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1 Noted by Von Holst, I. 236.
2 Benton, Ab. Debates of Congress, IV. 452.
3 Benton, Ab. Debates of Congress, V. 139.
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Consolidation of the Union.
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But previously, in his celebrated Fourth of July oration at Portsmouth, in 1812,1 Webster had taken the ground that the war was unjustifiable in political economy, but that it was now legally declared and had become the law of the land, and all citizens, including those of New England, although they saw that their personal interests had been disregarded, should pay their share of the expenses and render personal service to the full and just extent of their constitutional liability. Here the old question again arose. Who is to decide what that consti- tutional liability includes? And here again is seen the absurd · and disgraceful position of the once-honored Federalists. All of the New England legislatures, excepting that of Vermont, as well as that of New Jersey, planted themselves upon the ground marked out for them by Webster, with the further and, in the light of the past history of the men engaged in the movement, ludicrously extreme position taken by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts and the military commander of Rhode Island. The outgrowth of this doctrine was the refusal of militia aid by New England and, a little later, the Hartford Convention.2
Upon the history and work of the Hartford Convention we need not dwell longer than to recall the fact that the states in sending delegates to the Convention were committing an extra- constitutional and, to say the least, highly unnational act, that their report read like a revised edition of Madison's Virginia Resolutions, that they urged specific constitutional amend- ments, some of which-notably those calling for the prohibi- tion of commercial intercourse, the admission of new states, and the declaration of war by a two-thirds majority only of both houses of Congress-sound strangely like process under the old Confederation régime, 1781-7. As showing the anti-
1 Curtis, Life of Daniel Webster, I. 105. Cf. Webster's Speech in the House of Representatives, January 14th, 1814, Benton, Ab. Debates of Con- gress, V. 138.
2 Von Holst, I. 260-272; Hildreth, VI. 472, 473, 532-535, 545-553. Cf. Dwight, History of the Hartford Convention.
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national tendencies prevalent at the time, the report of the Hartford Convention is of interest to us. But the almost immediate conclusion of peace put an end to any attempts to carry out its suggestions.
With the conclusion of the war came a calm, and in its quiet we are able to discern what were the effects of the con- flict upon the great internal question in the United States.
Looking back from our standpoint of the present we can easily conclude that as a matter of right the war was certainly fully justified, but as an economic policy its expediency must be questioned. It had lasted two and one-half years and raised the national debt from $45,000,000 to $127,000,000, or at the rate of somewhat more than $30,000,000 a year. Yet its political effect was cheaply bought even at that price. Although not destined to be permanent, the national feeling it produced was something entirely novel, but none the less excellent.
From 1800 to 1815 the old national party, the Federalists, driven by the necessities of opposition and selfishness, gravi- tated over to the particularistic doctrine, but lost weight at each step, until finally, like a candle burned to its socket, they flickered faintly in the Hartford Convention and then went out forever. On the other hand, the Republicans, led by the possession of power and, it were charitable to suppose, a more enlightened intelligence, grew stronger day by day as they gave up, in practice at least, their old particularistic and strict construction theories for a more broadly national platform. That the sentiment of the people at large had correspondingly changed is shown by the next presidential election. When the votes of the election for the eighth presidential term were counted, it was found that only 34 out of 217 had been cast for Federalist candidates. Even Rhode Island now severed her connection with her old friends, Massachusetts and Con- necticut, although Delaware now joined them. How demoral- ized the Federalist party had become appears still more clearly. when we see how their votes for Vice-President were scattered.
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Massachusetts voted solidly for John Eager Howard of Mary- land, Delaware did the same for Robert G. Harper of Maryland, while Connecticut gave five votes to James Ross of Pennsylvania and four to John Marshall of Virginia. These three states alone cast any electoral votes against the Republican candidates. The Republicans now, for the instant at any rate, a national party, remained masters of the field and until circumstances should develop new party issues their supremacy was assured.
Strangely enough sound the testimonies to the unifying influence of the war given by men who belonged to the same party that Jefferson had once led. And we know of no better way to show this effect of the war than by a few selec- tions from the political correspondence of the leading men of the period.
