Mathew Carey

“ I think there is as little justice as humanity, in censuring our charitable establishments. I do not believe they augment the number of the poor. Paupers come here to avail themselves of the benevolence of our citizens; but if these charities did not exist, the metropolis would still be the natural resort in the winter, of all the destitute who could reach it. Instead of relieving them through the instrumentality of societies, we should meet them in the street, and could not resist their appeals to our individual charity. ”

“ Have I not produced a superabundance of proofs, that for 190 years the operation of the poor-laws in England was beneficent and salutary; that the most enormous abuses have prevailed in their administration for nearly 40 years; that those abuses satisfactorily account for a large and oppressive increase of the poor rates; and that a universal rule to afford no relief to able-bodied men but for labour performed, the more severe the better, would apply a remedy to the great mass of the abuses? ”

“ I fear death would as often relieve them from misery, as charity. But suppose it were otherwise: would we, in this community, endure the sight of the aged, the infirm, and the cripple, asking alms of every passenger? Would we endure to see our fellow-creatures perishing in the streets? Such objects are presented in many of the cities of Europe. In Naples, they are every-day occurrences. It is not uncommon to see a human being dying on the steps of a palace. ”

“ Humanity forbids us to answer—let them linger and die like beasts upon our pavements. An asylum must be provided for them; and our charitable institutions are no more than a compliance with this moral obligation. If there be abuses, correct them; but do not let the abuses, if they exist, or pecuniary considerations, so far harden our hearts, or blind our judgments, as to induce us to abandon the poor to the precariousness of the individual charity they may chance to meet. ”

“ It is asserted by the editors of the Edinburgh Review—
That the necessary and inevitable consequence of a statutory provision for the poor, is, to increase regularly and oppressively the amount of the burdens, as has been the case for some years in England. That it encourages imprudent and improvident marriages, and of course produces the distress it professes to relieve, and multiplies a pauper population. That it destroys, or at least impairs, the stimulus to industry, by insuring a support to the idle and vicious, equal to what honest industry can acquire by useful labour. ”

“ As to the example of England, which we are called upon to regard with so much terror, I think it yet remains to be proved, that the multiplication of her paupers, or the pressure of her poor-laws on her wealthy citizens, are justly to be imputed to either her public or private charities. We are told that the facility with which alms may be obtained, sinks the independent spirit of the needy, and paralyzes a disposition to struggle for their own support. I do not believe the pride of man is so easily overcome, or that a mere invitation to dependence, is sufficient to induce him to accept it. ”

“ When men who do not employ labourers, are obliged to pay a portion of the earnings of those employed by their neighbours—when thieves and robbers are supported at the public expense—when prostitutes with illegitimate children receive larger allowance from the overseers of the poor than honest widows with their legitimate offspring—when able-bodied men, refusing to work, are supported with weekly stipends, equal to the wages of honest industry, can we he surprised at the enormous increase of the poor rates? ”

“ Is it wonderful that pauperism, profligacy, and other evils, together with poor rates, have rapidly increased under such a hideous system of mismanagement! And is it not unaccountable that such an enlightened nation as England should have for nearly forty years submitted to it without serious and decisive efforts to free themselves from it, before it had arisen to its present alarming and oppressive height? ”

“ All honourable members of society, male and female, ought to unite in denouncing those who 'grind the faces of the poor,' by taking female labour widthout a compensation at least adequate for the support of human existence. ”

“ Posterity will scarcely credit the extent to which the popular feeling has been worked upon and warped by the ravings of some of our modern economists. They, truly, have done all that in them lay, to extinguish in the bosoms of the more opulent classes, every spark of generous and benevolent feeling towards the destitute and needy pauper. ”

“ To crown the whole, let ladies who lead the fashion, take up the cause of these poor women, con amore. It is a holy cause. They may, with moderate exertions, render it fashionable to endeavour to rescue from unmerited and cruel sufferings, oppressed, forlorn, and neglected classes, as precious, I emphatically repeat, in the eye of Heaven, as the most exalted and high-minded among themselves. ”

“ It is often triumphantly asked, respecting the case of the women who are so very inadequately remunerated for their labours, What remedy can be applied to such an inveterate evil? Does not the proportion between supply and demand, in this, as in all other cases, regulate prices? And while there is such an over-proportion of labour in the market, must not competition reduce prices, as it has done, to the lowest grade, even below the minimum necessary to support existence? ”

“ There are so many to labour, and so little labour to be done, that many must be idle; or, if employed, it is for wages that will not enable them to provide the necessaries of life. If the manufacturer does not afford his workmen sufficient to support himself and his family, the deficiency must be, and is in England, drawn from the abundance of the wealthy. It is in this way that one class of the population in England becomes necessarily dependent on the other. ”

