Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-01-09
HEREDlTY OF POVERTY.
The Kind of Children That Inhabit Some
Parts of New York City.


Parts of New York City.
AS contribution to the study of So
ciology Jacob Riis' new book, 1.-THE
Children of the Poor" is of as much
value as his former work, ''How the
Other Half Lives" which created so
much comment among students of the
important question of caring for the
poor of our great cities. Mr.. Riis care
fully considers the influence of race and
previous condition of parents in his eff
forts to establish causes for the depravi-
ty of the slums. What he has written
upon this point is of more than ordinary
interest.
IL careful comparison of the data
furnished in different chapters is cor
rect and is rightly understood, this evi-
dence shows that the moral quality of
the individual has nothing to do with
the race from which he sprang, but is
wholly personal tendency due to train
ing, good or bad, as the case may be,
from childhood.
1t shows also that whatever the ma
tional prejudices of the original immi-
grant-whether he was a surly Bohe-
mian, a laughter loving Italian, devil
may-care Tishman, or what not-the
second or third generation shows such
modification as to justify Mr.. Riis in as
serting over and over again that the
children have become-not Americans
in the narrow sense of the older time
when our civilization was merely an
| Enp1icl, 1co, l,,f 4,,
broader sense of new civilization
which is working out its destiny on this
| continent
Where there are permanent variations
| due to race they are frequently found to
be such as eventually must be ofNuse to
the new world in which these strangers
have found place. Taking the Italian
immigrants at their very worst, Nj. Riis
says:
And yet, with it all, with the swarm
of squalling youngsters that were as
black as the floor they rolled upon,
there was evidence of desperate, if
hopeless, groping after order, even neat
ness. | am satisfied that this instinct
inhabits not only the more aristocratic
Genoese, but his fellow countryman
from the southern hills as well, little as
they resemble each other or agree in
most things.
But the Neapolitan especially does not
often get chance to prove it. He is so
altogether uninviting an object when he
! presents himself fresh from the steamer
that he falls naturally the victim of the
slum tenement, which in his keep be-
comes, despite the vigilance of the sani-
tary police, easily enough the convenient
depot and half way house between the
garbage dump and the bone factory.
Starting thus below the bottom, as it
We're, he has an up hill journey before
him if he is to work out of the slums,
and the promise, to put it mildly, is not
good. He does it all the same, or, if
not he, his boy. 1t is not an Italian sed-
iment that breeds the tough Parental
authority has strong enough grip on
the lad in Mulberry street to make him
work, and that is his salvation.
SIN seventeen years." said the teacher
of the Oldest Italian ragged school in
the city, which day and night takes in
quite 600, 81 have seen my boys work up
into decent mechanics and useful citi-
zens almost to u man, and of my girls
only two that l know of have gone
astray." l had observed the process
often enough myself to know that she
was right. 1t is to be remembered fur
thermore that her school is in the very
heart of the Five Points district and
takes in always the worst and dirtiest
crowds of children.