THE meaning of the word poverty is relative and depends upon the class
of people to whom the word is applied. Poverty, technically, is the lack
of an income sufficient to maintain the individual as the society in
which he lives demands that he should live. Thus a wealthy man may live
in relative poverty if he is in a circle of acquaintances who are much
more wealthy than he is. The amount of income necessary to keep one from
being classed in the poverty-stricken group decreases with the
simplicity of individual, family, and community life. The amount of
property necessary to keep one from poverty in the country is not as
great as the amount of property necessary to keep one from poverty in
the cities, due to the fact that the standards of living in the country
are much simpler and require less expenditure of money to conform to the
social standards. Pauperism is not the same as poverty. Poverty may be
only temporary, depending upon unfavorable conditions which have reduced
the income of the family, such as sickness, accident, lack of
employment, or other factors beyond the control of the individual.
Poverty does not necessarily involve any moral degeneration, while the
pauper is entirely dependent on society and is a moral degenerate.
Poverty, in general, however, is a dangerous condition, because it
generally leads to pauperism. Poverty perpetuates itself if not taken
care of; and if the poor man should give up the struggle against
poverty, the general effect on society would be injurious, because,
through contact, standards of living, social disease, and bad morals are
contagious.
The competition between capital and labor, which often leads to poverty,
is not fair if it is limited to the individual members of society. As
the individual capitalist has more influence than the individual
laborer, labor must be organized in order to equalize the situation. The
competitive process between capital and labor, and between industrial
organizations, should be controlled so that people should not be
compelled to compete on an unfair basis.
The existing conditions in any community are largely responsible for
poverty and often for pauperism. They are especially responsible for the
attitude of the individual in regard to poverty as to whether he will
make a fight to gain a place in society above the poverty-stricken
class, or whether he simply resigns himself to his fate and continues to
live in a poverty-stricken condition. In this situation, the well-to-do
class is more responsible for poverty than any other class, because they
have the most power, both legislative and moral, and they must assume
for this reason a greater share of responsibility regarding the
conditions in any given community. Poverty can be alleviated, but
probably not entirely eliminated, and some of the means of combating
poverty are the following:
First.--Education. By this means the efficiency of the individual in
adjusting himself to trade environment is increased.
Second.--The self-support of weaker classes through voluntary
associations among themselves, such as labor movements.
Third.--The proper kind of legal protection, such as factory, and woman
and child labor laws, safeguards in factory work, the minimum wage, and
accident laws.
Fourth.--Rational charity, by which cases of unusual necessity can be
cared for. This charity should act as a temporary agency and should not
become permanent, as in that case it tends to pauperism.
Fifth.--Eugenics, by which the physically and mentally unfit, who
contribute largely to the pauper class, may be eliminated from society
and prevented from propagating a second generation.
Modern charity is more democratic than older charity, and in its
workings material aid is made subordinate to moral aid. It is optimistic
and believes that radical improvements in social conditions are
possible. It believes that the family should always be a self-supporting
group, that charity should try to make the poverty-stricken family
self-supporting, and that the family should be kept together.
One of the improvements in modern charity is what is known as organized
charity, which is a sort of clearing house for the charities of a
community. Organized charity does not extend material aid so much as it
attempts to find work for needy individuals and thus do away with
poverty by putting the family on a self-supporting basis. Organized
charity would do away with the begging pauper and require him to
present his case at the headquarters of the society, where an
investigation of the necessities of his particular case could be made
and an effort to find suitable employment for him undertaken. The
individual who wished to contribute to charity would contribute to the
central organization instead of to the wandering beggar. This would have
two distinct benefits to society, as it would prevent the disagreeable
sights often encountered where begging is allowed in public, and it
would prevent the individual member of society from being imposed upon
by a beggar who might be in sufficiently good physical condition to
undertake work which would bring in enough to maintain himself and his
family.
The question of organized charity in Porto Rico has been suggested at
different times, but it has never met with any great popular response,
due to the customs and traditions of a charity-giving people. The Island
to-day has a large number of paupers who are entirely dependent upon the
charity which they receive through begging, and the custom of giving in
response to the requests of these beggars is so widespread, that at the
present time organized charity would have a most difficult field of work
to undertake.
The Island of Porto Rico is prosperous. In the last fiscal year there
was a surplus of about $15,000,000 of exports over the imports into the
Island; but the distribution of wealth in Porto Rico is not equalized.
