are raised in the form of a county tax. They are, however, so moderate as to be scarcely felt. Contracts for boarding the permanently poor are advertised, and let to the lowest bidder, who has a right to employ the pauper in any light work suited to the age or ability of the object of charity. They are said to be well treated. This sort of public exposure must create a repugnance against becoming a pauper. In the Eastern States, work houses are established. It is to be wished that those who follow this plan will not lose sight of the example of England. The operations of bankers, and the recent decline in trade, have been effective causes of poverty; and it seems probable that the introduction of manufacturing industry, and a reduction of base paper, would soon give effectual relief.
{203} It is not from the number of benevolent institutions, nor from the low condition of some families, nor from the insolvency of individuals, that I draw the conclusion that poverty prevails to a greater extent than I at first imagined. The appropriations for defraying the expenses of the State, together with the ways and means, and the deficiencies in payments, are highly illustrative. I shall transcribe two documents.
An act for making appropriations for the year one thousand
eight hundred and twenty.
Approved January 22, 1820.
Sec. I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the following sums be, and they are hereby appropriated for the following purposes; to wit, for defraying the expenses of the present General Assembly, including pay to the members thereof, secretaries, clerks, door-keepers, sergeants at arms, stationary, ink, ink-stands, fuel, printing, binding, and distributing the laws and journals, making marginal notes and indices to the same, together with all other just and necessary expenses, the sum of eight thousand five hundred dollars.
