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The Commoner
4
VOLUME 8, NUMBEH 4
"Four Years More of the Full Dinner P
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' Fifteen thousand school children starving
In Chicago among the causes, lack of employ
ment of paronts, and the constant increase in
the cost of living without a corresponding In
crease in wages.
This is tho startling announcement made
in the daily newspapers of- Chicago and which
has Drought gloom and consternation to the
managers of tho republican national committee
in that city. They have been preaching pros
perity and the "full dinner pail" through tho
continuance of tho republican party in power
and the maintenance of a high tariff. The re
publican newspapers of Chicago without excep
tion have given this -republican claim the He
direct. In publishing with big headlines the re
port of tho special committee appointed to in
vestigate tho conditions tin public schools they
show that thousands of' children are suffering
from hunger and actually dying from starvation
In the great Industrial and commercial city of
Chicago.
Hore are the headlines, running across three
columns of tho paper, from the. Chicago Inter
Ocean (rep.):
HUNGER MENACES 20.000
PUPILS TN CITY SCHOOLS;
MANY BEG REFUSE TO EAT
Startling Conditions in Chicago Shown by. Report
of Investigating Committee Who Find
.v, . Starvation Has Many Victims- ' . .
'"4fr -it- i i' ' ' '
V,1 5,000 HAVE NO MEAL IN MORNING ,
,
in i ii i ii
Body Asks Food for Children, Somei of Whom
Have Forgotten Tasfco of Butter,- Living on
Dry Crusts Earned by- Heroism of- Moth
ers Who Go to BediFastihg i J.-
The Tribune heads' 1 artiqlei J' Jl r, , )
HUNGER STALItlNG IN CITY SCHOOLS '
Five Thousand Pupils Don't Know What iv-Full
Meal Means and Ten Thousand
Others Aro Underfed
The Record-Herald ' (Ind. Rep.) heads its
story with". 'u7 v.; f .
THOUSANDS OF PUPILS J .
SUFFER FROM HUNGER
The Inter Ocean' begins1 the horrible story
tolling of the starving of the Ifttle ones in the
midst of "republican prosperity" with the fol
lowing: "Five thousand children often go to school
breakfastless. Fiilly fifteen thousand school
children of Chicago are underfed and habitu
ally hungry. .Mothers" go to bed hungry in order
that their children may have food in the morn
ing. Half-clad and crying children have been,
found on the streets begging dead, fowls 'and
rotten fruit to eat. '
"These are some of the statements in the
report on indigent children filed with the school"
management committee of tho board of edu
cation." The Tribune (rep.) says:
"Many wage earning mothers have incomes
of not more than eighty cents a day."
Summarizing the causes whirh produce the
conditions of hunger the same paper cites, "lack
of employment," and the "constant increase In
the cost of living without a corresponding in
crease in wages" as the chief reasons for the
horrors. r s
Among numerous instances the Tribune
cites the following:
Tn Armour school district: Father out of
work, mother sick; not a scrap of food in the
house; five children, three half naked and one
garbed only in undershirt, crying for bread. For
three days they had lived on tea no bread, milk
or sugar.
In Jenner school district: One mother sup
ports a family of four children on $2.50 a week
sewing pants.
In Drummond school district: Family of
seven. No food in the house. Father out of
work. Went to lake to commit suicide, but
changed his mind and committed misdemeanor
In 'order to be locked up and get prison meal.
Tn southwestern district: Fajnily of six
found hungry, almost crazed by lack of food.
Had lived five days on bread and water, and
last loaf had been eaten for breakfast.
' These are only a few of the many which
the Tribune cites put of' the thousands reported.
' During theTpresent republican pn'nle hungry
children have not even been provided with free
soup' houses.
MOVED TO RELIEVE HUNGRY CHILDREN
The Lincoln (Neb.) Star (rep.) printed in
its Issue of Monday evening, October 5, tb,e fol
lowing dispatch:
Chicago, October 5. Shocked by the revel
ation thatXKere are 15,000 starving or half fed
children in Chicago. Mayor Busse has taken im
mediate steps to effect some organized system
of relief. He was promised the co-operation of
numerous charitable organizations and philan
thropic individuals.
Mr. Busse teleponed instructions to Private
Secretary Mullaney to procure for him all tho
infprmation possible on the actual conditions.
THE INCREASED COST OF LIVING
. -mi-- If tnere is one thing of more Interest than
! , politics to tho majority of citizens In this coim
'try It Is the cost of living. The people are hear
ing constantly of the wonderful benefits that;
will come to them through tho continuance of
republican rule in nation and state, yet concern
ing the most important matter to them mod
erate prices for the necessaries of life nothing
is accomplished.
' The public kpows that trusts are chiefly
responsible for most of the exorbitant prices,
yet after years of attacks on these pernicious
combinations, the prices continue to increase
year after year. There will be sufficiently large
crops of wheat, corn, oats, etc., this year and
there have been phenomenal yields in recent
years, x but all this prosperity has been of no
real benefit to householders. In fact, tho more
plentiful the crops and the larger the produc
tion of articles which people must purchase, the
higher are the prices, not only in one section,
but in all parts of the country.
The complaints by householders from time
to time that prices for the necessaries of life
were unwarrantably high are fully borne out in
an official report just published by tho national
bureau of labor. This report deals with tho re
tall prices for food in the years 1890 to 1907
inclusive, and the statistics cover tho retail prices
of thirty staple food commodities as sold in
slxty-olght localities in tho United States by
AjUii aeaiers.
