hence has the number of beggars who infest our streets been actually dibus 8159112 901 III M1909]) AHW 378090 01 36 41690 10 2ɔutiumglo doubled, or probably trebled; and this result has taken place at a time when some theorists have deluded themselves with HOLL BET9000 200loven 30 0droom com nomor gift of biogene 219161 the idea that our new experiment was to free us from, or at least greatly

bnuc2, 91 LUIZ DOHEST 04 912 297URIST MUHATUGOT 301 TO 2169 59

diminish the number of, street-beggars, whereas they are now so nume20lords 97819 91 12105 39 20dot voir en casuumom vam to rous as to have become a most intolerable annoyance to our citizens, whose doors are beset with them at all hours of the day.

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to pass an act authorising the guardians of the 295ig 19040 708 3200at

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24 upadlo and to conquistar qe biovg of spit Resolved, therefore, That it be earnestly recommended to the Legislature of this State to repeal the prohibiting clause of the poor-law, and uardians of the poor to administer outdoor relief, under such regulations and restrictions in regard to amount and quality as they shall judge proper, t females suffering all the horrors of poverty from the inadequacy of their wages, and a PRINTS also to the infirm, the stud the geprived and superannuated, in imitation of the liberal, beneficial, charitable, and Christian principle adopted in Great Britain, (on the fullest cousideration of the subject by some of the wisest and best of the people of that country,) as stated by the Commissioners of the Poorlaw, in their last report, dated July, 1837."

learn that the

From this meeting, then, we prodani zim bus any into United States are much more cruel and

66

22ploran, oa ar Tabgor poor-laws of the oppressive than are those of bota bili dira hotbard,to England, that the charitably disposed desire no more for those who ALU STERS,to. Dis you are suffering all the horrors of poverty, from inadequacy of their wages, bus fortrin for gading si: to batur gary aut admed than that such sufferers may be put on the same footing as the poor of of England. And they petitioned to their legislature and prayed that their 76) 1910 70s vd cruel poor-law might be modified and made to imitate that which, when in comparison with their own, they considered liberal, beneficial, charitable, and Christian-like. ruudal lo digo adt po siqishslid¶ ni blad And the said president, Mr. Carey, who has been a well-known resident of that city, I should think, more than forty years, says, on another occasion, that, Having for two years laboured in vain to excite the public attention to the mass of human wretchedness and edness and misery resulting from the cruel rejection of relief to out-door poor, of whom by far the most respectable are thus precluded from all participation in the funds raised for the support of the poor, I am induced to obtrude my sentiments on the public in my own proper name, 0 to 06,0k ovipt of horu voitt The recent English poor-law displays a degree of humanity and prudence worthy of imitation everywhere. Its system, if adopted here, would rescue hundreds of deserving individuals from extreme distress and suffering, and probably from perishing of cold and hunger. The 099 bight reader's attention is solicited to its great leading feature, it to boziqoh The following is the important clause referred 10

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We take this opportunity to state, that, in endeavouring to give effect to the intentions of the Legislature, we have, on all occasions, had

especial regard to the cases of the aged and infirm. We have, as respects the whole class, considered that they are the last who should be subjected to any serious inconvenience by the change. Our orders for the discontinuance of out-door poor relief relate mainly to the able-bodied, persons above sixty years of age being specially exempted from the operation of the rule.'-Third Annual Report of the Poor-law Commissioners of England and Wales. July, 1837, page 58. "No Pennsylvanian can compare the humanity, the kindness, and tenderness that dictated this feature of the English system, with the want of feeling and cruelty that dictated ours, without blushing crimson red.

,

"In the year 1835, on the completion of the Almshouse, all the outdoor poor were cut off from relief, except in the Almshouse. Thus all those whose laudable pride-a pride, the best security of virtue revolted at the idea of an almshouse, were at one stroke devoted to starvation or beggary; and, according to a statement by the guardians, none of them did go into the almshouse. No exception was made in favour of age, sex, or condition, former standing, or respectability of character: no regard was paid to any of those humane and benignant considerations by which the English Poor-law Commissioners were so laudably influenced.

