USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1877 > Part 6
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To his Honor, Judge Williams, I am under continued obliga- tions for his advice and consideration of cases brought before him; and to the officers and men comprising this department, I am under obligations that words cannot express. They have always shown a willingness to perform all duties imposed upon them, and many times during the year have worked nearly the twenty-four hours round, and the city should not be unmindful of the services rendered by them.
Where all have done so well, it would be invidious to particu- larize, and yet I should do myself injustice were I not to mention the services of Amos Atkinson, Captain of the night police. His rare good judgment and untiring energy has been to me assist- ance that I only can appreciate. The public who have business to transact with this department, during the night, are sure of finding in him a man qualified for the position, and every way a gentleman. Hoping that our exertions have met with your ap- proval, and also the approval of those whom you represent, I have the honor to submit this, the record of the year.
Very respectfully, &c., W. ANSEL WASHBURN, City Marshal.
71
REPORT OF CITY MARSHAL.
POLICE DEPARTMENT, 1877.
CITY MARSHAL. W. ANSEL WASHBURN.
ASSISTANT CITY MARSHALS.
JOHN W. HADLEY, detailed as such.
CAPTAIN. AMOS ATKINSON.
DETECTIVE. EZRA CHURCHILL.
PATROLMEN.
Barker, C. W.
Garland, C. A.
Maloney, James.
Barker, G. V.
Green, M. S.
Mooney, N. J.
Bliss, Geo. S.
Gates, Jaalam.
McNamara, Michael.
Bonn, A. N.
Goggin, David.
Oliver, Napoleon.
Benchley, C. H.
Harper, Louis.
Piper, Wm. A.
Colby, R. M.
Hubbard, M. J.
Ranger, S. W.
Deady, Michael.
Hagan, P. S.
Ramsdell, C. A.
Diggins, Patrick.
Keyes, W. C.
Sandner, Henry.
Drohan, W. N.
Keefe, Dennis.
Tyler, Elliott.
Flint, J. H.
Lamb, M. J.
Thomas, Q. A.
Foster, T. R.
March, Addison.
Willard, Geo. A.
French, Cornelius.
Martin, Austin.
Walsh, M. J.
Fairbanks, Edson.
Matthews, D. A.
Woodard, James.
Finneran, Wm.
Mecorney, H. H.
Williams, Daniel.
E. D. MCFARLAND,
1
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
BOARD OF OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
GENTLEMEN :
In accordance with the requirements of the City ordinance, that during the month of January in each year, this Board shall submit to the City Council, a full report of their doings, with such information and suggestions as they shall deem expedient, we offer the following remarks:
The growing importance of how best to deal with the social problem of Pauperism, is attracting the attention of some of the ablest men of the age. The Governor of this Commonwealth devoted a very considerable portion of his address to the Legis- lature, at the commencement of the present year, to this subject, and having given it much study, and probably not over-estimating the amount expended, stated that one quarter part of all the taxes raised by the State was consumed in providing for the pau- pers and criminals, and the General Agent of the Board of State Charities estimates the sum necessary for the maintenance of the several divisions of his Department, for the ensuing year, to be two hundred and ten thousand and five hundred dollars.
In order that it may be seen that we are not alone in our suf- fering from this cause, we quote from a report on.the subject, made by an adjoining State;
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OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
" The hard times have resulted in a fearful increase of crime and vagrancy. From all parts of New Hampshire there are reports of an unusual prevalence of petty offences and of the very frequent appearance of tramps and hungry wanderers. The present condition of business, is not the direct cause of the mutiplicity of vagrants, for there is not a county in this State where an able-bodied person cannot find an opportunity to earn simple food, shelter and clothing.
Advantage is taken, however, of the dull times by strong men and boys, who, too lazy to labor, are swarming about the rural districts and telling their thread-bare story of no work and no money. Not one out of a dozen of these muscular tramps will accept work if offered them. As the winter approaches, the stern necessity for addi- tional clothing and food, and substantial shelter, presses upon these vagrants, and the result is, breaking and stealing, all over the State. Nor are these lesser offences all there is to be feared from these wanderers in our midst, for many of them are desperate enough, if hard pressed, to commit any deed of violence known in the catalogue of crime.
