Scientific Charity Movement

The Scientific Charity Movement was a movement that arose in the early 1870s in the United States to stop poverty. It sought to move the role of supporting the impoverished away from government and religious organizations and into the hands of Charity Organization Societies. These Societies claimed the altruistic goals of lifting the poor out of poverty through the means of education and employment, and did make some strides to help young children involved in immoral underaged labor practices. However when it came to the COS's treatment of the "defective class" as they were labeled (insane, feeble-minded, blind, crippled, maimed, deaf and dumb, epileptic, criminal types, prostitutes, drug addicts, and alcoholics), the Scientific Charity Movement's other goals based in the popular post civil war social scientific theories of eugenics and social Darwinism came to light. Many of these "defective classes" were moved from the streets and into insane asylums where they were often experimented on by scientists of the time.

Two of the biggest advocates for moving Charity Organization Societies to the United States were Josephine Lowell and S. Humphreys Gurteen. Lowell had been raised by a radical abolitionist family and firmly believed that idleness was one of the largest causes of poverty. She believed that before someone should be allowed to receive aid they should first be required to complete a labor test of some basic task like cutting wood. She was opposed to local governments giving relief as well as almsgiving and stated that the best way to help the poor was to "help them help themselves".

Gurteen, an English-born son of an Anglican preacher, is often attributed to bringing Charity Organization Societies to the United States. He was in support of consolidating already-existing groups who were providing aid and inspections in which COS agents would investigate those seeking aid to determine if they were faking or if they actually needed the aid.

Poorhouses and workhouses were tax-supported residential institutions where those who could not support themselves were sent to work as an alternative to welfare systems then known as "outdoor relief." Poorhouses arose before the Scientific Charity Movement arrived in the US. While some members of the movement were in favor of the poorhouses, the Scientific Charity Movement had an instrumental role in the ending of the poorhouses. They were also responsible for the banning of children being allowed in the poorhouses. As time went on the safety net provided by progressive era reforms (many of which were supported by the Charity organization societies), helped to keep more people out of the poorhouses and eventually they were phased out or converted into nursing homes for the elderly or disabled. Many of the poorhouses laid the groundwork for orphanages general hospitals, and mental hospitals later on and while many of those in the poorhouses were able to reenter society, however those deemed unfit were moved to the asylums.

...
Wikipedia