GIFT OF m GIFT Poverty in Baltimore and its causes STUDY OF SOCIAL STATISTICS IN THE CITY OF BALTIMORE^ FOR THE YEARS 1916-1917 ff ^, i ^ ^ A X->^^ */ OV THE ^ iiuNIVERSITY'^ \s^ti?o^^^\^^^ 1 ALLIANCE OF CHARITABLE AND SOCIAL AGENCIES McCOY HALL BALTIMORE, MARYLAND POVERTY IN BALTIMORE AND ITS CAUSES A study undertaken by the Alliance of Charitable and Social Agencies of Baltimore, and conducted by the Bureau of State and Municipal Research under the supervision of a committee ap- pointed by the Alliance. Financed by an appropriation made to the Alliance for this purpose by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore through the Supervisors of City Charities. November 15, 1918 To the Mayor and City Council: For 1917 and 1918 you authorized an appropriation of $5,000 unique, it is believed, in the history of American cities, "for a study of the causes of poverty." To you, and to the public of Baltimore, we have the honor to report herewith upon results thus far attained. It is our hope that this modest beginning may be followed up not only in Balti- more but elsewhere. Respectfully submitted, ALLIANCE OF CHARITABLE AND SOCIAL AGENCIES, JOHN C. ROSE, GEORGE E. BARNETT, ROSCOE C. EDLUND, Advisory Committee. BUREAU OF STATE AND MUNICIPAL RESEARCH, W. H. MALTBIE, Director 6 %-r rx" o' ' A^^^ ^^^ ^ POVERTY IN BALTIMORE INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT BY THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE THE ORIGIN OF THE STUDY Fourteen well known philanthropic organizations, comprising nearly all the large non-sectarian and non-institutional charitable societies of the city, constitute the Alliance of Charitable and Social Agencies of Baltimore.* For some time, a number of persons interested in the work of these societies and particularly in the larger constructive purposes of their association together in the Alliance, have felt that Baltimore, long a leader in the development of the best forms of organized charitable endeavor, might again point the way and provide inspiration in the age-long struggle against poverty, by inaugurating a systematic and scien- tific study of the causes of poverty that should be akin in spirit and purpose to investigations in the field of medical science into the origin of disease, the methods of transmission, and the means not of cure only but of prevention. Within a generation, there has been marvelous progress in pre- ventive medicine, to which not a little has been contributed by the medical schools and leaders of the profession in Baltimore, and the scientific studies which have been carried on in this city. As a result, certain diseases have been brought under control and death rates lowered throughout the country. Today the lowest death rates are not in rural communities but in well-administered cities where the principles of preventive medicine are best applied. * The Baltimore members of the Alliance are: Babies' Milk Fund Associa- tion, Federated Charities, Friendly Inn Association, Henry Watson Children's Aid Society, Instructive Visiting Nurse Association, Mental Hygiene Society, Mothers' Relief Society, Prisoners' Aid Association, Social Service Corpora- tion (including Baltimore Council of Boy Scouts, Public Athletic League, Law- rence House and Warner House), Maryland Tuberculosis Association and Travelers' Aid Society. The Maryland Children's Aid Society is also a member of the Alliance, but its work lies entirely in the counties outside of Baltimore. Those who urged the inquiry into the causes and conditions of poverty, the results of which are here set forth, believe in the possibility, if not probability, that scientific and thorough studies in our cities into the life and work of the people who suffer from poverty, will in the long run yield results comparable to those already achieved in the field of medicine. It should be possible at least to discover with some degree of accuracy the extent and character of extreme poverty, and probably its main causes, how- ever complex and difficult of classification they may at first seem. With the causes known, means of prevention may be discovered and applied. In medical research, the first steps are usually the compilation, tabulation and study of existing data relating to the disease under investigation. It was thought that like methods could be wisely applied to the study of the causes of poverty. It was fully recog- nized that much of the initial work could have none other than a negative result. Those who study disease, make up many tables, most of which are without interest, and the majority of them in the long run turn out to be valueless, or at best of little worth. In the investigation of typhoid, how much data was toilsomely gathered, and in the end found useless! Nevertheless, bounds have been set to that centuries old scourge of mankind, and its power to exact tribute of lives is fast passing away. Such a victory could not have been won had not hundreds of investigators in medicine and other sciences, given minute examination to all the statistical and other data that seemed to have even the most remote connection with it. APPLICATION FOR CITY APPROPRIATION Inspired by such hopes, in the Fall of 1916, application was made to Mayor James H. Preston, and through him to the Board of Estimates of Baltimore, for an appropriation of Five Thousand Dollars, to be expended under the direction of the Board of Super- visors of City Charities, in compiling, tabulating and studying the data existing in the records of the societies comprising the Alli- ance and of other charitable organizations in Baltimore that might be induced to cooperate. No one could say with certainty that such an inquiry would result in anything of real value. Its full value certainly could not be realized unless like studies were subsequently made here and in many other places. The most notable scientific studies of poverty thus far attempted have been in the English cities of London, York, Northampton, Warrington, Stanley and Reading.* Illumi- nating, suggestive, and comprehensive as these are, they suffer for us from the fact that conditions in England are not fully compar- able with conditions here. An important American study of 5000 cases under the care of the Charity Organization Society of New York in the years 1907 and 1908 is reported in ''Misery and Its Causes," by Edward T. DeVine. Frequent and constant studies must be made, many in different cities should be undertaken simul- taneously, and there must be constant interchange of experience between many groups working independently and probably over a long period of years, if significant results are to be obtained, and a truly constructive and preventive program prepared. The difficulties in the way seemed but a challenge, however, to the best thought and effort, and after due deliberation, the officers of the Alliance asked the Mayor for a municipal appropriation to begin the study. So far as was known, no other municipality had ever spent money for such a purpose, but the possibilities of the plan appealed strongly to the Mayor who presented the matter to the Board of Estimates and the City Council. Whatever may seem to be the value of the present report, it is the hope of the committee that the courage and vision shown by the Mayor and his colleagues in authorizing the appropriation thus suggested, will be fully recogfiized, and that the present study may lead to many such inquiries both in this and other cities. THE WORK PLACED IN THE HANDS OF THE BUREAU OF STATE AND MUNICIPAL RESEARCH The planning and direction of the study, involving an amount of * Life and Labour of the People in London, 10 volumes by Charles Booth, assisted by Ernest Aves; Macmillan Co., 1890-1900. Poverty A Study of Town Life (in York), by B. Seebohm Kountree; Mac- millan Co., 1901. Livlihood and Poverty A Study in the Economic Conditions of Working- Class Households in Northampton, Warrington, Stanley and Reading. Made for the Ratan Tata Foundation (University of London), by A. L. Bowley and A. R. Bumett-Hurst; G. Bell & Sons, London, 1915. 8 statistical labor that can scarcely be comprehended by those who have not had personal experience in such matters, was placed by the Alliance (with the approval of the Supervisors of City Chari- ties through whom the appropriation was made) in the hands of the Bureau of State and Municipal Research. The Bureau has had as an advisory committee, Judge John C. Rose, of the U. S. District Court; George E. Barnett, Ph. D., Professor of Statistics at The Johns Hopkins University ; and Gordon Wilson, M. D., of the School of Medicine of the University of Maryland. Since the absorption of the last named in his military duties as a Major in the Medical Reserve Corps, his place has been taken by Roscoe C. Edlund, Director of the Alliance of Charitable and Social Agencies. Two further matters should be stated. The work of the Bureau of State and Municipal Research was without compensation other than reimbursement for and the cost of statistical machinery, cards, etc., and the wages of the clerical staff. Acknowledgment is due also to those charitable and medical organizations both in and out of the Alliance which cooperated willingly in placing their records at the disposal of the Bureau of State and Municipal Research. Without this cooperation the study could not have been made. EXTENT, LIMITATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE STUDY The detailed report shows fully the methods and classifications employed. The total number of case records studied was 8663, divided between the calendar years 1916 and 1917. These records were supplied by nine organizations. About four-fifths came from four Alliance organizations : The Federated Charities, Instructive Visiting Nurse Association, Prisoners' Aid Association and Henry Watson Children's Aid Society, the remainder coming from the Federated Jewish Charities, Supervisors of City Charities, Social Service Department of Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, with a small number (52) from the Young Ladies' Benevolent Society. It is scarcely necessary to point out that no deductions of final value or general application, can be drawn from the records within a given two-year period of nine charitable and medical agencies of a single city. This study, a pioneer of its kind, has obvious limitations of subject matter, despite the fact that so far as is known, it is the most elaborate and comprehensive and covers the largest number of cases dealt with in any such study in the United States. The committee refrains from stating conclusions because it does not believe that conclusions can be drawn. The data ob- tained may seem to have a bearing, positive or negative, upon some or many questions, but data from other organizations in Baltimore, or from other cities, might point in the opposite direc- tion. If further studies are made, here and elsewhere, it may be found that facts which at first seem important are without real significance, or that, because of conditions peculiar to Baltimore, what is of value locally throws little if any light upon the general problem throughout the country. At the moment, the com,mittee is as much conceryied about the methods of study as it is about the facts which may seem to be disclosed. It is the hope of the committee that the methods em- ployed may stand the test of further use and may suggest plans whereby the immense amount of data gathered day by day by social and medical agencies throughout the country may be cur- rently recorded in such fashion as to be capable of rapid mechan- ical segregation and classification. If this could be achieved, and especially if students in many different cities could agree upon a reasonable uniformity of classifications and definition, the accu- mulation of comparable data for scientific study could go forward apace, and the social worker would have the inspiration of feeling that his contact with the individual case of need offered oppor- tunity not alone for wise, humane and effective treatment, but also for the gathering and recording of information, ivhich when prop- erly assembled and interpreted, would throw light upori the funda- mental general problems. We are conscious that much in this report is uninteresting~~fo the last degree. Yet we feel that a detailed account of the way in which the figures were gathered and put together, will make it possible for those who may engage in similar inquiries to do their work so that comparison between their results and those here obtained, can be safely made. Many of the figures given are, to all appearances, irrelevant to anything of importance. It may be safely assumed that not a few of them are so in fact. They are printed because nobody now knows or can know which of them are 10 really pertinent. A large volume of facts must first be gathered, at many different times and places, and then their story will be read, it is to be hoped, by some mind in which scientific accuracy and capacity for thorough and painstaking investigation are united with an illuminating imagination. Further studies can be made, and indeed are contemplated, of the present material. What has been done thus far, the results of which are here reported, is to determine the number of cards falling within classifications which careful consideration lead the committee to adopt and within which all available material in the 8663 cases studied was recorded. But the adoption of a classification, and the sorting of all carSs under each heading is, after all, only preliminary to real study. Further investigation of the present material will doubtless sug- gest possible relationships between different classifications, the confirmation of these relationships depending, however, on future studies. Undoubtedly, further combinations of our present ma- terial should be made. For example, it will doubtless be worth while to segregate all cards showing tuberculosis, so that as one group they can then be sub-divided according to sex, age, race, housing conditions, occu- pation, wages, neighborhood in which living (census enumera- tion district) in brief, into each and all of the classifications recorded. As it is entirely practicable to divide and sub-divide down to the very last detailed analysis, any group of cards in which the student may be particularly interested, an immense amount of suggestive data may be thus obtained. In this connection, attention should be directed to a previous study * made by the Bureau of Municipal Research to show, (1) the distribution of population of Baltimore City (at the 1910 Federal Census) among the 406 "census enumeration districts" into which the city was divided, (2) the distribution among these same districts of cases under care in 1915 by each of five organi- zations t and the total of all five, and (3) the number of these * Report No. 15, issued January 1, 1917, by the Bureau of State and Munici- pal Research, Baltimore: Part I, Districting of Baltimore for the Work of Charitable Organizations; Part II, The Enumeration Districts. t Federated Charities, Instructive Visiting Nurse Association, Babies' Milk Fund Association, Tuberculosis Division of City Health Department and Fed- erated Jewish Charities. 11 cases per acre and per each 1,000 of the population. That inevita- bly suggested the desirability of intensive study by districts of the problems of poverty in Baltimore. This study will be practicable for the cases studied in the present investigation, inasmuch as each case is coded by district. It cannot be too clearly recognized that the materials recorded relate to strictly limited groups in the community groups which came under the care of certain leading charitable and social agencies. In this respect our study follows the New York study by Dr. Devine above referred to, differing from the English studies of London, York, Reading and the other cities. The Eng- lish students, at the cost of large sums of money, employing trained staffs, and visiting house after house and industrial plant after industrial plant, gathered together an immense amount of data about all kinds of working class families, regardless of whether they were dependent or independent, or of whether they fell into any such special classifications as do practically all those who come to the attention of charitable and social agencies. Their object was to determine how all the working class population labored and lived, not simply that portion of it which fell below the poverty line and came under the care of organizations. Along with such possibilities and such limitations the one luring one forward to study, the other suggesting its pitfalls and dangers it is well also to note the distribution of our 8663 cases among the different types of organizations from which the records came. Sixty per cent, or 5202 cases are from organizations deal- ing primarily with problems of dependency, distributed as follows : Federated Charities 4055 Federated Jewish Charities 754 Supervisors of City Charities 341 Young Ladies' Benevolent Society 52 Twenty-four per cent, or 2080, came from two medical agencies : Instructive Visiting Nurse Association 1825 Social Service Department Johns Hopkins Hospital 255 More than 10 per cent, or 920, are Prisoners' Aid Association cases (mostly probationers) , and the remaining 6 per cent, or 561, are from the following Children's Agencies: Henry Watson Children's Aid Society 351 Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children 210 12 CLASSIFICATION OF IMMEDIATE APPARENT CAUSES FOR CHARITABLE CARE What were the causes which brought the 8663 families under the care of these charitable and social organizations ? It is not our belief that the real underlying causes can be defi- nitely ascertained or coded. The stuffs of which human life and misery are made are too subtle, too varied, too complex for this sort of scientific dissection. In comparatively few cases can even the apparent reasons for application or reference be reduced to a single cause, while the true reasons may run so far into the character and life histories of the individual concerned, as well as into the organization of society itself, as to defy analysis. Drunkenness or excessive drinking tends to disqualify from em- ployment, but in some instances these habits have been induced by periods of enforced idleness; or they may be either the cause or the consequence of ill health, abnormal mental conditions, in- sufficient food, domestic trouble, or several of these together. It would be easy for a charity visitor to mistake drunkenness for a cause of poverty in a given case where, if every aspect of it could be known, it might properly be regarded as an effect resulting from many other causes. Again, if tuberculosis be the reason for a given application for relief, what caused the disease? If bad housing and lack of sunlight and air should seem to be the cause, what led the family to live under these conditions ? Was it insuf- ficient income, or ignorance, or some other reason, and if so who or what was finally responsible ? It will not be necessary to point out, therefore, that