CHAPTER VII

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND MORAL CAUSES OF AGED DEPENDENCY

UNEMPLOYMENT

“One of the misfortunes most feared by the labouring class is that of unemployment. ‘Why stand ye here all the day idle?—’ ‘Because no man hath hired us,’ presents a picture in Biblical times which has been reproduced in all ages and countries throughout labour’s history. The labourer must have shelter, food and clothes for his idle days as well as for other days; but rarely is the rate of wages fixed so as to cover days of enforced rest or absolute loss of employment.... Non-employment, or loss of employment, therefore, in nearly every wage-earner’s career stands as a spectre of forbidding mien, with gaunt finger pointing the way to charity and old age dependency.”[170]

A brief examination of the extent of unemployment in the United States and to what degree it affects the wage-earner’s income is not amiss in this connection. Indeed, unemployment, even though temporary, may seriously impair the average workingman’s ability to make provisions for old age. In a study of 5,000 families who applied to the New York Charities for aid, Professor Devine found unemployment as a direct cause of dependency in 68.16 per cent. of the cases. Says Professor Devine:

“From the point of view of the charitable agencies the importance of this subject is indicated by the fact that in two-thirds of the families who come under the care of the Charity Organization Society in industrially normal times one or more wage-earners are unemployed at the time of their application for aid. This proportion, as one might have expected, was higher in 1807–1808, after the financial crisis, than in the preceding year, but the difference is not as great as might naturally have been expected. In 1806–1807, sixty-five per cent of the new families who applied for aid had some wage-earner unemployed, either from personal disability or industrial conditions, and in 1807–1808, this was true of seventy-two per cent. This increase from sixty-five per cent to seventy-two per cent. does not represent the full consequences among wage-earners of the changed industrial conditions. No statistics of charitable societies will represent those consequences. It does bring out clearly, however, that even in prosperous times the distress which leads to application for charitable assistance is closely connected with the temporary cutting off of an income which is ordinarily, even if irregularly earned.”[171]

The 12th Census reported that in the year 1800, of 23,753,836 males 10 years of age and over engaged in gainful occupations, 5,277,472, or 22 per cent., were unemployed at some time during the year; and of 5,318,387 females 10 years of age and over engaged in gainful occupations, 1,241,482, or 23.3 per cent., were unemployed at some time during the year; thus out of a total of 28,073,233 persons 10 years of age and over engaged in gainful occupations 6,468,864, or 22.3 per cent. were unemployed at some time during the year. Over 2,550,000 men and women were out of work from four to six months, while approximately 736,000 were unemployed from seven to twelve months, according to the same Census.

According to the investigations of the United States Bureau of Labour in 1801, of the cost of living of 25,440 families, about half—48.8 per cent., of the heads of the families investigated were idle at some time during the year.[172]

The Geological Survey Reports show that the bituminous miners from 1880 to 1810 lost from 22 to 43 per cent. of their working time annually, while workers in anthracite mines lost from 23.7 to 50 per cent. of their working time. Data on the unemployment of organized workers in New York State have been collected by the Labour Department of the State for the period 1801–1811. The membership of these unions averaged about 100,000 and the average number unemployed each month was 14,146, or 18.1 per cent. The percentage of unemployed for New York City was even higher.[173]

The Census of Manufactures of 1810 showed the percentages of the labour forces regularly employed in the different industries as follows:[174]

Industries Percent Actually Employed Iron and Steel Works and Rolling Mills 75.8 Foundry and Machine Shop Products 80.7 Lumber and Timber Products 87.8 Car Building and Repairs 88.1 Woolens, Worsted, and Felt Goods and Wool Hats 81.0 Tobacco Manufactures 81.6 Clothing, Men’s, Including Shirts 81.8 Boots and Shoes 81.8 Printing and Publishing 83.3 Cotton Goods 87.6

The New York State Commission on Employers’ Liability and Unemployment after investigating the extent of unemployment in the State of New York in 1810 concluded that from the facts ascertained:

“We base our statement that at all times of the year in every industrial centre of the State able-bodied men are forced to remain idle though willing to work. On any given day during the year, at least 3 per cent. of our wage-earners are involuntarily idle. Usually there are 10 per cent. These idle men must always be on hand to meet the fluctuating demands of the industries of the State.

