Note 49 — Chapter IX · HEALTH
Reading edition
It is of interest to note the findings of the study of 2,000 men in connection with the Municipal Lodging House of New York City, 1914:
“Of 1,482 men who made statements regarding their habits, 1,292—approximately 9 out of every 10—said they drank alcoholic liquors. Six hundred and fifty-seven or 44 per cent said that they drank excessively; 635, or 43 per cent, said that they drank moderately; and 190, or 13 per cent, claimed to be total abstainers.
“Of the 2,000 who were given a medical examination, 775, or 39 per cent, were diagnosed as suffering from alcoholism. According to Dr. James Alexander Miller, these ‘figures probably do not represent by any means the number of individuals who were alcoholic ... but rather indicate only the number who manifested acute evidence at the time of investigation.’”—From the Report of the Advisory Social Service Committee of the Municipal Lodging House, pp. 9-22. New York: September, 1915.
Here we have in a few words a cross-section of the drinking population among the homeless men in New York where conditions are not materially different and where the population is essentially the same as in Hobohemia.