The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-11-30
POVERTY"
a Book That Ought to Make the
World Think.
3. HUNTER, SOCIAL EEEoRHER,


Arraisns Conditions 1ha, Give One
Hundred and Twenty-Five Thou
sand People HaIf the Ns-
tion's Wesith.
Like a voice crying in the wilder
ness of wealth and luxury, Rooei1
Hunter, the young social reformer,
has uttered an appeal for the ten mil
lion people Of the United States who
are stepped in proverty. To give effect
to the appeal, Mr. Hunter, with bis
young and beautiful wife, formerly
Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes, daughter
OF Millionaire Arson Phelps Stokes,
has abandoned mansion Of wealth
and luxury in fashionable Madison
avenue and established in Grove
street, where sloth and proyerty abide
on all sides, home from which he
and Mrs. Hunter will be able to devote
their efforts toward the alleviation OF
the suffering.
Not with any fare OF trunrets has
Mr.. Hunter taken this radical step.
He and his pretty wife, whom &c nat
q year ago while they were separately
mipisteripg to the poor OF the Sums,
had been in their quarters a week De-
fore the newspapers found them out.
They modestly disclaim any purpose
to do anything but bear their just
share OF any responsibilities that the
perilous situation may impose upon ali
lovers of mankind. But already they
are actively engaged in a score Ct
practical charitable movements.
his BOX ON POVERTY"
Co-incidenS with their removed to
No. So Grove street, Mr. Hunters
book on Poverty" was published by
the Macmilians It is the result Of Mr..
Hunters fifteen years OF labor among
the poor Of the nation, and it is ter
rible arraignment OF the State, the
corporations and the individual en-
ployers Of labor, whom he charges
with Joint responsibility for the con-
6itions that prevail.
Startling as is his statement that
there are 10000 900 people in the
United eighth Of our pop
Misunderstanding from proverty to-
day; that the scourage Of mankinc-
onsumption-is epidemic, and thai
the poor are poorer than ever; he docs
not stop there, but predicts, unlesS re-
medal measures are adopted, an even
worse condition, ending In an &C. n
omic feudalism worse than the baron
ial feudaEsm Of the Middle Ages.
Mr.. Hunter !does not especially
charge the Trusts with responsibility
for the conditions, but the inference
which be draws is plain.
Poverty" is a book which is bound
to create sensation among thinking
people.
At the beginning OF his cook, M.
Hunter, in a chapter on general pow
erty, defines the geographical limits
Of the state Of misery With which be
proposes to deal After referring 20
the slum districts Of foreign cities, be
says:
CoSGLoMERATE POVERTY.
in our American cities negroes,
whites, Chinese, Mexicans, half
breeds, Americans, Irish and others
are indisc1iminately housed together
in the same tenements and even in
the same roorls. Tae blind, the Grip
pied, the coDsunptive, tbs aged, the
ragged ends Of life, tie babies, the
children, the haif-starved, uncerclad
beginnings in life, all huddled to-
gether, waiting, drifting. This is pau
periSm. There is 10 mental agony
here; they do not work SORE; there is
no dread; they live miserably, but
they do not care"
Continuing, the author says:
How many people in this country
are In poverty2 Is the number year
ly growing larger? Are there each
year more and more Of the unskilled
class pursuing hopelessly the elusive
phantom OF self-support and indepen-
6ence? 7 have not
the slightest doubt that there are in
the United States 10, 900, 900 cerSonS
in precisely these conditions Of power
ty, but 7 am largely guessing, and
there may be as many as fifteen or
twenty millions. But ought We not
TO know?
THE number Of evictiops in any
community is fairly good measure Of
the minimum Of distress. L. the
year 1908 6O,463 families IN the
Borough Of Manhattan were eVicted
from their homes. This is about II
per cent. Of the total Dpmber OF the
families in the borough.
''As another indication the nunbsr
OF pauper burials shou;d be cited.
Every one familiar with the poor
knows how desperately they sturggle
to give a decent burial to their dead,
and yet one in every ten peg
sons VINO die in New York is buried
at public expense in Potter'S Field.
Summarizing some of the facts
which he then gives Mr.. Hunter pre-
ssntS this table:
STATISTICS OF DISTRESS.
1s03-Twenty per cent Of the peo..
pie Of Boston in distress.
1S97-Nineteen per cent Of the peo-
pie Of New Yor in distress.
16s9-Eighteen per cent Of the peo-
pie Of New York in distress.