It has been estimated that the wealth of the Island is in the hands of
about 15 per cent of the population, and that the remaining 85 per cent
are practically dependent upon uncertain labor and wage conditions for
their maintenance. The per capita wealth of a country determines to a
great degree the financial situation as far as the average individual is
concerned. From the following list of per capita wealth in some of the
leading countries, it will be possible to estimate how the average Porto
Rican compares with the average citizen of other countries in this
regard. The following list is based on statistics of 1909:
Great Britain per capita wealth $1,442
France " " " 1,257
Australia " " " 1,228
United States " " " 1,123
Denmark " " " 1,104
Canada " " " 949
Belgium " " " 734
Germany " " " 707
Spain " " " 548
Austria Hungary " " " 499
Greece " " " 485
Italy " " " 485
Portugal " " " 417
Russia " " " 296
Porto Rico " " " 182
From the above table it will be seen that the average individual in
Porto Rico is comparatively poor.
The economic situation in Porto Rico is giving rise to the formation of
classes based on wealth. With the introduction of available markets and
modern methods of commerce and industry which followed the American
occupation, the land values rapidly increased. The small landholder,
seeing the increase in price which came about and believing that it was
to his best advantage to sell his land, disposed of it to the
representatives of large landholding concerns for what, to him, was a
fabulous price. As soon as the money from this sale was expended, the
original landholder found himself absolutely dependent upon the mercy of
a wage-paying employer. In this way a great part of small landholdings
passed into the hands of representatives of large landholdings and
caused the formation of the two groups, the capitalistic group, which is
limited to a comparatively small number of people, and the wage-earning
group, which comprises probably 90 per cent of the population of Porto
Rico. As a result we lack in Porto Rico the great middle class of
financially independent farmers which constitutes the strength of the
United States and the more prosperous European countries. A serious and
systematic effort to build up a prosperous and independent middle class,
either by encouraging small-farm or other industries, is necessary if
the majority of the people are to attain the advantages which they
should enjoy, and if the social and economic status of the Island is to
be made equitable and stable.
The reduced wage system and the absolute dependence of the wage-earning
group has given rise to a great many labor disturbances within the last
few years. These labor disturbances have included both city and country
groups and have in nearly all cases been caused by an effort to better
the working conditions and to secure an increase of wages. In the great
majority of the cases there is no doubt but that the laborers were
justified in asking for better conditions than those which actually
existed. That the disturbances sometimes ended in riots and led to the
destruction of property is the fault of the educational condition of the
people, who are easily excited and led to believe that only by the use
of violence can they secure the things which they demand.
The relation between poverty and health and poverty and morals is very
close. The poverty-stricken family cannot be led to take any great
amount of interest in society or health betterment until means have been
produced by which the economic situation of the family group can be
bettered. The expense of living uses up the daily wage of the ordinary
unskilled laborer in Porto Rico, who averages fifty or sixty cents per
day for the time that the weather and his physical condition permit him
to work. There is also a close relation between sickness and poverty,
the average countryman of Porto Rico being only partly as efficient a
worker as he should be, due to physical weakness caused by anemia or
malaria. Poverty is closely related to degeneration and crime,
especially when it descends into pauperism and absolute dependence upon
charity.
The climate and geographical conditions of Porto Rico have never
provided the laborer with any incentive to economize, inasmuch as he has
no need for providing against a period of cold, and Nature produces some
form of plant or vegetable food throughout the entire year. Clothing and
lodging may be of the simplest and still prevent much suffering under
such conditions, and with physical weakness caused by disease, the
tendency is to live for the present, and to take little care for the
future through a system of saving and economy. The average manual
laborer saves nothing and makes little effort to accumulate property.
Incentive must be provided through education which will accustom the
countryman to the idea of accumulation of property in a small way, so
that dependence upon charity will not be necessary in the case of a
financial or economic crisis. That there is a movement toward saving is
evident from the fact that on June 30, 1915, there were savings accounts
to the amount of $1,909,969.34 in the various banks in the Island. This,
however, is a comparatively small amount, and the younger generation
should be given definite instruction and incentives along the line of
savings. The introduction of the Postal Savings Bank has been of great
value in this respect, and the school savings banks have also done their
share in inculcating the principles of economy.