“ And will not superficial persons be disposed to generalize and stigmatize the whole from his statements?
Far from being surprised that among the poor there are to be found many worthless persons, it appears, that the surprise, all things considered, ought to be, that there are so few. In the first place, it is well known that we are the creatures of education and example; and how lamentably deficient the mass of the poor are in point of education and example, we all know. No small proportion have had no education ”

“ They have moreover tended to attach a sort of disrepute to those admirable associations of ladies and gentlemen, for the relief of the poor, on which Heaven looks down with complacence, and which form a delightful oasis in the midst of the arid deserts of sordid selfishness which on all sides present themselves to the afflicted view of the contemplative observer. ”

“ To superior beings, looking down on human affairs, nothing can be a more just subject of amazement than a wealthy man, with an income of 5, 6, or 7000 dollars a year, enjoying not only all the comforts but all the luxuries of life, and laying the four quarters of the globe under contribution for his raiment and the gratification of his appetites, who denies occasional relief to persons circumstanced as I have stated in the case cited, from a conscientious apprehension of injuring society by affording encouragement to idleness and improvidence! ”

“ Let me most earnestly, but most respectfully, conjure the ladies, into whose hands these lines may come, to ponder deeply, and frequently, and lastingly, on the deplorable condition of so many of their sex, who are ground to the earth by an inadequate remuneration for their painful labours. Let them raise their voices, and exert their influence in their defence, and urge their male friends to enter the lists in the holy cause of suffering humanity. ”

“ It often happens that individuals who have for a long time struggled with distress and difficulties, and with a laudable spirit of pride and self-respect, which cannot be too carefully cherished, shrunk from the degradation of a dependence on the guardians of the poor, are on the point of giving way in a time of severe pressure, but, being then temporarily relieved by a benevolent society, are rescued from this painful necessity. ”

“ Whatever concerns their comfort or happiness—whatever tends to increase or decrease their comforts—to improve or deteriorate their morals, demands the most serious attention of the friends of humanity, of all whose views extend beyond their own narrow selfish concerns, and who, without the services of this class, would be forlorn and helpless. ”

“ After having seen every individual under the poor-house roof, and conversed with a great proportion of them, I left the establishment with a conviction that many were there as paupers who could with any humanity be turned out. We have been frequently told that the poor and indigent should be left to rely on the charity of individuals. ”

“ From intimate acquaintance with many of the industrious poor, for eighteen years past, both in New York and in this city, I am constrained to say, that your remarks concerning the inadequate payment which females receive for their labour, are just, and ought deeply to affect every benevolent person, who has any wish to do justly, and see honest industry suitably rewarded. ”

“ That a complete and radical remedy is practicable, we do not flatter ourselves, while the demand for employment so far exceeds the demand for that species of labour. And we regret to say, that there are cases in which the competition among the sellers of the articles produced by those women, may have so far reduced their prices as to render it impossible for the employers to raise the wages without injustice to themselves. ”

“ It fully establishes the necessity of the interference of benevolent associations and charitable individuals, to relieve such severe suffering, and ought to make those persons blush, who, enjoying the good things of the world, involve the poor in an indiscriminate mass of obloquy; unjustly charge all their misery to intemperance and other vices; and, decrying those associations, avert, as far as in them lies, the current of charity in its course to their support. ”

“ That taxes for the support of the poor, and aid afforded them by charitable individuals, or benevolent societies, are pernicious, as, by encouraging the poor to depend on them, they foster their idleness and improvidence, and thus produce, or at least increase, the poverty and distress they are intended to relieve. ”

“ But laying aside all the various disadvantages and drawbacks, and placing the circumstances in the most favourable point of light, let us consider the case of a woman in perfect health, without children, and with uninterrupted employment; and see the result of her painful labours, and how little attention is paid to the awful denunciation against those that "grind the faces of the poor." Allowing nine shirts per week, at 121/2 cents, and constant, uninterrupted employment, let us view the appalling result. ”

“ The industry and virtue of the labouring poor appear undeniable, from the fact, that there is no occupation, however deleterious or disgraceful, at which there is any difficulty in procuring labourers, even at the most inadequate wages. ”

“ Dear Sir.—As you are desirous of ascertaining the average amount of wages paid to some of the poor, I send you an individual whose case is peculiarly hard. I know the woman to be a person who would on no account deviate from the truth. ”

“ Cripples of all sorts hold up their stump of a leg or an arm close to our eyes: noseless faces, devoured by disease, grin at us; children quite naked, nay, even men, arc to be seen lying and moaning in the dirt. A dropsical man sits by the wall, and shows us his monstrous belly. Consumptive mothers lie by the road-side with naked children on their laps, who are compelled to be continually crying aloud. ”