A NEW PLAN FOR THE STATE 
FEEDING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN. 


BY 

BARBARA DRAKE. 

PuBLISHED AND SoLD BY 

THE~ABIAN SOCIETY. 

PRICE THREEPENCE. 

LONDON: 
T HE FABIA:-1 S ociETY, rr DARTI\IOUTH Sn~EET, \ VESTM!NSTER, S.\ V.I. 
P UBLISHFO DFCFi\IBF:R I Q33· T ELEPHONE; VICTORIA Iq I 5· 




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CONTENTS. 

I. INTRODUCTORY. 
II. THE FACTS ABOUT MALNUTRITION. 
(1) The Test of a Satisfactory Diet. 
(2) Common Faults of Diet and their Causes. 
(3) The Minimum Cost of a Satisfactory Diet. 
(4) Diet and Working-Class Budgets. 
(5) Evidence of Malnutrition. 
III. THE PROVISION OF SCHOOL MEALS. 
(1) The 1906 Act. 
(2) Methods of Selecting Children to be Fed. 
(3) The Results of School Feeding. 
IV. THE ECONOMICS OF SCHOOL FEEDING. 
(1) "After Bread, Education." 
(2) Prevention is Cheaper than Cure. 
(3) The Economy of "Community" Feeding. 
(4) A New Market for Agriculture. 
V. THE OUTLINE OF A SCHEME. 
(1) Amendment of the 1906 Act. 
(2) Milk Meals for All. • 
(3) Children over Eleven and the School Canteen. 
(4) Provision for Necessitous and Debilitated Children. 
(5) The Cost of the Scheme. 
(6) How the Money should be Raised. 
(7) Conclusion. 
Summary of Proposals. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

"Nutrition," the Chief Medical Officer tells us, "is everything 
in childhood. Childhood is the particular and only occasion 
when it is true to place nutrition in the first rank. Indeed, it 
stands unique, for it is the only foundation of growth."* Lack 
of food is not the only cause of malnutrition ; the debilitated 
child may lack fresh air, exercise, rest, but a principal cause is 
insufficient, improper, irregular, unsuitable, or unappetizing food. 

A child in a civilized community has then a first claim on 
the food resources of his country. This is commonly recognised 
in war-time, and adults, if necessary, must go without. In peace 
time, when there is plenty for everyone, we are apt to forget it. 
Never before in our history have we been better supplied with 
so rich a variety, or such abundance, of foodstuffs. Yet, in spite 
of this, thousands of our children are known to be living on 
diets which do not even provide the minimum conditions of 
health and growth. Not only socialists are discovering the folly 
of an economic system which makes "profit," in the narrow sense 
of mere "financial results," the test of social utility. "We have 
to remain poor,"* says Professor J. M. Keynes in deploring our 
failure to use the vast technical and material resources at our 
disposal to build a wonder-city, "because· it does not 'pay' to 
be rich." Worse, our children must starve in an age of abundance, 
because it does not "pay" to feed them. 

* "Health of the School Child," 1928, p. 67. Board of Education. 
* "The ew Statesman and Nation," July 15, 1933. 

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THE FACTS ABOUT MALNUTRITION. 

The Test of a Satisfactory Diet. 

. A satisfactory diet, as defined by the Chief Medical Officer, 
IS one. th<l:t provides for full natural growth-"for the full 
unfoldmg m growth of the best potential qualities, physical and 
mental, inherent in the child at birth."* 

. ~or practi~al purposes, we are told,t one has to judge a 
d1et m four dtfferent respects, namely, the supply of calories 
(units of energy), the quantity of first-class or "animal" protein, 
and the supply of mineral matter and vitamin content. The 
minimum needs of the adult man may be taken as 3,000 calories, 
that of the adult woman as 2,500 calories, while that of children 
varies from 40 per cent. of the "man" value at the ages 2-3 
to the full adult value at the age of 14. The experts are, in fact, 
not sure that a boy or girl of 14 does not need even a larger 
share than a full-grown man or woman. 

The next criterion of a sufficient diet is the supply of first-
class protein, which is only to be found in animal products, such 
as meat, fish , eggs, cheese, milk, etc. In a satisfactory diet, 
first-class protein should form at least 5 per cent. of the total 
calories. The estimate is admittedly a modest one. In ordinarymiddleclass diets, "animal" protein is said to form about 7.5 per 
cent of the calories. 

The remaining criteria may be considered together. There 
are no means of measuring the amounts of the different kinds 
of vitamins and salts which are necessary to prevent "deficiency"
diseases, e.g., rickets, scurvy, undue susceptibility to certain 
infections; but milk and milk products, green vegetables, fresh 
fruit, salads, " fat" fish, such as herrings, are known to be rich 
1n them. If, therefore, the diet contains a fair share of these 
so-called "protective" foods, there is little danger that it will be 
lacking in vitamins and salts. It is important to remember that 
a satisfactory diet much be complete in all respects. No amount 
of calories, for example, will make up for a deficiency in "firstdass" 
protein, or in vitamins and salts. 

Common Faults of Diet and their Causes. 

With the enormous range of foodstuffs procurable, it is 
plain that no one with money to spend need have a defective 
diet, but where economy has to be considered it is a different 
matter. That serious defects are due to ignorance, to established 
customs and tastes, no one is likely to dispute. "I am perfectlysatisfied," the School Medical Officer for East Suffolk writes, • 

*"Health of the School Child," 1931, p. 92. 

t "Criticism and Improvement of Diets." Ministry of Health, 1933. 
*"Health of the School Child," 1931, p. 108. 


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"that ignorance on the part of the mothers exerts the greatestinfluence on the causation of malnutrition. They fail, not because 
they lack interest, not because they are careless and slovenly, but 
simply because they know no better. The distribution to the 
best advantage of a very slender weekly wage is far from beinga simple matter and, in the absence of guidance, it is little wonder 
that failure so often results." 

