Problems of Poverty

Problems of Poverty, by John A.
Hobson

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Hobson
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Title: Problems of Poverty
Author: John A. Hobson
Release Date: January 13, 2004 [eBook #10710]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Problems of Poverty
An Inquiry into the Industrial Condition of The Poor
By
John A. Hobson, M.A.
Author of "The Problem of The Unemployed," "International Trade,"
Etc.
Sixth Edition

First Published April 1891 Second Edition November 1894 Third
Edition July 1896 Fourth Edition July 1899 Fifth Edition May 1905
Sixth Edition 1906

Preface

The object of this volume is to collect, arrange, and examine some of
the leading facts and forces in modern industrial life which have a
direct bearing upon Poverty, and to set in the light they afford some of
the suggested palliatives and remedies. Although much remains to be
done in order to establish on a scientific basis the study of "the
condition of the people," it is possible that the brief setting forth of
carefully ascertained facts and figures in this little book may be of
some service in furnishing a stimulus to the fuller systematic study of
the important social questions with which it deals.
The treatment is designed to be adapted to the focus of the citizen-
student who brings to his task not merely the intellectual interest of the
collector of knowledge, but the moral interest which belongs to one
who is a part of all he sees, and a sharer in the social responsibility for

the present and the future of industrial society.
For the statements of fact contained in these chapters I am largely
indebted to the valuable studies presented in the first volume of Mr.
Charles Booth's Labour and Life of the People, a work which, when
completed, will place the study of problems of poverty upon a solid
scientific basis which has hitherto been wanting. A large portion of this
book is engaged in relating the facts drawn from this and other sources
to the leading industrial forces of the age.
In dealing with suggested remedies for poverty, I have selected certain
representative schemes which claim to possess a present practical
importance, and endeavoured to set forth briefly some of the economic
considerations which bear upon their competency to achieve their aim.
In doing this my object has been not to pronounce judgment, but rather
to direct enquiry. Certain larger proposals of Land Nationalization and
State Socialism, etc., I have left untouched, partly because it was
impossible to deal, however briefly, even with the main issues involved
in these questions, and partly because it seemed better to confine our
enquiry to measures claiming a direct and present applicability.
In setting forth such facts as may give some measurement of the evils
of Poverty, no attempt is made to suppress the statement of extreme
cases which rest on sufficient evidence, for the nature of industrial
poverty and the forces at work are often most clearly discerned and
most rightly measured by instances which mark the severest pressure.
So likewise there is no endeavour to exclude such human emotions as
are "just, measured, and continuous," from the treatment of a subject
where true feeling is constantly required for a proper realization of the
facts.
In conclusion, I wish to offer my sincere thanks to Mr. Llewellyn Smith,
Mr. William Clarke, and other friends who have been kind enough to
render me valuable assistance in collecting the material and revising the
proof-sheets of portions of this book.

Contents

I. The Measure of Poverty II. The Effects of Machinery on the
Condition of the Working-Classes III. The Influx of Population into
Large Towns IV. "The Sweating System" V. The Causes of Sweating
VI. Remedies for Sweating VII. Over-Supply of Low-Skilled Labour
VIII. The Industrial Condition of Women Workers IX. Moral Aspects
of Poverty X. "Socialistic Legislation" XI. The Industrial Outlook of
Low-Skilled Labour
List of Authorities

Problems of Poverty
Chapter I.
The Measure of Poverty.

§ 1. The National Income, and the Share of the Wage-earners.--To give
a clear meaning and a measure of poverty is the first requisite. Who are
the poor? The "poor law," on the one hand, assigns a meaning too
narrow for our purpose, confining the application of the name to "the
destitute," who alone are recognized as fit subjects