STIRRINGS OF NEW LIFE. 155 



children would therefore have a minimum necessary expen- 

 diture per week of 13*. qd. in food, of is. 6d. in rent, of 45. id. 

 in household sundries, making a total of i8s. 4d. to keep them 

 in physical efficiency. 



Any family dropping below the minimum standard for 

 food as stated is considered in a state of primary poverty, 

 and the conclusion to which Dr. Mann came 



" after every allowance had been made for subsidiary sources 

 of income is that no less than 34^3 per cent, of the population of 

 the typical agricultural village in Bedfordshire do not contain 

 the necessary amount of money to enable them to remain in 

 physical health. This percentage rises to no less than 41*0 

 when the working class alone is considered." 



Dr. Mann discovered that 



" if foremen be excluded, the average wages paid in the 

 village amount to 133. 7 -id. per head per week for pure agri- 

 cultural labourers, 65 in number, who are working at full rates. 

 The Duke of Bedford's standard is about 15$. per week ; the 

 standard of the other farmers I2s. to 143. ; though, as has been 

 said, the latter usually carry more extras than the former. This 

 gives an average weekly wage of 145. 40!. per head." 



Now Mr. Wilson Fox in his Board of Trade investigation 

 gave the average earnings in Bedfordshire as i6s. 2d., which 

 is nearly 2s. higher than that of Dr. Mann's figures. 



" After very careful examination of Mr. Fox's figures," wrote 

 Dr. Mann, " I cannot help thinking that in working out his 

 averages he has not allowed enough for the enormously greater 

 number of the lower grade of labourers over higher grades ; and 

 I think if this were taken into account his figures would not be 

 very different to mine. But by taking the actual figures obtained, 

 it appears clear that a man earning the average rate of wages and 

 the head of a household, must descend below the primary poverty 

 line so soon as he has two children, unless he is able to supplement 

 his income by an allotment, by fattening and breeding pigs, or 

 by other means. It is also clear that he will remain below the 

 poverty line unless the eldest child leaves school and begins to 

 earn money, and that, even if he has no more than two children, 

 his only chance to save will be in his later life when the children 

 are grown up and are earning money or have left home ... in 

 any case during life it is a weary and continual round of poverty. 

 During childhood poverty conditions are almost inevitable. As 