Almost with a voice of prophecy Gallatin had written to Nicholson, July 17th, 1807, in regard to the war which was even then looked forward to: "In fact the greatest mischiefs which I apprehend from the war are the necessary increase of executive power and influence ... and the introduction of permanent military and naval establishments,"1 both of which we know to be the concomitants of a perfect nation.
September 6th, 1815, Gallatin writes to Jefferson, then in retirement at Monticello : "The war has been useful. The character of America stands now as high as ever on the Euro- pean continent and higher than it ever did in Great Britain. I may say that we are favorites everywhere except at courts, and even there we are personally respected and considered as the nation designed to check the naval despotism of Eng- land." 2
Again he writes to Jefferson, under the date of November 27th, 1815: "The war has been successfully and honorably terminated ; a debt of no more than eighty millions incurred, Louisiana paid for, and an incipient navy created ; our popu-
1 Henry Adams, The Writings of Albert Gallatin, I. 339.
` ? Adams, Writings of Albert Gallatin, I. 651, 652.
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The Effect of the War of 1812 upon the [274
lation increased in the same and our resources in a much greater proportion ; our revenue greater than ever." 1
Gallatin says to Matthew Lyon,2 May 7th, 1816: "The war has been productive of evil and good, but I think the good preponderates. Independent of the loss of lives and of the losses in property by individuals, the war has laid the foundation of permanent taxes and military establishments which the Republicans had deemed unfavorable to the happi- ness and free institutions of the country. But under our former system we were becoming too selfish, too much attached exclusively to the acquisition of wealth, above all, too much confined in our political feelings to local and State objects. The war has renewed and reinstated the national feelings and character which the Revolution had given and which were daily lessened. The people have now more general objects of attachment with which their pride and political opinions are connected. They are more Americans ; they feel and act more as a nation, and I hope that the permanency of the Union is thereby better secured.".3
And twenty years later, when the smoke of the old battle had cleared away and another conflict, this time one of prin- ciples, was waging, Gallatin writes to Edward Everett, Janu- ary, 1835: "I do insist on the undeniable fact that the national character has been entirely redeemed by the late war, and that at this time no country is held by foreign nations and governments in higher respect and consideration than the United States." 4
1 Adams, Writings of Albert Gallatin, I. 667.
2 Matthew Lyon represented a Vermont district in the House of Repre- sentatives from 1797 to 1801, and a Kentucky district from 1803 to 1811. For some of the incidents of his sensational political career, see Hildreth, V. 80, 187-191, 247-250, 295; VI. 238, 239; and also McMaster, A History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War. New York, D. Appleton & Company, 1885. Vol. II. pp. 327-329, 356, 363- 367, 399-402, 430, 532.
3 Adams, Writings of Albert Gallatin, I. 700.
4 Adams, Writings of Albert Gallatin, II. 500.
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Jefferson writes to Gallatin, May 18th, 1816, in reference to the lack of political dissension in Virginia, and says: "This spontaneous and universal concurrence of sentiment has not been artificially produced. I consider this as presenting an element of character in our people which must constitute the basis of every estimate of the solidity and duration of our government."1 Strange words these to come from the pen which drew up the Kentucky resolutions !
Crawford, in a letter to Gallatin, bearing the date of Octo- ber 27th, 1817, writes : "The President's tour through the East has produced something like a political jubilee. They were in the land of steady habits, at least for the time, 'all Federalists, all Republicans.' A general absolution of politi- cal sins seems to have been mutually agreed upon." 2
The war had ruined the particularists; it had made all nationalists, if we may use the word. The bonds of the early days of the revolution were forged anew and the nation's heart beat as one. Patriotism and national pride had conquered sectionalism and personal selfishness. The era of good feeling had dawned.3 But it was the ominous calm that precedes the tempest.
With this position gained and all foreign entanglements re- moved by Waterloo and its consequences, the United States was thrown back on itself and the fire of slavery which had been smoldering in its bosom now found an opportunity to burst forth afresh and kindle the conflagration from which
1 Adams, Writings of Albert Gallatin, I. 705.
2 Adams, Writings of Albert Gallatin, II. 55; Hildreth, VI. 623.
3 Owing to the fact that this essay was written before the excellent His- tory of the United States of America under the Constitution, by James Schouler, Washington, 1886, was published, no references to that work are made. Volumes I. and II. of Mr. Schouler's History, embracing the period discussed in this monograph, are particularly important for the proper understanding of the influences at work in it. In Vol. II. 452-454, it is gratifying to find the author taking the view of the effect of the War of 1812 that is developed in this essay.
