appear, it has been deemed wise and proper to establish a system of organized benevolence for the purpose of providing relief for the necessities and suffering with which it is accompanied.

All will admit that, in dispensing charity, no little caution is to be observed, and care must be taken that we do not stimulate the growth of the evil by the mode adopted in administering to it; to give charity indiscriminately, undoubtedly tends to multiply paupers. Any charity is vicious that is not systematic and discriminating, because it tends to keep up an idle and demoralizing class to prey upon the public, and defeats all efforts to compel those who are able to support themselves. There is in every community, especially in times of depression in business, a class of needy persons, who are in danger of becoming permanent paupers ; the great problem is how to relieve their present necessities, without producing this result. As a rule, the persons seeking this aid are of rather a low moral and intellectual type, and if temporary aid is furnished them, there is a tendency to seek it again and again, when the necessity is less stringent, and thus the road to chronic pauperism is easy and short.

It is the universal statement of officers having charge of relief funds, that in dispensing them, they have constantly to contend against every manner of deception and imposition. Persons with some means, others fully able to earn a living for themselves, as well as those having near relatives who are fully able to support them, and who ought to do it, in repeated instances, are applicants for this aid.

Mr. Fawcett, a member of Parliament, wrote a book on pauperism, now about six years old. As its arguments and facts have not materially changed, they are still active as the substance of living debate. The force of his showing is two-fold: First, that a poor people may have little of pauperism; second, that pauperism is a production of artificial conditions, rather than an inevitable necessity. In England, the average per capita income is £23, or $115; in Scotland, the income per head is £13, or $65; in Ireland, the average is only £5, or $25. But when we come to pauperism, the relief appears to be in pretty exact proportion to the wealth. For example, in England there is one pauper to each twenty of the population; in Scotland, one in about fifty-three; in Ireland, one in each seventy-four.

There are various collateral questions. In England, outdoor

relief is equal to every one in eight. In Ireland, it is less than every one in five. The situation is believed really to be this: That in England outdoor relief is more readily obtainable than in Ireland. The "ould counthree" sends its paupers with less reluctance to the workhouse. As the almshouse is an odious place, relatives and friends exert themselves to keep their connections off the rates. The facility of getting help is a productive cause of pauperism. While England has capacity estimated at more than four times that of Ireland, it has to meet a burden of dependency nearly five times as great as Ireland, — estimated by the average incomes. This showing leads to the conclusion that pauperism is a matter of legal provision for encouraging it, rather than a matter of growing necessity. Where the means are smallest, and the relief most difficult, pauperism is small; where ability is greatest, and facilities most accessible, pauperism is most burdensome in numbers and degree. In other words, pauperism increases in proportion to the means provided for its extirpation or relief. probably true, and American statistics would reinforce it.

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It therefore becomes a very important question, whether something cannot be done in the way of aiding this class of persons to help themselves, so that they can earn what they need. To those who can work and will not, no aid should be given; to those who can work and will, aid could be rendered in this way without impairing their self-respect, or training them for future pauperism.

Undoubtedly, such an administration of the poor fund would require benevolence, wisdom and administrative ability on the part of the officers having it in charge. But cannot such service be obtained? There are doubtless practical difficulties to be overcome, for this reason it is proper to submit the subject to practical men, such as compose this Conference.

These general observations respecting the errors and abuses which have occurred in the systems upon which public charity is dispensed, are fully confirmed by the statistics of pauperism, not only in the State of Pennsylvania, but of other States. A reference to a few of these will be sufficient for my present purpose. According to the report of our State board in 1876, it is shown that of the 12,730 admissions into the 58 poorhouses of the State during that year, 5,251, or 42 per cent. of the whole number, were able-bodied; children over sixteen years of age being included. Nearly one-half were moderate drinkers and intemperate; only 1,241

were abstinents; 1,996 were children who remained residents; the whole number of children admitted during the year having been 3,311. The characteristics of the almshouse population in the institutions just referred to, for 1877, 1878 and 1879, are similar to those just stated. Apart from these classes, we must not omit to include the large class of vagrants whose whole lives are spent in gaining a livelihood from organized institutions or private individuals, without being willing to render an equivalent in labor. It is difficult to estimate the actual number of vagrants in the single State of Pennsylvania, but after making due allowance for the repeated appearance of the same individual, it is safe to set it down at from 40,000 to 60,000. It is estimated at 80,000 to 100,000.

