SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— F. 355 



working age are already occupied. And from the minority possibly available as substi- 

 tutes for men must be subtracted invalids, schoolgirls of working age, inmates of 

 institutions, the idle rich, widows with young children, women ' keeping house ' for 

 widowers or other relatives, girls helping their mothers when the family is large, etc. 



No doubt some of those less available women might be induced into industry 

 at a price, but the ' economic ' employers may be unwilling to raise the whole level of 

 women's wages merely to obtain those marginal cases. The marginal supply price of 

 the number of women employed at present is low, probably because that number 

 consists of women who merely have to keep themselves or whose bargaining position 

 is weak. But if inroads are to be made on the less available supplies of women, the 

 wages offered would have to rise steeply. 



Since the family tie makes women particularly immobile, cheap supplies cannot 

 readily be obtained from oversupplied districts, such as mining areas, nor can an 

 employer take on women in his own district one by one whenever he can get them 

 cheap. Women do not customarily work side by side with men on the same job but 

 are substituted, if at all, in quanta ; a battery of machines or a whole department is 

 transferred en bloc. In part, the substitution of women for men that is theoretically 

 to be expected fails to occur, because the wage the employer would have to pay to be 

 sure of ample and continuous quanta of women's labour would be very much higher than 

 current wages, and might entirely cancel the ' better value for money ' that the 

 current women's wage gives. 



Presidential Address by Prof. T. E. Gregory, on Rationalisation 

 and Technological Unemployment. (See p. 105.) 



Major L. Urwick. — Pure Theory of Organisation with special reference to 

 Business. 



Tuesday, September 9. 



Mr. D. Caradog Jones. — The Social Survey of Merseyside. 



The nature and purpose of a Social Survey. How it differs from a Regional or 

 Industrial Survey. The justification for such enquiries. In character they should 

 be scientific and co-operative. The ideal and the actual. Use of existing data 

 combined with original investigation. 



Definition and general description of the area of investigation. Its industrial and 

 social development might be sketched as a background to the picture. The growth 

 of population could be traced, analysing separately the figures of birth, death and 

 migration . The population as at the last Census could be related to existing industries. 

 Special consideration should be paid to locally important industries and occupations ; 

 they could only be treated in any detail after investigation. A want of balance would 

 thus be revealed between the supply of and the demand for labour. The economic 

 consequences of a surplus of labour would then lead naturally to a discussion of the 

 minimum standard of living. 



Social reform in the narrow sense aims at improving the lot of those whose standard 

 of life falls below the average level. The fundamental social problems are associated 

 with lack of health, lack of wealth, lack of occupation, lack of education — and, affecting 

 all these, lack of organisation. At the same time it is essential to be able to define 

 the average in order to determine what is below the average. This provides a key 

 to the selection of suitable subjects for special investigation. The normal is studied 

 but special attention is directed to the poor rather than to the wealthy, to the un- 

 employed rather than to the employed, to those who live in crowded and cramped 

 conditions rather than to those who are comfortably housed. 



Some of the measurements to be attempted. The design of the main enquiry 

 card. The random sample principle in selecting households to be investigated. The 

 qualifications of the investigator. Examination and coding of the completed cards. 

 Analysis of the data and preparation of tables. Publication of results. 



This main enquiry to be supplemented by others. The collection of household 

 l)udgets. Advantages and disadvantages of different methods. Difficulties to be 

 overcome. 



AA 2 