“Summarizing the data at our command, we should say that in ordinary years of business prosperity, taking all industries into consideration, out of every 100 persons, 60 will be steadily employed, 40 will be working irregularly. Of those who have irregular employment 3 will always be out of work. The percentages vary with the different industries, but the experience is characteristic of every industry.

“While there is little accurate information available as to the exact number of unemployed at any one time, there is enough to show that about 40 per cent. of our wage-earners suffer some unemployment every year, that on the average they lose ten weeks each, and that the loss in wages amounts to 20 per cent. of what the earnings would be, were employment steady throughout the year.”[175]

I. M. Rubinow, in commenting upon the significance of the unemployment figures of 1800, declared:

“Over one-half of these 6,500,000 and possibly three-fourths of them suffered from unemployment to a degree which could not fail to cause national distress. The total time lost to the productive industries of the country was enormous. An approximate estimate would indicate that during one year over 1,800,000 years of productive labor were lost; or what amounts to the same thing of 28,000,000 gainfully employed, on an average nearly 2,000,000 had been idle throughout the whole year.”[176]

A careful study of unemployment fluctuations was prepared by the Helen S. Trounstine Foundation.[177] This survey covers a period of 16 years from 1802 to 1817. The data here were gathered from the United States Censuses of Manufactures, Occupations and Population, the Reports of the United States Geological Survey, the Bureau of Mines, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the United States Commissioner of Education, the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics, the Eight Hour Commission, and from many State Departments of Labour and State Industrial Commissions.

The following table[178] summarizes the findings in regard to unemployment fluctuations in occupations other than agriculture:

Average No. Normal Supply in Unemployed in Percentage of Year Millions Millions Unemployed 1802 18.5 2.7 14.1 1803 20.2 1.8 8.3 1804 20.8 2.4 11.5 1805 21.6 2.0 8.3 1806 22.3 1.2 5.5 1807 23.4 1.4 6.0 1808 23.8 3.5 14.8 1808 24.6 2.1 8.6 1810 25.6 1.7 6.5 1811 26.1 2.8 10.8 1812 26.8 2.6 8.6 1813 28.0 2.6 8.3 1814 28.6 4.5 15.8 1815 28.0 4.6 16.0 1816 28.5 2.1 7.1 1817 30.2 1.4 4.7 ———— ———— ———— Average 2.5 8.8

The investigator concludes from the above table that “the number of unemployed in cities of the United States (entirely omitting agricultural labour, for which no reliable data are now available) has fluctuated between 1,000,000 and 6,000,000. The least unemployment occurred in 1806–1807 and in 1816–1817, while the most occurred in 1808 and in 1814 and 1815. The average number of unemployed has been two and a half million workers, or nearly ten per cent. of the active supply.”

An analysis of the figures by months shows that the average number of unemployed tends to be greatest in the month of January and least in October.

During the period of the war and immediately following when work was plentiful, the problem of unemployment was not prominent before the public. The past year, however, has witnessed an unprecedented shutting down of mills and shops in the automobile, rubber and textile industries, building trades, railroad construction, and a number of other industries. In many quarters it is authoritatively stated that the depression in employment early in 1821 has been even worse than that experienced in 1807–1808 and just prior to the beginning of the World War.

Early in December, 1820, the United States Department of Labour began the organization of an industrial employment survey of the United States—a service sadly needed for years. The purpose of this employment survey is to collect and disseminate all available information in regard to employment conditions. The first achievement was an unemployment investigation of 182 principal industrial cities and a comparison of industrial employment between January, 1820, and January, 1821.[179] The cities covered were located in thirty-five States and the District of Columbia. The investigations revealed that there were 3,331,352 fewer persons employed in January, 1821, than were employed during January, 1820. Thirty-five and one-half per cent. of the number employed January, 1820, were not employed during the same month the following year. Arranged by industries the percentage of those employed January, 1821, as compared with January, 1820, was as follows:

Industry Percentage Employed 1821 Metals and Products, Machinery, Electric 68.5 Goods, Foundry Products Building Trades 47.6 Packing and Food Products 81.0 Textiles and Products, Clothing, Hosiery and 64.5 Underwear Leather, Its Products, Boots and Shoes 65.1 Automobiles and Accessories 30.8 Lumber, House Furniture, Boxes & Wood Products 67.8 Clay, Glass, Cement and Stone Products 80.7 ———— Total, All Groups 64.5

The Massachusetts Department of Labour and Industries reported in the October issue of the Industrial Review, published by that Department, that a study of 1,103 labor unions in the principal industries and trades covering a membership of 254,836 in that State showed that 48,063 members, or 18.3 per cent., were unemployed on September 30, 1820. In June, 1820, this percentage was 18.8, while in September, 1818, the percentage of unemployed in these unions constituted only 5.4.