any classification whatever of the causes of poverty must be accepted with extreme caution, and with certain knowledge that back of apparent causes lie many others, fre- quently indistiguishable and impossible to analyze. It seems to the committee, fully worth while to tabulate the immediate apparent causes which placed the 8663 families or individuals in their position of economic dependence or of need for other assistance or supervision. As a rule, one who asks for help gives some reason why he needs it, or if he be referred for assistance or supervision, reasons may be assigned by neighbors, friends, relatives, courts, social workers or other referring agency. In most, if not all instances, the organization appealed to makes its own investigation into the causes of the trouble. Throughout 13 this study, the diagnosis made by the charity worker in charge of the case, where such diagnosis has been recorded, has been accepted as the basis of tabulation. If not, the recorded state- ment of the applicant is used. Sometimes what is recorded is simply the immediate necessity which led to the Society's inter- position, as for example the necessity for securing alimony for some unhappily wedded wife. What led to the marital breach may not appear and may never have become known. Among those which the records classified as due to family troubles, are included an aggregate of 1201 cases under one or the other heads of alimony, desertion or non-support, marital infidelity, incompatibility, neglected, immoral or incorrigible chil- dren, failure of children to support parents or of parents to sup- port children, or neglect of a father of an illegitimate child to support it. Under the classification of abnormal or criminal practices, including drunkenness or heavy drinking, drug using, shiftlessness, mendicancy, immorality, thievery, manslaughter and assault, there are 694 cases. Under that of the withdrawal of an essential memebr of the family group, there are 280 cases of imprisonment. Under the miscellaneous cases, there are in- stances of 61 women with illegitimate children . There is here a total of 2236 cases or 25.81 per cent in which the trouble is said to have had its origin in something out of the way in somebody's mental or moral makeup. Physical illness (including accidents and mental trouble) is given as the cause in 3902 instances, to which may be added from the classification of temporary special needs, 152 instances in which there was need for the services of an occulist or an optician, and 18 in which the skill of a dentist was required. Physical causes, therefore, U072 or U7 per cent of the whole number. Of this total, 1470 are classified as temporary illness, 138 as illness of pregnancy or child birth, and as noted above, 170 as needing attention to eyes or teeth, a total of 1778 temporary cases or 20.52 per cent of the whole number of cases studied. Tuberculosis is reported as accounting for 708 cases and other long continued physical disability and mental trouble for 1478, the two together amounting to 2186, more than one-half of all those said to be in- capacitated by disease and 25.23 per cent of the whole number of cases. 14 // the U072 cases recorded as arising from physical causes he added to the 2236 ascribed to mental or moral iveakness, the total reaches 6308, or nearly three-fourths of all those studied. But a note of caution should be given. Between one-fourth and one-fifth of all the cases dealt with came from the records of the Instructive Visiting Nurse Association. It is, therefore, possible that the contribution made by illness has been somewhat exaggerated, as that by moral shortcomings may be in consequence of including 649 cases from the records of the Prisoners' Aid Association. It is perhaps noteworthy that industrial accidents were reported as the cause of but 54 cases, only a little more than six-tenths of one per cent of the total. Before the days of legislative pro- vision for workmen's compensation, it seems probable that the number of such cases under the care of one or more of these organizations would have been markedly greater. The number of non-industrial accidents (52) reported is almost exactly the same as the number of industrial accidents. The total number of cases recorded as due to accidents (106) is 1.22 per cent of the whole number. Only 5.16 per cent or UU7 cases were attributed to "labor condi- tions." All but 9 of these were ascribed either to the wage earner being out of work or on part time. That tells little unless further analysis' of these records shall reveal the reason why the wage earner was not working, or was working only part of the time. From the present figures it seems apparent that the cause was other than strikes or lock-outs, for a separate return of such cases is made, and they number only four. A chronically insufficient income was recorded as the cause of 00 cases, or a trifle over one per cent of the whole number. Further analysis may help determine the reasons for the insuffi- cient income; the present figures do not tell whether it was the result of general economic conditions, of some weakness or mis- fortune of the individual or family concerned, or of some other reason. There were 613 cases recorded as due to temporary special needs, including the need of clothing, food, fuel, diet for children, care of eyes or teeth, transportation, loans, etc. Where indi- viduals or families come under care for reasons of this kind there are obviously other underlying causes even if they are not re- 15 corded. For example, a family appealing for temporary assist- ance may be in need on account of the removal of the wage earner to a sanitarium for tubercular patients. Such an instance would be classified under tuberculosis as a cause rather than under temporary need of food, fuel or clothing. In general, then, a large share if not all of these 613 cases would have been classified elsewhere if more complete information had appeared on the record. STUDY OF SUB-NORMALITY The study reveals the further fact that in the 8663 families dealt with, there were 8568 sub-normal or abnormal individuals. Upon an average, each of these families contained three members so that aproximately one-third of all the persons in them were in some respect or other sub-normal or abnormal. The handicaps of 1826 were mental. 1808 were either drunkards or heavy drinTc^ ers. 4642 were suffering from moral defects or delinquencies, and in many instances, from physical handicaps as well. 4521 had one or more physical shortcomings, whether they had a moral one or not. At the time of the investigation, 701 were inmates of insti- tutions, either for punishment, for reformation or for relief. RACE AND NATIONALITY The statistics for race and nativity are also given. In any consideration of these figures, it must be remembered that the cases dealt with number 140 to every 10,000 of the population, according to the Federal Census of 1910. Among the native whites, the numbers were 97 to 10,000 ; among the negroes, 229 ; and among the foreign born whites, 262. Great caution must be exercised in making comparisons between the different foreign nationalities. So far as concerns the greater number of European countries, they cannot really be made at all, as the number of residents of Baltimore, born in these countries, and the number of cases in which natives of each of them were assisted, are too small to make it safe to base any deductions upon them. It must be borne in mind that there are large and active charitable socie- ties' in in Baltimore whose records have not been included in this examination. In some instances, such societies do or may, for one reason or another, concern themselves more largely with certain 16 elements of the population than with others. Deductions from relative figures therefore must be subject to much qualification. Bearing in mind these limitations, it may be said that the Irish and German elements of the population, including with the Ger- mans the Poles born in Germany, are not represented among the applicants for relief in materially greater proportion than are the natives whites. They exceed the latter but not by very much. The various races from Austria Hungary contribute in the aggre- gate, in proportion something more than twice as many as do the native whites, and the Italians and Russians are each relatively four and a half times as numerous. Most of these revelations are not surprising in view of the generally known facts as to the economic condition of the various elements of our population. It is, however, a little curious that the Russian and Italians should, in proportion to their numbers, furnish nearly twice as many cases as do the negroes. This is particularly hard to understand when taken in connection with the fact that the proportion of cases among the recently arrived emigrants appears to be small. The stranger in a strange land may be friendless, and therefore when overtaken by any of the accidents of life, may be more readily forced to seek public char- ity than would be the case if he had been a member of the com- munity and had made connections in it. Yet it does not appear that there has been an undue proportion of cases among the newcomers of the city. This is true of strangers of either native or foreign birth. Since August, 1914, there has been very little immigration from Europe, but for all that, it is singular that out of approximately 2000 foreign families dealt with, the heads of only 454 or less than one-fourth have come to this country within the last ten years. The others have been here a decade or more. The heads of more than nineteen-twentieths of all the families relieved have lived in the United States for more than ten years, and more than six-sevenths have been residents of Balti- more for that length of time. