10,000 persons each year who receive what is called "outdoor relief." These are entirely outside of and independent of any public institution. They appear to be casual and temporary; but there will be just as many next year. Thus this temporary relief or casual pauperism becomes in fact permanent and an increasing charge upon the community. This kind of pauperism is largely due to the want of employment, and especially among the ignorant classes-and among these more largely among women. It exists especially during the winter months. Here arises the question, which, if not practical to-day, will certainly become so in a few years: Is not society bound by moral and by prudential considerations to prevent this kind of pauperism? You may say, How? Natural infirmities, diseases, and calamities, we are bound to provide for in the best way we can, and it may be admitted that they will always exist and be unavoidable. But these do not make up the great body of paupers, and we may affirm positively that the great body of pauperism is avoidable, preventable. How? We see that what we have called "imbecility" and misfortune are due to three main causes: 1. Ignorance. 2. Intemperance. 3. Want of employment. To a very great extent all of these causes may be prevented; ignorance certainly may be prevented; the temptations to intemperance may be prevented; and society can and ought to furnish employment to those who can not get it. In Europe it is understood and admitted that on the question of employment depends mainly the question of pauperism, considered as a general disease. At present Great Britain is very prosperous; and we are told, in recent accounts, that paupers in Great Britain are 100,000 fewer in 1872 than in 1871. This is because all industries are active and prosperous. Several years since appeared a work entitled "Pauperism," by the Viscount de Bargemont. He had been prefect in several provinces of France, and was familiar with the subject. He informed the government of Louis Philippe that there were so many thousands of people out of employment in the province of Lisle; and as that was general, if the government would not employ the people there would be a revolution, and there was. The government of Louis Philippe was overthrown. In Europe this question is now well understood, but Europe is far behind this country in another form of this subject, education. The greater part, nearly the whole, of the paupers of Europe are totally ignorant, and clearly that ignorance was one great cause why they could not find employment. When a man has nothing but his arms and legs to offer for service, with a mind almost totally blank, there is very little for him to do. He can not enter upon any of the new employments which society is constantly creating, and the result is that when clear naked labor fails, he fails also. This form of pauperism has not yet very largely affected our country; but it certainly will, unless the laborers of this country shall be educated up to the point at which they shall be able to enter, at least as laborers, upon all the new channels of employment. It is this question of education, as a prevention of pauperism, which concerns us here. Society has made and always will make ample provision for all those who are naturally disabled. Asylums for every species of infirmity are rising on all sides; but that sort of imbecility which arises froni a total want of knowledge, or of discipline of mind, has no asylum but the almshouse. And there it reacts upon society in two ways-one by imposing upon society the necessity of supporting it, and the other by withdrawing so many persons and so much labor which might have been available both to subsistence and the increase of wealth. These general views of pauperism are obviously true. Let us now see if specific facts do not correspond with and prove the general principles. 1. Let us first take up the statistics of Europe, as far as we can get them. We can not bring down the statistics to the present date; but, as the value of such facts depends only upon the proportions between the paupers, population, and education, they can be shown by any recent tables. We will first look at pauperism in Great Britain. Its condition in 1859 was thus: Estimated population of England and Wales in 1859...... Whole number of paupers. Per cent. of paupers.. Of these in union poor-houses. Of these, outdoor poor... Of these in hospitals, dispensaries, &c... In the city of London in 1859.. Population of London.... Per cent. of paupers to population ...... 19,578, 000 902, 052 4.6 107,050 692, 384 102, 618 106, 140 2,362, 236 4.7 The condition in 1867 was: Estimated population of England and Wales Whole number of paupers.. Per cent. of paupers to population 21, 320, 000 931, 546 4.4 In the eight years from 1859 to 1867 there was little variation in the proportion of paupers to population. Pauperism seems to exist in Great Britain as a permanent disease of society, which includes and occupies (including all officers and attendants) just about 5 per cent. of the whole population. If we take with the general fact another one, what is the proportion of people educated in even reading and writing-the commonest of education-we should be able to draw some proportion as between Great Britain and other countries. But, in fact, the enlightened government of England does not exhibit such statistics, except in partial fractions. All that we have are— In 1867 the number of inspected schools was. 9,340 1,837,307 The population of the United Kingdom was then nearly 30,000,000. But there were also great numbers of church schools, high schools, colleges, universities, &c., so that from these statements we can not get an accurate idea of the education of Great Britain; but we get enough of facts to see that it is very defective; in fact it can not possibly reach more than half the people. But the following paragraph from the statistics of the "Edinburgh Almanac " for 1869 sums up all the facts we can get there on the subject: "But according to the estimate of the assistant commissioners, the 70 schools from which returns were obtained supply instruction to more than two-thirds of the middle class of population of the country. If this estimate be correct, there is 1 in every 140 of the population in Scotland on the roll of some secondary school; and there is 1 in every 205 of the popula tion in public secondary schools. In the universities and colleges there were 1 in 1,000." But these were all of the secondary and higher class, and do not include the primary schools, which ought to have the great body of pupils. The report of 1851, which is sufficiently near to determine ratios, gives the following facts: Number of pupils attending public schools of all kinds.. Number attending private schools.... Total 280, 045 88,472 368, 517 Proportion to population, 1 to 7.84. In round numbers, Scotland, the best educated country in Europe, has in school 1 to 8, The State of Ohio has at any one time as many as 1 to 33 of the people in course of education. The proportion of popular education in Ohio to that of Scotland is more than 2 to 1. At the same period (1851) there were in England In day-schools.. Population..... This gives a ratio to population of 1 in 8. 