Excerpt from Report of a Special Inquiry Relative to Aged and Dependent Persons in Massachusetts, 1915: Pursuant to the Provisions of Chapter 120, Resolves of 1914, December 15, 1916 To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives: - I have the honor to submit herewith, pursuant to the provisions of the following resolve, a report relative to aged and dependent persons in the Commonwealth. Chapter 120, Resolves of 1914. Resolve to provide for securing in connection with the decennial census certain information relative to aged and dependent persons. Resolved, That, for the purpose of securing information for the general court for a proper consideration of the subject of old age pensions, so-called, the director of the bureau of statistics be required, in connection with the taking of the decennial census in the year nineteen hundred and fifteen, to collect, assort, arrange and transmit in print to the general court at his earliest convenience the following statistical information: - the number of persons sixty-five years of age and over in the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, and their length of residence in the Commonwealth; the number of dependent persons of all ages being supported in the various public and private institutions throughout the Commonwealth; the number of persons of all ages in the various cities and towns of the Commonwealth who are receiving aid from any public source, or who have received it during the preceding year, and the total amounts so paid. The director of the bureau of statistics is further authorized to compile statistics as to the number of persons aided from private sources, and the total amount so paid, and to obtain any other information which, in his opinion, may promote the purposes of the inquiry. All expenses under this resolve shall be paid out of the appropriation for said census, and, so far as may be practicable, the director shall give preference in tabulating the results of the census to the compilation of the information called for by this resolve. [Approved June 20, 1914. While it was found either impossible or impracticable to obtain certain classes of information (implied by a literal construction of the terms of this resolve) with sufficient accuracy and completeness to justify the expense that would have been involved, the endeavor has been faithfully made to carry out in all respects what was believed to be the intent of the Legislature in providing for the inquiry. Certain outstanding facts thus ascertained are summarized below before proceeding to consider the results of the inquiry in greater detail. The total number of persons 65 years of age and over in the Commonwealth, as determined by the decennial census April 1, 1915, was 189,047. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.