Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-17

Despite the multiplicity of books
and the torrential flow of verbal ad-
vice upon the problems arising
from poverty and distress, these
conditions still exist, as they
have always existed, with but slight
degrees of amelloration. Agencies of
municipal and state government, as
well as the most potent of church
organizations, never cease their actiy-
tiles, yet they are never near the ac-
complish ment of their aims. They
alleviate such. cases as come to their
attention, but all realize that to at
tempt to eliminate poverty Is as fu-
tile as would the effort to stay the
onrushing waters of Niagara. THE
poor We have with we always" said
Christ two thousand years ago.
and the force of the statement is
still borne out by the conditions OF
every land. To look the question of
poverty in the face Is appalling; to
heart-rending; to study the causes
of it is terrifying.
All poverty does not arise from
the same cause; much of it is the re-
suit of ignorance. Where there is
ignorance, there is little ambition and
without ambition there can be no
advance from poverty stricken con-
ditions. But be 1t believed that the
poverty from Ignorance is growing
less, thanks to the various agencies,
such as the settlement houses,
the charity organizations and various
other societies. We are led to be-
lieve, and probably rightly So that
the cupidity of human nature is re-
sponsible for the poverty and suffer-
ing; that those who are in the posi-
ton to do so Cypress and crush those
less fortunate. In these days of keen
competition, when profits are brought
down to almost infinitesimal frac-
lions of a cent, we seek to place blame
upon manufacturer, middleman or
some one.
Participating, wage-cutting COM
petition which is to great degree
responsible, has been reached through
a gradual development, the result of
a system that has rushed New York s
humanity at a breakneck speed to
keep up with the pace, and, even
then, men and women fall by
the wayside either into appalling
poverty or thrifty vice. It Is the
system-the cold. unrelenting and
Interchangeable system-that grinds
with increasing force and pressure
like the hydraulic press with tons OF
compressed water forcing the resist
/ ing OBJECT lHLO position.
| There was once a time in New York
when want and deprivation were the
rule, when luxury was almost I'M
known. In the days when John Jacob
Astor laid the foundation of the pres.
ent great fortunes of the Astor fam
! lily, through the fur trade, want was
rampant and aff1uence did not exist
The competition of those days, when
there was no predominance of riches,
was under conditions far different
from those which govern the compe-
tition of today. There was food In
plenty and shelter, but the division
of labor was not so complex and each
man was to some extent an agricul-
turlist. But with the increase OF
population the crowding of the cities
and the multiplicity and diversity Of
manufacturers have come the greater
problems that the people are facing
Long hours, small wages, improper
! living conditions are the lot of thou.
sands. 1t is in the homes of these
people that the sweat shop system
has taken deep root.
In New York the development
of the sweatshop is along differ.
ent lines than in any other city in
! America, though Boston's plan is,
perhaps, the nearest to 1t. The sys-
tenn is a direct importation from Lon
don, although it has been considera-
bly, modified in its transplanting from
one side of the ocean to the other
tract" plan. The earliest sweat.
shops in England resulted from the
army clothing contracts. The man.
ufacturers would sublet the work tc
some responsible person who ha6
money, but who was not tailor. He