2, 144, 378 16, 921, 888 It is slightly less, but we may suppose the ratio will be fully made out by the higher schools. The result of these statistics is, that in 1851 the number of youth, in the schools of Great Britain did not exeed half of those who ought to have been in school. Let us now, while we have these figures, compare them with similar results for Ohio. In his report for 1871, the secretary of state of Ohio returned 5,600 paupers-that is, "indoor" poor in Ohio; sometimes there were in round numbers 10,000 "outdoor" poor in Cincinnati; and there were in Cleveland, Toledo, and other large towns, nearly or quite 4,000 "outdoor" poor. The aggregate of these is 20,000 of the same class of paupers which are returned in Great Britain. Then we have these general results: Population of England and Wales in 1851.. In school... Number of paupers. Per cent. of paupers. Population of Ohio in 1870. In school.... Per cent. of paupers. 17,927, 609 1 in 8 902, 052 4.6 2, 665,000 1 in 3.5 .7 With double the proportion of education, the proportion of paupers in Ohio is only one-sixth of that in England and Wales. If, then, all other conditions were the same, the conclusion is inevitable that universal education had reduced pauperism to onetwelfth. But, undoubtedly, this is an exaggerated view of the subject, because the conditions are not the same. This is a new country, with political institutions adapted to develop the faculties of, and furnish employment to, the people. There is, however, an important view in which the conditions are nearer than might be supposed. Ohio has just one-third of its population in cities and large towns; and England has little, if any, larger proportions, but it is the condition of these large towns which creates the great body of paupers. Hence the inequality of conditions is not so great as might be supposed. After allowing for all these inequalities, it is evident that the defect of education has had a great deal to do with the pauperism of England. Let us now look at France. The returns of 1851 will show the proportion, viz: 35,781, 628 982, 516 2.78 This was the number aided among the healthy poor, but does not include the large mass of the sick and infirm poor, which make the full half of all paupers, in the infirmaries of the United States. We must, therefore, add them in. The statistics of these were: Total number of hospitals and asylums in France in 1852. But this number was quadrupled by the discharge of the recovered and the entry of others. A greater part of these we have. In 1,035 of these institutions there were in 1853 as follows: Making a proportion for the remaining institutions, we have at least 560,000 of the sick and infirm poor. Adding these to the healthy poor supported, we haveTotal number of paupers.. Proportion to population.. 1,542, 516 1 in 23 When we come to the ultimate, we find there is very little difference between the proportion of pauperism in England and France, but there is an immense difference between the proportion of pauperism there and in the United States. In the city of Paris the proportions were The proportion of pauperism in Paris is nearly double that in France generally, and that in the whole of France is double that in the State of Ohio. We may stop here for a moment to compare these proportions with those of Massachusetts. Here all conditions, except those of education, are nearly the same. Massachusetts has a civic (that is town) population equal to that of France; and a very large share of foreign emigrants. The comparison between France and Massachusetts is therefore quite fair. Population of Massachusetts in 1852.... Whole number of paupers in the State Proportion of paupers to population.... Percentage of paupers 1,040, 000 31,400 1 in 35 3.5 Here we have a direct and fair comparison of the results in Europe compared with those of the United States, under nearly the same conditions: Now, the difference is not so great as many might expect, but all that difference is due to education. Return again to Ohio: ....... Proportion of paupers to population... 1 in 35 .7 Ohio is a fair representative State of this country. One-third of its population is in large towns-a proportion not exceeded by more than three or four States in the whole country. Three-fourths of all the States have a less proportion of paupers than Ohio. But, in order to put the case in the fairest possible attitude for Europe, let us combine the proportion of Massachusetts and Ohio together. The result will be this: Population of Massachusetts and Ohio in 1852 Number of paupers.. Proportion of paupers Per cent. of paupers 3,030,000 50,000 1 in 61 .1.70 The proportion of paupers in France is more than double, and, as the civic popula tion is as large, and the number of foreign immigrants of the poor classes very great, the comparison is a fair one; and the difference in the proportion of pauperism is undoubtedly due to education. 