Cereals (flour, oatmeal, rice) are relatively cheap and easy 
to get, and consequently bulk largely in working-class diets. "It 
is unusual," Dr. M'Gonigle (M.O.H., Stockton) states,* "to 
discover children suffering from the effects of actual shortage 
of food-stuffs, but the ill-effects of deficient quality of nutrition 
are widespread." Where large appetites must be satisfied at a 
very small cost, it is inevitable that the more expensive "animal" 
foods, meat, fish, butter, eggs, should be cut down. An analysisof the dietaries of 22 unemployed families by Dr. M'Gonigleshowed that, while the calory value equalled on an average 80 
per cent. of the normal, and the carbohydrates 94 per cent., the 
value in first-class proteins was only 55 per cent. of the normal. 
and the value in fats 59 per cent.t ''There is abundant evidence," 
reports the Chief Medical Officer:j: "that a direct result of povertyis to reduce the amount of protein and fat in the diet, and 
relatively to increase the carbohydrates.~' 

It is, however, in the protective foods, milk, green vegetables,
fresh fruit, that a deficiency is most likely to be met. "All the 
defects," the Chief Medical Officer has stated,* "which may exist 
in diets in common use call be readily corrected by the addition 
of milk and green vegetables." If a diet is supplemented by milk 
and green vegetables, the other materials of which it is composed 
can, it is said, quite safely consist of articles which are easilyobtained and relatively cheap, such as bread, flour, potatoes, roots, 
pulses, sugar, fats. 

Milk is the perfect food for the young. It is now generallyrecognised that one pint of milk per child per day is a minimum 
allowance, not merely for very young children, but for children 
up to 16. Unfortunately, we are not a milk-drinking country. 
There are countless homes where milk is said to be only used 
for tea, or is bought for the cat! The total daily average consumption 
of milk in this country is about one-third of a pint(against one pint in the U.S.A.); in some populous areas, it is 
only 0.08 or even 0.06 of a pint. When this is realized, and 
also that one pint of milk is said to contain about two-thirds 

*"Health of the School Child," 1931, p. 88. 
t "The Lancet," March 18, 1933. 
:1: "Health of the School Child," 1931, p. 96. 
*"State of the Public Health," Ministry of Health, 1926, p. 185.-The 


statement refers to a relatively prosperous year, and may to-day need 

some modification. 


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of the total daily first-class protein requirements of the averagechild, more than one-third of his total fat requirements, and to 
b; rich besides in vitamins and salts, some conception can be 
formed of the inadequacy of the amount of this most valuable 
food which children are receiving, and the improvement in their 
growth and vigour that might be expected to follow a more 
adequate use of it. 

The Minimum Cost of a Satisfactory Diet. 

The cheapest possible diet upon which healthy subsistence 
is possible is said to consist of oatmeal, herrings and cabbage,* 
but no one could swallow the necessary quantity of oatmeal, nor 
tolerate the monotony of such a diet, even if he had the physiological 
knowledge to buy it, and the practical skill to cook it 
and serve it so that it would not be revolting. That appetite, 
apart from hunger, has much to do with proper digestion is a 
well-known physiological fact. Starting then from the assumptionthat a satisfactory diet must be reasonably varied and palatable, 
the minimum cost per man per week has been variously estimated 
(February, 1933, prices) between 4s. lOd. (M'Gonigle) and 6s. 8d. 
(Crowden).t The average sum works out at Ss. 8d., but Dr. 

V. H. Mottram suggests that the sanest figure to adopt for 
practical purposes would be 6s. per week per adult male. These 
estimates presuppose "the most economical purchasing and household 
management, and demand a knowledge of dietetics and a 
skill in the laying out of money and in the preparation of fo9d 
which few housewives are likely to possess." On the· basis of 
6s. per "man," the minimum cost of a child's diet may roughlybe estimated at: 
Age. Cost per week. 

14 and over 6/


12-14 s;s 

10-12 4/ 10 

8-10 4/3

6-8 3j7

3-6 3/ 


About the same figure is reached as a result of an enquiryinto diets in poor law homes. The Advisory Committee on 
Nutrition state:* "In a home containing about 200 children we 
estimate that the weekly cost, allowing for one pint of milk perchild daily would be about 4s. 6id. per head, if all provisions 
were bought at contract prices." The Chief Medical Officer,t 

*"Food and Health; The Physiological Minimum." The Lancet, March 

18, 1933. . 
t Ibid. . 
*"Diets in Children's Poor Law Homes," November, 1932. 
t "Health of the School Child," 1931. 


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bowever, thinks that, unless the numbers are large and there are 
facilities for obtaining foods at contract rates, a more reasonable 
sum would be Ss. 6d. a week. It is plain that, on the lowest 
estimate, a man, wife and, say, three children. should spend on 
an average on food alone not less than about 25s. a week. 

Diet and Working Class Budgets. 

"More than any other factor," the Chief Medical Officer has 
-declared,* "the amount and quality of food are likely to varywith changes in the economic status of individuals, and the 
danger to the health of children resulting from reduction of 
income is to be sought for mainly in this sphere." Food is not 
the only necessary of life. Rent, for example, is a fixed charge 
which must be paid whether or not a margin is left for food. 
The Ministry of Labour base their present calculation of the cost 
of living on the assumption that 17 per cent. of the total weekly 
budget goes in rent, but circumstances may decide otherwise. Big 
families especially must often pay large sums in rent because 
owners and agents refuse to let rooms to people with children. 

From an examination of the budgets of poor families living 
in London, Dr. G. P. Crowden calculatest that, on an average,
35 per cent. of the total income goes in rent. or about twice the 
official estimate. The Medical Officer of Health for Hammer-
smith has found:j: that, after rents have been paid, a number of 
working-class families, both employed and unemployed, have 
only a very small margin left for food, clothing and other necessaries. 
Ap10ng employed families, this margin per head per week 
may be as little as 3s. 8d. and 2s. 9d.; among unemployedfamilies, 1s. lld. and even 1s. 7d. 

A recent enquiry carried out by a Committee of the Hull 
Community Council* into the budgets of poor families, some 
of them unemployed, showed that in Hull rent usually takes 
about one-quarter of the income, food two-fifths, clothes rather 
1ess than one-tenth, leaving one-quarter for fuel, light, cleaning 
materials, and sundries. Some families of four persons, i.e., 
man, wife, and two children, have thus only 11 s. or 12s. a week 
for food. The diet in many cases. say the Committee, "shows 
a serious omission of nutritious food, especially for children, and 
cannot but result in serious ill-health." 

The Sheffield Social Survey Committeet have worked out 

a "minimum needs standard," covering food. clothing, cleaming

materials, light and fuel, below which a family in Sheffield may 

• "Health of the School Child," 1931, p. 88. 
t "\Veek-end Review," 1larch 4, 1933. 
:j: Annual Report for 1931. 
• "Unemployment in Hull," 1933. 
t "Survey of the Standard of Living," 1933. 

