The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-10-13

(By Thomas A. M. Kane, in ''The Cath
Ollie Charities Review."O
The old idea of poverty-that it was
entirely personal matter, for which
the individual was himself to blame
is today practically abandoned. We
are beginning to look upon poverty
not the poverty of few individuals,
but the poverty of great mass of our
populations evidence of social
disease for which the community is to
blame, and the recognition of this idea
is shown by the increasing amount of
social legislation" enacted in Euro
pean countries for years past, and by
pending discussion of similar legisla-
ton in practically every State in the
American union.
Although the opinion is widespread
that the worker. is largely to blame for
his own poverty, I think this view is
incorrect, for the worker is on every
hand the victim of circumstances en-
tirely beyond his control. First, the
average unskilled worker receives only
small wage. He has to live practical
" from hand to mouth, and must make
his purchases in small amounts as he
cannot buy in quantities. What is the
result? Coal when bought by the pail,
as he has to buy it, costs him from
$14 to $40 a ton, while to his rich
neighbor the cost may be only six dol
lars. Household necessities, which he
likewise is compelled to buy in small
amounts, cost him in similar proper
ton. His life insurance too costs him
more, for as Q rule he can support only
q small policy, on which the carrying
charges are as high as for a policy
for larger amount. Even his wretch
ed living rooms, wherein he frequently
has to take boarders as poor as, HIM
self to help pay the rent, and which
are lacking In all modern accommoda-
..tions, cost him relatively more than
better equipped quarters in other parts
Of the city.
The death-rate among the poor is
far higher than among the rich, and
apart from the misery and sorrow that
a death entails, the expense Of caring
for the sufferer and burying him adds
materially to the burden the worker
has to bear.
Even were his wages higher and en-
Payment regular throughout the year,
land that Is far from being the case)
he would still be at q handicap. Food
products were never so dear as at
present, some kinds being now entirely
out Of his reach, and every successive
Increase In cost tends all the more to
intensity his poverty. The recent ad-
vance in the price of milks amounts to
only two cents q day, yet that means
an increase of seven dollars year
which the worker has to pay. These
: and similar advances may not mean
much to the rich, but they are becom-
ing serious matter to the middle and
saliaried workers, while to the poor. to
whom they spell privation and suffer-
ing, they are a veritable tragedy.
Among other causes affecting the
worker and which are to some extent
responsible for his poverty are the un-
certainty and irregularity Of his en-
ployment. Very few industries are en-
tirely free from this evil, and in some
instances It assumes an air of serious
importance. Longshoremen. for exam
pie, are notorious sufferers from this
condition, and so too are workers In
the building trades. while in other in
dustries the worker is fortunate to
everage six months work in the entire
year.
Just as a community can determine
it's own death.rate, so can 1t determine
its own poverty rate. For that pow
erty is amenable to social regulation Is
conclusively shown by the vast i'm
provement In the condition Of the
workers during three great and widely
separated epochs. First. in the early
days of the Christian era. when the lot
Of the workers and especially Of the