2. Let us now look at the statistics of the United States, and see if we can ascertain whether ignorance has caused pauperim. In the table at the end of this report we have given the results which we have obtained by hundreds of inquiries addressed to the infirmaries and charitable institutions of the country, but which were not answered in more than one case out of three. There are still answers enough to give us a definite view of this subject and establish certain proportions which would not be varied materially by more extended observations; and here we remark that full and accurate statistics would enable us to establish definitely the principles or social influences by which "pauperism," that is, dependent poverty, is evolved from society. We see arising in our country, in a smaller degree, but with equal regularity and certainty, the same kind of pauperism which is one distinguishing mark of society in Europe. We are apt to think that England and France are the most civilized countries in the world; at least they are those from which we take our ideas of what is called "civilization." But what do we find in this civilization! Why, that in 1869, there were in England and France together 2,600,000 paupers out of a population of 65,000,000! That is, 1 in 25 of the people is dependent upon public support. This is startling. It is enough to make any humane man-more, any Christian, and still more, any Christian statesman-pause and inquire whether this is really the necessary result of Christian civilization. But these are the countries to which we have looked for the highest standard of civilization. Here we inquire again, Must our country follow this kind of civilization? Is there no remedy for this tremendous evil? At least, is there not a partial remedy, so that we may keep our country from advancing further in the scale of pauper civilization? Let us now return to the results of our own tables: The proportion of foreign-born to native... 40 to 60 The proportion of those who can read only to those who can neither read nor write is.. 52 to 48 If we add those who can read only to those who can do neither, which we should do, as it is well known that those who can read only are almost absolutely ignorant, we shall have this result: Those who have some education to those who have none.. To compare these proportions with the proportions of these classes in the several States we have these results, derived from the census of the illiterates in the census of 1870: Adult illiterates in New England States to their total population..... 4.6 per cent. 4.9 per cent. 4.8 per cent. This proportion is for the whole population, and not for adults only; in the latter the proportion of illiterates would be much greater. We may assume 4.5 per cent, as the proportion of the illiterates in the Northern, Middle, and Western States, excluding the South, or former slave States. We have, then: Totally ignorant among paupers.. Totally ignorant among the whole people... 60 per cent. 4.5 per cent. Let us take a given number of people, say a million of persons, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, States not inferior to any in popular education. The result will be (on the average) very nearly this: In other words, the proportion of paupers among the illiterates is sixteen times as great as among those of common education. The results demonstrate what reason should infer from the facts. The want of education is the lack of faculties and talents to acquire employments and to work profitably in them; and this is one of the great causes of pauperism. Let us now look to the proportion of foreign-born to native; for this is involved in an inquiry into the relations of ignorance to pauperism. Á great many of the foreign-born who come to this country come very ignorant and also very poor, so that they are in a condition to recruit the ranks of pauperism largely, unless they are able to get into agricultural employments, which only a small portion does. The result is evident in the pauperism of large cities. If the infirmaries, hospitals, and asylums of New York, Cincinnati, Saint Louis, and other cities be examined, it will be seen that by far the larger proportion of paupers is in the large towns, and that the larger part of them is foreign-born. Taking the proportions above given, let us examine their relation to the whole population. In the whole United States the proportion is about 12 per cent., but in the South it is much less. In the States from which our tables are taken an average of 16 per cent. is quite enough. We have, then, for a given population, the following results: Population. Paupers. Foreign-born. Foreign-born paupers, (39 per cent.,). Of all foreign-born, there are paupers 2 per cent. Of the whole population, there are paupers 8 per cent. 1,000,000 8, C00 160,000 3, 120 In other words, the pro portion of foreign-born paupers is three times as great as the proportion of natives. The proportion of native paupers is as follows: Native population, deducting foreign-born, as above Native paupers, as above Proportion to whole population Proportion of foreign to native paupers.. 840,000 4,820 5 per cent. 4 to 1 The number of colored paupers is not large, (except in the South,) and there is no evidence that they are more inclined to pauperism than the whites. The returns from several of the almshouses and infirmaries show that there is a large share of intemperance; but, as we have remarked in relation to crimes, intemperance is often the consequence as well as the cause of crime and pauperism. It is one of the common sayings of intemperate men, as well as their friends, that "He was unfortunate, and then got to drinking." We must go farther than we have yet been able to do into the origin of cases of pauperism before we can safely pronounce how far intemperance has caused it. We now know that the largest element of character which accompanies pauperism is ignorance. The proportions above given are enormous, and should arouse those who seek a broad, popular education to greater zeal and energy. Although the effect of ignorance in producing crime is very great, yet its effect in producing pauperism is greater. If, then, society has to pay so heavily for keeping a part of its people in ignorance, would it not be wise and prudent to educate them The State commissioners of public charities in Illinois report the case so clearly and strongly that we make the following extracts from their report for 1871: "Ninth. The tendency of education to prevent pauperism is more apparent than its tendency to prevent crime. Estimating the pauper children at one-tenth of the whole number, and leaving them out of calculation, 40 per cent. of the inmates of the almshouses could not write, and 25 per cent. could not even read. |