"If anything could add to the regret and astonishment at this procedure, it would be three strong facts:-1st. That the average of the whole number was only 432 cents per week; 2d. That two-fifths were females, pauperized by the manner in which they were and are ground to the earth by wages inadequate to support human nature; and the third and last, perhaps the worst, was that, of the whole number, 549, 390 were above 60 years of age, 236 beyond 70, 75 beyond 80, 15 beyond 90, and 6 beyond 100!!! Such are the human beings who, to economize 46 cents per week, i. e. cheese-parings, were cut off from out-door relief, and devoted to beggary or starvation. "M. CAREY."

Every precaution is taken to hide these things. To hold them up uncovered to the world requires nerve that few among them possess and this Mr. Carey, when stating the "horrible fact, that twelve human beings perished of cold and hunger in about two months, in that flourishing city, priding itself on the benevolence of its citizens and its numerous charitable institutions!" observes, "I well know that those who are fastidiously sensitive about the character of our city will denounce me for stating these astounding facts. Be it so I ask, how are such crying evils to be remedied if they be studiously concealed from the public? They ought, au contraire, to be trumpeted to the four winds of heaven, to arouse our citizens to a sense of their enormity. • xew "He must have the heart of a Herod or a Shylock who, after reading

shich hideous details, which might be extended to a large volume, declaims against benevolent societies, and against relieving the poor.

What think you of this picture? This is not what you have been in the habit of hearing from those who lecture you on the beauties of American democracy, and who must be either deceived themselves, or interested in deceiving you. I wish you to consider that they never furnish you with facts; they merely declaim; and, while talking to you of the blessing of freedom in America, they know nothing of these things any more than you know, whom they pretend to instruct.

Every winter, of late years, the state of things has been such in the "land of liberty" that the poor frequently perish for want of the necessaries of life; and the rich find it expedient to form " Benevolent Associations," and to establish soup-shops, where thousands are supplied daily with just enough to keep them alive. The poor-rates and the workhouses, enormously large as they are, are found quite inadequate. I know one gentleman in Philadelphia who has supplied sixty persons a-day, during the winter-season, with soup at his own expense; and last year I took from The Herald and Sentinel, of Philadelphia, the following account of similar things in New York:

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aseng sint de DISTRESS FOR WANT OF EMPLOYMENT.

A correspondent of the New York Times, as an exemplification of the condition of the labouring classes of that city during the past winter, mentions that he was one who took part in contributing towards the relief of the distressed, and states that 2515 tickets, for the relief of 9627 persons, were issued in a single ward (and that ward in the lower part of the city, where there is much less general poverty than in the upper) from the 1st day of January to the 10th day of March, and the demand is not yet materially abated. 'I never desire,' says the writer, "again to witness such scenes as fell under my observation. Thousands of industrious mechanics, who never before solicited alms, were brought to the humiliating condition of applying for assistance, and, with tears on their manly cheeks, confessed their inability to provide food or clothing for their families.” oldinod

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JeĮ) have ten times more evidence than is sufficient to satisfy the world of the wretched state of those in the United States who depend on their labour for a living." A little more of this evidence I intend to give you, without further comment, by way of an Appendix, and shall now haste to other matters, which, before I take my leave, I am desirous to inform you of flute, ef yadi 9 folkamer 90 of 217

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There was a time when, in the United States, the working emigrant was much sought after, when he was well paid for his services, and when, to secure those services, he was respectfully treated; "but that

has gone by, and, as Dr. Ely remarks, on the working men generally, they are now treated worse than slaves. As to the emigrant, if he be poor, he is treated with the utmost contempt, and sometimes with a cruelty that the most uncivilized nation could not exceed. The following is an instance of the way he is met when he lands in the United States :

AN ORDINANCE.

To prevent the landing or otherwise introducing alien paupers and vagrants within the limits of the city of Newark.

