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Show Poorhouse as It Exists in the United States Inferno of Our National Life By JOHN LEWIS G1LLIN Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin The poorhouse is the inferno of our national life, the place we put those we don't want to chloroform. We buy a farm in a fairly removed district or construct an entirely new building, where we incarcerate those who have no helper save the Lord, and often he can't do much for them. We put them where we can't see them or hear them then let them alone. Poor, helpless males constitute over two-thirds of the inmates of the poorhouses. Women seem able to keep themselves out. Of those in the poorhouses over seven-eighths are defective. Of these the largest single class are the feeble-minded. But changes are taking place. A growing number f poorhouses are built especially for the purpose, and are equipped with adequate facilities. The poorhouse of the District of Columbia is an example of the finest tvpe. A central building for administration, a fine hospital, a system of cottages in wdiich different classes of poor can be separated, and separate cottages for old couples, make it a place where it is possible to be poor without disgrace. The model almshouse of Bournville, England, near Birmingham, is also remarkable. It consists of little buildings built around a square, with a separate building for administration purposes. , i |