The New York Industrial Commission found that from March to December, 1820, there was a total decrease of 20 per cent. in the number of employés in the New York State factories.[180] The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in a statement issued to the press also stated that a survey of conditions in Brooklyn showed that unemployment in the factories and retail establishments of that borough had reached 36 per cent. at the beginning of 1821.

According to the reports compiled by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Employment there were on April 15, 1821, 243,160 persons unemployed in that State.[181]

In July, 1821, the United States Labour Department estimated the number of unemployed in the country to be 5,735,000.

It is obvious from the preceding that unemployment is always, even in normal industrial conditions, a problem for the wage-earners. Lack of work affects the industrious and thrifty workers as well as the indolent and careless ones, and very often sweeps away the savings accumulation of many years. That unemployment is a potent factor in old-age dependency is patent.

STRIKES

The difficulties encountered in obtaining accurate data upon the exact losses of wage-earners on account of strikes and lockouts are many. First, there are no complete or official lists of strikes in this country. Secondly, the estimates of the number of strikers during any one strike as given by the employers and by the employés are frequently greatly at variance. Then, too, there are times when although a few workers are actually on strike, the number affected is very large. This occurs, for instance, when the strikers are made up of the engineers and firemen of a plant; when they are workers engaged in certain preliminary processes of production without which it is impossible to run the mills. Complete statistics are also impossible of collection because many strikers either return to the mill before the strike is officially settled, or secure other employment. Some of the figures obtained by the United States Department of Labour, however, are significant in this connection.

During the period of twenty-five years, from 1881 to 1805, the Federal Bureau of Labour found that there were 36,757 strikes involving 181,407 establishments, or an average of 4.8 establishments per strike. There were 6,728,048 strikers, or an average of 183 strikers per strike; while there were thrown out of work 8,703,824 employés, or an average of 237 per strike. During this same period there took place 1,546 lockouts involving 18,547 establishments. There were 716,231 employés locked out, or an average of 463 per lockout; while the number of employés who were thrown out of work was 825,510, or an average of 534 per lockout. These figures do not include disturbances of less than one day’s duration.

The average duration of strikes per establishment was 25.4 days and of lockouts 84.6 days. The strike or lockout does not, of course, always result in the closing of the establishment affected, but in strikes involving 111,343, 61.38 per cent. of all establishments involved were closed for an average of 20.1 days. In lockouts 12,658, or 68.25 per cent. of all establishments involved, were closed an average of 40.4 days. The days here referred to are calendar days, including Sundays and holidays.

According to the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics, which for the past few years has kept a record of strikes and lockouts that come to its attention, there were in 1816 a total of 3,786 strikes and lockouts in the United States. In 2,600 strikes and 64 lockouts the number of persons involved was 1,546,428 and 53,182 respectively. The total duration of the strikes was 46,264 days and of the lockouts 3,375 days—an average of 22 days and 64 days respectively.

In 1817 there were 4,358 strikes and lockouts involving 1,183,867 and 18,133 respectively in only 2,174 strikes and 46 lockouts for which information was obtained. The total duration of these strikes was 24,076 days and of the lockouts 1,804 days or an average of 18 and 56 days respectively.

In 1818 the total number of strikes and lockouts was 3,285, which involved 1,182,418 and 43,041 persons in only 2,027 strikes and 70 lockouts, for which information was obtained. The total duration of these strikes was 28,386 days and in the case of the lockouts 1,086 days, the average duration of the former being 18 days and of the latter 31 days.

Between April 6, 1817, the date of our entrance into the war, and November 11, 1818, the date of the signing of the armistice, there occurred in the United States, 6,206 strikes and lockouts.[182]

During the year 1818 there occurred 3,374 strikes and lockouts. The number of strikers in 2,483 of these totaled 4,112,507.[183] The end of that year witnessed the greatest strikes in the history of this country. More than 300,000 workers in the iron and steel industry were on strike for several months. Shortly afterward nearly 400,000 bituminous miners went on strike for more than a month. The losses in wages on account of these strikes is, as previously pointed out, difficult to estimate. In the steel strike alone the number of man-days lost was estimated to amount to many millions, and as at the time of the strike $4.62 per day was reported to be the lowest wage paid, the wage loss of the workers was claimed by many writers to have amounted to more than $100,000,000.

