CAMBRIDGE AND COMMERCE. By John A. Benn. UNEMPLOYMENT AND EXAMINATIONS. By C. H. P. Mayo THE SUBLIMATION OF WAR. By Lieut.-Colonel A. G. Baird Smith HENRY EDWARDSON: BIRD-WATCHER. BY Linda Gardiner THE FUTURE OF BRITISH RAILWAYS. By Sir Felix Pole THE CASE FOR Modernism. By The Rev. H. D. A. Major THE ELIMINATION OF War. By Colonel J. F. C. Fuller FIELD ARCHEOLOGY AS A PROFESSION. By Sir Frederic Kenyon LORD CURZON: THE LIFE; AND SOME MEMORIES. Very Rev. W. H. Hutton THE ROMANCE OF EARLY CALICO PRINTING. CORRESPONDENCE: RELIGION AND SIR ARTHUR KEITH. By William Platt de Kalb THE PROBLEM Of British ForeIGN POLICY. By Sir Charles Petrie Haden Guest PARLIAMENTS AND STABLE GOVERNMENT. By John H. Humphrey's EDUCATION IN INDIA. By A. Yusuf Ali The Religion of the Countryside. By Philip S. Richards. On the conclusion of the war overcrowding was the greatest of the social problems which confronted the nation. The census of 1911 had shown that in the United Kingdom there already existed a serious shortage of houses. The war interrupted all attempts to remedy this defect; it has been estimated that not more than 24,000 houses were built between 1914 and 1919. In 1919 reports from the local authorities showed that nearly a million houses would be required. Great efforts have been made both to supply the initial deficiency in houses and to replace those which year by year fall out of use. The most casual observer cannot fail to notice new houses appearing on the outskirts of almost every town and village; trees and green fields are rapidly vanishing in many districts beneath a network of red brick streets and houses. While for over a century and a half the movement of population had been from the country to the town, now this has been reversed by the movement from the centre of the towns to the VOL. CIV-No. 617 I B new districts on their circumference. Some of the building schemes are very large in extent and result in the creation of new towns; for instance, at Becontree the London County Council are erecting houses for a population of 100,000, on the Downham Estate for 35,000, near Morden they propose to build for 40,000. The total figures are very impressive; from the Armistice to March 31 last no less than 1,102,000 houses have been built in the United Kingdom, 412,000 have been built by local authorities. the other 690,000 by private enterprise. In London alone 26,000,000l. has been spent by the County Council on housing; over 50,000 houses have been provided in London proper and 150,000 in Greater London. At no other time in the history of the world has there been such a wonderful effort to build houses for the people. But while all credit must be given to the enthusiasm and enterprise which have led to these results, it must not be imagined that the housing problem has been solved. In some districts the pressure on existing houses has been lessened, Many thousands are now living in healthier surroundings; many more have hope that before long they may have a house of their own, instead of two or three rooms in a crowded tenement: for all this there is cause for congratulation. But the slums remain— dingy, crowded, insanitary, and dilapidated. It was obviously impossible to close slum dwellings unless there were houses to which the occupants could go. It was thus necessary that more houses should be built before the slums could be dealt with on a large scale. Now that we have over a million new houses and building still continues, it is time that attention should be directed to the most difficult and baffling problem of the slums. It is impossible to state accurately the numbers of those who are now living in them. It was said last year at the Edinburgh Trades Union Congress that there were 3,000,000 of our people living in disease-ridden fever-stricken slums'; this may be an overstatement, but there can be no doubt that the numbers are very large. It is said on good authority that in London there are 100,000 people dwelling in unhealthy areas, in addition to the 26,000 who will be dealt with by the County Council clearance schemes. The special correspondent of The Times in a recent series of articles on 'The Slums' stated that in Bristol there are 25,000 people in insanitary houses; in Leeds there are 72,000 back-to-back houses, and in Bradford 33,000. He sums up the results of his investigations by writing: 'What is certain is that not only in the large cities, but in practically every town other than those of recent growth, there are areas where people are housed under wretched conditions as to comfort, lighting, ventilation, facilities for keeping food, and sanitation.' But figures by themselves fail to convey what is meant by a slum. Statistics of this kind must be translated into human lives before their meaning can be understood. For some years past I have been brought into close contact with many of the poorest districts in South London, and I have often been supplied by competent observers with details of the cases of hardship they have known. Here are four taken out of a great mass of such cases: (1) Three blocks of flats, five storeys high, each containing about a hundred flats. Each block contains four staircases. Each flat