The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-24

graphs, but their far-reachtng conse- quences could not be adaequately shown in 8 volume.
 .Childrep are the basis offsthes state; as they live or die, as they thrive or are tl1-nourished. as they are intelligent or fgnorant.l so fares the state. How do the children of Ameri- jean workers fare?
 'sIt has been proved by studies here and abroad that. there is a direct re- latfop between poverty and the death
 rate of babies; but the frightful rate at which poverty kills was not known, at least for this country, until last year, when through a5 study made | by the Federal Children'Sz Bureau In Johnstown. Pa, 1t was shown that the babies whose fathers earned less than $1O Der week died during the first year at the appalling rate of 256 per l ,0OO. On the other hand,s those, whose fathers earned s2 5 per week or more died at the. rate of only 84 per. l 1 0oo. The babies of ssthe poor died three times as fast as those who were 1 in fairly welI-to- do-familiess fThe ltremendous significance of these fig ures will gbe appreciated when it is known that one-third #of all the adult lworkmen reported by the Irnmigra- ] ton Commission earned less than $1U per week On the showing of, ohns- town theaes worknen may expect one out of four of their babies to due dur ing the first year of nfe-''
 Children 60 Hungry.'
 .sThe last of the family to go hun gry are the children. yet statistics show that in six of our largest cities from IF to 20gper cent. of the children
 are noticeably underfed and iH-nour- ished
 .sThe minimum amount of education
 
 tatn1y3 the grammar school course, yet atistics show that only one-tnird d I of the children in our public schools IcornpleteA Athe grammar school course
 and o1alyAlo per cent finish high school. Those who leave are almost entirely the children of the workers, l who as soon as they reach working g age. are thrown, immature, i11-train- l ed and with no practical Know1edges linto the complexities of industrial life. l In four industrial towns studied by 1 the Bureau of Labor Statistics 75 per
 cent. of the children quit school be- lsfore Teaching the seventh grade.
 .sThe great seriousness Of this con dftfon is even more acute1y realized when 1t is known that in the families
 of the workers ST per cent. of the mothers are at work and consequently unable to give the children more than scant attention. Of these mothers 80 per cent. keep boarders and Iodgers I and II per cent work outside the l home T eAs picture of American indusc- l try. this presentation is undeniably gloomy and depressing, but as a diag- nosis of what is wrong with American
 labor conditions it is true and exact.
 There are of course many bright spots lin American ind ustry where work l men are well paid and regua1rly elr- lployed under good working condt- ! tions in the deternfn of which I they nave some share. But. even as j the physician pays little attention to the good exes and sound teeth ofsa apa4 | tient whose vital organs are diseased, 50 Impressive is the need for atten- ltfon to the diseased spots in Industry, lit is felt unnecessary to waste time in
 word pictures of conditions which are l all right or which may be depended Eupon to right themselves.''
 Farm Workers Also.
 'In agriculture. there is no array ] of exact figures which can be quoted 4 to show the condition Of labor But, l speaking sensfa1Iy.s the ava faaHBfg evis ldeHee indicates clearly that while in some sections agricultural laborers T are SSeH paid and fairly treated, the \ condition of fha mass IS yeryss m ucFl like tIat or st1l fl1 Inst rial p orkers. A NdorsoXer ia Is Ia peculiar com -l ditions in gri icslItu Which merits 2 brief but strong statalne at this t point as a preface to a more detailed
 dfseuxsion later. The most aIarIni ne 2 fact in American agric ulture iss the s rapid growth Of tenancy. In g 1t there were 37 tenant-operated farms out of each 100 farms in the United
 States as seoTnpared with 2S in DO an increase Of 32 per cent. during 2t years. No nationwide investfg att or of the condition of tenant farmer ) has ever been made, but in TexaI where the inYesti gations of this com : mission were thorough and conclus y1 i've. it was found not only that ths t-eeonomie condition of the tenant wa : extremely bad. but also that he wa far from being free, whereas his flu J ture was regarded as hopeless Badl, } housed, il1-nourfshed, unedneated sl and hopeless, these tenants continut year after year to eks out bare liv
 fing, moving frequentlv from one farm l to another ip the hope that somethine ? will turn up.s
 sfWithout. a large family, the tenan can3A0t hope to succeed or break even so in each tenant family numerou 5 children are being reared to futur, 5 which under present conditions vii T. be no better if as good as that o1 } tenant farmer. the mother of I chil dren, stated in her testimony befor, the eommission that in addition 'tt 3 the rearing of children and the WerI
 or the house, sin always helped witt : the crops. and during all the years O. Z her married life she had had n, ready-naade dresses and ony thret z hats
 ssrhe investigations of this cornrnis sion in that rich and generally pros porous section of the country onl, 5 confirm and aeeentuate the state 3 ments of the Federal Industrial Com z mission which reported in Is02HrTh, f result of this system share tenancy, Fl is that the renters rarely ever sue