 575 ^56 14,128 925 524 Scotland Wales 2.375 2.559 7.55° 950 912 Canada. , Non-English speaking Italy 182,342 147,416 182,614 62,409 562 149 209 130 3.115 1,011 1,144 2,083 149 219 107 49 817 1,485 586 785 Poland Ratios for Parents of Prisoners and Paupers. Selected Nationalities English speaking England Scotland Wales Ireland .. Canada Non-English speaking. . . . Italy Poland Russia . . Hungary 4,094,618. 907,529 242,197 100,065 1,871.339 973.488 574,781 182,342 147,416 182,614 62,409 41,914 5.997 1,996 343 29,184 4,394 2,192 1,209 339 382 262 10,236 6,6c8 8,241 3.428 15.328 4,514 3.814 6,630 2,300 2,092 4,198 41.350 4.688 1,392 590 32,419 2,261 1.037 317 476 136 loS '.09? 5,'66 5.747 S.896 17.324 2,323 i,8c4 1,739 3.229 745 1,731 WEBER. 1 37 As the objections usually heard against particular classes of immi- grants are leveled at the Italians, Poles, Russians and Hungarians, I have grouped the criminals and paupers of these four countries on the one hand, and those from English-speaking countries on the other. I select the latter to compare with the first named for the reason that so much has been said of the easy assimilation with us of our British cousins, because they speak the same language, spring from the same stock, and will sooner become "Americanized" than the others, that by comparing the best and the worst (according to popular estimate) an interesting and perhaps instructive exhibit may be furnished. In order that the comparison may be fairly based, I give the number of arrivals in each group for the five years preceding and including the census year in which criminal and pauper statistics were taken ; the totals showing that those in the group of what may be termed Southern Europeans are nearly two-thirds as large as those from Great Britain, and thereforethe totals of undesirables should bear the same proportions, to place them on a level. The figures in every column show the English-speaking people so far in the lead, both in respect of criminals and paupers, that it almost staggers belief. Thus in the class of criminals confined in our prisons in i8go, the number of natives with one foreign parent from Great Britain or Canada are 2229 and only 9 from Southern Europe ; of both parents foreign there were 9104 English-speaking and but 69 from Southern Europe ; of both parents foreign, but of different nationalities, 1941 of the assimilable class, and but 6 of the others; while the nationality of foreign parents of criminals born abroad and here, there were 41,584 of English-speaking people as against 2192 of those who are not readily assimilated because they do not speak our language. The same results substantially are found in the pauper classes, except that in the last column we find 41,103 English- speaking parents as against 1037 Southern Europeans. These figures demonstrate that those who more readily assimilate with us furnish the greatest number of criminals and paupers. But after all, the question is, Are we making gain? and improve- ments in keeping out bad elements ? and we must solve the problem. How can the weeding process be still rriore improved ? That there has been decided improvement in the matter of inspec- tion by the immigration authorities at New York since the federal government superseded that of the state officials, the figures amply demonstrate ; that the laws can be amended so as to produce still 138 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. better results, 1 confidently believe. The policy of the United States officials at the chief immigration station from the beginning has been to strengthen the medical and other inspection force at the threshold, and thus reduce the number to be cared for after landing. This necessarily increased the expense at the starting point, but materially reduced it at our hospitals, making the total expense less. Not only did it save to the government in the matter of caring for those who fell into distress within the year from landing, as evidenced by ascer- tainable figures, but it must have saved largely in the classes not separated or distinguished, who, after the year, fall as burdens upon local communities. For instance, the federal authorities at New York turned back to Europe, in-the first two years and seven months of their administration, twice as many as the state officials did in the five years preceding federal control. Under the state authorities the daily average attendance of those who were cared for within the year of landing at the expense of the " immigrant fund " reached 266, while under the federal authorities it fell to 73J in 1891, and 81 and a fraction in 1892, with increased immigration during the latter years. The number of insane immigrants (the most serious burden), under federal officials, never reached 25 per cent, of those turned over to them by the state board, after disposing of the subjects so transferred by recovery, death or removal to local institutions at the end of the year. There is other corroborative evidence of improve- ment in the sifting process. The number of steamship tickets for immigrants returning to Europe, based upon reduced or charity rates, issued by the com- panies to persons having some means, but who failed in successfully competing here for a livelihood, show a decreasing tendency ; the figures from several of the more important lines marking in 1892 a decline of 25 per cent, over those of 1889. The number of immigrants returned to Europe at government expense was reduced from 109 for 1891 to 11 for 1892. The old law prevailed for the first three months 'of 1891, during which 36 of the 109 were returned, but the same law governed for the rest of the stated time, and material improvement is shown in these reduced figures. I believe, however, that further practical improvement in the sifting process is possible and available. While every plan must in the nature of things be in a sense experimental, and none can be expected to yield absolutely perfect results, I still adhere to sugges- WEBER. 139 tions heretofore made on various occasions, and conclude this paper by quoting, as pertinent to this point, from an address on the subject of immigration delivered by me at Cooper Union, New York, in January, 1893. '■'■Plan recommended. Sub-agents'* Certification. Inspection Here and Compttl- sory Return after Landing. " The plan that I would suggest is that laid down in Dr. Kempster's and my report referred to, from which I have seen no reason to deviate in its general features, except to add a clause vesting in the President the power to suspend immigration temporarily in the case of threatened pestilence, and possibly an educational qualification ; the report having been written before the outbreak of the typhus and cholera of last year, and before illiteracy statistics were kept at the Immigration Bureau. I would hold the sub-agents of steamship companies, of whom there are many thousands scattered over Europe, respon- sible for the sale of a ticket to a prohibited person, reaching them not directly by our law, for that is impossible, but striking at their pockets through the steamship agencies or companies in this country ; compelling them to pay the return passage of a defective immigrant and levying a fine in each instance in addition, if necessary ; or in other words, imposing a penalty, which in a single case would wipe out the commissions received in a great many. The sub- agent, in almost all cases, knows the applicant personally; lives in the village with him; is familiar with his family history; knows his conduct and deportment, and his mental and physical defects, better than any one who comes in contact with him after he leaves his home. No other person who can be reached knows so well. As one of the details of this plan, I would have each intending emigrant, when he applies for a ticket, sign and swear to a duplicate statement covering all necessary points, one copy to be sent through the S. S. Agents to the Inspection Bureau in the United States, retaining the other for personal presentation by the immigrant upon arrival, which would answer as a descriptive list showing precisely what he had sworn to upon purchasing his ticket. I would continue a rigid inspection here, and besides hold every alien immigrant after landing subject to compulsory depor- tation, in the discretion of the courts, whenever he develops into pauperism or criminality, and until he has assumed the burdens and acquired the privileges of citizenship; or, in other words, I would have him passing through the Immigration Bureau continuously until he became a citizen. Every country in Europe deports alien paupers and criminals to their homes except Great Britain, and there is no sentiment or reason which we would violate if we adopted the same plan. This would rid us of paupers when they reach that stage, of criminals after serving their sentence, and they would properly become a burden upon the community from whence they sprang, or upon the governments to which they still owe allegiance. I regard this feature as practical and important. In a minor degree we now have this power, and it works very well. We are now authorized to return to Europe within twelve months after landing, a person who has come here in violation of the immi- 140 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. gration laws, or who becomes a public charge from causes existing prior to landing ; and under this limited power we have returned over five hundred persons during the last year, who could not be detected by any process of inspection, here or abroad, and nearly all of whom would have become a per- manent burden' upon some of our communities. Wipe out this year limit, extend it to cover the period to citizenship, and eliminate that requirement that we must show that the cause existed prior to landing, so as to take in one who becomes a pauper or a criminal here, and we solve the problem of how to get rid of the undesirable element coming to us from abroad. Then guard better your avenues to citizenship, and a great many of your immigration evils will disappear. "One Feature of Naturalization. "As one of the details of naturalization, I would have permanent records kept at the Immigration Bureau of the names of arriving immigrants, alpha- betically arranged and indexed, and would furnish to each a certificate setting forth a brief description, with name, steamer and date of arrival, which should be required by courts of naturalization as evidence of time of residence in this country. These papers could be recorded or filed in the various clerks' offices to guard against loss, certified copies made in case of change of residence, while the record at the immigration station would be available for verification in case of necessity." THE PROBLEM OF INEBRIATE PAUPERISM. T. D. CROTHERS, M. D., SUPERINTENDENT OF WALNUT LODGE HOSPITAL, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT. Some conception of this problem may be obtained from the fact that in 1891 over eight hundred thousand persons were arrested in this country charged with being intoxicated and committing petty crimes. It may be fairly presumed that at least half as many more who used spirits to excess did not come under legal notice. If to these are added those who used opium, chloral and other drug narcotics, the number reaches enormous proportions. Practically this vast army of inebriates represents all classes and conditions, and its members are literally withdrawn from the ranks of active workers and producers, and become obstacles and burdens to sanitary life. They are centres of pauperism and progressive degeneration and of the most unsanitary physiological and psycho- logical conditions. This army literally follows a continuous line of CROTHERS. 141 retrogression, which antagonizes all evolution, growth and develop- ment, and seems to be governed by a uniform law of cause and effect, marked by a beginning, development, decline and extinction, the mystery of which makes it the most absorbing scientific problem of the age. To-day over a million workers are waging a great moral crusade to break up this evil. Politics, religion, education, the pulpit and press are combined in a struggle with this problem, approaching it exclusively from the moral side. Medieval superstition and moral theories are urged, through the pledge, prayer, persecution and punishment, to explain and check this evil. Above all this moral agitation and effort the voice of science appeals to physicians for help. This army of inebriates is increasing, and with it losses and degeneration both of individuals and the race. While inebriates are a part of the great army of the " unfit" who are " mustered out " and crowded out in the race march, there is yet unmistakable evidence that some can be halted, headed off, and returned to health. Already science has pointed out possibilities of cure and prevention, which give promise of practically stamping out this evil in the near future. Some of the outline facts from the sanitary side will show the extent of the evil, and the possibilities of cure from a larger and more accurate study of the subject. The great sanitary problem of to-day is the knowledge and removal of the causes of disease, and the placing of the victim under the best conditions for a return to health. To remove the conditions which favor and encourage disease, and break up the breeding-places of crime, pauperism and allied forms of degeneration, is one of the future certainties of science. There are to-day over a million unrecognized inebriates who are the most defective, dangerous and degenerate of all classes. They are centres of pauperism and sanitary evils, which pass on into the next generation, entailing misery and loss beyond estimate. The superstition of personal freedom with free will permits this army of inebriates to go on year after year destroying themselves, increasing the burden of their families, and building up veritable centres of physical and mental degeneration. Nothing can be more disastrous from a sanitary and scientific standpoint than the indiffer- ence which permits men and women to use alcohol and other drugs, not only destroying themselves, but entailing all degrees of degen- eration on their descendants. 142 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Sanitary science teaches that no one has a right to destroy himself and peril the health and comfort of others. The moderate and periodic drinkers are always sources of danger to themselves and others. To wait until they become chronic and degenerate into law- breakers is to apply the remedy when it is too late. Public senti- ment should not permit one to become an inebriate, nor tolerate him after he has reached such a stage. He should be prevented and forced to undergo treatment, and should be regarded as dangerous to the safety and welfare of the community, and isolated until fully restored. In the near future science will demand that every inebriate have legal guardianship and restriction of personal freedom until he recovers. When these cases realize that such restrictions will be enforced they will seek treatment in the early stages of their disease. The teaching of science demands that both the pauper and million- aire be seized at the very onset and forced into conditions of health and sobriety,- and saved from becoming burdens on the community and centres of ruin and misery. The saloon, with free sale of spirits, is, from a sanitary point of view, a source of extreme danger. Its influence in any community is bad. It brings sanitary perils by destroying the physical and mental stability of its patrons, and both directly and indirectly favors the worst conditions of life. The saloon has no claim for recognition as a business. It is simply a parasite thriving on the decay and degeneration of the community. It is only tolerated by the dense ignorance and selfishness of its defenders. It should be classed with foul sewers, dangerous waters and unsanitary, death-dealing forces. Persecution of it as a moral evil keeps it alive, but examination from the standpoint of science would be fatal to its perpetuity. The drink problem would be largely solved could the favoring conditions of saloons be changed. Unregulated marriage, now a mere matter of accident and impulse, is another source of danger perpetuating the drink-curse. Inebriates, insane, and neurotics of all degrees are permitted to propagate and transmit their defects to succeeding generations. The result is a race of neurotics, who develop inebriety and all forms of insanity and idiocy, together with all associated conditions. The army of neur- otics beyond all question reappears in succeeding generations with similar or interchangeable diseases. The inebriates of this genera- tion who marry and raise up children are creating paupers, criminals and insane for the next. They are wrecking their descendants by 1. / I I CROTHERS. 143 crippling and incapacitating them to live healthy lives. Every com- munity illustrates this fact, and the drink problem is more complex and difficult of solution on this account. We need scientihc study and instruction on this point, and a public sentiment that will make marriage a question of sanitary science. Then we shall have the means for practical prevention and cure of many present evils. The drink problem has another sanitary side in defective nutrition, bad ventilation and other conditions of an unhealthy character. Build up the physique, relieve the condition of starvation, remove the defects of unhealthy living, and in many cases the tendency of the drink craze is thwarted. Mental change, unrest and sudden ^^ change involving a strain on the organism to adapt itself to the new S'l V conditions for which it is unfit, overwork, underwork and diseased - " conditions, defective and retarded growths, and nearly every kind and degree of mental and physical defect, enter into the drink problem and must be recognized and studied. , The present methods of dealing with this problem are followed by startling results. Of the 800,000 persons who were arrested last) year for inebriety not one per cent, were benefited. Over 99 per cent, were made worse and confirmed in their habits. The station- house and jail are active recruiting places, and the hosts of inebriates j who are forced into them are transformed into legions of incurables j who never desert or leave the ranks. Physically the short impris- onment of the inebriate simply removes him from spirits and leaves him less capable of leading a temperate life. Mentally he has lost a certain self-respect and pride of character essential to recovery. The first legal punishment of inebriates is followed by a species of fatality, seen in a constant repetition of the same or allied offenses. This fact is so apparent that these cases are called "repeaters" in the courts, and the number of sentences of the same person often extends to hundreds. In one thousand cases confined at Blackwell's Island, New York, 935 had been sentenced for the same offense, drunkenness, from i to 28 times. The first sentence was a regular switch-point from which the victim was precipit;)ted to a constantly descending grade, becoming more and more incapacitated for tem- perate living. The system of fines is equally ruinous, because it falls most heavily on the families, making it more difficult to support themselves, thereby increasing the perils of pauperism, boih to the victim and those who depend on him for support. 144 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. It may be said, and the statement is sustained by many facts, that ■ the legal treatment by the lower courts of cases of inebriety is fully . as fatal as the saloons themselves where spirits are sold. The saloon and police court are literally the school and college for the training and graduation of classes of incurable inebriates, who endanger every sanitary interest in the country. The fault is not in the courts and their administration of the law, but in the laws themselves, and in that state of public opinion which urges that all inebriates sh'ould be treated as wilful criminals and arrested and punished as such. Thus, year after year this terrible farce of prevention of inebriety by fines and short imprisonments goes on and the incurability of the poor victims increases. Crime is increased, pauperism is increased, the most dangerous sanitary conditions are fostered, and the burdens of taxpayers and producers are increased. The inebriate is always debilitated, and suffers from impaired brain and nerve force; alcohol has broken up all healthy action of the body. In prison both the quality and quantity of food are ill adapted to restore or build up the weakened organism. The hygienic influences of jails and prisons are defective in every respect, and adverse to any healthy growth of body or mind. The psychological influences also are of the worstH possible character. The surrounding and the associates precipitate the victim into conditions of mental despair from which recovery is \ difficult, if not impossible. The only compensation to the inebriate is the removal of alcohol, and in this deprivation the state most I terribly unfits him and makes him more and more helpless for the_J future. Thus, while civilization is one of the sources from which inebriety^ is produced, the blundering effort to remove it by penal punishment is an actual factor in increasing and intensifying the disorder. The treatment of inebriety from a scientific standpoint has passed the stage of experiment and is supported by a greatvariety of experience j and collateral evidence that cannot be disputed. ^ Probably the largest class of inebriates in this country are without means of support and may be termed the indigent and pauper class. This class, non-self-supporting and burdensome, should be recog- nized by law and committed to workhouse hospitals built for this purpose, preferably in the country upon large farms and amid the most favorable environment. These hospitals should be training schools in which medical care, occupation, physical and mental training could be applied for years, or until the inmates had so far I CROTHERS. 145 recovered as to be able to become good citizens. Such hospitals should be built from moneys received from a tax imposed on liquor dealers or a license fund, and support themselves in part from the labor of their inmates, and be independent of the taxpayer or of state support. These places would receive the classes who are now sent to jail, and that other class whose numbers are neglected until they have passed into the chronic stage and have become inmates 1 of prisons and insane asylums. J A very large proportion of these several classes could be made self-supporting while under treatment, and in many cases be an actual source of revenue. The hospitals would naturally be divided into two classes. The first would receive the better, or less chronic, cases ; the second would have the incurables, and those whose recovery was deemed more or less doubtful. In the one case the surroundings and discipline would be more adapted for the special inmates than in the other, but the same general restraint would be followed in each. In both, recoveries would follow. A large class would be restored to society and become producers. In the second, cases would be housed and made to take care of themselves, which would be an immense gain to society in economy and safety. ^ Private enterprise should be encouraged by legislation to provide smaller hospitals for the better class, and for those who would be unwilling, or whom it would be undesirable to compel to enter public asylums. Here the commitments should be both forced and volun- tary, and the restraint combined with the fullest and latest appliances of science for the end to be accomplished, blending seclusion and good surroundings to build up and make recovery possible. The first step is to recognize the fact that the inebriate, whether continuous or periodic, has to a greater or less degree forfeited his personal liberty and become a public nuisance and an obstacle to social progress and civilization. Second, that he is suffering frono] a disease which affects society and every member of the community in which he lives, and from which he cannot recover without aid j from other sources, making it absolutely necessary that he should be / forced into quarantine on the same principle as the smallpox or yellow-fever patient. This is simply carrying out the primitive law of self-preservation. Naturally the money to accomplish this should ~~7 come from the license revenue, on the principle that every business should provide for the accidents and injuries which follow from it. Railroad companies and other corporations are required to pay ^ 146 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. damages for the accidents which follow their business, and this is conceded to be justice. But to-day the tax on the liquor traffic is used to support courts and jails where the inebriate, by fines and imprisonment, is only made worse or more incurable. Thus, literally, the business of selling spirits is increased by the almost barbaric efforts of courts and jails, and every person so punished is made a permanent patron of that business. Against this all the teachings of science and all practical study utter loud protest. The practical success of workhouse hospitals for inebriates is dem- onstrated in every self-supporting jail and state's prison in the country, where the obtacles are greater and the possibilities of accomplishing this end more remote. This can also be seen in asylums for both insane and inebriates, in the various sanitaria and hospitals through the country, where the capacity for self-support and the curability of these cases are established facts. More than that, these hospitals would relieve society of great burdens of loss and suffering; the diminution of the number of inebriates would become a practical certainty to an extent of which we can have no conception at present. It is impossible at the present time to estimate the beneficial results that would follow such a systematized plan of housing and treating the inebriate, but there are positive indications that its effect would be felt in all circles. One of the great fountain-heads of insanity, criminality and pauperism would be closed, and a new era would dawn in the evolution of science. CAUSES OF PAUPERISiM AND THE RELATION OF THE STATE TO IT. A. O. WRIGHT, LATE SECRETARY OF THE STATE BOARD OF CHARI- TIES AND REFORM OF THE STATE OF WISCONSIN. Pauperism is not poverty, which is generally self-supporting. But it is dependence upon alms in some form or other. Pauperism is there- fore an outgrowth of charity, paradoxical as thatstatement may seem. In times and countries where no alms are given there may be starva- tion, but there is no pauperism. If we imagine an ideal state of X WRIGHT. 147 society from which all want is banished, there would of course be no pauperism, for there would be no needy to relieve. If we imagine another state of society, one of absolute selfishness, where no one ever aided another in whatever distress he might be, then again there would be no pauperism, because there would be no relief for the needy. But given such a society as we really have, one with many needy persons, and one with much helpfulness for the needy, and a dependent class comes into existence at once. In this sense pauperism is an outgrowth of charity, but in another sense pauperism is actually created by the charity intended to destroy it, because when people find they can get poor relief, they are inclined to depend upon the relief instead of upon their own exertions. Pau- perism is therefore the product of two sets of forces — the needs of extreme poverty on the one hand, and the aid offered by public or private charity on the other hand. These forces act and react on one another, and their result is pauperism as it exists. To study the causes of pauperism we must study both the causes that produce actual need and the causes that foster factitious, if not fictitious need. Pauperism is brought about by something that prevents produc- tive labor in those who have no capital laid up. The following classes of persons include nearly all who call for poor relief; 1. Children deprived of their natural protectors by death, deser- tion or neglect. 2. Old people past work, who either have no children, or whose children are not able or willing to support them. 3. Persons sick or crippled, or broken down before old age. 4. Mothers with young children, and women about to become mothers, who are widowed or deserted by their husbands, or who were never married. 5. Persons willing and able to work who cannot find work to do. 6. Persons able to work, but idle, and willing to be supported by others. Of these classes it would seem at first that only the last class is unworthy — those able but not willing to work. But a little investigation shows further facts like these. Many of those who profess to be willing to work are not willing to do anything that may come to hand, but would pick their work. Many persons now disabled from work were disabled by their own vices, especially by drunkenness. Many women with illegitimate children are not inno- cent victims, but have children again and again, only to give them 148 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. away to infant asylums or to public officers. Many mothers with families, deserted by husbands, have made home so uncomfortable as to drive them away ; or on the other hand, the father is a drunkard or a criminal, and hence leaves his family to charity. Many old people make life so unpleasant in their children's homes that they are sent to the poorhouses in self-defense. If to these we add the idleness and improvidence of many people, which finally drifts into pauperism under the appearance of misfortune, we have discovered that a very large part of pauperism is due to the vice, the shiftlessness, or the crankiness of the paupers or their relatives. Whether we call these avoidable causes or not depends upon our view of human nature. But now comes in the fact that giving alms very frequently creates pauperism. It took the Christian world many centuries to realize that almsgiving might easily be no charity at all, where it made people depend upon it for a living and created a breed of beggars. The waste of money in lavish almsgiving is the least of its evils, the waste of manhood being a far greater wrong. The evil is essentially the same whether the giver of alms is the public or a society or an individual. Public poor relief, especially outdoor relief, however, is subject to the danger that it will be used for political effect. By this is meant that the local officers will gain votes for themselves by giving poor relief liberally. Over two-thirds of the outdoor relief given in this country, and possibly as much as one-third of the poorhouse relief and one-third of the private charity are absolutely wasted on persons who could support themselves if they knew that they had to do it. This class is not confined to the cities. In many places in the country lavish poor relief is given from a mistaken idea of charity and from the petty political ambition of local officers. So much for the immediate causes of pauperism. Back of these lie the more remote causes which exist in society itself. The ignor- ance, the shiftlessness, the lack of self-respect, the vicious habits which are found even in America among many of the poor, being both the cause and the effects of their poverty, tend directly toward pauperism. Then the badly adjusted relations of laborers to their employers produce strikes and lockouts, mobs and riots, with all their attendant miseries, out of which some persons drop into pauperism. •Worst of all, there are families and groups of persons who are hered- itary paupers and criminals, who live a parasitical life on society in some form or another, and who hand down a degenerate condition to succeeding generations of defectives. WRIGHT. 149 It is very difficult for public authorities or for such semi-public authorities as administer large private charities to do much in the way of preventing pauperism. They can, indeed, refuse to relieve those who do not need poor relief; but what this amounts to is to prevent their own machinery from creating pauperism by lavish poor relief It is not in any other sense an attack on the abuses of pau- perism. But so greatly is poor relief abused, that cutting off unneces- sary relief is a great gain. When we can say that several large cities have cut off all public outdoor relief without any increase in the demands on other private or public charities, and without any apparent suffering by the poor, it is obvious that poor relief has been greatly abused and that this particular cause of pauperism ought to be cut off by those who have created it. Similar abuses are those of keeping in poorhouses able-bodied persons who ought not to be there, of bringing up children in poor- houses, of allowing association of the sexes in poorhouses so as to breed pauper children. These are ways in which the unwisdom of public officers tends to create pauperism. Of course these causes should be removed ; but removing them is not preventing pauperism, except as itprevents public poor relief from itself creating pauperism. When we come to the causes of pauperism which are not the results of unwise relief, the case is quite different. The part which public authorities can take in the administration of poor relief is not exactly the same as that which private individ- uals or societies can take, even when they cover precisely the same ground. Public authorities are administering funds which are taken from everybody by the compulsory processes of taxation, so that while such charity is voluntary so far as the community as a whole is con- cerned, this charity is involuntary and grudging on the part of a large number of individuals. The minority has some rights, even in a government where King Majority rules supreme, and their right to criticize does prevent the public undertaking many forms of charity. And then there is the tendency to reduce things to an average, to treat large classes of cases as classes instead of as indi- viduals, to work by easy mechanical methods which do not require much care or thought. These tendencies are found not only in public officers, but also in the officers of large private societies. Such wholesale methods are not favorable to the nicer and more discrim- inating kinds of charity. Again, the public authorities, and also the almoners of large private charities, are apt to regard themselves, and 150 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. are very sure to be regarded by the recipients of relief, as simply givers of inexhaustible funds which cost them nothing. It is difficult for them toget out of the role of almsgivers, in cases where something else than alms is best, and it is not easy to convince the professional recipient of such alms that he has not a vested right to help, and that in the form of alms. Most cases of pauperism, when we go back to their real' origin, are either the result of defects in society or of defects in the pauper. To what extent society itself should be reformed to abolish pauper- ism is beyond our present purpose and is very difficult to answer in a practical way. But to a certain extent reformatory methods can and should be used by the public to decrease pauperism. For instance, vagrancy and tramping ought to be treated by providing work for all who are willing and able to work, and sending all persistent vagrants to reformatory workhouses. So all mothers of illegitimate children who apply for poor relief ought to be compelled to work out the cost of their care before being discharged and should not be allowed to give away their children without good reasons. So also the neces- sary regulations of a well-managed poorhouse, such as careful sepa- ration of the sexes, compulsory abstinence from intoxicating liquor, requirement of light labor from all not absolutely disabled, and other similar regulations, make a properly managed poorhouse a reforma- tory institution. Unfortunately, a very large number of poorhouses\ are not well managed institutions, and therefore tend to increase I pauperism rather than to discourage it. In such ways as these public I authorities can reduce the tendencies to pauperism. But in general S we may say that what public authorities do in the way of reducing / or preventing pauperism is to simply prevent their own machinery] from creating it. The real work of abolishing pauperism must be done by private"\ effort, and mostly in the general line indicated by the friendly visitors / of the charity organization societies. What the poor need who are on the verge of pauperism, and in danger of being drawn into that slough of despond, is "not alms, but a friend." This is work which,; from the nature of the case, cannot be effectually done to any extent either by public authorities or by the managers of large semi-public charitable societies or institutions. Personal work is the only effective agency to abolish pauperism — personal work done from philanthropic motives, but guided by the wisdom of experience, and felt by the M CALLUM. 151 recipients to be an aid to them in keeping their places as self-sup- porting members of society, not as a substitute for their own industry and prudence. THE ENGLISH POOR LAW: ITS INTENTION AND RESULTS. MRS. MAY M'CALLUM. t It may seem, at first sight, useless to inquire at all minutely into the details of bygone enactments which have been modified or superseded in consequence of changed conditions and habits, but something is to be gained by such a retrospect if it enables us to distinguish between those social difficulties which are transitional, and those eternal problems which perplexed our ancestors and are present with ourselves, problems which have their roots in human character and exemplify the action of natural laws. A French author has well said that " There is no nation, what- ever may be its rank, which may not serve as a lesson or an example. Who can doubt," M. Faucher continues, " that the peoples may gain as much by interchange of their experience and their ideas as by that of their products, but such an interchange must take place with perfect freedom on both sides, and without any attempt to control or to misrepresent the characteristics of the national spirit."* These conferences are a concrete expression of a similar opinion, and I esteem it an honor to be permitted to lay before an American audience a brief review of the English poor laws, which chronicle the struggle of centuries with perennial evils. From the earliest times, four fundamental ideas may be continu- ously traced in the history of our system of public relief. These are, first, that the nation must not allow any of its members to perish ; secondly, that each locality should care for its own poor, and that therefore destitute persons should be compulsorily removed to the place of their birth ; thirdly, that vagabondage and idleness should be checked and punished; and, fourthly, that charity should be largely exercised in mitigation of the hardships of life. * Etudes sur P Atigleterre. Quoted by Dr. Aschrott in ^^The English. Foot Law System.^'' 152 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. It is beyond the scope of this brief paper to examine the growth of these opinions; but among their proximate causes were the petty struggles of an unsettled time, the abolition of villeinage in the four- teenth century, and the ceaseless efforts of a warlike nobility to con- trol the labor and the movements of a peasantry in whom the desire for freedom was deep and undying. But in legislation as in life it is the unexpected that happens, and while on the one hand our statute books from before the fourteenth century teem with repressive riieas- ures of a stern and even barbarous description, and while on the other hand the mistaken generosity of the monasteries weakened personal responsibility, the evils that law and kindness alike sought to repress grew and spread like noxious weeds. Already in the reign of Richard II, who died in 1399, it is directed that " beggars impotent to serve " shall abide where the proclama- tion finds them, but if the townspeople cannot or will not provide for them, they "must draw them to other towns within the wapen- take," or to " towns where they were born, and there continually abide." In 1530 the justices are to give begging licenses to the impotent, and are to punish " persons whole and mighty in body and able to labour," who are vagrants and cannot explain how they live. By-and-by sheriffs and local authorities are to " charitably receive " the poor sent back to their district, and on Sundays and holidays the churchwardens and others are " in good and discreet ways " to collect alms in boxes, and to distribute them " without fraud or affec- tion," so that " none diseased or sick who cannot work shall openly beg," while " the lusty shall be kept in continual labour." Wealthy parishes are to help the poorer, a proposal that is carried out in London to-day. Again, to quote the quaint old phrases, " curates are to exhort to alms with such talent as God has given them," and when it is found that they " gently ask and demand " in vain, the spiritual power over froward persons is supported by tem- poral threats of imprisonment, and finally a tax or poor-rate is levied and collected. Curiously enough, more than one law was passed for the purpose of punishing any one who gave alms to vagrants, and though these statutes were naturally inoperative, they arouse a lurking sympathy in the minds of those who watch the manufacture of vagabonds by needless charity to-day. i M CALLUM. 153 In 1601 was passed a famous act know as the Forty-third of Eh'za- beth, which consolidated and to some extent improved previous legislation. Both praise and blame have been freely lavished on this act, but it makes little change in that fatal system of interferfence with labor and with wages under which the English nation contin- uously suffered. At this distance of time we cannot judge whether its promoters were actuated chiefly by motives of humanity or by the promptings of class interest, but two of its clauses are of high importance; by the one, the duty of the family towards its aged and less fortunate members was legally recognized, and by the other relief was restricted, in the case of the able-bodied, to persons "without means." The existence of this ancient and most wise limitation proved of great service to the reformers of 1834. In the year 1722 the overseers of a parish were empowered to purchase or hire a house in which to maintain paupers, who were not to receive relief in any other form. This is the well-known workhouse test, which at first was productive of excellent results, but speedily failed of its purpose, owing to the scandalous lack of regulation in the workhouses themselves. Such institutions may either be refuges in which a decent amount of comfort is combined with deterrent discipline, or they may become the habitual resort of the idler and the ruffian, who are there supported at the expense of the rates. The eighteenth century increased the current confusion of ideas with respect to the meaning of the word/^ wages of productive industry. About twelve years later our third great friendly society, the Hearts of Oak, came into existence, and with its famous predecessors, the Foresters and Oddfellows, con- tinues to increase and to display the honorable independence and self-governing power of our wage-earners when they are uninjured by sentimental legislation. The year 1870 marked a new era; fresh interest was excited by the reports of the poor law inspectors, and the passing of the Edu- cation and other acts gave a new impetus to progress. Poor law infirmaries have been provided for the sick, and, at least in London, are often equal to the best hospitals ; lunatics are placed in properly inspected asylums, and children of destitute parents are cared for in schools, while those who are orphans or deserted may be boarded out in carefully selected homes, so as to avoid the creation of that miserable product of our civilization known as " the institution child." \' ^ 156 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. All this expenditure presses heavily on the rate-payers, and the question arises whether we are not here and there overstepping the limits of a wise provision and offering inducements to pauperism. It is also alleged that the extreme care bestowed on the insane, the epileptic and otherwise afflicted, promotes the increase of their numbers by prolonging their lives and partially improving their con- (^dition. In one direction a salutary change has been effected. Determined efforts have been made in many places to diminish out-relief, and consequently to lessen pauperism. The following figures illustrate the effect of twenty years of this policy under the direction of an able and devoted chairman and board of guardians in the union of Bradfield. In January, 187 1, there were in that union 1258 paupers, or one in 13 of the whole population; in January, 1891, there were only 149 paupers, or one in no of the population. Twenty-nine of these were persons who had been in receipt of outdoor relief in 1871 ; not a single outdoor pauper belonged to the current year. The money rate had cor- respondingly fallen from two shillings and a halfpenny to fivepence farthing, and even on a low rental this difference means a consider- able addition to the free income of the working classes. The figures are equally satisfactory in the case of the aged poor for whom so much sympathy is felt ; some few may be regarded as survivals of the bad old days, for the New Poor Law was almost inoperative in their youth, and these no doubt helped to swell the numbers when 35.5 per cent, of the Bradfield population over 60 years of age were paupers ; that figure is now reduced to about 4 per cent. As one writer has observed, " It is almost entirely a question of poor law administration whether 4 or " (taking the figures from Brixworth Union into account; "56 per cent, of the population are paupers or independent when they die." In some of the Bradfield parishes there are no paupers at all. Charity, too, has become more active and intelligent, and readily provides for cases of undeserved and exceptional misfortune; and lastly, a careful inquiry has shown that it is a mistake to assert that the neighboring unions are unaffected by the spirit of reform, for there is a steady though very gradual improvement in them all. With such object-lessons before us it might be thought that guardians in general would hasten to institute similar reforms, but unhappily there are signs of a reaction in favor of relaxation of the M CALLUM. 