The New York Committee on the Physical Welfare of School Children visited fourteen hundred homes of children found to have one or more of the physical defects shown on the above card. While they found that low incomes have more than their proper share of defects and of unsanitary living conditions, yet they saw emphatically also that low incomes do not monopolize physical defects and unsanitary living conditions. Many families having $20, $30, $40 a week gave their children neither medical nor dental care. The share each income had in unfavorable conditions is shown by the summary in the following table.
SHOWING PER CENT SHARE OF PHYSICAL DEFECTS OF CHILDREN, UNFAVORABLE HOUSING CONDITIONS, AND CHILD MORTALITY FOUND AMONG EACH FAMILY-INCOME GROUP
========================+============================================= | WEEKLY FAMILY INCOME +-----+------+------+------+------+------+---- | | | | | | $30 | |$0-10|$10-15|$16-19|$20-25|$25-29| and |$100 | | | | | | over | +-----+------+------+------+------+------+---- | % | % | % | % | % | % | % ------------------------+-----+------+------+------+------+------+---- Proportion to total | | | | | | | families | 8.4 | 32.7 | 15.2 | 23.8 | 3.9 | 15.6 | 100 | | | | | | | _Physical defects_: | | | | | | | Malnutrition |13.8 | 43.4 | 12.4 | 17.9 | 3.4 | 9. | " Enlarged glands | 8.6 | 37.4 | 14.6 | 22.6 | 3.6 | 13.2 | " Defective breathing | 9.6 | 32.3 | 15.5 | 24.4 | 2.8 | 15.4 | " Bad teeth | 8.1 | 32.2 | 15.3 | 24.5 | 4.8 | 15.1 | " Defective vision | 8.2 | 34.6 | 16.5 | 22.1 | 1.4 | 17.3 | " | | | | | | | _Unfavorable housing | | | | | | | conditions_: | | | | | | | Dark rooms | 8.2 | 35.4 | 18.1 | 18.4 | 3.8 | 15.9 | " Closed air shaft | 6.9 | 30.2 | 18.9 | 26.4 | 3.2 | 19.6 | " No baths |10.1 | 38.5 | 16.5 | 19.7 | 4.4 | 10.8 | " Paying over 25% rent | 8.6 | 27.6 | 21.7 | 14.7 | ... | 27.6 | " | | | | | | | _Child Mortality_: | | | | | | | Families losing | | | | | | | children |10.3 | 35.5 | 14.7 | 20.5 | 5.4 | 13.6 | " Families losing no | | | | | | | children | 6.4 | 30.1 | 15.7 | 26.9 | 2.4 | 18.6 | " Children dead |11.7 | 36.2 | 13.1 | 20.8 | 6.1 | 12.1 | " Infants dying from | | | | | | | intestinal diseases | 8.9 | 37.6 | 18.3 | 18.8 | 4. | 12.4 | " Children working | 4.2 | 19.5 | 13.2 | 30.3 | 11.5 | 21.3 | " ========================+=============================================