Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1915-09-02

ganization and industry, there can be
no natural reason to prevent every
able bodied man of our present popu-
latfon from being WeIlfed, well
housed, comfortably clothed, and from
rearing family of moderate size in
comfort. health and security. How
far this ideal is actually achieved is
discussed in some detail in the follow
ing pages.
1t is evident both from the investi
stions of this Commission and from
, the report of all recent Governmental
bodies that large part of our indus
trial population are. as aresult of the
cOmbinatio nof low wages and unem-
ployment, living j in condition of
actual poverty"
At Least One Third In Poverty.
How large this proportion is cannot
be exactly determined, but it is GER
tain that at least onetthird and pos
sibly enehaf of the families of wage
earners employed in manufacturing
and mining earn in THE course of the
year less than enough to support
them in anything like comfortable
and decent condition The detailed
evidence is presented in a separate
report which is submitted for trans
initial to Congress. AT this point it
is sufficient to call attention to there
suits CT the most exhaustive and
sweeping official Investigation of re-
cent years, that Of the Immigration
Commission which reported to Con-
gress in 1903. This Investigation Sc
cured detiled information regarding
the daily and weekly earnings of 49,
595 employees of all classes in our
basic manufacturing industries and
in coal mining, and information re-
gardig income and living conditios
| for Is, 726 families.
ut was foud that the annual in
EcOmes of almost tfWothirds of these
families GA per cent? were less than
$3.50 per year and for almost one
third (31 per cent? were less than
$500, the average for all being 1921.
The average size of these families
was SIS members. Elaborate studies
of the cost of living made in all parts
of the country at the same time have
shown that the very least that fam
lily of five persons can live upon in
Eanything approaching deeency is $500.
It is probable that ewing to the fact
that he families investigated by the
immigration Commission were, to a
large extent, foreign born, the in
comes are lower than for. the average
of the entire working population;
nevertheless, even when every allow
ance is made for that fact, the figures
show conclusively that between one.
half and two-thirds Of these families
were living below the standards of de-
cent subsistence, while about one
third were living 81 state which can
Ebe described only as. aIbject poverty.
American 6oeiefETwas founded ana
for a long period existed upon the
theory that the family should derive
fits support from the earnings Of the
fathers. How far We have departed
from this condition is shown by the
fact that 70 per cent of the fathers of
these families earned less than 500
per year. In brief. only one-fourth of
these fathers could have supported
their families on the barest subsist-
ence level without he earnings of
1 other members of the family or in
come fom outside sources.
Other facts collected in this inves-
tigation show conclusively that avery
large proportion of these families did
not live in decency and comfort.
Thirty per cent kept boarders and
dodgers, la condition repugnant to
every ideal of American family life,
especially in the crowded tenements
or tiny cottages in which the wage
earners of America characteristically
live. Furthermore, in. n per ept of
the afmilies two, or more persons oc-
! cupded each sleeping room, in/37 per
cent three or more persons, and in Is
per cent four or more persons.
ID Pauper BuriaIs.
The most striking evidence of pow
ferty is the proportion of pouper bur
ials The repugnanee of all classes of
wage. earners Of all races to panper
burial is such that everything will be
sacrificed and heavy debts incurred
rather than permit any member of the
family to lie In the tpotters' field;
nevertheless in New York City one
out of every twelve co1pses is buried
at the expense, OF the city or turned
over to physicians for dissection.
'aThe terrible effects OF such pow
erty may he outlined in a few para
graphs. but their far-reaching conse-
qtlences could not be adequately
shown in q volume.
Children are the basis OF the
state: as they live or die, as they
thrive or are illnourished, as they are |
Intelligent or ignorant, so fares the