The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1914-01-01

Houses are difficult to obtain. Low
wages and the dearth Of cottages dis
courage young people from marriage.
The young laborer may get only $3.50
week in the big town, which is the
ordinary wage in this locality, but he
has the chance of q home for his
young wife. society and the oppor.
tunity Of being something more than
. farm laborer.
$3.50 Weekly for Family Of Five.
As a working woman's weekly bud,
get Of housekeeping expenses has
been given. let us examine some
specimen budgets Of the living Of the
rural laborer. For this l am indebted
to Mr.. Seebohm Rowntree. The bud.
get is from Oxfordshire, where the
historic and beautiful university city
Of Oxford is the county-town. It il.
the budget of family of five, a farm
laborer. his wife and three children.
The total weekly earnings are $3.50.
The rent of the cottage and garden
is SIS q year. The man is "a thor
oughly sober fellow, who neither
drinks nor smokes and who bears a
good character for industry" The
wife trusts to charity for the chill
dren's clothes and makes and remakes
anything given to her with great
skill" She has not had a new dress
herself in the thirteen years OF her
married life. In times when work is
not to be had the family Is forced
on the parish poor fund. Condensed
milk Is used 1--WE haven't had any
new milk in the house for seven
years." said the wife.
This is not an exceptional case.
The cab driver at bennington pointed
iout his tiny home, in which had
grown up eleven children, four now
out in service, he proudly said, and
counted himself fortunate because his
earnings averaged six dollars q
week. my wife helps out lot with
sewing and washing and work in
the garden after dark"
Budget for Railway Workers Family.
Here is another housekeeper's
budget. Her husband is railway
car washer earning $3.50 for six days
work and $5.25 for seven days work.
He pays all he earns to his wife, There
are three children. This is how the
$5.25 Is expended: Rent, $1.75; cloth
ing 1.-TWO weeks). so cents; insurance
1.-TWO weeks), 81 cents; coal and
wood 38 cents; coke, six cents; gas,
20 cents soap and soda. 10 cents:
m t1u0 nfc. hall
for five persons. two dollars week.
How can five persons live on two dol
lars week for food? This is the bill
of fare with it's weekly cost:
Eleven loaves, 70 cents; flour, Il
cents; meat, As cents; potatoes and
greens, 10 cents; butter. u cents;
jam, cents; tea II cents; sugar,
cents; cocoa. s cents; suet. 4 cents;
and condensed milk. 8 cents.
Women Made Insane on Farms.
1t is the women who have to bear
the largest share of this burden In
Great Britain as everywhere. IN
nine cases out of ten where there is
extreme poverty" said Mr. George Ed
wards. the secretary of the Agricul-
tural Laborers' union, "the woman
starves first. She thinks first of her
husband and her children. AS re.
suit of chronic undertaking we have
a very large percentage of insanity
among the women on the farms.
am on the asylum committee of the
Norfolk county council and we have
more than 800 farm wives in our care.
/ attribute this large number to the
anxiety necessitated in making both
ends meet and to the poor food" A
Yorkshire woman. whose husband
earns $3.50 week. said: "When
have seen other children in warm
clothing and mine jealous. then
haven't known what to say. I know
our master wasn't rich. We have
got roof to cover us and he hadn't
where to lay his head, so dare
say it's all for the best. But they say
English people ought to be strong and
brave and l don't know how they ex-
pect them-living as they do-to be
strong and brave and cheerful"
1T may be taken as an established
fact" said Mr.. Rowntree, that fam
lily Of five persons, whose total weekly
| income does not exceed five dollars
and whose rent is SO cents, is living
below the poverty line" Which
means, II the government figures are
! correct, that the majority of English
farm laborers do not receive wages
sufficient to maintain their families
in physical efficiency. The able-bodied
male laborers wage throughout Eng
land at present averages about $3.50
and in southern rural England about
$4.00
Unrest Bringing Progress.
There is unrest among the laborers
in England. Low wages and lack of
opportunity are the chief causes. The
field Is ripe for the harvest OF agita-
ton unto progress. And this agitation
has begun and made large Roadway
in the last decade. as witness the
growth Of the Labor party. the adop-
ton Of its principles by the Liberals
and the Liberalizing Of the Conserva.
tives.
A story Is told Of a rich woman I'd.