ding of their meals. However, in considering this
question we must carefully distinguish between three distinct causes
operating to produce the condition of underfeeding, and as a consequence
resulting in three distinct classes of underfed children. As the causes
or groups of causes are different in nature, so the remedies also vary
in character. Moreover, in many cases we find all three causes
operating, now one and now the other, to produce the chronic
underfeeding of the child.

In the first place, the underfeeding of the child may arise through the
temporary poverty of the parent due to his temporary illness or
temporary unemployment. In normal circumstances, in these cases relief
is best afforded by means of the voluntary agencies of society. In
abnormal circumstances, such as are caused by a widespread depression of
industry, the evil may be met by a special effort on the part of the
voluntary agencies or by municipalities or other bodies providing
temporary relief-work.

In the second place, the underfeeding of the child may be due to the
chronic and permanent poverty of the parent. The wages of the
breadwinner even when in full work may be insufficient to afford
adequate support for a numerous family. This condition of things is not
peculiar to Great Britain, but is a common characteristic in the life of
the poor of all civilised nations. This is where the real sting of the
problem of underfeeding lies, and the causes at work tending to produce
this condition of things are too deep-seated and too widely spread to be
removed by any one remedy. Moreover, in endeavouring to cure this
disease of the Commonwealth we are ever in danger of perpetuating and
intensifying the causes at work tending to produce the evil.

In the third place, the underfeeding of the child may arise through the
indifference, the selfishness, or the vice of the parents. In such cases
the parents could feed their children, but do not. Manifestly in cases
of this character there is no obligation placed upon the State and no
rightful claim upon any charitable agency to provide food for the
children. To give aid simply weakens further the parental sense of
responsibility, and leaves a wider margin to be spent on vicious
pleasures. But while there is no obligation placed upon the State to
provide the necessaries of life for the child, there is need and
justification in such cases for the intervention of the State. There is
need, for otherwise th