1
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The Effect of the War of 1812. [276
the camp-fires of the great civil war forty years later were to be lighted.
But because the good effect of the second war with Great Britain was soon swept away by the slavery dispute, we must not overlook the fact that such an effect existed. The country entered the war distracted, indifferent, and particularistic; it emerged from it united, enthusiastic, and national. But the ebb was to be greater than the flow, and half a century was to elapse before the conditions of national unity which existed in the years immediately following the war of 1812 were again to be plainly observed in our political history.
VIII
NOTES
ON THE
LITERATURE OF CHARITIES
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History - Freeman
FIFTH SERIES
VIII
NOTES
ON THE
LITERATURE OF CHARITIES
BY HERBERT B. ADAMS
BALTIMORE PUBLICATION AGENCY OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY AUGUST, 1887
COPYRIGHT, 1887, BY N. MURRAY.
JOHN MURPHY & CO., PRINTERS, BALTIMORE.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Baltimore
7
Philadelphia 9
New York.
9
New England.
10
American Periodicals.
13
Organized Charities in England. 15
Thomas Arnold. 16
English Biography. 17
Arnold Toynbee. 19
Sociological Novels.
22 23
Workingmen's Clubs
University-Extension Lectures 25
Amusements for the People. 27 Summer Gardens. 32
Jevons on Amusements 33
Besant on Amusements. 35
The Housing of Labor. 36
Savings Banks. 38
Poor Laws and Pauperism in England .. 39
Pauperism and Charities on the Continent of Europe. 41
Social Studies in Europe .. 42
Historical Retrospect. 43
Appendix
45
1
NOTES
ON THE
LITERATURE OF CHARITIES.1
A recent discussion in Baltimore of the subject of organized charities has quickened popular interest in the subject and has stimulated further inquiry. Public spirited citizens and uni- versity students are beginning to seek more systematic and detailed information respecting the history and operation of organized charitable effort. Literature here comes to our aid. It can supply a perpetual fountain of knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm for practical work.
BALTIMORE.
For Baltimore readers the literature of charities, like charity itself, begins at home. Our first duty is to inquire for local
1 This paper was prepared for a popular audience and a local purpose. It was read, in selected parts, at the closing meeting of the Conference on Charities held in Baltimore, April 15-16, 1887, and is now published in a revised form to meet a public need. Without attempting bibliographical completeness, the writer has aimed to present a suggestive description of some of the best and most available literature on charities. For valuable references and occasional comments, acknowledgment is due to President D. C. Gilman, Dr. Richard T. Ely, Dr. J. F. Jameson, Dr. Edward W. Bemis, Professor G. Stanley Hall, Dr. Fabian Franklin, Messrs. Gardner, Warner, Young, and Tuska, of the Johns Hopkins University. Use has been made of some of the best known catalogues and of the Co-operative Index. The writer has merely endeavored to give unity and point to a great variety of scattered materials.
7
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Notes on the Literature of Charities. [284
contributions to the subject. Perhaps the best work to begin with is the Rev. William F. Slocum, Jr.'s excellent tract on the Relation of Private and Public to Organized Charity, recently published by the Charity Organization of this city. The work is written in vigorous English and tells some plain but startling facts. For example, twenty persons receiving charity from one church in Baltimore were found by inquiry to be all impostors. The reasons and necessity for co-operation in charitable work are clearly set forth, and the best experience of this country and Europe is cited. Dr. Richard T. Ely's admirable paper on the general principles of philanthropy, with respect to charities, should be read by every student. The article was originally published in the Baltimore Sun, March 9, 1887, but it has recently been republished by the Charity Organization Society and deserves renewed attention. Other important articles upon charity organization in Balti- more have appeared from time to time in the Baltimore papers. There are readable articles on the Organization of Charity in The Sun for March 15, 1887, and in The Daily News, for March 26, 1887. The Sun showed that the total number of applications for relief during the four months pre- ceding March, 1887, was 2,003, and the number of investiga- tions was 1,161. During the time 199 vagrants were dealt with, 149 frauds were exposed or suppressed, and 138 street beggars were warned. Of the whole number, 209 persons were found to need not relief but work, and employment was secured by the society for 152. 256 cases were put on record as undeserving, and 200 false addresses were found out. The society placed 101 of the applicants in institutions appropriate to their needs. Assistance was obtained for 618 (in 378 cases, from other societies and in 240, from individuals). Seven loans were made, which, as a rule, have had good results. 102 of the cases were dismissed because they had become self- sustaining. The agents of the society made 2,158 official visits, besides the large number of calls made by the various friendly visitors of the district board.
