Show I 1 WS BY fredericks adel LOOTH TUCKER E P af pe P e volunteers VOL UN TEE R of RM ericel ERIC ca fl lit SRI 11 G 00 W HE work of the army of which inigo Is the lionor honor to be commander lies largely with ath tile the poor wo we are bettor better acquainted with every item of their real life their surroundings their vl 1 than antono could possibly be who did not go into their homes and live with them their dally daily life marriage Mair lage conditions among the poor have formed the theme of much of my personal research and of many or of the leports made to me it Is one of the great onu ono of the very great and very grave questions of the lay day marriage among the rich may mean any one of many things it may niban mean social or financial advancement it may lie be a more mere matter of corive convenience fience it may bo be the outcome of idleness and propinquity but marriage among tile the poor Is the most cogent means of reform by making marriage universally possible among those who are aia not blessed with an abundance of this worlds goods the most deadly blow imaginable would be dealt to vice the greatest step would by such means bo be taken toward vices utter titter elimination P marriage is an honorable estate and not to be entered into lightly but too often under present conditions the tha poor man cannot afford to enter into it at all yet he perhaps far oftener than his wealthier brather recognizes the honorable condition of that estate I 1 say this advisedly among the poor infidelity Is far less frequent than among the rich the poor man and his wife hold the marriage relation more sacred than do those of greater worldly wealth it Is therefore etore doubly nate hate that a class so worthy of the blessings of matrimony should he be so BO frequently de barred from those blessings that the people who maintain the sanctity of the marriage tie and who moreover bring up larger families lis as it a rule ruie than do persons better able to xi ito I 1 d to do so BO should be forced to remain single while men and women whose marriages are of no advantage to tile community nor to posterity L may wed at will conditions among tho the poor are arc in many anny cases such suc that the rearing and the keeping together 0 cf f a family are tendered rendered impossible on oil every had the poor mans efforts to establish and maintain the sacred relations rela tlona of matrimony are discouraged how for instance can a poor man take to himself a wife when tho the cost of living is IB so high that ila he can barely support life in himself 7 how can lie he ask a woman to share his lot when he knows lie may fit at any time bo be thrown out of work and perhaps bo be obliged to watch her starve how can call a man rear a family faintly when the chances may he be all against his being able to maintain it for a mai mai cannot maintain a family famili whon when lie he has no work the sight eight of a starving wife and children has driven many a man to desperation oven even to crime yet it la Is the right of tile tho poor to have a home with them that right light Is as inalienable and perhaps moro more pie pre cloua clotia than with the rich ilch and social conditions condl tlona should bo be so arranged ns LIS to allow W th the 0 pool pooi to escape from the burden of vice through the blessed bonda of matrimony these conditions which are rendering mar marriage among tho the poor moro and moro more impossible are every tiny lay bringing mora and more sin into tile the world I 1 maintain most moat strongly that there 1 s a remedy for vice and that ron remedy icly consists in ili making marriage possible pos among the poor and in providing for such a home in this country it Is true there to Is a brighter brighte r side to the question than in 2 drope as may bo be prove proved from statistics in ondon london out of every 1090 1010 marriageable persons are unman unmarried led more generally genoia lly speaking less than one third of the marriageable population of london tho the largest city of tho the world enter tho the state of matrimony more acore than two thirds are single the conditions for marriage there are all against the poor man and woman they may fam fall in love as utterly as could any millionaire but the gates of the eden of matrimony are closed against them and guarded by the flaming sword of poverty they may sigh tor for marriage but they realize that such a luxury Is far and away above their means in this oils country the marriage statistics are almost exactly the opposite of elondous Lon dons dous here about two thirds ot of the marriageable population are married leaving barely a third unwed the explanation of this difference between the two countries Is pt of course easy to find it consists la in the better wages the increased chances for work vork the general condition which pro yaiL in america it Is easier caster for cho ha poor to live hero here than lit in london but every year it la is growing loaa leas easy in ili proportion with the poor mans growing inability to support a wife vice proves in oves itself to be on tho the increase this advance in vice la Is found even in ili the west and there na lis well na an lit in the cast it la Is duo due to tho the growing glowing disability to ma marry irry during my recent visit to kansas city several married women applied to nio me for foi positions on the saly salvation aaion army farms on oil investigation I 1 learned that thoy they had biad not hoard heard from their husbands for years ears I 1 mado mad inquiries and in each case found that the wage earner of 0 the family unable to got get work had gono away penniless to seek a livelihood elsewhere and had been forced to leave kavo tits ills wife and little ones to shift for themselves tito the stories war profoundly pathetic for they told of men and women whose right to wed and rear families was wag Intille inalienable and yet who had been forced to rort part from all that each hold held dear poverty not more merciful death them lid did part can tiny any situation bo be imagined that would be more crushing to a man mail of heart and of pride than to bo be forced thus to condemn to poverty and loneliness the woman lie ho loved could wit nestos nest OS to such lucli a tragedy require a stronger deterrent to matrimony thore thero la is far more su noring of this kind among the poor than tho the world at largo over hears or of poor are proud and most of them havo have a passionate love of home I 1 have seen whole families resign themselves to probable death sooner chanto than in allow their homes to bo be broken up tho the great dread of tho the unfortunate poor Is lest their children bo be taken away from them and committed to an institution Dom homicide icide or tho the breal ring up of the home la Is to the poor mau man what regicide As Is to loyal subjects of any king from a sociological standpoint there are arc many arguments for allowing tile the poor man to have a home and family faintly it Is his right light ile he to Is tender fonder of his children as a rule than to la his rich neighbor his home Is dearer to him home ties are his only joys hla his only recreation when ahen I 1 find a man starving and unable to support his family I 1 do not believe in tearing out his heart by proposing the breaking up of bild lild hl homo home and the commitment of tits his children to an institution I 1 suggest to him rather that lie ho go into the country where work Is moro more plentiful and living cheaper and I 1 try to find the moans meana for him to do so perhaps the best maxim to solve tho the marriaga marr laga problem among tho the poor is place waste labor on waste land by means of 0 waste capital and thereby convert the trinity of waste into a unity of production 1 by joseph 13 dowles Ro |