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How the Other Half Lives

(1) Long ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. There came a time when the discomfort and crowding below were so great, and the consequent upheavals so violent, that it was no longer an easy thing to do, and then the upper half fell to wondering what the matter was. Information on the subject has been accumulating rapidly since, and the whole world has had its hands full answering for its old ignorance.

(2) In New York, the youngest of the world's great cities, that time came later than elsewhere, because the crowding had not been so great. There were those who believed that it would never come; but their hopes were vain. Greed and reckless selfishness delivered similar results here as in the cities of older lands. "When the great riot occurred in 1863," reads the testimony of the Secretary of the Prison Association of New York before a legislative committee appointed to investigate causes of the increase of crime in the State twenty-five years ago, "every hiding-place and nursery of crime discovered itself by immediate and active participation in the operations of the mob. Those very places and domiciles, and all that are like them, are today nurseries of crime, and of the vices and disorderly courses which lead to crime. By far the largest part ­ 80% at least ­ of crimes against property and people are perpetrated by individuals who have either lost connection with home life, or never had any, or whose homes had ceased to afford what are regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family... The younger criminals seem to come almost exclusively from the worst tenement house districts, that is, when traced back to the very laces where they had their homes in the city here." One thing New York was made of sure at that early stage of the inquiry: the boundary line of the Other Half lies through the tenements.

(3) It is ten years and over, now, since that line divided New York's population evenly. Today three-fourths of New Yorkers live in the tenements, and the nineteenth century drift of the population to the cities is only increasing those numbers. The fifteen thousand tenant houses in the past generation have swelled into thirty- seven thousand, and more than twelve hundred thousand persons call them home. The one way out ­ rapid transit to the suburbs ­ has brought no relief. We know now that there is no way out; that the "system" that was the evil offspring of public neglect and private greed is here to stay, forever a center of our civilization. Nothing is left but to make the best of a bad bargain.

(4) The story is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the "other half," and the evil they breed, are but as a fitting punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth. The boundary line lies there because, while the forces for good on one side vastly outweigh the bad ­ not otherwise ­ in the tenements all the influences make for evil; because they are the hotbeds of the epidemics that carry death to rich and poor alike; the nurseries of poverty and crime that fill our jails and courts; that throw off forty thousand human wrecks to the island asylums and workhouses year by year; that turned out in the last eight years a round half million beggars to prey upon our charities; that maintain a standing army of ten thousand panhandlers with all that that implies; because, above all, they touch the family life with deadly moral poison. This is their worst crime, inseparable from the system. That we have to own it, the child of our own wrong, does not excuse it, even though it gives it claim upon our utmost patience and tenderest charity.

At the time the passage was written, how many people lived in tenement housing?

How the Other Half Lives

(1) Long ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. There came a time when the discomfort and crowding below were so great, and the consequent upheavals so violent, that it was no longer an easy thing to do, and then the upper half fell to wondering what the matter was. Information on the subject has been accumulating rapidly since, and the whole world has had its hands full answering for its old ignorance.

(2) In New York, the youngest of the world's great cities, that time came later than elsewhere, because the crowding had not been so great. There were those who believed that it would never come; but their hopes were vain. Greed and reckless selfishness delivered similar results here as in the cities of older lands. "When the great riot occurred in 1863," reads the testimony of the Secretary of the Prison Association of New York before a legislative committee appointed to investigate causes of the increase of crime in the State twenty-five years ago, "every hiding-place and nursery of crime discovered itself by immediate and active participation in the operations of the mob. Those very places and domiciles, and all that are like them, are today nurseries of crime, and of the vices and disorderly courses which lead to crime. By far the largest part ­ 80% at least ­ of crimes against property and people are perpetrated by individuals who have either lost connection with home life, or never had any, or whose homes had ceased to afford what are regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family... The younger criminals seem to come almost exclusively from the worst tenement house districts, that is, when traced back to the very laces where they had their homes in the city here." One thing New York was made of sure at that early stage of the inquiry: the boundary line of the Other Half lies through the tenements.

(3) It is ten years and over, now, since that line divided New York's population evenly. Today three-fourths of New Yorkers live in the tenements, and the nineteenth century drift of the population to the cities is only increasing those numbers. The fifteen thousand tenant houses in the past generation have swelled into thirty- seven thousand, and more than twelve hundred thousand persons call them home. The one way out ­ rapid transit to the suburbs ­ has brought no relief. We know now that there is no way out; that the "system" that was the evil offspring of public neglect and private greed is here to stay, forever a center of our civilization. Nothing is left but to make the best of a bad bargain.

(4) The story is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the "other half," and the evil they breed, are but as a fitting punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth. The boundary line lies there because, while the forces for good on one side vastly outweigh the bad ­ not otherwise ­ in the tenements all the influences make for evil; because they are the hotbeds of the epidemics that carry death to rich and poor alike; the nurseries of poverty and crime that fill our jails and courts; that throw off forty thousand human wrecks to the island asylums and workhouses year by year; that turned out in the last eight years a round half million beggars to prey upon our charities; that maintain a standing army of ten thousand panhandlers with all that that implies; because, above all, they touch the family life with deadly moral poison. This is their worst crime, inseparable from the system. That we have to own it, the child of our own wrong, does not excuse it, even though it gives it claim upon our utmost patience and tenderest charity.

