THE UNITED STATES SCENE PARADOXICAL PROBLEM OF POVERTY AMIDST PLENTY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31086, 15 June 1966, Page 16

THE UNITED STATES SCENE PARADOXICAL PROBLEM OF POVERTY AMIDST PLENTY

(By

JOHN E. OWEN,

Department of Sociology, Arizona State Univereity. U.S A J

That the world’s richest nation should have a sizeable problem of poverty within its borders may appear contradictory, but American society today manifests this painful paradox.

Penury in the United States is not a new problem. In 1869 the American economist Henry George wrote "Progress and Poverty” and referred to financial inequalities in his country. Jacob Riis, in “How the Other Half Lives” (1890) described life in the New York slums, and at the extreme point of the 1930’s depression President Roosevelt spoke of the “one third of the nation that is ill-clothed, ill-housed, and ill-nourished.” Some segments of the United States population have always been in an inferior economic position relative to the whole, but over the decades the composition of these under-privileged groups has changed, as have both the extent of poverty and public awareness of the problem. The Disadvantaged Historically, most Negroes in America have been economically disadvantaged, both during the era of slavery that ended a century ago and in subsequent decades. The majority of European immigrants were originally poor as they had to make their way in a new country, handicapped by language difficulties and other adjustments to their second homeland. With immigration at its height between 1880 and 1914 and the flow of new entrants severely curtailed by Act of Congress in 1924, the children and grandchildren of the foreign-born have long since become well-placed as members of the American middle class, and the nature of poverty has similarly altered.

Who are America’s poor today and what are the causes of their condition? After two decades of uninterrupted prosperity, the great majority of Americans are better off than ever before, and on any relevant criterion the underprivileged are living much more comfortably than the low-income groups of pre--1929 or pre-1900. One hundred years ago, the vast bulk of Americans would have been considered “poor” by the standards of 1966. But in 1966 the very prosperity of the nation and its prevalent abundance only serve to accentuate the plight of the poor and to stress the sharp economic contrast between this minority and the more fortunate mass of their fellow citizens. Unfortunate Fifth Since economists are not agreed as to what precise income level constitutes poverty, it is problematical how extensive this condition

is in America today. The Federal Government’s “war on poverty” has estimated that almost one-fifth of the nation, or 38 million people, fall under the poverty line. The 'plain fact is that although America is currently enjoying an unparalleled abundance, its benefits are not evenly shared. In his best-selling “The Other America,” author and social worker Michael Harrington has described this unfortunate fifth of the nation, a group comprising those families with incomes lower than $3OOO (£1070) a year. Of these, more than half have less than $2OOO (£713) a year, and five million people have less than $l5OO (£535) a year. These figures must be interpreted in light of the fact that the cost of living in America is appreciably higher than in New Zealand.

Many of these poor families are labourers employed at unskilled jobs ihat require little training, most of them not covered by the benefits of trade union membership. There is a direct connexion between education and income, and of the families with less than $3OOO a year, two-thirds have a family head with less than nine years of schooling. Regional Aspect There is also a regional aspect to poverty. Almost half of America’s poor families live in the South, which includes an impoverished area known as Appalachia. Despite growing industrialism since the Second World War, the South is still primarily an agricultural region, based mainly on two crops, cotton and tobacco. In the depression of the 19305, it was termed “the nation's Economic Problem Number One.” For two decades northern capital has been moving in, with resulting marked improvements in income and living standards, but farm incomes in the South generally fall below those of the more prosperous north and west. A combination of poor soil, low productivity, the decline in the world market for cotton, foreign competition, and the racial handicaps of its 9 million Negroes are all part of the poverty condition of the South. American Negroes have made striking gains in the last 20 years, reflected in federal court decisions attacking segregation and discrimination in schools, employment, and housing. But the poverty problem is highly complex, involving blighted urban slums and the need for mass vocational training programmes for youth. It also requires an inculcation in Negro adolescents of the value of remaining in school to secure job skills that can be utilised in permanent gainful employment. This would counteract the prevalent temptation to drop out of school to accept unskilled jobs that offer Immediate wages but small future prospects. One quarter of America’s poor families are Negro. American Indians, and Spanish-speaking groups of Mexican descent. This last element live mainly in border towns of Texas, Arizona, and California, frequently working at unskilled agricultural tasks. Handicapped and Aged