15;- poor law, and it may be that the poorer ranks of the democracy will refuse to profit by the experience of the middle class, and that the old lessons must be learnt — and paid for — again. Two forces are on the side of the reactionaries, the Socialists and the mass of the clergy of all denominations; for so do extremes meet. The Socialist naturally tempts the improvident with dreams of state- regulated labor and of state-relief on easy terms, nor is the Liberal press guiltless of highly colored statements that picture our work- houses as the resort of the deserving poor. It is in part owing to this mistaken notion that the conditions in many of these institutions have been rendered incomparably better than in many homes of workingmen, and that new efforts are being made to modify those restrictions which still prove deterrent to persons who live habitually on the verge of pauperism. The clergy, as of old, exhort their congregations to give, but they are not trained to understand, and therefore they cannot enforce, the full responsibility of the giver. By making vice and idleness easy, an unwise charity directly encourages the pauper spirit; and in all probability we owe to the Salvation Army alone a large increase in the number of persons who will ultimately come upon the rates. Thus, after centuries of legislation we have still an army of paupers that diminishes but slowly, and an army of vagrants as well. For these, provision is made in casual wards, where a night's lodging and a meagre supply of food can be obtained — the performance of a task of work, and increased detention after each admission within a month, being the conditions imposed. This system has proved a failure, at least in London ; the pressure of ill-inform.ed public opinion has caused the rule of detention to be relaxed, and the multiplication of charitable refuges and shelters defeats every attempt of the poor, law to deal effectually with the vagrant class. Greatly as we dis-^ • like over-much legislative interference, it is open to question whether ' our irresponsible and uncontrolled charity does not create worse! evils ; it undoubtedly fosters a class whose existence is not only a ^■ disgrace, but a source of national deterioration ; and here we reach ( the vital issue on which the administrators of relief, whether legal or ] voluntary, differ so profoundly. Are we or are we not to deal with ' \ the needy and the destitute, that is to say, in the majority of cases, ' with the incompetent and the drunkard, according to their imme- I ■diate desires, or in the manner most beneficial to the community at large ? • k 158 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. On one side are the reactionaries, including the host of well-mean- ing and enthusiastic persons who are swayed by the appeal of the moment, and are able to believe that there are royal roads to happi- ness and that the latest big scheme is a panacea for human ills. On the other side are those who take a broader and more carefully reas- oned view, and who attach the highest importance to the interests of the nation as a whole. I venture to think that time will justify the latter, and that the triumph of statemanship lies in applying the experience of the past, with such wise modifications as are required by the exigencies of the present. For your great nation all things seem possible, yet as your wide lands fill up and your cities increase in size, the old problems will inevitably present themselves, and happy will it be for the world if you can solve them rightly. It is our hope that out of the failures of the past may grow the successes of the future, and in organizing and moulding your social institutions you may perhaps find helpful material in the records of that old country for which many of you evince so kindly a regard. Authorities Consulted. British Encyclopaedia, last edition. Article " Poor Law." Report of Poor Law Commissioners of 1834. English Poor Law System. By Dr. P. F. Aschrott. Translated by Preston Thomas. Poor Law Reform, an essay in Edinburgh Review of 1841-2. Report of South Wales Conference (Poor Law) of 1892. Speech of Mr. Bland Garland of Bradfield at Annual Meeting of the Charity Organisation Society, etc., etc. POOR LAW PROGRESS AND REFORM, EXEMPLIFIED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF AN EAST LONDON UNJON. WILLIAM VALLANCE, CLERK TO THE GUARDIANS OF THE WHITECHAPEL UNION, LONDON, ENGLAND. The history of poor law administration in England is an instruc- tive one, and presents to civilized communities a valuable object- VALLANCE. 1 59 lesson in national philanthrop)'. It stands as at once the conception of an earnest, as well as civilly prudent, people actuated by humane impulses. It affords abundant evidence, through the centuries, of a public concern for the welfare of the poor, whilst in its alternations of severity and indulgence is seen the desire to prevent public relief from degenerating into a system of indiscriminate almsgiving, with all its attendant demoralization. We see in the legislation of the last four hundred years the sway- ing of the pendulum of popular feeling, the objective in one case being the "sturdy vagabond " or the "valiant beggar" who called for repression, and in the other the suffering poor, who were recog- nized as having a legitimate claim upon society. True, mistakes many and great have been made, more especially in the administration of the law ; and notwithstanding the lessons of history, and the stimulation of modern thought upon social ques- tions, we are yet face to face with the unsolved problem — how to deal with the poor. We know that hundreds of statutes have been passed in relation to the poor, and that these represent mountains of speech and rivers of ink ; and we think we are in a position to take larger views of public and relative duty to our " neighbor " than our forefathers; but human nature is found to be as frail as ever, and so the best intentions and the best systems fail when the heart is allowed to give impulse to human action without the controlling guidance of the head. In other words, where the administrators of relief fail to appreciate the fundamental principles upon which the law is based, and only see the possibility — without regard to antecedent circum- stances and prospective results — of ameliorating existing conditions of poverty, not only are the spirit and intentions of law contravened, but an injury is done to the poor themselves. Without attempting to trace the history of the English poor law, which is as well known in America as in England, it may perhaps suffice to make bare mention of the Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834, which was founded upon one of the most remarkable reports ever presented to Parliament. The abuses, the rampant evils, which were found to have resulted from a weak policy and a worse administration of poor law relief, so shocked the public sense that Parliament was induced to pass a measure which for nearly sixty years has remained the modern landmark in poor law legislation. l60 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. . That it was founded upon sound principles is universally acknowl- edged by thoughtful administrators, whilst (coupled with the report of the Royal Commission) it remains with us a mentor and a warn- ing. " The fundamental principle," as stated by the commissioners in* their report upon the amendment of the poor laws, with respect to the legal relief of the poor, is that " The condition of the pauper ought to be, on the whole, less eligible than that of the independent laborer. The equity and expediency of this principle are equally obvious. Unless the condition of the pauper is, on the whole, less eligible than that of the independent laborer, the law destroys the strongest motives to good conduct, steady industry, providence and frugality among the laboring classes, and induces persons, by idleness or imposture, to throw themselves upon the poor rates for support. But if the independent laborer sees that any recurrence to the poor rates will, while it protects him against destitution, place him in a less eligible position than that which he can attain by his owH industry, he is left to the undisturbed influence of all those motives which prompt mankind to exert forethought and self-denial. On the other hand, the pauper has no just ground for complaint if, at the same time that his physical wants are amply provided for, his condition should be less eligible than that of the poorest class of those who contribute to his support. Hence the guardians were restricted to the relief of destitution, either by receiving the destitute person into a poor law establish- ment, or (in certain excepted and exceptional cases) by relief in money, food, or articles of absolute necessity. They were precluded from the payment of rent ; they could not redeem tools or other articles from pawn ; they could not provide at the cost of the poor rate any tools, implements or other articles, other than articles of clothing when urgently needed ; they could not set up a poor person in business. In other words, they could only provide for present existing physical wants, and could do nothing either to pre- vent the poor becoming paupers or to lift them out of a condition of dependence. The "excepted and exceptional cases" to which I have referred are chiefly thqse in which the destitution has been occasioned by sickness, widowhood, and old age, and in these cases considerable discretion has been reserved to the guardians. But what has been the result? It will be admitted by thoughtful admin- istrators that the legislation for these " excepted and exceptional cases " has been as disastrous to the poor as it has been injurious to the community. What was intended to be the exception has become VALLANCE. l6l the rule, and the distinction between the " gift " of charity and the "legal right" of poor law relief has been lost sight of. Without due regard to the causes of destitution, or the consequences of relief, guardians have found the means ready to their hand, not only of distributing alms out of compulsory taxation to the poor who parade their " legal right," but, what has been far worse, relieving the rich from trouble and concern, and churches and religious bodies from the sense of responsibility, in regard to the well-being of the poor. There has also been, proportionately, a relaxation of effort to save and redeem from pauperism ; the poor having been left to the relief which brings degradation, and to the degradation which brings the relief. Thus the poor who might have been saved have become paupers, and those who might have been redeemed have remained paupers. In the case of the Whitechapel Union it has to be observed that it is a district largely inhabited by the poor, and "very poor"; and that (upon the basis of tables contained in " Life and Labour in London," by Mr. Charles Booth, the eminent statistician) the " lower and upper middle classes " of the district number 6i per cent, of the population; the "regular weekly workers," 71 per cent.; the "irregular and casual workers," 19* per cent. ; and the lowest class, which includes "loafers" and the criminal or semi-criminal classes, 3!^ per cent. In speaking of the poor law administration in Whitechapel it has to be admitted that the policy and practice of the guardians prior to 1870 were neither belter nor worse than those adopted in other parts of London and the country. Its relief system may be said to have been that of meeting apparent existing circumstances of need by small doles of outdoor relief; the indoor establishments being reserved for the destitute poor who voluntarily sought refuge in them. Able-bodied men who applied for relief on account of want of employment were set to work, and in return were afforded outdoor relief in money and kind. Under this system the administration was periodically subjected to great pressure, so much so that the aid of the jjolice had not infrequently to be invoked to restrain disorder and afford necessary protection to officers and property. Police protection was even at times required for the guardians during their administration of relief. The experience of the winter of 1869-70, however, was such as to lead the guardians to review their position 1 62 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. and earnestly to aim at reforming a system which was felt to be fostering pauperism and encouraging idleness, improvidence and imposture, while the " relief" in no true sense helped the poor. It was seen that voluntary charity largely consisted of indiscriminate almsgiving; that it accepted no definite obligation as distinct from the function of poor law relief; that the poor law was relied upon to supplement private benevolence; that the almsgivers too frequently were the advocates of the poor in their demands upon the public rates ; and that both poor law and charity were engaged in relieving a distress much of which a thoughtless benevolence and a lax relief administration had created. This condition of things the guardians resolved to amend. They looked forward to the ultimate possibility of laying down a broad distinction between "legal relief" and " charitable aid," and of interpreting the former as relief in the work- house or other institution for the actually destitute and the latter as personal sympathy and helpful charity ; and so they began by gradu- ally restricting outdoor relief in " out-of-work " cases, until they were able (in 1870) to entirely close the outdoor labor yard, and it has not since been re-opened. In this process of restriction it was found that about one in ten of those who were offered indoor in place of outdoor relief entered the workhouse, and these in turn gradually withdrew themselves, so that eventually the indoor pauperism resumed its normal condition. Following this was a further review of the outdoor relief lists, and the gradual application of other forms of limitation, side by side with efforts to bring the more deserving within reach of helpful charity. The guardians were especially mindful to guard the entrance to the outdoor relief list, and, where the circumstances seemed to necessitate present relief in the home of the applicant, it was sought to make it in the first place adequate to the necessities of the case, and next, temporary in duration ; and it was usually given upon some condition of personal effort to avoid /future recourse to the rates for support. Sick men with families /dependent upon them, if not offered indoor relief, were relieved / temporarily in money and kind, upon the distinct promise to join a I benefit club. Widows with dependent children were, in some cases, afforded relief out of the workhouse, for a strictly limited period, pending inquiries as to their circumstances and possibilities, com- munication with relatives and late employers, and efforts to place them in positions to achieve independence. In some cases employ- VALLANCE. 163 ment was offered in the infirmary as a scrubber or washer at weekly wages ; or, failing other means of meeting the necessities of the case, the guardians undertook to receive a portion of the family into the district school, leaving the mother free to enter service, or otherwise to provide for herself and one, or sometimes two, children. The aged and infirm were only relieved out of doors when there was evidence of thrift, and when the guardians were satisfied that there were no children or relatives legally or morally bound to support them and able to do so; but even these exceptions and limitations became non-existent and unnecessary with the organization of voluntary charity, which gradually undertook the benevolent work of saving the really deserving poor from the poor law. Thus the door of out-relief became gradually closed, and, as a fact, no cases, other than those of sudden or urgent necessity relieved by the relieving officers in kind, have now for some twenty-two years been added to the outdoor relief list ; and now (in 1893) there remains but one aged woman, the sole remnant of a former system, in receipt of permanent outdoor relief. As illustrating, too, the limited extent to which relief in kind is afibrded by the relieving officers under circumstances of urgent necessity, it may be added that the average weekly cost of such relief last year was but i6s. id. Although no written or printed by-laws have been adopted, the guardians have none the less fixed rules of administration, and these fixed rules the poor understand ; whilst it has been as clearly seen that to " play fast and loose " with the poor is to do them injury, to encourage reliance upon the poor law, to occasion discontent, and to restrain the flow of helpful Christian charity. The appended statistical tables will exemplify the gradual nature of the restriction of outdoor relief and its contemporaneous effect, if any, upon the indoor pauperism. Taking the sixth week of the quarter ended at Lady Day, 1870, as a starting-point, that being the week in which the highest pauperism was reached, the first table will be found to show the number of paupers relieved, the percent- ages of indoor and outdoor paupers, and the amount expended in outdoor relief in that and the corresponding weeks of the intervening years up to 1893, viz : 164 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Cost of outdoor relief Indoor paupers relieved. Outdoor paupers relieved. Total number of paupers relieved exclusive of Percentages. (/. e. in money and kind). During the 6th During lunatics in Indoor. Outdoor. week of ihe year ended asylums. Lady-day Qtr. Lady-day. (I) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) £ s. d. £ 1870 1,419 5,339 6,758 (a) 21.0 79.0 168 17 4 6,685 I87I 1,219 2,568 3.787 32.2 67.8 120 14 3 6,073 1872 1,000 1,568 2,568 38.9 61. 1 75 18 7 4,730 1873 1.163 845 2,008 57-9 42.1 50 4 5 2,654 1874 1,154 609 1.763 65-5 34-5 36 II I 2,114 1875 1,170 346 1,516 77.2 22.8 2290 1,406 1876 1,268 186 1,454 87.2 12.8 16 19 7 916 1877 1,203 122 1.325 90.8 9.2 1229 873 1878 1,221 141 (^) 1,362 896 10.4 II 06 731 1879 1. 43 1 143 (^) 1,574 90.9 9.1 9 15 3 592 1880 1,464 128 (d) 1,592 92.0 8.0 9 7 7 546 188 1 1,582 121 (/>) 1,703 92.9 7-1 8 17 4 528 1882 1,478 105 (d) 1,583 93-4 6.6 7 611 584 1883 1,482 91 (^) 1.573 94.2 5-8 4 8 10 521 1884 1,418 77 (^) 1.495 94.8 5.2 429 463 I8S5 1.370 74 (^) 1,444 94.9 5-1 4 8 I 309 1886 1.305 70 (/;) 1.375 94.9 5-1 3 3 5 167 1887 1,247 61 {d) 1,308 95-3 4-7 2 7 II 131 1888 1.356 63 C-^) 1,419 95-5 4.5 2 10 II H7 1889 1,308 46 (^) 1,354 96.6 3-4 V 15 7 86 1890 1,258 52 {/>) 1,310 96.0 4.0 I 16 3 84 I89I I.34S 71 {i) 1,416 95.0 5.0 3 5 4 77 1892 1.342 56 (^) 1,398 96.0 4.0 2 14 10 67 1893 1,518 47 (^0 1,565 97.0 3-0 I 19 2 72 It is to be observed that in 1870 the imbecile paupers were maintained in the workhouse and are accordingly enumerated in column i. In 1S71 those paupers had been transferred to imbecile asylums and had ceased to be so enumerated until 1879, when they were required to be again included in the return of indoor paupers. This will explain the sudden diminution in the indoor paupers in 1871 and the sudden rise in 1879. (a) The figures for 1S70 may be regarded as exceptional to the extent of about 2000 paupers, there being at that period a severe temporary pressure upon the administration; but it is nevertheless interesting to note that the experience of the winter of 1869-70 induced the guardians to voluntarily sus- pend the outdoor relief regulation order early in the following year, and to apply strictly the principle of the outdoor relief prohibitory order. (b) These figures include 30 boarded-out children in 1878, 36 in 1879, 42 in 1880, 52 in 1881, 55 in 1882, 60 in 1883, 49 in 1884, 49 in 1885, 54 in 1886, 48 in 1887, 41 in 1888, 38 in 1S89, 42 in 1890, 37 in 1891, 34 in 1892, and 30 in 1893. The following table will further show the mean pauperism of the Whitechapel Union (classified) in each of the 24 years ended at Lady Day, 1893, with its ratio to population, viz : VALLANCE. I6: ooocoocoooocooooooooooccoocccoccoocococooocoooco \OOOvO OOCOC3CICC>DO00C:/:CO CO^J ■^J»J»J"~J^J^J^J^J^J OJ M — O "O OO^J CM-n -t. OJ M " O >0 OO^a OM/1 J^ OJ M "" O r - ■< VO VO VO VO 00 00^1 CO CO ceo CO 00 CO CO-^ 00-J ^J ^4 O O 00 CO NOMOvO--J\0 — ON^J t^VOOJ OOJO O^J-^ — OCLn o ^ \0'-'M-f^O""WO CMji .^ \0 O ^J 0\0 '-' ^ OJ OOLn M ■^ vO a. ' ►H ►« — — 1-1 ii M M M M (0 roC>JOJOJOJC>Jt>JOJOJWt>JLO \0 \0 ^J OOvO OOvO tjj ^ O CO^J O O O — to -^ ON^J -t^ O to tyi ^ \0 tJ O i-n C\ Cn^j ^1 O) \0 — OO to (0 0\4^ C\ O -t- ^4 Oj m oj 5' 3 3 ,« — o -. 2) 3- o 3 2. to OJ .t^ OJ OJ to to to (^ '.jj ^ Ln O CN~-J ^1^4Lnl.n4^ — t0.t>. ^ tyi O 00*^ Cst-n ^JOOvOuiOo^t^t-n to^4 i-i ^ O^l*^ --"i-n ^ o- IS: OOOJ OO "" to OJ 10 "" CN to to Ln to to "- to "" 1-1 to U»4^\0 — Ui OO coo tOOO^Jt>JUi COtoljiJi. CCU) ^4 CWO J^^O)OOl-n.UtOt*0.t».>-J^Lnl^LnOOC^tOi-i"H --OOtjit^ J^ -< OOW CTiOvOun^^J « 1- O " to O^00 C\4^ 00 to ii — VO Oooooo tooo to ^ MOOC^J^J^OOC^JC^OjOOOJOO to -^ '^ tOOJ ^J — — CNOt."*^ toi_nJ-Oooo CN(,n O^Ln oo to O C^C^C.^JC>o ^ *■ O - O;^ UitoOJOCNto-iLnOOOvO— t/iO COoo J^ — >- « i-i Ji 0\ OO OCUi ~-J Miii-i »tototoc>oJ^ Cn^J 00 >-i ^ VO OJ .U OO^ vO VO O "- t.4^tOtOO0 — -^»Ootot>oto M\0 O to ONO\00to oo^ \o O COOOtO — OO.t». Oj *- ON^l OOvl O^^Ui 0\l-l^O "-.^ CO C 3 W 3 ? x i-i "" to C«yi MOJj>-t/i4^.t>.WJ>-U)J^O0t-n\O^Jtyi C\^l VO -• to C\^J C?> CNvO o n 3 o f* n' n O0O0O0O04^.<:^lyilyiL/iLn(vit.n.C^J^OJ to >-i O .^ C0\0 O to — to OO OO COLn CO to oi ooj^. og " 3- 9-3 "« to OJ OO OOOOOJOJOOOOOJOOOOOOOOOO.U.UOO.t^.*^-^^JVO"tO tO^UlSl "-""OOO — toJi.iooJJ^ COOo 10 \0 to — to Oi.n*."0 OM.n to to COVO l^ OCJi COtyi ~~JO4i-O000J —OJ C>O0 VO ^J l^ ^J .*» H o -" — — —_—_— — — -« — ». J- — -.«-,« — to to to OO J^ J^ O (^ Cr.Ln CMyi .£»Oi 0<>^1 COCC-^4^1>^~4C4o'tOJ^4i.-^00 COij —-vi 0^\0^4^4 C/DCO— 0'-JUm'^oi4^ O " - to O On CNlovOOi CO>« CN-^OiOo i-'t/i4^O0OJ "- to ^4 COVO t^n CO i- oi ■g o 5 g =-2 c-n o ^ n M O « "^ 3 "< 3 rt 10 (0 to to n to M to to to to to to O to to to to to to to to Oo Oj J«- l^ OO Oo to to to to to to OJ Jv to Oj to to On>0 — l^ C\ ON Ratio per lOOO of population. a\-t^ Ln O Ln O VO O *■ 1^ \0 4^ Ui - CO« COCOto Ooi O CO a^ o ft "■ o « o ft- 63 o CR n l-^ s- n o ^^ n n n to 4>. 3 C > t; rr ?3 n > o rn H =:. o < £L "a W ^ c in p ^ ■a H O > U) H f» o H 3 § rs y a D- — z ft> o H M 'X n r Ml en -0 1 ^* > fJ '^. C2 v: c ►t3 CO VO OO o p a- ,_^ o O c trt? D- o m .-I =r O < r* n> ET C^ m o p 3 f-^ r* O 3- ■n ■-► 1- O O "-^ o ^ l66 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. These progressive results, as will be seen, have not been accom- panied by a proportionate, nor even an appreciable, increase in the number of indoor paupers relieved. Indeed, there is to be deduced the somewhat remarkable fact — taking into account the increase of sick poor under the separate infirmary system — that the new departure taken in 1870 has resulted in a divtinution in the indoor pauperism. This is probably owing, in part, to the discouragement which the system has given to speculative applications for relief, and, in part, to the concentration of official and voluntary effort upon the dispauperization of the poor. There is also reason to believe that the policy which has been pursued has resulted in an improvement in the condition of the poor. Rents are said to be better paid, and more money to be deposited in savings and penny banks than for- merly, whilst publicans and pawnbrokers are equally lamenting the badness of trade. The poor are certainly more self-respecting than they were, whilst the work of voluntary charity may be now described as more personal service and less almsgiving. So uniform and strict has become the administration of legal relief, and so well understood is the system, that an application for outdoor relief is now seldom made to the guardians. Simultaneous with the restriction of outdoor relief has been the endeavor of the guardians to reform their indoor administration by making their workhouse a " well regulated " establishment, and con- tributory as far as possible to character and self-reliance, as well as deterrent to the idle malingerer. This record of an administration of the poor law in one populous East London Union has been rendered possible only by the con- sistent adherence of the guardians, during the last 24 years, to the principles which they regarded as sound and in the truest interests of the poor, and by their determined refusal to become either the advocates or patrons of individual applicants at board meetings. They saw that by the out-relief system the working classes were being educated in dependence, being practically told that every recurring misfortune or contingency of life would be amply met out of the public rates, whilst they were demoralized by the knowledge that the adversity which flows from idleness, intemperance or im- providence would be rewarded by an eligible form of relief out of the taxation of the industrious, thrifty, and self-reliant. They saw also that the system of outdoor relief encouraged reckless and thrift- less marriages, husbands and wives being in no sense brought face VALLANCE. 1 6/ to face with the realities of hfe. Employment might be precarious and income small, but the lesson of the poor law too frequently bore its fruit, "the parish" being written against all such contingencies as "sickness," "births," "burials," "widowhood," "orphanage," and " old age." It was also found that the practice of awarding from public rates permanent pensions to widows with families, at a rate so uniform that they were readily calculated in anticipation, and so certain that they were received as their due, tended to the relaxation of those habits of forethought on the part of heads of families, which are essential to the independence of the working classes ; it was wanting in the elements of a true Christian charity, and induced such a spirit of helplessness that their misery and pauperism became chronic. In Whitechapel the cases of widows with children depen- dent upon them are invariably referred to the Charity Organization Society, through which they receive present needed help, and they are only returned to the guardians in the event of absolute failure to meet adequately the permanent necessities of the case. And here it is worthy of notice that this policy has not resulted, as might per- haps be assumed, either in the substitution of another form of out- door relief outside the poor law, or in a very special increase in the number of children maintained in the district school. The present number of children of widows in the district school is 37 as com- pared with the mean number of 418 widows and 1010 children in receipt of outdoor relief in 1870. And not only has this army of outdoor pauper children disappeared, but, as a fact, notwithstanding the addition of the children of widows to the indoor pauper roll, the number of children now maintained in schools and institutions, and " boarded-out " in the country is less by 36 per cent, than the number provided for in the district school 23 years ago. With regard to the aged poor, whatever the difficulty in applying strict principles in their relief, experience yet points to the corrupting influence of a certain provision, out of public rates, of weekly pensions in old age. The system operates to the encouragement of a life-long anticipation of a " parish allowance" as an eventuality, if not absolutely to be desired, at least not worth a present self-denial to obviate. Nor is this anticipation confined to the pauper himself, but extends to his children, who too frequently regard their payment of poor rates as fully satisfying every claim upon them. In Whitechapel, the entire discontinuance of outdoor relief, even to the aged, has been rendered possible by the establishment of a " Pension Society," which deals 1 68 PUBLIC TREATMENt OF PAUPERISM. with cases of exceptional distress and desert, the pensions going to the old people " by the hands of ladies who are both almoners and friends." But there are not only classes of poor to be dealt with under normal circumstances; there are seasons of distress arising from a scarcity of employment; and, whether recurrent or exceptional, it is equally important that the administration of legal relief should be uniform and clearly understood. It may be that some relax- ation is necessary at times by reason of insufficiency of workhouse accommodation, but it is of the first importance that the poor should know the nature and extent of the relaxation and the circum- stances under which it is permitted. There is a public sentiment, especially in times of commercial depression, antagonistic to a form of relief which is thought to have the effect of " breaking-up homes." It may therefore be interesting to state that in the early part of 1887 the Whitechapel guardians sought and obtained, but did not feel it necessary to exercise, temporary powers to deal with applications for relief in such a manner as to ensure the preservation of decent homes, to afford adequate security against a too ready dependence upon the rates for support, and to relieve undue pressure upon work- house accommodation, namely, by affording outdoor relief to the wife and dependent children of an indoor pauper so long as he might remain an inmate of the workhouse. Under ordinary circumstances, however, the system which seems adequately to meet the necessities of" out-of-work " cases, and to be at the same time conducive to the interests of the community, is indoor relief to the head of a family, coupled with charitable aid to the wife and children, so as to keep a decent home intact. There would, of course, remain a further legiti- mate work for private charity in saving the more deserving from the poor law, and encouraging and aiding them in their efforts to achieve independence. But however conspicuous may have been the results of a strict, consistent and unvarying administration of poor law relief in the Whitechapel Union, the records of the country generally, since 1870, are also those of gradual and continuous improvement. In that year, whilst the ratio of indoor pauperism to population was but 7.1 per 1,000, that of outdoor pauperism was 39.4, and this may be taken to be the then normal pauperism, since there had been little variation for many years. VALLANCE, 169 The movement, however, which sprang up in that year, and in which the Whitechapel Board had the distinction of taking a leading part, in favor of a stricter administration of legal relief has produced the following striking results. Taking the quinquennial periods from 1870, the ratio of each form of pauperism to 1000 of population in England and Wales, the metropolis and Whitechapel respectively stood as follows, viz. : England and Wales. The Metropolis. Whitechapel U nion. Years. 1 Indoor. Outdoor. Total. 46.5 Indoor. Outdoor. Total. Indoor. Outdoor. Total. 1870 7-1 39-4 II. 5 36.0 47-5 16.6 45.0 61.6 1875 6.2 27.6 33-8 II. 6 20.3 31-9 17.0 9.2 26.2 18S0 7-1 24.7 31.8 13.0 13-7 26.7 17.6 5-5 23.1 1885 6.8 21.8 28.6 13.8 II. 6 25-4 i 18.9 4-5 23-4 1890 6.6 20.7 27-3 14. 1 1 1. 8 25.9 17.7 4-3 22.0 1892 6.4 19.2 25.6 13.8 10.8 24.6 17-3 4.1 21.4 It will be observed that notwithstanding the outdoor pauper- ism in Whitechapel has fallen 40.9 per 1,000 of population, /. e. from 45.0 to 4.1 (as against 25.2 per 1,000 in the metropolis) since 1870, the indoor pauperism has increased but 0.7 in Whitechapel as against 2.3 in the whole metropolis. Indeed, the fact may be accepted that no increase of indoor pauperism has resulted from a strict administration of relief in Whitechapel, since a comparison of figures is not fairly equal, by reason of the almost continuous increase already referred to in the number of sick poor resorting to the sepa- rate infirmary in recent years.* This fact sufficiently disposes of the assertion frequently made, that a rigid administration of outdoor relief has the effect of driving the poor into the workhouse; but if further evidence is needed, it will be found in an analysis recently made of the aged inmates of the work- house (exclusive of sick under treatment in the infirmary, who were assumed to be in receipt of the only form of relief which adequately and humanely met their necessities), from which it appeared that 92 * During the year 1892 no fewer than 5,155 persons passed through the infirmary by discharge. or death, as against 3,202 in 1885. I/O PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. per cent, were admittedly "homeless," in the sense that they were without home, furniture or relations with whom they could live out- side; whilst of the remainder, but two were scheduled in the "classi- fication of causes " under the heading of " destitution apparently arising from misfortune " — as distinguished from destitution of which " intemperance," or "improvidence" had been a contributory cause. But perhaps the most satisfactory way in which to judge of the administration of relief in the Whitechapel Union will be by a com- parison of its pauperism, and expenditure upon relief, in 1870 and 1892. Thus we find that the mean numbers of iyidoor paupers (inclusive of vagrants) relieved in those respective years were as follows : 1870. 1892. England and Wales 156,558 186,607 Metropolis 36,441 58,145 Whitechapel 1.3 11 i>374 thus showing an increase in England and Wales of 19 2 per cent., the Metropolis of 59.5 per cent., and Whitechapel of 4.8 per cent. Taking next the outdoor patipers, the mean number relieved in the above-mentioned years was : 1S70. 1892. England and Wales 876,000 558,150 Metropolis 114,386 45.792 Whitechapel 3-554 312 thus showing a decrease in England and Wales of 36.2 per cent., the Metropolis of 60.0 per cent., and Whitechapel of 91.2 per cent. The expenditure upon outdoor relief in 1870 and 1891 (being the latest return appended to the Report of the Local Government Board for 1 89 1-92) was : 1870. 1891. England and Wales ;^3.633.05i ^2,400,089 Metropolis 412,817 184,118 Whitechapel 6,685 800 thus showing a decrease of expenditure in outdoor relief in England and Wales of 33.9 per cent., the Metropolis of 554 per cent., and Whitechapel of 88.0 per cent. ; or excluding the cost of " boarded- out children" (^543), the decrease of expenditure in outdoor relief in Whitechapel will be found to be no less than 96.1 per cent. VALLANCE. I J I In the foregoing figures there is ample justification for saying that poor law reform is abroad in England ; whilst in the earnest and increasingly organized efforts put forth on behalf of the poor, the sinning and the suffering, we see the stimulus which a strict adminis- tration of legal relief gives to a real live charity — the charity of personal service. But after all, how much remains to be done! As yet, the fields of philanthropic service have only been entered. Looking at the giants of evil which have to be encountered, especially in our great cities,, we see how weak and impotent is disjointed effort in the cause of the poor, and how increasingly necessary it is that earnest men and women should be found, not fighting alone with puny self-made weapons, but as members of a highly-trained and organized army, furnished with the very best arms which science and experience can devise. In this way alone can the great work of serving the poor be successfully accomplished; and may the two great English-speaking peoples be found in the forefront of the fight, waging war, not against pauperism alone, but also against the various social evils which beget pauperism, misery and despair. From the standpoint, therefore, of an experience of nearly a quarter of a century in a strict administration of relief, I would in conclusion lay down the following propositions : 1. That the duty of the state in relation to the poor should, in the interest of the commonwealth, be restricted to the relief of actual destitution, and not be extended to the alleviation of the condition of poverty. 2. That legal relief, /. e. relief provided out of compulsory taxation, should be at once adequate and humane, and yet in a form^ which will not tempt the people to rely upon it, or to induce relaxation of effort in making a more eligible provision for themselves. 3. That the only form of relief which meets these conditions, is that of maintenance in some suitable institution. 4. That outdoor relief, or relief afforded in the applicant's home at the cost of the state, and in response to a legal claim, is and must be fruitful of evil results both to the individual and the community. 5. That a strict administration of state relief implies a necessity for organized voluntary effort, in saving the more deserving poor from a recourse to the poor law, and leaves a wide field of service for the individual discharge of man's duty to man. 6. That the work of visiting and befriending the deserving and 172 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. suffering- poor, not already dealt with by the poor law, is a personal one, and cannot be discharged through the agency of any state machinery. 7. That all charitable relief is, in turn, but part of and subsidiary to organized earnest efforts to raise the standard of existence, and to develop the character and possibilities of the poorer classes. THE WORK OF THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL IN RELATION TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES. JOHN LOWLES, F. S. S., F. R. C. I,, F, I. I. In submitting to the notice of the Congress a few facts connected with the very important branch of the work of the authorities in London which forms the subject of my paper, I may perhaps be allowed to preface them by a word or two concerning London itself. Like Chicago, its growth has been and is extraordinary. Its popu- lation to-day borders close on six millions, whilst the yearly addition thereto approaches one hundred thousand. Originally, London consisted of what is now known as the City proper, an area of 668 acres in extent ; but the present county of Lon- don, over which the London County Council exercises jurisdiction, consists of 75,462 acres, whilst if we measure London by the extent of the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police, it reaches an area of nearly 700 square miles. Perhaps the latter area affords the best standard for comparison with Chicago as its limits are defined to-day. The population of the larger area exceeds five and a half millions, whilst the smaller area contains four and a quarter millions of people. Time will not permit me to trace out the growth of the govern- ment of London. Suffice it to say that the parish is the unit of local government ; and the vestry, whose members are elected for three years (one-third retiring annually), is the local authority. In the case of smaller parishes, two or more are bracketed together for administrative purposes, under the title of district board. In 1855 a great step forward was made by the passing of an act called the " Metropolis Local Management Act," and a body called the " Metro- LOWLES. 