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57
necessary consequence, many of our own people) will fall victims to
the conditions imposed by the Sweater; and remuneration on the scale
of 6s. and 7s. a week for labour from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. will prevail.
Of this wage, the slum landlord will demand 50 per cent. for his one
room; and, as a matter of fact, he rarely lets it at less than 4s. 6d.
Such hours of work and such a scale of remuneration represents the
curse of cheapness. If body and soul are to be kept together, there
is no time for housework, and the accommodation obtainable does not
admit of decent living; for one room is often kitchen, scullery, bedroom,
living-room, sick-room, and workshop for a family.
It is not easy to deal with the Slum Landlord and the Sweater.
These two social parasites are as cunning as they are unscrupulous,
and any legal mesh will have to be woven very small to catch them,
but it should be possible to regulate the rapacity of both by law.
Honourable labour has a claim for such protection, and until it is
satisfied there is no proportion in our public health work. What
does it profit us to bring about the best possible environment when
an individual must necessarily live a regime which invokes sickness
and early death.
The Out-worker, that is, the individual who works in his or her
own house, and not in the factory, forms the weakest section of the
labouring class, and the class in respect of which the State is least
able to control the conditions of work.
It is surprising that the so-called Labour Party does not concern
itself with this lowest stratum of workers, as well as with those who
are protected by Trade Unions.
FOOD AND DRUGS.
Under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 157 samples of food and
drugs were taken and analysed. The results are shown in Table C.