THE GEOGRAPHY OF POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES.

Richard L.Morrill '55 and Ernest H. Wohlenberg.New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company,1971. 148 pp. Paperback. $2.95.

The authors' purposes are three: (1) to map geographically the distribution of poverty; (2) to assess geographic factors, environmental, social, or economic; and (3) to explain where and why poverty exists and persists.

In 1969 about eight percent of families in the North and West were poor, and about twice that proportion, 15 percent, in the South. Still, in sheer numbers, the South and the North are about equal (44 and 43 percent of the poor). In all regions, over three times more blacks than whites are poor (overall, 30 percent to 8 percent). Only 41 percent of poor white families, but 63 percent of poor black families live in the South. In 1947 over three times and in 1959 about twice as many families were poor in each region as in 1969. All regions have reduced poverty proportionally, and the proportion of the poor residing in each region has remained remarkably stable, but the absolute reduction in the South has been impressive.

The proportion of poor in metropolitan areas is only about half (7 percent) that of non-metropolitan areas (14 percent), but because two-thirds of the population is now metropolitan, about equal numbers of the poor reside in each. Although relative reduction in poverty has been less in metropolitan than in non-metropolitan areas since 1947, the proportion of the poor in metropolitan areas has steadily increased because people keep moving to large cities.

Prosperity is a direct function of the quality and quantity of resources. Because the prosperity of regions is more and more a function of industries and services far removed from the natural resource base, these areas are likely to be poorer. Low income can result from unwillingness of investors to sponsor job opportunities in rural areas and small towns and the reluctance of most residents to move to urban places. Unfortunately for people in a large portion of the United States, about half the area and one-quarter of the population, face a situation with less chance of employment in the future.

Recognizing that an individual family can exert little control over the conditions of its local labor market, the authors conclude that "social justice requires that people at large, not just employers and investors, should determine the pattern of the space-economy ... It may be necessary to modify somewhat the strict doctrine of economic efficiency and maximum profits... We urge a program of economic decentralization, at least of future economic growth, into a set of regional growth centers scattered across the country."

Mr. Carlson is Executive Secretary of theDartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region Association and Professor of Geography, Emeritus,Dartmouth College.