The times., 1899-02-11
HOW POVERTY LEADS TO CRIME
An Argument for the Better Com
pensation of Labor.

1UN IUN Enl bEdUS lV ShlME
An Argument for the Better Com |
pensation of Labor.
To the Editor of The Times:
Please receive the thanks OF every work
ing man for your article under the heading,
How Poverty Leads to Crime" pub ished
Sunday. January %. last. VIII you kind
ly reproduce the last paragraph of your
article with some comments? You said:
There used TO be a great deal OF talk abo;t
the blessings of honest poverty. There are some
blessings in that condition, when poverty means
living wages IN place where health is possible
and nature Is the children's playmate. There i
great deal of comfort in some little homes
where the income is almost invisible from
millionaires point of view. The children of such
homes grow up sturdy and full of life, resource
full and philosophical. That kind of poverty
harms nobody. But the grinding, bitter Iniser.
Of n life Of starvation disease and evil associa-
tionS another matter. There is no blessing on
that kird OF poverty. either for the poor who toll
day and night for less than a hare living or for
the rich who make their 10 per cent a year out
of tenement-hou rookcries. That sort OF poy-
erty-the poverty which a man must steal II
he would secure the ordinary comforts OF life
for his dear ones-is n disgrace to the nation,
and ii is time realized that fact, and set
about the cure OF this horrible cancer Oh the body
polite.
! There can be no question that people
/ who are compelled to live upon less than
is necessary to sustain life properly be-
come more or less degraded in their strug-
gle to live. Yet that is the condition OF Il
larger number of people than most other
wise well-informed persons are aware OF
! | know that this statement may be dis
puted. for there are individual cases where
persons have refused to be degraded BY
their surroundings and whose mental and
! physical constitutions We're so strong as To
! enable them to pass through labors and
evil surroundings with strength undimin-
/ ished and souls untarnished, where less ro-
| bust persons sank under the strain put
/ upon them. But where one such person
succeeds there are a hundred who become
more or less degraded.
/ Let us enquire how much is necessary
that n family. say. of five persons. shall
, live comfortably in our larger cities.
wish to call the attention of the renders of
The Times to one report only-that pre-
pared by Mary S. Ferguson on Boarding
/ Houses and Clubs for Working Women"
! published in the Bulletin of the Depart
ment of Labor of the United States Gov
4 ernment for March. 1898. This report Is
made up from reports submitted by ninety
/ institutions for sheltering and boarding
working girls and women, located in the
Z larger cities of this country. for the year
! ending June 30, 1897 Eighty Of these in
stitutons reported that the total cost Of
their maintenance. exclusive of rent and
interest. and SUMS paid on buildings. was
/ $3.50. 1921. There was paid by these in
stitutions 81, .07 for rent. interest. and
I GaymeGis on mortgages. The number pay
ing rent was twenty-five, two had their
( rent donated. and thirty-seven paid no
rent. The total number OF inmates in the
/ eighty institutions which reported the cost
: of their maintenance was 5.274, and this
! was probably a fair average of their num-
bers during the year. The cost per week
per inmate was therefore SiC5. The cost
OF clothing each inmate should be added
to this. which would make the total eX-
pensss Of each inmate not less than 81 4
week. If she was i'll this sum would not
pay her expenses.
! Some of these institutions made no
charges against women out of employment
keeping them longer or shorter time ani
( requiring them to assist in the work The
highest charge was 81 week, but only in
one institution.
The inmates of these eighty institutions
paid into their treasures 1853 4O172, their
] board and lodging costing them sS.34 a
week, but the benefactors OF these institu-
! tions paid, including rent, interest, cost Of
buildings, etc, for the support of these
eighty institutions $l9S 1856 the same
/ year.
/ Apply these figures to the cost of living
| in families 1t must be remembered that
these institutions bought the articles they
needed in large quantities, and therefore
/ got them much cheaper than family
could buy them for in small quantities.
| Counting the three children of a family
/ OF five as two grown persons. the eN-
penses of family of five persons in our
larger cities at the same cost as the aver
age inmate OF these institutions paid and
the amount necessary to keep that family
is found TO be 500 week. This family
must pay house rent, must educate the
children. must pay larger physicians bills.
Their bills for shoes will be much greater
than those the inmates OF these institu-
tions pay. Yet We know the income OF
few families OF mechanics and laborers
amount to such sum. Few laborers in
our large cities make over 50 "A week, and
few mechanics over SIS a week when they
make full time. And how many make less
than full time. especially those who are
employed at street work or in the build
ing trades,
We may build churches and school
houses and employ teachers and support
ministers of the gospel. but if we do not
give our iaboring people sufficient wages
TO enable them TO maintain a comfortable
standard of life they must degenerate. and
degeneration must lead to crime. Religion
and patriotism both demand that sufficient
income must be earned by our laboring
people to enable Them TO live honestly aud
decently. Ii they do not the community
must pay in protecting itself and in the
support of criminals and paupers what
should be paid in wages. The civilization
of the age is at stake, for no high state OF
civilization can be maintained while a
large proportion of the people are retro
grading. II. NJ. BEADLE.