As it is used in the middle of 2nd paragraph, the word domicile most closely means:

How the Other Half Lives

(1) Long ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. There came a time when the discomfort and crowding below were so great, and the consequent upheavals so violent, that it was no longer an easy thing to do, and then the upper half fell to wondering what the matter was. Information on the subject has been accumulating rapidly since, and the whole world has had its hands full answering for its old ignorance.

(2) In New York, the youngest of the world's great cities, that time came later than elsewhere, because the crowding had not been so great. There were those who believed that it would never come; but their hopes were vain. Greed and reckless selfishness delivered similar results here as in the cities of older lands. "When the great riot occurred in 1863," reads the testimony of the Secretary of the Prison Association of New York before a legislative committee appointed to investigate causes of the increase of crime in the State twenty-five years ago, "every hiding-place and nursery of crime discovered itself by immediate and active participation in the operations of the mob. Those very places and domiciles, and all that are like them, are today nurseries of crime, and of the vices and disorderly courses which lead to crime. By far the largest part ­ 80% at least ­ of crimes against property and people are perpetrated by individuals who have either lost connection with home life, or never had any, or whose homes had ceased to afford what are regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family... The younger criminals seem to come almost exclusively from the worst tenement house districts, that is, when traced back to the very laces where they had their homes in the city here." One thing New York was made of sure at that early stage of the inquiry: the boundary line of the Other Half lies through the tenements.

(3) It is ten years and over, now, since that line divided New York's population evenly. Today three-fourths of New Yorkers live in the tenements, and the nineteenth century drift of the population to the cities is only increasing those numbers. The fifteen thousand tenant houses in the past generation have swelled into thirty- seven thousand, and more than twelve hundred thousand persons call them home. The one way out ­ rapid transit to the suburbs ­ has brought no relief. We know now that there is no way out; that the "system" that was the evil offspring of public neglect and private greed is here to stay, forever a center of our civilization. Nothing is left but to make the best of a bad bargain.

(4) The story is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the "other half," and the evil they breed, are but as a fitting punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth. The boundary line lies there because, while the forces for good on one side vastly outweigh the bad ­ not otherwise ­ in the tenements all the influences make for evil; because they are the hotbeds of the epidemics that carry death to rich and poor alike; the nurseries of poverty and crime that fill our jails and courts; that throw off forty thousand human wrecks to the island asylums and workhouses year by year; that turned out in the last eight years a round half million beggars to prey upon our charities; that maintain a standing army of ten thousand panhandlers with all that that implies; because, above all, they touch the family life with deadly moral poison. This is their worst crime, inseparable from the system. That we have to own it, the child of our own wrong, does not excuse it, even though it gives it claim upon our utmost patience and tenderest charity.

In the third paragraph, the statement "It is ten years and over, now, since that line divided New York's population evenly" best means:

How the Other Half Lives

(1) Long ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. There came a time when the discomfort and crowding below were so great, and the consequent upheavals so violent, that it was no longer an easy thing to do, and then the upper half fell to wondering what the matter was. Information on the subject has been accumulating rapidly since, and the whole world has had its hands full answering for its old ignorance.

(2) In New York, the youngest of the world's great cities, that time came later than elsewhere, because the crowding had not been so great. There were those who believed that it would never come; but their hopes were vain. Greed and reckless selfishness delivered similar results here as in the cities of older lands. "When the great riot occurred in 1863," reads the testimony of the Secretary of the Prison Association of New York before a legislative committee appointed to investigate causes of the increase of crime in the State twenty-five years ago, "every hiding-place and nursery of crime discovered itself by immediate and active participation in the operations of the mob. Those very places and domiciles, and all that are like them, are today nurseries of crime, and of the vices and disorderly courses which lead to crime. By far the largest part ­ 80% at least ­ of crimes against property and people are perpetrated by individuals who have either lost connection with home life, or never had any, or whose homes had ceased to afford what are regarded as ordinary wholesome influences of home and family... The younger criminals seem to come almost exclusively from the worst tenement house districts, that is, when traced back to the very laces where they had their homes in the city here." One thing New York was made of sure at that early stage of the inquiry: the boundary line of the Other Half lies through the tenements.

(3) It is ten years and over, now, since that line divided New York's population evenly. Today three-fourths of New Yorkers live in the tenements, and the nineteenth century drift of the population to the cities is only increasing those numbers. The fifteen thousand tenant houses in the past generation have swelled into thirty- seven thousand, and more than twelve hundred thousand persons call them home. The one way out ­ rapid transit to the suburbs ­ has brought no relief. We know now that there is no way out; that the "system" that was the evil offspring of public neglect and private greed is here to stay, forever a center of our civilization. Nothing is left but to make the best of a bad bargain.

(4) The story is dark enough, drawn from the plain public records, to send a chill to any heart. If it shall appear that the sufferings and the sins of the "other half," and the evil they breed, are but as a fitting punishment upon the community that gave it no other choice, it will be because that is the truth. The boundary line lies there because, while the forces for good on one side vastly outweigh the bad ­ not otherwise ­ in the tenements all the influences make for evil; because they are the hotbeds of the epidemics that carry death to rich and poor alike; the nurseries of poverty and crime that fill our jails and courts; that throw off forty thousand human wrecks to the island asylums and workhouses year by year; that turned out in the last eight years a round half million beggars to prey upon our charities; that maintain a standing army of ten thousand panhandlers with all that that implies; because, above all, they touch the family life with deadly moral poison. This is their worst crime, inseparable from the system. That we have to own it, the child of our own wrong, does not excuse it, even though it gives it claim upon our utmost patience and tenderest charity.

According to the author, the only way for the poor to successfully escape poverty is: