On the whole, it is probable that these economic causes of poverty
figure in from 50 to 80 per cent of all cases, not operating alone, to
be sure, but often in connection with faults of character or physical or
mental defects in the individual; for it is always to be remembered in
discussing the causes of poverty that one never finds a case which can
be fairly attributed to a single cause. The complexity of causes
operating in the case of a single dependent family frequently makes it
impossible for any one to say with certainty what is the chief and what
are the contributing causes. Oftentimes what appears to be the chief
cause, such as lack of employment, has back of it defects in individual
character which are not apparent to the investigator. Researches along
this line have shown that the number of cases of distress which may be
attributed to lack of employment, for example, may be very greatly
reduced when all individual defects are taken into consideration. This,
however, is not an argument for regarding the economic causes of poverty
as any less important than has been indicated.
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