The representative., 1894-10-10

WHAT ARE We COMING TO9
Hugo Preyer's Statistics .r,ca
Who Are the PauDers IN
and Why,

and arise in their might 10
financial system that is the CAUSE O
this distress.
To many persons the statement. tha' .''
American people as whole are llt'ie
than paupers seems ridiculous ana aD9u
a calamity howl without shadow Oh ioui.
dation Let us today examine some "
fetal and well weighed statements Oh proni-
inent men who have investigated pfle So"
ject. $50
First. permit me to introduce 10 you -.
report Of a congressional committee wiz
appointed to ascertain the aclua4 ~, TU
dition Of the masses of the country -.
committee appointed by the ForIy
congress, reported Dec. 10, 1879 as Follows.
Average yearly income Of all laporeis'
divided by the number of living days In lhs
year, $1.02. This amounts In 1aInly ~
five persons for each person. ~ cents pei
day.
Average yearly earnings Of all laborers
borers rs cents a day, or Is cents a day for
each person in family Of five.
The average wages paid for all KINGS ol
labor in Ohio are rs cents per day; Massao
chusetts. 81 cents per day; Chicago, $Loz
per day.
General average cost OF living Groceries,
$24725; clothing, $6661; fuel, $3.50; rent
1927; recreation, $1O7; education $n.64;
total, $445.5O.
Average excess of expenditures over aver
age earnings per year, $70
The above statement allows each person
in family of five per day: For subsist-
ence 13 cents, clothing 3-5 cents. fuel 40
cents, rent cents, recreation 1-lO cent
education 3-6 cent, total % cents.
So far the official report of the congress
sional committee, composed Of Republicans
and Democrats, show that the average earn
ings were at that time $1O2 a day, or about
20 cents a day to the man who had to sup
port a family Of five, which most toilers
have; and the report further shows that
the expenses were greater than the In
come, necessitating credit at the store
which could not be paid, hence the failure
of business houses.
Let us go a little further. Before me is
a speech delivered by Hon. Ben Butter
worth of Ohio, in the halls Of congress
May 16, 1885, Ben is good Republican au-
thority. I quote from his speech the fol-
lowing:
Average wages in Philadelphia, $40, or
95 cents per day; New Orleans, 1891, or $1.07
per day; Richmond Va, 1914, or so cents
per day; Louisville, KY, $33456. or 80 cents
per day; Augusta, Ga, $26795. or Y cents
per day; Cincinnati, $685. or SO cents per
day; Lowell, Mass, 1924, or so cents per
day; st. Louis, 1924. or $1.02 per day.
Wages had come down some since 1850
to 1883.
Permit me to quote from the New York
Recorder, a rampant Republican paper,
under date of Aug. 23 1881:
Speaking of the striking cloakmakers in
that city it said: "Their children cry for
food, and there is none. The few clothes
that covered their backs are gone, and in
many of the little houses the children play
ed on the floor with scarcely a rag to hide
their nakedness. These people are not
striking for more pay. but because their
employers wanted to make their meager
pay still smaller
Now permit me to quote from the Chicago
Journal which, speaking Of the wooden
workers in that city, said: 'These people
are working their lives away with long
hours and hard work, only to be rewarded
with beggars pittance and who are con-
demned to slavery Of the worst kind"
The census reports Of 1890 show that about
100000 people are fed, supported in and
by charitable institutions. This is equal to
about one person out Of every 20 Of our
population.
Yhe statistical reports Of Massachusetts,
show that in 1890, 1,461 farms were abandon
ed In that state. and 3,318 in Maine, Yer
mont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island,
or Ats in these five states. (See Massachu-
setts labor report, 1g1, pages 162-1ss)
The census records Of 1890 also show that
there are on record In the United States
100000 mortgages with an average in
debtedness Of $3.50 each. equal to about
5000, ,O0O, ,OOO
Now. in view Of these statistical facta
could be added columns Of bankruptcies,
suicides. murders, starvation and prostitu-
don-an as the direct effect Of poverty
what becomes Of the silly sEy that The
people OF the United States are prosper
eus'?
I might also add q oolun,n Of testimony
from all over the United States sivinr the
opinion Of laIborers in this country ooxnpar-
Ing their condition here with that In their
mother country. showing. In most cases
that they were better fed, better clothed
batter housed. better paid aAA better
amused in their respective native countries.
What becomes OF the silly cry Of a few
Prohibitionists who attributs all poverty T.
drink, when tha records shew that q ma
5ority Of mankind earn scarcely enough =
buy food and clothing and pay rentf One
tenth Of a cent II used for Focreaden, n
drinking L. classed as recreation.
A nation where the toilerv can average
oaly dollar q day Is a nation e6 paalpsFA
and no enc dare deny IT. No one but .
knave. fool or seullsss creature win deny Il