PAUPERISM DECREASING
Pauperism is decreasing in the United States, according to the latest statement issued by the U. S. Census Bureau. “The ratio of almshouse paupers has steadily declined at every census since 1880,” declares the bureau’s last bulletin. In detail, the bureau reports that one third of the paupers in the almshouses in 1910 were under fifty-five years of age and one third over seventy years of age; the males outnumbered the females two to one, and there was a preponderance of persons of foreign birth.
The important fact brought out, however, is that the almshouse population is not only actually decreasing but is also steadily assuming a more shifting character, which means that the poor-houses are becoming merely a temporary shelter instead of a permanent home for the unfortunates who are compelled to take advantage of their hospitality.