Farmers in the sparsely settled sections say that they have never lived in such fear from trainps and vagabonds as at the present time. Their granaries are broken into, and thieving committed, and their poultry yards and clothes lines frequently depleted. Then there is the fear of fire, especially at the present time, when the cold weather drives the vagrants into barns for shelter, and where, even unwittingly done, a single spark from a clay pipe, the almost inseparable companion of the tramp, may sweep away property that has required years of industry to accumulate.
In the larger towns and cities of the State, thieving and breaking are of almost daily occurrence. Police officers say that it is utterly impossible to prevent these crimes, for the vagrants are everywhere, and of their coming and going no preserver of the peace knoweth. In more than a score of places in New Hampshire, extra policemen are nightly on duty, unknown to the general public. Jails and poor-houses are now "harvesting" these wanderers, and before the summer birds fly again there will be an army of vagabonds housed and fed at the public expense."
We also make the following extract from the annual report of the Almoner of the Board of Overseers of the Poor, in the city of Providence, who, having had entire charge of the department for twenty years, ought to be good authority in such matters. He says :-
"In dealing with pauperism, great care needs to be exercised, lest the evil be increased. Charity is a duty, and charitable institutions and organizations a necessity. Their efforts, however, should aim mainly at the repression of the evil, and their aid be bestowed with great discretion. To this end, there should be thorough co-operation with each other and with the officers. In this way all would have a knowledge of what is being done, and aid would be dispensed only to the really necessitous, and unworthy applicants would then cease to burden the public."
Attention is also called to the following extract from an essay on the subject of Charities, recently delivered by Dr. Potter, of New York City, before a convention called to consider this and 6
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CITY DOCUMENT .- NO. 32.
kindred subjects, and quoting from John Stuart Mill, in an essay on Political Economy, he says :-
"'In all cases of helping, there are two sets of consequences to be considered -the consequence of the assistance itself, and the consequence of relying on the assistance. The former are generally beneficial, but the latter, for the most part, injurious ; so much so as in many cases as really to outweigh the value of the benefit. And this is never more likely to happen than in the very cases when the need of help is the most intense. There are few things for which it is more mischievous that people should rely on the habitual aid of others, than for the means of subsistence, and unhappily, there is no lesson which they more easily learn. The problem to be solved, therefore, is one of peculiar nicety as well as importance; how to give the greatest amount of needful help with the smallest encouragement to undue reliance on it.'
"Such words certainly do not exaggerate the importance of the problem which they state, nor the manifold difficulties of its solution. If we could get at the average sentiment of those who in this land, and especially in our great cities are most sincerely interested in the relief of poverty and suffering, I venture to affirm that we should find it to be, oftener than otherwise, one of profound perplexity.
"We are not so old a people as those of France, or Germany, or England, but we are old enough to have found out that our present methods of. dealing with pauperism, and our present endeavors for alleviating human want are largely productive of the very evils which they have striven so earnestly, and often at such lavish cost, to remove. Side by side with the growth of a spirit of open-handed and pains-taking beneficence, has grown the indolent, cunning and often utterly unscrupulous mendicity that systematically and deliberately preys upon it. There are, in the City of New York to-day, some two hundred institutions of charity. Behind these there are some five hundred churches and chapels.
"Behind these, it may safely be said that there are, out of this population of nearly a million of souls, not less than fifty thousand homes from which streams of benevo- lence, larger or smaller, are constantly pouring. If not from the front door, then from the basement door; if not as the more or less careless alms of the master, then by the furtive and vicarious generosity of the servant, a steady stream of doles in money or in kind, is flowing by day and by night, and nourishing as it flows, a vast throng of idle and thankless people who will not work or save, or forecast, so long as they can eat and sleep, and beg.
