Poverty and Inequality
1944-10 1944 1940s 29 pages INTRODUCTION. What is poverty? It is not only the possession of a given weekly income. The child of a millionaire may have only a shilling a week pocket money, but is not therefore poor. Poverty means living in a house which is damp, dark, obsolete or overcrowded ; it me...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
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London : C. W. Publishing Ltd.
October 1944
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/AABDA108-0887-475B-B2A0-8555BF52B51F http://hdl.handle.net/10796/DE0CE65B-65B9-4598-B274-2180C1D16EC6 |
| Summary: | 1944-10
1944
1940s
29 pages
INTRODUCTION. What is poverty? It is not only the possession of a given weekly income. The child of a millionaire may have only a shilling a week pocket money, but is not therefore poor. Poverty means living in a house which is damp, dark, obsolete or overcrowded ; it means eating food which is not nourishing enough to maintain health ; it means receiving an education which leaves mental powers not fully developed, and which amounts to a disqualification for any interesting and well-paid job. The problem of dealing with poverty is therefore to provide for every one a pleasant home, good food, and a fair chance in life. Here voices will be raised in protest saying that this is precisely what is being done already. They will point to the levelling effect of taxation, and claim that the rich pay heavily to assist the poor. They will tell you that those who are destitute are well cared for by the State; that slums and over-crowding have been largely swept away ; that even the poorest children have access to the best education and the best jobs. This comfortable talk is nonsense. Set against it eight stark facts collected by Mr. Francis Williams.* Fact No. 1 — The infantile death-rate in Glasgow is one hundred and nine per thousand. In the pleasant and prosperous county of Surrey it is forty-two per thousand. In Hertfordshire it is thirty-eight per thousand. Fact No. 2.— Eleven thousand babies now die every year who would be saved if the infantile death-rate throughout all Britain could be brought down to the level of the comfortable Home Counties. Fact No. 3.— Fifty-four thousand people of all ages would be saved from death every year if the death-rate, age for age, in industrial areas such as South Wales, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham, was brought down to the level existing in the Home Counties. Fact No. 4. — For every baby that died shortly before the war of pneumonia and bronchitis in middle-class homes, five hundred and seventy-two babies died in poor homes. Fact No. 5. — Thirty per cent. of our population, or approximately sixteen million people, had, before the war, less to spend on food than was required to purchase the minimum B.M.A. diet regarded as necessary to maintain health. Fact No. 6. — Eighty per cent. of the total capital wealth of Britain belongs to six per cent. of the people. * Victory or Vested Interest? (Fabian Society),. Ch ii., by Francis Williams.
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |