Problems of Poverty | Page 8

that
industry, and to contribute to that wealth; asking in return not the
comforts and luxuries of civilized life, but the rough food and shelter
for himself and family, which would be practically secured to him in

the rudest form of savage society.
Occasionally one of these sensational stories breaks into the light of
day, through the public press, and shocks society at large, until it
relapses into the consoling thought that such cases are exceptional. But
those acquainted closely with the condition of our great cities know
that there are thousands of such silent tragedies being played around us.
In England the recorded deaths from starvation are vastly more
numerous than in any other country. In 1880 the number for England is
given as 101. In 1902 the number for London alone is 34. This is, of
course, no adequate measure of the facts. For every recorded case there
will be a hundred unrecorded cases where starvation is the practical
immediate cause of death. The death-rate of children in the poorer
districts of London is found to be nearly three times that which obtains
among the richer neighbourhoods. Contemporary history has no darker
page than that which records not the death-rate of children, but the
conditions of child-life in our great cities. In setting down such facts
and figures as may assist readers to adequately realize the nature and
extent of poverty, it has seemed best to deal exclusively with the
material aspects of poverty, which admit of some exactitude of
measurement. The ugly and degrading surroundings of a life of poverty,
the brutalizing influences of the unceasing struggle for bare subsistence,
the utter absence of reasonable hope of improvement; in short, the
whole subjective side of poverty is not less terrible because it defies
statistics.
§ 7. Figures and Facts of Pauperism.--Since destitution is the lowest
form of poverty, it is right to append to this statement of the facts of
poverty some account of pauperism. Although chiefly owing to a
stricter and wiser administration of the Poor Law in relation to outdoor
relief, the number of paupers has steadily and considerably decreased,
both in proportion to the population and absolutely, the number of
those unable to support themselves is still deplorably large. In 1881 no
less than one in ten of the total recorded deaths took place in
workhouses, public hospitals, and lunatic asylums. In London the
proportion is much greater and has increased during recent years. In
1901 out of 78,229 deaths in London, 13,009 took place in workhouses,

10,643 in public hospitals, and 349 in public asylums, making a total of
24,001. Comparing these figures with the total number of deaths, we
find that in the richest city of the world 32.5 per cent., or one in three of
the inhabitants, dies dependent on public charity. This estimate does
not include those in receipt of outdoor relief. Moreover, it is an
estimate which includes all classes. The proportion, taking the
working-classes alone, must be even higher.
Turning from pauper deaths to pauper lives, the condition of the poor,
though improved, is far from satisfactory. The agricultural labourer in
many parts of England still looks to the poorhouse as a natural and
necessary asylum for old age. Even the diminution effected in outdoor
relief is not evidence of a corresponding decrease in the pressure of
want. The diminution is chiefly due to increased strictness in the
application of the Poor Law, a policy which in a few cases such as
Whitechapel, Stepney, St. George-in-the-East, has succeeded in the
practical extermination of the outdoor pauper. This is doubtless a wise
policy, but it supplies no evidence of decrease in poverty. It would be
possible by increased strictness of conditions to annihilate outdoor
pauperism throughout the country at a single blow, and to reduce the
number of indoor paupers by making workhouse life unendurable. But
such a course would obviously furnish no satisfactory evidence of the
decline of poverty, or even of destitution. Moreover, in regarding the
decline of pauperism, we must not forget to take into account the
enormous recent growth of charitable institutions and funds which now
perform more effectually and more humanely much of the relief work
which formerly devolved upon the Poor Law. The income of charitable
London institutions engaged in promoting the physical well-being of
the people amounted in 1902-3 to about four and a half millions. The
relief afforded by Friendly Societies and Trade Unions to sick and
out-of-work members, furnishes a more satisfactory evidence of the
growth of providence and independence among all but the lowest
classes of workers.
The improvement exhibited in figures of pauperism is entirely confined
to outdoor relief. The number of workers who, by reason of old age or
other infirmity, are compelled to take refuge in the poorhouses,