The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-10-29
PROVED BY INVESTIGATION,

LtQEEu Nv fWEEO EUh EENNs
There Is Certain Minimum of Neces-
saries of Life Below Which Physical
Health and Moral Well Being Is I'M
possibIe-Family of Five Needs In
come of at Least $3.50.
The adequacy of wages may be test
ed by ascertaining whether the aver
age worker can live in health and de-
cency on the wages, writes Professor
Scott Nearing in the New York Amer
lean. If industry is to support its
workers, If society is to see to it that
families are not forced to ask charity,
wages must be sufficient to enable the
wage earnerS of average capability to
preserve their health and self respect.
At the present time in the United States
the wages paid to u considerable por-
tion of the adult male workers are in
sufficient to do that.
In trying TO ascertain what the mini
mum cost is of a decent standard of
living statisticians usually assume that
physical health, education up TO the
age of fourteen and the other minimum
requirements Of modern American life
are included in the term "decency.'
There is Il certain minimum of food,
clothing. shelter and other necessaries
of life below which physical health and
moral well being are impossible. That
minimum includes bread and butter,
shoes, overcoatS. medical attendance,
school books, cleanliness, light and air
1t is fixed by the demands Of nature
and by the common standards of civ
iliZed people.
Therefore any discussion of the cost
of decent living begins with an anal
ysis of the various items really neces-
sary TO attain this common standard
economically. The amount Of food re-
quired by the man or by his family
can be fixed with scientific accuracy.
The amount of clothing is not suscep-
tible Of such exact statement, but it
can be designated in terms of a GER
tain number of garments per year.
Most students of the standard of liy-
ing have agreed that three or four
rooms are necessary to house IA family
of five people decently. They have,
likewise, made an allowance for med
ical attendance, for saving, for insur-
ance and for recreation.
A family requires SO much -four, so
many pairs OF shoes and so many
rooms What is the least amount for
which these things can be obtained?
The answer. worked ont by careful in
vestigators for Il number of large east
ern cities, has placed Che cost of de-
cent living for a family of five ut from
$3.50 to $1,000.
One of the most complete investiga-
tions-that made By the federal gov
arnment-allowed S744 per year for the
maintenance Of a family OF five in he
cities of a middle Atlantic coast state.
Six seyenths Of this entire amount was
expended for food clothing and shel.
ter, leaving only little more than
$1O0 year for all Of the other items
in the family budget
A study was made for the purpose
of determining the cost OF fair OF
decent standard of living in New York
city. This study resulted in the IA.
nous ''Chapin report which was used
as a guide in the recent municipal in
vestigation of the cost of living in
New York In summing up the results
of his study Or. Chaplin writes, IAN
income Of $500 or over probably per
mits the maintenance Of norma
standard in New York city, at least sc
far as the physical man is concerned
Regarding incomes below 5000 Or
Chaplin makes the following statement
"Whether an income between $500 and
$500 can be made TO suffice Gor a fam
lily of five) is a question TO which oul
data do not warrant a dogmatic an
swer"
There have been several other state
or city investigations and estimates
less complete and less conclusive
which lead to the same general con
clusion-namely, that in the industrial
cities of the northeastern United States
the cost of a decent standard of living
for family consisting of man, wife
anu NLlidANh N'tAiNf7 - Va
$3.50 to $1,000.
Are the wages paid to American
wage workers sufficient to maintain
health and decency? They are not, be
cause the United States census has
found that all the adult males in gain
full occupations In the greatest indus
tries of these cities receive wages a
follows Eighty per cent of them less
than $3.50 a year and 95 per cent o
them less than $1,000 a year
Nothing could prove more conclusive
ly the inadequacy of American wage
in most of the highly organized indus
tries In the eastern states, where tn
machine and not the man is the thing
The present wage scale paid to work
ers by American industry does not en-
able millions OF them to give famil,
OF three young children the simple de
cencies of life that are necessary to tn
maintenance Of health and efficiency.
AGAINST Thirty DAYS Notice.