MARGINAL COMMENT
By HAROLD NICOLSON or inconvenient. Anyone who disinters these objects is regarded as guilty of crankines lack of patriotism or bad taste. In no area of public administration have these methods of 'concealment been described in an oily phrase :ts " belonging to the lowest income groups ") were pushed to the very recesses of our cupboard and hidden under sun-bonnets and spotless linen aprons. It has always been like this. Our grancUathers consoled themselves with thoughts of Sunday-schools, Lord Shaftesbury and Little Nell. Our fathers consoled themselves by slum visiting and by the happy thought that in our free, but ordered, community Sir Thomas Lipton, although by origin an errand-boy like any other, could by dint of thrift and zeal and honesty entertain kings and emperors upon his yacht.
And in my own generation we were apt to avert our eyes from slum conditions and to solace ourselves with the thought that with the improvement of our social services, the increase in housing estates and day nurseries, the intelligence and devotion manifested by social workers and the teaching profession, such conditions were but isolated relics of a rapidly disappearing past. And then came September, 1939. The cupboards were opened and the drawers were emptied of their contents. The evacuees poured into the reception areas. And within a week the British people realised that a large section of our civilised community was not civilised in the very least.
* This was indeed a salutary lesson and one which we should not mitigate or forget. I therefore welcome the publication of a book entitled Our Towns: Close-up, which provides us in readable form with reliablz information regarding the facts and conditions disclosed by the evacuation of 1939. The author of this book wishes to remain anonymous, but it has been composed with the assistance of the Hygiene Committee of the Women's Group on Public Welfare and the preface is written by Miss Margaret Bondfield, their chairman. It was felt by these experienced women that the true conditions of slum life have too often been concealed from the public, partly owing to reluctance to disclose discreditable facts and partly owing to an exaggerated regard for the susceptibilities of the local authorities. The evacua- tion of 1939 provided "a window through which English town life was suddenly and vividly seen from a new angle." It was felt, therefore, that it would be useful to collect all available evidence regarding the accusations levelled by the reception areas against the evacuees ; to consider how far those accusations were justified and how far the faults complained of were ascribable to urban conditions ; and, finally, to make suggestions as to the means whereby these conditions could be improved. The evidence forms in the aggregate a formidable indictment, not only of urban conditions, but of the measures which the country as a whole has taken to remedy these conditions. It is a challenge to the public conscience, nor should we hesitate from motives of delicacy or caution to emphasise that challenge. When the matter was raised in the House of Commons the absurd suggestion was made that to disclose these facts implied a desire " to insult the working classes." It is not a class, or a section of a class, which is to blame, but the community as a whole. The author of this work is to be congratulated on her lack of reticence.
* * * * The most prominent accusation made against the evacuees by their hosts in the reception areas was that of personal uncleanliness. This accusation, to a really horrible extent, was justified. No less than 65,292 of the children evacuated from London were found to be in verminous condition. A similar discovery was made in regard to 20.8 per cent. of those evacuated from Liverpool ; 19.8 per cent. of those evacuated from Middlesbrough and 17.3 per cent. of those evacuated from Manchester. Certain other discoveries were made. It was found that even when evacuees had been deloused in the country they again became infested after a visit from their parents. It was found that the highest degree of infestation was found among children of pre-school age. It was found that although 4o per cent. of boys under three years of age were verminous, very few of the older boys or young adult males were infested. Conversely, in girls there was practically no decrease before the age of 13, and many girls over that age were found to be verminous. The sug- gestion is made dm the older girls refrain from combing their hair for fear of disturbing the permanent wave. Dr. Kenneth Mellanby, for instance, in his study of The Incidence of Head Lice in England, reports that even little girls under ten years of age are given permanent waves and dissuaded by their parents thereafter from combing their hair. The incidence of skin disease. such as scabies, impetigo and ringworm is also analysed. In Sheffield, for instance, there were 14,500 cases of skin diseases in a school popula- tion of 55,000, and in Birmingham nearly 11,000 in a school population of 118,000. Nor were these the only complaints. The hosts in the reception areas were astounded by the insanitary habits of their guests. Bed-wetting may well be excused as due to psycho- log:c3.1 causes, such as home-sickness and loss of confidence, but there are other habits recorded in this analysis which throw a harsh light upon the home life of our urban population.
Apart from this major accusation of uncleanliness, there are other facts disclosed in this book which indicate that parents in the poorer classes are ignorant of the simplest principles of child welfare. It was found, for instance, that many people were totally indifferent to the importance of sleep. No habits of regular bed-time had been inculcated into the urban children, who were allowed to go to bed whenever they chose. Many parents appeared totally unaware of the basic principles of nutrition, and would spend money on sweets or comics which would have been far better devoted to the provision of food. It was found that many of the evacuated children had never sat down to a meal and did not know the use of forks or spoons. Their diet seems to have consisted almost exclusively of fish and chips, pickles, ice-cream and sweets ; many of the children had never seen their mothers cook and had never had a hot meal at home. Vegetables to them were unknown and therefore dis- tasteful. They regarded the country diet with suspicion and alarm. The remedies for these defects are obvious. They include housing, sanitation, water - supply, more day - nurseries, more British Restaurants, more hot meals in schools, better school premises in urban areas and, above all, education for parents in the elements of child welfare. The task is immense, but the disgrace is great. Bad conditions will not be remedied if we pretend that they are incidental, inevitable, or non-existent.
* * * * Ile evacuation of September, 1939, was not only a terrible dis- closure, it was also a great opportunity. Many evils have been disclosed, but much permanent good has been done. I know of one house in Kent which since the war has been turned over to the Save the Children Fund, and in which some fifty little children from London have been cared for and trained. In September, -1935s they were indeed a squalid little bundle of human miseries ; it is a delight to see them today, clean and rubicund, banging their spoons on their porridge bowls, tumbling like puppies on the grass. Nor has every host in the reception areas found his guests intract- able or uncivilised. Even the parents, sometimes, have shown understanding and something approaching appreciation. And, above all, this great disclosure has profoundly affected the public conscience. It has taught local authorities that conditions in the areas under their control are not always as admirable as they seem" in the reports, and it has taught the citizens of this country that we cannot claim to be a civilised community so long as such con- ditions are allowed to persist.
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