Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1915-09-02
Industrial Commission Sustains
Contentious Of Organized labor

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1EslslaEs6zF asg8l1l1s
i state. How do the children of Amer
lean workers fare?
1T has been proved by studies heer
and abroad that there is direct re
lation between poverty and the death
rate of babies; but the frightful rate
at which poverty, kills was not known,
at least for this county, until last
year. when through study made by
the Federal Children's Bureau in
JOhnstown, Pa, it was shown that
| the babies whose fathers earned less
than $40 per week died during the
first year at the appalling rate of 256
| per 1000. On the other hand, those
Whose fathers earned $25 per week
or more died at the rate OF only "a
per 1000. The babies of the poor
died three times as fast as those who
were in. fairly well-to-do families.
The tremendous ignificance of these
figures will be appreciated when it is
known that one-third of all the adult
iworkmen reported by the immigration
Commission earned less than $40 per
week. On the showing of Johnstown
these worker may expect one out of
every four of their babies to die dur
ing the first year of life
| Children Go Hungry.
"The last of the family to go hum
CRY are the children, yet statistics
: ow that in SIX of our largest cities
from 10 to 20 per cent of the children
are noticealbly underfed and ill-nOur-
ished.
"The minimum amount of educa-
ton that any child should receive is
certainly the grammar SCHOOL, course,
yet statistics show that only one4third
| of the children in our public schools
complete the grammar school course.
and only 10 per cent finish high
school Those who leave are almost
entirely the children of the workers,
who, as soon as they reach working
age are thrown, immature, ill-trained
and with no practical knowledge, into
1.-THE complexities of industrial life. In
four industrial towns studied by the
Bureau Of Labor Statistics IS per cent
of the children quit school before
reaching the 7th grade.
"The seriousness of this condition
is even more acute1y realized when 1t
is known that in the families of the
workers 81 per cent 9of 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 dodgers and Z
Iper cent work outside the home.
'.As picture of American industry,
this presentation is undeniably
a loo
lnosis of what is wrong with American
4 labor conditions it is true and exact.
There are of course many bright spots
linen are We'll paid and regularly EN-
lployed under god working conditions
1Irin the determination of which they
have some share. But, even as the
physician pays little attention to the
igod eyes and sound teeth of a patient
whose vital organs are diseased, SO
impressive is the need for attention
1 to the disease spots in industry, it is
/ felt unnecessarily waste time in
word pictures of conditions which are
Eall right or which may be depended
upon to right themselves"
Farm Workers Also.
| I'm agriculture, there is no array
tof exact figures which may he quoted
Ito. show the condition of labor But,
speaking generally, the available evil
fdence indictes clearly that while in
some sections agricultural laborers
are well paid and fairly treated, the
1condition of the mass is very much
like that OF the industrial workers.
Moreover. there is a peculiar con
dition in agriculture, which merits
brief but strong statement at this
lpOint as preface to more detailed
discussion later. The most alarming
fact in American agriculture is the
rapid growth of tenancy In 1910
there were 81 tenant-operated farms
out of each 100 farms in the United
States as compared with % in 1890,
an increase of 80 per cent during 20
years No nationwide investigation
of the condition of tenant farmers has
ever been made, but in Texas where
the investigations of this Commission
were thorough and conclusive, it was
found not only that the economic CON
ditden of the tenant was extremely
bad, but also that he was far from
being free, whereas his future was re-
garded as hopeless. Badly housed, ILL.,
nouriShed, unedmcated, and hopeless
these tenantscontinue year after year
to eke out a bare living, moving fire.
quentdy from one farm to another in
the hope that something viii! turn up.
I Without a large family, the tenant
canot hope to succeed or break even,
SO in each tenant family numerous
children are being reared to a future
which under present conditions will
be no better, If as good as that of |
their parents. The wife of a typical |
tenant farmer, the mother of eleven |
children, stated in her testimony be-
fore the Commission that in addition |
to the rearing of children and the /
work OF the house, she always helped /
with the crops, and during all the
years of her married life she had had
no ready-made dresses and only three
hats.
The investigations Of this Commits
sion is that rich and generally pros
porous sections of the country only |
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