173 politan Board of Works" came into existence, consisting of one or two representatives from each of the vestries or district boards, according to population. In 1888 a still more important step was taken by the creation of county councils directly elected by the people, London being created a separate county thereunder, and the Metropolitan Board of Works was abolished. The London County Council consists of 118 councillors (elected for three years by the various parliamentary divisions), and 19 aldermen (elected by the Council itself), half of whom serve for three and half for six years. Women ratepayers exercise the municipal franchise as they do the educational. There can be no doubt that the creation of this new governing body on a popular basis has greatly stimulated public interest in local govern- ment, and has immensely benefited the cause of sanitary reform and promoted the health, comfort and happiness of the people. The various drainage works, executed at the cost of many millions of pounds, and the ample provision for dealing with epidemics and infectious diseases, coupled with the unceasing vigilance of the authorities responsible for the department of public health, and the drastic powers conferred upon them by acts of Parliament, have combined to make London the healthiest metropolis in the world. Some idea of the magnitude of the work of main drainage alone may be gathered from the fact that 38 325,000,000 gallons of sewage were treated in the twelve months ending March 31, 1892. Exten- sive pumping stations exist at Barking and Crossness, on the north and south sides of the Thames respectively ; and the sewage, after being deodorized by manganate of soda and sulphuric acid, is disposed of by sludge vessels, which deposit the solids in deep parts of the English Channel, whilst the effluent flows out to the mouth of the river, care being taken to discharge it at favorable states of the tide. Various schemes for utilizing the sewage for fertilizing purposes have from time to time been made, but the mere pressure of the daily task of removal has in itself prevented hitherto any extended experiments in this direction. A most effectual provision for secur- ing local and general supervision in sanitary matters is found in the medical officers, whose fixed departmental appointment in every parish or district is insisted upon. These in turn periodically report to and are practically supervised by the health dtpartment of the London County Council, which is fortunate in having at its head a 174 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. most capable and efficient expert in the person of Dr. Shirley Murphy, whose work is beyond praise. The Council has recently been engaged in formulating a series of by-laws relating to matters of prime importance in connection with public health (a copy of which is appended hereto); and these by-laws, on being approved by the Government Department (the Local Government Board), will at once be operative and have all the force of the act of Parliament itself. Further powers entrusted to the London County Council which are intimately bound up with the public health are those which •enable them to inspect and license slaughter-houses and cow-houses, to regulate offensive trades, the inspection of dairies and milk-stores, the provision of public mortuaries, the appointment of coroners, the securing of a constant water-supply, the slaughtering and removal of animals afflicted with contagious disease, the prevention of rabies, •etc., etc. The care of the asylums for imbecile and insane (of whom there are some ii,ooo under treatment) is in the hands of the County Council ; but the provision of accommodation for persons suffering from infectious disease is entrusted to a separate body called the Metropolitan Asylums Board, whose work has materially lessened the mortality of late years and proved of inestimable benefit to the poor in preventing the spread of infection, by immediate isolation away from the houses of those afflicted. This latter body will at no distant date probably be directly con- trolled by the Council, with whose officers, however, it works in perfect accord. It will be readily understood that the exigencies of the situa- tions in which administrators have from time to time found themselves in dealing with the needs of such a vast population, with all the accu- mulated sanitary errors of omission and commission of preceding generations around them, have rather retarded than advanced the practical realization of a perfect ideal in administrative work, inas- much as the necessity for close attention to the pressing everyday requirements of the present has left little time for perfecting, har- monizing and unifying the multitudinous agencies working at high pressure day by day. The work of reform in every department of the state must ever be progressive and never can be complete, and in no department is this truth more manifest than in that under notice. It is a matter for rejoicing, however, that such enormous strides LOWLES 175 in the right direction in matters of pubHc hygiene have been made in recent years. These strides were clearly and profitably demon- strated by the Congress held in London in the summer of 1891, in which so many distinguished American professors of medical and sanitary science took part. In England the study of sanitary science as a special and distinct subject is now firmly established, and no candidate for appointments in the public service connected with health matters is considered eligible unless he possesses certificates of competency from some recognized institution issuing certificates after examination. Passing on to the work of the London County Council in connec- tion with the dwellings of the working classes, legislation has for many years been directed to removing the insanitary areas which were at once a disfigurement and a danger to many of our large cities, and especially of the metropolis. Various Royal Commissions collected evidence of a most appalling kind respecting the condition of the homes of the poor. So huge an evil could not be remedied by a single act of Parliament ; but all political parties being agreed that drastic measures were necessary, and public sentiment warmly supporting that view, powers have from time to time been conferred upon the local authorities, which have largely mitigated the evil, and marked the beginning of a new era in this important department of social life. Of course the effec- tiveness of the remedy very largely depended upon the zeal and energy of those entrusted with its application. Danger of laxity in this respect on the part of the parochial authorities has been reduced to a minimum by the mandatory powers conferred upon and exten- sively used by the County Council since 1890. Under the Council's auspices a rapid transformation is taking place in the metropolis. Insanitary dwellings are being rigidly inspected and either completely overhauled at the owner's expense, or ruthlessly closed, while in cases where the closely packed build- ings did not admit of adaptation to sanitary requirements, they have been cleared away at the public cost, and new and improved dwell- ings, with every requisite appliance and a minimum width of forty feet for each street, have risen up in their place. An important movement has been made towards inducing workingmen with families to settle in the suburbs, by providing cheap and speedy means of transit. The Council, aided by several members of Parliament, have \y6 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. obtained special concessions from the great railway companies, and on one line it is possible for a workman to live iij miles out of London and to be carried to his work and back by train at a cost of twopence (4 cents) for the double journey. It will still be neces- sary, however, for large bodies to reside near their employment in the great centres of London, and for these the improved dwellings erected by the Council or on the Council's land, where most com- plete sanitary arrangements are rigidly enforced, will provide accommodation well within their means, at a rental of two shillings (50 cents) weekly for each room occupied. A most important departure has been taken by the Council in the erection of a Municipal Lodging House in one of the poorest parts of London (Drury Lane), for the accommodation of poor casual lodgers at a cheap rate. The building is perhaps the most perfect of its kind in existence, and is worthy of imitation in other centres where a large transient poor population exists. Its erection cost some ;^i6,ooo, and accommodation is provided for 320 inmates, at a charge of fivepence (10 cents) per night. This charge includes the use of spacious day-rooms, kitchens and lavatories, of appliances for cook- ing, and of most comfortable dormitories. Immediately it was opened it was filled with appreciative customers, and it is hoped that its phenomenal success will stimulate the Council to build similar lodging-houses in other parts of London, although it is probable that if they do so they will reduce the capacity of each house considerably, as it is felt to be safer from a sanitary point of view. There can be no doubt that, apart from their superiority in the physical comfort afforded to the inmates, these municipal lodging-houses are destined to play an important part in the lives of their inhabitants from an ethical point of view. They can easily be made healthy, well-con- ducted clubs for the poor; and their surroundings are such as to bring back or preserve that self-respect, the loss of which, from one cause or another, has in most cases been the chief factor in bringing the poor creatures to poverty and degradation. From what I have myself personally seen in New York and Chicago I think great room exists in both cities for work in this direction, as also in the whole department covered by my paper, and I am quite sure that I may, while tendering my thanks to this Con- o-ress for according me the privilege of contributing a paper (imper- fect though it be) on this subject, be allowed to say how delighted I shall be to supply detailed information at any time to any one who LOWLES. , 177 may be interested on this side, and thus reciprocate in some measure the uniform courtesy and consideration I have experienced on all hands whenever I have visited the United States. LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. BY-LAWS MADE BY THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL UNDER THE PUBLIC HEALTH (lONDON) ACT, 189I. By-Laws under Sec. 16 (2), For prescribing the times for the removal or carriage by road or water- of any fcecal, or offensive or obnoxious matter or liquid in or through London, and providing that the carriage or vessel used therefor shall be properly C07istructed and covered so as to prevent the escape of any such ftjatter or liquid, and as to prevent any miisattce arising therefro7n. 1. Every person who shall remove or carry by road or water in or through London any fcecal or offensive or obnoxious matter or liquid, whether such matter or liquid shall be in course of removal or carriage from within or with- out or through London, shall not remove or carry such matter or liquid in or through London except between the hours of 4 o'clock and 10 o'clock in the forenoon during the months of March, April, May, June, July, August, Septem- ber and October, and except between the hours of 6 o'clock* in the forenoon and 12 o'clock at noon during the months of November, December, January and February, Such person shall use a suitable carriage or vessel properly constructed and furnished with a sufficient covering so as to prevent the escape of any such matter or liquid therefrom, and so as to prevent any nuisance arising therefrom. Provided that this by-law shall not apply to the carriage of horse dung manure. As to the closing and filling up of cesspools and privies. 2. Any person who shalV by any works or by any structural alteration of any premises render the further use of a cesspool or privy unnecessary, and the owner of any premises on which shall be situated a disused cesspool or privy, or a cesspool or privy which has become unnecessary, shall completely empty such cesspool or privy of all fcecal or offensive matter which it may contain, and shall completely remove so much of the floor, walls and roof of such privy or cess'pool as can safely be removed, and all pipes and drains leading thereto or therefrom, or connected therewith, and any earth or other material contam- inated by such fcecal or offensive matter. He shall completely close and fill up the cesspool with concrete or with suitable dry clean earth, dry clean brick rubbish, or other dry clean material, and where the walls of such cesspool shall not have been completely removed, he shall cover the surface of the space so filled up with earth, rubbish or material, with a layer of concrete six inches thick. 1/8 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. 3. Every person who shall propose to close or fill up any cesspool or privy shall, before commencing any works for such purpose, give to the Sanitary' Authority for the district not less than forty-eight hours notice in writing, exclusive of Sunday, Good Friday, Christmas day, or any bank holiday, speci- fying the hour at which he will commence the closing and filling up of such cesspool or privy, and during the progress of any such work shall afford any ofiicer of the Sanitary Authority free access to the premises for the purpose of inspecting the same. As io the removal mid disposal of refuse, and as to the duties of theocciipier of a7iy premises in connection with house refuse so as io facilitate the retnoval of it by the scavengers of the Sanitary Authority. 4. The occupier of any premises who shall remove or cause to be removed any refuse produced upon his premises shall not, in the process of removal, deposit such refuse, or cause or allow such refuse to be deposited upon any footway, pavement or carriageway. Provided that this by-law shall not be deemed to prohibit the occupier of any premises from depositing upon the kerbstone or upon the outer edge of the footpath immediately in front of his house, between such hours of the day as the Sanitary Authority shall fix and notify by public announcement in their district, a proper receptacle containing house refuse, other than night soil or filth, to be removed by the Sanitary Authority in accordance with any by-law in that behalf. 5. Every person who shall convey any house, trade or street refuse across or along any footway, pavement or carriageway shall use a suitable receptacle, cart, carriage or other means of conveyance properly constructed so as to pre- vent the escape of the contents thereof, and, in the case of offensive refuse, so covered as to prevent any nuisance therefrom, and shall adopt such other pre- cautions as may be necessary to prevent any such refuse from being slopped or spilled, or from falling in the process of removal upon such footway, pave- ment or carriageway. If in the process of such removal any such refuse be slopped or spilled, or fall upon such footway, pavement or carriageway, such person shall forthwith remove such refuse from the place whereon the same may have been slopped or spilled, or may have fallen, and shall immediately thereafter thoroughly sweep or otherwise thoroughly cleanse such place, 6. Where a Sanitary Authority shall arrange for the daily removal of house refuse in their district or in any part thereof, the occupier of any premises in such district or part thereof on which any house refuse may from time to time accumulate shall, at such hour of the day as the Sanitary Authority shall fix and notify by public announcement in their district, deposit on the kerbstone or on the outer edge of the footpath immediately in front of the house or in a conveniently accessible position on the premises, as the Sanitary Authority may prescribe by written notice served upon the occupier, a movable recepta- cle, in which shall be placed, for the purposes of removal by or on behalf of the Sanitary Authority, the house refuse which has accumulated on such prem- ises since the preceding collection by such authority. LOWLES. 179 The Sanitary Authority shall collect such refuse, or cause the same to be collected, between such hours of the day as they have fixed and notified by public announcement in their district. 7. The Sanitary Authority shall cause to be removed not less frequently than once in every week the house refuse produced on all premises within their district. 8. Where, for the purposes of subsequent removal, any cargo, load, or collection of offensive refuse has been temporarily brought to or deposited in any place within a sanitary district, the owner (whether a Sanitary Authority or any other person) or consignee of such cargo, load or collection of refuse, or any person who may have undertaken to deliver the same, or who is in charge of the same, shall not without a reasonable excuse permit or allow or cause such refuse to remain in such place for a longer period than twenty-four hours. Provided {a) that this by-law shall not apply in cases where the place of temporary deposit is distant at least one hundred yards from any street, and is distant at least three hundred yards from any building or premises used wholly or partly for human habitation, or as a school, or as a place of public worship or of public resort or public assembly, or from any building or premises in or on which any person may be employed in any manufacture, trade or business, or from any public park or other open space dedicated or used for the purposes of recreation, or from any reservoir or stream used for the purposes of domestic water supply ; {l>) that this by-law shall not prohibit the deposit, within the prescribed distances, of road slop unmixed with stable manure for any period not exceeding one week, which maybe necessary for the separation of water therefrom. 9. Where a Sanitary Authority or some person on their behalf shall remove any offensive refuse from any street or premises within their district, such Sanitary Authority or such person shall properly destroy by fire or otherwise dispose of such refuse in such manner as to prevent nuisance. Provided always that this by-law shall not be deemed to require or permit any Sanitary Authority or person to dispose of or destroy by fire any night- soil, swine's dung or cow-dung. 10. A Sanitary Authority or any person on their behalf who shall remove any offensive refuse from any street or premises within their district shall not • deposit such refuse, otherwise than in the course of removal, at a less distance than three hundred yards from any two or more buildings used wholly or partly for human habitation, or from any building used as a school, or as a place of public resort or public assembly, or in which any person may be employed in any manufacture, trade or business, or from any public park or other open space dedicated or used for the purpose of recreation, or from any reservoir or stream used for the purpose of domestic water supply. Provided always that this by-law shall not be deemed to prohibit such deposit of such refuse for a period of twenty-four hours, when such refuse is deposited for the purpose of being destroyed by fire, in accordance with any by-law in that behalf. l80 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. 11. For the purposes of the foregoing by-laws the expression "offensive refuse " means any refuse, whether " house refuse," " trade refuse," or " street refuse " in such a condition as to be or to be liable to become offensive. Penalties. 12. Every person who shall offend against any of the foregoing by-laws shall be liable for every such offense to a penalty of five pounds, and in the case of a continuing offense to a further penalty of forty shillings for each day after written notice of the offense from the Sanitary Authority. Provided neverthe- less that the court before whom any complaint may be made, or any proceed- ings may be taken in respect of any such offense, may, if the court think fit, adjudge the payment as a penalty of any sum less than the full amount of the penalty imposed by this by-law. By-Laws under Section 39 (i). With respect to ivaterclosets, earthclosets, privies, ashpits, cesspools, and recep- tacles for dung, and the proper accessories thereof i7i connection with buildings, whether constructed before or after the passing of this Act. 1. Every person who shall hereafter construct a watercloset orearthcloset in connection with a building, shall construct such watercloset or earthcloset in such a position that, in the case of a watercloset, one of its sides at the least shall be an external wall, and in the case of an earthcloset two of its sides at the least shall be external walls, which external wall or walls shall abut imme- diately upon the street, or upon a yard or garden or open space of not less than one hundred square feet of superficial area, measured horizontally at a point below the level of the floor of such closet. He shall not construct any such watercloset so that it is approached directly from any room used for the purpose of human habitation, or used for the manufacture, preparation, or storage of food for man, or used as a factory, workshop, or workplace, nor shall he construct any earthcloset so that it can be entered otherwise than from the external air. He shall construct such watercloset so that on any side on which it would abut on a room intended for human habitation, or used as a factory, workshop, or workplace, it shall be enclosed by a solid wall or partition of brick or other materials, extending the entire height from the floor to the ceiling. He shall provide any such watercloset that is approached from the external air with a floor of hard smooth impervious material, having a fall to the door of such watercloset of half an inch to the foot. He shall provide such watercloset with proper doors and fastenings. Provided always that this by-law shall not apply to any watercloset con- structed below the surface of the ground and approached directly from an area or other open space available for purposes of ventilation, measuring at least forty superficial feet in extent, and having a distance across of not less than five feet, and not covered in otherwise than by a grating or railing. 2. Every person who shall construct a watercloset in connection with a build- ing, whether the situation of such watercloset be or be not within or partly within LOWLES. l8l such building, and every person who shall construct an earthcloset in connec- tion with a building, shall construct in one of the walls of such watercloset or earthcloset which shall abut upon the public way, yard, garden, or open space, as provided by the preceding by-law, a window of such dimensions that an area of not less than two square feet, which may be the whole or part of such window, shall open directly into the external air. He shall in addition to such window, cause such watercloset or earthcloset to be provided with adequate means of constant ventilation by at least one air- brick built in an external wall of such watercloset or earthcloset, or by an air- shaft, or by some other effectual method or appliance. 3, Every person who shall construct a watercloset in connection with a build- ing, shall furnish such watercloset with a cistern of adequate capacity for the purpose of flushing, which shall be separate and distinct from any cistern used for drinking purposes, and shall be so constructed, fitted, and placed as to admit of the supply of water for use in such watercloset so that there shall not be any direct connection between any service pipe upon the premises and any part of the apparatus of such watercloset other than such flushing cistern. Provided always that the foregoing requirement shall be deemed to be com- plied with in any case where the apparatus of a watercloset is connected for the purpose of flushing with a cistern of adequate capacity which is used solely for flushing waterclosets or urinals. He shall cause every flushing cistern that may be of such a kind as to be emptied .at one pull of the flushing apparatus to be so constructed that the inlet for water shall be capable of charging the cistern in not less than one minute. He shall construct or fix the pipe and union connecting such flushing cistern with the pan, basin, or other receptacle with which such watercloset may be provided, so that such pipe and union shall not in any part have an internal diameter of less than one inch and a quarter. He shall furnish such watercloset with a suitable apparatus for the effectual application of water to any pan, basin, or other receptacle with which such apparatus may be connected and used, and for the effectual flushing and cleans- ing of such pan, basin, or other receptacle, and for the prompt and effectual removal therefrom and from the trap connected therewith of any solid or liquid filth which may from time to time be deposited therein. He shall furnish such watercloset with a pan, basin, or other suitable recep- tacle of non-absorbent material, and of such shape, of such capacity, and of such mode of construction as to receive and contain a sufiicient quantity of water, and to allow all filth which may from time to time be deposited in such pan, basin, or receptacle, to fall free of the sides thereof and directly into the water received and contained in such pan, basin, or receptacle. He shall not construct or fix under such pan, basin, or receptacle, any " con- tainer" or other similar fitting. He shall construct or fix immediately beneath or in connection with such pan, basin, or other suitable receptacle, an efficient siphon trap, so constructed that it shall at all times maintain a sufficient water seal between such pan, 1 82 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. basin, or other suitable receptacle and any drain or soil pipe in connection therewith. He shall not construct or fix in or in connection with the watercloset apparatus any D trap or other similar trap. If he shall construct any watercloset or shall fix or fit any trap to any exist- ing watercloset or in connection with a soil pipe, which is itself in connection with any other watercloset, he shall cause the trap of every such watercloset to be ventilated into the open air at a point as high as the top of the soil pipe, or into the soil pipe at a point above the highest watercloset connected with such soil pipe, and so that such ventilating pipe shall have in all parts an internal diameter of not less than two inches, and shall be connected with the arm of the soil pipe at a point not less than three and not more than twelve inches from the highest part of the trap and on that side of the water seal which is nearest to the soil pipe. 4. Any person who shall provide a soil pipe in connection with a building to be hereafter erected, shall cause such soil pipe to be situated outside such building, and any person who shall provide or construct or refit a soil pipe in connection with an existing building, shall, whenever practicable, cause such soil pipe to be situated outside such building, and in all cases where such soil pipe shall be situated within any building, shall construct such soil pipe in drawn lead, or of heavy cast iron jointed with molten lead and properly caulked. He shall construct such soil pipe so that its weight in proportion to its length and internal diameter, shall be as follows — Diameter. Weight N Lead. per 10 feet length, ot less than Weight N Iron. per 6 feet length, ot less than y/2 inches 65 lbs. 48 lbs. 4 74 " 54 " 5 92 " 69 " 6 no " 84 " Every person who shall provide a soil pipe outside or inside a building shall cause such soil pipe to have an internal diameter of not less than three and a half inches, and to be continued upwards without diminution of its diameter, and (except where unavoidable) without any bend or angle being formed in such soil pipe, to such a height and in such a position as to afford by means of the open end of such soil pipe a safe .outlet for foul air, and so that such open end shall in all cases be above the highest part of the roof of the building to which the soil pipe is attached, and where practicable, be not less than three feet above any window within twenty feet measured in a straight line from the open end of such soil pipe. He shall furnish the open end of such soil pipe with a wire guard covering, the opening in the meshes of which shall be equal to not less than the area of the open end of the soil pipe. In all such cases where he shall connect a lead trap or pipe with an iron soil pipe or drain, he shall insert between such trap or pipe and such soil pipe or drain a brass thimble, and he shall connect such lead trap or pipe with such thimble by means of a wiped or overcast lead joint, and he shall connect such LOWLES. 183 thimble with the iron soil pipe or drain by means of a joint made with molten lead, properly caulked. In all such cases where he shall connect a stoneware trap or pipe with a lead soil pipe, he shall insert between such stoneware trap or pipe, and such soil pipe or drain, a brass socket or other similar appliance, and he shall connect such stoneware trap or pipe by inserting it into such socket, making the joint with Portland cement, and he shall connect such socket with the lead soil pipe, by means of a wiped or overcast lead joint. In all cases where he shall connect a stoneware trap or pipe with an iron soil pipe or drain, he shall insert such stoneware trap or pipe into a socket on such iron soil pipe or drain, making the joint with Portland cement. He shall so construct such soil pipe that it shall not be directly connected with the waste of any bath, rainwater pipe, or of any sink other than that which is provided for the reception of urine or other excremental filth, and he shall construct such soil pipe so that there shall not be any trap in such soil pipe or between the soil pipe and any drain with which it is connected. 5. A person who shall newly fit or fix any apparatus in connection with any existing watercloset, shall, as regards such apparatus' and its connection with existing soil pipe or drain, comply with such of the requirements of the foregoing by-laws as would be applicable to the apparatus so fitted or fixed if the watercloset were being newly constructed. 6. Every person who shall construct an earthcloset in connection with a building shall furnish such earthcloset with a reservoir or receptacle, of suitable construction and of adequate capacity, for dry earth, and he shall construct and fix such reservoir or receptacle in such a manner and in such a position as to admit of ready access to such reservoir or receptacle for the purpose of depositing therein the necessary supply of dry earth. He shall construct or fix in connection with such reservoir or receptacle suitable means or apparatus for the frequent and effectual application of a sufficient quantity of dry earth to any filth which may from time to time be deposited in any receptacle for filth constructed, fitted, or used, in or in connection with such earthcloset. He shall construct such earthcloset so that the contents of such reservoir or receptacle may not at any time be exposed to any rainfall or to the drainage of any waste water or liquid refuse from any premises. 7. Every person who shall construct an earthcloset in connection with a building shall construct such earthcloset for use in combination with a movable receptacle for filth. He shall construct such earthcloset so as to admit of a movable receptacle for filth, of a capacity not exceeding two cubic feet, being placed and fitted beneath the seat in such a manner and in such a position as may effectually prevent the deposit upon the floor or sides of the space beneath such seat, or elsewhere than in such receptacle, of any filth which may from time to time fall or be cast through the aperture in such seat. He shall construct such receptable for filth in such a manner and in such a position as to admit of the frequent and effectual application of a sufficient 1 84 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. quantity of dry earth to any filth which may be from time to time deposited in such receptacle for filth, and in such a manner and in such a position as to admit of ready access for the purpose of removing the contents thereof. He shall also construct such earthcioset so that the contents of such receptacle for filth may not at any time be exposed to any rainfall or to the drainage of any waste water or liquid refuse from any premises. 8. Every person who shall construct a privy in connection with a building shall construct such privy at a distance of twenty feet at the least from a dwelling-house, or public building, or any building in which any person may be or may be intended to be employed in any manufacture, trade, or business. 9. A person who shall construct a privy in connection with a building shall not construct such privy within the distance of one hundred feet from any well, spring, or stream of water used, or likely to be used, by man for drinking or domestic purposes, or for manufacturing drinks for the use of man, or otherwise in such a position as to render any such water liable to pollution. 10. Every person who shall construct a privy in connection with a building shall construct such privy in such a manner and in such a position as to afford ready means of access to such privy, for the purpose of cleansing such privy and of removing filth therefrom, and in such a manner and in such a position as to admit of all filth being removed from such privy, and from the premises, to which such privy may belong, without being carried through any dwelling- house, or public building, or any building in which any person may be or may be intended to be employed in any manufacture, trade or business. 11. Every person who shall construct a privy in connection with a building, shall provide such privy with a sufficient opening for ventilation as near to the top as practicable and communicating directly with the external air. He shall cause the floor of such privy to be flagged or paved with hard tiles or other non-absorbent material, and he shall construct such floor so that it shall be in every part thereof at a height of not less than six inches above the level of the surface of the ground adjoining such privy, and so that such floor shall have a fall or inclination .towards the door of such privy of half an inch to the foot. 12. Every person who shall construct a privy in connection with a building shall construct such privy for use in combination with a movable receptacle for filth, and shall construct over the whole area of the space immediately beneath the seat of such privy a floor of flagging or asphalt or some suitable composite material, at a height of not less than three inches above the level of the surface of the ground adjoining such privy ; and he shall cause the whole extent of each side of such space between the floor and the seat, other than any part that may be occupied by any door or other opening therein, to be constructed of flagging, slate, or good brickwork, at least nine inches thick, and rendered in good cement or asphalted. He shall construct the seat of such privy, the aperture in such seat, and the space beneath such seat, of such dimensions as to admit of a movable recep- tacle for filth of a capacity not exceeding two cubic feet being placed and fitted beneath such seat in such a manner and in such a position as may effectually LOWLES. 185 prevent the deposit, upon the floor or sides of the space beneath such seat or elsewhere than in such receptacle, of any filth which may from time to time fall or be cast through the aperture in such seat. He shall construct such privy so that for the purpose of cleansing the space beneath the seat, or of removing therefrom or placing or fitting therein an appropriate receptacle for filth, there shall be a door or other opening in the back or one of the sides thereof capable of being opened from the outside of the privy, or in any case where such a mode of construction may be impracti- cable, so that for the purposes aforesaid the whole of the seat of the privy or a sufficient part thereof may be readily moved or adjusted. 13. A person who shall construct a privy in connection with a building shall not cause or suffer any part of the space under the seat of such privy, or any part of any receptacle for filth in or in connection with such privy, to commu- nicate with any drain. 14. Every person who shall intend to construct any watercloset, earthcloset, or privy, or to fit or fix in any watercloset, earthcloset, or privy any apparatus or any trap or soil pipe connected therewith, shall, before executing any such works, give notice in writing to the clerk of the Sanitary Authority. 15. Every owner of an earthcloset or privy existing at the date of the confirmation of these by-laws shall, before the expiration of six months from and aftersuch date of confirmation, cause the same to be reconstructed in such manner that its position, structure and apparatus shall comply with such of the requirements of the foregoing by-laws as are applicable to earthcl'osets or privies newly constructed. 16. When any person shall provide an ashpit in connection with a building, he shall cause the same to consist of one or more movable receptacies sufficient to contain the house refuse which may accumulate during any period not exceeding one week. Each of such receptacles shall be constructed of metal and shall be provided with one or more suitable handles and cover. The capacity of each of such receptacles shall not exceed two cubic feet. Provided that the requirement as to the size of each of such receptacles shall not apply to any person who shall construct such receptacle or recep- tacles in connection with any premises to which there is attached as part of the conditions of tenancy the right to dispose of house refuse in an ashpit used in common by the occupiers of several tenancies, but in no case shall such ashpit be of greater capacity than is required to enable it to contain the refuse which may accumulate during any period not exceeding one week. 17. The occupier of any premises who shall use any ashpit shall, if sucii ashpit consist of a movable receptacle, cause such receptacle to be kept in a covered place, or to be properly covered, so that it shall not be exposed to rainfall, and if such ashpit consist of a fixed receptacle, he shall cause the same to be kept properly covered. 18. Where the Sanitary Authority have arranged for the daily removal of house refuse in their district, or in any part thereof, the owner of any premises in such district or part thereof shall provide an ashpit which shall consist of one or more movable receptacles, sufficient to contain the house refuse which 1 86 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. may accumulate during any period not exceeding three days, which the Sanitary Authority may determine, and of which the Sanitary Authority shall give notice by public announcement in their district. Each of such receptacles shall be constructed of metal, and provided with one or more suitable handles and cover. The capacity of each of such receptacles shall not exceed two cubic feet. Provided always that this by-law shall not apply to the owner of any premises until the expiration of three months after the Sanitary Authority have publicly notified their intention to adopt a system of daily collection of house refuse in that part of their district which comprises such premises. 19. Where any receptacle shall have been provided as an ashpit for any premises in pursuance of any by-law in that behalf, no person shall deposit the house refuse which may accumulate on such premises in any ashpit that does not comply with the requirements of these by-laws. 20. Every person who shall construct a cesspool in connection with a build- ing, shall construct such cesspool at a distance of one hundred feet at the least from a dwelling-house, or public building, or any building in which any person may be, or may be intended to be, employed in any manufacture, trade, or business. 21. A person who shall construct a cesspool in connection with a building, shall not construct such cesspool within the distance of one hundred feet from any well, spring, or stream of water. 22. Every person who shall construct a cesspool in connection with a building, shall construct such cesspool in such a manner and in such a position as to afford ready means of access to such cesspool, for the purpose of cleansing such cesspool, and of removing the contents thereof, and in such a manner and in such a position as to admit of the contents of such cesspool being removed therefrom, and from the premises to which such cesspool may belong, without being carried through any dwelling-house, or public building, or any building in which any person may be, or may be intended to be, employed in any manufacture, trade, or business. He shall not in any case construct such cesspool so that it shall have, by drain or otherwise, any means of communication with any sewer or any overflow outlet. 23. Every person who shall construct a cesspool in connection with a building, shall construct such cesspool of good brickwork bedded and grouted in cement, properly rendered inside with cement, and with a backing of at least nine inches of well-puddled clay around and beneath such brickwork, and so that such cesspool shall be perfectly watertight. He shall also cause such cesspool to be arched or. otherwise properly covered over, and to be provided with adequate means of ventilation. 24. A person shall not use as a receptacle for dung any receptacle so constructed or placed that one of its sides shall be formed by the wall of any room used for human habitation, or under a dwelling-house, factory, workshop, or workplace, and he shall not use any receptacle in such a situation that it would be likely to cause a nuisance or become injurious or dangerous to health. LOWLES. 1 87 25. Every owner of any existing receptacle for dung shall, before the expiration of six months from the date of the confirmation of these by-laws, and every person who shall construct a receptacle for dung, shall cause such receptacle to be so constructed that its capacity shall not be greater than two cubic yards, and so that the bottom or floor thereof shall not, in any case, be lower than the surface of the ground adjoining such receptacle. He shall so construct such receptacle that a sufficient part of one of its sides shall be readily removable for the purpose of facilitating cleansing. He shall also cause such receptacle to be constructed in such a manner and of such materials, and to be maintained at all times in such a condition as to prevent any escape of the contents thereof, or any soakage therefrom into the ground or into the wail of any building. He shall cause such receptacle to be so constructed that no rain or water can enter therein, and so that it shall be freely ventilated into the external air. Provided that a person who shall construct a receptacle for dung, the whole of the contents of which are removed not less frequently than every forty-eight hours, shall not be required to construct such receptacle so that its capacity shall not be greater than two cubic yards. And provided that a person who shall construct a receptacle for dujig. which shall contain only dung of horses, asses or mules with stable litter, and the whole of the contents of which are removed not less frequently than every forty-eight hours, may, instead of all other requirements of this by-law, construct a metal cage, and shall beneath such metal cage adequately pave the ground at a level not lower than the surrounding ground, and in such a manner and to such an extent as will prevent any soakage into the ground ; and if such cage be placed near to or against any building he shall adequately cement the wall of such building in such a manner and to such an extent as will prevent any soakage from the dung within or upon such receptacle into the wall of such building. 26. The occupier of any premises shall cause every watercloset belonging to such premises to be thoroughly cleansed from time to time as often as may be necessary for the purpose of keeping such watercloset in a cleanly condition. The occupier of any premises shall once at least in every week cause every earthcloset, privy, and receptacle for dung belonging to such premises to be emptied and thoroughly cleansed. The occupier of any premises shall once at least in every three months cause every cesspool belonging to such premises to be emptied and thoroughly cleansed. Provided that where two or more lodgers in a lodging-house are entitled to the use in common of any watercloset, earthcloset, privy, cesspool, or receptacle for dung.the landlord shall cause such watercloset, earthcloset, privy, cesspool, or receptacle for dung to be cleansed and emptied as aforesaid. The landlord, or owner of any lodging-house, shall provide and maintain in connection with such house, watercloset, earthcloset or privy accommodation in the proportion of not less than one watercloset, earthcloset, or privy, for every twelve persons. l88 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. For the purposes of this by-law, " a lodging-house " means a house or part of a house which is let in lodgings or occupied by members of more than one family. " Landlord" in relation to a house or part of a house which is let in lodgings, or occupied by members of more than one family, means the person (whatever may be the nature or extent of his interest) by whom or on whose behalf such house or part of a house is let in lodgings or for occupation by members of more than one family, or who for the time being receives or is entitled to receive the profits arising from such letting. " Lodger " in relation to a house or part of a house which is let in lodgings or occupied by members of more than one family, means a person to whom any room or rooms in such house or part of a house may have been let as a lodging or for his u.'se or occupation. Nothing in this by-law shall extend to any common lodging-house. 27 The owner of any premises shall maintain in proper condition of repair every watercloset, earthcloset, privy, ashpit, cesspool, and receptacle for dung, and the proper accessories thereof belonging to such premises. Penalties. 28. Every person who shall offend against any of the foregoing by-laws shall be liable for every such offense to a penalty of Five pounds, and in the case of a continuing offense to a further penalty of Forty shillings for each day after written notice of the offense from the Sanitary Authority. Provided never- theless that the court before whom any complaint may be made or any proceedings may be taken in respect of any such offense may, if the court think fit, adjudge the payment as a penalty of any sum less than the full amount of the penalty imposed by this by-law. PRIVATE UNOFFICIAL VISITATION OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. LOUISA TWINING. I have been asked to say something on this subject from an English point of view, and I have much pleasure in doing so, as I have long been interested in it, advocating its adoption and extension in this country. It is many years since I read of the plans of the State Charities Aid Association, and they at once commended themselves to me. I wrote a paper about them in the London Charity Organization Review, and would gladly have seen them more widely adopted here. But I had endeavored to make a move in this direction TWINING. 189 long before ; for as far back as the year 1853 I had begun to visit our workhouses, or as they would rather be called in America, " poorhouses," under our poor law, supported by rates collected from all classes. The evils of close management, carried out only by paid officials, at once struck me as being inevitable under such a system, in which, at that time, all control and inspection by women was unknown ; the paid officers being almost universally of a low, or, at least, middle-class grade. The rate-payers had neither knowledge nor control of anything beyond the election of their so-called rep- resentatives, in which, however, little or no interest was taken, and the proceedings that went on inside the "house" were carefully con- cealed, visitors of any kind, except the friends of the inmates, being unknown. So strong was my conviction of the dangers and absolute evils of such a state of things, that even after my first visit I endeav- ored to gain admission for other visitors besides myself. This was of course objected to by those whose interest it was to keep out all inquiry and inspection except, what was demanded by law, the occa- sional visits of gentlemen from the Central Poor Law Board. It has always been a matter of surprise and astonishment to me that these educated and intelligent gentlemen should have had their eyes closed for so long a time to the evils of the system ; it has only convinced me of the truth, which has been growing ever since, that men are not intended to control or examine domestic matters and management, and that, as the late Mrs. Jameson acutely remarked in her lectures I delivered in 1855, the "female element" being entirely wanting (at least of an educated or refined description), and no " communion of labors" between men and women being even dimly recognized, it is not difficult to account for any shortcomings that may have arisen in the system. It is not necessary for me to relate the many obstacles that were to be encountered before my object was attained ; having made my first 1 efforts to get the daylight of public opinion admitted into abodes ' that were as inaccessible to outside influence as the strictest of prisons, obstacles had been so far overcome by the year 1858 that a society was started for " workhouse visiting," supported by some of the best men and women of the time, who formed our active com- mittee, while a much larger body gave it their sanction and support. A journal was shortly started, which quarterly or oftener gave inter- esting information to the outside world concerning every department of pauper life, the schools, infirmaries, the aged and the able-bodied. igO PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. This was carried on for some years, till its object seemed to be attained, and the visitors had been admitted into many poor law institutions. The revelations they brought to light, especially as to the condition of the sick, led to many more investigations; and the attention of medical men being aroused, a commission was set on foot by the Lancet for an examination of some of the institutions where gross neglect and abuses had been known to take place. In this brief sketch it is sufficient to say that all these private efforts, beginning with those made by visitors who naturally spoke of what they saw, led to the important legislation which was passed in 1867 for the separation of the sick from all other classes of inmates, espe- cially in the metropolitan district, in which there are twenty-four different centres or unions, each with a new infirmary, the largest of which contains over 700 patients. My object is not to describe workhouse infirmaries, but only the progress of voluntary effort, which has effected so many reforms in all departments of social work. The schools for pauper children are now open to different bodies of voluntary workers, such as the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, and the workhouse branch of the Girls' Friendly Society. The infirmaries have been largely improved and influenced by the Association for Promoting Trained Nursing in them, and the committee are now applied to from all parts of England for nurses whom they have either trained or can recommend. Homes of various kinds are begun by private persons for various classes of inmates, especially for the industrial training of children, and certified by the Central Board, so that payments can be made by guardians for their maintenance. Through an act of Parliament passed in 1863, supplemented by private charity,* "feeble-minded" children are now being thus treated, with every hope of success ; and this is chiefly owing to the representations of those who have studied their condition in the schools. Committees of ladies, called " Work- house Girls' Aid Committees," are authorized to work amongst the fallen girls, and endeavor to help those who are capable of being *The now well known plans of the Association for Boarding-out Orphan and Deserted Children in Families should also be named, as having been begun in 1870, by some ladies in Westmoreland, and sanctioned by the last Govern- ment Board, and which now numbers thousands of children under the care of such committees, who are thus removed from the atmosphere and surroundings of pauperism. WHITE. 