at home. The question therefore very naturally arises,—"How many men in the United States are receiving wages which force them and their families to live under such abnormally bad conditions?"
A glance at another phase of the problem leads to the same question. A recent New York investigation concludes with the statement that a man, wife and three children under fourteen cannot live and maintain efficiency on Manhattan Island for less than nine hundred dollars per year.[1] While no similar studies have been made in other cities, superficial investigations show that this figure is not excessive for Boston, Buffalo and Chicago; that it is low for Pittsburg, and probably a little high for Philadelphia and Baltimore. In other words, it is a fair average for the great cities east of the Mississippi and north of Virginia.
A student peruses this investigation and gleefully presents its conclusion to his "practical"
friend. The practical friend is immediately convinced. "That sounds well enough," says he,
[4]
- ↑ "Standard of Living among Workingmen's Families in New York City." Robert C. Chapin. New York Charities Pub. Com., 1909, pp. 245-6.
