Page:Wages in US 1908-1910.djvu/17



T is almost impossible to delve into any modern social problem without being confronted by the question, "What are wages?" Here is a man with a wife and four children, living in an insanitary, tumble-down tenement. The woman has rheumatism; the children croup and rickets. Obviously, the family ought to move to a better dwelling. The rent is overdue, however, and if they move, the landlord will levy on the furniture; the grocer's and butcher's bills are large and cannot be met; moreover, to move means either to go into an equally cheap, bad house somewhere else, or to pay more rent. How can this family pay more rent than the present