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260
Before passing on I may say, in regard to Mr. Paterson's remark
as to certain streets being characterised by increased poverty, that,
broadly, these are the streets in which most deaths occur (both
from phthisis and from all causes.)
It has been known for a long time that poor districts have
(a) a higher death rate, (b) a higher infant mortality, and (c) a
lower physical standard than districts more favorably conditioned.
Rut frequently this has been attributed to external conditions of
insanitation, naturally more marked as a rule in poor districts.
In point of fact it is probably more due to internal conditions due
to poverty, of which I propose to name five as chiefly operative in
Finsbury.
1. Lack of Food. —Very few persons, if any, die in Finsbury from
absolute starvation, but a considerable proportion of people suffer
from insufficiency of food, especially many women, girls and
children. If a child is insufficiently fed he does not grow, but
becomes stunted in body and warped in mind. If a man has not
enough to eat he cannot work efficiently. If a woman is insufficiently
fed she produces unfit offspring.
2. Unsuitability of Food.—However limited may be the number
of persons actually unfed, there can be no doubt that the number
of persons ill-fed is very great. The diet of the majority of
the industrial population of Finsbury is improper, irregular, and
innutritions. The ordinary factory girl's diet consists far too much
of tea, bread, jam, and artificially prepared foods. She spends her
money more upon dress, personal adornment and amusement than
upon food or the healthy nourishment of her body. Many girls of
this class do not touch solid food until the middle of the day, and
are irregular in the proper distribution of meals as well as ignorant
of the right selection of foods. As mentioned above many of the
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tenements in Finsbury are without grates of proper service for
cooking, and this exerts an enormous effect on the practice of the
culinary art, What is true of women and girls is not equally true
of the men workers, though they also are by no means wise in the
selection of diet. There is also much carelessness and ignorance
in the feeding of infants.