Problems of Poverty | Page 5

earnings of a poor family are, we must inquire what they
can buy with them. Among the city poor, the evil of low wages is
intensified by high prices. In general, the poorer the family the higher
the prices it must pay for the necessaries of life. Rent is naturally the

first item in the poor man's budget. Here it is evident that the poor pay
in proportion to their poverty. The average rent in many large districts
of East London is 4s. for one room, 7s. for two. In the crowded parts of
Central London the figures stand still higher; 6s. is said to be a
moderate price for a single room.[6] Mr. Marchant Williams, an
Inspector of Schools for the London School Board, finds that 86 per
cent. of the dwellers in certain poor districts of London pay more than
one-fifth of their income in rent; 46 per cent. paying from one-half to
one-quarter; 42 per cent. paying from one-quarter to one-fifth; and only
12 per cent. paying less than one-fifth of their weekly wage.[7] The
poor from their circumstances cannot pay wholesale prices for their
shelter, but must buy at high retail prices by the week; they are forced
to live near their work (workmen's trains are for the aristocracy of
labour), and thus compete keenly for rooms in the centres of industry;
more important still, the value of central ground for factories, shops,
and ware-houses raises to famine price the habitable premises. It is
notorious that overcrowded, insanitary "slum" property is the most
paying form of house property to its owners. The part played by rent in
the problems of poverty can scarcely be over-estimated. Attempts to
mitigate the evil by erecting model dwellings have scarcely touched the
lower classes of wage-earners. The labourer prefers a room in a small
house to an intrinsically better accommodation in a barrack-like
building. Other than pecuniary motives enter in. The "touchiness of the
lower class" causes them to be offended by the very sanitary
regulations designed for their benefit.
But "shelter" is not the only thing for which the poor pay high.
Astounding facts are adduced as to the prices paid by the poor for
common articles of consumption, especially for vegetables, dairy
produce, groceries, and coal. The price of fresh vegetables, such as
carrots, parsnips, &c., in East London is not infrequently ten times the
price at which the same articles can be purchased wholesale from the
growers.[8]
Hence arises the popular cry against the wicked middleman who stands
between producer and consumer, and takes the bulk of the profit. There
is much want of thought shown in this railing against the iniquities of

the middleman. It is true that a large portion of the price paid by the
poor goes to the retail distributor, but we should remember that the
labour of distribution under present conditions and with existing
machinery is very great. We have no reason to believe that the small
retailers who sell to the poor die millionaires. The poor, partly of
necessity, partly by habit, make their purchases in minute quantities. A
single family has been known to make seventy-two distinct purchases
of tea within seven weeks, and the average purchases of a number of
poor families for the same period amounted to twenty-seven. Their
groceries are bought largely by the ounce, their meat or fish by the half-
penn'orth, their coal by the cwt., or even by the lb. Undoubtedly they
pay for these morsels a price which, if duly multiplied, represents a
much higher sum than their wealthier neighbours pay for a much better
article. But the small shopkeeper has a high rent to pay; he has a large
number of competitors, so that the total of his business is not great; the
actual labour of dispensing many minute portions is large; he is often
himself a poor man, and must make a large profit on a small turn- over
in order to keep going; he is not infrequently kept waiting for his
money, for the amount of credit small shopkeepers will give to regular
customers is astonishing. For all these, and many other reasons, it is
easy to see that the poor man must pay high prices. Even his luxuries,
his beer and tobacco, he purchases at exorbitant rates.
It is sometimes held sufficient to reply that the poor are thoughtless and
extravagant. And no doubt this is so. But it must also be remembered
that the industrial conditions under which these people live, necessitate
a hand-to-mouth existence, and themselves furnish an education in
improvidence.
§ 5. Housing and Food Supply of the Poor.--Once more, out of a low
income the poor pay high prices for a bad article. The low physical
condition of the poorest city workers, the high rate of mortality,