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Notes on the Literature of Charities.
285]
PHILADELPHIA.
After an examination of the home-field, it will be found profitable to turn to the experience of our neighbors. Phila- delphia has been at work for several years in organizing local charities. The annual reports of the central board of direc- tors to the society for organizing charity are full of interesting suggestions. "What shall Philadelphia do with its Paupers?" was the subject of a paper by Dr. Isaac Ray, published in the Penn Monthly in April, 1873, and republished by the Phila- delphia Social Science Association, whose proceedings contain many other valuable papers. For example, among those read at the ninth annual meeting was an article by the Rev. William H. Hodge on "The Philadelphia Society for organ- izing Charitable Relief and repressing Mendicancy." The same general subject is treated in the Penn Monthly for Sep- tember, 1878. Excellent "Suggestions to Ward-Visitors" have been given in published form by Mrs. Susan I. Lesley, of Philadelphia. The Rev. D. O. Kellogg contributed an article on the organization of Charity in Philadelphia, to the Penn Monthly for September, 1878. The Pauper Question by the same author was published in the Atlantic Monthly for May, 1883, and was republished by the Charity Organization of New York. The annual reports of the Public Charities of Pennsylvania are a trustworthy source of information. The annual reports of the directors of City Trusts in Philadelphia are also standard.
NEW YORK.
The experience of New York, in matters pertaining to charity, has been extensive and valuable. Interesting experi- ments in social reform have been tried in the metropolis and in New York state institutions. A general view of the whole subject is presented in Prof. Theodore W. Dwight's paper in the Journal of American Social Science, No. 2, on the Public Charities of the State of New York. The annual reports of
10.
Notes on the Literature of Charities. [286
the State Board of Charities and the reports of the State Charities Aid Association are standard. In the former series, tenth report, appeared Dr. Charles S. Hoyt's paper on the Causes of Pauperism, afterward republished as a pamphlet. In the latter series was printed Miss Schuyler's article on the Importance of uniting Individual and Associated Volunteer Effort in Behalf of the Poor, also issued as a pamphlet. A useful Handbook for Friendly Visitors among the Poor was published by the Putnams for the Charity Organization Society of New York City. The Putnams have also published, in their "Questions of the Day," Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell's excellent article on Public Relief and Private Charity. This is one of the most concise and available authorities. It urges organization of charities, the promotion of self-help, with industrial and moral training. Mrs. Lowell is the author of a valuable report on vagrancy, presented at a meeting of the New York State Board of Charities. A paper on Charitable Organization and Administration, by the Rev. Henry C. Potter, D. D., was read before an Episcopal Church congress and published in New York in 1877.
Excellent work has been done by the Board of Relief of the United Hebrew Charities of New York City. The 12th report, published in 1886, shows that of 2,805 applications for employment, 1,600 secured good places, 146 as clerks, 713 as operatives, 198 as office boys, 120 as porters, 102 as salesmen, 111 as waiters and nurses, 68 as book-keepers, 59 as drivers, 11 as teachers, etc. This is a remarkable contribution to self- help in one city by one system of charities. Hebrew chari- ties have been well described by Miss Mary H. Cohen in the Journal of American Social Science, No. 19. The Catholic Charities of New York are treated by L. B. Binsse, in the Catholic World, 43: 681, 809.
Helen Campbell has made valuable contributions to the literature of charities (1) in her study of the problem of the poor, a Record of Quiet Work in Unquiet Places, New York, 1882, and (2) in her book on Prisoners of Poverty, recently
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Notes on the Literature of Charities.