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be said to be living below the "poverty" line. According to this 
standard, the minimum working income per "man" should be 
6s. 11d., or 24s. 111d. for a husband, wife, two school children 
and an infant. The estimate takes no account of rent, insurances, 
fares, holidays or conventional luxuries, and assumes that the 
fami ly income is spent to the greate t advantage. The Committee 
report that even on this low basis : "Nearly one-fifth of the 
working-class families of Sheffield were either living below, or 
bordering on, the 'poverty' line during the winter 1931-32, and 
that. even if all those available for work had been on full-time 
employment at current rates of wages, one in seventeen of the 
families would still have been in or on the margin of poverty." 
The proportion of children under 14 living below the "poverty"
line was much greater than that of families, "nearly one-third of 
them being on or below the 'poverty' line." 

When we remember that, even in organized trades, the 
full-time wages of semi-skilled and unskilled workers have fallen 
in some industries to between 3Ss. and 40s. a week, the rates 
for agricultural labourers being as low as 30s. and even 28s. :1. 
week; that hundreds of thousands of workers are employed on 
short time; that nearly two million adult men are wholly unemployed; 
that the rates of unemployment benefit have been cut 
down to 23s. 3d. a week for a man and wife, plus 2s. for each 
dependent child; that few public assistance committees are 
willing to grant assistance to able-bodied" families beyond this 
point; we are forced then to the conclusion that hundreds of 
thousands of children, unless they are receiving school meals, are 
living on diets which do not provide for "full natural growth," 
and may result in serious ill-health. 

Evidence of Malnutrition. 

The risk to health of underfeeding is all the more insidiou 
in that deficiencies in the quality of diet may produce no immediately 
obvious results. "A diet," the Chief Medical Officer 
explains,* "may be very defective and yet, if sufficient in amount, 
maY satisfy children's appetites leaving no craving behind, and 
ma}· maintain apparently normal vigour for a considerable time. 
The inevitable results of such a diet are, however, ultimately 
to be seen in its failure to promote a full measure of growth,
in lessened immunity to disease and possibly in the presence of 
some form of 'deficiency' disease." 

It is then not surprising that, in spite of the depressed state 
of industry, the official figures do _not show ~s yet any ~arked 
physical effect on the child populatiOn. Of chlldren submttted to 
routine medical inspection in 1932, not more than 1.07 per cent. 

*Health of the School Child, Board of Education, 1931, p. 88. 


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were notified as suffering from malnutrition, though the percentage 
ha risen slightly from .95 in 1929. These figures, however, 
do not tell the whole ston·. The School Medical Officer 
for London reports that, while -the proportion of definitely ill-
nourished children is only about one in 6,000, the proportion of 
children with subnormal nutrition was as high as 4.8 in 1931 and 

4.9 in 1932. Considerably higher figures are revealed in the 
depressed areas. Evidence collected by a Committee of the Save 
the Children Fund* shows that the proportion of children wtth 
subnormal nutrition is 9.2 per cent. in Leeds, 13.0 per cent. in 
Merthyr Tydfil, 17.2 per cent. in Newcastle, 21.0 per cent. in 
Pontypridd. The School Medical Officer for \i\t'olverhampt011 
reports :t "Under this particular heading [malnutrition], there 
is a distinct increase in the figures, and it is doubtful whether 
the figures represent the whole of the picture." Of the children 
notified in Wolverhampton as subnormal in nutrition. no less 
than 95 per cent. were found to be necessitous. "There appears,"
the report continues, "to be established here a definite link 
between unemployment and malnutrition of children." The Chief 
Medical Officer's report for 1932 concludes : :~ ''Though the 
medical reports recently received contain no signs of widespreadphysical degeneration, there is an undercurrent of fore\\·arning 
as to the possibility of mental instability in the adult man, and 
prolonged under-nourishment of women and children." 
Nor is it certain that all the children suffering, in one degree 
or another, from malnutrition are discovered by · the school 
doctor. From a recent medical examination carried out by Dr. 
Someville Hastings in West London, it appeared that. of 53 
children belonging to 21 unemployed families, no less than 33 
children showed some sign of malnutrition. Yet, of this number, 
four children only were receiving extra nourishment at school. 
The truth is, as Dr. Someville Hastings points out,* that the 
effects of under-nourishment are by no means easy to detect byphysical examination. The signs may be readily missed unless 
they are specially looked for-which is rather a long business. 
Nor do they become evident at once. It is easy, moreover, to 
confuse the a11erage with the normal, so that the doctor's standard 
varies with a rise or fall in the proportion of ill-nourished 
children. Even where light weight is associated with chronic 
sepsis of the tonsils, teeth, ears, etc., the septic conditions maybe secondary to food deficiency, which may be the more direct 
cause of the low weight.* The situation has been admirably 
summed up in a leading article in the "Medical Officer" : t 

* "Unemployment and the Child," 1933, p. 57. 
t "The State of the Public Health," 1932, p. 31. 
:]: "The State of the Public Health, 1932, p. 41. 
*"The Lancet," March 25th, 1933. 
*"The Medical Officer," April 29th, Dr. Dunstan, 1LO.H., Lewes. 
t April 29th, 1933. 

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"Unfortunately, we cannot make a sensational story out of 
malnutrition as it occurs to-day-it produces a slow silent rot 
of virility, vitality and fibre from which recovery soon becomes 
impossible. It takes a lot of ill-feeding to kill a child. It takes 
very little to sap his value seriously." 

THE PROVISION OF SCHOOL MEALS. 

The 1906 Act. 

The po\\'er to supply meals to children in ordinary elementary 
schools \\"as first given to local education authorities 
under the Education (Provision of l\1eals) Act, 1906. Before, 
however, any expense connected \\·ith the purchase of food 
can be incurred out of local rates, the authority must resolve 
that there are children attending school within the area who 
are unable, by reason of lack of food, to take full advantageof the education provided, and that voluntary funds are not 
available or arc insufficient for the purpose. Out of 317 
authorities, more than half have never at any time taken steps 
to exerci e their powers. The total number of meals supplied 
in 1931 was about 48,000,000, of which 27,000,000 were milk 
meals, 16,000,000 were dinners, and the rest breakfasts, teas, 
cod-liver oil, etc. The number of children fed was 320,000, 
or less than 6 per cent. of the total elementary school population. 
About one-fifth of the cost of the food was recovered 
from the parents. In addition to meals supplied by authorities 
under the 1906 Act, some 800,000 children are receiving milk 
meals under a scheme established by the National NI ilk Publicity 
Council. Use in this case is made of the school organisation, 
·but the milk is paid for by the parents.

