The St. Johns herald., 1891-10-08
PROSPERITY AND PIE.
An Illustration of How the One
 Feeds on the Other.
Statistics Which Tell Unerringly the Actual Condition of the Masses-HOw the Big Bakers Dispense Charity to
 Hungry Crowds.


 i in common. The hungry man who draws in his belt another notch as meal-time passes is not likely to spend his last nickel in the luxury of a triangular cut of juicy apple pie. Even that monarch of pies, the fascinating but unwhole- some mince pie, sends up it's alluring odor in vain; the man with the aching void passes by on the other side and | spends his nickel for doughnuts or i ham sandwich with mustard on it.
 The connection between poverty and l pie, says the Chicago News, IS not a ] subtle, indefnable abstraction which requires a metaphysical mind to unravel.
 It is as plain as a twice-told tale and
 good deal more interesting
 When the sale of pies runs below zero,
 hard, pinching poverty is abroad in the
 land and want takes the best seat at the
 poor mans table. As times grow better ! more pies are sold and want snealzs out
 into the alley. In some countries the
 infaIlible test of poor mans prosper ity comes with his ability to eat butter
 with his bread. In the United States
 Die is the sovereign test. The man who
 can't afford to cat pie with his lunch is
 poor indeed.
 Each of the big pie factories of Chi
 caCo possesses a barometer, which re-
 cords the upward and downward tend
 encies of grim poverty with nicety
 that leaves the professional gatherer
 of statistics away in the rear. Take
 the statement of the sales of these
 factories and you have the best
 and most perfect register of the
 prosperity of Chicago that is available.
 In the summer months, when the work
 ing-man has plenty of employment, the
 figqlres run high As the dull season
 approaches these same figures grow
 less and less, marking a perfect grad
 ation until hardpan is reached. when
 they begin to mount once more. Com
 pare the figures of one year with an-
 another and you get the complete
 statistics of the subject. This sugges-
 tion is thrown out gratuitously to the
 students of economic questions.
 Just now things are in bad way for
 the poor man. Business is dull and the labor market is overcrowded The
 bakc-shops and confectionery stores feel the pressure more perhaps than
 any other class of business. Not alone
 is it noticeable in decreased sales, but
 also in the increasing number of appli- cants for charity.
 Any evening between six and seven ; o'clock may be noticed a crowd of l twenty or thirty poorly dressed women and children with their baskets in their hands standing at the back door of a } downtown bakery. They are waiting ? for the evening distribution of broken victuals. Most of them are foreigners,
 with here and there a person who ) looks as if she had known better days.
 Not all of them are recipients of
 charity. Some bring money with them
 and insist on paying for what they get. I These make up the self-respecting ele-
 ment who are making hard struggle to rise out of the slough of poverty. 9 A little group of swarthy Italians 5 stands a short distance from the others, r They are waiting to buy stale bread. t They are particular in what they eat, it S is said. Not every kind of stale bread l. will suit them. Rye bread they abhor n and are partial to Vienna bread and the h fancy kinds.
 s Certain boarding-house keepers come V here to buy cake of an ancient make, > which they make fresh again by pc n culiar process known only to the initi- q ated The tramp occasionally mingles e with the crowd, but his society is ta- a booed and the dispenser of charity cold 6 ly warns him off the premises. pf At Washington street bakery char e ity begins to distribute her favors about V the time the business man has got q through with his lunch. Three gener e ations can occasionally be found here h There is the wrinkled grandmothel st who first saw the light somewhere 1T Q Sicily. Her age is uncertain, but it i: h near seventy. Her daughter and hel e granddaughter complete the trio. The
 proprietor estimates that nearly fifty .o persons are fed each day from the pro D. visions received in this way. Stale 1t bread is also sold here at from onC g cent to one and half cent loaf. Tht lC rule in this place is to help every on, le who looks decent and who doesn't smel to of whisky.
 ct On the West side at the big bakerie to no aid is given to individuals Wha ID there is to be given away is bestowe of entirely on charitable institutions er One firm sends out in this way abou le fifteen barrels of biscuits a month r, making about seven hundred and fit t. pounds.
 in favorite method of many person ed with limited incomes is to purchas e. broken biscuits and ''cripples." CriI C.. pies are biscuits twisted out of shap ed by the heat while in the oven. Nearl es twenty barrels of ''cripples" are sol eh every day.
 oy It is said to be not uncommon fo ld wealthy people to drive up in carriage us and purchase broken biscuits. Nov IT. and then they are curtly told that non
 can be had; but they are persisten
 and return again and again, so cage ay are they to save on their table e2