287]
published by the Roberts Brothers of Boston, 1887. This work is a collection of newspaper articles which originally appeared in the New York Tribune and which throw strong light on the economic slavery which exists in the great me- tropolis.
Very interesting and remarkable are the writings of Mr. Charles Loring Brace : (1) the Dangerous Classes of New York, and Twenty Years Work among them ; (2) the Care of Poor and Vicious Children, Journal of the American Social Science Association, No. 11; (3) in the same Journal, No. 18, Child Helping in New York; (4) the annual reports of the Chil- dren's Aid Society. Baltimoreans who remember Mr. Brace's account of this work at the recent Charity Conference will read these papers with deep interest. An extraordinary study into the effects of crime, pauperism, disease, and heredity is that called " The Jukes," by Richard L. Dugdale, New York, 1877, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.
The Problem of Pauperism in Brooklyn has been considered in a pamphlet by the Hon. Seth Low. This apostle of muni- cipal reform has also treated the subject of Out-Door Relief in the United States, in a report read at a National Conference of Charities and Corrections and reprinted as a pamphlet.
One of the most helpful of all works upon the subject of Charity Organization is that written by the Rev. S. H. Gurteen, of Buffalo, N. Y. The book represents wide reading and observation. It is both historical and practical. Mr. Gurteen is also the author of a good paper entitled " What is Charity Organization ?" Buffalo, 1881.
NEW ENGLAND.
Here lies another rich field of organized charities which may be studied by means of literature. Mr. F. B. Sanborn's report on the public charities of Massachusetts, prepared for the cen- tennial commission in 1876, presents an excellent history of the origin and development of all the charities of a typical
12
Notes on the Literature of Charities.
[288
New England Commonwealth. The annual reports of the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity are invaluable. Mr. F. B. Sanborn has treated the subject of Poor-Law Administration in New England in the North American Review, 114 : 1. The same writer has a paper in the transac- tions of the American Social Science Association, No. 1, June, 1869, on the Supervision of Charities.
The Charities of Boston are described by Mr. Samuel A. Eliot in the North American Review, 61 : 135 (1845). The new movement in charitable work receives special attention from H. A. Stimson and D. McGregor Means in the Andover Review, 3:107 and 4: 220. Charity Organization is treated in the New Englander and Yale Review for March, 1887. The annual reports of the Associated Charities of Boston will be found instructive. In 1886 was published a directory of all the benevolent and charitable organizations in that city. This work is a model of its kind and a vade mecum for the prac- tical worker. Its bibliography of charity has been of service to the writer in supplementing the present sketch. The book not only describes all the existing agencies in Boston for distributing charity, but it contains also a useful summary of Massachusetts legislation touching charities, health, the liquor traffic, etc. Similar directories have been published in New York and Baltimore, but good suggestions for a new edition may be derived from the Boston directory which is the latest of all. The original idea of these directories came from London, which still has a model guide of charity.
.
Many contributions to the administration of charity have been published in Boston, notably Mrs. James T. Fields' How to Help the Poor ; Joseph Tuckerman's work on The Eleva- tion of the Poor, with an introduction by Rev. Dr. E. E. Hale. One of the earliest contributions was a translation by Mrs. Horace Mann and Miss Peabody, in 1832, of Joseph Marie de Gérando's Le Visiteur du Pauvre, published in Boston as The Visitor of the Poor. The report of a Boston commission on the Treatment of the Poor was issued in 1878.
13
Notes on the Literature of Charities. .
289]
The annual reports of the Industrial Aid Society should be consulted.
Other states and cities in this country besides those men- tioned have published valuable reports of their systems of char- ity. The Boston Directory shows that charity organization societies now exist in more than fifty different municipal centres and in twenty different states. The extension of the system will rapidly increase the literature of organized char- ities. It is highly desirable that a good reference-library of special reports, pamphlets, monographs, and newspaper com- ment should be collected in every new centre of organization. This class of literature is necessarily ephemeral, and it can never become accessible to the public unless it is gathered and systematically arranged by the local agents of organized char- ity. When valuable reports or published addresses appear, these agents should review them for the daily press, so that thousands may read the results of one man's study.
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