"Yes, ma'am; but the savings bank went to the wall and my three hundred, which I had been five years getting together, went with it." "Can't you get a job as porter rather than beg?" "There's a thousand men waitin' for all the 'porter' jobs. Lady, you don't know it, but half the population of this country is out of work." "Where can you get a bed for a nickel?" asked Chiquita, dubiously. "On the west side at one of the 'Friendship' houses." "You mean a whole bed and room by yourself?" "Oh, no, lady, just a shelf to lie on, perhaps an old quilt to cover up with. This costs a nickel; in some places we get a 'claim' on the floor for two cents." "You say a 'claim' on the floor; you don't pay for sleeping on the floor?" said Chiquita, drawing back in amazement. "Yes, we have to pay for everything but air in Chicago. We pick out our claim, first come, first served, and put down a newspaper for bed, cover up with another, all for two cents; but I don't like the floor. The other fellows step on you when they come in late." "Are these places clean?" timidly inquired Chiquita. "Not very, ma'am; not like the hospital." "Well, my poor fellow, here is a quarter; I hope it will do you some good." "Thank you, lady." Instead of going to the hospital Chiquita made a pilgrimage to one of those well-known better class lodging houses, not far from the Board of Trade. Here she saw every chair of a hundred or more occupied by men similarly dressed and evidently looking for work. Of the numbers accosted all told the same tale of misfortune and all emphasized the deplorable condition of the great manufacturing industries throughout the United States. There was no work to be had at any price. Large firms reduced their forces to the lowest capacity possible. Many curtailed the working hours of all rather than discharge half the number, while one colossal corporation ran their works at a loss, despite the wide spreading distrust prevalent during the panic, which crippled every occupation, profession and calling. Banks closed their doors, regardless of the suffering inflicted, business houses, shorn of their credit, dropped all attempts to sustain relations with the world, and armies of men thrown out of employment had to provide for themselves and their families as best they could.