Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-04-04
CHARITY RELIEF and WAGES
BUREAU OF LABOR BULLETIN
ON LOCAL CONDITIONS.
Figures Based on Records Of the As
ISOLATED Charities Given in Gov
eminent Publication.

A study OF the charity relief given
through the Associated Charities in Wash
ington in 1905 is presented by DIR. S. T..
Forman In bulletin No. 70 of the bureau
of labor, Department of Commerce and
Labor, under the title, Charity Relief
and Wage Earnings" In the examination
of the cases of several thousand persons
who sought relief the writer tries to ascer-
tain to what extent their distress was
due to low wages and to what extent to
irregular employment or other causes.
The charity records of 1.183 families
were studied, of which 452 were white and
731 colored families, while only 40 were of
wholly foreign extraction. The total num-
Der of persons in these families was 1885,
of whom 1.SD were white and 2.5O5
colored. These people are described as
for the most part the floating, unattached
poor. They rarely belong TO a union or
lodge; few have friends or relations, or
even church connections to turn to for
help.
The average size of the families was
81 persons. as against an average of
40 persons for all families in Washington,
the small average size of the charity
families being due to the fact that nearly
40 per cent were families of only one or
two persons. The number of children
under ten years of age was 800 per cent
of the charity population, as compared
with 1913 per cent for the total population
of Washington. and the excess in the
large.
Deaths and Desertions.
The number of families in which either
the husband or the wife was dead is
strikingly large, 337, or nearly 30 per
cent Of all. belonging to this class In
LA families either the husband or the wife
had deserted, this number representing
1876 per cent of the 1856 families in which
both husband and wife were living. The
total number of families without a male
head as support was 444, or 37.5 per cent
of the total.
Seventy-seven and two-tenths per cent
of all the persons over sixteen years Of
age and IL per cent of the children under
tions. but at the time Of the application
for relief the wages of the chief wage
Garner had entirely ceased in more that
two-thirds of the families. If to these
there were no chief wage-earners, it is
seen that altogether three-fourths of the
families were without q regular bread
winner at the time OF the application for
relief
In over two-ffths of the families in
which the normal wages were definitely
known the rate for the male worker rang
ed from 81 to 81 per day. the wage gen
orally not exceeding $50 per day. In
fOrty-three cases pensions were received,
but with this exception the element of
income other than wages was insgnif-
cant. When the regular earnings were
cut Off practically everything was gone.
In 90 per cent of the cases relief con-
sisted of food. In nearly half of the
cases fuel was one of the articles given.
The payment OF rent did not figure large
ly. because charity organizations seldom
grant relief for arrears in rent. and be-
cause the applicants usually attempt to
get the rent paid before appealing for
food and fuel
Causes Of Delinquencies.
Delinquencies were reported in 394 fam
lilies, or one-third of the total number.
These delinquencies were chiefly intern
perance, desertion. RIGHTEOUSNESS, neglect
by natural supporters lawlessness. thiev-
ing and mendicancy. In nearly one-third
of these cases-that Is to say, in nearly
one-ninth of all the families-intemper-
ance was the evil.
Among the immediate causes of distress
sickness figured In nearly one-half of
the families, rheumatism and tubercu-
losis being the principal diseases. Next
to sickness was lack of employment. and
third in the list was insufficient wages.
Sickness. lack of employment. INSULT
Client wages. accident and old age con-
stituted 81 per cent of all direct causes.
In addition to the immediate causes of
distress, contributing and underlying or
Here the moral element figures more
prominently than In the immediate
causes. As direct impelling causes shift
lessness. desertion, intemperance and IL
centiousness had to answer for hardly 5
per cent of all the cases: as contributory
and as underlying causes In one-third of
all the cases.