Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/501

 THE SMOKY PILGRIMS

487

chiefly by begging and by what it can pick up along the way. This is a different species from the family of movers that travels from place to place with a definite purpose ; although the former class may be said to have come from the latter. They are a

I- ic. I. -Habitation No'. I.

product of the method of settlement of the West. Moving on and on, with ever repeated failures, they are finally outclassed in the race for land, and lose place in the ranks of self-support.

The towns and villages of the country all have their pauper families, which demand the constant care of the benevolently disposed to keep them supplied with food and clothing. Here, as in the city, indiscriminate charity and the lack of proper administration of local government tend to increase the pauper condition^ Hence it i> easy lr a pauper family to fasten itself upon a rural community, without hope of doing better, and with no other intention than to be ted ami cared for by their neigh- bors. These pauper and semi-pauper families are found in every village, and, their life being largely without restraint, pauper and criminal characteristics develop quite rapidlv. Just as typhoid and malarial fevers prevail to a greater ex tent in small to\\ns than in large cities, on account of the difference in the care