persons whose condition you describe?

2. "Climb three flights to an attic suite of two rooms, and there one
would find a mother and five children" doubtless in very bad condition;
the mother trying to support them; the tenement doubtless very bad.
Suppose we condemn the tenement,--pull it down,--then these people
would have _no_ roof over their heads. Is _no_ roof better than _some
kind_ of a roof? Suppose we refuse to trust her to make pants? Is _no_
work better than _some_ work?

3. The mother earns her living, or part of it, by making "pants." Pants
made in this way are sold at a very low price at retail, after being
subjected to the cost of distribution in the customary way. There is
great competition in this business. That competition leads every
employer to pay the highest wages that can be recovered from the sale
of the pants, also allowing the sweater's charge. If the cost of making
is advanced on this class of pants, they cannot be sold at all; then
there would be no sweater, and the woman would get no work. Is _no_
work better than _some_ work?

4. The sweater deals as a middleman with the manufacturer and the
worker. If he did not deal with this kind of work, it would cost the
manufacturer more to reach the worker than it does now; no sweater
would be employed if he did not earn what he makes; then the
manufacturer, or clothier, could pay _less_ for making the pants,
because he now pays _all that the trade will bear_. If it cost him more
to reach the worker, he _must_ pay less. Suppose we abolish the
sweater, or middleman, then he would not distribute the work, and there
would be _no_ work. Is that better than _some_ work?