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION The figures as to religious affiliation may be dismissed as of little value, and that for two reasons. (1) In some .instances, the reports of large charitable organizations operating largely or 17 exclusively among peoples of particular faiths are included in the accompanying tables, and other large societies operating in like manner among peoples of other religious beliefs are not included, and (2) because we do not know the relative numbers of any one of the religious denominations in the different economic grades of society. For example, the colored people in Baltimore are prob- ably very largely Protestants, and have a very low average in- come. On the other hand, certain elements of the foreign popula- tion with small incomes are almost exclusively members of the Roman Catholic Church and so on. SIZE OF FAMILY It is not infrequently supposed that large families are one cause of extreme poverty. The facts disclosed by our investiga- tion do not show that in Baltimore such was the case among the families dealt with in this report. We have information as to the number of children in 8141 of the families investigated. In nearly one-half of these cases there were none under sixteen years of age. In 5645 families, or more than two-thirds of the total number, there were either no children under sixteen years of age, or there were not more than two such children. In 8531 cases, we know the number of individuals in each household, and in more than half, that number did not exceed three. It is perhaps sig- nificant that in such families the children leave the household early, for in 6709 out of 8146, there were no children over sixteen. There was not one family in twenty in which there were more than two. The fewness of the children in the family at the time the report was given was not the result of a high rate of infant mor- tality. In point of fact, the number of cases in which previous deaths of children are recorded is so small as to be below the average of the entire population. The returns purport to give information on this subject with reference to 8419 families, and of these, it is said that 7539 have never lost a child, and in 565 more there was only one dead child. That is to say, in less than 4 per cent were there as many as two dead children. It is hard to believe in the accuracy of these figures as to the small mor- tality among the children of the poor. However that be, it would seem that extreme poverty in Baltimore, going to the extent of compelling application for charitable assistance, is much more 18 common among individuals without family attachments, or having very small families. Large families seem somehow or other to be able to take care of themselves. AGE AND INCOME In some economic, social and industrial conditions, there are large classes of the population in which the aged have always before them the fear of becoming paupers. English literature, as well as English economic history, shows how general this condi- tion was, not only in factory towns but among the agricultural laborers as well. The figures before us do not show that such conditions exist to any appreciable extent in Baltimore. Indeed 56.4 per cent of all the men concerned and 61.8 per cent of all the women were comparatively young, that is to say, they were be- tween the ages of 18 and 40, and there are only 199 cases said to be due to the problem of old age. That is little more than one in fifty of the total number dealt with. If these . statistics repre- sent the situation with even approximate accuracy, the need for an old age pension is by no means as great in Baltimore as it has been supposed to be in many other places. In this connection it should be said that the statistics of income show that the average weekly wage for men begins to fall at about fifty, and falls rather rapidly after sixty. Little can be drawn from the figures as to income. In the first place, the information is almost certainly very imperfect or inaccurate even for the limited period taken, namely, six months before the application for assistance. In a great many cases knowledge as to a much longer time is necessary in order to form any accurate judgment as to the part an unduly low income has had in bringing about the catastrophe. As already stated, there were only 90 cases in which a chroni- cally insufficient income is recorded as the cause for the appli- cation. The weekly wage of men from 20 to 60 is from ten to eleven dollars per week, and of the women of the same age from four to five dollars per week, a low wage at the prices prevailing in 1916 and 1917, but a more minute study of the individual cases is necessary before the teaching of these figures, if they have any, can be properly gauged. A small wage is significant if the individual who received it came up even to a low degree of 19 competency. It means little in itself if the smallness of the wage was the result of incompetency passing the average. HOUSING CONDITIONS Incompetency or disability which results in low earning power or in none at all, may be due to the surroundings under which the poor are compelled to live, and therefore a study was made of some of the living conditions of the cases investigated. Ordinarily we expect to find the poorest of the urban poor very much crowded together in badly lighted and ill ventilated rooms. In many if not most cities, in this and other countries, that expectation is un- fortunately realized. In Baltimore it seemingly is not. This city was formerly almost destitute of tenement houses and still has but few of them in proportion to its population. It has a great number of small four and six room houses which until within the last few months, could be procured for a low rent. For that reason, indications of overcrowding are not revealed in a study of the living conditions of even the poorest of Baltimore's poor. It is not meant to say or imply that they are well housed. The reverse is doubtless true, but some of the things which in other places evidence bad living conditions, are not found here. In 7667 out of 8663 cases investigated, we have reports on the dwellings occupied. Eliminating 1763 cases in which the in- dividual studied lived with relatives and friends, there remains 5904 as to which we have a report upon the kind of dwelling in which the family lived. In more than half of these, or 3018, the family was the sole occupant of an entire dwelling. In 2042 more it shared a house with not exceeding two other families, so that 5060 out of 5904 lived under conditions which would usually be assumed as indicating that there was little or no overcrowding. This conclusion will be confirmed by the report of the number of rooms accessible to the use of the family. Excluding the cases in which we have no information, and those in the person dealt with was a boarder with others, there are left 5823 cases, and of these more than half, or 3005, occupied from four to six rooms each. Along the same line are the revelations as to the degree of light and air in the dwellings of the investigated families. We have 20 as to 6124, information as to the number of rooms with and with- out outside windows. We find that in two-thirds or four thousand of these cases, there are at least four rooms with outside win- dows, and only eleven which have no room with such a window, and out of 5582, 4967 have not a single room which is lighted by a skylight or by a window opening on a court or cut less than three feet wide, and in practically all the other houses, there is only one such room. Out of 5595 as to which we have reports, nearly % oi* 4789 have not a single room without an outside window, and 733 of the balance have only one such room. On the other hand, there are revealed certain facts which in other communities would indicate very wretched housing condi- tions, but which do not necessarily have such significance in Bal- timore. For example, the report contains information as to the toilet facilities in 6517 cases, and of these, nearly four-fifths or 5057 had none in the house as contrasted with the yard, and out of 6489 cases, as to which we have information with reference to the existence or non-existence of baths within the house or apart- ment, we find almost precisely three-fourths or 4832 have none. It is a bad showing even for Baltimore, but it means in Baltimore very much less than it would in almost any other place, as it is only within the last few years that Baltimore has had any sewerage system at all. In Baltimore up until not so many years ago, it is probable that toilet facilities in the house were the exception rather than the rule, even in many fairly large houses, in other respects reasonably comfortable, and felt so to be. Now that the city has a complete sewerage system, these conditions are rapidly changing. Somewhat the same thing may be said as to bathing facilities, except that an ordinance requiring baths to be installed in newly erected houses was passed twenty years or more ago. The fact is, of course, that the poorest of the poor live in the houses which have the fewest modern conveniences, and therefore the proportion of those who occupy houses without indoor toilet facilities and without baths is much longer than the rest of the community, but it