The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-08-08
WAGES AN ISSUE
Better Pay Fundamental For
Social Betterment.
NUTRITIOUS FOOD NEEDED

Physical Well Being and Higher Wages
Recognized as Prerequisites of Great
est Development - MaInutrition Air
Line to Penitentisry.
Seldom has a more forcible presen.
taton Of the vital Importance Of higher
wages been made even before a labor
gathering than was made in Washing
ton before the International Kinder.
garten union by Professor Scott Near.
ing of the University Of Pennsylvania,
says the American Federationist. Wage
earners have long realized the immedi-
ate relationship between wages and
standards of living Other thinkers
are coming to realize this truth also.
Poor food. insanitary homes, improper
clothing and undernourished bodies
are not always the result of ignorance,
but more often are the result Of low
wages. AS Miss Julia Lathrop, chief
of the children's bureau, said at the
same meeting, the educating effect Of
higher wages is remarkable
Poor people have poor ways is true
in many senses Their poor ways can
only be changed By securing for the
poor folks the means for having better
ones Physical well being is condi-
toned by the quality and quantity Of
food and by heathful environment.
Wages determine the ability to obtain
these necessaries. 1t cannot be stated
too emphatically we are what we eat.
The food we eat furnishes nutriment
for sustaining the health of the bones.
muscular tissues nerves 1t makes
the physical machine upon which an
| activity is dependent, not only for ex.
istence but for distinctive character.
The material things of life are not in
ferior 10 the intellectual and moral,
but are ineXtricably associated. Nor
is this grossly materiaustic philoso-
ply for the influence Of the mind and
heart remains just as potent, just as
sacred, just as essential q factor in so.
cial betterment even when physical
1 wen being and higher wages are rec.
/ ognized as prerequisites to a condition
of highest development The purpose
served, not the origin, determines
4 value.
Following is an extract OF Professor
hearings earnest address:
There is another factor in American
! life which tends IA many cases to make
/ children liabilities rather than assets
that is the wage question 1t requires a
Z 1fr4tf, md
maintain IIe These things cost money
/ Several social students nave recently es-
\ timated that tine amount of money which
/ they cost lu am American city for a fam
4 lly OF three children and a man and wife
/ varies from $3.50 10 $500 An examination
I of the average rates paid TIA American I'M
! dustry viii show that approximately
/ three-quarters Of the adult males work
/ Ing i'm the Industrial cities aud towns re-
/ ceive less thau $50 in wages and there
| fore presumably less than enough TO sup
port a family 5f three children in de-
i cenCy
The bitter cry of the working children
| has risen from every factory town. rip
ping great holes Ia the public conscience
making action Inevitable Has your heart
/ lamentcd over those slaves of the factory
siren? Listen ln the United states there
are thousands aud tens Of thousands OF
/ children who are habitually hungry a
recent Investigation In Chicago discovered
| IS 600 children of school age who did mol
receive sufficient nourishing food Fur
thermore, many children lack shoes anc
clothing many have no beds to sleep in
They cuddle together on hard floors The
majority of the INDECENT children live n
damp, unclcan or oyercrowded homes that
lack proper ventilation and sanitation.
'In the entire state Of Illinois there are
but 5000 child laborers; in the city Of
/ Chicago alone 1900 hungry school chill
dren
Nor is this exceptional. Louise Stevens
Bryant concludes a recent study of under
feeding with the statement, In New
York and other American cities, 10 PEI
cent Of the school population are serious
ly underfed
Hungry children do not make acute
students; starvation IS not the royal road
to learning Rather does 1t lead to mis-
cry vice. inefticiency and delinquency
Children who travel that road end mp II
the liability class Malnutrition is the aiI
line to the county house and the peniten
dary."