al class that is
chiefly exposed to the temptations of dependence in relation to such
relief has been satisfied. If the provision be made from the resources
of local or general taxation the largeness of the fund available will
allow practically of an unlimited expansion of the supply of food. If
the provision be made from voluntary sources, in some measure limited
therefore and less certain, this very fact will tend to circumscribe
demand and limit the offer of relief. It is indeed the problem of
poor-law relief in 1832 over again. The relief provided by local
taxation practically unlimited will create a mass of constant claimants,
with a kind of assumed right to aid based on the payment of rates; while
voluntary relief, whatever its short-comings, will be less injurious
because it is less amply endowed. In Paris the municipal subvention for
meals rose from 545,900 francs in 1892 to 1,000,000 in 1904. Between
1894 and 1904 there was an increase of 9% in the school population; and
an increase of 28% in the municipal grant. In that period the
contributions from the local school funds (_caisses des ecoles_)
decreased 36%; while the voluntary contributions otherwise received were
insignificant; and the payments for meals increased 2%.

The subject has been lately considered from a somewhat different
standpoint (cf. the reports of the Scottish Royal Commission on Physical
Education, 1903; of the Inter-departmental committees on Physical
Deterioration, 1905, and on Medical Inspection and the Feeding of School
Children, 1905; also the report of the special committee of the Charity
Organization Society on "the assistance of school children," 1893).
After careful investigations medical officers especially have drawn
attention to the low physical condition of children in schools in the
poorer parts of large English towns, their low stature, their physical
defects, the improper food supplied to them at home, their
uncleanliness, and their want of decent bringing-up, and sometimes their
want of food. Other inquiries have shown that, as women more usually
become breadwinners their children receive less attention, and the home
and its duties are neglected, while in the lowest sections of the poorer
classes social irresponsibility reaches its maximum. Cheap but often
quite improper food is provided, and infant mortality, which is largely
preventable, remains as high as ever, though adult life is longer. This
with a marked decrease in