ribing the cause of underfeeding solely to
the poverty of parents, is clear to all who have studied the problem
of poverty. Mr. Cyril Jackson, the chief inspector of public
elementary schools, for instance, in summarising the evidence of the
women inspectors appointed to inquire into the age of admission of
infants into elementary schools, says: "The question of underfed
children cannot fail to be touched in the course of such an inquiry.
It is interesting to find a general agreement that it is unsuitable
rather than insufficient feeding that is responsible for sickly
children. Want of sufficient sleep, neglect of personal cleanliness,
badly ventilated homes, are contributory causes of the low physical
standard reached."[830]

Some Socialists, though only a few, have been honest enough to express
similar views. A Fabian tract, for instance, says: "We have said that
universal free feeding appears to be the only way in which the evil of
improper (as distinct from insufficient) feeding can be removed. At
present many children whose parents get fairly good wages cannot feed
their children properly, either because they do not know what is the
best food to give, or because they have not the time or the skill to
prepare it. Manifestly the case of these will not be met by any system
which feeds only the patently starved and destitute child. But it will
be met both directly and indirectly by a universal system; directly,
because the children, whatever they get at home, will at least get
proper food at school; indirectly, because it will serve to educate
the next generation of mothers in the knowledge of what is the best
and most economical way of providing for their families. This is not
the place to go into the very large question of what is the ideal diet
for a child. All that need be insisted on here is that the provision
should be bought and prepared under expert advice, and that
consideration of cheapness should never be allowed to count as against
the needs of nourishment. Every child should receive at least one
solid meal in the middle of the day, and perhaps a glass of hot milk
on arrival in the morning."[831]

The "hungry children" argument is a valuable one for purposes of
agitation, and it is used by the Socialists to the fullest extent. The
workers are told: "The children are too ill provided for to be
educated. This is not because the worker is idle or thriftless, but
actually because he is too industrious and pro