Science in Public Affairs 



Local Authority, would have, for its own sake, to 

 take charge of the lives of those who, from what- 

 ever cause, are incapable of independent existence 

 up to the standard of decency which it imposes." l 

 Similarly drastic treatment should be applied to 

 vagrants, and we hope that this will be recom- 

 mended by the Poor Law Commission now sitting. 

 The present system of summer vagrancy and 

 winter casual wards, alternating with short periods 

 in prison, is wholly demoralising, and must give 

 place to the compulsory detention, for long periods 

 in labour colonies, of people who will not work, 

 and perhaps of those who cannot. It is difficult 

 to say how far such colonies should be penal, 

 but they must be made as far as possible self- 

 supporting, and the difficulty of finding markets 

 for their products in the face of interested " trade- 

 union" and "trade" opposition to the open sale 

 of "prison-made goods" must be boldly faced. 

 And the treatment thus meted out to those who 

 cannot live independently up to (l the standard of 

 decency" must be extended to those who beget 

 children, but are proved unfit to discharge their 

 parental obligations. The children must be saved 

 and trained, and the parents pay for their training 

 in cash or by labour in a labour colony. 



From overcrowding the Committee pass to the 

 pollution of the atmosphere of towns by smoke. 

 This could largely be prevented by strict enforce- 

 ment of the present law, and by an increase in the 

 penalties inflicted on offenders, who now frequently 



1 Report, p. 1 8. 

 18 



