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100 HABITATIONS AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE POOR.
the work-houses of the metropolis. But while I
conceive that such a measure, if generally adopted
throughout London, would defray its own cost, and
would remove evils and miseries horrid to contemplate,
I cannot but feel that it would be inadmissable
(in its cheapest form) as a local measure. For if
the price of reception—for instance, here, were so
low as to allure the wretched population in question
from their places of present resort within the
City, it cannot be doubted that its influence would
extend beyond your jurisdiction, and would throng
your dormitories with the destitute of other districts.
As the evil is metropolitan, so ought the remedy to
be; and if there were thus instituted within each
union of the metropolis, a Ragged Dormitory of the
nature described, I am persuaded, from my knowledge
of the poorest classes, that its establishment
would be of infinite advantage in improving the
habits, and diminishing the mortality of those who
would become its inmates.