Milford chronicle., 1929-03-29
NATIONAL NEWS OF INTEREST
TO EVERYBODY WHO READS
Written for this Paper by
FRANK p. LITSCHERIT

The question is occasionally ask.
ed, what portion of the people Of the
United States live in poverty
Poverty of course is relative term
If we were to use it in the sense in
which it applies in many countries
of the Old World we would have to
say that there is scarcely any &C.
tual poverty in the United States
For of course living conditions are
far different in the older countries
than in our own, and living condi-
lions are at the same time on differ
ent planes in the various countries
of the Old World.
90
The population of all the aims
houses in the United States is less
than 100000, and has been gradually
declining for a number of years. In
other words there are less than a
hundred thousand people in the
United States so beaten in the race
of life that they are willing to go
into the alms-houses, and the pop
ulation of these institutions is con-
fined almost entirely to those re-
cruited from the aged infirm and to
the feeble minded.
90
Half of the people of the United
States have radios and telephones in
their homes and motor cars in their
garages; there are nearly twenty
million depositors in savings banks
and nearly ten million in building
and loan associations, the depositor
usually being the head of the family.
This is in addition to the millions of
depositors in the other banking in
stitutions of the country. More
than a hundred million life insur-
ance policies are in force in the
United States, of which more than
three-fourths are industrial policies.
Most figures showing the distribu-
ton of wealth in the United States
give us an erroneous impression for
the reason that they ignore the fact
that for every individual holder of
property there are usually several
dependents of the holder, who are
counted by the statisticians as pos
sessing no property
90
When we compare these figures
with the situation in many of the
older countries of the world we get
some idea of the difference between
American civilization and that which
ignores modern principles of econo-
mics. No wonder great many peo-
pie say that we are eventually to
abolish poverty in the United States.
Such a belief may sound Utopian.
But Philip Kerr a well-known Eng
lish lecturer who has travelled from
one end of the United States to the
other recently told an English au-
dience that the United States has
solved the problem of poverty and
is steadily driving it out OF her
economic system. After the Civil
War, he declared, a new process
arose in America. The people took
to solving the problems Of produc-
ton and distribution of commodities
and as a result they have a stand
ard of living incomparably higher
than that of any other country in
the world. If London were taken
at a rating of 100, Mr.. Kerr de-
clared, then the standard of living
in Philadelphia would be $50, in
France Sc and in Belgium 40. He |
narveled at the fact that seven hun
lred thousand young people are at
ending the colleges and universities
n the United States.
90
Here is some testimony as to our
economic condition from an alien
iource. It was not prepared for po-
itical purposes, for distribution to
American voters, but for the eluc1-
lation of British audience. The
estimony bears out the claims OF
Americans as to the success of their
economic program. Of course we
lave not yet arrived at the Utoplan
tate of perfection or probably new
II will, unless human nature
changes. There are a great many
more things to be done, improve
nents to be made in our economic
ystem. But it can at least be said
hat the American economic theory
which has grown up in the past few
generations has not only proved its