The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-09-05

with such a thing as bath tub re-
garded as luxury, and with rooms
having no outside window a common
place. Yet at that time nearly one
fourth of all housing in Chicago rent
ed for less than $50 a month and
nearly one-tenth for less than $40.
Not all relief families live by such
standards, of course, but those who
don't are the xceptieH-rehabilita
farm families, for example. But 1t
may be said that at best all relief liv-
ing is subsistence living or less, and
that malnutrition is common and
starvation sometimes existent.
A large portion of the farm families
of course fall into the class which have
a yearly income of less than $1,000.
Since the farmer is able to raise much
of what he and his family eat, this in
come would be proportionately greater
than the same income for. city family.
Yet that would be speaking of the
average in the class. 1t must be re-
membered that individuals in each one
of these class groups vary with amaz-
ing difference. In the southern Appa-
lachians, even in the golden year 1929,
there were 80 counties where the an
nual income per farm person was less
than $1O0-and even this is an aver
age! These people, too, must be con-
sidered when we speak of what Amer
lea needs"-yet they, with their print
tive methods and manners belong to
the Eighteenth century more than to
the Twentieth.
More than 100000 Of the 100000
gainfully employed persons in 1880
were employed in agriculture. Most
of these fall below the $1,000 line. In
fact in only few farm counties was
income equal to that in industrial
areas.
Thirty Million on Farms.
Some light may be thrown on the
living status of the farmer today when
it is cited that even in Iowa 62 per
cent of all the farmers are tenants.
The tenant-farmer situation in the
South, with its desperate plight of the
share-crOpper, who lives at the very
lowest ebb of subsistence standards,
has been widely publicized of late.
When the political orator says 1--WE,
the people, he includes, whether he
knows it or not, 100000 persons who
are dependent upon farming for liv
ing. How do these people live? The
facts may surprise you.
If the figures compounded by Morris
L. Cooke, head of the Rural Electrified
ton administration are correct, 25,OO0,-
600 of these people have derived little
benefit from the inventions and the adj
vances of science which are said to
have so much bettered cur living stand
ards in recent years.
Here is what he claims to have found
out: That 90 per cent of all persons
who make their living from the soil
have neither bath tub nor shower.
That &c per cent are still lighting their
homes with either gasoline or kerosene
or less efficient means; that 10 per cent
of this figure either use candles or go
without artificial light. That 70 per
cent have to carry water from wells or
other sources of supply. That 33 per
cent use fireplaces in heating their
homes.
These estimates seem to have been
substantiated by another government
bureau, the PWA, whose research men
say that between IS and so per cent
of all farm homes have no modern con-
veniences whatever. 1t is safe to say
that all of such homes fall below the
$1,000 income.
Now we come to another group, and
in the transition it is well to remind
ourselves that there is bound to be
some duplication in segregating the
various classes.
Six Kinds Of Workers.
The census bureau divides all work
ers into six classes-professicna per-
sons, proprietors and managers, clerks,
skilled workers and foremen, semi
skilled workers, and unskilled workers
At least the unskilled and semi-skilled
workers come into the class of less
than $1,000 income. There were nearly
100000 semi-skilled workers listed in
the 1890 census, but this figure has