In a public square in this city, last summer, a stalwart man, reproached for his life of purposeless vagrancy, demanded what motive he had for any other. He could always get a meal, he declared, if he asked for it often enough, and 'now and then, a coat or an old pair of pants were thrown in.' If anybody said that to beg in the day time, and to sleep in the park or the station house, as the exigencies of the season de- manded, at night, was a very poor use for a man with vigorous powers and a sound mind, to make of himself, all he had to say was that he 'didn't care.' The new civ- ilization of the West had lifted off from him the weight of that earlier apostolic pre- cept, 'if any man will not work, neither shall he eat;' and he ' would be a fool'-that was his own direct and measured way of putting it - 'he would be a fool if he worked when he was not obliged to.'
This is the situation, more or less accurate in its symptoms, throughout the land. In these hard times, there are men out of work. But there are many more men who will not work, when work and wages are offered them. And meantime, every institu- tion of benevolence, every charitable association, every well-to-do household finds itself beseiged by applicants as never before. Multiply our agencies as we will, we cannot create the machinery of relief as fast as that machine itself creates paupers.
.
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OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
The statement of the situation indicates the first step toward its relief. The eradi- cation of pauperism involves questions which lie quite outside of this discussion, but its even partial relief or diminution demands, first of all, from our charities, thorough and complete organization.'"
We also present the closing remarks of the report of the Over- seers of the Poor, of the City of Springfield, sent us from that city in May last, from which it may be seen to what extent of abuse the system of temporary aid, or, as it is called, "Outside Relief," is susceptible, if not carefully attended to, and the result of which, we have been informed, has been its almost total discontinuance in that city.
"The conclusion to which we come, from the discussion of this subject, is that last year, in our population of 29,000, every thirteenth person was a pauper; that aside from those supported in the Almshouse, every two hundred and eighth person was wholly supplied with food and clothing; that if we add the average number at the Almshouse, 74.8, to the average found for those supplied with food and clothing by Outside Relief, 139, making 214 in all, and divide the whole population by this num- ber, then every one hundred and thirty-fifth person is found to have been wholly sup- plied with food and clothing at the expense of the city, the year round. It also follows that, since the city has seven thousand families, every twenty families supply the coal for the twenty-first. If this lavish and constantly increasing expenditure for Outside Relief is allowed to continue and increase as it has for three years past, how long will it be before we shall have, here in Springfield, the worst species of communism, or a condition of things in which one after another of those who, from their scanty earn- ings, are able to pay their taxes and support themselves, will be obliged, in their turn, to apply to the city for aid ? Or, how much longer shall we have anything to bestow?"
Our own experience in this department, running back for fourteen years, has been similar to that of those quoted, and judging from the annual reports of my predecessors in office, all of which have been carefully consulted, theirs was the same. We have been constantly beset by an ever present and steadily increasing army of vagrants who go about from place to place, remaining in one locality as long as they can be tolerated, and then pushing on for another, making the most urgent claims for aid, and often using violent and abusive language.
Like the cloud "no bigger than a man's hand" their number has grown to such proportions as to be almost beyond control ; while the means that were intended to alleviate the distresses of the worthy poor, by giving a small amount of aid in their own homes, thereby enabling them eventually to provide for them- selves, instead of going to the Almshouse, have been taken
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advantage of by many who ask, not because they need aid, but because they think they can get it, and these are followed by others, who having obtained it, are clamorous for its continuance long after the circumstances in existence when it was given have passed. So they continue from year to year, until many, who have given the subject much thought, are of opinion that the system is a failure, and municipalities should no longer encourage it, as it is fraught with much evil to the community by sustain- ing amongst us a class who expect to be provided for by others instead of depending upon any exertions of their own.
During the year, the Pauper Laws of this State have received but one addition, doubtless intended by its framers to relieve the cities and towns to some extent of the burden forced upon them by the State Board, who heretofore have left them no alternative in the case of State paupers, not too sick to be moved, but to pauperize the families entirely, by sending them to the State Almshouse at Tewksbury, or giving them aid at their own ex- pense; and as it was so carefully guarded by them in its passage through the House, we indulge but small hopes of any advan- tage in its operation to those whom it was intended to benefit. We insert the text, both of the Law and the explanation of it by the State Board, and they may be judged on their own merits.
