Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-03-01


flood; the Bahylonians said 1t was
caused by a cyclone, but in Canaan a
different reason had to be given. be-
cause cyclones never happen there.
Professor Delitzsch said that even the
Jewish Sabbath was of Babylonian ORR
gin. In conclusion he said that much
Of the recent explorations in Babylon
was due to the assistance by the en-
peror.
THE SOCIAL ABYSS IN ENGLAND.
Seven Million, Five Hundred Thousand
People Living Below the Poverty
Line.
A writer in the current Contempo-
rary Review calls attention to some
staggering" revelations in Mr.. B. S.
Eowntree's recently published Power
ty." chiefly to this. that out of En-
glands population of 32.500,000, at least
100000 are living below the poverty
line. Mr.. Rowntree says: Eve have
been accustomed to look upon the pow
erty in London as exceptional, but
when the result of careful investigation
shows that the proportion of poverty in
London is practically equalled in what
may be regarded as typical provincial
town, we Ore faced by the startling
probability that from % to 30 per cent
of the town populations of the United
Kindom are living in poverty" The
all-important question in considering
Mr.. Rowntree's results is his definition
of poverty. He attempts, by elabo-
rate calculations and comparisons to
reckon minimum of physically
healthful existence. This he terms the
poverty line. He allows here for no
item but the primitive wants of the
human animal-food shelter, light and
warmth, clothing.
"a family living upon the scale al
lowed for in this estimate must never
spend a penny on railway fare or ON
nibus. They must never go into the
country unless they walk. They must
never purchase a halfpenny newspaper
or spend q penny to buy ticket for a
popular concert. They must write no
letters to absent children. for they can
not afford to pay the postage They
must never contribute anything to
their church, or chapel, or give any
help to a neighbor which costs them
money. They can not save. nor can
they join sick club or trade union,
because they can not pay the necessary
subscriptions. The children must have
no pocket money for dolls, marbles or
sweets. The father must smoke no to-
bacco and drink no beer. The mother
must never buy any pretty clothes for
herself or for her children, the charac-
ter of the family wardrobe as for the
family diet being governed by the reg
,ulation: Nothing must be bought but
that which is absolutely necessary for
the maintenance of physical health.
and what is bought must be OF the
plainest and most economical descrip-
ton Should child fall i'll, it must
be attended by the parish doctor:
should it die. it must be buried by the
parish. Finally, the wage Garner must
never be absent from bis work for a
single day"
And poverty means, for Mr.. Rown-
tree the falling below this minimum
standard!
Taking the city of York as repre-
sentative Of average conditions in En-
gland, Mr.. Rowntree analyses the
causes of the poverty Of 1000 of its
population. The results are as fol-
lows: One thousand one hundred and
thirty he found due to the death of the
chief wage Garner; $40 to his illness or
old age: 16T only--thirty-eigh fami
lies, surely representing period of alb
normal prosperity-due to the chief
wage Garner being out of work; 205
due to irregularity Of work: 1000 due
to largeness of family; and 3756-64o
families-in which the father is in
regular warlS, the family is not abnor-
mally large but the low wages paid
never lift them above the poverty line.
Mr. Rowntree gives the occupations of
all this dreary multitude. They cover
practically the whole field of unskilled
labor. General laborers. carriers, rail-
hairdresser, a lamplighter and a teach
er of music are examples of this varied
assortment. Their average family
earnings are 1Ss Cd; the average total
number of the family SIS. and their
weekly balance shows q total average
deficiency on the minimum scale (with-
out, be it understood. one half-penny
for drink, tobacco or the milder joys of
life) of FIVE shillings and farthing per
family.
THE wages paid for unslilled labor
in York are insufficient to provide food,
shelter and clothing adequate to main
tain family of moderate size in state
of bare physical efficiency" If for
York we can also read every similar
provincial city in England. we can
Justify Mr.. Rowntree's use of italics.
This must mean one of two things, says
The writer in the Contemporary, either
u continually degenerating physical
stock to sell their labor, growing less
effective each generation, for contin-
ually lessening remuneration; or n
supplement of the wages with the
earnings of other more favored classes;
all the decentralization of gusty phiian-
thropy and the support of parasitic
population of seven millions Frankly
this is AN abyss. 1t is life from which
the elements of rational and fllumi-
rated experience have been withdrawn
The outline of the abyss Is wavering
and uncertain, and the particular deni-
zens are continually changing. AS In
the locust horde, the individuals con-