174 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



Persons now above fifty years of age have not, it is 

 true, participated in the advantages conferred in 1870, 

 but of persons below that age we have shown that 

 there is no diminution in the number coming upon the 

 Poor Laws." 



Again, in a statistical comparison between able- 

 bodied pauperism in urban and rural districts, the 

 Commissioners point out : 



" The consideration of these statistics leads to the 

 conclusion that it is in regard to the able-bodied that 

 least progress has been made. Indeed it would appear 

 that there has recently been a considerable retrogression 

 in this branch of the Poor Law. Either the urban 

 population is becoming less fitted for maintaining their 

 independence, or the facility with which relief may 

 be obtained and the immunity from labour which it 

 confers are enticing a larger number of persons to avail 

 themselves of Poor Law relief." 



The Commissioners also state that, in a recent year, 

 between 30,000 and 40,000 able-bodied men in health 

 received outdoor relief without any task or work. In 

 large towns the number of cases receiving such treat- 

 ment is apparently increasing. 



Out of their own conclusions in another section, it 

 seems possible to suggest an explanation for the failure 

 of the Poor Law Administration to diminish the evil 

 with which it has had to contend. In the section on 

 Bastardy, after pointing out that, in one workhouse, 

 out of 229 births in five years, 77.2 per cent were 

 illegitimate, they say that nearly all the mothers in 

 the latter section were mentally weak, in most cases 

 approaching the state of imbeciles. Another Royal 



