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Report of the Committee on the Subject of Pauperism and a House of Industry in the Town of Boston

AT a legal Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston held by adjournment on the thirteenth day of March, A. D. 1821.

The Petitions of Joseph May and others, and of Thomas Howe and others, on the subject of erecting a Work House, were read.

Whereupon it was Voted, that the subject, be referred to a Committee of thirteen, to be nominated from the Chair; the said Committee to consider the subject at large, and report; and that the report be printed, and distributed among the Inhabitants, and the Selectmen are requested to call a Meeting to act on said report,

The following Gentlemen were nominated and appointed upon the Committee, viz.

Hon. JOSIAH QUINCY,
JOSEPH LOVERING,
JAMES SAVAGE,
HENRY J. OLIVER,
FRANCIS WELCH,
JOSEPH MAY,
THOMAS HOWE,
WILLIAM THURSTON,
ABRAM BABCOCK,
SAMUEL A WELLS,
JAMES T. AUSTIN,
BENJAMIN RICH, and
JOSEPH WOODWARD, Esqrs.

Attest, THOMAS CLARK, Town Clerk.

The Committee appointed by the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston at a legal meeting, holden on the twelfth day of March last, "on the subject of Pauperism at large, and on the expediency of erecting a Work House," within the said Town, having taken those subjects into their consideration, in conformity to their instructions, ask leave to

REPORT.

That in prosecuting their inquiries, concerning the subjects referred to their consideration, they have examined the state of the present Town Alms House and compared it with institutions of a similar character, in this vicinity, particularly with those at Marblehead and Salem, and they are unanimously of opinion that the accommodations, provided for the poor, at the Alms House, in Boston, are not such as comport with the honor and interests of the Town. They are also unanimously of opinion that, in aid of the present establishment, a work house, to be denominated, a House of Industry, should be erected, with a sufficient quantity of land attached to it, so as to enable the poor, compelled to resort to it, to have the benefit resulting from air, employment and exercise, and the town to derive that advantage, which other towns in this vicinity experience from the well directed labour of the poor, in similar institutions.

The document, marked A, being the report of a sub-committee, appointed to inquire into the existing state of the establishments of the town, in this respect, will farther evidence and illustrate the importance and necessity of an immediate attention to these subjects.

It is not the intention of your Committee to enter upon a laboured statement of the benefits to be derived from well managed houses of industry. The general reasonings, by which the utility of such establishments might be maintained, are superseded by a concurrence of experience, which can neither be controverted, nor resisted.

It appears, by a report, made by a Committee of the Massachusetts Legislature, at their last session, that the experience, both of England and of Massachusetts, concur in establishing the fact "that of all modes of maintaining the poor, the most economical, is that of work houses, or houses of industry; in which work is provided for every degree and species of ability in the pauper; and also, that of all modes of employing the labour of the poor, the best, the most healthy and the most certainly profitable is that of agriculture; whereby the poor are enabled always, to raise, at least, their own provisions."

It appears also, by the same report, that every town in the Commonwealth, which had resorted to such establishments, and persevered in their support, had derived from them, very great and sensible relief from the burden of maintaining the poor, to which they had been antecedently subjected, and this also had been effected by the use, of means, which added both to the health, the comforts, and the happiness of the paupers themselves.

In order, however, to leave no degree of satisfaction, unattained, which it was in their power to acquire, your Committee appointed another sub-committee to visit the Marblehead and Salem Alms Houses, two establishments in high repute, for the vigor and intelligence, with which they were conducted, and the experience, resulting from which, was likely to be decisive, in relation to the general expediency of such institutions, from the distinguished character, the inhabitants of those towns have acquired throughout the Commonwealth, for their enterprise, prudence, and intelligence. It appeared, by the report of this sub-committee, that "the request to be permitted to visit and examine those establishments, was received, by their respective Overseers, in the most friendly and polite manner; that they were permitted to inspect every department of each institution, and that they obtained frank and unreserved answers, to all their inquiries." This examination resulted, "in the extreme gratification of the sub-committee, at the order and neatness, which prevailed, and the content and comfort of the poor, which was apparent, in both those institutions."