[CHAP. 183] OF 1877.
An act relating to the temporary aid of State Paupers by Cities or Towns.
Be it enacted &c., as follows :
SEC. 1. Any city or town through its authorities, having charge of the execution of the laws for the maintenance of the poor, may, if said authorities deem that the same is for the public interest, furnish temporary aid to poor persons found within its limits, having no settlement within the Commonwealth, and the expense thereby incurred, after notice has been sent as hereinafter provided, shall be repaid from the treasury of the Commonwealth, to such city or town : provided, that said authorities shall give immediate notice by mail in each case to the general agent of state charities, who in person or by one of his assistants shall examine the case and direct the contin- uance of such aid, or removal to the State Almshouse or to some place outside the Commonwealth, either before or after removal to the State Almshouse, in accordance with existing laws ; and provided, also, that except in cases of sick state poor, such aid shall not be furnished at any one time for a longer period than four weeks, or to a
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OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
greater amount than one dollar per week for each person, or five dollars per week for each family, and provided, also, that all claims of cities and towns against the Com- monwealth, for furnishing aid under the provisions of this act, shall be rendered in detail and shall be approved by the general agent of state charities, before the same shall be paid.
SEC. 2. Nothing contained in this act shall be construed to alter or repeal any of the provisions of law in regard to the sick State poor, or persons ill with contagious diseases.
[ Approved May 4th, 1877.]
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
BOARD OF STATE CHARITIES, GENERAL AGENT'S DEPARTMENT. STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, June 27, 1877.
HON. LEVI C. WADE, Newton, Mass.
DEAR SIR : Inasmuch as your connection with the passage of the Act numbered 183, in the Acts of the year 1877, was more intimate than was that of any other member of the Legislature, I desire your judgment on my construction of that statute. My recollection of the argument of yourself and others before the Committee that subse- quently reported the bill, is this : that there were in the various communities worthy, industrious families, who were usually self-supporting, but in consequence of the sudden death of some of its members, or their temporary inability to obtain em ploy- ment, or the enforcement of the statute which requires children of a certain age to attend school, were necessitated to appeal to the public for aid; and that it was unwise to compel such families to receive such aid in the Almshouse, but that some provision should be made by which the aid might be furnished, in the case of persons non-settled at their usual homes, and at the expense of the State. In a word, that the Act was intended to benefit those who had a reasonably well-assured and not far distant future, when they would require no further assistance; and, perhaps, at the discretion of the General Agent, another, but very limited class of the deserving and superanuated poor, who could be relieved with greater comfort and economy at their several homes. Again, in answer to my objection, that many towns would take advantage of the Act to throw upon the State a considerable number of chronic paupers that they had long supported, or others who for any reason, they did not wish sent to the State Almshouse, it was urged that iuasmuch as the bill gave me the power to order any or all to the State Almshouse, the remedy for this evil would be in my own hands. With this understanding, I have, after examination, notified certain town authorities that rein- bursement under the statute would not in particular cases be allowed, and instructed them that the State could support such families only in the Almshouse; whereupon I am met with the objection that this is a matter entirely within their province, and that my duty is simply a clerical one, to wit,-to audit the bills. As a result of such reasoning, certain of the municipalities of this Commonwealth have already notified me of persons for whom they should claim reimbursement, who have been relieved at the charge of these cities and towns to a greater or less extent each year for the last fifteen years; and of others whose support commenced later, but who will probably continue for some half a dozen years to come.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- NO. 32.
Under these circumstances, I have thought it wise to obtain the opinion of those whose connection with this legislation was the most intimate, to the end that it might be authoritatively declared what the Legislature intended by the passage of the Act before referred to, and what was the duty of the officer charged with its execution.
Dr. Wheelwright, who appeared with you before the Committee, fully endorses this statement, and approves the construction I have given the statute.
Very respectfully yours,
S. C. WRIGHTINGTON,
General Agent.