The great weakness of the 1906 Act is its permissive 
character. Authorities are not obliged to operate it. The 
report of the Save the Children Fund Committee* makes it clear 
that. where a decline in the nutrition and health of school 
children is recorded it may be attributed to the fact that the 
provision of school meals has not kept pace with the need. 
The inadequacy, where it exists, is said to be clue in g-eneral 
to one of two causes : either there is lack of initiative, or 
of a sense of responsibility, on the part of the authority, or 
the authority is so much impoverished that it is not possible 
to incur the expense of providing meals. 

The Selection of Children to be Fed. 

The practice of authorities in selecting children to be fed 
varies in a marked degree. Some authorities &"ive meals to 

*"Unemployment and the Child," 1933, p. 126. 


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all children for whom extra nourishment is advised by the-
school doctor. Others appear to be umler the impression that 
they should only feed children actually classed as "malnourished." 
Other authorities again regard the service as a 
measure of public assistance, or an emergency expedient for 
meeting an industrial crisis. They make, therefore, their 
selection primarily on an "income" basis. It is usual in thi 
case for an application to come from the parent , "·hile the 
selection is made by the head-teacher or the care committee_ 
As a rule "each case is decided on its merits," but a few 
authoritie have adopted definite income scales below which a 
child is classed as "necessitous." 

Thus, under the Sheffield scheme, where the "·eekly famil)income 
(after deducting rent and rates) does not exceed 6s. 
per head, dinners and breakfasts are given on six days a week, 
and during the holidays as well; and, where the family income-
is less than 4s. 6d. per head, teas are given in addition. Wolverhampton* 
allows free meals where the family income, after 
deducting rent and clubs is less than 6s. per head, and reduced 
charges are made \\·here the family income is below 7s. per head. 
In Cardiff, dinners and milk are given free of charge where 
the family income, after payment of rent, is less than 7s. per 
head with two in family, (one child), 6s. per head with three-
or four in family, and Ss. with five in a family. Bradford givesfree dinners where the family income, less rent and rates, falls 
below 23s. with three in family, rising to 66s. with twelve in 
family, and there is a graduated scale of reduced charges. 
Free breakfasts are given in addition in the case of very poorfamilies. 

The claim made by some authorities that only on an income 
basis can the needs of the situation be properly met has been 
disputed by the Board's medicar officers, who think that this 
claim is unjustified.* In areas, it is said, which have adoptedthe method, considerable numbers of children who are either 
actually suffering from malnutrition, or are on the borderline, 
do not for various reasons get it. It is certain that many 
parents, through ignorance, a sense of false shame or-a very 
potent factor-because they fear that the cost of the food will 
be deducted against their public assistance allowance, do not 
apply for school meals. Where it is left to the care committee 
"to decide each case on its merits," not merely may individual 
committees hold widely different opinions as to what constitutes 
a sufficient family income, but they may have their own ideas 
as to parental responsibility and their ovvn ways of enforcing it. 

*"Unemployment and the Child," pp. 53-55. 
*"Health of the School Child," 1928, pp. 69-71. 


The Chief l\Iedical Officer recommends! that the selection 
-of children to be fed should be made bv the school doctor on 
physical criteria, borderline cases being fed as well as cases of 
actual malnutrition. Apart, ho\\·ever, from the fact that, as we 
bave seen, the early signs of malnutrition are by no mean easy to 
detect, the underfed child does not always come at once to the 
notice of the school doctor. Routine medical inspection takes 
place normally onlv three times in the course of the nine nars 
of elementary scho~l life. The doctor has to rely in the intervals 
very largely on the judgment of the teacher or care committee, 
who may be little qualified to observe any but obvious 
and urgent cases. The truth is that on any basis the selection 
of the under-nourished child is an extremely difficult business. 
The best results seem to be obtained where the selection takes 
place on either basis. and one method is used to supplement 
the other. 

Results of School Feeding. 

Serious as are the defects of the 1906 Act, where school 
meals have been provided, the benefit to the children can hardly 
be exaggerated. More than anything else, according to the Reportof the Save the Children Fund Committee, school meals have 
prevented ill-health in children during the present crisis. Evidence 
collected by them from nineteen typical areas show a very 
close connection between school feeding and malnutrition. "It 
will be noted," the Report states,* "that in the majority of cases 
1932 is worse than 1931. Only in four places-Oldham, Bradford, 
Leeds and Glasgow-are the malnutrition figures less in 
1932 than in 1931, and only in Bradford and Oldham, where the 
increase in school meals has been greatest, is there a substantial 
improvement recorded in 1932 compared with 1931. In the case 
of Coventry, Manchester and \Valsall, there is no change. In the 
other twelve places sho\\·n on the table there is deterioration." 

Even more striking than the figures showing the connection 
between school feeding and malnutrition are the results of 
enquiries carried out by the Board's medical officers into the 
relation between diet and growth. School feeding is supplementary 
feeding. The addition to the dietary of foods commonly 
lacking in poor homes may indeed give in some cases as goodresults as a more complete meal. An experiment made by Dr. 
Corry Mann* under which supplementary rations were added to 
the ordinary dietary of a larges institution showed that:


(1) Sixty-one boys receiving the ordinary diet only gained 
an average of 3.8Slbs. per boy and grew an average of 1.84 inches 
in twelve months. 
t !bid, p. 69. 
*"Unemployment and the Child," pp. 61-62. 
'*"Health of the School Child," 1925, p. 117. 



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(2) Thirty boys rece1vmg, in addition to the ordinary diet, 
a ration of protein daily which about doubled their consumption 
of "animal" protein, gained an average of 4.0llbs. in weight and 
grew an average of 1.76 inches in twelve months. 
(3) Forty-one boys receiving, in addition to the ordinary 
diet. one pint of milk daily gained an average of 6.98lbs. in 
weight. and grew an average of 2.63 inches. 
Dr. Corry Mann experimented at the same time \\·ith supple:
nentary rations of New Zealand butter, castor sugar. vegetables 
margarine, and fresh watercress. Such additions all resulted in 
:no·eases of weight, but. except in the case of the butter ration, 
:here \\·as little or no increase in height. 

