[157] Of the 894 family groups investigated, five consisted of men who failed to supply information relative to conjugal condition.
The table shows that there were 394 married couples among these families that had received aid. Man and wife were of the same nativity in 360 cases, and of differing nativities in 34 cases.
The average size of the family groups aided with business grants was relatively small, being but 2.8 persons per family. The average number of children per family was low, partly because of the large number of single persons aided; but the average number per marriage was low, too, being 1.37. Of the 394 married couples, 124 had no children at all, or none living at home; of the 286 widowed, divorced, or separated women, 128 had no children at home; of the 55 widowed, divorced, or separated men, 33 had no children with them.
The ages of all but 19 of the applicants who received aid are known. Of the 875 concerning whom information is available, only 3 per cent were over seventy; 45 per cent not more than forty; 60 per cent not more than fifty; and 77 per cent, over three-fourths, not more than sixty. More than one-half were between thirty-five and fifty-five years of age.
The 894 family groups aided included, at the time of the re-visit, 2,270 individuals. Of these, 1,138, or 50.1 per cent, were fully self-supporting; 113, or 5 per cent, were partially self-supporting; and 1,019, or 44.9 per cent, were dependent. The burden on the breadwinners is thus seen to have been relatively light. However, the income from most of their businesses was very small. It was less than the wages earned in the organized trades and fluctuated so that it was found impossible to reduce net receipts to dollars and cents.
In many cases when grants were given to persons who had no young children, they were given in consideration of the fact that there were others, often aged parents, depending upon them. This is true of one-third of the single women and about two-fifths of the single men.
4. CHANGES IN FAMILY AND BUSINESS LIFE
Partly as a result of the fire, and partly, no doubt, from other causes, the situation of the families aided with respect to membership, manner of living, and business arrangements, was somewhat different at the time of the re-visit from what it had been before the fire. The families aided had been composed, previous to the fire, of exactly 2,500 individuals. When the re-visit was made, 29 of these individuals had died and 201 had disappeared, leaving 2,270 individuals in the families studied.
Of the 894 families, 691, or 77 per cent, were found not to have changed in membership. For 83 families no data on this subject could be secured. Changes of membership in the remaining 120 families are shown in [Table 50].
TABLE 50.—CHANGES IN FAMILY COMPOSITION BETWEEN PERIOD BEFORE FIRE AND THE RE-VISIT IN 120 FAMILIES RECEIVING BUSINESS REHABILITATION