And who can doubt the amount of mental and moral dwarfing that is going on side by side with this physical shortage?
Now, it may be argued that this is not a fair sample of our general population, that these facts have been culled from a special section of the population, that here we are dealing with the congestion of London slums and altogether exceptional conditions. This is not so. The school examined was not from a specially bad district. And it happens that the entire working-class population of one typical English town, York, has been exhaustively studied by Mr. B. S. Rowntree, and here are some facts from his result that quite confirm the impression given by the London figures.
"It was quite impossible to make a thorough examination of the physical condition of all the children, but as they came up to be weighed and measured, they were classified under the four headings, 'Very Good,' 'Good,' 'Fair,' or 'Bad,' by an investigator whose training and previous experience in similar work enabled her to make a reliable, even if rough, classification....
"'Bad' implies that the child bore physical traces of underfeeding and neglect.
"The numbers classified under the various heads were as follows:--
BOYS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Very Good, | Good, | Fair, | Bad, | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Section 1 (poorest) | 2.8 | 14.6 | 31. | 51.6 Section 2 (middle) | 7.4 | 20.1 | 53.7 | 18.8 Section 3 (highest) | 27.4 | 33.8 | 27.4 | 11.4
Section 1 (poorest) | 2.1 | 14.6 | 31. | 52.3 Section 2 (middle) | 7.5 | 21.2 | 50.4 | 20.9 Section 3 (highest) | 27.2 | 38. | 23.1 | 11.7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It will be seen that the proportion of children classed as 'very good' in Section 3 is about ten times as large as in the poorest section, and that _more than half of the children in the poorest section are classed as 'bad.'_
"These 'bad' children presented a pathetic spectacle, all bore some mark of the hard conditions against which they were struggling. Puny and feeble bodies, dirty and often sadly insufficient clothing, sore eyes, in many cases acutely inflamed through continued want of attention, filthy heads, cases of hip disease, swollen glands--all these and other signs told the same tale of privation and neglect. It will be noticed that the condition of the children in Section 2 (middle-class labour) comes about half-way between Sections 1 and 3. In considering the above table it must of course be remembered that there was no absolute standard by which each child could be judged, but the broad comparison between the different classes is unimpeachable. The table affords further evidence of serious physical deterioration amongst the poorest section of the community."