BOSTON, June 30, 1877.
S. C. WRIGHTINGTON, Esq.,
General Agent of State Charities.
DEAR SIR :- Yours of the 27th has been received and carefully considered, in con- nection with chapter 183 of the Acts of 1877, to which it refers.
The sole object of the statute is to enable cities and towns to give a little help in those cases in which a trifling assistance will carry a family, or an individual, through a temporary strait, and so prevent them from becoming permanent paupers, which is apt to result from removal to the Almshouse.
If the General Agent of State Charities directs removal to the Almshouse, the lia- bility of the State ceases. There is no provision to the effect that the Agent "shall audit bills;" but the liability of the State is based upon the condition, that the Agent approves the bills rendered.
You are entirely right in regard to the intention of the Legislature in passing the law.
Yours truly,
LEVI C. WADE.
ATTLEBORO', July 3, 1877.
S. C. WRIGHTINGTON,
General Agent State Charities, Boston, Mass.
DEAR SIR :- I have carefully examined your letter of the 27th inst. to Mr. Wade, and his answer to the same. I fully endorse the construction you place upon the stat- ute of 1877, and am satisfied that you have expressed the intention of the Legislature.
Yours truly, S. S. GINNODO,
Senate Chairman Committee on Towns.
HOUSE DOCUMENT, NO. 310.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
April 30, 1874. .
The Committee on Public Charitable Institutions, to whom was recommitted the bill for the more efficient relief of the poor, have carefully reviewed the whole subject, and sought such additional information as seemed desirable.
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OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.
They find that any scheme for the relief of the poor, or any radical change in the laws of settlement, is beset with great difficulties, and is likely to be productive of more harm than good to those whom it is sought to benefit. They believe that it is safest to make haste slowly, and to test by experience the effect of moderate changes. If these prove successful, further legislation can readily be had in the direction they indicate.
We therefore report a bill, in a new draft, which we explain as follows, premising that the main object thereof, in accordance with the prayer of the petitioners, is to make better provision for the unsettled poor ;-
First. It does not change existing settlements. Every settled person is to remain where he now belongs, until that settlement is defeated and a new one gained in the ordinary course of law.
Second. It does not interrupt or defeat any settlement in process of acquisition. This is to be completed, as before, under existing laws.
Third. It does not change the principles underlying the present laws, but merely adapts them to the exigencies of the present day, by shortening the time and lessening the number of taxes required for settlement.
Fourth. It gives all settled persons a fair and equal start, by allowing them to com- mence now to gain a new settlement under its provisions.
Fifth. It provides liberally for the unsettled by giving all a settlement who can show a continuous residence of five years and the payment of three taxes within that time, whether the residence and taxation be wholly before, or wholly after, or partly before and partly after its enactment.
Sixth. It relieves the most pressing claim brought to the attention of the legisla- ture, by giving women a settlement by five years' residence, providing, within that time they have been neither paupers nor criminals.
And finally, it exempts from its benefits the present state pauper inmates of the public institutions - to the end that no injustice may be done to any city or town.
It will be seen that the bill bears alike upon all the municipalities, by maintaining, as nearly as possible, the same proportion of residence and taxation as at present, and that the provisions of its third section obviate the danger of confusion, and the objec- tions that would arise as between the towns, on account of any sudden change.
The Committee deem it proper to add that the Bill, as reported, has the unanimous sanction of the Board of State Charities, who agree that no further change is at pres- ent desirable.
For the Committee,
L. J. COLE.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOUR.
AN ACT
For the more efficient Relief of the Poor. .
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :
SECT. 1. Any person of the age of twenty one years, who resides in any place within this State for five years together, and pays all state, county, city or town taxes
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CITY DOCUMENT .- NO. 32.
duly assessed on his poll or estate for any three years within that time, shall thereby gain a settlement in such place.
SECT. 2. Any woman of the age of twenty-one years, who resides in any place within this State for five years together, without receiving relief as a pauper, shall thereby gain a settlement in such place. The first section of the three hundred and ninety-second chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and seventy is hereby repealed.
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