THE PROBLEM OF PAUPERISM j^r 



" lo. The youngest child has a tendency to 

 become the pauper of the family. 



"II. Youngest children are more likely than 

 the older ones to become the inmates of the 

 poorhouse through the misconduct or misfort- 

 une of parents. 



" 12. Such younger children, who remain in- 

 mates of the almshouse long enough to form 

 associations that live in the memory and habits 

 that continue in the conduct, have a greater 

 tendency to revert spontaneously to that condi- 

 tion whenever any emergency of life overtakes 

 them, and domesticate there more readily than 

 older children whose greater strength has kept 

 them out during youth. 



"13. Induced pauperism may lead to the es- 

 tablishment of the hereditary form." 



Mr. Dugdale's studies confirm my own less 

 thorough investigations. Pauperism is primarily 

 caused by lack of vitality, or transmitted weak- 

 ness. That lack of vitality carries with it ten- 

 dencies to thriftless habits and animal vices 

 which almost invariably manifest themselves in 

 character and conduct. The pauper is not only 

 the slave of poverty, but also the natural prey 

 of licentiousness and intemperance. 



Though statistics show that the children of 