191 raised from their degradation. The beneficent aims of the " Bra- bazon Scheme " are too well known in America for me to describe them ; but the boon that they bestow on the apparently helpless and hopeless objects in the sick and infirm wards can be appreciated only by those who have witnessed them. Temperance work is carried on by outside bodies in many poor law institutions for young and old. Then, as the last proof of the progress of this movement of voluntary action co-operating with official work, I name with great satisfaction the order that was issued in January of this year by the Local Government Board, authorizing the appointment of "ladies' committees, who need not be guardians, with authority, subject to rules framed by the guardians, to visit the parts of the workhouse in which female paupers or pauper children are accommodated, with the view of their reporting to the guardians any matter which appears to them to need attention." This is in fact carrying out the suggestions of the Workhouse Visiting Society thirty-five years ago, with the additional powers of authority to report upon what they see and inspect. I can hardly leave this subject without reminding my readers of the most remarkable instance of voluntary work resulting in bene- ficent reforms by the self-imposed labors of Elizabeth Fry and Howard in the last century, and later, by Sarah Martin, when the condition of prisons and prisoners was too terrible to be described. All improvements that have since taken place may date from those efforts of self-denying humanity. Visitors are now permitted and appointed for all prisons. Outside inspection has not yet been provided for hospitals, but it is earnestly desired that ladies should at least be allowed to act on the various committees of management. Visitors to the sick are allowed to cheer them by reading or conversation, but for no other purpose. IMMIGRATION OF ALIENS. ARNOLD WHITE, LONDON. I owe an apology to every American citizen who may do me the honor to read this paper. That an apology is due will appear from the two postulates underlying the whole argument that follows, /. e. 192 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. that men are born neither (i) free nor (2) equal. There is of course a diplomatic and even a theological sense in which men are both equal and free; but if casuistry be laid aside, and the vernacular of plain business alone employed, the equality and freedom of mankind are restricted to iron-clad limits of narrow compass. The yellow man propelled from the valley of the Yangtse-Kiang^ by the expul- sive force of over-population and of want; or the poor Jew of Mos- cow or of Kiev who is " moved on " by the piety and police of Pobiedonostzev or the anger of Alexander, is in each case free to lie down and die, and they are equal in " natural rights," whatever they may happen to be. The fact is that, as regard individuals as well as regards nations, in respect to freedom and equality there has been a vast quantity of gaseous cant floating about this planet ever since the bovine stipulations of George the Third and his advisers broke up the effective and permanent union of the Anglo-Saxon race; and more especially since the peasants of France, not without bloodshed, successfully asserted their right not to sit up o' nights flogging the ponds, so that the seignezirie at the chateau might slumber in peace undisturbed by the croaking of frogs. Both the States and Great Britain are just at present puzzled by the immigration riddle. They are affected by much the same causes, if in a different form. Russian persecutions have directed, both to American and British shores, an army of excellent people, whose chief qualification for citizenship is want, and whose hereditary ignor- ance of, and muscular incapacity for,, the more elementary conditions of success in a new country are better calculated to stir the benevo- lence of philanthropists than the admiration of statesmen. Nor is the reason far to seek. The duty of statesmen is not fulfilled when they have given attention to the current problems of political necessity. They are, in addition, trustees for posterity. From this task they may shrink; they may evade it; but the duty remains. To regard the welfare and destiny of unborn millions may raise no applaus^, make no reputations, and excite no emotions of gratitude; but the interests of that silent multitude that mutely waits round the corner of the century to receive what we relinquish are interests that cannot be ignored by an honest statesman, and will be safeguarded by a great one. Much dispute is raised in these days of Irish controversy as to what it is that constitutes a nationality. Without atiempting a com- plete answer, it may be admitted that oneness of race is at all events WHITE. 193 an elementary condition in a full-grown nation. Nothing strikes a stranger more in the United States than the fact that the G< rman of Cincinnati, the Swede of Milwaukee or the Irishman of New York is in each case more intensely Teutonic, Scandinavian and Hibernian than in their respective fatherlands. In point of fact, race is in pro- cess of making in North America ; you have not yet struck a type. It is true that to most European minds the typical American is suc- cessfully produced by the Atlantic States. California, Virginia and Ohio demur to this assumption. In point of fact, the American type is forming; it is not yet formed, and may well take a few centuries to evoke a type that will be recognized throughout the whole of the States themselves as racially and distinctively American. If my proposition be true, that the American nation, however com- pletely equipped for all practical purposes in its struggle for existence in the world of to-day, is not yet racially blended, perfected, com- plete, or developed, then the duty of your rulers to exclude all that may tend to deteriorate your type becomes a duty of the most im- pressive nature — that is, if men are not born equal, a proposition with which I set out. The difference between a philanthropist and a statesman is the difference between one who looks to all the results following the movement of a given piece of machinery, and one who looks only to the specific phenomenon which has touched the striated muscle he is pleased to call his heart. The philanthropist is known to exhibit imperial indifference towards the direst sufferings when they are the result of the noble emotions. It is enough for him that the evil he has set himseff to redress really is destroyed. The gen- eration of a cloud of other and greater evils is a matter of indifference. The bear who watched his sleeping man-friend being disturbed with buzzing flies, and thereupon sympathetically destroyed the flies and killed the man with one and the same blow, it always struck me, must have been an Anglo-Saxon philanthropic bear. In point of fact, in statesmanship there is never a clear road. Every conceivable course is open to objections. The wisest and the greatest statesman is he who, having resolved on his goal, takes the line open to the fewest objections. Apply this principle to the maintenance and improvement of the respective types of American and British nationalities, by what considerations will Washington and London be governed in dealing with the question of the immi- gration of aliens, and more especially of destitute aliens — aliens destitute not merely of money and of muscle, but of character, 194 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. purpose, knowledge, and everything that separates a man from the unclean beasts of Gadara. In the solution of this problem, the government of the States enjoys a marked advantage over that of Great Britain. The port of New York is the gate through which, for practical purposes, every sea- borne immigrant must pass before he can enter the land where all poor men want to go at some time or other during their lives. The facility with which regulations can be framed is not much less than the ease with which they can be enforced.* A given physical, men- tal, or propertied standard, once prescribed, can be effectively main- tained under the shadow of the statue of Liberty. It is otherwise in England. We have many ports. The distances from other lands are measured Ijy hours and not by days. The steamship companies, which are under effective control by the United States, elude the administrative capacity of any President of the Board of Trade yet born in England. The first consideration, therefore, is that of the executive powers with which the immigration authorities are to be endowed. As in so many other cases of new developments, the United vStates is acting, while Great Britain is weighing the objec- tions to every conceivable course and pronouncing, with all the weight of inspiration, against the adoption of any of them. The result is that not only do we receive the scum of Europe, but we get the back-wash of the American scum, besides the good folk who, from mental and physical disabilities, do not attempt to ring the bell at Ellis Island in New York harbor. Next to the executive difficulties in the way of restriction and dis- crimination, the main consideration is the democratic lines on which restriction is now advocated both in the States and in England. The persons who deprecate interference with the free inflow of the destitute alien are either pure sentimentalists or capitalists who have everything to gain by the fiercest competition between wage-earners. Because England once received the skilled and useful Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when the population of these islands was under eight millions, therefore she should now receive, they argue, the destitute population of Eastern Europe, when her population is thirty-nine millions, and the struggle for life so fierce as to crush out the dignity of manhood, the grace of woman- hood and the merriment of children. These wiseacres, who can * I do not speak of the misuse of the Canadian back-door, which constitutes a real American nuisance, to be removed by diplomacy. WHITE. 195 afford to indulge in the luxury of traditions for which they do not pay, but from which they profit in the form of wicked cheapness, have no eyes to see that for all nations there are other and nobler traditions, which bear upon the nearer duties of regard to brothers in blood, color, race, before exercising vicarious hospitality to strangers without racial claim to generosity at the expense of justice to their own people. Mr. Gladstone himself has fallen into this error. We are, he says, a colonizing nation. We dispatch to other countries many more than we receive from them. This is true enough, but the quality of the human material received^ must be compared with that sent. The latest witness on this subject is Mr. N. S. Joseph, whose labors as Honorary Secretary to the Russo-Jewish Committee reflect lustre not only on the community of which he is one of the most gifted sons, but also on the country that is so fortunate as to reckon him among her citizens. Mr. Joseph delivered an address on January 26th, at the inaugural meeting of the visiting and bureau departments of the London Russo-Jewish Committee. After saying that there remain in London at present an enormous number of Russian immigrants constantly demanding sympathy and assistance, he continues as follows : " I purposely abstain from giving any estimate of that number, but it suffices to say that the lowest estimate is alarming enough to us as a com- munity The first difficulty arises from the heterogeneous nature of the refugees. There are some thoroughly capable and industrious, who only need a friendly directing hand to guide them to the means of earning a liveli- hood ; others wholly incapable and idle, and who, perhaps, rarely did a day's work in their own country. There are some fine, sturdy specimens of humanity, physically and morally fit subjects for emigration; others, perhaps fully as deserving of a fresh start in a new country, but so attenuated and weakened by privation and suffering as to be physically unfit for emigration. There are, unfortunately, a large number of poor widows and orphans, and to our disgrace it must be added, there are many deserted wives and children. There are many men who occupied high social, professional or commercial positions in their own country, and who have arrived here wholly without means, and there are thousands of immigrants who cannot be called refugees at all, but who, chronic incurable paupers, have come from Russia or Poland in the hope of getting something from the Kusso-Jewish Fund, of which they have heard exaggerated accounts. Then there are many who, in Russia, belonged to trades which have practically no existence here, and a still larger number who were only hawkers and petty dealers. Then there are the sick and aged, who might or might not have been driven out of their native place. Moreover, there are, as might be expected, the differences arising from variations in mental and moral constitution and development — the cultured and the semi- • 196 PUBLIC TREATMENT* OF PAUPERISM. barbarous, the truthful and the untruthful, the honest and the dishonest, the intelligent and the unreceptive." It may fairly be claimed — both by workinor men and women who are subjected to the searching fire of furious competition, and the rate-payers who are responsible for maintaining invalided and super- annuated workers, disabled in the struggle for life — that immigrants of the class described by Mr. Joseph may be rigorously excluded from our shores. If they are not wanted in the States, with your millions of fertile but still neglected acres, they are still less wanted here, with our myriads of unproductive but naked and hungry babies. The political refugee argument will not bear examination. The Mazzinis, Volkokies, Somersets, Krapotkines, and Garibaldis have always paid their hotel bills, or found friends to discharge their obliga- tions for them , and will always succeed in obtaining sympathy and cash from lovers of freedom. To speak plainly, after an experience of nine months in Russia during the height of thejewish persecutions, the true expulsive force is as much economic as political. The struggle for life in a town like Berdichev, where 70,000 Jews are huddled together under the saddest conditions of want, pressure and squalor, can end in one of two ways only. Either the poor souls must die or they must depart. In England we have no room for them except by lowering the general rate of wages in the trades in which the immi- grants compete, and thus reproducing in London itself the tortures and tragedies of Berdichev. (Michelet said, " La liberfe serait un mot si ro?i gardaii des mceu7's d'esclaves.") The refugees from economic conditions that are insupportable do not gain, and still less impart, the liberty they seek, when they are accompanied by the very conditions from which they fly. To exchange the religious serfdom to the Czar for the economic serfdom of the sweating-master of Whitechapel is at least a doubtful advantage to the serf himself But when he spreads the contagion of serfdom in his new home, the hour has struck for the rulers of a free people to look first to the welfare of their own people and their own race, before admitting the inefficient surplus of a lower nation. There is little sentiment in this matter of immigration. It is a business matter. Since the home is the unit of the nation, celibate immigration should be discouraged by adequate restrictive means. The anti-Chinese movement arising in your Pacific Coast was justi- fied by this consideration alone. Any nationality should be carefully watched when the female immigrants fall below thirty-five per cent. WHITE. 197 of the whole. On this basis Russia, Italy and Hungary furnish unsatisfactory records, as in each case these nations contribute more than sixty-five males out of every hundred immigrants of their respec- tive races to your shores. To recapitulate. The first duty of the statesman of a great nation, is to maintain and improve the best standard of his race ; to free it from those elements that tend to degrade or deteriorate the commu- nity; and to control the influx of human beings so as to raise rather than lower the conditions of life under which the new generation of hand-workers is born. Mixture of two races may either improve or degrade the character of both. The fusion of incongruous blood results in the generation of a mongrel type. The mixture of con- gruous and harmonious types results in the production of a race combining the characters and virtues of both, and the vices of neither. What higher aim can the leaders of our common race pursue than the purification and development of the Anglo-Saxon type ? If these things be so, the grounds therefore for excluding unsuit- able immigrants from America and England are : 1. The degradation of the racial type. 2. The unfair competition forced upon the class of unskilled wage- earners, who are too poor and too numerous to combine against unscrupulous capitalists. 3. The lowering of the standard of life among the classes with whom destitute aliens compete in the unskilled labor market, and the consequent contamination of character of the native-born. 4. The diversion of the charity fund from existing national distress. 5. In the case of the Russian exodus, the free admission to the States or Great Britain of destitute multitudes of what Mr, N. S. Joseph calls " chronic incurable paupers," is the best incentive to the Czar and his ministers to persevere in their policy of extermination. To a savage or a child the surgeon's knife is indistinguishable from relentless torture. A great nation, no less than a great family, is bound by duty to those that come after us, no less than to the gener- ation of to-day, to do nothing, and to spare no one, who imperils the realization of the national or family ideal. 198 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. CHARITY IN BELGIUM. PROSPER VAN GEERT, BUREAU DE BIENFAISANCE, ANTWERP. The Charity Board. The Charity Boards were created by the decree of 7th Frimaire, year V of the French Republic (November, 1796), after the incor- poration of the Belgian provinces. The purpose of the present notes not being the narration of the history of the legislation, but merely that of the facts connected with the Charity B.oard, we shall simply refer to the act sanctioning its institution. This act contains in its tenth section a provision well worth remembering, namely, that all assistance giveii at home shall as far as possible be in kind. What is the Charity Board ? The aim of the Charity Board is to assist paupers at home. So that so long as there can be no question of complete support, so long as the pauper can within certain limits pro- vide for his personal needs, he is to be considered indigent and as having a call for support upon the Charity Board. On the other hand, if there be any reason for committing the pauper to an asylum, in case he cannot find the means for self-support, he must needs fall back upon the civil asylums, which are themselves managed by a special board, entirely different from the management of public charity. This difference forms the line of separation between the two official ways of practising charity in Belgium. The home assistance is divided into: (a) Assistance in money, in kind, or in rent; {b) Medical assistance; {c) Assistance given to abandoned children. Assistance in Money, in Kind, and in Rent. According to law, assistance in kind should be the rule. Logic, reason and experience fully corroborate this. In fact, how often is public charity defrauded by a pauper or a pseudo-pauper. Conse- quently there can be no doubt but the chance of making a bad use of the gift received will be lessened by assistance granted in kind. Gifts in kind are of different sorts ; they may be in garments, bed- ding, food, or fuel (coals). The Antwerp Charity Board possesses a central store for garments. The prices of the various articles are posted up for inspection. Besides this main store, three branch stores are kept in the populous quarters VAN GEERT. 1 99 of the city, or four places in all where paupers maj'^ procure food or fuel. As for garments and bedding, these are specially delivered upon remittance by the pauper of tickets ad hoc, filled up by the visitors of the poor, and countersigned by the chairman of the com- mittee. They may, however, also be delivered by the central com- mittee itself, if such be the* pauper's desire. Such is also the case with food and fuel. We shall now take the liberty of entering into a more minute inspection of the methods of work of a Charity Board. The Charity Board is placed under the guidance of five directors, appointed by the town authorities out of a double list of candidates presented by the Charity Board itself. The directors are appointed for a term of five years, unless they be elected to fill the place or finish the term of a deceased director or of one who may have renounced. The burgomaster is by right a member of the board, exclusive of the five directors ; he has a deliberating vote and is chairman of the council. However, the burgomaster is not called upon to fulfill this mission except under very serious circumstances. The members of the council elect among themselves a president, an ordonnator, and a secretary, dividing any other kind of functions or departments among the rest of the members. The work of the board being rather extensive at Antwerp, the secretary is elected outside the council; a salary is granted him, but he has neither a deliberating nor a consulting vote. He is the chief of the corps of officials employed by the board. The council is entitled to deliberate when three of its members at least are present. General or permanent assistance is granted by the directors during the Friday meetings. The pauper then appears before the com- mittee; if he be known, which is ascertained by the inscription of his number in his marriage certificate, his state is looked up and the reports sent in about him by the inspector or visitor are consulted. As the case may be, a gift is allowed him once for all, or a permanent tax is granted him, according to the wants of his family. The latter allowance is generally in kind, as for instance two francs a week in kind. The pauper himself chooses what he is most in want of All the prices are posted up by quantum of 25 centimes (five cents). What is the part of the inspectors and visitors? The visitors of the poor are not piid, devotion alone urging them to practice charity; they take the tickets home to the poor and verify whether the assistance allowed continues to be necessary. They also carry 200 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. about with them a number of cards or tickets for all kinds of relief, which they are entitled to grant under sanction of the Committee of Charity. There are eleven such committees at Antwerp, each of them composed of an unlimited number of visitors. Each visitor has a circumscription of a certain number of streets. The inspector (one for each committee) helps the committee ;' he sends in reports about the cases which have come to his knowledge, consults the states and registers for the booking of the sums or quantities granted, and keeps the committees and the directors informed. The inspectors are paid. All this is perfectly democratic. The pauper is quite free to choo-e what he likes, and thus receives what he is in want of. One thing, however, must disappear, and is condemned to disappear ere long, ?. e. the allowance of assistance by the visitors and directors as well as the Friday meetings. These meetings are a disgrace. Fifty or sixty persons flock together in one room at a certain moment and are there compelled to lay bare their shame, thus throwing more shame upon society. However, not for a long time to come ; for, as we said, these meetings are condemned to disappear. According to the new regulations now in course of elaboration, the pauper will apply personally to an official ad hoc who will be in attendance at the office, or to his visitor, or even to the director. All operations will be transferred to the central office every day. The next day the inspector will send in his report, which will have to be submitted to the local committee after the visit by the visitor; the committee will then allow the assistance, unless the council of directors, who are to ratify the allowance, decide otherwise. This will be a thoroughly uselul reform, as it will avoid giving twice and will cause the assistance to turn out useful; but above all, it will spare the pauper the mortification of being obliged to apply for sup- port in public, an oblig^ition which now makes him devoid of all shame and restraint and almost teaches him pauperism. The work of the Charity Board should be a regenerating work as \yell as one of assistance, and lor this very reason it should avoid hurting any feeling of shame and fear in the breast of the wretched pauper, lest this feeling be caused to wear off and the pauper urged to seek a maintenHnce in pauperism. With regard to the above statement we venture to point to the line of working now being followed by the Antwerp Charity Board, whose great aim is to try to regenerate the pauper by allowing him VAN GEERT. 20I assistance once and for all, but in sufficient quantity. For indeed it cannot suffice to say, "We give you two, three or four francs a week, your state being a wretched one; go and make the best of that sum." The individual's position should be examined and the proper way of assisting him ascertained. We therefore feel sure a single gift of five hundred francs, well employed, is far preferable to weekly gifts of say two francs. By means of the two francs a week a focus of pauperism, wretch- edness and mendicity is created, fatally leading to an increase in the number of persons kept at the pauper's asylum at Hoogstraeten, where charity colonies are formed; whereas when, for example, a man has a small business which he can no longer keep up, he may work himself out of misery by means of the sum he is in need of; if he be an artisan, some tools may be bought for him and work given him. It also often happens that assistance is given to wives whose hus- bands have left for America, the passage money being paid by us. After a lapse of time the great country of labor generally regen- erates them, and very seldom do any of these people return to Europe. The most beautiful task of the director is the regeneration of the pauper by means of one single gift in money. Relief in the form of rent comes next, and however rare its practice may have been up to the present moment, the city of Antwerp is about to make atrial by procuring a hundred rooms foraged people. In fact, why should old people, husbands and wives, be kept sepa- rated in asylums, where they have to mess at a common table and are obliged to lead a convent life ? Our dream, now about to be realized, is the construction of a building for old paupers, male and female, where the sexes are not kept apart, where every one can live as if he were at home, in his own large, airy room, cooking his own food, as long as they do not dine out at their children's, which will be the rule as much as pos- sible. Thus we hope to prevent the breaking-up of family life as well as the respect due to aged people. The asylum, indeed, only becomes necessary when the old pauper is impotent, and in such a case he has to fall back for entire support upon the Board of Asylums. Here ends the first part of the task. I might, indeed, add a few words about the desirability of uniting the two Boards of Charity, with a view upon the budget as well as with regard to the paupers. But hie non locus est. So let us analyze the facts. 202 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Medical Assistance. The sick pauper does not always go to the hospital. If he be under treatment at home, or rather if his sickness is of such a nature that he can walk about and leave his house, he has to look to the Charity Board for assistance. The pauper then goes to the dispen- saries of the board, where he finds two doctors in attendance for two hours every day, with all the instruments for practising chirurgery in case of need, in so far as small operations may be required. The pauper receives a doctor's ticket, which is never refused him except in case of duly stated abuse. For, sickness being the shortest road to misery, given medical assistance should always be given promptly, as we cannot be too lavish in distributing the benefits of medical science. Sixteen physicians are attached to the board service. They also visit the pauper at home if he cannot go out, for notwithstanding the admirable organization of the Antwerp hospitals, many a poor patient persists in his erroneous notion that " the hospital is a place to be shunned." So deeply is the spirit of antipathy against hospitals still rooted in the working classes. We know full well it may seem hard to have to leave 'your family with the prospect of never seeing them back again. How humane would it be if we could find means to have every one treated at home; but how could we do so now, in the present state of the homes of our working people, without the proper quantum of air and space? Con- sequently, for the patient's sake as well as for that of health he should be taken to the hospital. And that is what we should endeavor to make our working people understand. Our new rules are essentially democratic. The pauper chooses his own doctor as well as his own method of treatment. Recovery IS very often dependent on confidence. Do we not choose ourselves Doctor So-and-so because he has our confidence ? Why should not the same latitude be given to the pauper, if he thinks more of the doctor of another section than of the physician of his own? Why refuse him that satisfaction? On the other hand, if the pauper believes in homoeopathy, why should we refuse him the aid of that school, which the rich are free to call in ? The Charity Board has no right to proclaim the excellence of any system ; its only task is to look after the common possession of the poor; by means of its revenue it is to see that the pauper obtains the greatest possible source of welfare, the greatest number of means apt VAX GEERT. 2O3 to relieve him in his misery. Therefore we have considered it to be our duty to grant the pauper these two liberties: that of choosing his own doctor as well as the method of treatment. Such is the constitution of the two first branches of the Charity Board. We could also add a great many different departments: we could explain the way in which our offices are kept, what is our position with regard to the provincial government, to the stale; what is the sense of the law on home stipport, and what relations we entertain with the various commons of the country. We might also treat of the service of funerals for paupers, which is now done by order, whereas formerly the pauper was interred by the lowest bidder, just as if he had been a parcel. It might be useful to explain what our colonies of Hoogstraeten Merxplas are, and our depot at Bruges ; the suppression of these institutions might form the subject oi a dis- cussion, as also their eventual disappearance through the foundation of charity colonies in the Congo Free State, as it was proposed dur- ing the National Conference in 1891. We might also mention the various resources of the board, the produce ol balls, theatricals ar.d concerts, as also the objects which ought to be taxed with a view of supporting public charity. But all that would lead us too far ; our object was the exposition of the above facts, which we venture to hope have been exposed with sufficient clearness and concision. Abandoned Children. Section 2 of the act of July 30, 1834, places the abandoned children under the charge of the Charity Committee, and although the above-named act has been cancelled by the subsequent law of March 14, 1876, in its section 43 the obligations of the Charity Committee have not been altered and their position is left quite identical. Abandoned children (see the imperial decree of January 19, 181 1) are those who, born of father and mother who are known to have brought them up, or who have been brought up by other per- sons having those children in charge, have subsequently been left alone, the persons who had them in charge having disappeared, and no call upon the parents being possible. It would seem that such a definition could only refer to parents having absconded from their natural obligations by flight. This is not so, however. It has been decided (see royal decree of November 22, 1861) that an asylum may receive children although the place of residence of the parents 204 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. be known since the origin. In fact, it is concluded that in using the expression " when no call upon the parents is possible," the law has meant an " efficacious " call, the effect of which would be to put an end to the necessity of supporting the child. And in consequence of the above interpretation, children whose parents were at the hos- pital or in prison have been admitted ever since the law has been in force. Wishing to work according to the true spirit of charity, our com- mittee has also decided that after a special decision of the council of directors, the board could also admit " morally abandoned chil- dren." Several cases have occurred under exceptional circum- stances, and the decision of the committee has always been favorable. The guardianship over children abandoned by their parents is regulated by the act or decree of 15-25 Pluviose, year XIII (Feb- ruary 4-14, 1805). One of the members of the directing committee is to be the guardian, the others forming the family council. It is, however, very doubtful whether this decree also refers to the mem- bers of the Charity Board, the law being very incomplete. The guardianship therefore is merely temporary and only lasts until the return of the parents. A law should be carried taking this guardianship from the parents by a decision of the court, after consultation of the Charity Board, and transferring it to a member of that board. As matters stand now, all is vague and the greatest conflicts are possible. For instance, the reimbursement of the sums spent in supporting the child is per- mitted in case of return of the parents, according to the text of the act of January 19, 1811, section 21. Everything remains to be done in that quarter. However, in the meanwhile we have gone forward as far as possible. We have studied what could be done for abandoned children, opinions having widely differed on that subject. Section 9 of the decree of January 19, 1811, authorizes children over six years of age to be bound apprentices to countrymen and artisans, as far as may be found possible. But far from being pos- sible, this is much rather barbarous ; for who would think of sending a child of six to the workshop or the plough ? Several members have expressed the wish of seeing the children sent into family life in the country, under the survey of an inspector. That was the old system and has its supporters even now. A very good pamphlet was even published on the subject by the honorable VAN GEERT. 205 alderman of finances of the city of Ghent. But experience has taught us that this system could lead to nothing but one vast swindle. Besides, how could the moral education of the children be looked to ; and is not moral education the great point when you are to lose sight of them ? Other members were for sending them into the country to our farmers. This was better, no doubt, but you cannot make a farmer out of every child ; moreover, the instruction to be found in the rural schools is far from answering the desiderata of our board. Over- sight, too, is difficult. It has therefore been necessary to make a call upon the resources of modern society to find the best system. Up to the age of twelve the child is now left in charge of the teacher. Asylums are to be built for such children, where they can find family life and go to school every day just like the children of our working people. These asylums will have to be double ; one for girls, another for boys. The asylum for girls will also accept girls of over twelve years of age, and the children will be kept there until some situation is found for them outside. In the meantime all the occupations of a woman of the people will be taught them, as sewing, knitting, washing, ironing and cooking. A nursery will be opened for babes less than four years old. Accord- ing to physical strength the girls will consequently be formed as cooks, chambermaids, nurses, washerwomen or seamstresses. All the work is done at the establishment, so that the girls will find com- plete instruction as well as the example of greatest economy, which will be the rule at the asylum. After school years are past the boys find our baker's shop, where the bread for paupers is baked, as well as buns, cakes, etc. The bakery is now in existence, as well as a shoemaker's shop, where the shoes for all the boys and girls are made. Moreover, the shoe- maker also works for his own account, even for families in town ; we now possess about a thousand houses in the city as property of our fund ; we therefore opened a joiner's, a painter's and a plumber's workshop to keep them in repair. In every workshop we have placed two, three or four boys, living there with the master, and thus finding a family life ; in the evening the boys go to the schools for adults; on. Sundays they repair to what we call the " Patronages " in such a way that they are learning their trade and finishing their primary instruction at the same time. We have, moreover, come 206 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. into connection lately with the Ostend school for sailor-boys and with the militar}'- authorities, so that we hope to find there another couple of ways out by the formation of sailors or soldiers, for instance when some of our boys are sons of shippers, or when through some circumstances over which we have no control other boys may have had no time for learning a trade and express a wish of joining the army. Last, not least, and to crown the work, plans have now been adopted for the creation of a large model farm at Schilde near Ant- werp, with lands covering an area of about 200 acres, so that those amongst our boys who are not willing to become artisans will have a chance of being excellent husbandmen one day, capable of turning to profit the numerous rural possessions belonging to the Charity Boards. This farm will, moreover, produce all the food generally drawn from our soil for the use of our charity institutions and that of our poor in general, so that the Charity Board will become a kind of collectivity managed by all for the profit of all, to the greatest benefit of those dependent on it, and causing the least expense possible to those who are obliged to maintain it. Such is in raw outlines the service of abandoned children at Antwerp. Still above all that, stands a new principle based upon the whole and which we feel must be put forward here. For indeed the Antwerp Charity Board has been the first to introduce farming into the management. A committee has been formed of lady patrons who undertake the oversight and economy of our two institutions. The care of a good father would not suffice in this instance and woman's task is called for. Here, in this- continuous work of the formation of the child's character, woman can, if she will, show all the devotion she is capable of, together with her full power of educa- tion and household management. At Antwerp a beginning was made; five ladies, the directors' wives, being incorporated into the board, together with another lady member, the wife of one of our colleagues of the Asylums Board, noted for her devotion and com- passionate nature. Moreover, the Burgomaster's wife was elected honorary president. The precedent thus established, this committee will require to be extended considerably, so as to be able to find as many good situations as possible for our pupils. Meanwhile the Charity Board has great hopes of seeing this inno- vation crowned by success. GROSSETESTE-THIERRY. 20/ RELIEF BY WORK IN FRANCE. M. GROSSETESTE-THIERRY, PARIS. [translation.] Relief by work in France is not an innovation due to the initiative of private individuals. From the most remote period of our history it has been practiced by the state towards mendicants. The depri- vation of liberty and confinement in workshops, where they were compelled to work from twelve to thirteen hours a day, superseded corporal punishment for all able-bodied persons found begging in city or country. Louis XVI. opened " houses of charity " {^maisons de charite) for them. The National Assembly and the Convention, " thinking that labor is the only means by which wise and enlight- ened nations can relieve poverty," distributed considerable sums of money among the departments, to be expended in drainage, the clearing of land, the digging of canals, etc. The Empire established "depots of mendicity," in which "all persons asking aid, or having no means of support, shall be detained until they have learned to earn their own living at some kind of work." It would seem as if such measures ought to have exercised a salu- tary influence upon vagrancy and mendicity, and yet their failure was complete. In analyzing the result obtained by private action, superseding that of the state, we find the cause of this failure. I. If we study the poor as a whole, we are soon convinced that the best argument in favor of work is that the professional beggar dreads it. Private action makes use of this very repulsion to unmask imposture and aid the truly unfortunate. A Parisian was the pioneer in this movement. Under the very suggestive name of Pierre de Touche (Touchstone), M. Mamoz has created a work which has been of signal service to all who were for- merly the victims of epistolary begging. A person receiving a letter, in which the most bitter misfortunes are related in the most delicate terms, and which ends in a demand for help, has only to send the name and address of the writer to M. Mamoz to have any doubt dispelled. The Pierre de Touche makes inquiries, gives the results to the inquirer, and, at his request, gives aid to the applicant in the 208 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. form of sewing. The articles made are bought by charitable persons and distributed among the poor. " Make the poor work to help other poor people " is the motto of a work which has attracted gen- eral sympathy. This for the women. For the men M. Mamoz has established an intelligence office {office de pub lie He), d.nd is constantly exercising his ingenuity to find employment suited to their ability. Twenty years' devotion to this delicate and often difficult work has made of this good man a veritable apostle of relief by work. In 1880 Pastor Robin founded at Belleville, the most populous quarter of Paris, the Maison Hospitaliere. Here we find the work ticket {bon de travail) in use in nearly all French institutions. A work ticket of 1.5 francs torn from a sort of coupon-book permits its supporters to send to this institution the poor and unemployed, who find there "a kind reception, cordial and comforting words, food, shelter, and a place in the workshops, with liberty to go out in the morning to look for work at their own trades." Assisted persons are employed at making small fagots called margotins. They are not paid in money; but in this way they meet their daily expenses, and, if they are skillful, can have something to their credit when they leave. They are required to make fifty margoti?is a day, which entitles them to 1.5 francs, represented by two meals and a lodging. All they make above this goes to their credit. The results for 1892 are as follows: Of 959 admitted into the maison hospitaliere, 695 worked on an average 14J days; 14,275.95 francs were expended and 13,270.25 francs received — a cost of ten centimes per day per man, a very satisfactory result when compared with similar work. 264 men were dismissed for refusing to work or for insufficient work. The object which Pastor Robin has sought for thirteen years is to provide the workingman gratuitously with an outfit of tools and to make him the beneficiary of all his labor. Charles Robert has said of the Maison Hospitaliere, " the work is beautiful and the idea which it realizes is a grand one." So it is not surprising that the assistance of the government and of the numerous friends of the work has enabled Pastor Robin to construct a building which will accommo- date from 45 to 50 inmates. The Hospitality par le Travail (lodging and food for work), which is under the direction of a religious body, receives annually about 1,500 women, who are employed at washing and ironing for schools and for private families; they also make artificial flowers. GROSSETESTE-THIERRY. 