The value of milk as a supplementary diet has been abundantly 
proved. ] n an experiment conducted by Dr. J..B. Orr* four 
groups of children "·ere selected. one group r ceiving "·hole milk, 
a second separated milk, a third a bi cuit ration of the calorie 
value of the milk, ·while a fourth group acted as controls. Taking 
all the children (1,157) together and dividing them into milk-
red and non-milk-fed groups, it appeared that there was an 
average increase in height of 23.5 per cent., and in weight of 

45.37 per cent., in favour of the milk-fed groups over the nonmilk-
fed groups. The evidence of school medical officers further 
sho\\·s that, where supplementary milk meals are given, not 
:nerel ~-is there a general improvement in " ·eight and 
height. but school attendance is more regular, the children are 
more alert and energetic, and the improved physical condition 
makes them more attentive and receptive of school teaching. 
This is specially noticeable in the latter periods of the afternoon. 
Teachet·s also testify to a greater propensity to mischief.'f 
V\1here, ho\Yever. as a result of underfeeding, growth has 
already been impait·ecl, there is a limit to what can afterwards 
be done in order to repait· the damage. " t the start," state, 
the School ~ledical Officer for Rotherham in desc-ribi ng the result 
of careful observation of 815 children receiving milk meals, "the 
malnou rishecl children \\·ere on the a vcrag-e. one inch bclo\\· the 
normal child in height and three pound lighter in weight. The 
immediate effect of the milk was to cause the e children to 
increase in both height and weight faster than the normal child ; 
after eleven months of milk feeding the deficiency had been 
reduced by some 40 per cent. as regards height and weight. A 
iurther eleven months of feeding, however. produced no further 
closing of the gap ; the children increased in height and ,,·eight, 
but sho\\·ed no tend ncy to make good the remainder of the 
gap." 

x .\nnual Report of the Chief ~ fedical Onicet·, noard or Education, 192'1, 

p. 71. 
t [hid, 1931. p. 11 0. 

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.Some indica.tion of ll'hat may be done by systematic goodieedmg appears 111 a compar-ative tudy of the physical development 
of boys at the age of fifteen in four well-known public 
schools and in a South London riverside district.* This showed 
that the calorie value of the public school diets varied betv1.-een 
3)25 and 3,819, compared with a calorie value of 1,935 to 2,421 
for the industrial district diets, the public school diets being 
superior especially in the proportion of fat and "animal" protein. 
There was a difference of 15 to 20lbs. in the weight of the 
typical public school boy and the boy of the same age comingfrom an elementary school. 

All the evidence points to the same conclusion. It is not 
enough to feed the "necessitous" or debilitated child. To achieve 
"full natural growth," it is imperative that the essentials of a 
satisfactory diet should be assured throughout the period of 
childhood and adolescence. 

THE ECONOMICS OF "COMMUNITY" FEEDING. 

"After Bread, Education." 

:-1" early thirty years ago, a Committee of the Fabian Society 
urged* that all children. destitute or not, should be fed, and fed 
without charge. at the e.·pense of the State or municipality. 
The first need, they argued. of a people is food; without proper 
feeding instruction is useless. and "·orse than useless-it is 
indefensible cruelty. Feeding is of infinitely greater importance 
than education for. in the last resort. you can do somethingwith a race that, ho\\'ever ignorant, is healthy and physically 
well developed; with ancemic degenerates you can do nothing 
ihflugh you offer them all the school in the world. · 

Jt is not enough, they declared, to feed the destitute only_ 
Fo;-it i by no means certain-and since then the contention 
ha~ been abundantly proved-that this way the children who 
most need food will get it. It may be very unfortunate that 
parents should feel their o\\·n sense of dignity before the wellbemg 
of their off-spring, hut it is an indubitable fact that a 
great many of them do. Fe,,· out of the many parents "·hose 
chrJct ren do not get sufficien l nou ri shmen t a re willing to write 
themselves d01n1 as "necessitous," and those who do may not 
be those who most need and most deserve assistance. The method 
further leads to a ven· undesirable distinction between those 
ch1ldren who arC feel OUt of public funds and those \\'hO are 
not. The provision of universal free meals does not destroy 
p;1rental responsibility. but only co Jnmwwlises it. If you feed 
dt' titute children only. there may be something in the argument 

*"Health of the School Child," 1927. 

* "" fter Bread, Eduo tion," F:1hian Tract, 1905. 

z6 


that you are relieving the parent of part of his responsibility, 
but, if all citizens pay for the provision of meals through rates 
and taxes, direct and indirect, and all parents can send their 
<:hildren freely to eat the meals, then they are simply providing 
for their children by co-operative methods, and there is no more 
interference with parental responsibility than if all the parents 
in a particular block of tenements agree to start a common 
kitchen. The '·communal" meal. provided under proper discipline 
in humane surroundings has, indeed, a civilising effect upon the 
children, who learn what a dinner ought to be and, when they 
grow up, make all the better fathers and mothers in consequence. 
To suggest that school meals "break up the home" is absurd. 
The Eton or Harrow boy is kept at school. not merely for meals, 
but for the whole of the term. Yet no one fears for the home 
life of the plutocracy ! 

These and other arguments used by the Fabian Committee 
·of 1905 are as sound to-day as they were a generation ago. 

Prevention is Cheaper than Cure. 

The great opposition, however, to the Fabian scheme came, 
as it comes to-day, from those who maintain that its cost would 
be ruinous. Undoubtedly, the expense would be considerable, 
but sooner or later, in one way or another, it is the State which 
must pay for underfeeding its children. If a child grows up 
underfed, the chances are heavy that it grows up a weakling and 
inefficient worker, or falls the victim of disease. What we save 
to-day on food, we are likely to spend many times over tomorrow 
on medical treatment and special schools, on sickness 

. benefit an 1 hospitals, on poor relief and charities. to sav nothing-
of the lowered efficiency of the worker and the loss of workingdays. 

Sir John Bray, in his presidential address to the Institute 
of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants ( 1931), estimated that 
we spend nearly £200,000,000 per annum on the prevention and 
treatment of disease and combating their re ults. In addition to. 
the cost of the prevention and cure of disease. there is the loss 
of productive power that ill-health causes. A very conservative 
estimate by Sir Francis Fremantle, M.P.. 1uts the total annual 
cost to the nation of ill-health at £300,000,000. Less than one-
twelfth of this sum would go a very long way in school feeding. 

The Economy of the "Community" Feeding. 