does not mean that even then they are living under conditions which were not found perfectly tolerable by the great majority of Baltimoreans of one or two generations ago. 21 GENERAL CONCLUSION To sum up the whole matter, the figures compiled seem to in- dicate that in Baltimore, among the cases dealt with, the immedi- ate cause of necessity for assistance was more or less special to the individual or family concerned, such as low physical, moral, or mental competency, either congenital or as the result of some accident or misfortune. They do not show what part, if any, is played by economic conditions effecting large portions of the community. Apparently whatever those conditions were, and bad as they may have been, they were not such as would economi- cally submerge any considerable number of persons who were not of low physical, moral, or mental capacity. It is quite possible that the low standard of wages in particular industries may itself have been the cause of living conditions which did bring about physical, if not other infirmities. All that can be said is that the data here disclosed do not justify the assertion that such was the case. 23 BUREAU OF STATE AND MUNICIPAL RESEARCH STUDY OF SOCIAL STATISTICS IN THE CITY OF BALTI- MORE FOR THE YEARS 1916-1917 Study Undertaken at the Request of The Alliance of Charitable and Social Agencies and Financed by an Appropriation of the City of Baltimore At the outset it is evident that statistics so complicated as those collected by the various social organizations must be handled by- some mechanical means, and this involves a translation into some numerical classification or code. In its preparation care must be taken to make the main classes cover the important elements of the case, and the sub-classifications within the main classes must be mutually exclusive and broad enough to meet all cases which will arise in actual practice. The Bureau of State and Municipal Research therefore made a careful study of the field before beginning its work. It drew upon the experience of other organizations, particularly that of the Charity Organization of New York, The Municipal Court of Philadelphia, Statistical Division . It found, however, that com- paratively little had been done by social workers in the way of mechanical tabulation of general social statistics, and therefore was unable to secure as much expert advice as it desired. It is very important that eventually, if social statistics are to be handled in this way, there shall be something in the way of a uniform code in order that the statistics may be approximately comparable between cities. With the idea of working in this direction the Bureau followed, so far as it was practicable for it to do so, the classifications suggested by the organizations re- ferred to above. After careful consideration of the problem the Bureau finally decided to make the family the basis of the investigation and to prepare for each family a general card which will be discussed hereafter. There were, however, certain individual facts which could not be handled on the family basis. These related chiefly to the wage earner and to the abnormal or sub-normal individual. 24 The Bureau therefore decided to adopt for each wage earner a separate card, carrying only his financial data. Also for the abnormal or sub-normal individual in the family the Bureau adopted a separate card, carrying only the data relating to his abnormality or sub-normality. The present study covers the years 1916 and 1917, dealing only with those cases which were actually handled by the Societies studied during those years. Where a case had been continuously before the Society for a term of years since its original applica- tion, this original application was treated as the beginning of the case. Where, however, a case had been quiescent for a period of two months or more and had again returned to the Society the date of the return is taken as the date of application. For the year 1916, the study covered a total of 5488 families, coming from the following Societies : Federated Charities 2767 Jewish Federated Charities 592 Henry Watson Children's Aid Society. 351 Prisoners' Aid Society 920 Social Service Johns Hopkins Hospital 255 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children 210 Supervisors of City Charities 341 Young Ladies' Benevolent Society 52 5488 The result of this study was to show that many of the organi- zations, either because of their method of keeping records or because of the peculiar character of their work, had not recorded sufficient data to furnish any comprehensive figures such as the Bureau desired. When we came to the 1917 study, therefore, these societies were eliminated. For the second year, therefore, the study was confined to three societies, yielding a total of 3175 cases, divided as follows : Federated Charities 1188 Jewish Federated Charities 162 Instructive Visiting Nurses Association (not studied in 1916) 1825 3175 25 The decrease in the number of cases in. the Federated Charities and the Jewish Federated Charities between 1917 and 1916 does not indicate any decrease in the work of these organizations or any decrease in social needs. It is due to the fact that the con- tinuous cases, making a constant drain upon the societies in ques- tion were studied as of 1916 and were therefore not included in the 1917 study. SOURCE OF APPLICATION In other words the 2767 Federated Charities cases for 1916 represent the total of all cases handled by the Society during that year, while the 1188 cases for 1917 represent only the cases which came as fresh cases to the Federated Charities in 1917, or appealed again after two or more months of quiescence. In general these cases come to the charitable organization by the personal action of the families, or by reference to the charita- ble organization by some outside individual. Various sources of application are as follows : Personal (includes all cases except where some outside agen- cy is in direct communication with society interested) 2478 Referred by Individual : 1974 Referred by Social Agency .1564 Referred by Hospital (Includes Hospital Social Service) 676 Referred by Dispensary (Including those connected with hospitals _ 151 Referred by Health Department (Includes TB Nurses, School and Communicable Disease Nurses) 399 Referred by Police Department 161 Referred by Courts or Magistrates (Probation and Juvenile Court . 722 Referred by Church 115 Eeferred by Supervisor City Charities 50 Referred by Bureau of Labor and Statistics 84 Referred by Miscellaneous City, State, and Federal Depart- ments 289 8663 26 HOUSING CONDITIONS The first part of the study undertaken was that of the housing conditions surrounding the family or individual applying for charity. TYPE OF HOUSE The term house, as used in this classification, relates to the dwelling of the family interested, and indicates the general char- acter of their habitation. For this particular purpose it is immaterial whether it is owned by them or rented, and it is also immaterial whether or not they share it with others, provided they have the use of the entire building. Thus, a family occupying a private dwelling would be so classified, even though one or two of the rooms therein might be rented out by them ; while a family occupying the rented rooms and having consequently no access or rights in the remainder of the house would be classified as living in a furnished room house or boarding house, according to its character. Cases arise in which the family owning the house will rent out the major por- tion of it to other families and retain for itself only a limited portion of the house. In such a case the house is regarded as a furnished room, lodging house, two or three family house, etc., according to its general character. For the same reason an individual living apart from his own family and in the family of others, but without exclusive occu- pancy of any definite portion of the house, is regarded as occu- pying the house in which he lives even though the other members of the family are not considered in the charitable study. One exceptional case, however, arises. There are a number of in- stances in which the individual so living is dependent upon the charity of those with whom he lives. It seems desirable to isolate these cases and they are accordingly so classified below. In any study relating to questions of over-crowding the cards relating to such individuals can easily be eliminated from the count. The distinctions drawn in the following classifications between apartments, basements, furnished room house, boarding house, lodging house, two or three family house, and tenements, are based upon the building code of Baltimore City. 27 No. of Type of House Cases Unknown ^ - 996 Homeless 15 Private dwelling 3018 Apartment, i. e., three or more families with independent toilet, bathroom and kitchen facilities 21 Family classified as basement dwellers where major part of life of the family is conducted in a room or rooms lying one-half or more below the street level _ 43 Single rooms, i. e., living in one room and housekeeping 59 Furnished room house, i. e., a house having one or more fur- nished room to rent but in which meals are not furnished 271 Boarding house, i. e., a house having one or more furnished rooms for rent and also furnishing table board 128 Lodging house, i.e., a tenement (see below) caring for tran- sients 29 Two or three family house, i. e., a house occupied by two families living independently or two or three families sharing toilet, bathroom, or