209 These women remain here about twenty days ; they receive no wages, but are fed and lodged, and places are found for them when opportunity offers. The gift of a considerable sum enabled an institution, known as the Central Office for Charitable Works, to construct in 1891, on land contiguous to the property of the Hospitalite par le Travail, some buildings designed to receive the unemployed. This refuge has been confided to the care of Sister St. Antoine, who has charge of the woman's establishment. Here, in very rudimentary workshops, with the help of inexperienced assistants, she has in a few months established a centre of considerable production, and one which satisfies the demands of an exacting clientele. The men, coming from all parts of Paris, soured by poverty and employed at work of which they are generally ignorant, are sepa- rated into groups of ten under charge of overseers, and make com- mon furniture — tables, wardrobes, sideboards — which is sold at a low price in the large stores of the capital. There are about 70 of these men, and their stay is limited to 20 days. Their wages are 2 francs a day ; of this they receive 80 centimes in cash in the morn- ing for their food, which is supplied by the establishment, and also a lodging ticket, worth 40 centimes, which entitles them to a lodging out of the house. 45 centimes are reserved to defray their expenses when they are looking for permanent employment. Two days a week are allowed for this purpose. The central office has estab- lished a regular bureau of information, through which it obtains knowledge of the shops where there are vacant places. These institutions are in operation all over Paris, and undoubtedly exercise an ameliorating effect upon the unfortunate. But their influence upon street beggars is not so direct as that of the Relief Unions ( Unions (T Assistance), whose sphere of activity is more restricted. These have made the profession of begging a very difficult one by means of the food-ticket, which puts a stop to indis- criminate charity, and forces the beggar to present himself at some place where he is subjected to a summary questioning, which it is generally his interest to avoid. II. The municipal council of the city of Paris has created — on land belonging to the department of public relief, in the department of the Marne — an agricultural colony, which is intended to find for working 2IO PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. men who have fallen into poverty definite occupation in rural labor, after their moral and material restoration has been effected by regular and suitable work. This colony, which has been in existence since January, 1892, at the himlet of Chalmelle, receives, after inquiries made at the Hotel de Ville, unmarried men, to whom are given clothing, food and lodging. These men are formed into squads, according to their aptitudes or the necessities of work, ufider the orders of superin- tendents of farming or of shops, and receive 50 centimes a day. Some perquisites are allowed them in the form of savings-bank books. Their stay in the colony is not limited, but it was observed that between January and October, 1892, the entire personnel had changed. The disciplinary measures employed are: first, a reprimand; second, withholding wages and transferring them to fund for perqui- sites ; third, consignment to the farm on Sunday ; fourth, expulsion. The labor consists in improving a section, which has been neglected for years, by drainage, cleaning and various kinds' of cultivation. The winter is employed in repairing farming implements and in the little farm work that is necessary. This labor is not very productive, because it is unskilled and changes are so frequent. This institution will not be a success until it is under the direction of earnest men who know how to excite a spirit of emulation and a love of work in the colonists. In 1892, 57 colonists were received at Chalmelle, of whom 18 were from 20 to 30 years old, 17 from 30 to 40, 16 from 40 to 50, and 6 from 50 to 60 years old. Of the 31 who left the establishment, 4 were expelled for drunken- ness or insubordination, 12 left voluntarily, and 15 were placed by the directory. The actual sum expended was 15,000 francs, but the commission hope that three years of good work will be sufficient to balance receipts and expenditures. In an agricultural country like France these colonies are needed to regenerate the mass of farm laborers who, having been tempted, not only by the mirage of a great city, but also by the number of charitable institutions found there, believe that they can obtain better or lessiaborious situations. These men, having wasted their small savings, are fatally tempted to join the often formidable hosts of the abodes of night, and become beggars, and at last criminals. GROSSETESTE-THIERRY. 2 1 1 The agricultural colony draws them "out of this morbid atmosphere, restores their confidence in themselves, which the disillusions of life and contact with vice have destroyed, and prepares them, by a sustained activity of several months, to resume an honorable place among their fellow-men. III. The magnificent outburst of charity provoked by the rigorous winter of 1890 gave a fresh impetus to private initiative. All the asylums overflowed with mendicants, who crowded the streets. The Champs de Mars was transformed into a vast caravansary of idle men, who excited a feeling of insecurity everywhere, and who did not disappear until they were required to establish their identity or go to work. It was at this time that societies or unions for relief by work were established. This form of relief results almost immediately, in those districts where it is in operation, in a very perceptible diminution of the number of its idle or pauper impostors. In fact, thanks to its restrictions and its almost daily communication with the Bureau of Charitable Relief (^Bureau de Bienfaisance) of the municipality, the Union for Relief has been able to establish a local clientele ; for by means of the work-ticket it gets rid of the professional beggar. We find such a society in the XVII arrondissement, under the title of" Soci^te (V Assistance de B atignolles- MonceauT This society opened its workshop on the 15th of February, 1892. Its founder, like Pastor Robin, chose the making of kindling-wood, an occupation at which any well person can work without serving an apprenticeship. The assessment made on the patrons of the society is six francs a year. A grant of 15,000 francs from the Mutual Pools (^Paris Muhiet) has enabled it to erect a building in which, in six months, 160 paupers found refuge. They worked 1844 days and earned 2,781.25 francs, at the rate of 1.50 francs per day. The society pays their wages in cash, for it does not provide for them in the house. A committee of lady managers superintends the work of the women. 266 women passed through the workshop this year; there were paid to them 3,427.90 francs, and the finished work was sent to the school board to clothe poor children, or was distributed gratuitously to the needy. The BiireaJi de Bienfaisance of the XVII arrondissement, which is the organ of the department of public relief, lias adopted one 212 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. measure which does credit to its members and shows how great is the desire to deprive impostors of official aid. It gives to the assisted tickets of seventy-five centimes, payable after three hours' work in the shops of the society. It is evident that this change in the form of official relief will, if it becomes general, have a consider- able influence on the mass of pauperism and on the apportionment made to the honest poor. This work-ticket in use in every ward of a large city must be considered one of the most powerful agents ■3.^d\wi,X. professional begging. This society aims to assist only those who are worthy of help ; to give aid only by finding work for those who are well, and by relieving the necessities of the unfortunate whom stoppage of work, sickness or reverses prevent from taking care of themselves. Its operation is assured by an assessment of ten francs a year, by subsidies and by donations. It issues two tickets. One is green, of the value of ten centimes, which any one can obtain from the agent of the Union; this "ticket" cannot be used by the recipient until it has been exchanged for a food-ticket; it represents pressing need. The other ticket is gray, folds up like an envelope, and is worth what the giver pleases. It may contain a simple request or recommendation for aid either in money or work. If the person assisted is a well person, this ticket is earned by sweeping the streets at 2 francs a day of six hours, by making margotins in the shop of the society of BatignoUes at 1.50 francs, or by working in the carpenter's shop of Sister St. Antoine at 2 francs a day. Women are paid for sewing or knitting, which they do at home or in shops affiliated with the Union, at i franc or 1.75 francs a day according to their skill. The work of the women has produced over 3000 francs in ten months. The Relief Union of the XVI arrondissement, having no work- shops of its own, is associated with others which have them, and employs its beneficiaries and carries their wages to the credit of these latter Unions. These wages are the aid inscribed on gray tickets transformed into work. All sums charged are collected every quarter from subscribers. In this way the Relief Union of the XVI has, during the last year, exchanged 6315 green tickets for food-tickets, procured regular work for 231 persons, and assisted 327 with temporary work and 169 with money. The Union of the VI arrondissement, established in a vast build- ing in the St. Germain market, issues work-tickets of 10 centimes GROSSETESTE-THIERRY. 2I3 without limiting the time of stay ; and the total is collected only after they have been worked out. Besides the assessment of the members, it has received two grants — one of 10,000 francs from the Mutual Pools, and the other of 2000 francs from the city. The average number present in the workshops is 30, who pick tow, prepare pumice-stone, or pick old corsets to pieces ; they remain on an average 12 days. They receive no money, but tickets for food and lodging are given them. By an agreement between the Union and a neighboring restaurant-keeper they can get two meals and a good room for 1.70 francs. This work, which meets with much sympathy, has produced a very sensible diminution of mendicity in the arrondissement. On March 31, 1893 (the Union was founded in March, 1892), it had found situ- ations for, entertained, helped or sent back to the country 758 per- sons, of whom 335 were directly placed b}^ the Union, 25 aided through their families, 124 returned to the provinces, 26 cared for in the house, and 18 sent away for various causes ; 133 found situations for themselves, and 97 left without any reason given. Say 45 per cent, were placed by the Union, and 65 percent, if we add those who were returned to the provinces and those cared for in the house. The Relief Union and the free municipal bureau render signal service to the VI arrondissement. IV. The prov'inces have largely shared in the movement of private beneficence which resulted in the establishment of relief unions. Marseilles, Lyons, Besancon, Havre, Nismes, Rouen, Melun and other cities have similar institutions, with work as the basis of relief; these also find situations for those whom they assist. Two of them may be considered types of rational assistance. I. Assistance by work in Marseilles. — On the 23d of February, 1891, there was established at Marseilles, under the title of "Assist- ance par le Travail," a work which, thanks to the energy of its founder, M. E. Rosbaud, and the devotion of his fellow-laborers, made rapid progress. His aim was not only to procure temporary work for the unemployed which would give them the necessaries of life, but to seek out the worthy poor and to unmask imposture ; to bring the benevolent and the wretched together ; to find regular work for the unemployed ; to give immediate help in urgent cases ; to make loans upon honor; to give free advice ; to protect children in phys- ical or moral danger, and to protect discharged convicts. 214 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. The results of two years' work are considerable, but the limits of this paper will permit only the report of the section on relief by work. February 27, 1891, an account of 4000 francs, allowed by the savings bank, formed its first capital. Subscriptions were fixed at 5 francs; and on December 31 of the same year, thanks to the donations of private individuals, of the Minister of the Interior and of anonymous benefactors, the institution showed nearly 65,000 francs received and 50,000 expended. A certain number of tickets, each of the value of 25 centimes for one hour's work, are given to the patrons in the form of a coupon-book. One of these tickets detached from the book is given to the applicant, who goes to the agency, whence he is sent, according to his ability, to the work-yard, or the addressing office, or if the applicant is a woman, she is set to packing or sewing. The applicant gets very little remuneration, essentially temporary and assuring him a bare living, in order to excite him to an effort to find regular occupation. Under these conditions, 2545 persons presented themselves at the institution 26,478 times in 1892, and worked out 60,601 twenty- five centimes tickets, of which the supporters gave 47,099 against 6235 from other sources, such as the bureatc de bienfaisance, savings- bank and deaconates. Besides this, 7267 extra tickets w^ere giveri' out and paid for in work by bearers of single tickets who were desir- ous of obtaining more work to supplement the meagre wage of 25 centimes. Of the 2545, 1948 men and 335 women were helped at the wood-yard and 262 men at the addressing ofifice. These results show the interest which the people of Marseilles take in this work. It is to be noted that most of those assisted. in the wodd-yardi bring in a return of only 9 centimes for a ticket of 25 centimes; that is to say, the object of the institution is to offer at all times, through the payment for the work by its supporters, temporary work to the unemployed. The addressing office received 262 persons, mostly unemployed clerks, who did 2868 days' or 9010 hours' work. Their writing brought in 1407.20 francs, which was entirely absorbed by the expenses. 157 women, present 5876.95 times, did work correspond- ing to 1533.20 francs wages. No assisted person can remain more than four hours a day in the shops of the society, and if he shows a disposition to remain longer, he is temporarily excluded. The workman receives a book which indicates the number of days present and serves as a recommenda- GROSSETESTE-THIERRY. 215 tion and protection ; it also insures a reserved place in the lodging- house (^Hospitalite de Niiif). Finally, these tickets when used are returned to the benefactors, who can verify their use and pay their value to the treasurer of the work. 2. The work at Lyons. — This work, established in i8go, permits a prolonged stay with remuneration in kind and in work-tickets of 1.50 francs, which represents the first day's stay. Though the system is diametrically opposed to that of Marseilles, the results are no less important. Experience has demonstrated to the founders of the Temporary Home that the more prolonged the work is the more favorable is the result in all respects, and they have never hesitated to keep beyond the regulation time any whose earnest work might stimulate the zeal of their companions. The work-ticket of 1.50 francs permits a person to remain a week at least in the workshop, where he receives three meals a day and his lodging ; he is obliged to make 50 viargotins in an afternoon, and he is allowed a premium (one centime) for every one over this number, which he receives at the end of his stay. Under these con- ditions the work has been able almost to balance its budget from its own resources, and in 1892 to take care of 890 men who remained 6974 days, making an average of nearly 8 days. These results are excellent, when it is considered that they have been obtained with absolutely inadequate facilities. The distributing committee of the Mutual Pools, wishing to recog- nize the effort and the sustained devotion of the promoters of this work, has allowed them the sum of 40,000 francs for the purchase of property, and there is no doubt that the Lyonnaise foundation will in a short time realize the dream of its sympathetic president: "Mendicity is forbidden here, but we receive with cordial sympathy and profound joy every one who wishes to regain his manhood, to be regenerated, to be saved by work." V. The French conception of relief by work presents certain peculi- arities which reveal its spontaneous origin. A few citizens, in places widely separated, and without any appeal to the public or to the government, and often with very insufficient funds, established insti- tutions having for their foundation the temporary occupation of the unemployed, which is freely offei-ed and freely accepted. No common rules govern their action. In one the assisted person 2l6 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. receives payment in money, in another in food, and in a third wholly in lodging. At Marseilles, his stay in the workshop is limited to four hours a day ; at Lyons, he may remain a week, or longer, if he gives evidence of energy and good intentions ; at Paris, some insti- tutions take care of him fourteen days, others twenty ; and wherever these unions are in operation they struggle successfully against pro- fessional beggary. Public charity seconds their efforts by active co-operation, by subsidies, and by credits allowed by the bureaus of charity. Hardly had they been organized when unhoped-for results were obtained ; because it is recognized that the change from indis- criminate individual charity to a form of relief which is paid for in work, and the union of private initiative with public relief, with a view to reviving the energy of the able-bodied poor, raise in an agricul- tural country like France a much more rational obstacle to the revival of vagrancy and mendicity than increased severity of the repressive system. When the public authorities, completing the work already begun, shall endow the country districts with shelters of a preventive char- acter which will excite emulation, such as the large centres now have, the city will no longer absorb the population of the country; the unemployed, who first become beggars and then dangerous criminals, will furnish agriculture with the hands it now lacks, and will co-operate in national saving, instead of imposing taxes which are as burdensome as they are useless. THE AUSTRIAN POOR LAW SYSTEM. EDITH SELLERS. The Austrian poor law system differs widely from that in force in any other country. While elsewhere poverty is regarded officially as a crime and dealt with accordingly, in the Eastern Empire it is held to be merely a misfortune. In the eyes of Western legislators, the destitute, whether little children, strong men, or infirm old people, are all on the same level. By their laws, the same treat- ment is meted out, in the hour of need, to sturdy beggars and loafing vagabonds, as to industrious men and women whose life has been one long fierce struggle to keep the wolf from the door. Austrian SELLERS. 217 Statesmen, however, hold different views both as to expediency and hurfianity. They classify their poor most carefully, for they main- tain, and with some show of reason, that it would be just as absurd to club together all criminals — libellers, thieves and dynamiters — as all paupers. They even discriminate in the use of the term, reserving it exclusively for able-bodied men and women. Through- out the empire, the young who have no relatives to support them are the adopted children of the state; the aged destitute are its worn-out industrial pensioners ; and the whole population would be horrified at the thought of treating as paupers the one class or the other. The first Austrian poor law was drawn up by the Emperor Joseph II., and is strongly imbued with the personal characteristics of its author. It came into force in the year 1781 and is the basis of all later legislation on the subject. Its fundamental principle is that the responsibility for the relief of distress rests not on the state, but on the town or commune. The imperial exchequer is under no obliga- tion to contribute towards the support of the poor, although it may, and frequently does, make a grant to some one or more districts in case of special distress occurring there. Each town or commune is required to provide food and shelter for such of its inhabitants as are destitute, and to take charge of idiots, cripples and invalids. The local authorities are exhorted to show special consideration for the aged, and to secure for them the means of passing their declining days in comfort. On the other hand they are exhorted to deal sternly with the able-bodied, and to refuse all help to those who, having the strength to work, are lacking in the will. A marked"^ feature of this first poor law is the importance of the role it pre- scribes for the clergy. The Emperor Joseph, holding that the very raison d'etre of the church is to relieve distress, placed the adminis- tration of his law in the hands of the priests. He insisted that they should become guardians of the poor in all the meanings of the term. This arrangement did not work satisfactorily. In many districts these clerical guardians proved themselves at once negligent and corrupt, with the result that it soon became necessary to replace them in their office by laymen. From time to time other alterations in this law were made by the provincial assemblies, with a view to adapting it to their special local requirements, so that the old impe- rial measure has undergone many transformations, and to-day almost every province and large town has a relief system of its own. 2l8 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. All these systems, however, are founded on the same principle and are characterized by the same spirit. The one in force in Vienna, therefore, may be taken as a type of the rest. In Vienna, the responsibility for the relief of the poor is vested in the Armendepariment. This department administers the municipal charities, manages the public benevolent institutions, and decides all questions relating to the relief of the poor of the city as a whole. It consists of 537 guardians of the poor ; 233 Waisenvater (fathers of orphans) ; 54 Waisenmiitier (mothers of orphans), and a certain number of paid officials. The guardians are elected by the rate- payers ; the Waisenvater and Waisenmiitter are appointed by the burgomaster. In addition to this central authority, each of the nine- teen districts into which Vienna is divided has a board of guardians of its own. The members of these boards are elected by the rate- payers of their respective districts, to whom they are responsible for the administration of the relief granted in these districts. The recipients of relief are divided into three classes, viz. children under sixteen, able-bodied men and women, and the aged and infirm. Vienna boasts, and not without reason, that it takes better care of its destitute children than any other city in the world. All children, whether orphans or not, whose relatives are unable to provide for them are adopted by the city. They are never allowed to enter a workhouse or any place where they would be brought in contact with paupers, and the greatest care is taken to prevent any stigma being attached to them on account of their friendless condition. If under ten, they are generally boarded-out with well-to-do peasants, who must undertake to care for them as if they were their own sons and daughters. They attend the village school, where they mix with their companions upon terms of perfect equality ; and thus grow up without ever experiencing that parish feeling which is often so painful a feature of the lot of such children in other countries. Each one of them, if a boy, is under the special care of a Waisenvater ; if a girl, of a Waisenvitdier. These official fathers and mothers are held responsible by their fellow-citizens for the welfare of their charges. They must visit them regularly, see that they are properly fed and clothed, that they are treated kindly by their foster-parents, and that they are being trained in such a manner as to fit them to make their own way in the world. As no one would accept the office who was not fond of children, a warm feeling often springs up between these guardians and their proteges, to the great advantage I SELLERS. 219 of the latter, who thus start life with a friend at their back to whom they can turn when difficulties arise. When the children are old enough to benefit by more careful teaching and supervision than can be secured for them whilst boarded-out, they are either placed in orphanages or sent to training-schools, where they are fitted for the calling for which they show most natural aptitude. Every precaution is taken to prevent their going to swell the ranks of unskilled labor. The boys are carefully trained in some well-paid handicraft — car- pentering, bricklaying, shoemaking, etc. — whilst the girls are taught to cook, wash, clean, sew, to perform in fact all the duties of house- wives. If any of them show signs of special talent they are given an opportunity to cultivate it ; for attached to the public schools are scholarships for which only pauper children may compete. Even the University throws open to them g-ra^isaW its lectures and exami- nations — a noteworthy fact considering the exclusive spirit which generally characterizes such institutions. Vienna has under its care at the present time some 7000 children, of whom one-third, roughly speaking, are in schools and orphanages, while the rest are boarded-out. The average cost per head in an orphanage is 79.96 kreuzer a day. This is certainly a liberal allow- ance for a child — more than half as much again as that granted for a man; but the money is well spent, for the adopted children of the city turn out as a rule useful men and women, self-supporting, law- abiding, and capable of doing good service in the world. For the relief of the able-bodied a sort of modified Elberfeld system prevails in Vienna. Each district guardian has under his care some twenty families with whose character, habits and circum- stances he is expected to be personally acquainted. Unfortunately, however, like other honorary officials, he sometimes neglects his duty in this respect. He has at his disposal a small sum of money for the relief of cases of temporary distress. His special duty, however, is not so much to deal with distress himself as to supply the information necessary for enabling the Arviendeparimeni to deal with it effect- ually. He, therefore, unless the circumstances of the case be exceptional, passes on all applications for help to the officials of the central department in charge of the public institutions for paupers. These institutions are arranged on a sort of descending scale of comfort. There are Asyls for those who are anxious to work but have no work to do; a workhouse for those who will work if they must, but would rather play; and a Zwangarbeiihavs (forced labor 220 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. colony) for those who can only be driven to work by threats and blows. By thus keeping the three classes distinct, the authorities are able to deal out to each one of them the precise treatment it merits. An Asy/ is a municipal boarding-house to which a workman who, owing to loss of employment or some other misfortune, is in a state of destitution, may claim admittance. There he is provided, free of charge, with a supper, bath, bed and breakfast every day for a limited time, upon condition that, during that time, he makes every possible effort to obtain employment. The Asj/l officials are in constant communication with the great employers of labor, and have a labor-bureau of their own. Thus they know to a nicety where work is to be found, and are able to save the unemployed from many a weary tramp. So long as a man is honestly doing his best to become self-supporting they give him every help ; but they keep a sharp watch on his proceedings, and if he shows signs of a taste for loafing they treat him with scant toleration. In no circumstances is he allowed to return to the Asyl too often or to stay there too long. Three days is the average length of a visit. At the end of that time, unless he has either found work or can prove that he is on the way to do so, he must leave the Asyl. Another refuge, however, is open to him ; he may go to the workhouse. In Austria a workhouse is something entirely different from the institution which bears that name in America. Vienna with its popu- lation of 1,500,000 has only one workhouse, and of this the number of inmates is rarely more than 170. Yet it is by no means an unpleasant abode. The food is good, the rooms are comfortable, and there is a decided air of life and gaiety about the place. The inmates are required to do a certain amount of work, to keep regu- lar hours, and to be peaceable and orderly in their behavior. So long as they conform to these rules they enjoy considerable liberty, for the officials never interfere unnecessarily with their proceedings. On Sundays andy^/1 co' CO •4 CO M cj 'f CO , d V ^ "" "^ > X V c: **- w u ^ vq LO VO 00 '^ q Cs N vq q -a = CO 00* 6 v6 6 CO CO 10 10 \o' ' ^" t) M CO M N N M ^ c^ ^^ u- J, ^ ^ ^ Jr rt u w — ■ 41 N vn rl r^ CO CO ON VO r^ t^ • NO ^ 3 " fO t^ ■^ LO T 10 'i-' LO -T • N s m;- to — D 4J a u > 15 ° .ES ro •t ^ CO wl •i- Tf 10 s « CO -T r^ 1J^ ro T VO r4 • •^ M q> \o HH c^ t^ 1-1 NH rj NO • 10 I- (•r to u M " ■^ 2rt 5?S ■^ T r^ 30 CO ro M CO r^ ^ . §2fi VO vo ■" M '^ ro ro ■^ I C\ iJ-- 2 - HH ro ro CO VO ^r 'i- lO ^ ■^ ro WJ U OJ= S c Ch ^ ;/; ^ I- VO m \o r^ 10 Tf u^ ON •^ -a- « u n CO 00 CN ON ON ro CO p< "J ■^ n ■^ r^ r-^ M CO ■^ t^ q tJ h| V HH l-( •-• >-( >-< M M -^ Pi t-< bfl /■ "> i - C = yf.2 r» 10 n ■^ r-. Cl u-1 .5 12 tn rt ij rt ro ri CO ON « 1— ON r^ ] ro !E &g-ais M c< — '^ "" f) ri M f) rl ^ 2^S5-S M CO ^ c/1 s >r1 N iri ro CO ►-I M ri LO CS T to :r> « r^ 00 T — 0^ r^ 12 T C\ Cl CO q^ •^ CN lO W r^ . vO_ -!t- 00 'O , o_ £ S E Cs -r •^ co" ro Cl ri rC • 1— u 3 ri n T CJ CO C) CO CI CO t^ Ph Z to '^ n C\ 10 a\ t^ ON .- I. '1 t^ t~~ CO ro IT) r^ r^ -:r ON 5-^ §- o_ '■') Cl o_ a\ CO ON — to . ri = =» rC CO o\ ^ ro C\ CO H< ■^ * I^ a.u - \0 un 10 CO \o -T CO t^ — CO Oh " G c « . (/I u HH »— « t~4 > > > > 1— < > X X u S i-4 0- H 258 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. are 26 assisted persons (the extremes being 30.9 and 13.6) and an area of 10.5 hectares to one overseer. This figure is decidedly large. About the same averages appear for the years 1891 and 1892, although nine new precincts have been added, among them being those with a poorer population. There is an urgent necessity for an increase in the number of charity overseers and orphans' guardians to at least 2,000, or about fourfold, so that in future there will be seven assisted persons to one charity overseer. Aside from the absolute increase in number, the present inequalities in regard to the area and population of the precincts would have to be obviated. In small District I one charity overseer looks after 13 to 14 persons, while in District II, which is ten times as large, 18 to 19 are under the care of one overseer. In District V, which is about as large as the inner city, 31 persons fall to one overseer, or three times as many as in District I. Again, when an overseer becomes ill or leaves the service the busi- ness is blocked, because the election of a successor cannot be held promptly and another overseer cannot be doubly burdened. The question, therefore, arises, what shall be the future position of over- seers of the poor and guardians of orphans? Shall it be obligatory? Shall compensation be provided ? Shall there be a penalty for a refusal to accept the office? In my judgment, there would be no need of compensation if a sufficient number of overseers were provided for — say one for 6 to 7 individuals or families, especially as each overseer would be relieved of part of his burden through such a reform. On the other hand, if a person had any scruples about accepting this honorary office, he could be punished by an increase of his municipal taxes {Gemeindeu77ilageii) , or a limitation of his right of suffi"age. Of course, these reforms must be made without afiecting rights of citizenship in the state, but in a strictly legal way, quite apart from the fact that they would otherwise meet with much opposition in the municipal council. The Berlin system could thus be imitated. There, any voting citizen is in duty bound to accept a position in the municipal admin- istration without pay, and to hold office at least three years. If he retires from the same without having a legitimate excuse,* he can be made to forfeit his rights of citizenship for from three to six years and to pay a higher rate of municipal taxation. *Such would naturally have to be specified in the Vienna law also. .KOBATSCH. 259 It may be remarked that with the fourfold increase in the number of overseers (6 or 7 paupers to one overseer), we should still fall far below the Elberfeld ideal ; for the latter assigns only four persons or families to one overseer, and, in fact, often entrusts only two or three persons to his care. Finally, we ought also to reflect whether we should not draw women into the charity service, especially for the care of women and children. We find the same deficiency in the number of orphan- mothers ( Waisenmiiilef), while outdoor relief (orphan pensions, education allowances) is exclusively undertaken by men. There should also be some regulation as to the occupations of the charity overseers. Of the 850 charity overseers (in round numbers) for 1893, 220 are engaged in supplying necessary food products (dealers in produce, milk and meat, innkeepers, coffee merchants, etc.) ; 143 in the manufacture and sale of articles of clothing and furniture ; while only 104 belong to the higher professions. In con- sequence of this there is a possibility, and there seems to be even a probability, of the employment of paupers at insufficient wages pay- able in kind, of which the poor themselves as well as disinterested persons have complained. The number of physicians for the poor (in 1890, 19, and in 1892, 54) should also be considerably increased ; the physicians should be better paid, and they should be placed under the control of the city health department and so under the disciplinary power of the magis- tracy. Physicians should be permitted to express an opinion only in cases of sickness and consequent inability to work, and as to whether the disabilities are permanent or only temporary, total or only partial. The question of ability to gain a livelihood being closely allied to indigence, and a social-economic one, would better be left to the overseers. One advantage of the individualization of poor relief would be that in cases where poverty was the result of drunkenness, dissipation or want of character of the head or some other member of the family, the facts could be easily and clearly proved ; and it would, therefore, be easier to put the paupers at work in a well organized workhouse, as well as to place them under supervision and guar- dianship. On the other hand, in cases where poverty is due to no fault of the pauper, or if so, in only a slight degree, and where indi- gence results from alack of appreciation of the economic conditions, or from direct misfortune, the relief work must be conducted on a broader and especially on a preventive basis. 260 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. III. Temporary Relief. In regard to poor relief for adults, the law specifies that the aid given shall be in money, provisions, shelter, or employment, accord- ing to the peculiar needs of the applicants. In reality, however, the assistance rendered is almost exclusively in the form of money, pen- sions, or admission to asylums. Relief in kind* or by providing work scarcely ever occurs. This is a decided mistake of the muni- cipal poor relief, for the only refuget which any one may voluntarily enter is far from being complete enough in its arrangements to serve as a real and sufficient agency for giving work ; and the asylums, the capacity of which is acknowledged to be insufficient, are rarely open to homeless, unemployed young men. As regards financial aid extended on single occasions, there are peculiarly rigid regulations, which must be daily violated if the misery of the numerous appli- cants is in any degree to be alleviated. This form of assistance can be used only when the distress prevents the gaining of a livelihood by the pauper and his family. The recipient must not enjoy any other income (pension, etc.) beyond an exceedingly small amount. In giving relief it must be noted whether the pauper received any assistance during the last half year for any reason, because the amount given for this form of relief in any one year cannot exceed altogether 15 florins to any one person, man and wife in this case being counted as one. The approval of the magistracy must be obtained by the charity office in every case before this amount can be exceeded. But financial aid is not only given at the charity offices, but also in the charity department of the magistracy, at the mayor's office, at the imperial police headquarters, and at the hospitals. These offices do not come in contact with one another, nor do they have, in general, sufficient opportunity for personal investigations as to the worth of the applicants. No one will doubt that in this way the door is opened to professional beggary and fraud, as well as to * The statistical annual for 1890 states that 3,292 persons received aid in kind at the charity offices, but it does not insert this figure in the tables because " the census is not reliable." In addition to this, there are 300 to 400 persons who annually receive orders for wood to the value of 3,000 florins from the mayor's office ; a further sum of 9,000 to 12,000 florins is annually expended for relief in kind distributed at the precinct agencies. tSee the Werkhaus, below, pp. 273 ff. KOBATSCH. 261 the refusal of the really worthy but modest poor, and the prohibition of beggary on the streets is rendered quite illusory. There are, besides, numerous private charitable societies, which shameless appli- cants for aid visit as often as they do the municipal or rather pubhc charity bureaus. Finally, we must remember that there are many aristocratic and princely personages who are applied to, and some- times successfully, for alms, and then we can form an idea of how greatly professional beggary, laziness and vagrancy have been fostered and constantly kept alive. The reform in this respect would chiefly consist in giving more importance to relief in kind and procuring shelter. It is rarely known what is done with money that is given away. It is not known in the charity offices, because there are too few overseers, nor in the other bureaus, because there is there no personal supervision whatever. At any rate, money and provisions should be delivered only at the resi- dences of the applicants.* If they have no home, to supply things that may be moved on single occasions does no good at any rate, the need in that case being chiefly a safe shelter. One need only look at other great cities to see how carefully and economically their poor relief is managed. While, for example, Vienna in 1886 expended 400,000 florins for relief in money, this item in the larger city of Berlin amounted to only 116,000 florins. The Paris Btireatc de Bienjaisayice in 1889 distributed altogether 6,800,000 francs. Of this, the expenditure for bread was 583,900 For other kinds of food 58.570 Total for food 642,470 For fuel 40,940 For clothing, etc. 98,850 Total, in kind 782,260 Relief in money 1,827,540! The relief in money, therefore, amounted to only 26.8 per cent, and the relief in kind to 11.5 per cent, of the total expenditure. In German cities, also, these figures are 35 and 12 percent, respectively. * See Dr. L. Kunwald, Ueber Communalverwaltung U7id Armettp/lege, Vitixnz, 188S. t See Compte Moral de V Administration de P Assistance Publique four I'Excr- cice, 1889. Paris, 1892. 262 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. An interesting result of the Vienna system of giving relief in money is the fact that of 27,191 persons assisted by the charity department and the charity offices in i8go, 420 were 20 years of age and under, 1,802 between 20 and 30, 3,946 between 30 and 40. Altogether 5,158 (18.9 per cent.) were of an age when men are usually capable of doing work, and were therefore decidedly not entitled to aid from a social political standpoint. Again in 1890 relief in money was received by 3,375 single, 6,322 married, 2,029 widowed and 54 legally divorced men; and by 2,928 single, 3,491 married, 10,744 widowed and 87 legally divorced women. Unfortu- nately we are not able to give the reader still further individual statistical data, especially in regard to the personal circumstances of persons temporarily aided in other bureaus, or as to personal facts such as age and family status, because the respective enumerations are missing in the statistical annual.* An example worthy of imitation is that furnished by the Vienna Society for the Prevention of Pauperism and Beggary ( Verein gegcn Verarmung und Beitelet), which not only gives presents of money, but also makes loans without interest, of which about 40 per cent. are returned annually. IV. Pensions; Reasons for Discontimiance; Relief of Pauper Chil- dren ; Food Distribution ; Relief of the Sick ; Indemnification ; Berlin City Dispeyisary and Similar Institutions. On what conditions, then, may a poor man obtain a pension, or admission into an institution? Here the "Regulations" contain some provisions which have to be evaded in practice. It has been stated that aid amounting to not more than 15 Austrian florins may be given once. If in case of "long-continued illness" of the poor man or of his family, or in other cases of " prolonged distress," this aid proves inadequate, and if he is not entitled to receive a permanent pension, a temporary pension for the probable duration of his need, and amounting to from 2 to 4 florins a month, ma)' be granted. Larger temporary pensions, equal in amount to permanent ones (8 florins at most), may also be granted, but only in case of special physical infirmities ; and then the chief condition precedent to *See particulars later, regarding their significance as poor statistics. KOBATSCH. 263 obtaining a permanent pension, i. e. that the candidate should be at least 60 years old, may be waived. The magistracy is required to provide lodging for persons who cannot find a place of abode even with the aid granted them. The question is, " Where?" The institutions are almost full; certain hard conditions must be complied with in order to procure admission, and no actual rent is paid. Nothing remains except to assist again in money.* This faulty condition of things shows that an increase in the num- ber of charitable institutions and of wayfarers' lodges, and an exten- sion of indoor poor relief, are absolutely necessary. Any one wishing to obtain a permanent pension must comply with still greater requirements. Generally he gets it only in case of severe illness (" total inability to make a living ") and at an advanced age (minimum age 60 years — "inability to work") ; and if the pen- sion proves insufficient he may be admitted into an institution. Besides this, neither the applicant nor his wife may be any longer a taxpayer in any way, and his yearly income must not amount to more than 60 Austrian florins. At the age of sixty an applicant receives the lowest pension, 2 florins a month, on the express supposition that "he is not yet destitute of all other aid or left entirely to his own resources, but receives some assistance from relatives." At the age of sixty-four his pension is raised to 3 florins a month, at the age of sixty- eight to 4 florins ; 5 florins a month are paid to people of seventy, 6 florins to octogenarians and to those who are blind, cripples, in short to all who are entirely and hopelessly unable to work or to make a living, and to these admission into an institution is offered as an alter- native. These institutions may also admit pensioners for pay; and even persons who are not entitled to the right of settlement on the same basis. The best criticism on these principles is furnished by the prac- tice ; for in practice they have never been carried out to the letter, and never can be. How far in this respect the Vienna poor relief is behind that truly good provision of the Elberfeld system, by which aid is granted on principle for only two weeks! After this time has elapsed a new application or a new request must be made. This * That the private associations for warming-rooms ( Wdrmestiibeii), shelters, tea and soup-houses, etc., do not provide dwellings for even a single person or family, but only herd the poor people together as in a stable for a few hours or nights, is well known ; these conditions can be improved only by an honest and thorough treatment of the question of improved dwellings. 