OCR Text |
Show Washington, and tho excess In the proportion pro-portion of female children was also large. In 337 cases either tho husband or wife was dead. In 411 instances one or tho other of the two had deserted. The total number of families without a supporting male head was 414 or 37."i per cent of the total. Three-fourth Three-fourth of the families were without a regular bread winner at the time of application for relief. In over two-fifths of the families in which the normal wages were definitely defi-nitely known the rate for the male worker ranged from $1 to $2 a day, the wage generally not exceeding $1.-50 $1.-50 per day In forty-three cases pensions pen-sions were received, but with this ex ceptlon the clement of income other than vases was Insignificant. When the regular earnings were cut off practically prac-tically everything was gone. Among the immediate causes of distress dis-tress sickness figures in nearly one-half one-half of the families, rheumatism an tuberculosis being the principal diseases. dis-eases. Next to sickness was lack of employment, and third In the list was Insufficient wages. Sickness, lack of employment. Insufficient wages, accident acci-dent and old age constituted nln?ty-four nln?ty-four per cent of all direct causes. Exchange. I j PAUPERISM. What Are Its Causes, and What Aro Not, Once More Shown Up by Government Report. The scientific study of pauperism and charity compel; a revision of manv deeply lodged but nevertheless wholly false opinions concerning the causes of distress. A recently published pub-lished report of the conditions prevailing pre-vailing In Washington. D. C, shows that, as direct, Impelling causes, shift-le?Pness. shift-le?Pness. desertion, intemperance and licentiousness had to answer for hardly hard-ly five per cent of all the cases examined, ex-amined, although they appear a-- contributory con-tributory causes in about twenty five per cent and as underlying causes in one-third of all the cases. The moral element having boon shown to bo wholly Incapable of producing the effect ef-fect falsely attributed to them, the economic conditions remain. The charity records of 1.1RS families famil-ies wore studied, of which 452 were white and 731 colored families, while only forty were of wholly forelcm extraction ex-traction The total number of per-eous per-eous in these families was 4,303, of whom l.sr.O were white and 2.r.0.i colored. col-ored. These people are described as for the most part, the floating, unattached unat-tached poor. They rarely belong to a union or lodyo; few have friends or relations, re-lations, or even church eonnucUons to turn to for holn. The average size of the families was 3.7 persons, as against an averaee 0f 4.0 persons for all families In Washington, Wash-ington, tho small average size of Che charity families being duo to the fact that nearly Torty per cent, were families fam-ilies of only one or two persons The number of children under ten years of a;e was I'.O.O per cent of tho char-ity char-ity population, as compared with 16 per cent for the total population of |