kitchen facilities 2042 Tenement, i. e., building occupied by more than three families or more than two on a floor, having toilet, bathroom, or kitchen facilities in common 278 Living with relatives or friends. Used where no definite por- tion of the house belongs to the individual, where the individual is wholly or partially dependent upon the fam- ily with whom he lives or where both conditions exist 1763 8663 NUMBER OF ROOMS This classification refers to the number of rooms accessible to the use of the family, and therefore in the case of a minor re- siding with a family not the subject of study the number of rooms will be those occupied by the family with which the minor lives. No.ol No. of Rooms Cases Unknown 961 Boarding (Used in cases where we have no information as to the number of rooms occupied by the boarder, or in cases 28 where the boarder has not exclusive occupancy of any portion of the house) 1879 One , : 681 Two 882 Three 851 Four 1132 Five 505 Six 1368 Seven 190 Eight 140 Nine : 61 Ten or more 13 8663 NUMBER OF PERSONS IN THE HOUSEHOLD Inasmuch as the information under this heading is to be avail- able for the study of over-crowding, the number should include all those who have access to and use of the rooms covered above. In the case of a minor they will therefore include all the persons in the household with whom the minor lives. No.ol No. in Household Cases Unknown : 132 One 2042 Two 1256 Three 1070 Four 1015 Five 955 Six : 791 Seven 583 Eight 404 Nine 214 Ten 122 Eleven or more 79 8663 Toilet facilities within the house as contrasted with those in the outside yard. 29 No. of Facilities Cases No information ..-2146 Yes 1460 No 5057 8663 Bathing facilities within the house or apartment. No. of Facilities Cases No information 2174 Yes' 1657 No 4832 8663 NUMBER OF ROOMS WITH OUTSIDE WINDOWS No. of No. of Rooms Cases No information 2539 None 11 One 624 Two 794 Three 695 Four or more 4000 8663 NUMBER OF ROOMS WITH SKYLIGHT OR WINDOWS ON COURT OR CUT LESS THAN THREE FEET WIDE No. of No. of Rooms Cases No information 3081 None 4967 One 598 Two :::!. - 10 Three 4 Four or more 3 8663 30 NUMBER OF ROOMS WITH NO OUTSIDE WINDOWS No. of No. of Rooms Cases No information 3068 None 4789 One 733 Two : 66 Three 4 Four or more 3 8663 These housing conditions indicate on the whole a rather better condition than might have been anticipated, particularly in the matter of lighting and potential ventilation. Bathing and toilet facilities, however, are distinctly unsatisfactory. FAMILY STATUS The second group of statistics with which the study concerned itself was the status of the family, taking up first the question as to the organization of the family, whether married or unmar- ried, whether the husband is living or not, and similar questions ; dealing next with the number of children in the family and then with the income of the family, rent, and insurance expense. The results of these studies are as follows : FAMILY STATUS AT THE TIME OF THE LAST REOPENING OF THE CASE No. of Status Cases A No information 3 B Minor away from home or without protection 156 C Man and woman married and living together, including cases where the man and woman are temporarily sepa- rated on account of financial stress or on account of unsettled employment 3926 D Man and woman married but since separated or divorced... 862 E Man and woman unmarried, living together, including the case of an establishment supported by the man and visited by him at intervals, the irregular alliance still continuing '. 143 31 F Man and woman unmarried and separated, including all cases of irregular alliance from which the man or the woman has withdrawn 94 G Widow, having contracted no subsequent alliance. A widow who has subsequently remarried is classified under 1 or 2 and a widow who has contracted an irreg- ular alliance is classified under 3 or 4 1191 H A widower or deserted husband, who has contracted no subsequent alliance 267 I A deserted wife who has contracted no subsequent alli- ance. This case might properly be included with 2 above, but wife desertion as a cause of social stress is sufficiently important to warrant a separate classi- fication 473 J Unmarried mother, other than those included in 3 or 4, including any woman with an illegitimate child and no support, and including also a pregnant unmarried wo- man. A divorced woman or a widow with an illegiti- mate child might be thus classified under either 2, 5, or 8. The importance of illegitimacy, however, as a cause of social distress is sufficiently great to lead us to classify such a case under 8 rather than under 2 or 5. The fact that our study is a study of poverty largely from the economic and not from the moral side leads us to classify a woman with an illegitimate child who is married to or living with a man who supports her, or if divorced is in receipt of adequate alimony, under classes 1, 2, or 4, rather than under 8 237 K Single man or woman 923 L Any other case not included above. In particular includes families where the man or woman is in a correctional institution, sanitarium, or home, or is under contract to remain away for sometime, i. e., military service 388 8663 CHILDREN UNDER 16 YEARS IN THE FAMILY This is intended to include the offspring of the man and woman 32 living with them, or i^ the case of a minor to include his sisters and brothers living in the same household with himself. No. of No. of Children Cases Unknown 522 None 3367 One 1210 Two 1068 Three 946 Four 685 Five 472 Six 247 Seven 107 Eight 35 Nine 2 Ten or more 2 8663 CHILDREN 16 YEARS AND OVER IN THE FAMILY This in intended to cover the offspring of the man and woman residing with them, or in the case of a minor his sisters and brothers residing in the same family with himself. No. of No. of Children Cases Unknown ^ 517 None 6709 One 837 Two 361 Three 154 Four . 60 Five 20 Six 5 8663 RELATION OF CHILDREN TO MAN AND WOMAN This includes all offspring whether residing with the man and woman or removed from the home. 33 No. of Cases Relationship * Children Children over 16 under 16 All own stepchildren 1256 4318 All stepchildren 44 119 Partly own children, partly stepchildren 133 335 (This excludes cases where number are unknown, or where there are no children.) OTHER ADULTS IN THE HOUSEHOLD Adults include all those of 16 years or over, and this tabulation is intended to cover all those other than the man and woman and their offspring. In the case of a minor, since the question related to the outsider with whom the minor is associated, the number should include the family with whom the minor lives. No. of No. of Adults Cases Unknown 121 None - 7488 One : 692 Two 227 Three ,. 74 Four or more 61 8663 OTHER CHILDREN IN THE HOUSEHOLD This includes all individuals under 16 years of age other than the offspring of the man and woman, and in the case of a minor includes all other children in the household with which he lives. No. of No. in Household Cases No information Ill None 8227 One 214 Two 72 Three 24 Four or more 15 34 NUMBER OF CHILDREN DEAD This field includes all children whether legitimate or illegiti- mate, and in the case of a minor refers only to his brothers and sisters. No. of No. Dead Cases Unknown 244 None ., 7539 One 565 Two : 137 Three 52 Four or more . . 126 8663 ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN LIVING This is not in addition to the children listed in the tabulations of children under and over 16 years above, where no distinction was drawn between legitimacy and illegitimacy, but is introduced as a separate classification in order to furnish material for a study of illegitimacy as an economic factor. It also has no rela- tionship to the age of the child. No. of Relationship of Children to Man and Woman Cases No information 150 None 7949 Children of man 83 Children of woman 399 Children of man and woman jointly 75 Children of man or woman, but by woman or man other than partner in present alliance 7 8663 CHILDREN AWAY FROM HOME CONTRIBUTING REGU- LARLY TO THE SUPPORT OF THE FAMILY This includes all children who contribute regularly food, fuel, or money, and has no reference to the age of the children. 35 No. of No. of Children Cases No information 284 None 8059 One 256 Two - 44 Three 9 Four or more 11 8663 CHILDREN AWAY FROM HOME NOT CONTRIBUTING TO THE SUPPORT OF THE FAMILY, OR CON- TRIBUTING ONLY SPASMODICALLY In both this and the previous field where a minor is concerned the children referred to are his sisters and brothers. No. of No. of Children Cases No information 346 None 6331 One 961 Two 448 Three 270 Four or more 307 8663 TOTAL INCOME This covers the total income per week (to the nearest dollar) of the present members of the family group, including the por- tion of the income of children contributed to the family support. It is based upon the average per week for six months prior to the application for aid or assistance, so far as it can be ascertained. If the study is concerned with a minor the income is that of the family with which he lives, including his board, as the pur- pose in view is to get some index of possible living conditions. No. of Income Cases Unknown 2869 None 869 1 to $ 5 1052 36 6 to 10 1788 11 to 15 1380 16 to 20 474 21 to 25 149 26 to 48 ; 81 8662 RENT PER WEEK Under rent is included board or payments on house in process of buying, inasmuch as the object in view is the current drain upon the family resources rather than a study of rental values. In the case of a minor the rent should be that of the family with which he lives. No. of Rent Cases No information 2370 Residence owned by the family 306 No rent , 804 Less than $1.00 419 $1.00 or over but under $2.00 1895 $2.00 or over but under $3.00 1848 $3.00 or over but under $4.00 662 $4.00 or over but under $5.00 234 $5.00 or over but under $6.00 76 $6.00 or over but under $7.00 22 $7.00 or over but under $8.00 12 $8.00 and over 15 8663 INSURANCE PAID WEEKLY This covers all insurance paid out by the family for the benefit of members of the family group, or on members of the family group. No. of Insurance Cases Unknown 3510 None 1899 Under 10 cents . 