264 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. is one of the points which will need reform when the poor relief of Vienna is freed from the iron bonds of bureaucracy and red tape ; and for this the present head of the community, and councillor Trabauer, the present poor commissioner, are working with great zeal and clear wisdom. Money should not be given to the poor for months and years at a time, subject only to a semi-annual investiga- tion by the overseer,* but only for a short time. For invalids or persons entirely and hopelessly unable to earn a living, institutions are the proper place. And at the special instigation of the persons mentioned, the city council (^Gemeindeve7'tretung'),e.\i\\tx tacitly or by formal resolutions, has done away with the worst red tape and has given scope to freer movement. The 2 florin pensions will be gradually stopped ; for some time, permanent or temporary aid, amounting to from 7 to 8 florins a month, has been given to people under eighty ; and, thanks to the untiring and judicious efforts of the present poor commissioner, the age schedule is beginning to be considered of less importance than the judgment of the city physician for the poor (Arme?iarzi) and the report of the overseer. The latest improvement, for which we are indebted to the same persons, is the addition of 10 and 12 florin pensions to the regular list, though so far this improvement applies only to persons who have been in an institution more than a year, who are entirely unable to work or to make a living, and who are otherwise worthy of the larger pension. Only citizens of Vienna can receive a pension of 15 florins a month in cases of destitution, and only at a very advanced age and when entirely unable to earn a living ; unfortunately there is only a limited number (600, 400 and 100) of these larger pensions, as of all citizens' pensions (6, 8, 10 and 12 florins a month). We have still to speak of the reasons which may cause the discontinuance of a pension or dismissal from an institution. Eight are enumerated in the " Regu- lations," five of which, namely, giving up one's claim voluntarily, death of the pensioner, not claiming the pension for three months, commitment to a penal institution, admission into a charitable insti- tution, immoral and indecent habits,t speak for themselves and need no commentary. Not so the other three reasons for discontinuance, * Temporary pensions are generally granted for one or two years, evidently from a desire t© escape work. tin this case, commitment to a penitentiary, a home for drunkards, or a house of correction (^Zwangsarbeitshaiis) , etc., must take the place of the pension. KOBATSCH. 265 which are in urgent need of being reformed. First of all there is the regulation which provides that on the acquisition of property, or of any source of income, the yearly proceeds of which equal the highest pension (6 florins a month or 72 florins a year), the pension must be stopped at once, and should the pensioner have continued drawing it, he must refund whatever amount he may have drawn after he acquired the other source of income. Here every unprejudiced person will wonder why this minimum of existence which is prescribed by law, and which is somewhat higher than the limit required for aid, was not raised when the seven and eight florin and the recently introduced ten and twelve florin pensions were created. In the practical application of this economic arithmetic, an evasion, or a rather broad interpretation of the "Regulations," often becomes a matter of necessity. The unconditional obligation to refund is decidedly open to severe criticism ; if any one has continued to draw his pension in addition to the income of his newly acquired property, or in addition to his other sources of income, he should only be deprived of the pension in case of bad faith ; a slight improvement in his economic condition, the acquisition of a few florins, whether as capital or as interest, ought to make no diflerence in his already very moderate fortune. It would be diflerent if a pensioner's stipend were stopped because it could be proved that he had some property at the time the pension was granted, even if the income from it amounted only to the lowest pension given (2 florins a month), and that he concealed this fact. No objection could be made to this provision, because any one who owns a very small amount of property, yielding from 2 to 3 florins interest a month, may receive a pension in addition to this, even if he states what he owns, and that it is much too little to supply him with the necessaries of life. "Marriage of the pensioner" is recognized by the poor regula- tions as another reason for stopping a pension. Rarely has an idea, incorrect in itself, been more unfortunately expressed. We have tried before to explain the reason of this law, which turns the very moment that is considered one of the happiest in most men's lives, into a most unfortunate one for a pensioner; it was made to prevent the acquisition by marriage of a right of settle- ment and so of a claim to poor relief, or to keep down the number of improvident marriages. But are illegitimate relations more provi- dent? And do they not also result in offspring ? 266 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. In short, as soon as the law of settlement is revised, this provision will become meaningless, and may be done away with without dis- advantage. Experimental cases, such as saving, if possible, members of the middle classes who are on the verge of ruin, and ought to be aided by larger amounts, are provided for only by endowments in the Vienna poor relief, and these afford a remedy for the unbearable condition brought about by the settlement law only if their bestowal is not dependent on right of settlement. In connection with this discussion of the pension system we may consider the often analogous outdoor relief of pauper children. Children of poor parents receive aid and contributions for education, amounting to 2 florins a month, as long as they are under fourteen, i. e. as long as they are subject to the compulsory education law. Only children who have lost their father, or natural children whose mother is dead, can receive an orphan's pension of 3 florins a month, or in exceptional cases 5 florins a month.* If children have lost both parents through death; or if the where- abouts of their parents is unknown ; or if through "a combination of exceptionally unfortunate circumstances " they can no longer pro- vide for the support of one or of several children ; and finally, in the case of foundlings, the provisions for board {Kosigeld') apply, i. e. these children, if they have settlement rights at Vienna and have no grandparents able to support them, are boarded by the community for 8 florins a month, with people whose dwellings are officially certified to be sanitary and of whom " it is not to be supposed that they take children merely in order to improve their own condition." Children who are not 'provided for by parents or in some other private home, and who are at least six years old, intelligent and healthy, and who have been vaccinated, are admitted into the city orphan asylums ; those who are blind or deaf-mute, into the state asylums for the blind and deaf-mute, where the Vienna relief fund pays for their maintenance. Entirely neglected orphans are placed in a " Home of the Friendless" {Rettungshaus), of which there are at present three under private management. *The poor law concerning the granting of these pensions follows a most astonishing principle, namely, that a mother should be able to maintain at least one child without assistance (for why did she give birth to the child?), and therefore contributions for support, money for board, and orphans' pensions are generally granted only when there are several children under fourteen. KOBATSCH. 267 Compare with the above requirements for persons wilhng to receive children as boarders, the curious fact that among the 780 people (average number from 1885-1889) taking boarders, 470 were tradespeople, about 30 were janitors in offices, schools and other places, about 50 day-laborers, women who sew for a living, etc., and about 100 private citizens or officials retired on a pension. Consid- ering these figures, we shall feel tempted to regard the arrangement of boarding children as a kind of Sisyphean task, and, although statistical proof is wanting, this is confirmed by people experienced in such matters, who say that many of these " boarded children " later in life swell the ranks of pensioners, inmates of charitable insti- tutions, wayfarers' lodges, etc.; which proves that they cannot have had a sufficiently steady educational training, and that they develop physical infirmities early in life — in a word, they are not worth the cost. What we have said about the business management, economics, etc., of pensions applies to orphans' pensions and contributions for their education. But we must say that relief of children, and poor relief generally, should be classified according to the cause of destitution and the condition of the paupers, as follows: i, relief of orphans proper (including the care of whole orphans and of entirely abandoned children); 2, measures for reforming neglected and delinquent children; 3, aid for children of poor parents — this third class to be transferred generally to the department of poor relief if a corresponding increase in the number of overseers can be obtained, as in that case poor relief would individualize the poor and treat them in single families; 4, admission of all feeble-minded children into proper institutions. It goes without saying that the persons entrusted with relief of children, which is pre-eminently preventive poor relief, especially with the second and fourth classes, need parti- cularly pedagogical qualifications, coupled with economic insight. In the relief of the sick, especially in hospitals, the community of Vienna is more interested financially than in any other way. This is also the province where the true bureaucrat feels at home and happy ; here, where the complicated quotation of expenditure and of compensation are the order of the day, we find crowds of notes and counter-notes, indorsements with, or often unfortunately wiihout explanation, reports, duns—dts, ter, qiiaier iirgehcr — counter-claims, registers; fortunately for the poor, medicines and small bandages, if they are to fulfil their purpose, must be given out immediately, before a reimbursement of the cost is even promised. 268 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. On this very point of sick relief, through a lack of clearness in the Austrian settlement laws, an unnecessary amount of writing has crept in. F"or paragraph 29 of this law declares that a commune must take care of the poor from other places who fall sick within its dis- trict, until they can be dismissed without injury to their health. According to paragraph 30, such a commune is, moreover, bound to inform the commune in which the sick person has settlement rights if it is known or can be found out by investigation without much difficulty ; and if such information be delayed, it is respon- sible for any consequent loss. This paragraph might, with a sem- blance of justification, be interpreted to mean that the commune in which a sick person is loses all claim to indemnification if it fails to give immediate notice of the case to the commune of settlement when known. And many communes take their stand on this very free interpretation, although ministerial decrees arid decisions of the court of administration ( VerzualtungsgerichisJiof) admit of no such reading of paragraph 30 of the settlement law. Even if the expres- sion "without much difficulty" makes this narrow interpretation appear the right one, it would be desirable that in a possible revision of the law this paragraph should be more clearly worded, if there is to be any indemnification at all from coftimunes where the person in question may have been settled perhaps for from two to five years. But this mistaken, though possible, interpretation is not all ; there are communes which apply paragraph 30 to paragraph 28 of the settlement law, /. e. which require that the commune which gives aid, if it wishes them to hold themselves responsible for indemnification, should without delay notify them of the aid given "in case of imme- diate need," as paragraph 28 expresses it, referring to medicines needed at once and the like. It will be seen that here is an excel- lent chance for an endless exchange of notes, and we cannot resist the temptation to describe the particulars of such a correspondence. The physician of the poor has prescribed for N. N., whose settlement is in a small Bohemian commune G., medicines costing one florin or a florin and a half. Prescriptions, bills, in short all documents are respect- fully submitted to the local governor of the district for collection. The document is generally returned to Vienna without the amount. The commune G. does not recognize the settlement right, so the bundle goes back to the charity office to collect the settlement docu- ments to be sent to G. Meanwhile N. N. has perhaps moved to another district, often without informing the police of his change of address; to procure indemnification is impossible; the florin must KOBATSCH. 269 be deducted from the accounts. If N. N. is still found, and if he happens to be in possession of a settlement document, the bundle may go back to the district with the respectfully submitted request to collect and remit the money at last. The bundle actually comes back again without the money. The office at G. says that, according to depositions made by his brother, N. N. earns enough to make it probable that he could pay for the medicines himself; or the ques- tion is raised whether N. N. " ought not to have been insured against sickness." After further deliberations at Vienna, the document is sent to G. for the third or fourth time, and returns with the indorse- ment that the commune G. refuses to refund the expenditure for medicine, because they were not notified according to paragraph 30 of the settlement law, or because N. N.'s parents, who live at G., are able to pay and ought to be applied to. The document is then returned with an interpretation of paragraph 28, to the effect that Vienna had the alternative between N. N.'s home commune and those of his relatives who come under the obligations imposed by civil Uw, and was therefore bound by law to apply to the former. It may also happen that no answer is sent from G. for a long time, and in that case other notes urging.payment are sent. If these produce no results, the state government must be written to. So far, these reports also have remained unanswered ; remain to be appealed to the ministry and the court of administration, unless by that time the legislature has forestalled the administration by a new lav/. This may at any rate serve as an example of the much criticised bureau- cracy in the administration of poor relief, and it is to be hoped that it may act as a stimulus towards active reform. If only the radiant sun of the new settlement and poor law would soon rise on the present gloomy horizon of poor, administration, to drive away with victorious power all the dark spectres of red tape and bureaucracy which are clothed in a garment made of a hundred kinds of print, and whose soul is the dust of moldering documents! At least a regular procedure should be prescribed and made obligatory upon the officials both in claiming indemnification and in answering claims. From what has been said it seems self-evident that the community itself could do much towards simplifying and lowering the cost of poor relief, especially as regards sick relief. With a little " municipal socialism," much more might be gained ; the city might take the large corporations for traffic, for lighting, etc., under its own man- agement, and so more work could be provided, etc. 270 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. In smaller communities the same principle could more easily be carried out. As to the expenditure for the sick poor, it is worth while to consider the example of Berlin, where a drug-store under the direction of a regularly appointed druggist furnishes the medi- cines for the city hospitals and institutions for the outdoor poor relief, and even for the sick poor admitted into private charitable institu- tions. And although the number of prescriptions filled in 1891-92 amounted to 89,760, against 83,810 in 1890-91 and 79,732 in 1889-90, the profit, after deducting the medicine tax, has increased from 65,650 marks in 1889-90 to 78,591 marks in 1891-92. The expenses for the drug-store amounted in the last three years respectively to 40,588 marks, 41,080 marks and 40,886 marks ; the average cost of a prescription was 40-50 pfennigs.* Other economic industries! are managed with equal success by the 'Berlin poor commission, such as the "voluntary workhouse," in which only independent artisans are employed to make up raw mate- rial furnished by the poor commission, and which furnishes articles of clothing to poor apprentices, school children and to the poor gener- ally who come under indoor or outdoor poor relief; a special bakery makes bread for the charitable institutions, and a cooking institution prepares meat-broth for outdoor poor relief (Vienna on the contrary has contractors and Canimetire) ; last but not least, there is a special brewery which brews the beer for the institutions at a cost price of from lo-ii pfennigs a litre. The expenses for 1891-92 were : In the cooking institution, 1,711 marks " bakery, 53>859 " " brewery, 27,095 " " wayfarer's lodge, 14,510 " Total, including the expenses in the drug-store, 138,061 " This outlay is one of the most justifiable for the purposes of poor relief, and all other considerations are of minor importance in com- parison with it. How unfavorable a comparison would be for Vienna may be seen from the foregoing ; in the following chapters we will discuss the steps which Vienna has taken to lessen the danger of lack of employment. * In Vienna the average cost is 18-22 kreuzer. t Compare Socialpolitisches Ceuira^6lat( (BerWn), No. 26, 1893. KOBATSCH. 271 V. Measures against Lack of Employment ; Statistics and Insurance of the Unemployed ; the Werkhatis ; Labor hisurance and Poor Relief. The preceding account of the Vienna poor relief system shows that in a certain sense the " Regulations " recognize the important differ- ence between destitution proper and mere want, and make practical use of it; but the division lines are not marked with sufficient clear- ness, and no proper distinction is made between inability to work and lack of employment, nor between temporary and continued inability to work. Hence also the frequent inadequacy of agencies intended to provide against lack of employment or of sufficient income, such as wayfarers' lodges and employment bureaus, to com- ply with the large demands made upon them at the present time.* That lack of employment, and not merely aversion to work, is often the cause of poverty will probably not be denied ; but — and here the value of correct social statistics becomes evident — as long as there is no record kept in accordance with the requirements of mod- ern statistics, of the various factors which must be considered in the study of the economic phenomenon of lack of employment, we shall always be groping in the dark, and each one will feel inclined to attribute pauperism to lack of employment, or to aversion to work, according to his own political point of view. While a social demo- crat stated the number of the unemployed at Vienna to be from 30,000 to 40,000, a university professor declared at the same time that it amounted at the most to one or two per cent, of the working population. The few thorough statistics on the unemployed made in Germany, Switzerland and England — such an undertaking, as is well known, is not easy to carry out — show that last winter at Mannheim 6 per cent., at Schkeuditz 7 per cent, (of the population), at Leipzig 9 per cent., at Mockern, a suburb of Leipzig, 10 per cent, (of the population), and among the Berlin printers 17 per cent, were out of work. It is not to be assumed that these figures would be much smaller at Vienna; reason enough, it seems to me, in the interest of a rational system of poor relief, to provide work in the first place, and then to revise thoroughly this chapter of our policy concerning the poor. It *Cf. Die Humanitdt {^VI Jahrgang, No. 7), in which it is rightly said : " The first leading principle of every rational poor relief is ivork instead 0/ alms. ^^ 2/2 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. is true that we find lower figures, but this is explained by the fact that many workingmen did not receive or fill out a question blank. On the other hand, we see in Swiss cities, for instance, energetic measures for introducing insurance against failure of work ; for the above figures do not receive their real value until we find out how long every work- ingman has been out of work; two or three months without work, which is the average period, are more than sufficient to conjure up the dread spectre of poverty. It will be said that this subject is not within the limits of poor relief proper. Our answer to this is the fact that at Ludwigshofen the overseers themselves managed the statistical records on the unem- ployed, and that the president {Regierimgsprasidenf) of the Prussian province of Silesia obliged the magistrates of cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants to organize official intelligence offices, and decreed that " in future he would recommend the dismissal of complaints of refusal of poor relief, only when the magistrate concerned should furnish proof that the plaintiff had been provided with a chance to work by the city authorities, but had not taken advantage of this chance." This very rational idea, which, as is well known, forms an integral part of the Elberfeld system, ought to be adopted by the Vienna poor administration, for the existing regulations are not consistent with efficient poor relief. Vienna, it is true, has a private association for securing work ; the trades unions also' find work, and the " Home for Apprentices " has developed a useful activity. Under the terms of the " Regulations," nothing can be done by the community. And the fact shown by statistics,* that the employment bureaus always have more can- didates for places than places to be filled, is a sign of the prevail- ing lack of employment, and the poverty which goes hand-in-hand with it. Employment bureaus {Arbeitsnachweise) alone are not enough; actual work must really be provided, if a large proportion of those * From 8000 to 9000 persons annually try to find employment through the "Association for Providing Work " {^Verein fiir Arbeitsvermittlung') ; of these, :8 to 20 per cent, are left over from the previous year, and only 30 to 40 per cent, obtain work,; the same may be said of the " association for placing apprentices" [Verein fur Lehrlin^suntej-briiigung') ; in the city office for find- ing work for apprentices, 878 situations and 1380 apprentices were registered in 1889, and 60S apprentices were provided with situations ; some of the employment bureaus of the trades' associations show somewhat better results. KOBATSCH. 273 who seek work and have registered are not to be sent away without having had their wants satisfied. Moreover, the already existing associations which we have mentioned cannot possibly procure work without compensation. Here, then, a reform would be necessary, by the establishment of wayfarers' lodges and an official employment bureau (cf. Berlin, Paris, London, with their Workingmen's Exchange, etc.), and by insurance against lack of employment. This branch of " working- men's insurance " is supposed to present the greatest difficulties, and so it does. But in this matter also, as mentioned above, we are able to point out examples worthy of imitation, such as Berne, the canton of Basel, and others. We have still to discuss the only existing way- farers' lodge, the city Werkhaus. And to its honor it should be said, emphatically at once, that it is not an imitation of the English " workhouse," where the expenses of living are kept at a lower rate than in the Vienna Werkhaus, where the inmates are compelled with greater strictness to do even the most disagreeable work, and yet do not get the proper training for future independent wage- earning, and where even children are confined, though lately sepa- rate schools and dwellings are being erected for the care of depen- dent children. How then does an individual seeking work obtain admission to the Werkhmis? How far does his admission give him the right to claim work ? — a privilege which should be granted to all, especi- ally to those who are still able and willing to work, but are out of work, that is, to all younger people who become destitute. On the other hand, these persons ought to be under an obligation to work, and the commune or the state ought to have the right to enforce this obligation in case of necessity. This compulsory labor, how- ever, ought not to be enforced, as has been done hitherto in most institutions of this kind, in such a manner as to frighten away all the better elements ; to individuals already hardened it makes the insti- tution like a prison, a half-despised, half-welcome place of refuge for a short time, to be left again as soon as possible. This is unfortu- nately very much the case with the Vienna Werkhaus. People are admitted after examination by a physician and a thorough clean- ing, either by voluntary registration — and by this method of admis- sion their claim to work seems practically to be acknowledged* — or * But the Werkhaus can accommodate only 500 to 600 persons at one time. 274 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. by commitment in the police courts in case any one is found without means of support or legitimate income. Those admitted, a very mixed crowd of workers, as may be seen, receive besides free lodging the Werkhatis fare, and in return for this have to do the work allotted them. After finishing his task a man can leave the house ; if he has done more than the minimum task, he is paid for his extra work on leaving the institution finally. The work goes on until the task is finished, with an hour off at noon. The privilege of staying out, which, after the work is done, regularly extends to 7 P. M. in winter and to 8.30 P. M. in summer, may be prolonged for the purpose of looking for work. Unruly behavior is punished by the allotment of a heavier task, or by giving smaller rations for a time ; in case of continued insubordi- nation, delinquents are handed over to the police. Drinking, smok- ing and gambling are strictly prohibited. This treatment, although it reminds one somewhat of school, may possibly do for men and women embittered by distress; for vaga- bonds and confirmed loafers it only serves as a subject to sneer at and is, besides, much too mild. But if any one who is able-bodied refuses to go to the Werkhaus he forfeits every claim to other sup- port and may be handed over to the police — to what end ? To be held in confinement, and after his release to begin the dangerous game over again, until he becomes hopelessly demoralized, or a real criminal to be sentenced for a longer term in prison. But let us return to the Werkhaus and study some of its statistics ; we shall find many interesting facts. On the one hand, we find that the 1,008 persons who were at the Werkhaus in 1890 represented about 140 occupations, almost one- third being day-laborers. Of these, only a small number remained in the institution over a week, viz. 114 from one to two weeks, 54 from two to three weeks, 36 from three to four weeks, 107 from one to two months, 8g from two to three months, etc. And yet at least part of these could have obtained work there that would have been in the line of their occupation if the Werkhaus had been differently organized ; if it carried on various trades for the community under its own management, instead of giving monopolies to city con- tractors.* And the number of punishments shows that most of the people are not averse to working. Of the 1,008 inmates in 1890, * Of course only such trades as would not injure the smaller tradespeople, manufacturers and artisans. KOBATSCH. 275 only 62 cases in which a penahy was inflicted are registered. But the whole outcome of their economic wisdom is the production of a few staple articles bought exclusively by manufacturers, such as bags, large and small envelopes, paper bags (in 1890,60 millions), scolloped tags and labels, pasting, etc.* Besides this a very small amount of tailoring is done for the use of the institution, and some of the bed- ding is made on the premises. As a result of this condition of its productive activity, the proceeds of work done in 1890 amounted to 17,138 florins, while the total expenses came to more than 50,000 florins, and of this sum only 3,000 florins went to the workingmen as pay for extra work. It is worthy of note also that the/^-r capita cost per day in 1890 came to 42.03 kreuzers, of which 22 kreuzers were spent for food; while in the six homes the average cost was 57.3 kreuzers, the maximum being 75.68 kreuzers, the minimum 45.99 kreuzers (in the younger institution at Liesing). With this may be contrasted the fact that of the 4,072 inmates of the other institutions only 642 were under 50 years of age, and 1,165 under 60, while the Werkhaus sheltered only 109 persons over 50, and 773 between 20 and 40. In the former institutions there are then 84 persons in every 100 who are either entirely or almost entirely incapable of earning anything, who can no longer work, and who therefore do not require such strong food as the 90 persons out of every 100 in the Werkhaus, who are in full possession of their strength, and are com- pelled to do work which is so little in the line of their chosen occu- pation. * Another example of interference on the part of the authorities with personal liberty is worthy of imitation. I refer to the latest report of the Marburg House of Correction for Men, in the Allgemehie dsterreichische Gerichts-Zeitung, of April 15, 1893 ; there they have workshops for carpenters, blacksmiths, locksmiths, weavers, tailors and shoemakers; they also have agri- culture. The net income from work done amounted in 1890 to 7,384 florins, in 1892 to 25,678 florins. During the last year 730 convicts were supported 156,069 days, of which 94,198 were working days, 911 were days on which extra work was prescribed as a penalty, and 19,982 were holidays. The cost of living amounted (without bread) to 21,871 florins, or 14 kreuzer per capita per day. Such cheap living would not be possible in Vienna, and could not be recom- mended ; but we would recommend the excellent organization of the work ; and it is worthy of note that manufactured articles were provided almost ex- clusively for imperial offices and authorities (parts of uniforms, etc.), and that only turners and bookbinders furnished articles to private contractors. 2/6 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. This calculation may not contain exactly the same items on both sides, but one thing is shown clearly, namely, that not nearly so much is spent, either relatively or absolutely, for preventive poor relief as for the final provision for the aged. We can therefore only repeat: lack of employment, whether involuntary or through aver- sion to work, must be done away with when the individual is able- bodied, in the first case by an official supplying of work, or by institu- tions providing work, in the second by houses of correction {Zwavgs- arbeitshatiser). For although by the law of 1885 the community of Vienna has the right to prescribe to such persons as are able to work, and have no legitimate trade or other means of support, some work corresponding to their capacity, in return for money or food, it does not follow that the community is under any obligation to practice this kind of poor relief; and as we have seen, this method is not sufficiently adopted. If such a person refuses to accept the work assigned he is pun- ished or detained in a house of correction (minors in a reformatory), lor not longer than three years. Of these institutions also there are not enough, and their number must certainly be increased in order to accomplish the perfecting of the poor relief system. Our attempts to diminish pauperism, as far as it is a consequence of lack of work, would be greatly assisted by the rapid perfecting of the laws on workingmen's insurance, which are preventive in their very nature, as well as by a generally wise policy regarding the poor, and a wise poor police (^Armenpolizei^. As yet the Austrian workingman has no law on the insurance of the aged and infirm ; but there is no doubt that for the poor funds of Vienna, such laws would be of great economic value. Statistics on the decrease of poor relief in the kingdom of Saxony inform us that, as a visible result of working- men's insurance, there has been a reduction in the number of those assisted because of accidents, from 2,463 in 1880 to 1,378 in 1890 (a decrease of 43 per cent.); of those assisted because of sickness, from 25,070 in 1880 to 18,859 in 1890 (a decrease of 26.5 per cent.); of those assisted for other reasons, from 66,185 in 1880 to 60,659 in 1890 (a decrease of 14 per cent.); while the population in these years has increased 17 per cent. These statistics of course are open to the objection that the records of boards of poor relief and of private organizations cannot be depended on for ten or twelve years back, as to whether the reason for assistance was accident, sickness or some other cause. KOBATSCH. 277 To make a similar comparison for Vienna we must limit ourselves to the expenses for the care of the sick. The percentage of increase in these since 1888* is really a little less than that in the expenses for the care of pauper children ; but this difference is too infinitesimal to enable us to draw a definite conclusion as to the effect of the work- ingmen's insurance on the poor tax. Possibly there may be some significance in the reduction of expenditure for medicine from 22,787 florins in 1888 to 19,330 florins in 1889, and to 19,506 florins in 1890. We have also spoken of the poor police. In this department of what one might call " repressive " poor relief, the regulations are very numerous and most actively enforced. That, together with the problem of lack of work, Schubwesen,\ commitment and detention, prostitution, vagrancy and tramps, treatment of released criminals, intoxication, servants' homes, people's homes, etc., should be brought under reasonable regulations based on the principles of true social economy, is as inevitably necessary as that influence should be brought to bear on savings banks, saving and loan associations, all aid-funds, pawnbrokers' establishments, building and credit societies, and on all institutions generally which, though started by private individuals, touch the economic sphere of those who are weak from the economic point of view. Thus our policy concerning the poor forms an integral, inseparable element in the general great social economy of the day. VI. Charity Budget ; Co7isolidation of Revenues ; Centralization {Pri- vate Societies). An all-around reform of the poor relief system is of the greatest importance for the Vienna charity budget. Here we must again say emphatically that even after the adoption of such a poor tax as we propose, the present regular revenues of this budget should remain the same ; they would only change holders, i. e. instead of the community and numerous professionals, the state alone would assume control over all the money and other revenues. *The law of workingmen's insurance against sickness has been in force since July, 1888. Since we have no data on poor relief given in case of accident, the accident insurance law cannot be considered here. tThe English poor law recognizes the so-called "irremovability," /'. e. that nobody who has lived in a place longer than a year without having received some relief can be sent off to another community. 278 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. The largest fund (in point of expenditure, though not in amount) which has been used for charitable purposes so far is the general charity fund. Its balance sheets for the last few years show an income and expenditure of two and a half millions in round numbers. But for years this fund has been considerably in debt to the commu- nity, which every year has had to make up its deficit. Since 1882 this deficit has amounted to over a million florins a year, so that the debt of the fund to the community, which amounted to 2J million florins in 1873, increased to 5 millions in 1881, to 6 millions in 1883, to over 7 millions in 1S85, to 8J millions in 1887 and to 9^ millions in 1890. Since 1893 the expenditures of the fund have been included in the regular estimate of the community, and its deficit has vanished. Nevertheless, the revenues of the charity fund, although they have remained the same as before, will hardly make up to the commu- nity the expenses which now fall on it instead of on the fund. The expenditure not covered by the regular revenues for charitable pur- poses* would have to be provided for by the tax we have proposed and by the contributions of the states. By this arrangement Vienna would have to spend money on afar greater number of poor than now, but its expenses would be lessened through an increase in the number of overseers and a consequently more rational and economic poor relief. The consolidation of the various funds and endowments would mean an important simplification of the poor finances ; for their various purposes would no longer be absolutely necessary. This proposition would probably be violently opposed in collecting the large city fund for the aged (^Bilrgerspital/oJid) , and such an opposi- tion would have some justification in tradition ; but the difficulty might be solved by guaranteeing to citizens now living, in the event of their becoming poor, the same benefits as before, but not extend- ing them to others in future. It is clear that the adoption of a principle on which to base the reform of all philanthropic organizations is of great importance finan- cially and presents much difficulty. It is possible that, while the revenues remain the same, one item or another might increase, or that new expenses would have to be provided for. The balance of income and expenditure must therefore be carefully considered * Interest, income, legacies and donations, taxes on music permits, succes- sion and auction taxes, poor lottery, fines, etc. KOBATSCH. 279 before one ventures to draw up the preliminaries of the future charity budget. Since the time of residence of a pensioner is not recorded at Vienna, it is difficult to calculate by how much the number of persons to be aided would increase by the introduction of domicile relief.* On the other hand we are able to state how many florins Vienna pays each year to people having settlement rights in Vienna but who are living in other places (in 1891, 247,377 florins), and to com- pare with this the sum refunded on the temporary outlay made by Vienna for the poor from other places ; the total expenditure for 1891 amounted to about 600,000 florins, of which about 300,000 florins were refunded. Both figures are subject to modification, though it is impossible to say exactly how much ; the former, because the people having settlement rights at Vienna but living elsewhere may have acquired a claim to domicile relief at their places of residence, and because there the length of time for which such persons have been absent from their settlement commune would not be known unless they had been absent for more than ten years. Finally, balances between the national poor associations {Landar- me^iverbande) would have to be struck, a problem which cannot be solved with even approximate accuracy, and which, if solved, would in practice involve complicated operations. Taking it all in all, the introduction of domicile relief, whether to be acquired by two or by five years' residence, would probably not result in that simplification of the poor administration which one might expect. Add to this the doubts raised in the German litera- ture of the subject and in practice, and it would bedifificult to remain an enthusiastic defender of this method of poor relief. And why should the time be fixed at two or at five years ? Why not three, four or six years ? Or why not from three to five years? We think that anybody should be entitled to aid from the state as a whole *Inama Sternnegg, in his book Die personlichen Verhdltnisse der Wiener Armen (Vienna, 1892), states the time of residence at Vienna of about 10,000 persons with no settlement rights at Vienna, but aided by the Association for the Prevention of Pauperism and Begging {Verein gegen Verarmung und Bettelei) as follows : Up to I year 1.6 per cent, I to 2 years 2.9 " 3 to 5 years 5.4 6toioyears 14.8 " I I to 20 years 34.9 " Over 20 years 40.4 " 280 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. simply on the ground of his being in need of aid, and not on the ground of his settlement or his residence. And so the nationaliza- tion of poor relief with the addition of a poor tax, as described in the beginning of this paper, would lead to a natural solution of the problem. And here we would point out the beneficial influence which the institution of the poor tax has exercised on the charitable morals of the countries where it has been introduced, acting as a wholesome restraint. And so it would be at Vienna; an elastic poor tax, which might be called an infallible barometer indicating the status of poor relief at any time, awakens a livelier interest because not simply a moral one ; for every citizen who has the means must bear his share of the expense ; every variation for better or worse in municipal prosperity will be carefully noticed and anticipated, and every effort will be made to check as quickly as possible any lowering of economic con- ditions in its very beginning by every kind of private and social co-operation ; preventive poor relief will be adopted to a greater extent, and our policy regarding the poor will become the common concern of all; every one in his own sphere will seek remedies and improvements. So we have no fear for the success of the following principle : nationalization of poor relief as regards finances and claims for aid ; if necessary, the levying of a poor tax. When all the other reforms proposed by us in poor relief proper, and in preventive care of the poor, which might be simplified and made more economical in various ways, are carried out with wisdom and justice, the expense of relief will hardly be greater comparatively speaking than now, and if a " kreuzer rate for the poor " (^Armen- zinskreuzer) were to be imposed on the inhabitants of Vienna, the collection of the necessary amount would certainly not be felt. There is one more reform needed, and we have already touched on it : pablic and private poor relief must be brought into touch with one another. Various attempts (the latest in 1883) have been made at Vienna to bring the two closer together, but so far without suc- cess. The two systems which are now separate might at least have a common financial administration, and they should be in constant touch with one another. In the various branches of philanthropic work, especially in the care of the sick and in personal intercourse with the poor, it would be impossible to do without the active assistance of willing individuals or associations ; but the finances and administration might be centralized under the community, KOBATSCH. 281 if only to attain by this concentration a reduction in the cost of administration, which is at present considerable. In other cities — smaller, to be sure, than Vienna — a more or less cordial co-operation between private and public charities has been attained, generally with gratifying results. But this step, we think, must be preceded by a closer union of all charitable societies which have a similar object (as nursing, starting and supporting cheap eating-houses, intelligence offices, providing shelter). Only if the societies are thus organized can co-operation exist in a community. For there is no other result of our social energy which can and must be so uniform and at the same time so greatly diversified as charity; uniform to avoid duplication of work, diversified to obtain as quick and as thorough work as possible. Several German and Austrian cities have succeeded in thus central- izing poor relief. We mention the Dresden central office of the Union of Charitable Associations, 1883; also the union of the com- mittee for poor and sick relief at Mayence with the charitable socie- ties of that city, made on June 17, 1884. It is the purpose of this union to " promote an equal distribution of alms, and to guard against fraud, to check begging and vagrancy of strangers, and to prevent the surreptitious acquisition of domicile relief." The organization and direction of business is managed about as in the Austrian city of Gablonz; the mayor calls meetings of representatives of the dififerent societies for joint consultations ; in Gablonz, the books, question blanks and registers of the union are kept together with the cit)^ books, blanks and registers. Vienna's poor relief should be reformed, i, by a common organiza- tion of the countless charitable societies and small societies,* together with constant individual effort for the poor — poor relief proper; 2, by an intimate connection between the societies so organized and public poor administration. Most of the Austrians and Germans who write on the subject of the poor speak against bureaucratic, and for a more personal treatment of charity, and this treatment would be the natural result of a more individualized poor relief. f On the other hand, these writers repeat * Their number increased from 216 in 1882 to 2S0 in 18S6, with an expendi- ture of 1,128,167 florins ; and to 375 in 1890, with an expenditure of 1,153,326 florins. tCf. Loning in Schonberg's Handbuch, 3rd ed., Part III, p. 966; Mischler, Die Artnenpjlege in den osterreickiscken Stddlen, Vienna, 1891, p. 88 ; Sedlaczek and others. 