state of extreme poverty and wretchedness, so as to
compel them, at least to the extent of their abilities,
to assist themselves. The want of appropriate regu-
lations, under an accurate and correct management,
as it applies to this very difficult branch of political
economy, is one of the chief causes of the numerous
criminal offences which afflict society in Europe

.
It is one of the greatest nurseries of crimes, from which
you are already not exempted in the larger societies
in America, perhaps from this scene of turpitude;
this gangrene, not having as yet sufficiently attracted
the notice of your government.

Upon this important branch of political economy,
much useful information will be found in the reports
of the society of the poor, exhibiting a vast scope for
the exertion both of public and private benevolence,
particularly the latter; as it respects the former, the
preliminary sketches on the poor, by Jeremy Bentham

,
Esq., furnish much curious and important matter,
which will be read with great interest by the philo-
sopher, the statesman, and the philanthropist.

Periods of scarcity are not so likely to happen in
America as in Europe

: yet as the food of man rises
to an enormous price in the United States, as often
as extraordinary demands are made upon you, the
condition of your poor, in the large cities, must, in a
certain degree, claim the occasional attention of the
benevolent; and therefore, as it may be interesting to
know what has been accomplished in this country,
and particularly in this great metropolis, during the
recent periods of scarcity, I have taken the liberty
to send you several tracts, and other papers, upon this
subject, which have been chiefly compiled by myself
for the use of the public, and the various societies
with which I was connected, where I generally had
the labouring oar. These papers are the more inte-
resting, as they tend to prove how much may be
gained by an economizing system, and at how small
an expense, under proper management, it is possible