The extent of the losses due to industrial warfare is also evident from the following figures of strikes in Pennsylvania.[184] And these do not include the coal and steel strikes—the greatest disturbances during that period.

RECORD OF STRIKES IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1816–1820 Average No. of Length of No. of Employés No. Days Strike in Year Strikes Involved Lost Wages Lost Days 1816 316 138,152 3,574,860 $7,184,286 48 1817 488 101,658 1,431,328 4,684,768 26 1818 317 80,021 507,837 2,212,304 10 1818 484 171,630 4,665,118 13,843,502 26 1820 555 88,888 3,128,281 14,514,185 38 ————— ——————— ——————————— ———————————— ———— Total 2,170 580,448 13,307,534 $42,548,066 28.8

The Bureau of Mediation and Arbitration of the New York Industrial Commission also reported that for the year ending June 30, 1818 and 1820 the following industrial disturbances had occurred in that State.[185]

1818 1820 Number of strikes and lockouts 168 240 Employés involved directly 208,852 334,188 Employés involved indirectly 2,006 16,403 Aggregate days of working time lost 11,346,653 10,608,483

That strikes, like unemployment, sap the little savings that the wage-earner may have accumulated, and thus force him to become dependent in old age is too obvious a fact to necessitate further comment.

GENERAL MISFORTUNE

As was suggested in the beginning of this discussion, it is impossible to point out every cause that goes to make for dependency and helplessness in old age. Individual lives and experiences vary in many respects and the conditions that go to make up one’s fortune or misfortune vary accordingly. In addition to the definite and obvious causes of dependency discussed in the preceding pages there are, however, many minor influences which make the path to the poorhouse hard to avoid even for many thrifty and independent persons.

These forces also ordinarily lie outside of the individual’s control. Thus in Massachusetts the Commission on Old Age Pensions of that State found that among those who lost their property possessions 25.4 per cent. attributed it to business failures and bad investments; 6.2 per cent. to intemperance and extravagance; 5.1 to fraud and 3.2 per cent. lost their property in fires.[186] In the case of almshouse paupers, the Ohio Commission attributes the loss of property in 11.63 per cent. to “misfortune,” and an equal percentage to “improvidence.” Of 158 former property owners 70 had lost it by business failure, 61 by poor investment and 17 by bad loans.[187]

In Pennsylvania among the almshouse pauper group, 14 per cent. claimed that their loss of property was due to business failures and fire losses; 8 per cent. to fraud and 3 per cent. to bank failures; while of the “non-dependent” who had lost their property 7.1 per cent. lost it through unwise investment; 2.3 per cent. through business failure, and a like percentage lost it through fraud.[188] In the case of 162 aged applicants for relief to the Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, during 1817–18, the reasons given were: Unemployment, 25 per cent.; irregular employment 8 per cent.; non-support of children 20 per cent.; accident 14 per cent.; blind and deaf 15 per cent.; previous supporter incapacitated 14 per cent., and a few others, exhausted savings. The causes of aged dependency are thus so numerous and varied that even many of the well-to-do and prosperous persons cannot be certain that they will remain independent throughout their declining years.

THE PART PLAYED BY MORAL CHARACTER

A steward of a county almshouse in a Quaker district in Pennsylvania replied to the Commission of that State:

“The dependants in almshouses are of such a character that inquiry as to their past life seems to me a waste of time. Most of them were nothing but parasites in society all their days, not one worthy of an old age pension, if it could be had. They are mentally and morally degenerates; most of them foreign born, and half of them never naturalized. Tramps in summer and here in winter. The only record that could be had would be unreliable, for there is no way to obtain it but from them. Hence, we go into few details when they are admitted. The average life of an inmate has been a failure largely due to the fact that they never realize what a successful life is.”

