But the poor immigrants are compelled, by
circumstances, to come in contact with, if not to dwell directly among
this pauper element, lost to sense of degradation. The paupers make up
the slums. And because the rents are cheaper in the miserable old
rookeries that still defy public decency, the Italians especially crowd
into these pestilential quarters, which are the hotbeds of disease,
physical and moral filth, drunkenness, and crime. Thus pauperism and
poverty dwell too closely together.
[Sidenote: Some Causes of Poverty]
Upon the unskilled masses the weight of want is constantly pressing.
Unemployment, sickness, the least stoppage of the scant income, means
distress. It is estimated that in our country not less than 4,000,000
persons are dependents or paupers, and not less than 10,000,000 are in
poverty. This means that they cannot earn enough regularly to maintain
the standard of life that means the highest efficiency, and that at some
time they are liable to need aid. Mr. Riis has shown that about one
third of the people of New York City were dependent upon charity at
some time during the eight years previous to 1890. The report of the
United Hebrew Charities for 1901 shows similar conditions existing among
the Jewish population of New York.
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