has its own w.c., but the sanitation is very defective and the smell intolerable. Owing to the height of the building and the closeness of the blocks to one another, many of the lower flats get no sunlight at all, and have to be lit by artificial light all day, whilst mothers living at the top have to carry their babies up and down five flights of steep stone stairs. Many flats are shared by several families. (2) A family of five persons-two adults and three children-lives in two rooms in a basement. The rooms are so damp that everything is covered with mildew. One boy, aged eleven, contracted rheumatic fever and may be a permanent invalid. (3) A gloomy, dark, insanitary tenement house. A typical example is the M— family, who live in two small basement rooms, the top of front windows being on street level. The family consists of father, mother, and four children, two of whom, a boy and a girl, are adolescent and have to sleep in the same room. All the children are delicate. Drainage bad. (4) A street of twenty-three cottages, mostly of one bedroom, a living room, and a back kitchen. In one of these houses there are father and mother, five boys and two girls. They live in the small back kitchen. The downstairs rooms are infested with rats, so that they cannot use the front kitchen as a bedroom. All nine persons sleep in the bedroom upstairs; the eldest child fourteen, the youngest child six months. These are only four cases typical of many: multiply them by 10,000 or 20,000, and some idea may be gained of the total amount of misery and loss caused by the continued existence of the slums. It is hardly necessary to dwell on the evils which arise from life under these conditions. Loss in physical health is undeniable; many of the reports which have been sent to me speak of the suffering and delicacy of the children. Statistics are conclusive on this point. In 1923-25 the infantile death rate in Bermondsey was 76, compared with 31 in Lewisham; the figures for tuberculosis tell the same tale. Closely connected with the low standard of physical health in slum children is their failure to make the best use of the education provided by the elementary schools; the foul atmosphere of an insanitary home sends them to school tired and apathetic. Home life, too, suffers through the existence of the slums: the street, the public-house, the cinema are preferable to the discomfort of the dark and small rooms in which the slum dweller must eat and sleep. Nor must be forgotten the political results the more active and intelligent of those who live in such unfavourable surroundings easily become embittered against all society. The slum is fertile ground for the sowing of the Communist agitator. From it there will come the worst elements of the mob-men who feel that they have nothing to lose, and possibly something to gain, by revolutionary changes. The slums and unemployment are the strongest arguments to which the Bolshevik can appeal. It would be inaccurate to imagine that no attempt has been made to sweep away insanitary areas. In many cases action has been taken by the public authorities as well as by private individuals. The State, by building new houses on a vast scale, has taken the first step towards dealing with the slums. Local authorities in some cases have carried out successfully large clearance schemes: the London County Council, for instance, have cleared 100 acres of insanitary property. Estates such as those held by the Ecclesiastical Commission or the Duchy of Cornwall have often had their slum areas replaced by healthy and comfortable houses or tenements. On a smaller scale reforms have been carried out by private owners or by housing utility associations. On many sides there are signs of increased activity in the attempt to abolish the slums. But when the fullest allowance has been made for these public and private efforts, the fact remains that the work of slum clearance is extremely slow. Here are some significant words spoken by the Minister of Health last May in the House of Commons: Up to the present time, counting since the termination of the war, eighty-seven local authorities have submitted 118 schemes of slum clearance, and III of these schemes have been confirmed. They propose to deal with the demolition of a total of about 14,000 houses. Really, when one thinks of the vast masses of people who to-day are compelled to live under slum conditions, one cannot help feeling impatience that up to now so little has been done to help. Many of the schemes submitted and confirmed have not yet been carried out, while apparently a large number of local authorities have made no attempt to deal drastically with the insanitary property within their jurisdiction. At the present rate of progress new generations will be born and will die in the existing slums. Before the present slums are abolished new insanitary areas will have come into being: inferior property erected a century ago is rapidly deteriorating, and within a few years it will have reached a state of dilapidation as bad as anything found in those districts which are now recognised as unfit for human habitation. The reluctance of many local authorities to prepare slum clear |