The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-05
POOR HOUSING MEANS A INEFFICIENT HELP, IS
 MANUFACTURERS IDEA

The Housing Association is t1ds winter watching with marked interest the work of the Charity Organization society, for it is through the public charity that the housing organization is getting much information on home conditions among the poor. The Char 6ty Organization offices i'm the Con- nectfcut National Bank building is one of tlhe busiest places in the city these days, and it is a. "clearing, house. of inforna;tion for the Housing Assoe1a- ton as to the extent of poverty in Bridgeport and the causes of it.
 The chief cause is doubtless the ir- Iregularity of employment, and this is about as often due to the incapacity of
 men and women the charity lists to be physically able to perform work when they find it as it is due to lack of employment. The Charity Organ ization Society q11d deftakes to draw the line between the "can't work and the won't work while the Housing laAssociatioh finds that discomfort i'm home life its largely responsible for both. It finds that where working man lives in squa1oT in a celIor or a wimter-1eakinig house, the housing condition has either taken from him the physical ability to work, or it has robbed him of hope, energy and an ambition to take care of Anis family. Irnprovidence, too. is being held re- isponsible for much of the poverty, and the poor housing is regarded as the cause frequently of the improvd- dence. The poverty of a. family is found to be the factor which closes the door of hope on its victim and makes the family irnprovident
 l The Housing Association is finding on every hand that where people are
 asking for only temporary relief from
 public inquiry ttNse people are hope fuIs of tettering their condition soon;
 that they are ambitious to rise to the hanks of people who understand the physical and moral worth of com
 fortabte living, and through this am
 bition they are showino- a spirit of
 prudence.
 l fact that is p14fnIy in evidence | in the Housing Associations iTqq1ir-
 ies is that the families of Bridge
 port that are deepest in poverty and
 are living in the poorest houses-in
 cellars, in over crowded and unsand- tary houses-and have the least ca pacity4 for earning living. Where 8 worknnan-and there are many of
 them in Bridgeport-is every nbefnt leleeping in a room the only opening
 to which is a door, he arises to a new day utterly lacking in energy and ann l bition to do days work for an ern- 1pleyer. Back of this inadequate and
 insanttary night Of restfu1 sleep is hunger, lack of proper clothing and Ithe worry of having a family that is as bad off as the father, who should
 be physically able to earn the Nv- ing.
 | Bridgeport employers of labor are
 finding ethat they get laborers from such homes as these at the lowest
 wage. They are also finding that in
 capacity for work which poor housing
 brings about makes the workman a high priced aaborer at any price So
 bEle man who is first laid off when
 business gets slack at the industrial plants of Bridgeport is the labo-er
 who lives in the poorest environment and he is the last man taken on when
 business gets good, for he is the man
 who has the lowest earning capacity l for an employer.