It is wiser to pend on food than on ickness, but this -is 
no reason to spend on food extravagantly. From the standpointof good housekeeping, it is plain that "community" feeding has 
over the family meal many advantages. The objection raised hy 


17 

some people, who would prefer to cater for themselves or· at 
1east. to choose t_heir own caterer, does not apply to cl~ildren. 
A child d~es not m_a_ny case determine his own diet. Not merely 
.\1a':e p~bltc authontles access to expert knowledge and advice 
wh1ch 1s not generally open to the private housewife, but theyhave opportunities of buying in the wholesale market o-ood food 
cheaply which are obviously closed to her. Her facilities for 
buying may, indeed, be extremely limited, and confined in practice 
to those of the small local shop. Nor has she ahYays the necessaryfacilities for cooking. Cooking is a highly-skilled craft. Every 
mother does not take to it naturally. There can be no question 
that, where food is prepared on a large scale in up-to-datekitchens, with the aid of a trained staff and modern equipment, 
it is possible to provide a variety and excellence of cooking which 
is quite beyond the reach of the small household, and yet to make 
substantial economies in materials and fuel. The growing use in 
working-class homes of tinned and semi-cooked foods, which are 
seldom the ideal diet for children, must at least partly be 
connected with the lack of proper cooking conveniences in small 
Bats and tenements, and the excessive cost of fuel , which is 
bought and used in small quantities. 

Reference has been made in a previous section to the urgent 
need of children to drink more milk. We are told, on the other 
hand, that too much milk is produced in this country. Yet the 
retail price of milk is more than half again as high to-day as it 
was before the \\·ar. About one-half of this price goes to the 
dairy who distributes the milk between arrival at its place of 
destination and its delivery to the housewife; the other half goes 
to the farmer. It is plain that the farmer fares less well than 
the dairy, but he does not in this ea e fare so badly. His trouble 
is that he sells to the dairy something less than two-thirds of his 
total product. His surplus he must sell to the manufacturer, 
who is only prepared to pay him one-half, or even one-third, of 
the price that he gets from the dairy. If a ne\\· market could be 
found for liquid milk. and the milk delivered \\·holesale direct 
from the farm or dairy, to the school. there is clearly here a 
margin for a substantial reduction of price, \Yhich \Yould yet leave 
a fair profit to the farmer. 

Nor is it a matter of price only. l\Iilk is a highly perishable 
food and one which is quickly contaminated; it may be the carrier 
of tubercle or other infectious disease. As the great consumer of 
milk in the district, the authority would be in a favourable position 
to secure. not merely a cheap. but a clean and pure supply.

There are other excellent foods. of which this country has 
abundant supplies, but too little use of them is made in child_ren's 
dietaries. Many common kinds of fish come within this category. 
The herring is a "fat" fish of exceptional dietetic value. but its 
place in working-class dietaries is now being very largely taken 


~~ 

' ·:· the les nouri hing and more expensive ''fish and chips." 
" re h fi h very quickly deteriorates, while supplies may fluctuate 
·ildly from one day to another. A glut of fish at the port is a 
nmmon occurrence. Costs of distribution are high in con. 
equence. Bet\\·een the port price and the price charged to the 
liuuse,,·i ie. there may be a difference of several hundred per cent. 
. n enterprising authority should be able, not merely to buy fish 

r \\·hoJesale price~. but to come to some arrangement v\·ith the 
TJ~hing industry to take at short notice exceptional catches of 
·~!itable kind of fish on terms satisfactory to both sides. 

Green vegetable:::. and salads contain properties essential to 
~ t:althy gro,,·th. There i no shortage of these foods in the 
,, •untn·. but for one reason and another our children do not 
'at them in anything like sufficient quantities. They are bulky 
, 1d. thereiore. costly to handle. Except from street barrows, 
·IJ.e)· are not cheap to buy at retail prices. In the smaller and le s 
·xpen ive shops, they arc not al\\'ays too fresh, and in the winter 
···10nths sometimes hard to get. Yet the grO\\·er may get pt·acllcally 
nothing for them, or find a difficulty in selling them at alL 
1-fere is another opportunity for ,,-holesale deliveries from the 
,.:ro\\'ers or deakr. to the school. \\'hich should enable the authori11e" 
to obtain ample and cheap supplies. Some schools in country 

•tistricts, \\'hich have established school canteens, have adopted 
·he practice of gro,,·ing their O\\'n vegetables. Costs per meal in 
•ni:::-case han: been greatly reduced. and the practice could be 
-c·llo\n.•d in suitable circumstances. 
It ,,·as reported the other day in the Press that a valuable 
trgo of oranges had IJcen dumped into the sea because, since 
·;Hiffs ,,·ere imposed. it did not "pay" the dealers to handle them. 
·,\'hen: dealer fear to tread. the authority ,hould be able to step 
·,r •. The tax. \\'hich is prohibitive to the jnivate trader. could be 

•tcovered b:· the authority from the Exchequer, into which it i 
~'aid. in the form of grant. \\'hat the Exchequer lost on the 
·wing-., it \\'Ould gain on the roundabouts, and no harm would 
1 \ t: been done to anyone. 
A New Market for A griculture . 

.\part from economic to be made in the buying and prepara, 
, n of food. school feeding could be used to play a new 
important part in dev~.:loping the food resources of the country. 
' r is to the market." th~.: !\linister of Agriculture has declared,* 
'1hat l1oth the consumer and producer mu t for the pre ent bend 
:rtir attention... . It \\'oulcl be black treachery to place men 
·'• the land \\ ithout market for their product." Our children 
ia ·k food. our iarmer lack markets. Cannot the two be brought 
·<-g-ethet·~ 

• <-tatem~nt in the H ou. c oi Commo'"· Ti111C.~. July IIth, 1933 

I Cl 

-:\Iilk is a food which this countn· is eminenth· fitted to 
produce. \Ve produce already on the 10\;·est estimate ~bout 1,200 
million gallons of milk a year, but we do not consume in liquid 
form more than about 700 million gallons. The pressing need of 
the industry is thus an outlet for fresh milk. The importance of 
the school as a prospective market has even gained recognition 
in the House of Commons. So good a Conservative l\1.P. as Sir 
Edward Grigg has placed milk meals for school children in the 
forefront of measures which '"·ould restore prosperity to thi 
country. A new market for 80,00().000 gallons of milk a year, he 
has declared, would "transform the problem of the mil'k 
industry."* 