282 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. emphatically that under all circumstances the state (or country) must assume control of communal poor relief and the supervision of private poor relief. It is not necessary to go so far as A. Wagner, who says that the obligation of the communes to aid is a kind of communism, because they have no influence whatsoever over the individuals who are a drain upon them ; and he demands for the communes a right of vetoing improvident marriages, and recommends the introduction of obliga- tory savings (^Zwangshilfscassen~) instead of poor relief. Our plans of reform aim in the first place at a revision of the settlement law ; that is, we desire neither the principle of settlement nor of two or five years' residence, but unification of the poor administration and a general poor tax. At the close of this critical review of the Vienna poor relief system may be placed two tables compiled from the Vienna statistical annuals; the figures, despite their not being exact, show beyond doubt, first, that in the course of the last decade the expenditure of Vienna for poor relief has increased much less rapidly, indeed often more slowly than the population; secondly, that the burden of this expenditure has even decreased somewhat in proportion; thirdly, that some symptoms point to the conclusion that Vienna has become, if not richer, at least not very much poorer. Number of vacant Year. Population. Amount of mort- gages. Amount of interest. dwellings, wh rent for 400 500 florins. ich jr Unpaid taxes. Florins. Florins. 18S2 725.935 237.257.000 , records 5,617,651 1883 736.773 236,677,000 records 4,500,213 1884 747.772 245.399.000 1 wanting. wanting. 4.T3i,946 1885 75^.935 249.733.000 L 4,431.745 1886 770,265 256,900,000 26,900,000 fl. 1416 4,546,000 1887 781,764 267,900,000 30,860,000 2091 5,184,500 1888 793.434 280,000,000 31,000,000 2000 5,067,100 1889 805,278 291,000,000 30,400,000 2306 5,410,600 1890 817,299 299,000,000 32,800,000 2975 6,218,400 3 O A- 00 * OTH. er ha n 188 rr ft ft ^ a 1 :ii ;^.^l et n ^ n ■>■ 5- — w « ft "> 2 Br ft 052. "". fun oi 5 rt S. n- i.* =^ Cfl » - = oy 3 3 ?;,?- V-< fB SI M " 3-3 !>^ 3-53 3 n • -■ » <^ = J) 3 " 0. a. n p 00 3 t» 3-W n 4. cr o-n 3-- c V) 3i M re • -in 1 a. s! » 00 -t w 5' -1 *H W *." c- S 5.S ?■' < »i•^^'i. E'S. D- ira -, c n n a 5^- 2 ^ C 3 "2 =-° C^. 3 n n -," Tq verj the ditu <» — -•0 3 n n M " re •n CO inha xpendit per cas re « 3 ~t •a v; 3 ■yi bita ure e is < n M „,3 " S" V » ^ 2,q ^ 3-» 3 re 7) a" 3- « " • 3 5-^3 P n .^ 3 -1 r;^ a. 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OJ OJ OJ OJ 00 O ^J On On4- *■ 4^ O On4^ On on on on b to 4^ On On Cn*^ ^j -^ ^j ^J Ln 00 CO -H to ON NO NO -p- to 10 — to CO On 1- On 4i. O to •^ oooooooopooooo Nboj4:-Ln CN^^.£*Ln ^J C?v O On^ O ^1 to ON o V ■^ n O 3 •o c a- o n p •0 c 0- n w X •0 ■^ re 3 ■1 D. 3 ^ •0 re ^ ?'0'-l ON ■^ 0--2 to to !" od H o 3-a.s p re 3" o !i ft -■ 5 3 __ re 3 . -O -,., ^ "» "*» V -« 2 284 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. CHARITY IN TURKEY. T. FLAKKY, IMPERIAL OTTOMAN COMMISSIONER-GENERAL TO COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. Invited to assist the sessions of the World's Auxiliary Congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, and honored with member- ship in this assembly, composed of so many eminent persons from all parts of the civilized world, I beg your indulgence to say a few words on this important, I must say the most important, question of the day, from both the moral and social point of view, I feel embarrassed by my lack of confidence, and shall not attempt to submit to this honored assemblage new and practical ideas or theories on a subject so familiar to you all. The charities and philanthropic institutions of the Ottoman Empire are not well known to our Western neighbors, hence my great desire to say a few words on the subject. Let me first of all congratulate you upon this first attempt to bring together men from all nations to discuss subjects relating to humanity. The aim of humanity must be not only equal, but also relative easi- ness of life for everybody; otherwise a great portion of mankind, deprived of the vital necessities of life, will either be lost in crime or will strive to procure through improper means what is refused to them by hard circumstances and by their fellow-citizens. Certainly many a criminal is born with a predisposition to crime, but in coun- tries where the comforts of life are easily procurable, the number of criminals is always far less than where pauperism prevails. But even where economical laws are best observed, some unexpected circum- stances, such as disasters, international wars, commercial and finan- cial crises, bring all to naught. The intellectual inequality between members of the same community eventually reduces one portion of it to the depths of misery, and makes it the duty of the favored members to save the rest — to restore them, if not completely, at least as nearly as possible, to their former prosperity. Surely many a horrible crime might be prevented by this intervention of society, by relieving the miseries of the poor and keeping them in the bounds of human comforts, ideas and manners. .So long as there are guar- antees enough for the relief of disasters and misfortunes, society has nothing to do ; but the helpless are worthy of its care, and the bar- barian device, Vcb victis, must be forever forgotten. FLAKKY. 285 A well-extended and well-combined system of charities does much to prevent crimes and the necessity for correction ; but correction may also be considered as a charity. Correction means the separa- tion of the actually degraded members of society from their more law-abiding neighbors, a means which relieves the latter from a bad neighborhood and the influences of vice. A good system of correc- tion, besides doing *its work as a means of punishment, succeeds in many cases in making good and honest citizens of bad men, by sub- jecting them to its rules based on civil law. To prevent humanity from losing its moral virtues because of its material misfortunes, and to help those who have already lost these qualities to regain them, is what we call philanthropy. These con- siderations show why, in my mind, I see such an intimate relation between these two words, charity and correction, and how the two lead to this idea of philanthropy, which is the motto of this distin- guished assemblage. I must apologize for the length of these introductory remarks and proceed at once to explain briefly the state of charitable institutions now existing in my country. In Turkey charity has always been considered as a public and private duty. Two essential elements of Turkish life give to it a prominent position amongst human institu- tions. These two elements are, as you all know, the time-honored customs of the Turkish race and the principles of the Mohammedan religion. The Turkish tribes have always mixed charity with hospi- tality. The stranger, be he poor or rich, coming to a tent to seek shelter or refuge, is always welcomed and furnished with all means * of subsistence and comfort. These habits still characterize the nomadic tribes and also the more stable population, amongst whom every village, besides caring for its own poor, possesses a special house where strangers are received, lodged and nourished without any cost. As to the Mussulman religion, it is universally known that the relief of and the respect for the poor have been raised by it to the rank of a state institution. Mohammed belonged to a tribe in Mecca governed by a class of wealthy merchants, who formed a real plutocracy amongst the Arab nation. Poverty was of course despised by these men, and it was certainly more difficult to press upon them respect for the poor than any other social or moral reform. Mohammed succeeded in chang- ing the ideas of his people on this matter as on many others ; and he 286 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. devoted all his time to the welfare of the growing Mohammedan community, paying no attention to his personal fortune. His motto was, " Poverty is my glory," (^Al fakree fahry). His great endeavor was to establish a perfect equality between the poor and the rich. He succeeded, and the result is that to-day Turkey, like every other Mohammedan community, is one of the most typical democratic countries, without any kind of nobility or social distinction except such as is conferred by the state for the needs of administration. One of the five principles of Islam is the Zekat, which is a tax on the wealthy class for the maintenance of the poor. In times of con- *i quest, the fifth part of the spoils was sent to the Beit-ul-mal, or ' public treasury, and devoted to the same purpose by the state officials. Zekat, a regular public tax in the first century of the Khalifate, has ever since been regarded by all Mussulmans as a religious duty. Every rich Mussulman who possesses articles of luxury gives a yearly amount, in proportion to his wealth, to the poor, and so fulfils his obligation for the relief of the poor, an offering which is said in the Koran to be the form, of prayer most agreeable to the Almighty. Personal effects, money, goods used in commerce, and the orna- mental articles used by ladies are of course excepted from the charge oi Zekat, as they do not imply a luxury which may cause grievances^ to the poorer classes. My countrymen are all under the influence of | these national habits and religious ideas, and hence a man who is 1 indifferent to the misery of the poor is considered a monster devoid j of any humane sentiments and subject to the hatred of his fellow- j citizens. There is no uniform law in Turkey giving to the state poor relief the features of a regular institution. The cause of this must be found in the fact that there poverty has a thoroughly different mean- ing from that of other countries. In Turkey the possession of land is quite evenly distributed, and nearly everybody has his share, small or large, in the national domain. In fact every man is a land-\ owner, and it is very difficult to find one who has not a parcel of"! land somewhere. Even such men as are known to be poor have/ their own homes and need only the necessary means of subsistence! No one has to sleep in the open air when night comes. There are no homeless people in Turkey. Consequently there was no neces- sity of having a kind of poor law giving shelter to the needy, and only a very few destitute people are directly cared for by the national government in places specially assigned to that purpose. i FLAKKY. » 287 The consequence is that there is no pauperism, no regular and per- manent class of poor in Turkey. Therefore what is most needed is special means of alleviating temporary need or accidental suffering. The destitute are provided with the means of subsistence without putting them in regularly established poorhouses, thus prejudicing their standing among their friends and acquaintances. Govern- mental relief for the poor is carried on by different channels and with an efficiency truly remarkable. The imperial family, especially his Majesty the Sultan, expends a considerable part of his revenues for this purpose. When the sovereign or the members of the imperial family go out, money is always distributed to the poor assembled on the street. A portion of the special cash fund of his Majesty and that of the Ministry of the Civil List is expended for persons who apply to imperial magnanimity to alleviate their needs. A special fund is allowed in the palace to help such of the poor as present regularly attested petitions to the sovereign. The marshal of the palace is charged with the management of this sum. The first secre- tary of the palace also has lately been placed in charge of another regular fund instituted by his Imperial Majesty Abdul Hamid II. In case of special emergencies caused by accidents, such as fires, earthquakes, famines, and other public calamities, the Sultan always takes the initiative in the distribution of succor to the needy, and invariably he is the first to come forward and assist to heal the wounds of the injured and alleviate the misery of the helpless. At the recent earthquakes which destroyed a great part of the district of Malattiah, all the houses in villages and in cities were rebuilt by the governnient without any cost to the people, and thus this great pubUc^alarnit}Meftjio_tra£e_be^ Even in districts far from Con- stantinople many needy people have regular allowances paid to them from the privy purse of the sovereign. The government treasury also pays annually large amounts of money for the needy, and a special pension fund is destined for this purpose. Pension funds for the families of all the civil and military servants of the empire were first instituted during the reign of his Majesty. This has instituted a financial power in the country, leaving no poor people among the classes that were once dependent on the salary paid by the government to the members of lamilies. The poor are allowed a certain sum monthly by the government ^ vV treasury, on the presentation of official certificates duly attested and sworn to by some reputable citizens of the ward where the applicant resides. ,Yt/ ^ X 288 « PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. In addition to all these institutions, his Imperial Majesty led in the establishment of a great home in Constantinople for destitute people of all religions and denominations. This home for the poor will contain workshops, places of worship, schools, etc., in one word, all that is required for the social and moral progress of the inmates. The erection of the required buildings for this purpose has been car- \ ried on with great energy and enthusiasm, and when completed and equipped, it will be a magnificent addition to the humanitarian estab- lishments of the world, and a great credit to its originator, the pres- ent sovereign of the Ottoman Empire. J The Vakou/s, namely " pious institutions," also undertake a great part of the poor relief work, Vakozi/s are real estates, the incomes from the rent of which are devoted, un3er~ceFtain prescribed rules, to different charities, such as the maintenance of places of worship, schools, public fountains, hospitals, etc. These foundations have been mostly established by Ottoman sovereigns, while some of them are the gifts of private men, but all are under the charge of the Im- perial Ministry of Pious Foundations — Evkof. In some cases Vakou/s are under the control of the eldest son or the head of the family of the man who is the founder of the institution. Vakotifs provide for the needs of the poor in different ways : first, by giving life pensions or rations to them ; second, by the Tmaret system, which is rather peculiar to Turkey. Tmarets are large places where, daily, cooking is done by the Vakotif iiVidi given without cost to the people who apply for it. Everybody can go there at the appointed times and receive his share of the day's fare without any formality. Constantinople contains more than two hundred of these places, and every important provincial city can boast of many places of this kind. The poor of a ward can have their daily meals in these Tmarets, and poor students, especially those who are studying in Medresses (theological schools), can pursue their studies without any appreciable cost for board, being lodged in the schools and nourished by the Tmaret. As to actual private charity in Turkey, it is done on a grand scale. The people think it a moral duty to give alms, and this tendency, beside leaving no room for great miseries, has even the effect of inducing some idle' men to beg favors from others. Every family gives the surplus of its daily food, with old clothes and other house- hold and personal articles which are not needed, to the poor. Thus many poor families obtain all that is necessary by the generosity of FLAKKY. 289 their neighbors. Wealthy individuals often take upon themselves the marriage of a poor girl who is acquainted with their families. Cases are not rare in which a small house, with all the necessary- household goods, is presented to the bride, and they even procure a situation for the bridegroom, thus enabling him to support his wife. Often the residents of a ward collect money to help to marry the poor girls of their neighborhood, and so no girl is left unmarried, when she is of age, on account of poverty. The hospitality practised in Turkish cities is also very peculiar. Sometimes a whole family goes to another family's house and remains there as guests for days or even weeks. The poor are not despised, and a poor man acquainted with a rich family can bring there his own people and remain some time as guests. This is, of course, a great alleviation to the poor man's purse, and enables him to enjoy more easiness of life when he stays in the house of his rich relative or friend. The above considerations show why pauperism, as understood in some other countries, is an unknown thing in Turkey. That is a good thing, for in the absence of pauperism the extreme hatred so natural between the rich and the poor is avoided, giving place to more geniality and true brotherhood between citizens of all situations, classes and positions. May these hatreds and distinctions, which are the principal sources of actual embarrassment in social questions, and \ which are the result of the supposed superiority of the moneyed class over the poor, never arise in the land of Turks, but may our old and time-honored customs flourish more and more, combined with the influence of occidental civilization which is invading our land and j ^ totally transforming it — to the better, we mayjiope. PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. First Session, June 12, 1893, 8 p. m. The first session of the section on the Public Treatment of Pau- perism, of the International Congress of Charities, Correction and Philanthropy, was a general session, and was called to order at 8 o'clock by Mr. F. H. Wines, vice-president of the Congress, who introduced as chairman of the section, Mr. Ansley Wilcox, of Buffalo, New York. Mr. Wilcox, upon taking the chair, spoke briefly of the import- ance, in the United States, of the study of the public treatment of pauperism, and commented upon the lack of system in state and municipal relief; also upon the absence of reliable general statistics of pauperism, which is in part due to the variations in the methods of relief pursued by the local authorities. He expressed the hope that the presentation of European theories and their discussion by this Congress might lead to the development of an intelligent American system of poor law administration, which could be put in the form of a statute and generally adopted in this country. The first paper of the evening was read by Mr. Robert Treat Paine, of Boston, on Pauperism in Great Cities. The chairman called upon Mr. Henry C. Burdett, of London, England, to discuss the paper read by Mr. Paine. He responded jn the following words : Mr. Burdett. — What strikes us English about Mr. Paine and his methods is this, that he has gone to the root of the problem, and has furnished us the means of solving it, if we will only acquit ourselves like men and women, by giving " love and personal service." In one of the districts of London, a district of 20,000 people, there has been established an association known as the Friendly Workers' Asso- ciatibn. It is managed by a committee consisting of representatives of all religious denominations, under the chairmanship of a layman. The object of forming this pan-denominational committee has been to utilize to the full the forces represented by the twin sisters of love and personal service. The method pursued has been to take a census of the people in the district, and then we have gone to work I I i PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 29 1 upon the facts, and I am glad to say we have successfully solved the difficulties, so far as that district is concerned. But that is not all. Another attempt has been made, which is now being worked out under the heads of all religious bodies in the metropolis, to solve the social problem. Our idea is to get London divided into Friendly Workers of manageable proportions, and then, by the aid of pan-denominational committees and friendly workers, to stir up and awaken throughout the metropolis the feeling, that it is not so much the duty of the aggregate mass to solve this problem, as it is the privilege of individuals to give themselves to the work, and to bring by this personal service something far more valuable and beyond all price, the gift of oneself, if only for a limited period, that this problem may be solved once and for all. It is said that London, with her six million people, is too large to handle. My answer is that any one who holds that opinion is unworthv of civilization as it should be in this nineteenth century. Surely, if our sires were able to deal with the problems which beset them in their day, we, their descendants, with our improved methods, would not acquit ourselves like men, or be worthy of our sires, if we were to allow any aggregate mass to make us hesitate or pause in the effort to solve this problem. Professor C. R. Henderson, of the University of Chicago, read a paper on Pjiblic Relief and Private Charity. Second Session, June 13, 1893. Mr. Ansley Wilcox, of Buffalo, presided. Mr. John H. Finley, president of Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, acted as secretary. Mr. Oscar Craig, president of State Board of Charities of New York, read a paper entitled, American Administration of Charity in Ptiblic Institutions. The Chairman. — The next paper is by Baron von Reitzenstein, of Germany, on The International Treatment of the Poor Question. It will be read by the secretar)'. The secretary then read the paper. The chairman invited Miss Catherine H. Spence, of Australia, to address the section. Miss Spence. — In South Australia, where I went in 1839, there was a range of wooden buildings, called "Immigration Square," where immigrants received room and food for a fortnight, until employ- ment could be found for them. The duty which the state owes to the poor has never since then been lost sight of in South Australia. The government takes the care of the poor upon itself, and in order to diminish the number of those wholly dependent upon insti- tutional charity in almshouses and asylums, it has organized a system 292 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. of outdoor relief which, I think, is unique and healthful, and which, so far as I know, has been wisely administered. If a Widow is left with young children and without means, instead of taking her children from her and placing them in district schools, as would be done in England, the South Australian government aids her with rations. She is supposed to maintain herself and one child ; for herself and two children she has one ration ; with three, one and a^half. The rations are not in money, but consist of food, bread, meat, tea, sugar, soap, salt and rice. Many respectable families are brought up in this way, the mother doing what she can to earn her children a living. By this means fewer children are thrown entirely upon state maintenance than in any other province in Australia. In regard to the old people, we have a " Destitute Board," appointed by the government, which says to a son or daughter, " Keep your old father and mother and we will allow you one ration." Consequently we have fewer old men and women in the almshouses than any place in the world. But this system needs to be watched. It has the effect of reducing the number of those who become entirely pauperized so long as an old man and woman can keep a house above their head ; but when they are past work they will get a ration and a half. We have no able-bodied men in the "destitute asylum" at all; they may have a night's lodging, that is all ; we have only in our destitute asylums old people who are blind or infirm, whom I should like to see in a better place. I don't think it is a happy thing for old people to be always by themselves, with- out the patter of little feet or the stir of life. I do think there might be some way of boarding out old people, such as I read of in a little pamphlet I got here. There is a movement in South Australia to get a better home for the respectable poor than what is called our destitute asylum. In regard to children, they are removed from institutions and placed in homes, generally country homes. The government pays for their keeping, and furnishes registers of inspection (voluntary inspection), thus giving to hundreds and thousands of ladies all over Australia an opportunity to visit these places. I know there is a great prejudice against outdoor relief; the fashion in England is to give no outdoor relief; they say, " If people want to live, let them go into the workhouses." I do not know that it is right, if our brothers and sisters have fallen, to thrust them with others amongst whom they should not properly be. I have read in the reports of bureaus of beneficence that temporary help is given in time of trouble. I have known families in dire distress to apply for a night's lodging who would never ask for a cent ; I have known a mother to pawn her wedding-ring who would not ask for a cent. But all official charges must be regulated ; therefore it is well that private benevolence should aid in that way. But the objection to private benevolence is that the money all comes out of a few pockets ; that thousands of women and men, who can afford to pay well for the PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 293 support of the poor, escape. You have here your poor-rates, and you say the rates are not sufficient for the maintenance of the infirm and poor, but that they must be supplemented by the work of active men and women. This thought was especially borne upon my mind when I attended the Australia Charity Conference in Melbourne, where they have no poor-rate, but regard private benevolence as quite sufficient. There, naturally, a few people support all the hos- pitals. Why should not everybody help to support these hospitals? Therefore I approve of the rate system, I believe that it is the duty of the state to care for its poor and afflicted and infirm ; but it should not exonerate the private people from giving their services. By and by there will be no use for so much charity, because there will be more justice. Baron von Reitzenstein, in his observations upon the difficulty of public poor relief on account of political methods, touched upon what seems to me the essential weakness of America, and I have come to America for the purpose of advocating a reform in your electoral methods, to inaugurate improvements in such methods. Mr. Robert Treat Paine, president of Associated Charities, Boston. — I have listened with great interest to the remarks of Miss Spence, and I wish I could ask one question. What are the observed results upon these families of children, with their widowed mothers, where relief is given in this way ? I should suppose that the fact must be known to all the neighbors, so that the children of the family are, as it were, marked as paupers. Miss Spence. — Singularly enough, it is not considered a disgrace for a woman to take rations, or medical assistance; if the father of the family is ill. It is regarded as a right. I think that to help a woman to bring up her family in their own home is the best thing that can be done for her. But it is felt to be a disgrace to go to the asylums. They feel that it is not right to let an old father or mother go to an asylum or almshouse. Mr. Paine. — I agree that the family should be kept together, but I doubt whether any method is wise which proclaims to all the boys and girls in the neighborhood that any family is, by reason of the death of the father, brought down so low that they must be in daily receipt of public relief. Is there not a better method ? I cannot but think there is just a little bit of that wicked element in boys that will lead them to taunt and jeer at their playmates under the circum- stances mentioned. My question is whether, if public relief must be given, it ought not be given in a more private and secret way; more in the form of a pension, or a monthly allowance, with overseers employed, so that the' neighbors may not know that the wagon of shame stops in front of certain homes. Why can it not be done quietly ? I wish to seize this opportunity to find out how far we might go, and whether the cause of the widow and of the children cannot be taken care of in a better way, a more friendly way, with the neighbors absolutely ignorant of the fact, and perhaps with the 294 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. children not knowing that they are aided ; whether the rehef might not be taken from some church, or by some individual, and given in a quiet, tender, considerate way, until the time comes when the chil- dren could be self-supporting. Mr. P. W. Ayres, secretary of Associated Charities, Cincinnati. — I, too, would like to ask if there is not such a way, and I would like to tell Mr. Paine that in our city we have kept to the idea, which I supposed they had in Boston, of securing private pensions from private sources for certain cases of this kind, where there is a widow with several children who ought to be kept with the mother. We have now a certain amount of pension money in hand. We have adopted this system within the past few years to keep the mother and children together by means of private pensions. We do it in various ways ; sometimes we go to a few wealthy gentlemen and say that we want $125 a year or $2 a week for three years until the boy, who is now 1 1 years old, shall be 14. Of course we find families in which the children are very small and it will be a long time before they are self-supporting. It is more discouraging when you find children from 10 to 12 years of age, but we have, in answer to the gentleman's question, a plan in Cincinnati which has been successful in some ten or twelve cases. We have private pensions for women and children ; these pensions are so administered by friendly visitors that the family does not know it is an object of charity ; but sometimes it is wise to tell the family so they may not have a feeling of fear lest they may not know where the next meal is to come from. There are instances where we have $125 laid up for a family and they know nothing about it. Miss ZiLPHA D. Smith, general secretary of Associated Charities, Boston. — It is the proudest and happiest moment of my life that I am able to stand before you and say that in one district in Boston (the seventh ward) we have solved ^his problem, not only for widows and children, but for all the poor. We have provided private chanty for every deserving poor person that may ask for it. We did not do it by looking about us to see how much was to be done, by taking a bird's-eye view and saying, "' Here are so many people and it will take so much money " ; but we saw the poor families becoming demoralized. They would say to us, " If my husband dies I can go up to the pensioners, and it is no matter whether I save anything or not"; so they do not save. Now, as we do not live under a^so cialis tic system, people, in order to save their character, must provide lor~ themselves. We should not take away from these widows and chil- dren the sense of independence, the feeling that they themselves are able to provide for themselves. So we established a society for home saving ; but the difficulty was that they did not care to save. There are a great many people who could take care of themselves if they only thought they could, and we are making out a list of these people. It is really marvellous, when you come to work out the problem, how few people actually need help. A gentleman who had Sv^ PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 295 visited Switzerland once said that he inquired for almshouses there. They said there were none. He asked, " What do your poor people do?" "Oh, they have sons or daughters that take care of them." " Suppose they have no sons." " Well, they have an uncle or an aunt or a niece." " Suppose they have no one." " Well, everybody has some one." So it seems, when you come to study into it, in every family there is almost invariably a way for them to get along, either by the help of some relative or by their own individual efforts. I think if others would begin as we have and say, " Now we will take tr^.--'t this or that family," taking the easy ones first, gradually we could take every single family and make them independent. Then your people would begin to do as ours have and join a Home Savings Society, and you would find that they will soon have their twenty or ^ twenty-five dollars saved, and they will take a proud pleasure in it. ^ ^i- I know that we have a number of families who own their own houses out of town and enjoy themselves in their homes, and when they come in to see me they look just like my visitors ; I open my eyes when they walk into the office, and I think " It is a visitor," and I look up and find they are my old poor people. Mr. J. R. Brackett, of Baltimore. — It seems to me, in listening to this very interesting discussion, that there is entirely another side to the question. I do not believe that to take money from the public treasury helps in any way to bring the two classes together, the prosperous and the poor. Where you get hold of a rich man and give him an opportunity to take his money from his pocket and help some poor struggling being, you do bring the classes together ; and it looks like a great pity not to do this. Dr. J. W. Walk, general secretary of the Society for Organizing Charity, Philadelphia. — I would be extremely sorry if in my city widows and orphans were ever made to feel that the poor director's wagon would come around and back up to their door and cause the blu.sh of shame to arise to their cheek. We do not want to under- mine that idea of independence which is the very best thing among our people, and which has turned this great wilderness into a garden in the last hundred years. Now, Mr. Chairman, the keynote, or rather two keynotes have been struck, one by Miss Smith, when she said that by thorough investigation you will find immense unsuspected avenues to self- help, and the other was struck by Mr. Paine, when he said last night that people are determined to raise themselves. I can say, with an experience of fourteen years in Philadelphia, that we have in that city of over a million people very few families of widows or children'who, if they had the poor relief, would not take it. We work under one or two specially favorable conditions. One is our building association system ; almost every poor workingman has a share in a building association. Another is the wonderful develop- ment of co-operative insurance. Co-operative insurance societies have paid out $35,000,000 in the last twenty-two years ; they extend 296 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. all over the United States, and are extremely popular in Philadelphia. Still another is Girard College, which receives half-orphan boys. When a man dies in Philadelphia, very often one of his sons is put into Girard College, and there the boy will be given an education. Then we have the fund for coal which amounts to $18,000. We do not find it necessary to make permanent pensions. Third Session, June 15, 1893, 10.30 a. m. Mr. Ansley Wilcox presiding; Mr. John H. Finley acting as secretary. The Chairman. — The first paper which will be presented is by Mrs. May McCallum, of London, on the Etiglish Poor Law Systevi, its Intention and Results, and will be read by Miss Julia Leavins. The paper was read. The Chairman.— The next paper is by Mr. William Vallance, of London, clerk to the Whitechapel Board of Guardians, on Poor Law Progress and Reform, exemplified iii the Administration of an East London Union, and will be read by Mr. T. Guilford Smith, of Buffalo. This paper was also read. Mr. Prosper van Geert, of Belgium, read a paper on Charity in Belgium. The Chairman. — We thank Mr. van Geert sincerely for the clear account of the subject which he has given us. We thank him for coming here and presenting his paper to us in person, because it adds greatly to the interest to have it read by the author. We have some time still remaining to us, and I think that the pleasantest course that could be taken now would be to dispense with the further reading of papers and to call for remarks on the papers already presented. I shall therefore call upon Judge Follett, of Marietta, Ohio. Judge Follett, of the State Board of Charities of Ohio. — Many persons say that we ought to have no outdoor relief : but why? It is demonstrable that in many states (my own, I know, is one) out- door relief increases pauperism. But the people seem to desire it, and neither political party dares make an effort in the legislature to abolish it. It may in the end abolish itself. The trouble is that the relieving officers are personally benefited by the distribution of patronage, but the relief granted does not benefit the public. I visited a county in Ohio and talked with the county officials in regard to a certain form of relief, which I will not describe here, but which would reach from 100 to 150. I said : " Tell me, do you really think it benefits those who receive it?" " Well, I think that two out of 150 may be benefited." "And," I said, "the rest are injured ?"" Yes, PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 297 all the rest are injured." And yet that man would not dare to have me mention his name; he knows that I will not. Wherever out- door public relief is given it has the effect of relaxing the energies of men struggling to take care of themselves, which is an injury to their manhood. That is the basis of the objection to it. I am sorry, therefore, that some of our foreign friends, when asked to discuss outdoor relief, at once begin to describe some system of social charity, some individual process of family or personal visita- tion of the poor. Of course, in cases of distress we may go to the afflicted in a friendly way and, taking a man by the hand, say, "John, are you not in trouble?" " Yes, my wife is sick, my child is afflicted ; I haven't been able to get work." And you can either send something to the house or slip a piece of money into his hand. But that is not public outdoor I'elief. I endorse cordially what has been said in Mr. van Geert's paper; it shows that certain things may be done outside of institutions. I approve of the remarks of Mr. Paine in the same general direction. But caring for and helping boys can hardly be called outdoor relief. When we discuss the question of public or private outdoor relief we ought to confine ourselves to the point. What is done for the public should be for the public good, and what is done for individuals should not be a peril to them. We had in our county a man who was thrifty and lived independently, but he received aid at one time and he stopped work at once. His energies were paralyzed ; he felt that the public owed him a living. There is a great difference between the poor and the pauperized. The pauperized control the relieving officers. They say to them, " Give me so much," or " Increase what you give me or I will work at the polls for your defeat." That is the road to destruction, to anarchy and ruin. There are so many phases of this question that I will not take any more time. We must not let the recipient of relief become dictator as to its form and amount. The Chairman. — The remarks of Judge Follett suggest very forcibly one great evil which exists in some of our cities in connec- tion with poor law administration. The public administrators of the funds of the poor should be appointed and not elected, so that they may at least be free to do the best that their powers and intelli- gence will permit them to do. I will ask Miss Zilpha D. Smith, of Boston, to speak. Miss Smith. — I was glad to hear Mr. Vallance's paper, because it seems to me that the history of outdoor relief in London is more instructive and beneficial than in Berlin or Philadelphia. As to out- door relief being bad in Berlin, that may have been simply because it was administered under bad conditions; but in England there was no such trouble. There they have been able to abolish outdoor relief, without hardship to the poor, and bring about a better condi- tion of things. It seems, therefore, that the evils of outdoor relief are inherent in the system. 