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encouraged, with the proviso that all vacancies that are filled are notified to the Exchange. For the reason just stated the Exchange cannot as yet do the whole work, and "it would be ludicrous meanwhile to impair existing agencies." Correlation will be easy and the limited selection of boys for jobs and jobs for boys, which is the great drawback to the work of individual teachers, can be almost automatically got rid of by the interchange of information between teachers and the Exchange. It is to be hoped that the former will not only give their boys, if necessary, the wider selection available at the latter but will pass on good jobs to it, where they have no suitable boys.

The organisation is to consist of a Central and six Local Exchanges, the former in a separate building from that of adults. The latter will be held in school buildings, in such a position as to be within reasonable reach of all children and parents, and will only be open some one and a half hours on weekday evenings. This plan appears to me a distinct improvement on that of registering the boys in the Exchanges themselves as is done usually, and the details are admirably worked out. Special arrangements are contemplated, but not yet proposed, for the more highly localised trades. Ordinary situations will be filled locally, and the attempt made to give the best boys and employers the pick of the situations and applicants. Special attention will be given to blind-alley occupations. Close co-operation between Care Committees and the Exchanges is insisted on, and workers should take about ten cases each for continuous, and a few more for occasional, supervision. I would further suggest that the assistance of instructors in Technical and Continuation schools should be obtained, especially for advice as to placing boys in particular shops.

Perhaps the greatest merit of this scheme is its recognition of the limitations within which its work must be done. Ideally there are many things to do which it leaves alone. A complete organisation of juvenile labour will probably require the engagement of all workers under a certain age through the Exchange. But, quite rightly, this is not contemplated at present. So, too, the work of individual teachers, with all its merits, tends to overlapping but since it is necessary, the report contents itself with minimising the dangers. There is no need to multiply instances. By resisting the temptation to try and attempt too much, the scheme bids fair to achieve the best that circumstances will permit; and few social experiments in this or any direction have shown greater promise. Above all, the employer's

port of new is truly grasped and the whole scheme is worked out as a sound business propositie. Quite rightly, it has been described as "bascess. DA BELLED." This is its supreme

N. B. DEABLE

Royal Commission on the For Laws and Relief of Distress. Appendix Vol. IIT. Sutistas Belating to England and Wales 1911 Ca. 57. Fr. 92 Frice 11s. 1d.), and Appeadir III. Sunstrs and Other Documents Relating Specially to Scotland 1921. Ca. 5440. Pp. vi. +162.

Price 14. 6d. net.

THE publication of this bully volume of Foor Law Statistics dealing with England and Wales, gives the student of Pauperism access for the first time to detailed information on which a large part of the port of the Four Law Commission was based, and the pauper census in particular was very much quoted. One is thankful, therefore, to have at hand this very interesting compilation. As this Elbe-book shows the work of the Commission has added greatly to our detalled knowledge of the subject, and long as it is, the volume will well repay detailed perusal, either as a whole or in part.

It opens with an analysis of the statistics of Pauperism, dealing with them mainly from an historical point of view. There is not very much that is new, but it brings together the most important items in Poor Law Statistics in a way that is essential for the due appreciation of the rest of the volume. One may note, herein, the steady increase in adult male Pauperism, and also the discussion (p. 8) of the meaning attached to Able-Bodied. Later on the trend of Pauperism in London, which has been predominantly upward, is contrasted with its tendencies elsewhere, which have, until the last few years, been markedly downward. This analysis is accompanied by a number of Tables and Charts.

The Census of Pauperism (Part II.), and the Twelve Months' Continuous Record of Pauperism (Part IV.), practically supplement one another. The former is prefaced by a valuable Memorandum, not dissimilar in character to the RegistrarGeneral's Report on the Decennial Census. The undertaking was faced with several initial difficulties, particularly in the way of definition, and various allowances have to be made, notably

in the case of "constructive pauperism," that arises when relief given to children and other dependents is the cause of Pauperism in the head of the household. Again, the difference in length of time and other conditions "of medical relief," makes a modicum of error probable in the numbers included under this heading. The day of the Census, taken in 1906, was March 31st, which synchronised with that of the Decennial Census five years earlier. This was in every respect well chosen. The cyclical trend of Pauperism was on the down grade after the trade depression of the previous years, but had not reached its lowest point. Moreover, the date lay midway between those of the summer and winter counts, and the numbers returned fell between these extremes, though distinctly above the average of the two. So on the whole the time selected was as near the normal as one could hope to get.

The actual returns largely follow the lines of the Population Census, though in respect of many things, notably the Occupation Tables, in somewhat less detail. On the other hand special Poor Law questions are more fully treated. The returns are made for England and Wales as a whole, for the eleven Poor Law Divisions, in some cases for each separate Union, and occasionally for each county. A valuable table is that which distinguishes between Able-bodied men, whose pauperism was due to sudden and urgent necessity, and to temporary sickness of themselves or their families. The proportions per 10,000 of the population are given for three age groups under 16, 16 to 60, and over 60. In the Occupation Census, the classification distinguishes between both classes of Able-bodied Paupers, notAble-bodied Casuals, and Lunatics.