33 37 10 cents, under 15 cents 82 15 cents, under 20 cents 70 20 cents, under 25 cents 149 25 cents, under 30 cents 118 30 cents, under 35 cents 100 35 cents, under 45 cents 242 45 cents, under 55 cents 218 55 cents and over 703 Indefinite amount 1539 8663 HEADSHIP OF THE FAMILY The third set of facts examined relates to the heads of the families, nationality, age, literacy, etc. In this study the words man and woman are used to denote the masculine and feminine heads of the family. They are used rather than the terms husband and wife or father and mother because of the large number of irregular alliances occuring among the cases studied. In the case of a minor the statistics given with regard to housing conditions related to the family with which he resides as indicating his present living conditions. In the present group, however, the facts bear rather upon the hereditary influences operating upon the minor than upon his present status, and the data are therefore those for his own family. BIRTHPLACE OF MAN AND WOMAN No. of Cases Birthplace Men Women Unknown . 811 788 Native White 3888 3926 Native Indian Native Colored 1937 1919 Foreign Colored 11 2 England 47 45 Ireland 69 87 Scotland 7 5 British Colonies, White 7 7 38 French Canada Germany (excluding Poland) 253 252 Holland 3 2 Belgium 5 Switzerland 1 2 German Poland 53 56 Sweden 4 3 Norway : 4 3 Denmark 1 Italy 211 194 Sicily 6 4 France . 11 6 Spain 2 1 Latin America (white) 5 3 Portugal 1 Austria-Hungary (excluding Poland) 69 79 Austria Poland 52 53 Bohemia 51 65 Balkan States 8 7 Greece 7 6 Roumania 7 6 Russia 803 816 Finland, Esthonia, Lithuania 83 85 Russian Poland, includes Poles not specified as Austrians or Germans 242 239 China Japan India (Hindu) 1 East India (Filipino, Hawaiin, etc.) Turkey .1 1 Syria and Armenia 2 1 8663 8663 LJh.NGTH OF RESIDENCE OF A HEAD OF A FAMILY IN THE UNITED STATES The head of a family indicates the man of the family, excepting in cases D, F, G, I, and J, under family status above. In these cases the woman becomes the head of the family. 39 No. of Length of Residence Cases No information 287 Less than 1 year 16 1 year and less than 3 ^ 55 3 years and less than 5 140 5 years and less than 10 243 10 years or more 7922 8663 LENGTH OF RESIDENCE OF HEAD OF FAMILY (DEFINED AS ABOVE) IN BALTIMORE CITY, INCLUDING CASES WHERE BALTIMORE IS HEAD- QUARTERS FOR A FAMILY OR FAMILY HEAD MORE OR LESS ITINERANT No. o Length of Residence Cases No information 684 Less than 1 year 282 1 year and less than 3 221 3 years and less than 5 248 5 years and less than 10 4336 10 years or more 2892 8663 RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION As has been said above, the study in this particular case was undertaken from the economic point of view. Religion entered into the study, therefore, not in any question of denominationalism but simply as indicating the family affiiliations of the individual and the sources to which he migh naturally turn for aid and advice. Hebrew does not necessarily mean an orthodox Hebrew, or Roman Catholic mean that the individual is a communicant in good standing or even a communicant at all, and the term Prot- estant does not mean that a man is a member of any Protestant denomination. Roman Catholic means merely that the man is affiliated with the Roman Catholic group and would naturally 40 turn for help to the benevolent societies organized under the control of the Roman Church. Protestant indicates nothing more than that he has neither Catholic nor Hebrew affiliations and so would have no claims direct or indirect upon the charities of either of these organizations. Those who are marked "none" under the head of religion are those only who have definitely placed themselves in that group. No. of Cases Religion Men Women No information 2107 ISSiT No religion 99 62 Protestant 3561 387C Roman Catholic 1891 1861 Greek Catholic 44 . 35 Hebrew 961 985 8663 8663 AGE No. of Cases Age Men Women Unknown 1848 1663 Less than 18 years 69 100 18 years and less than 21 170 312 21 years and less than 30 1248 1727 SO years and less than 40 1751 2105 40 years and less than 50 1295 1242 50 years and less than 55 391 361 55 years and less than 60 223 245 60 years and less than 65 159 181 65 years and less than 70 136 142 70 years and over 168 284 Dead 1205 301 8663 8663 LITERACY No. of Cases Decree of Literacy Men Women No information 2865 2553 Speaks English but does not write it, and speaks no other language 174 283 41 Reads, writes, and speaks English 4583 4560 Speaks another language but does not speak, read, or write English 325 553 Speaks another language and English but does not read or write English 716 714 8663 8663 An attempt was made to secure information as to the literacy of the children, but the information contained in the case records was so inadequate that no valuable data were secured. HANDICAPS OF THE FAMILY AND INSTITUTIONAL RECORDS OF MAN AND WOMAN No point in the nomenclature of this study has given the Com- mittee and the Bureau more difficulty than to find the proper term for the elements which are included here under the term of ''hand- icap." The idea was to group those things which interfered with the industrial efficiency of the family and yet did not arise from external circumstances. Physical weakness or deformity, mental sub-normality or abnormality, and moral delinquency of sucn a character as to effect either the economic independence or the industrial efficiency of the family are all included. Thus, un- der the mentally handicapped group would be included all those who were mentally retarded, feeble-minded, insane, epileptic, im- becile or idiotic. Under the physically handicapped group would be included those who were crippled, tubercular, blind, deaf, or dumb, cancerous, venereal, paralytic, or subject to chronic ail- ments interfering with industrial efficiency, such as rheumatism, heart trouble, old age, hernia, kidney trouble, etc., and those who were undergrown. Under the morally handicapped group would be included cases of drunkenness, drug using, sex im- morality (particularly those cases leading to non-support) , mendi- cancy, wife desertion or habitual non-support, bigamy, heavy drinking short of drunkenness but sufficient to affect the economic independence of the family, criminal neglect, cruelty to children or others, and incorrigibility. All these things are included for want of a better term under the single term "handicap," as indi- cating something which interferes with the proper economic development of the family life. 42 Each of the three classes of handicaps as defined above is "divided again into three groups, temporary, former handicaps from which the individual or family has recovered, and present continuing handicaps. The individual suffering from a temporary handicap is not made the subject of special study, and in the cases where there are present continuing handicaps no attention is paid on the general family card to former handicaps from which the individual or family has recovered. These, however, are in- cluded in the study of the individual on the handicap or sub-normal card if the opportunity offers. No. of Handicap Cases a No information 817 b Temporary only 1466 c Past mental recovered from :. 1 d Past physical recovered from 12 e Past moral recovered from 25 f Present continuing mental 463 g Present continuing physical 1959 h Present continuing moral 2274 i Two present continuing handicaps 1351 j Three present continuing handicaps 295 8663 As indicated above b, c, d, and e are used only when there are no present continuing handicaps; f, g, and h are used when there is a single handicap, and i and j when there are two or more continuing handicaps. It must be clearly understood that handicaps are considered only in so far as they bear upon economic efficiency. Thus a woman having an illegitimate child but at present married, or living under an irregular alliance securing her support and that of the child, is not treated on account of this child as having a present economic handicap. If, however, there was a period during which she was responsible for the support of the child and was consequently hindered in her search for occupation by the necessity for the care of the child, she would be classified under e above as presenting a case of sex immorality which had led to a financial handicap subsequently removed. 43 INSTITUTIONAL RECORD Under this heading are included not only residents in correc- tional, penal, or remedial institutions, but also those cases where the individual is released on parole. No. of Institutional Record Cases Unknown 2923 Both Non-Institutional 3637 Man Non-Institutional, Woman Institutional 361 Woman Non-Institutional, Man Institutional 1561 Both Institutional 181 8663 PAST AND PRESENT INSTITUTIONAL RECORD OF CHILDREN '"Children" is used here in the sense of offspring without regard to legitimacy and without regard to present age. The institu- tional record is both past and present. No. of Institutional Record, Past and Present Cases Unknown 1081 Non-institutional 6924 Correctional or Penal Institution 190 Feeble-minded Institution 20 Insane Asylum 17 Orphanage 162 Sanatorium or Hospital 126 Epileptic Institution 3 Wards of Child Caring Agency 42 Deaf and Dumb Institution or Blind Asylum 14 Other Institutions , 2 Correctional and Feeble-minded Institution 7 Correctional and Insane Institution 6 Correctional, Institutional and Orphanage 23 Correctional, Institutional and Sanatorium or Hospital 7 Correctional Institution and Wards of Child Caring Agency... 