Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/470

 456 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

itself, running from the lake through the very heart of the busi- ness portion of the city and out into the working-men's district for a distance of four miles, there are 115 saloons and fifty- three restaurants, as follows: there are three 5-cent restaurants, five 10-cent restaurants, twenty 15 -cent restaurants, seven 20- cent restaurants, sixteen 2 5-cent restaurants, two 3 5-cent restau- rants.

In this distance of four miles there are, then, but eight res- taurants for the poor man, and all of these are unattractive. In this same four miles there are 115 saloons, nearly all of which furnish free lunches, together with all the other attractions of the Chicago saloon.

At night there are about fifty lunch-wagons on the street corners, and they post the following menus :

Chicken, 15 cents. Ham and eggs, 10 cents.

Russian caviar, 10 cents. Beefsteak, 10 cents.

Porkchops, 5 cents. Hamburger steak, 5 cents.

Eggs, 5 cents. Sardines, 5 cents.

Pig's feet, 5 cents. Spare-ribs, 5 cents.

Tenderloin, 5 cents. Pie, 5 cents.

Coffee, 5 cents.

These wagons are open only at night, and serve lunches to men standing in the street. The cooking is at least safe. Yet they cannot, with a license of $60 a year, place before the men, even in such uncomfortable conditions, such an abundance as the saloon. The man can step into any saloon near, and at a table, amid cheery surroundings, especially on nights when it is cold and rainy, get his lunch and glass of beer.

The factory districts present another familiar sight. No place being furnished within where the men can eat their dinner, they file out in large numbers and sit on the sidewalks or in the windows. Several of their number are detailed to " rush the growler." Hanging several dinner-pails on a pole, they go to the nearest saloon and return with their pails full of beer. One saloon, of which I know, sold ninety gallons every noon to men in a factory and to a railroad gang that was working near. In the winter the temptation to eat in the saloon, and take advan- tage of the hot lunch served free, is beyond the power of