In 1882 a special fund
was started for the purpose of giving aid to women left with children,
and about L380 was subscribed thereto, while the ordinary income was
only L680. The special fund can hardly be said as yet to have got into
working order, but when the cost of proving the property of the
recipients, with the necessary expenses of office rent, salaries, &c.,
have been deducted from the ordinary income, the amount left to be
distributed among the persons deemed by the officials deserving of
assistance is small indeed, the expenses reaching about L330 per year.
In 1880 it cost L329 18s. 4d. to give away food, cash, and clothing,
&c., valued at L386 16s. 6d., an apparent anomally which would not be so
glaring if the kind-hearted and charitable would only increase the
income of the Society, or re-organise it upon a wider basis.--For
statistics of poverty and the poor see "_Pauperism_" and "_Poor Rates_."
~Charitable Trusts.~--See "_Philanthropical Institutions_," &c.
~Chartism.~--Following the great Reform movement of 1832, in which
Birmingham led the van, came years of bad harvests, bad trade, and
bitter distress. The great Chartist movement, though not supported by
the leaders of the local Liberal party, was taken up with a warmth
almost unequalled in any other town in the Kingdom, meetings being held
daily and nightly for months in succession, Feargus O'Connor, Henry
Vincent, and many other "orators of the fiery tongue," taking part.
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