The problem of the fishing industry again is one of marketing. 
In spite of a shifting of demand from the herring, a decline 
m the consumption of white fish has been evident ince 1931. 
The amount of fish that our trawling industry can market is 
known to be substantially beJo,,· its productive capacity. The 
ll<lme consumption of herrings has declined since before the war 
i>:-· about one-third, while a marked contraction has taken place 
m export . When the fishing fl eet assembled for the East Anglian 
autumn fishing last year, it numbered 150 fewer vessels than in 
tne previous year. On many occasions in 1932, the price of 
sprats fell so low that fishing was abandoned. It may be estimated 
that the addition of fish meals as a weekly item in children's 

d. etaries, extended to the present school population, would create 
< ne,,· demand for at least another million cwts. of fish a year. 
Jn the absence of an expanding home market, the present "Eat 
l\1ore Fish" campaign is for the most part mere waste of money.
l ·" country could be better suited than our own to gro,,· greenvq;-dables. There are thousands of unemployed workers ready 
11 grow them . A new market for green vegetables, extending 
n e\·ery tO\m and village, would give to the Minister of Agriculture 
the opportunity for which he is waiting to place men on 
the land. The children. meanwhile, would have acquired a taste, 
which theY \\·ould not afterwards lo~e, for fresh wholesome home-
r··•,,m food. 
The home farmer has a monopoly of the fresh milk market. 
J · ;s otherwise with meat, cheese, butter, etc., which are important 
i1 u11s in children's <iietaries, but these are also foods that this 
co;_mtrY is admirably adapted to produce. According to high 
nltdic<il authority,* no matter how carefully food is chilled or 
prberved. the resulting product is inferior to the fresh materiaL 
Fcor this reason alone, it is urged that encouragement should be 
g sen to the consumption of home-gr0\\'11 pro.duce. This is not 
tr •e place to liscuss ho\\' far it i wise. or practicable. to gtve prG


• ''The ~ew Statesman and Nation," July 15th, 1933. 
"" 
1 r. A lexandcr Lancler. Address to Agricultural Section of British 
,, 'sociation, Scptcmher 6th, 1933. 


20 

tection to the home farmer against foreign competitiOn. It may, 
however, be pointed out that, so long as the Exchequer continues 
to make grants in aid of local expenditure on school meals, it is 
open to the Government to bring pressure to bear on authorities 
to buy, so far as possible, only home-grown produce and to make 
good, if necessary a difference of price. Such a subsidy to agri<
mlture would anyway be a much more sensible plan than the 
present subsidies amounting to some £8,000,000 per annum 
granted by the Government to the growing of wheat and of 
sugar-beet ! 

The Government's present agricultural policy, which is more 
concerned to make farming "pay". than to develop the food resources 
of the country, has done nothing to expand markets. It 
is aimed instead at restricting supplies in order to raise prices. 
While tariffs and quotas have been imposed on foreign foods, 
new machinery has been set up de igned to assist the home farmer 
to limit production at home. The effects are now beginning to be 
felt. We pay more for our food. but we buy less of it. The 
children are worse off, and the farmers no better off than before. 

THE OUTLINE OF A SCHEME. 

Amendment of the 1906 Act. 

The Provision of Meals Act, 1906, has never at any time 
been accepted by socialists, except as a half-way measure. \\'hen 
the Act was passed, school feeding was at the stage of experiment, 
but after nearly thirty years of experience its value has 
been proved beyond all di pute. \Vhile there may be practical 
difficulties in the way of establishing all at once a universal 
scheme of school feeding, the time is clearly overdue when further 
steps should be taken to meet the more urgent needs of the 
position. The first tep to this end "·ould be a revision of the 
1906 Act. 

The weakness, as \Ye have seen, of the existinrr law is its 
permissive character. Authorities are not obliged to operate it. 
In order, moreover, to do so, they must first of all declare that 
there are "necessitous" children in the area and voluntary funds 
are not forthcoming to feed them. Where the parents are able 
to pay, they are under a legal obligation to recover a part, or the 
whole, of the cost. The time has nO\Y come when these conditions 
should be removed. Authorities should be granted full and unconditional 
powers in respect of provision of meals, and the duty 
further imposed on theri1 to secure that no child attending a 
state-aided school should Jack the essentials of a satisfactory diet. 

Milk Meals for All. 

The case for supplementary milk meals, and the urgent need 
to extend the present provision, has been fully discussed in 


2! 

previous sections. Under the scheme instituted by the National 
Milk Publicity Council, a daily ration of one-third of a pint of 
milk is supplied to any child whose parents have agreed to pay 
for it. The milk allowance, admittedly, is inadequate, but the 
Council are not at the moment in a position to increase it. Experience 
shows that ie,,· parents are ,,·illing or able to pay more than 
ld. per clay, and the dairies do not see their way to supplying more 
milk at the price. The choice of a dairy rests with the teachers, 
who are responsible for serving out the milk, and also for collecting 
the pennies from the parents. The milk is delivered by the 
clair~ 
-in bottles, one bottle for each child, out of which he drinks 
his portion. A minimum of trouble is thus caused to the teacher, 
and practically no outlay is needed on the part of the authority. 
The great obstacle in the ,,-ay of extending the scheme is the 
difficulty of collecting pennies from poor families. 

The proposal is that this scheme should now be extended to 
all state-aided schools, and authorities required to supply, free 
of charge, not less than half-a-pint of milk per day to every 
child under the age of sixteen. In the case of debilitated children, 
an additional half-pint could be given on the advice of the school 
doctor. Milk meals would thus be made a part of ordinaryschool routine. Apart from the objections already discussed to 
dividing the children into "necessitous" and "non-necessitous" 
groups, the collecting of pennies in a compulsory scheme would 
be almost impossible to carry out. 

If milk meals are to be provided on a large scale, some 
inconvenience may be caused to farmers and dairies, who have 
to adju t their supplies to the days when the schools are closed, 
and this in turn \YOuld be reflected in the price. For this reason, 
as well as from the standpoint of health, it \Yould be desirable 
that milk meals should be continued so far as possible on Saturdays 
and during the holidays. It is not a case for compulsion; 
but. "·here parents gave notice that they wished their child t<t 
receive milk meals on other than school days, the authorityshould be required to make the necessary arrangements at the 
school or some other convenient centre. It is the poorer families 
who may be expected to take the greater advantage of an opportunity 
of this kind. In the case of better-off families, any falling 
off during the holidays in the school demand would tend to be 
compensated to some extent by increased consumption at such 
times in the homes. 

::\"OTE.-Children under five not attending school are outside 
the reference of the present discussion, but it is plain that 
all the arguments in favour of the provision of milk meals are 
equally strong in their case. The necessary arrangements coul<!l. 
be made by the local public health authority, and the milk distributed 
through the infant welfare centres. 


22 

Children over Eleven and the School Canteen. 


