Charles Loring Brace - Dangerous Classes of New York, and Twenty Years Work among Them

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THE

DANGEROUS CLASSES OF NEW YORK,

AND

TWENTY YEARS' WORK AMONG THEM.

BY

CHARLES LORING BRACE,

AUTHOR OF

"HUNGARY IN 1851," "HOME LIFE IN GERMANY,"

"THE RACES OF THE OLD WORLD," ETC., ETC.

"Ameliorer l'homme par le terre et le terre par l'homme."Demetz.

NEW YORK.

WYNKOOP & HALLENBECK, PUBLISHERS,

113 FULTON STREET.

-

1872.

[Illustration: LODGING-HOUSES FOR HOMELESS BOYSAS THEY WERE. NO. 1.]

ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by

CHARLES LORING BRACE,

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

WYNKOOP & HALLENBECK,

FINE BOOK PRINTERS.

DEDICATION.

-

To the many co-laborers, men and women, who have not held their comfort or even their lives dear unto themselves, but have striven, through many years, to teach the ignorant, to raise up the depressed, to cheer the despairing, to impart a higher life and a Christian hope to the outcast and neglected youth of this city, and thus save society from their excesses, this simple record of common labors, and this sketch of the terrible evils sought to be cured, is respectfully dedicated.

INTRODUCTION.

-

The great pioneer in the United States, in the labors of penal Reform and the prevention of crime,EDWARD LIVINGSTON,said as long ago as 1833, in his famous "Introductory Report to the Code of Reform and Prison Discipline": "As prevention in the diseases of the body is less painful, less expensive, and more efficacious than the most skillful cure, so in the moral maladies of society, to arrest the vicious before the profligacy assumes the shape of crime; to take away from the poor the cause or pretence of relieving themselves by fraud or theft; to reform them by education and make their own industry contribute to their support, although difficult and expensive, will be found more effectual in the suppression of offences and more economical than the best organized system of punishment."(p. 322.)

My great object in the present work is to prove to society the practical truth of Mr. Livingston's theoretical statement: that the cheapest and most efficacious way of dealing with the "Dangerous Classes" of large cities, is not to punish them, but to prevent their growth; to so throw the influences of education and discipline and religion about the abandoned and destitute youth of our large towns, to change their material circumstances, and draw them under the influence of the moral and fortunate classes, that they shall grow up as useful producers and members of society, able and inclined to aid it in its progress.

In the view of this book, the class of a large city most dangerous to its property, its morals and its political life, are the ignorant, destitute, untrained, and abandoned youth: the outcast street-children grown up to be voters, to be the implements of demagogues, the "feeders" of the criminals, and the sources of domestic outbreaks and violations of law.

The various chapters of this work contain a detailed account of the constituents of this class in New York, and of the twenty years' labors of the writer, and many men and women, to purify and elevate it; what the principles were of the work, what its fruits, what its success.

So much interest at home and abroad has been manifested in these extended charities, and so many inquiries are received continually about them, that it seemed at length time to give a simple record of them, and of the evils they have sought to cure.

If the narrative shall lead the citizens of other large towns to inaugurate comprehensive and organized movements for the improvement of their "Dangerous Classes," my object will be fully attained.

I have the hope, too, that these little stories of the lot of the poor in cities, and the incidents related of their trials and temptations, may bring the two ends of society nearer together in human sympathy.

The discussion of the Causes of Juvenile Crime contained in this work must aid others who would found similar reformatory and preventive movements, to base them on principles and motives which should reach similar profound and threatening evils.

CHARLES LORING BRACE.

19 EAST 4TH STREET, NEW YORK.

June 1, 1872.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS.

-

CHAPTER I.

CHRIST IN CHARITY AND REFORM, AND CONDITION OF NEGLECTED CHILDREN BEFORE CHRISTIANITY.

Exposure of Children in RomeComments by Latin Authors upon the
PracticeTerenceSenecaSuetoniusRebukes by Early Christian
PreachersQuintilianTertullianLactantiusFirst "Children's Asylum"
under TrajanCharity of the AntoninesLegislation of the Christian
EmperorsInfluence of the Germanic RacesLegislation on the Exposure
of ChildrenFirst Children's Asylums in the Christian EraBrother
GuyNeglected Children the only Remains of Ancient "Dangerous
Classes"Change Wrought by ChristianityInfluence of Christianity in
Reform..pp. 13-24

CHAPTER II.

THE PROLETAIRES OF NEW YORK.

Not so Numerous as in London, but more DangerousDens of Crime and Fever-nestsAdvantage of Breaking them upThe Unrestrained Vices of this ClassTheir Ignorance and BrutalityDependence on PoliticiansGangs of Youthful CriminalsSimilar Dangers here as in ParisThe Riots of 1863Numbers of the Vagrant ClassComposition of this Dangerous Element.pp. 25-31

CHAPTER III.

CAUSES OF CRIME.

Preventible and Non-preventibleIgnoranceNumbers of Illiterates in
City Prisons and ReformatoriesOrphanageStatisticsOrphans in
MettraiEmigrationEffect in Producing CrimeNumbers of Prisoners of
Foreign BirthsFiguresHopeful FeaturesFewer Paupers ImmigrateWant
of TradeSelfishness of UnionsAversion to Steady Industry..pp. 32-38

CHAPTER IV.

CAUSES OF CRIMEWEAKNESS OF MARRIAGE-TIE.

Reasons why Second Marriage is Productive of Crime among the PoorForce
of Public Opinion in Preserving Marriage-bondWeakening of it by
EmigrationFruits of Free Love among the PoorINHERITANCEPower of
Transmitted Tendencies in Producing CrimeHopeful Feature in New
YorkFew Continued Families of Paupers and CriminalsAction of Natural
Selection in Favor of VirtueVicious Organizations Die OutExplanation
of Extraordinary Improvement in Children under Reformatory
InfluencesThe Immediate Influences of Bad Parents Overcome by the
Transmitted Tendencies of Virtuous Ancestors, and by New
CircumstancesThe Incessant Change of our People Favorable to
VirtueVillages more Exposed to Criminal Families than
CitiesCausespp. 39-50

CHAPTER V.

CAUSES OF CRIMEOVERCROWDING.

Form of New YorkIts Effect on PopulationBad Government Increases RentsRate of Population to the Square Mile in the Eleventh WardIn the Tenth, Seventeenth, and other WardsIn LondonGreater Overcrowding in New YorkInstance of Overcrowding in the First WardEffect on the Criminal Habits of GirlsThe Dens of Criminal BoysCellar PopulationEffect of Overcrowding on the Death-rateUpon the Crime of the City-RemediesBetter Means of Distributing PopulationImproved Communications with the CountryCheap and Honest GovernmentOrganized Movement for Transferring Labor to the CountryRemedy in Sanitary LegislationEffect of British Lodging-house ActsCellar Population of LiverpoolThe Model Lodging-housesGreat Need of them in New York.pp. 51-63

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