4 Correctional, and Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution 1 Correctional and Other Institution 2 Feeble-minded and Insane Asylums .1 Feeble-minded Institution and Orphanage 2 Feeble-minded Institution and Wards of Child Caring Agency 2 Insane Asylum and Orphanage 1 Insane Asylum and Wards of Child Caring Agency 1 Orphanage and Sanatorium or Hospital 12 Orphanage and Wards of Child Caring Agency 5 Orphanage and Blind, Deaf and Dumb Asylum 2 Sanatorium or Hospital and Wards of Child Caring Agency... 1 In three or more of the above Institutions 5 8663 REASON FOR APPLICATION TO THE SOCIETY INTERESTED It is not our belief that the real underlying reason for appli- cation to charitable or social organizations can be definitely as- certained or coded. We recognize fully the fact that in many cases the reason is not single, but a complex made up of a large number of causes. We recognize further the fact that in many cases the individual himself does not know the true reason for his trouble; and that the Society interested can only determine the reason after a long study, or in some cases, perhaps, remain permanently in doubt. Eliminating these special cases, however, it seems to the Committee worth while to tabulate the immediate apparent cause which placed the family or the individual seek- ing relief in its position of economic dependence. We ha;ve not, however, accepted as the immediate cause the reason assigned by the family itself in its first appeal, but whatever now appears, in view of all the facts at hand, to have been the immediate un- derlying cause which forced the family to make its appeal. For example, a family appealing for temporary assistance, such as fuel, food, or clothing, may be in that condition on account of the removal of the head of the family to a sanatorium for tuber- cular patients. In such a case the immediate cause would be classed for the purposes of this study not as need of fuel but as tuberculosis. We have divided such reasons into the broad classes of: 45 No. of Class Cause Cases A Family Problems 1761 B Physical Causes 3991 C Labor Conditions 447 D Abnormal or Criminal Practices 694 E Temporary Special Needs 613 F Need of Miscellaneous Non-Material Service 359 G The Withdrawal of an Essential Member of the Family Group 351 H Involuntary Cases Investigated or Aided at the Re- quest of Outsiders or upon the Complaints of Outsiders 261 I Miscellaneous Group - 186 8663 These are again subdivided according to the following scheme : Fatnily Problems A No. of Cases Alimony 51 Desertion or non-support 739 Marital Infidelity 13 Incompatability 30 Neglected, immoral and incorrigible children_ 252 Failure on part of children to support parents 52 Failure on part of parents to support children 19 Securing support from relatives e. g., father of illegit- imate child 45 Care and custody of children Day Nursery, Boarding, Home, etc 281 Problems of old age 199 Miscellaneous Adjusting living conditions ^poor liv- ing conditions 80 1761 Physical Causes B Temporary illness 1470 Tuberculosis 708 46 Permanent or long continued disability other than Tu- berculosis, includes mental trouble 1478 Accident Industrial 54 Accident Non-Industrial 52 Death Necessitating temporary relief 12 Death Necessitating permanent financial or other ad- justment 77 Pregnancy, child birth 138 Miscellaneous , 2 Labor Conditions C Out of work 379 Strike or lockout 4 Part time 59 Miscellaneous :.. 5 Abnormal or Criminal Practices D Drunkenness, or heavy drinking 149 Drug using, violation of law 17 Shiftlessness 91 Mendicancy 10 Immorality 153 Larceny, burglary, embezzlement 223 Manslaughter, assault 14 Miscellaneous 37 Temporary Special Needs E Clothing 94 Food 24 Fuel 21 Children's diet 183 Need of Oculist's or Optician's services 152 Need of Dental service 18 Transportation 14 Request for loan 45 Miscellaneous 62 3991 447 694 613 47 Miscellaneous Non-Material Service F Legal advice 38 Medical advice 48 Assistance in procuring employment 87 Advice regarding Chattel Loan paying installments 13 Securing license and permit for Bay View, work, huck- stering, begging, and peddling 62 Other friendly advice 90 Long continued protection for woman with or without child : 11 On probation 3 Miscellaneous 7 Withdrawal of an Essential Member of Family Group G Military and Naval service 66 Imprisonment 280 Continued absence less than desertion 5 Involuntary Cases Investigated by Request or Upon Complaint H Complaint or request of neighbors 9 Complaint or request of authorities 145 Complaint or request of other individuals 106 Miscellaneous ^ 1 Miscellaneous Group I Chronic insufficient income 90 Woman with illegitimate Child 61 Miscellaneous 35 359 351 261 186 866S FINANCIAL STATISTICS OF INDIVIDUALS Wherever the case record indicated that there were one or more wage earners in the family a separate card was prepared 48 for each wage earner, and the available data prepared for tabu- lation. We find that these wage earners are distributed between the various societies interested as follows: No. of Gases Societies Men Wom>?n Federated Charities 2780 2338 Jewish Federated Charities 694 394 Henry Watson Children's Aid Society 150 160 Instructive Visiting Nurse Association 1131 600 Prisoners' Aid Society 873 48 Social Service Johns Hopkins University 220 128 Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children 163 133 Supervisor City Charities 230 95 Young Ladies' Benevolent Society 10 47 6251 3943 The ages of the wage earners in 1916 show the maximum num- ber lying between 20 and 29 for men, and between 10 and 19 for women, while in 1917 the maximum for both men and women, lies between 30 and 39. This is probably due to the fact that the figures for 1917 do not include the Henry Watson Children's Aid Society, whose cases deal largely with the children of younger people ai;id young unmarried mothers. AGE OF WAGE EARNER 1916 Age Men Unknown 452 Less than 10 .- 10 to 19 684 20 to 29 974 30 to 39 940 40 to 49 692 50 to 59 299 60 to 69 118 70 to 79 34 SO to 89 1 90 or over 1 No. 6 Women 271 of Persons 1917 Men 658 Women 178 1 6 3 609 189 180 557 235 266 522 406 276 355 310 202 146 127 108 83 72 68 41 47 51 12 6 9 1 4 4195 2598 2056 1345 49 The average weekly income of the men and women arranged according to age is as follows: Average Average Weekly Wage Weekly Income 1916 1916 Age Men Women Men Women Unknown $10.91 $4.55 $11.00 $4.96 Less than 10 1.50 10 to 19 5.68 4.47 5.68 4.50 20 to 29 10.84 4.77 10.93 4.93 30 to 39 10.81 4.24 10.89 4.87 40 to 49 10.89 3.44 11.02 3.76 50 to 59 9.91 4.05 9.92 4.64 60 to 69 7.57 3.45 7.63 3.67 70 to 79 6.35 1.77 6.12 2.56 80 to 89 1.69 8.50 4.59 9o or over 5.00 3.00 1917 Average Average Weekly Wage Weekly Income Age Men Women Men Women Unknown $12.10 $5.29 $12.31 $6.04 Less than 10 12.00 10 to 19 6.28 4.62 6.28 4.91 20 to 29 11.15 5.04 11.25 5.42 30 to 39 12.27 5.13 12.41 5.82 40 to 49 12.06 4.59 12.38 5.75 50 to 59 10.52 4.14 10.84 5.94 60 to 69 9.52 3.66 9.43 4.12 70 to 79 5.75 3.09 5.97 4.61 80 to 89 7.00 2.25 6.29 3.04 90 or over 9.00 RELATION OF WAGE EARNER TO FAMILY No. of Persons Relationship Men Women Minor away from home or without protection 7 14 Man 4529 Woman 2664 Child 1055 890 Stepchild of man 35 15 50 Stepchild of woman 7 7 Illegitimate child 2 Adopted child 5 1 Other child 5 3 Other adult 125 143 Single man or woman 481 206 6251 3943 An attempt was also made to tabulate the amount of insurance paid by the various wage earners. The information secured was not particularly satisfactory, as is evidenced by the following table : INSURANCE PAID Weekly sums paid out by the wage earner himself: No. of Persons Amount Paid Men Women No information 3253 1783 Amount indefinite 1080 710 None 1115 839 Under 10 cents 97 89 10 cents or over, but under 15 231 246 15 cents or over, but under 20 116 63 20 cents or over, but under 25 104 94 25 cents or over, but under 30 74 39 30 cents or over, but under 35 29 17 35 cents or over, but under 45 49 29 45 cents or over, but under 55 32 11 Over 55 cents 71 23 6251 3943 OCCUPATION OF MAN Wherever definite information is known with regard to the occupation of the individual it is specified. Where no informa- tion is available with regard to the individual but his employer is known, classification of the employer is used. The attempt has been here to divide occupations usual to men into broad classes which again sub-divide the unpublished figures and to show the average, wage received by these workers. 51 Occupation g Unknown 132 Civil Service 21 Unskilled Work 450 Personal and Public Service 57 Factory and Manufacturing Plant 184 Building Trades 115 Transportation 87 Printing Trades 21 Professional 24 Clerical 62 Non-salaried Tradesmen 172 Persons having no occupa- tion but income 24 Occupation g Occupation unknown 62 Homework 54 Unskilled work 80 Personal Service, Individual and Family and Public Service 229 Factory 166 Transportation Professional 10 Clerical 25 Non-salaried Tradeswomen 3 Persons having an income but no salary 1916 Men 1917 m, , J r 0) be ^ < si 1^ be