A minor segment of the poverty group are individuals suffering from physical and mental handicaps that preclude their steady employment at responsible tasks, and those whose lives and family income are blighted by alcohol (an estimated five million) or desertion by the family head. A larger element are the aged poor, the 19 million Americans over 65. Of these retired persons, half have no other income than their Social Security (government pensions) amounting to a monthly $BO (£2B) for a single person and $l4O (£5O) for a man and wife. At a time of rising inflation, these sums scarcely provide for bare subsistence. A dominant factor in poverty is unemployment, which currently affects 4 per cent of the U.S. work force. While technological change has produced unprecedented heights of prosperity, it has also led to dislocations for many, rendering their skills outmoded in a scientific automated age, and many of the “technically unemployable” find it increasingly difficult to be placed in new jobs. Another factor accentuating poverty is the high birth rate among uneducated and lowincome families. U.S. government authorities are now espousing the need for family planning information among the poor, and more than 30 state governments are actively engaged in giving birth control aid. Singular Aspects The entire problem has some peculiarly American aspects that render the concept of poverty different from that of other lands. Impoverishment is not to be judged by a small bank account or mere lack of access to immediate funds. Literally thousands of American middle class families with annual incomes ranging from the national median of $6OOO (£2140) to $15,000 (£5350) or more live very comfortably in pretentious suburban homes, with modern cars, wireless, television, electrical appli-

ances, and children In university. But they may save relatively little of their incomes and may even have to borrow money to pay their income tax, owing to high monthly payments for a mortgage, one or two new cars, and other accompaniments of modern living. Even among the traditional poor, some bizarre features are found. In one of the poorest counties of the South, a survey recently revealed that almost 90% of families had electric washing machines, two-thirds had television sets, well over a third had telephones, and over half owned cars. In many of America’s urban slums, both Negro and white, roofs of dilapidated houses carry a television aerial.

A study in 1960 showed that of families with less than $3OOO of annual income, one in seven purchased new cars-that year, made possible by monthly payments extending over four or five years. And almost half of the families with only $2OOO to $3OOO a year owned the houses they lived in. indicating that poverty is a relative term. But it is nevertheless a very real crisis for those who cannot afford to feed their children adequately or to have the medical attention they may desperately need. And the psychological effects of low status in a class-conscious culture cannot be ignored. Thus many Negroes make sacrifices to acquire a new car. since discrimination debars them from enjoying decent housing. Government’s Attack The disparities of wealth and poverty are indicative of a trend that permeates the whole of U.S. culture, namely, that of embracing many extreme diversities of the human condition. The most hopeful aspect of the current situation is that the Federal Government is making a concentrated attack on the entire problem. Much of the credit for initiating the anti-poverty legislation goes to the late President Kennedy. The Economic Opportunity Act, passed by Congress less than a year after his death, is the spearhead of official efforts to alleviate hardship among the poor.

One of its main features Is the Community Action Programme, a series of schemes jointly formed by existing public and private welfare organisations in impoverished areas, co-ordinated with new government-financed measures. It has encountered all the problems germane to bureaucracy, combined with some opposition from local and state welfare depart ments. There has traditionally been a strong feeling in America that control of welfare funds should be in local hands, and Washington’s proposal that the poor should actively participate in community programmes has aroused doubts among many urban officials and mayors. Even federal officials claim that the condition of poverty will require decades to eradicate, and public opinion may become disillusioned when results do not quickly materialise. But in a mere year and a half, the programme has made an impressive start The United Staten Government’* Anti-Poverty Programme will be discussed in a tecond article by Dr. Owen.