298 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM, I had the pleasure, four years ago, to talk with Mr. Crowder, one of the guardians of the parish of St. George, which is even poorer than that of Whitechapel. He told me that he made it a point, in his borird of guardians when they began to refuse outdoor relief, to visit in person every family whose application had been rejected. He was, I think, a rich man himself; at least he was in comfortable circum- stances ; but whether or no, he was determined to see the right thing done ; and he found that there were many legitimate ways in which the poor could take care of themselves, without breaking up fam- ilies or going to the workhouse. He said that it would have been more difficult in a district less poor, for the fact that poor people can successfully appeal for help to their neighbors renders it harder to convince them that they can do for themselves. In Brooklyn, outdoor relief has been abolished by gradually leaving first one family and then another off the list as they become able to care for themselves. That .process began long before they h id an almshouse. When the list was reduced to something less than twenty, then they said, " These people must have an alms- house." They built an almshouse in a wealthy location, thinking they would have about 'seventeen inmates, but when it was ready only one of them went there. i\ir. A. O. Wright, of Madison, Wisconsin. — My experience for a number of years as an inspector of the poor and of the charitable institutions in the State of Wisconsin, has led me to the deliberate onviction that the less that is done in the way of charity the better it will be for the state and for charity. It is impossible, perhaps, to abolish public poor relief, but it is possible to abolish public outdoor relief That certainly can be done, except, perhaps, in agricultural communities. There are agricultural communities where it could not be done ; but there every resident knows every other resident. I do not think that institutional relief can yet be dispensed with. It has the indispensable means of dealing with those who refuse out- door relief We say to them, " If you refuse outdoor relief you can go to the poorhouse" I am speaking about what has been done by the State Board of Charities of the State of Wisconsin. They found that a labor system was desirable in the poorhouses, and it has been introduced into nearly every one of the Wisconsin poorhouses. The result is that the inmates are happier than when they had nothing to do. Public poor relief is in no sense charity. It is a form of socialism. The only true charity is that which is voluntarily and privately given. It is not charity to collect taxes from me and give the money thus obtained to such persons as may be selected by a public ofificial. That is socialism. But it is charitv for Miss Smith to take money freely given by individuals and with that help to lift up those who are cast down. Public poor relief cannot do that ; it doles out its allowances in small amounts to the pauperized. Private charity is capable of giving adequate relief, and it aids not merely those who are pauper- J i PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 299 ized, but the worthy destitute, whom it saves from becoming paupers. Mr. Paine, of Boston. — I desire in one word to express the great pleasure with which I listened to the paper of Mr. Vallance. His thought is of infinite value, in its application to the general condition of the very poor who belong to the working classes. What he said is, to my mind, the very hinge of the question. If we can teach the people, if we can convince the socialists, if we make the clergy of all denominations understand, that this lax relief is demoralizing and injurious, we shall accomplish marvels. On the other hand, I do not quite see why it is necessary that private relief should be admin- istered under the same strict limitations. I have never understood the problem. When one sees in the report of a private relief society in Brooklyn that ten thousand dollars spent in a year gave relief to about ten thousand families (40,000 souls), at the rate of a dollar a family, that puzzles me. I do not perceive the use of this little drib- , bling, petty policy of doling out relief in small sums. Relief, where v^lt' the demand for it is real, should be given generously and in ade--? / quate amount. We have families in Boston who receive two hun- \ dred or three hundred dollars a year in relief. Is it not the fact that where these great relief societies descend to doling out help at the rate of one dollar a family, they do as much harm as public outdoor relief could do? The following papers were presented and read by title : The Work of the London County Council in Relation to Public Health and the Housing of the Working; Classes, by Mr. John Lowles ; The Austrian Poor Law System, by Miss Edith Sellers ; Poverty and its Relief in Austria, by Dr. Menger ; Sketch of the Organiza- tion of Public Poor Relief in Aiistria, by Dr. Friederich Probst; Poor Relief i7i Vienna, audits Reforin, by Dr. Rudolph Kobatsch ; Charity in Tzcrkey, by Mr. T. Flakky. The section adjourned. Fourth Session, June i6, 1893, 2 p. m. In the absence of the chairman of the section, Mr. John H. Finley presided. Mr. A. O. Wright, of Madison, Wisconsin, read a paper on the Causes of Pauperism a7id the Relation of the State to it. Dr. L. L. Rowland, superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane, Salem, Oregon. — I would like to inquire how we are to avoid running in a circle upon this question? A few meetings ago it was argued that outdoor relief should not be permitted ; and at another meeting it was said that it would be far better to afford the mother help at home than to take her children away from her. 300 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. A VOICE. — From private sources, however. Dr. Rowland. — I did not so understand it. But I do not want to discuss the question. I merely ask, how are we to help those who require but little help, and yet not encourage pauperism ? Mr. Wright. — It seems to me that just such cases are those which most appeal to private benevolence. If there were no public relief for them, there would be found to be plenty of charity in the country. The one great evil of outdoor relief is that it destroys che motive to private benevolence, and by eliminating from relief the element of sympathy, converts it into a cold and mechanical arrange- ment on the part of the state. Mr. P. W. Ayres, of Cincinnati. — We may congratulate ourselves that we have listened to such a paper. I wish that it might be laid before some of our state legislatures, in the hope of cutting off out- door relief to a greater extent than has yet been done. There has been a feeling on the part of the Board of State Char- ities in Ohio that it would not be advisable to abolish all outdoor relief, because it does not seem practicable everywhere to meet the need by private contributions. It is agreed that in large cities it can be abolished. As a practical worker, I am sure that there it is always harmful. The societies and churches in Cincinnati or any other large city are abundantly able to care for all cases of temporary distress. My mind has been dwelling upon the possibility of substituting for the present outdoor relief in country districts, systematic co-op- eration by the benevolent and Christian people of five or six or more counties, through the employment of a private agent, who could investigate and report upon cases of distress, so that the want could be intelligently and completely and promptly met. In large cities we work to advantage, because the population is compact and we can reach a case quickly. With a paid agent for six counties to distribute money raised from private sources, all needed temporary relief could be given at a far less cost than the public now pays for it. Mr. Lucius C. Storrs, secretary of the State Board of Charities of Michigan. — The plan suggested by Dr. Ayres is certainly ideal. I suppose that by the time that the next four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America is celebrated we may see it adopted. Mr. Wright knows as well as myself that at present it is not prac- tical. But I am glad of the opportunity to say that I hope, when the committees of the National 'Conference of Charities are appointed at Nashville next year, the committee on charity organization will be so constituted that both the city and country will be repre- sented on it. There is no antagonism between the two, and we want advice and instruction and experience from both sides. Our city friends describe methods of work admirably adapted to cities ; but a large number of us come from smaller places, and what we want to know is the best way to relieve poverty in rural districts and in towns. One complements the other, and both should go together. PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 3OI Mrs. Louisa R.Wardner, of Chicago. — I wish to ask Mr. Wright's opinion of indiscriminate private charity. I have been attending the Conference of Charities for many years and I have often heard the recommendation not to give alms to individuals. Now you say that the poor should be relieved by private charity. What do you recommend? Is house-to-house charity the proper method where there are no organized charities ? Mr. Wright. — My paper does not cover that ground. It would make it too long if I had tried to cover everything ; so I omitted the question of private charity. But I will say that, as between lavish public poor relief and lavish private poor relief, it is a far less evil to have it given by private charity. Mrs. Wardner. — You mean individually? Mr. Wright. — Or by societies either. The charity organization societies have covered that ground. Mr. Roberts, of Wisconsin. — I want to ask Mr. Wright a ques- tion. Very little has been said in regard to poorhouse administra- tion. I know a little about the poorhouses of the state of New York, and how difficult it has been to provide systematic, continuous work for the inmates. Have you any suggestions to make touching that point? Mr. Wright. — I read a paper before the National Conference of Charities at San Francisco on that subject. My experience has been in country poorhouses rather than in those of large cities. The least successful attempt in that line made in Wisconsin is in Milwaukee. Of course the problem is harder in the city than in the country. Yet most country poorhouses do not provide the occupations they might. There is a variety of industries on a farm, and some kind of work can be assigned to almost every inmate. One secret of success, in addition to the kind but firm determination of the superintendent and matron, is the making of certain individ- uals responsible for the discharge of certain daily duties, so that the organization of labor does not require to be renewed every morning. The benefit is not in the money value of the labor, but in the discipline. The Chairman. — I have been very much interested in a scheme in vogue in England known as the Brabazon scheme. The inmates are taught to make fancy things, to sew and to carve ; and one is surprised to see what these poor people can do with a very little training. Some ladies of the district give instruction to the inmates, visiting the workhouse once or twice a week, and in that way keep them constantly employed. An effort has been made on this side to carry out the plan in one or more of the poorhouses in the state of New York, and the result has been satisfactory. An account of the work of Lady Brabazon may be found in the State Charities Record, which may be had on application to the State Charities Aid Associ- ation of New York. 302 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. Mr. P. W. Ayres, of Cincinnati, Ohio, read a paper on Free Ptiblic Employment Offices in Ohio. The next paper, on Immigration of Aliens, by Mr. Arnold White, of London, was read by Rev. H. H. Hart, of St. Paul, Minnesota. Professor E. W. Bemis, of the University of Chicago. — The immi- gration question has greatly interested me. Restrictions upon the freedom of immigration are demanded for the protection of the standard of living of our working classes. The depressing influence of a low standard of living on the part of immigrants is especially felt in our slum districts. Pauper immigration is responsible for the transfer of the sweating system to American soil. It complicates the troubles in our mining sections, and it is the cause of much violence in strikes. It unloads upon us a radical element very hard to control. In discussing this question with workingmen. we discover the existence of a divided sentiment. Some of the labor leaders favor restriction. They take the ground that an educational test would be a good thing ; that we should keep out, let us say, all immigrants over fifteen years of age who cannot read and write their own lan- guage. You know that came very near passing the last Congress. It is believed that a majority of both houses was in favor of the bill, but it came up in such a form as to require a two-thirds vote, and so was defeated. I notice with interest the statistics in a late report of the New York Commissioners of Immigration as to the relative illiteracy of the various nationalities, as shown by the ability of all over fifteen years of age who had come to New York during about nine months of the year 1892, to read and write. From nearly all the Germanic peoples, English, Scotch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Germans, etc., not more than i per cent, were illiterate. From Ireland less than 10 per cent. But from Eastern and Southern Europe the illiteracy of some nationalities went to more than 50 per cent. This shows that an educational test would keep out thevery immigrants whom we would like to keep out. It would not keep out all the Jews, but it would affect the other nationalities quite sharply. In talking with recent immigrants I find them disposed to favor immigration, for two reasons. One is the desire to have their rela- tives here ; the other, that a large portion of the very poor in this country are becoming radically and extremely socialistic in their tendencies. They are glad, for instance, when a trades-union is in anyway hampered by a decision of the courts, as was the engineers' union by the Toledo decision. They are delighted at anything which tends to crush out effort on the part of workingmen, in order that they may be driven into socialism. They are glad to see wages temporarily reduced, thinking that it will produce a crisis dangerous to the present industrial system. Inasmuch as immigration will PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 303 increase the slum population and hasten the coming crisis, they welcome it. That element is growing very rapidly, recruited by immigration. For that very reason, ot course, we oppose it. One of my students lately investigated the character of the foreign- born who send money to Europe through the postoffice to help their friends come to this country. He found that more than half of them are unable to sign their names. I have also been impressed with statistics showing the average amount of money brought into this country by immigrants; it is, lor the majority of nationalities, less than thirty-five dollars per capita. A VOICE. — The immigrants probably conceal the amount of money they have with them. Professor Bemis. — That may be so. But I feel that we ought to restrict immigration, and I believe that the movement is spreading among the wage-earners themselves. Some people think it is con- trary to the spirit of our fathers, but Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, opposed strenuously the encouragement of immigration from the continent of Europe, preferring to wait for the natural increase of our native population, M. Stanislas H. Haine, of Antwerp, Belgium, addressed the section on the subject of the Mont de PiHe in Antwerp. He said that the Mont de Piete is an institution established by the govern- ment for the purpose of loaning small sums of money on personal property. Such loans are made at seven per cent. For a period of two years, the largest sum loaned is $200 and the smallest forty cents. The original capital was contributed by the government. This institution has been in operation since 1830, and has earned enough to repay to the government nearly the whole of its original endowment. The profits have averaged about $4000 a year. It employs about thirty clerks, and there are several branches, in dif- ferent parts of the city. The five directors are nominated by the city council for four years. Money is loaned without interest when the applicant brings a certificate from the public administrators of charity that he is unable to pay interest; but this seldom happens. The directors usually calculate to loan about four-fifths of the intrinsic value of the article deposited as security. They have some- times taken stolen goods, especially from other cities. On proof of ownership, the owner is given back his property and the loss falls upon the institution. Articles in pawn are kept for thirteen months after the expiration of the loan and sold within the ensuing year. A paper on Tramps, by Professor John J. McCook, of Trinity College, Hartford, was read by Mr. Alexander Johnson. Mr. A. O. Wright, of Wisconsin, read a paper on Vagrancy. The Chairman. — General Brinkerhoff tells me that they have no vagrancy problem in Ohio. I should like to know why. General RoeliffW. Brinkerhoff, president of the State Board of Charities of Ohio. — I simply meant to say that the vagrant ques- 304 PUBLIC TREATMENT OF PAUPERISM. tion is not there so serious as to attract our attention as members of the State Board of Charities. Mr. Ayres knows more about the tramp question than I do, because he comes from the city of Cincin- nati. The Chairman. — Have you anything to say in regard to this question, Mr. Ayres? Mr. P. W. Ayres. — No. The last paper read stated that a good many tramps are the product ot the slums in large cities. I am inclined to think that the young man from the slums is too debauched to become a tramp ; he hasn't the requisite energy. Their ranks are more largely recruited from the young men in small towns. While on the floor, I wish to ask if anybody knows of any employ- ment for prisoners in small jails ? Mr. Wright. — Go to Media and see for yourself The beauty of the separate system, in the Eastern Pennsylvania Penitentiary and in several of the Pennsylvania county jails, is that labor can be carried on without the aid of machinery ; the industries followed are such as carpet-weaving, basket-making, braiding mats, knitting and the like, which can be performed by individuals in single cells. It has been suggested that convicts should be employed to work on the roads, but a chain-gang is a demoralizing spectacle. The remedy is worse than the disease. Mr. Rich. — I think that one great cause of vagrancy is the dis- proportion between production and consumption. While in London, England, eight months ago, I was told that there were 500,000 criminals made so by circumstances over which they had no control. I was told that others were working sixteen hours a day. There are 40,000 'bus -men alone in the city of London who work sixteen hours a day, for about five dollars a week in our money. I saw a band of workingmen who had been made tramps by circumstances, carrjdng a banner with this inscription, "We demand the right to work." There are tens of thousands in our country who demand the right to work, but cannot get it, who are first made tramps and then criminals because this demand is not met. I am a German by birth. I occupied a pulpit for eighteen years in the German Reformed Church. I thank heaven that the first thing I had to learn when I returned from service in the army during the Civil War was to handle a saw, a chisel and a hatchet. I have tried to find the solution of the social question by taking a practical view of it, and so I applied in this town for work. I have gone where I could see the condition of labor with my own eyes. I applied at the Fair the other day for employment, and here is my badge, number 211. When I asked for employment that morning it was announced that 100 would be engaged. There were 500 there, and 300 of them were sent home in two hours. In three hours after that, 50 more were dismissed, and then 50 more. I happened to be one of the fortunate ones, and I saw the fierce struggle for work. God give us more men that will deny themselves, leave their pulpits, mingle with PROCEEDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. 305 the lower classes, and there, in contact with their suffering, speak a word to those who are in authority, urging them to use their power and influence to help mankind to a higher level. I glory in what General Booth has done in England. I had a card of admission from him to his House of Rescue, and I saw some of the grand work he is doing in the houses which he has erected for tramps and for the poor. But, my dear friends, do you not know that the work g'iven by him to a tramp, in one of these homes, takes the bread out of the mouth of some poor family, and robs some father of work who has a wife and children dependent on him ? This labor problem is the problem of our age. Until we are filled with true charity from above, with love and good will to man, until we are willing to sacrifice and to suffer, and deny ourselves some of our comforts for their sake, we shall never solve this problem. God give us mercy ! God give us charity ! The Chairman. — The gentleman has certainly named the funda- mental principle of the solution of all social problems. The following papers were read by title : Private Unofficial Visitation of Public Instittitions, by Miss Louisa Twining ; Relief by Work in France, by M. Grosseteste-Thierry, of Paris; Pauperism and Crime, by Mr. John R. Weber ; Municipal Pro- visioyi for Shelter of Homeless Poor in Boston, by Mr. Thomas F. Ring, of Boston; The Problem of Inebriate Paziperism., by Dr. T. D. Crothers, of Hartford. The section then adjourned sine die. 1 i INDEX. Abdul Hamid II., 287. Adams, Henry C, 35. Almsgiving, indiscriminate, 35, 47-49, 148, 150. Almshouses, see Poorhouses, Altgeld, John P., 29. Anderson, Martin B., 60. Antwerp Charity Board, 206. Armendepartmetit, see Vienna. Aschrott, P. F., 47. Associated Charities of Boston, report of, 47. /fj>'/ (municipal boarding-house), Vienna, 219, 220. Asylums, for children, in New York city, 79; in New York state, 79,82; in Austria, 251 ; in Belgium, 205, 206 ; in Vienna, 219. for criminals, in New York state, 83 ; see London County Council. for feeble-minded women, in New York state, 72. for idiots, in New York state, 71, 72, 73. for imbeciles, London, 174. for the insane, in New York state, 73, 75, 78, 79, 81, 85 ; in London, 174. Australia, charity in, 291-293. Charity Conference, 293. Austria, charity in, 19-20 ; poor law system in, 19, 216-224, 230, 232, 240, 299 ; classification of paupers in, 216-217 > priests as guardians of the poor in, 217 ; workhouses in, 220 ; pensions to the aged in, 221-224 ; poverty and its relief in, 224-229; displacement of labor in, 225; small land holdings in, 226-227 ; pauper Jews in, 227-228 ; settlement laws in, 228, 229, 230, 232, 235-237, 244, 246, 247, 268 ; public poor relief in cities in, 232-235; communal rights in, see Settlement laws ; poorhouses in, 237, 251 ; relief in kind in, 238 ; boarding-out system in, 238 ; care of depen- dent children in, 238, 246; relief by work in, 239 ; duties of commune to poor in, 228, 229, 231, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 246, 268, 269; sources of public relief in, 239-241 ; poor relief system in, 246, 251, 252; domi- cile relief in, 250, 251, 253 ; asylums for children in, 251 ; poor tax in, 252-253; j^i* Vienna. Ayres, Philip W., 124-131, 294, 300, 302, 304. Barnett, S. A., 49. Bedford Industrial Building, 30, 53, 54. Begging, 57 ; by letter, 207-208 ; suppression of, 209, 2n, 213; licenses, 152 ; see Unions cT Assistance. Belgium, charity in, 198-206, 296; dependent children in, 203-206. 308 • INDEX. Bemis, Edward W., 302, 303. Berlin, system of poor relief, 25S, 270; temporary relief in, 261 ; outdoor relief in, 297. Better Dwellings Society, Boston, 41. Blind, the, see Homes for, Statistics, Tables, Boarding-out system for children, 82,83, 155; in Austria, 218-219, 238, 266; in England, 82 ; in Australia, 292 ; objections to, 82, 204-205 ; j^^ White- chapel, Statistics. Association for Orphans and Destitute Children in Families, England, 190. Board of State Charities, Ohio, 300. Boards of Health, 39, 41, 57. Booth, Charles, 35, 36, 50, 114, 161, 305. Boston, friendly visitors in, 32 ; private charities in, 294 ; poor relief in, 299 ; municipal provision for shelter of homeless poor in, 1 17-124, 305. Commission, 1878, on treatment of the poor, 48. Co-operative Building Company, 3S. Brabazon Scheme, 191, 301. Brackett, Jeffrey R., 295. Bradfield Union, England, 156. Brinkerhoff, Roeliff, 303. Brixworth Union, England, 156. Brookline, success of relief system in, 48. Brooklyn, charity in, 48, 298, 299 ; manual training in, 52 ; Bureau of Chari- ties, 53; friendly visiting, 35, 53. Brooks, Phillips, 23. Building association system, Philadelphia, 295. Burdett, Henry C, 290-291. Bureau de Bienfaisance (board of charity), Belgium, act to establish, 198; objects of, 198; stores of, 198-199; assistance rendered by, 198-199, 200,201, 202-203; personnel of, 199-200; methods of work, 199, 200, 203 ; friendly visitors of, 200; model farm of, 206 ; women workers for, 206. , Paris, 9, 211 ; cost of supporting, 252, 261. Buzelle, George B., 53. • Casual wards, 157 ; London, 26, 27. Central Office for Charitable Works, Paris, 209. Chalmelle, agricultural colony at, 209-211. ' Charity, constructive, 30; repressive methods of, 30; duty of, 90; private versus oflScial, 95 ; relation of the Church to public, 96; abuses of pri- vate, 148, 149, 157; in large cities, 300; prevention of crime by, 285; correction and, 285; private, 29S, 300,301. fund, diversion of, 197. organization, objects of, 13, 32 ; comparison of with Elberfeld system, 20-22; criticism of methods, 35; growth of, 60 ; see Elberfeld system, Newport. INDEX. 309 Charity organization societies, attitude towards outdoor relief, 27 ; to abolish pauperism, 150; relation of, to private poor relief, 301; see Friendly visitors, Glasgow, Whitechapel. Charles, Mrs., 45. Chevalier, 93. Chicago, slums in, 42 ; homes of the poor in, 42; need of municipal lodging houses in, 176. Hebrew Relief Society, report of, 42. Children, neglect of, a cause of pauperism, 35, 43 ; dependent, in Massachu- setts, 46 ; in Pennsylvania, 46 ; in Michigan, 46 ; in Austria, 21S, 219, 236, 246; in Belgium, 203-206; illegitimate, 147, 150; feeble-minded, 190 ; see Boarding-out system, Placing-out system, Public aid, Whitechapel. Children's Aid Society of New York, 83. Church, the relation of to public charity, 96-97. Cincinnati, private poor relief in, 294. Cities, conditions of life in large, 24-26 ; charity in large, 300, Classification, see Sexes. Coal fund, Philadelphia, 296. Codman, Mrs. James M., 48. College settlements, 56, Colonies, charity, Chalmelle, 209-211 ; Congo Free State, 203; Hoogstraeten, 201, 203; see Z'wanga7-beithaiis. Commune, the, see Austria, France. Competition, unfair, 197 ; effects of, on wages, 220. Congo Free State, charity colony, 203. Congress, Medical, London, 175. , Municipal Labor, of Cincinnati, 124. Constantinople, institutions in, 288. Co-operation of charity organization with Elberfeld system, 20-22 ; of econ- omists with workingmen, 92 ; of charitable agencies, 300. Co-operative insurance societies, Philadelphia, 295-296. Corcoran, M. T,, 124. Correction as a form of charity, 285, Craig, Oscar, 58-59, 291. Crime, pauperism and, 131-140; prevention of, 285. Criminals, 284, 304 ; tramps as, 106-110; Ji'^ Asylums. Crothers, T. D., 140-146, 305. Crowder, 298. Deaf and dumb, see Homes, Public aid. Tables. * Destitute Board, Australia, 292. Discussions, 290-305. Drainage system of London, 173. Drink, intoxicating, cause of pauperism, 35, 43 ; sale of, 142. problem, the, 143. Dwellings of the working classes, London, 37, 175-176; see Homes. 310 INDEX. East London Union, 166-167. Economics, relation of, to philanthropy, 90-91. Economists, co-operation of, with workingmen, 92. Elberfeld system of public charity, 8, 16,93,95, 259,272; almoners of, 16; applicability of, to towns, 16; to cities, 17; to the country, 18; adapt- ability of the, 20-21 ; see Austria, Charity organization. Employment, for tramps, 110-113 ; free offices for tramps, Ohio, 124-131, 302 ; agencies, 125; lack of, 304; see Paupers, Relief by work. Tramps, Vienna. England, charity in, 1 1-13, 94 ; outdoor relief in, 170 ; poor relief in, 251, 252 ; unemployed in, 271 ; see Paupers, Poor laws. Epileptics, see Public aid. Equality, 192. Faucher, 151. Feeble-minded children, efforts in behalf of, 190. • women, efforts in behalf of, 86-88. Finley, John H., 291, 296, 299, 301, 303, 305. Flakky, T., 284-289, 299. Folks, Homer, 82. Follett, M. D., 296-297. France, charity in, 9-10, 93-94 ; commune in, 93-94 ; relief by work in, 207- 216, 305; cost of poor relief in, 252. Friendly societies, English, 155. visiting, 13, 171-172 ; in Boston, 32 ; in Brooklyn, 33, 53 ; its failure in large cities, 31, 32. — • visitors, 32, 33 ; opportunity of, 34 ; in Philadelphia, 32 ; in New York, 32 ; see Bureau de Bienfaisaiice. — Workers' Association, London, 290-291 Fry, Elizabeth, 191. Gablonz, charity union in, 281. Gairdner, Ur., 39. Gemeinniitzige Gesellschaft (association for public good), Switzerland, 4. Germany, charity in, 14-19, 93 ; domicile relief in, 242, 250 ; cost of poor relief to, 252, 261 ; unemployed in, 271, 272; decrease of poor relief in, 276; centralization of poor relief in, 281. Giddings, Franklin H., 50. Girard College, 296. Girls' Friendly Society, London, 190. Gladstone, Wm. E., 131, 195. Glasgow, report of the dwelling committee of the Charity Organization Society of, 39. Grosseteste-Thierry, 207-216, 305. Haines, Stanislas H., 303. Handworterbucli fiir StaatswisseiiscJia/Uii (dictionary of political science), 250, 252. INDEX. 311 Hart, Hastings H., 302. Health inspection, see London County Council. Henderson, Charles R., 89-97, 291. Hewitt, Abram S., 32, 43. Hirsch, Baron de, 50. Home for the poor, Constantinople, 288. Savings Society, Boston, 294, 295. Temporary, for Women and Children, Boston, 1 18-1 19. Homeless poor, shelter for, in Boston, 1 17-123, 305. Homes, foul, 35, 56 ; movement for better, for the poor, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 ; condition of, of the poor in London, 175. for the aged, see Versorgungsanstalten, blind, deaf and dumb, friendless, soldiers and sailors, see New York State. Hoogstraeten, charity colony at, 201, 203. Hospital, State, for the Insane, Salem, Oregon, 299. Hospitalite' par le Travail (lodging and food for work), Paris, 208-209. Hospitals, in Melbourne, 299; for inebriates, 83, 144-146; for the insane, see Asylums ; tramps in, 99, 105 ; visitors to, 191 ; see New York state. Howard, John, 191. Hoyt, Charles S., 60, 65. Huntington, J. O. S., 29, 35. Hyndman, H. M., 38. Idiots, see Asylums, Public aid. Immigrants, naturalization of, 140; insane, 138; Russian, 195; reasons for excluding, 195-197 ; illiteracy of, 302 ; possessions of, 303. Immigration, 60, 131, 132, 138; laws, 61, 62, 64 ; plan for inspection of, 139- 140 ; of aliens, 191-197, 302 ; problem, 192 ; duty of statesmen to regu- late, 193 ; facility with which the United States could regulate, 194; reasons for restricting, 194, 195, 196, 302, 303 ; lowering of racial type by unguarded, 194, 197 ; see Statistics. Square, Australia, 291. Improving the Condition of the Poor, Association for. New York City, 41 ; Pittsburg, 42. Improved Industrial Dwellings Company, London, 38. Individual benevolence, 96. Indoor relief, 65, 14S, 170; see Austria, Bureau de Bienfaisance, East London Union, Whitechapel. Industrial training, 53-54 ; for children, Belgium, 205-206 ; institutions, Berlin, 270. Inebriates, 140-146 ; legal punishment of, 143 ; see Pauperism, i'aupers. Insane, classification of, in poorhouses, 67 ; immigrants, 138 ; sec Asylums, Hospitals, National Conference of Charities and Correction, Wisconsin. Institutions, 171, 291 ; of technical training, 52 ; children in, 45; for juvenile delinquents, 84 ; for paupers, Vienna, 219 ; sec Industrial training. New York state. 312 INDEX. Intemperance, see Drink. International Congress of Charities, at Brussels, 3-5; Chicago, 6, 57; Frank- fort A/M, 3 ; London, 3-5 ; Milan, 4-5 ; Paris, 4, 5, 6, 7, 83. treatment of the poor question, 1-23, 291. Italy, charity in, lo-ii ; cost of poor relief in, 252. Jail, tramps in, 116-117 ; see Media. Jameson, Mrs., 189. Jefferson, Thomas, on immigration, 303. Jews, pauper, in Austria, 227-228. Johnson, Alexander, 303. Joseph, N. S., 195. II. of Austria, 217, 221, 230. Jukes family, 28. Kellogg, Charles D., 41. Kempster, Ur., 131-132, 139. Kennedy, John M., 56. Kobatsch, Rudolph, 241-283, 299. Labor, displacement of, in Austria, 225-226. problem, 305. Lancet, medical commission to investigate institutions, 190. Land holdings, small, in Austria, 226-227 ; Turkey, 286. Laundries, 51, 52, 53. Laws, to provide for the blind, 71 ; for deaf children, 69 ; to protect idiots, see New York state. Poor laws. Leavins, Julia, 296. Letchworth, Wm. P., 68, 75, 80, 82. Literature of charities; see References. Loch, C. S., 32. Lodging House, municipal, London, 176 ; see Boston. London, parishes, 172; outdoor relief in, 297-298; Royal Commissions on con- dition of homes of the poor in, reports of, 37, 175. Central Poor Law Board, 189. County Council, work of, 172-195, 299; personnel of, 173; specific work of, drainage, 173 ; medical officers, 173, 174 ; coroners, 174 ; health inspection, 174, 177-188 ; care of asylums for imbeciles and insane, 174 ; mandatory powers, 175; cheap transit, 175-176; by-laws under Public Health Act, 177-188. Russo-Jewish Committee, 195. Loning, 243, 250, 281. Love, as necessary factor in reform work, 55-57. Low, Seth, 27, 57. Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 45, 81. Lower Austrian law for establishing poor associations, 249. • INDEX. 313 Lowles, John, 172-188,299. Lunacy Commission, see New York state. report on, by New York State Board of Charities, 74. Lyons, Assistance far le Travail (relief by work), 215. Maison Hospitaliere (wayfarers' lodge), Paris, 208. Mamoz (^Pierre de Touche), 207. Manual training, 44 ; schools, 52. Marburg house of correction for men, 275. • Marriages, results of unregulated, 102, 142 ; reckless, increased by outdoor relief, 186; effects on, of settlement rights, 248 ; of pensions, 265. Marseilles, Assistance far le Travail {xtWti by work), 213-215. Martin, Sarah, 191. Massachusetts, dependent children in, 46. ^ McCallum, May, 151-158, 296. McCook, John J,, 97-107, 303, 305. McCulloch, Oscar C, 28. Meath, Lady, 96. Media jail, 116, 304. Medical assistance to the poor, in Belgium, 202-203; Berlin, 270; Vienna, 259 ; by Bureau de Bienfaisance, 202, 203; London County Council, 173, 174, 177-188. Melbourne, poor relief in, 293. Mendicancy, see Begging. Menger, 224-229, 299. Metropolis Local Management Act, London, 172. Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, 190. Asylums Board, 174. Board of Works, 172-173. Michigan, dependent children in, 46. Mohammed, 285-286. Mont de /"////(public pawnshop), Antwerp, 303. Municipal Labor Congress of Cincinnati, 124. Murphy, Shirley, 174. National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 4. Conference of Charities and Correction, 4, 21, 48,80,83, 300, 301; report of, on poorhouse system, 58, 59; report to, on New York law for state care of insane, 75-77. * Nationality, 192-193. New Poor Law, English, 154-155, 156. Newport, charity organization in, 30, 31. New York city, friendly visitors in, 32; better homes for the poor, 41 ; first orphan asylum in, 79 ; need of municipal lodging houses in, 176. state, homes for the blind in, 68, 71, S8 ; homes for the deaf and dumb in, 68, 69, 70, 71, 88 ; homes for children in, 79 ; laws to protect 314 INDEX. . idiots in, 71, 72; law to create lunacy commission, 75; insane asylums in, 72-78, 83-84, 88; law for state care of the insane, 75-77; orphan asylums in, 79; act to protect orphans, 79; children supported by, see Statistics ; hospitals in, 83 ; cost to, of supporting its charitable insti- tutions, 86; public institutions in, 83-86; soldiers and sailors' homes in, 83, 86; see Poorhouses, Statistics, Tables, Ohio, free public employment ofiSces, 124-131 ; poor relief in, 296-297; va- grancy in, 303-304. Organization, power of, 171 ; of charity, see Charity organization, Elberfeld system. Organized effort to relieve poverty, need of, 171, 172. Orphans, act to protect in New York state, see New York state ; see Asylums. Outdoor relief, 46, 171, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300; reform of, 49; abuses of, 148, 156; effects of, 293-294; in Australia, 292; Austria, 251-252; Brooklyn, 298-299; England and Wales, 170; London, 170; see East London Union, New York, Public aid, State boards of charities, Whitechapel. Overseers of the poor, Vienna, 254-255, 256, 258, 259. Paine, Robert Treat, 23-58, 290, 293, 297, 299. Pan-denominational committee, London, 290-291. Paris Mutuels (mutual pools), 211. Pauper laws, 64, 65. Pauperism, 54; in large cities, 26, 27, 30, 290-291 ; treatment of, 34, 54, 55, 290; causes of, 35, 36, 40, 47, 48, 146-151, 299; increase of, 87; in Austria, 225; and crime, 131-140, 305; inebriate, 140-146, 305; heredi- tary, 148; reformatory methods applied to, 150; decrease of, 166 economic necessity of, 221 ; in Turkey, 287. Paupers, chronic, 28, 29 ; ratio between native and foreign-born, 60 ; alien, 63 employment of, 85 ; definition of, 131, 132 ; inebriate, 144 ; classification of, 147; in Austiia, 216-217; treatment of exceptional cases, 160 indoor and outdoor, 170; burial of, Belgium, 203; see Biireau de Bien- faisance. Institutions, Poorhouses, Tables, Vienna, Whitechapel. Peabody, Francis G., 21, 57. Pennsylvania, dependent children in, 46. Pensions, for the poor, 294 ; in Australia, 292 ; in Vienna, 263-266; old age, in Austria, 221-224 ; fund in Turkey, 287, 288. ■ Society, Whitechapel, 167-168. Philadelphia, friendly visitors in, 32 ; relief agencies in, 295; outdoor relief in, 297. Pierre de Touche, see Mamoz. Placing-out, see Boarding-out. Police stations, tramps in, 110-112. Poor associations, 41, 42. Poorhouses, in New York state, 58, 59, 61, 63, 65, 66, 88, 301 ; Brooklyn, 298 ; Wisconsin, 298; Australia, 292; Austria, 237, 251; classification of INDEX. 3 I 5 inmates in, 66, 67, 68, 73 ; children in, 80; tramps in, 102, 105, 112, 123 ; abuses in, 149, 150 ; management of, 150, 189 ; work test in, 298, 301 ; see National Conference of Charities and Correction. Poor law, administration, 290, 297 ; in Austria, 19, 216-224, 230, 232, 249; in Germany, 14, 15; in Italy, 10. in England, 151-158, 296; reform of, 27, 28, 158-172; amendment act, 159-160 ; see Whitechapel. relief, report of House of Lords committee, 45. Poor relief, 87, 88, 295 ; centralization of, in Austria, 280-281 ; Germany, 281 ; aim of, 294; decrease of, in Saxony, 276; private, 301 ; in Turkey, 287, 288; classification of, 267; abuses of, in England, 153-154; tax in Austria, 252-253; Turkey, 286 ; see Boston, Charity. , public, 94, 108, 148, 149, 2go, 293, 298, 299, 301 ; in Australia, 291 ; Austria, 232-235, 239-241,246,299; Vienna, 224, 233, 255, 281; Eng- land, 94, 251, 252; Germany, 252, 261, 276; Berlin, 258, 261, 270; Sweden, 251 ; Turkey, 287 ; see Charity, Church. Poverty, and its relief, 224-229, 299; attitude of the Turks towards, 285-286. Prisons, appointment of unpaid visitors for, 191. Probst, Friederich, 230-241, 299. Prussian municipal law, 15. Public aid, 188-191,305; number of idiots in New York state receiving, 84 ; of epileptics, 84 ; of blind, 84 ; of deaf and dumb, 84 ; of children, 84 ; to poorhouses in New York state, 85; to out-relief, 85; see Asylums, Poor- houses, Poor relief. Workhouses. and private charity, 89-97, 291. Health Act, London County Council, 177-188. institutions, private unofficial visitation of, 188-191, 305. relief, co-operation of private charity with, 95; relation of the Church to, 96 ; see Poor relief. References to literature of charity, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 38, 45, 46, 47, 50, 57. 63, 75. 82, 83, 151, 158, 243, 244, 246, 250, 253, 271, 275, 279, 281, 301. Reform, of charitable methods, England, 12; in electoral methods, 293; see Poor law. Reitzenstein, Baron von, 1-23, 291, 293. Relief, legal, 171 ; temporary, 292, 293, 295, 299, 300; to tramps, 102, 105, 112, 123; in Berlin, 261 ; in Vienna, 260, 262, 264; of able-bodied paupers, Vienna, 218, 219; see Btircaii de Bienfaisance, Indoor relief. Outdoor relief, Poor relief. Poor law. domicile, in Austria, 250, 251, 253; Germany, 242, 250. in kind, in Austria, 238 ; see Bureau de Bienfaisance, Whitechapel. in money, 294, 295. by work, 53, 150; in Austria, 239; France, 207-216, 305; Vienna, 213- 215; see Hospitalite par le Travail, Laundries, Maisoi Ilospitalicre, Workrooms, Woodyards, Wayfarers' Lodges. Retiungshaiis (home of the friendless), 266. Ricardo, David, 90. 3l6 . INDEX. Rich, 304. Ring, Thomas F., 1 17-123, 305. Robert, Charles, 208. Roberts, 301. Robin, Pastor, 208. Rosbaud, E., 213. Rowland, L. L. , 299, 300. Royal Commissions, London, 37, 154, 175 ; see London. Rumford, Count, 114. Saint Antoine, Sister, 209, 212. Sanborn, Frank B. , 80. Sanitary reform, London, 173, 175 ; see London County Council. ■ science, study of, 142 ; in England, 175. Saxony, decrease of poor relief in, 276. Schilde, model farm at, 206. Sellers, Edith, 216-224, 299. Settlement laws, Austria, 228-230, 232, 235-237, 244, 246-247, 268 ; Prussia, 228. , right of, see Austria, Vienna. Sexes, separation of the, 150 ; in New York state poorhouses, 66-68, 88. Shaftesbury, Lord, 37, 91. Sheriffs, system of feeing, 112, 113, 114, 115. Slums, in Chicago, 42 ; movement to destroy the, 39, 41 ; tramps from the, 304. Smith, Stephen, 75. , T. Guilford, 296. , Zilpha D., 294-295, 297-298. Social problem, 291, 304, 305. Science Conference, Saratoga, 33. Socialism, public poor relief a form of, 298 ; immigrants in favor of, 302. Soci^td d' Assistance de Batignolles-Monceau (relief society of, etc.), 211. d' Economie Charitable (society of philanthropic economics), Paris, 3. Sociology, study of, 57. Spence, Catherine H., 290-293. State, the, in relation to the poor, 171. boards of charities, of New York, attitude towards outdoor relief, 60 ; reports of, 60, 63, 64, 65, 71, 74, 75 ; efforts to secure immigration legis- lation, 62; asylums for feeble-minded women established by, 72; act to protect orphans, 80; authority of, over corporate charities, 84; of Ohio, 304 ; see Statistics of Wisconsin, 298. Charities Aid Association of New York, 82; report of, 188. Statistics ; see Tables. Bradfield Union, 156. Bureau de Bieiifaisance, 211. Chalmelle, agricultural colony at, 210. Charities, of Austria, 251, 252, 260, 261, 262, 267; Berlin, 270; Saxony, 276; Vienna, 256, 257, 259, 274, 275, 278 ; England and "Wales, 170; London, 170; Whitechapel, 164, 167, 16S, 169, 170, 261, 269. INDEX. 317 Statistics. — Cotitinued. Employment, free public offices in Ohio, 128-130. Home for women and children, temporary, Boston, 118. Hospitalite far le Travail, 209. Immigrants and immigration, 133-135, 136, 137-138, 302. Improving the Condition of the Poor, Association for. New York, 41. Maison Hospitalicre, 208. New York state, asylums for children, 81, 85 ; for insane, 78-79 ; cost of its institutions, 85,86; children supported by, 81-82 ; Board of Chari- ties, 64, 65 ; poorhouses, 59, 66 ; schools for the blind, 7 1 ; institutions, 70, 71. 83- Paupers, 62, 63, 64, 65. Society d^ Assistance de Batignolles-Monceau, 211. Tramps, 103-107. Unions d^ Assistance, 211-213. Unemployed, Germany, 271 ; Vienna, 271, 275. Sternegg, Inama, 279. Stewart, Wm. Rhinelander, 70. Storrs, Lucius C, 300. Sweating system, a result of pauper immigration, 302. Sweden, charity in, 19-20, 251 ; unemployed in, 271-272. Switzerland, charity in, 295; unemployed in, 271-272. Tables : Austria : expenditures for institutions, 251 ; for charity, 252. Berlin: expenditures for economic industries, 270. Bureau de Bienfaisance : expenditures for charity, 252, 261. Criminals and paupers, native and foreign-born, 134 ; immigration, 135; parentage of, 136. England and Wales : cost of outdoor relief, 170 ; expenditures for charities, 252; outdoor paupers relieved, 170; ratio of relief to population, 169. France : expenditures for charities, 252. Germany: expenditures for charities, 252. Italy: expenditures for charities, 252. London: cost of outdoor relief, 170; outdoor paupers relieved, 170; ratio of relief to population, 169. New York city, housing the poor in, 41. state: expenditures for charities and reformatories, 86; for institutions, 70, 71, 72, 84, 85. Ohio, free employment offices, 129-130. Vienna: poor relief, 282-283; poor relief system, 257; residence in, of paupers without settlement rights, 279. Whitechapel Union : comparative statement of pauperism, 1870-1893, 165; cost of outdoor relief, 170; indoor paupers relieved, 1870-1893, 170; outdoor paupers, 170; ratio of relief to population, 169. Tenement-houses for the poor, see Homes. 3l8 INDEX. Trained Nursing, Association for Promoting, London, 190. Tramps, 97-107, 109-117, 119-122, 303 ; in Boston, 119*; in Ohio, 303-304; as temporary inmates of poorhouses, 102, 105, 112, 123; of hospitals, 99, 105; intemperate, 106, no, 115; criminal, 106, no; in police stations, 110-112; employment for, 110-113,304; Jir^ Relief by work. Transit for the poor, cheap, London, 175-176. Tucker, William G., 34. Turkey, charity in, 284-289, 299; poor tax in, 286; pauperism in, 287 ; public poor relief in, 287 ; institutions, 288. Twining, Louisa, 188-191, 305. Type, racial, see Immigration. Unemployed, 215-216, 271-272; see France, Paupers, Relief by work. Union of charitable associations, Dresden, 281. of the committee for poor and sick relief, Mayence, 281. Uiiio7is d'' Assistance (relief unions), Paris, 209, 211, 212. United Hebrew Relief Society, report of, 42. States, charity in, 13-14. Universities, value of, in solving economic problems, 91. Vagrancy, 303; history of, loS ; in Gejmany, 114; England, 114; see Tramps. Vagrants, 157; treatment of, 150. Vakonfs (pious institutions), 288. Vallance, Wm., 158-172, 296, 299. Van Gfeert, Prosper, 198-206, 296, 297. Verein ge^en Verarmung und Bettelei (society for the prevention of pauper- ism and beggary), 262, 297. Versorgungsanstalten (homes), Austria, 251 ; see Vienna. Versorgungshiiuser (homes for aged paupers), Vienna, 222-223. Vienna, care of dependent children in, 218-219, 266, 267; relief of able-bodied paupers-, 219, 220; public institutions for paupers, 219; workhouses, 219, 220, 273, 275; care of aged paupers, 222, 223; hospitals, 223-224; cost of poor relief, 224; public poor relief, 233, 255, 281, 299; poor relief and its reform, 241-283; right of settlement in, 241, 248, 249, 255-256, 268, 279; poor laws, 248, 249, 253; settlement laws, 256; medical relief, 259, 267, 269, 277; temporary relief, 260, 262, 264; pen- sions, 263-266; domicile relief, 279 ; charity fund, 278-279 ; poor insur- ance, 276, 277; poor tax, 252-253, 280; unemployed in, 271-272, 276; employment bureau, 272, 273 ; house of correction, 276 ; poor police, 276, 277; see Tables. Visitors, see Friendly visitors. Visitation of public institutions, 188-191. Von Call, Baron, 246. Wages of weavers in Austria, 226. Wagner, A., 282. I INDEX. 319 Walk, James W., 295. Walker, Francis A., 40, 57, 154. Wardner, Louisa R., 301. Wards of society, 95. Waterlow, Sir Sydney, 37, 38. Wayfarers' Lodges, 26; in Boston, 26, 1 19-123; Berlin, 270; Vienna, 273. Wayland, Francis, 46. Weber, John B., 131-140, 305. Werkhaiis, Vienna, 273-275. White, Alfred T., 34, 38, 53, 54, 56- Arnold, 191-197, 302. Whitechapel Union, 161 ; outdoor relief in, 161, 162, 163, 168 ; indoor relief, 162, 163 ; cost of relief in kind, 163 ; children boarded-out by, 164-167 ; effects of poor law administration in, 161, 166; cases referred to charity organization society by, 167 ; homeless in workhouse in, 169-170; sum- mary of work, 171-172; see Statistics, Tables. Wilcox, Ansley, 290, 291, 295, 296, 297. Willard Asylum for Insane, 73, 74, 75, 78, Wilson, Anna T., 82. Wines, Frederick H., 290. Wisconsin, system for treatment of the insane, 77 ; laws against tramps in, no; treatment of tramps in, 113, 115; Jtv State boards of charities. Woodyards, 1 19-123; in Brooklyn, 53; j^^ Relief by work. Work test applied to pauperism; 150; test in poorhouses, 298, 301 ; see Relief by work, Wayfarers' Lodges, Workhouses. Workhouse test, 153-154. Girls' Aid Committees, London, 190. Visiting Society, London, 189, 191, Workhouses, 13 ; in England, 12; Austria, 220; Vienna, 219, 220, 273-275; need of private unofficial visitation of, 188-189 ; sending tramps to state, 115, 116; see Whitechapel. Workrooms, 53. Wright, A. O., 108-117, 146-151, 298-299, 3C0, 301, 303. Zekat (public poor tax), 286. Zwangarbeithaus (compulsory labor colony), Vienna, 219-220, 221. i i university: uf galifornu AT LOS ANGELES T Tr»n A T%tr \ ► c^ URL UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORTslA, Lus mxox-x,^^ THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below tECTD ED^UEk W0V19191 form L-9 i;5m-2,M3(r,205) UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 390 297 €1 i t ■ \ \