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18
It is said by M. Mallet, that " the strength of a people
does not depend on the absolute number of its population,
but on the relative number of those who are of the age and
strength for labour." Now, in another page I have shown
that we have comparatively a surplus of children and a small
proportion of adults, and consequently " that we have fewer
brains and fewer arms at work." How to fortify health and
so politically to lengthen life, is the great problem that we
have to solve : for " property no less than life is interested
in the progress of sanitary reform?" On us it
rests, both morally and economically, to work the solution
out. To open out avenues through our cul-de-sac courts—
to promote the sanitary condition of every house—to arrest,
by thorough drainage and removal of refuse, the elimination
of aerial poison—to dilute and carry off, by free ventilation,
the exhalations of the breath and skin—are the great duties
that we have day by day to do.
Happily life rose one year in 1858, and the mortality under
5 years—the grand test of salubrity—was reduced.
Hence, as by Sanitation the causes of ill-health decline, so
will the duration of life increase. And as you add block
after block of sewers, you not only build such bulwarks up
but you magnify the value of the house property in Bethnal
Green. Though the task before us be great, the objects in
view are immeasurably greater—to exalt the standard of life,
to economize rates, and above all to decrease the sum of
misery, disease and death.
I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
With great respect,
Very faithfully yours,
SAMUEL PEARCE.
To the Gentlemen of the Vestry of
St. Matthew, Bethnal Green.