"Be it ordained, by the Common Council of the city of Newark-"Section 1. That it shall not be lawful for any master, owner, or agent, of any steam-boat, ship, vessel, or boat, whatever, or any stage, car, or other land-carriage or vehicle, to land or permit to be landed or put down from any such steam-boat, ship, or other vessel, stage, car, or other vehicle, any alien pauper, vagrant, sick, infirm, or insane person, or such other alien that may appear to have no visible means of support, or that cannot make it appear that he or she is entitled to a residence in our city, without first giving to the city authorities a bond in the sum of three hundred dollars, with good and sufficient surety, that no such passenger shall become a city charge for the term of one year from the date of said bond, under the penalty of fifty dollars for each and every passenger as aforesaid, so landed or put down within the city limits.

"Section 2. That it shall be the duty of the police magistrates of the city, the overseers of the poor, and the city constables, to take the proper steps to carry into effect the provisions of this ordinance.

"Section 3. That if any vagrant, sturdy beggar, or person without the visible means of support, and not entitled to a residence according to law, be found within the city limits, it shall be the duty of the overseers of the poor or the police constables to take such persons before some magistrate of the city for examination, and, if found on examination not to be entitled to a residence in the city, it shall be the duty of the magistrate to commit such person to the city workhouse (if such there be), or he may direct them, at his option, to be placed beyond the city limits.

"Section 4. That printed copies of this ordinance be posted up at the different landing-places on the river, and at the different depôts, stopping-places, and bridges within the city limits.

"Passed June 30th, 1837.

July 4th, 1837.

"JOSEPH N. TUTTLE, Clerk C. C.

"Presented and approved,

"THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mayor. "JAMES DAWES, Recorder."

There are in this Ordinance two provisions for the reception of the poor stranger, either of which makes one blush for our colour when we

compare them with the manner in which the red savages of the forest received and welcomed to their country the first white emigrants; but the last clause of the 3rd section of this Ordinance, when we consider that a man so landing has no right to any one place more than another, is a thousand times more cruel than if they had decreed that he should be shot at first sight, and had offered a reward for his head. So savage and barbarous indeed is it, that you will think it impossible for a civilized people ever to have put it in force; and, to convince you that such Ordinance is carried out to the very letter, it will be necessary to give you an instance, which, from the New York Courier and Enquirer, you have in the following words :

"The Providence papers contain the details of a piece of savageism that would disgrace the most ferocious corner of the remotest portion of the 'far West.' Vicksburg may very justly be abused for the atrocities there committed, and St. Louis is entitled to take precedence even of Vicksburg, but in neither of those places could such a scene have occurred as the one in Rhode Island. The town of Foster, Providence county, R. I., had better hereafter say very little of backwoods barbarity. It seems that an individual named Potter was found sick in a barn of Dr. Carpenter in that town, and a son of that individual immediately made application to the Town Council, then in session, to afford him shelter and relief, it being believed that he had the small-pox. The high functionaries composing that body only remarked that the sufferer did not belong to their town, and the president, after a good deal of importunity, gave it as his opinion that it was best to take the poor creature within three feet of Scituate (the adjoining town) and shove him over!' He was afterwards conveyed to a spot near the House of one Howard, a member of the Town, Council, and an overseer of the poor, who closed his door against him, and directed him to be left in the highway, where he was deposited upon a pile of shavings by the road-side, and where he remained until after noon. He was then removed to an uninhabited house in the fields, where he was left entirely alone until midnight, and, on being visited, he was found hanging about the well-sweep, though the night was rainy, incited, no doubt, by the agony of an intolerable thirst, and very soon after died! A case of more wanton cruelty than this has never presented itself to our knowledge; and we have no hesitation in saying to the individual who parades it before the public, as though He had done something honourable in the part he had taken in the transaction, that we do not look upon his own conduct as very much better than that of those he reprehends so sentimentally. grossly disgraceful to all parties."

The affair is

You see the poor man who emigrates to the United States will greatly deceive himself if he expects to sleep on a bed of roses. There are no

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