Retail prices of food in 1907 were highor
than In any other year of the eighteen year
period named, and 4.2 per cent higher than in
1906. The articles which showed the greatest
advance in prices aro: Flour 8.9 per cent; but
ter 8 per cent, evaporated apples 7.8 per cent,
milk 7.3 per cent, corn meal 6,8 per cent, cheese"
6.7 per cent and potatoes 5.4 per cent. The
only article which showed a decrease Is tea, the
decline being 0.2 per cent.
Retail prices 'in each month of 1907 were
higher than in the corresponding month of 1906;
in January they were 3.9 per cent higher in
February 4.2 per cent, in March 4 per cent in
April 3.9 per cent, in May 4.1 per cent, In June
4.3 per cent, in-July 4.5 per cent, In August 4 8
per cent, in September 5.1 per cent, in October
5.4 per cent, in November 4 per cent, and in
December 3.1 per qent higher. Thus it is. seen
that October, 1907, showed a greater increase
over tho corresponding month of 1906 than any
other month of 19 07-, and December showed" the
least increase.
The articles which showed the most marked
advance in prices in December, 1907 over De
cember. 1906, are flour 17.5 per cent, evaporat-N
ed apples 16.3 per cent, corn meal 11.9 per
cent, potatoes 10.1 per cent, and milk, fresh,
unskimmed, 9.6 per cent.
, fThe average prices of twenty-nine of the
thirty articles were higher in 1907 than in any
?rnn?"i.nthflie,Shtflfln year Periofl. 890
to 1907. The price of every article, except
coffee, was higher In 1907 than in 1896, the
year of lowest prices during the period, and in
tho -case of sixteen of the thirty articles it was
, more than 25 per cent above the level of 1896
The Increases in the price of some of the more
Important articles over tho 1896 prices were
as follows: Bacon 62.7 per cent, potatoes 56 6
per cent eggs 48 4 per cent, salt' port : 4??9 per
cent, fresh pork 46.3 per cent, and lard 45.1 Ser
iopAll,tl,fl3u,nTse8 In nricGS since the year
1896, when Mr. Bryan first ran for the pres
The mayor, as soon as he returns to the city,
will have' a conference with the school officials
and with members' of his cabinet 'on the question
of adpptinV adequate measures for alleviating
the sufferings disclosed in the ' report made to
President Schneider of the' board of education.
In addition tho mayor, who is particularly
compassionate of the sufferings of children, an
nounced that as a private citizen he would co
operate with other citizens in any relief plan
found feasible.
"If these reports represent actual facts the
condition is alarming," said the mayor. "I am
going to give my full attention to a remedy of
the evils as soon as I can consult with my ad
visers. Speaking offhand, I would say that it
probably would be unwise to begin feeding the
children in the schools on a wholesale scale
on account of the abuses that would be bound
to creep into such a system. But there are other
ways, I am suref In which we can work to re
lieve this Buffering."
It was a new and complex problem in char-
ity that was put up to the Chicago public by the
publication of the report that 15,000 school chil
dren are either habitually hungry or insufficient
ly nourished. To care for these children it is
necessary, according to authorities, either to
take them from their parehts or to educate the
parents in the proper feeding of the young.
Financial assistance is seldom required, they say.
Miss Rebecca B. Holmes, assistant superin
tendent of the Chicago bureau of charities, said
the means of rescuing these unfortunate child
ren is already in existence in the machinery
operated by the bureau. All that is needed is a
larger fund to enable the organization to ex
tend its work and reach all of the cases of
distress. She proposed these three classes of
remedies:
Where children are starving for lack of
money to buy food a' pension; should be paid
the family until it is able "to support itself
properly.
In cases of distress resulting from drunk
enness or other depravity of tho parents the
children should- be placed under the care of the
juvenile court. ' '
"Where children are improperly and insuffi
ciently nourished through ignorance the mother
should be instructed in the proper selection and
preparation of foods.
"If for every family in which starving
children are found some person would volunteer
to undertake the education of the mother In
the care of her children there -would be com
paratively little distress of this kind," said Miss
Holmes.
dency, are significant. Since that year tho
householders certainly have not prospered so
far as moderate prices for food ire concerned.
The meat and other food trusts 'have had their
way and demanded and received exorbitant rates.
Should there not have ben some improvement
in this matter in a dozen years of republican
rule In the nation?
The trouble now is that the purchasing
power of a dollar is far less than in past years.
In 1890 a dollar would purchase 7.81 pounds
of fresh beef, and the same In 1896, but in
1907 it would only purchase 6.47 pounds. For
the United States, as a whole, the average cost
of food per family in 1890 was $318.20. In
1896, the year of lowest prices, it foil to
$296.76; in 1907 it reached the highest point
of the eighteen year period named, being
$374.75. Boston Globe.
: One of the great surprises of this
0 campaign, in my opinion, will be the
0' vote which Bryan is to get in Greater
0 New York. In 1900 he had only 30,000
over McKitiley in the area comprising
the metropolitan city. This year all the
signB are his plurality in the whole town
will bo upward of 100,000. It may be
125,000. Unless the republican manng-
ers can do something to stop the labor
' people going wholesale to Bryan it may
even be more than that. Walter weii-
man in Chicago -Record-Herald.
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