The Extent of Poverty and Pauperism in the United States.--The census
reports showed that in the year 1904 there were about 500,000 dependents
in institutions in the United States. While the number who received
relief outside of institutions from public and private sources is not
known, it is certain that it is many times the total of those in
institutions. It is generally estimated that about five per cent of our
population are recipients of some sort of charitable relief in a single
year. In our large cities the number who receive relief from public and
private sources, even in average years, is very much higher. In New
York apparently the number who receive relief in an average year reaches
fourteen per cent, while in Boston the number who receive relief has
reached as high as twenty per cent in a single year. It seems probable,
therefore, that taking the country as a whole nearly five per cent of
our population have to have some sort of help every year. That would
make the number who received relief in 1904 about 4,000,000, and
probably this is not an excessive estimate.
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