The Cost of a Soldier
General dissatisfaction was expressed in the House of Commons last Tuesday about the scale of separation allow- ances for the wives of soldiers with children. The married soldier is required to make an allotment of 7s. 6d. a week for his dependants, and he can hardly be expected to make any further allowance out of his pay of 2s. a day. The separation allowance for a wife with four children is 35s. a week—or 6d. a week more than it was in 1917-18, since when the standard of living of the working classes has greatly im- proved. The families of soldiers ought not to be asked to subsist upon a standard relatively lower ; and it is impossible to justify the meagre allowance of is. a day for a fourth child—a sum which was contrasted with the 8s. 6d. paid for an evacuee. It is hardly necessary to stress the need for economy, but we cannot begin our economies by under- paying the families of the troops. There can be no cutting down on the cost of a gun. There should be no cutting down on the cost of a soldier.
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