From returns made to the Board of Public Charities, it is shown that, in 1875, 87,139 of this class were relieved in almshouses, and 11,900 by outdoor relief. 99,048 lodgings were provided for 94,855 persons; 200,758 meals were supplied. A very large increase occurred in 1876. 148,390 were relieved in that year— 296,144 meals were furnished the percentage of increase being 47.51 per cent. In 1877 the number relieved was 127,243, which is 10,458 or 3.46 per cent. less than the previous year. In 1878 the total number relieved was 109,342, being a reduction of 17,901 or 14.07 per cent. on the number of 1877.

The foregoing statements do not include the lodgers in stationhouses of the cities, of whom no returns have been received, or vagrants relieved under the township system or by individuals. It is obvious, from these statements, that our pauper system will be fearfully extended unless it is more carefully guarded.

The expense incurred to maintain these itinerant beggars is complained of as a grievous burden. The reports of county commissioners, in many counties, show that fully one-third of the expenditures of the poorhouses is made up of the two items of outdoor relief and the cost of food and clothing given to vagrants, and but a small part of the annoyance and expense of vagrancy is represented by the reports of almshouses and jails.

I might enlarge upon the relation or supposed relation existing between immigration and pauperism, and upon the expediency of some action to limit the extent to which life dependents, from many cities and towns in Europe, become permanent inmates of our charitable institutions; but subscribing fully, as I do, that both public and private benevolence should be dispensed without restric

tions on account of creed, nationality or color, I refrain to do so, but not without an expression of my utter hostility to the practice, so largely indulged in, of sending the blind, crippled, lunatic and other infirm and disabled paupers, by cities and towns, from different governments of Europe, to the United States. To resort to this mode of relief, from the burden of supporting these helpless classes by those whose duty it is to provide for them, must be condemned, not only as a cruel disregard of the claims of humanity, but an atrocious wrong upon the citizens of this country, who, immediately upon their arrival on our shores, are compelled to supply them with permanent shelter and subsistence.

A prompt remedy for this enormous evil should be provided by the Congress of the Nation.

No one who turns his attention to these and other statistical statements can fail to notice how largely pauperism and crime are traced to causes which may be controlled or removed. The vices and disorders of society, idleness, ignorance and intemperance, bring down their victims in constantly increasing numbers to certain misery and ruin. Intemperance, under proper moral training and suitable legislative enactments, may be prevented, universal education may enlighten the ignorant, home influences may reclaim the prodigal wanderer, employment may be provided for the able-bodied, and the public school system will not have achieved a perfect work until it includes within its benefits the large number of friendless and destitute children who find their way into our county almshouses, prisons and reformatories, or who live in the streets without guardianship or supervision, and without employment except such as they may choose or chance to pick up for themselves.

But in view of the facts which I endeavored to bring to your notice, it is obvious that no inconsiderable increase of the pauper classes occur from defective institutional management. Errors of this kind may be corrected and better methods substituted.

The conclusions to which I have been conducted by a survey of the whole field, may be summarized as follows:

CAUSES AND REMEDIES FOR PAUPERISM.

1. The present systems of management pursued in almshouses, and some other charitable institutions, in some particulars, are defective, and tend to increase the number of life dependents.

2. Any charity that is not systematic and discriminating, is vicious, because it keeps up an idle and demoralizing class, and defeats all efforts to compel those who are able to support themselves.

3. Many such persons are admitted into, and become permanent inmates of, almshouses, upon orders obtained from the poordirectors, which is a flagrant wrong to the tax-payers and to the worthy poor for whose benefit these institutions are established.

4. In order to prevent the evils arising from the association of dependent children with adult paupers, and the increase of pauperism which results from their admission into almshouses, suitable provision should be made for their care and training in homes for friendless and destitute children, which are now in operation, or in others to be established for the purpose; to be conducted and supported by private agencies, with aid, encouragement and coöperation from the State and counties, and to be subject to the supervision of the department of public instruction. The object of these schools is to consist in training children mentally and morally for good citizenship, where lessons of learning and of industry are to fit them to become producers instead of consumers, merely; to make them honest, law-abiding citizens instead of pests to society. It will be an effort in the way of prevention instead of cure,- -an attempt to dry up some of the sources of the stream of pauperism and crime. The practice of receiving parents with children into poorhouses has been a prolific source of pauperism, and should be strictly forbidden.

5. As outdoor relief should not be granted (except for cases of sudden and pressing necessity) without careful investigation into the circumstances and character of the applicant, we recommend that it be withheld, unless its continuance (after being granted) is sanctioned by a majority of the board of directors. It is believed that much abuse is practiced in appropriating this fund by the separate action of directors, and that large numbers of persons, naturally idle and improvident, have been trained and educated for the poorhouse by outdoor relief carelessly and prodigally administered.

6. We recommend more care in classifying the inmates. The examinations of State boards show that pauperism has been increased by defective systems of management. "The old and the young, the chronic cases of pauperism, and those who in