The Census is followed by a short, but interesting, Paper on the Sickness among persons relieved on April 13th, 1907; but more important is the twelve-months' continuous record of Pauperism during the year ending September 31st, 1907, which is really a necessary supplement to it, for besides knowing the numbers relieved on a given day, one wants to know how many persons were in destitution during the year. This number was 1,709,436, exclusive of casuals and of pauper lunatics not relieved in the workhouse at all during the year. The possibility of duplicate reckonings is considered, but the effect of this, it is stated, cannot have been great. The total number relieved, therefore, is rather under two and a quarter times the mean of the two day counts. A comparison is made between this year and a previous record for that ending March 31st, 1892. A

record was also made of the aggregate duration of relief in individual cases, which shows that nearly one-third of the whole number, or 538,680, received it continuously throughout the year. Of the rest about one-fifth of the whole number received relief for between one week and one month, and 16 per cent. for between one and three months.

The rest of the volume deals more shortly with a variety of subjects. Of purely poor law matters, there are the adoption of children and assistance of young persons by Boards of Guardians. Institutions, and Institutional Treatment, and the Removal of Paupers. Professor Smart contributes notes on the growth of Poor Law Expenditure, and there is a longish paper on the work and cost of Labour Colonies. Even more interesting are three reports upon Insurance against Invalidity, Sickness, and Unemployment, dealing with the matter from an actuarial standpoint. The Board of Trade also attempts to analyse the amount of time lost by workpeople through unemployment and other causes. As regards Unemployment alone, this refers to a variety of trades, but the most interesting part of the paper is the estimated net amount lost in the Engineering Trade in an average year. This works out at about 12 per cent., from which must be deducted an average of about 3 per cent. addition for overtime, taking one year with another. No allowance at all is made for short time, on the ground that the loss from this is very small indeed. This view, however true it may have been when the paper was written, has since been contradicted by the experience of the trade during 1908 and 1909, as shown in the returns. of the Labour Gazette.

The Scotch Report need not be dealt with in detail. Many of the returns made for England and Wales are not repeated. In some cases, indeed, as with Unemployment, the reports in the larger volume covered the whole of the United Kingdom. Nor are all the returns statistical. The volume includes Correspondence with the Lord Provost of Glasgow, on the adoption of the "Elberfeldt System," a Memorandum on the Homeless Poor, particulars of certain municipal Relief Funds, and a summary of the recommendations of various local authorities. the main features of the two blue-books are the same-namely, the Census of Paupers and the one year's continuous record. For Scotland, however, a separate return of the latter is given. for each of two years, 1906-7 and 1907-8, ending May 15th. N. B. DEARLE

But

Cost of Living in American Towns. Report by the Board of Trade. Cd. 5,609. 1911. Pp. 533. 5s. 1d.

THIS Volume completes the series of inquiries begun several years ago into the condition of industrial wage-earners in the United Kingdom and the principal foreign manufacturing countries-Germany, France, Belgium, and the United States. The investigation covered, in the last-mentioned country, 28 selected towns (including in some cases surrounding industrial districts) in the area east of the Mississippi, including, however, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and New Orleans, which are on the river. The selected towns include the principal industrial and commercial centres in this large territory, but in order to make the selection representative without unduly increasing the number of places to be investigated, the twenty-eight were not chosen merely in order of magnitude.

The broad results of the investigation show a high standard of money wages, and in spite of greater cost of living than in the United Kingdom, a high level of material comfort. For the purpose of international comparison of wages only certain occupations in industries widely scattered have been taken, namely, in building, printing, and engineering. At the same time statistics were obtained and are given in the reports on the separate towns, of wages and hours in many other industries. The high level of money wages in the United States is shown by the index numbers of American and British wages in the three selected industries, the ratios for a full week's earnings being 243:100 in the building trades, 213:100 in engineering, and 246:100 in printing. Hours of work were shorter in the United States in printing (7 per cent.), and in building (11 per cent.), and longer in engineering (6 per cent.).

It is, of course, difficult to say with certainty that these figures of nominal full week's earnings in these particular trades are thoroughly representative of the levels of actual money earnings in the two countries for the whole body of wage-earners. For reasons mentioned in the report, pages lvii. and lviii., but too long to explain fully here, it is probable that the index numbers. based on the occupations and industries chosen rather overstate the comparative height of American wages. But a study of the earnings quoted for all the many miscellaneous occupations dealt with in the town reports, and of the incomes given in the family budgets, confirms the impression that money wages on the whole are somewhere in the neighbourhood of double the height pre

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