On the other hand, Professor Devine, former Secretary of the New York Charities and Director of the New York School for Social Work, states in his book, “Misery and Its Causes”:

“The connection that is assumed between the need of assistance and some form of personal depravity or shortcoming appears, superficially at least, to have much justification when we are considering the outcast, the criminal, and the extreme type of parasitic dependent.... The question which I raise is whether the wretched poor, the poor who suffer in their poverty, are poor because they are shiftless, because they are undisciplined, because they drink, because they steal, because they have superfluous children, because of personal depravity, personal inclination, and natural preference; or whether they are shiftless and undisciplined and drink and steal and are unable to care for their too numerous children because our social institutions and economic arrangements are at fault. I hold that personal depravity is as foreign to any sound theory of the hardships of our modern poor as witch-craft or demoniacal possession: that these hardships are economic, social, transitional, measurable, manageable. Misery, as we say of tuberculosis, is communicable, curable, and preventable. It lies not in the unalterable nature of things, but in our particular human institutions, our social arrangements, our tenements and streets and subways, our laws and courts and jails, our religion, our education, our philanthropy, our politics, our industry and our business.... Evil passions and indolence produce misery, but it does not follow that misery, all misery, or most misery is to be attributed to indolence or evil passions. The position which I suggest for your consideration is merely that there is no presumption of wrong-doing in the misery of the poor, that it may not be disciplinary, that it may not be punishment, that it may not be the working out of moral character. It may indeed be any of these things in a given instance, but the burden of proof is upon those who allege it, and no charitable society is justified, no public relief agency or institution is justified in basing its policies upon the assumption that because these men before us are afflicted in mind and body, therefore either they or their parents have sinned.”[189]

The gap between these two view points could hardly be wider. Data on this question however is so meagre that the problem must still remain largely in the realm of theory and generalization. Some illuminating information however is supplied by the Pennsylvania Commission in its report of 1818. A questionnaire was addressed to about 200 former employers of almshouse inmates, who were residents of about 20 almshouses scattered throughout Pennsylvania. The letter requested information with regard to the period of employment; the quality of service rendered; the general character of the employé, and the reason for leaving employment.

Twenty per cent. of the answers in regard to the time of employment stated that the men in question had worked less than six months; 21.5 per cent. were employed from six months to three years; 28 per cent. served from three to ten years, while 30 per cent. were engaged for ten years or more continuously.

As to the quality of service rendered, only 4.5 per cent. reported bad service; 80 per cent. reported that the services were either satisfactory or good, while 15 per cent. reported excellent service.

As to the general character of the employés, only 5.8 per cent. claimed that these former workers were drunkards or lazy; nearly 85 per cent. reported them as of good, honest and faithful character.

The above statements are further corroborated by the reasons assigned by the former employés for leaving their employment. Forty per cent. quit work because of sickness; fifteen per cent. because of old age; twenty-two per cent. either because the job had been completed or because the shop had been shut down; while twenty per cent. gave no reason for leaving service, and only 1.6 per cent. had been discharged for cause.

The favourable recommendations given these inmates, as cited by the Pennsylvania Commission, are most interesting. The following few are typical ones:

“He had charge of our tool room and stock rooms and was one of the best men in this position we ever had. (H. B. Underwood & Co.).”

“We always considered him a good and reliable workman. (Pittsburgh Spring & Steel Co.).”

“Steady, industrious, reliable workman. (Pressed Steel Car Co.).”

“Our superintendent reports Mr. W. as of excellent character, honest and did his work most satisfactorily. (Dorhan’s Monitor Carpet Mills).”

“A good steady man and a good mechanic. (Pennsylvania Iron Works).”

“Faithful employé while working in this colliery. (R. R. C. & L. Co.).”

“He worked for me off and on as general utility man around the house and I always found him very willing and a good worker.”

“He is a good printer and I never knew a more kind hearted and generous man.”

“As far as we can judge from business connections with him, he is honest and deserving.”

“L. W. was one of the best and most reliable men that worked for me. An A-1 man.”

The following include all the statements given, regarding the opposite type of inmate.

“He owes my mother five meals and one night’s lodging, to this date.”

“Down and out on account of drink.”

“He would absent himself at times for several weeks while on drinking bouts.”

“His father was foreman in the shop until his death. His son was never dependable on account of drink.”

“Was a good teamster and good to his horses. One thing I am sorry to say, his money was all spent for booze.”

It is evident from the preceding discussions that while personal depravity will produce misery and result in aged dependency, in individual cases, the great and significant causes of old age dependency lie in our institutions, in our present social and economic order. In discussing the causes of old age dependency the socio-economic forces which are responsible for low wages, unemployment, strikes and lockouts, and industrial superannuation are of incomparably greater significance than indolence or thriftlessness. Indeed, the latter are frequently the effects of the former maladjustments.

PART III EXISTING METHODS OF RELIEF