Half-a-pint of milk is estimated to supply about one-third of 
the total first-class protein requirements of an average child. 
The value of such a meal as a supplementary diet would obviously 
be greater in relation to total requirements in the ea e of 
younger than of older children, whose dietetic needs approximate 
to, or may even exceed, those of adults. It is also at the stage 
of adolescence, when growth is accelerated and the on et of 
puberty imposes an exceptional drain on vitality, that the resuiL 
of underfeeding are likely to be most serious. The cost to the 
parents of maintaining the dependent family bears at the same 
time each year more heavily as the children grow older, and 
relief to the fami ly income is at this point most needed. The 
high incidence of defect discovered in working boys aged 14-16 
-in London, a recent enquiry into boys' clubs sho,,·ed a figure 
of 75 per cent-cannot be wholly unconnected with deficiencies 
of diet in earlier years, and the consequent ah ence of physical 
reserves to fall back upon. l\Ialnutrition is by no means unknown 
in secondary schoois. In London. 7.2 per cent. of 
secondary school boys and 12.2 per cent. of girls are reported 
a subnormal in nutrition.* The figures are actually higher than 
those for London children in elcmentarv chool . From the 
physiological standpoint. there is thus a -pecial case as regards 
adolescents for the provi ion of something more than milk meals. 

The concentration of children over eleven in separate senirr 
of "central"' schools. "·hich maY be situated at some distance 
from the children'<; homes, has at the same time created in manv 
areas a new problem. \\'here the distance between the school 
and the home compels large numbers of childr n to remain :1t 
school for the midday meal. authoritie have for practical reasons 
been obliged to e. tablish school canteen . which provide some 
form of hot dinner. The school canteen is ah·ead,· a \\ell-knO\\n 
feature of the secondary school, and many autho;·itie to-day. :n 
building new senior or ..central" schools. include a kitchen and 
dining-hall as part of the normal equipment. These canteens 
are run for the most part on a voluntary and self-supportmg 
basis. The cost of tht. food is charged to the parents and. m 
secondary schools, costs of cooking and service as well. For this 
reason, full use of the school canteen i only made by childrtn 
of a relatively \\ell-to-do class. The poorer children either 
struggle to get home for dinner, or el e they bring their andwiches 
to school and buy at mo~t a cup of hot coffee or cncc•a. 
lt is cu tomary for the teachers to take turns in supervi~ing-the 
school meal, while the children \\·ait ior the most part <,n tht:mselves. 
The need for supervision and attendance, which are 

*Annual ]{eport on Public Health, 1932. p. 14. 


,

__?' 

-important factors in the cost of school dinners, and may invoh·,_ 
a heavy burden on the teachers, is obviously much less in th~ 
case of older children than it is in that of little ones, many ot 
whom require constant personal attention. Experience hov,-~ 
that meals provided directly through the school organisation are 
in general much more satisfactory in character than those contracted 
for through an outside agency. 

lt is. therefore. proposed that authorities should be requireu. 
to establish school canteens in all schools or departments for 
<:hildren over eleven, and to supply dinners, free of charge, on eac• 
school day, a part of the ordinary school routine. The schemt: 
should be extended to grant-aided secondary schools as well as 
to schools coming under the elementary heading. Where fees 
are charged, the cost of the food supplied could, if desired, b 
added to the fee. The dinner should be required to contain, a · 
advised by the Chief .:\Ieclical Officer,* not less than t\\·o-third~ 
of the child's total requirements of ''animal" protein. A child 
over eleven receiving school dinners as well as milk meals "·ould 
thu be as t11·ccl his full supply of ''first-class" protein. 

Provision for Necessitous and Debilitated Children. 

The uni' ersal pro1 ision of milk meals, together 11·ith dinner~ 
ior children over eleven. IH)tdd go at least a long way to mak~ 
good the pre ent deficiencies in children's dietaries. The younger<:hildren coming from normal working-class homes \\·ould not 
be entitled under the scheme to school dinners. but, in largefamilies especially, they ,,-ould gain to some extent indirectly 
from the fewer mouths to be feel at home. The g-reat merit of 
the scheme is that it would place school feeding for the first 
time on a pmper basis as part of the ordinary school routine, 
and remove it definitely from the sphere o'f mere public assistance 
or medical relief.* Special provision would, however, still 
have to be made for the poorest families. The remedy for 
unemployment, or for low wages, is not the "soup kitchen," 
but so long as these evils persist it is obvious that such 
children must be properly feel, and also the child referred bythe school doctor as subnormal in nutrition. 

The best plan here seems to be that the Board of Education 
should prescribe an income scale, to be based on the minimum 
cost of a satisfactory diet (say 6s. per "man" value at current 
prices), below which authorities would be required, on applica


*Annual Report, Board of Education, 1931, p. 96. 
*It is interesting to note that in 1922 the Standing ]oint Committee of 
Indu trial Women's Organisation put forward proposals for school 
dinners, and other allowances in kind, as part of a general scheme of 
family endowment. This scheme was subsequently adopted by the 
Labour 'li'omen's Conference. 


2-J. 

tion from the parents, to provide, in addition to milk meals or 
other meals supplied as part of the ordinary school routine, 
school dinners and, if necessary, school breakfasts and teas, free 
of charge, to all children, irrespective of age, in need of them. 
Such an income scale may be expected, under present conditions. 
to cover the great majority of unemployed families, who have 
no means of subsistence other than unemployment benefit or 
transitional payment, and also a proportion of employed families 
living below the "poverty" line. It would be a definite advantage 
of the scheme that the school meal, unlike any form of 
money allowance, could not be diverted to the payment of rent, 
or to any other purpose. The full value received would go in 
extra nourishment for the child. Children should not be debarred 
from enjoying school meals because their parents are 
receiving poor law relief. The Government's present policy, 
which discourages the provision of meals to such families, exceptin special circumstances, should be reversed. In the case of 
very poor families, it would be necessary that dinners should 
be given on Saturdays and during the holidays as well as on 

school days.

The periodical physical examination of the children should 
at the same time be made as thorough as possible, and authorities 
required to feed borderline cases as well as cases of actual 
malnutrition. Extra nourishment ordered by the school doctor 
should be given without reference to the family income, and in 
such form as he may prescribe. The cost in this case, if desired, 
could be recovered from well-to-do parents. 

The Cost of the Scheme. 

The cost of carrying out the scheme would depend on many 
variable factors, and •can only, therefore, be very roughly estimated. 
It would be determined, on the one hand, by the number 
of children to be feel each day; on the other hand, by the price 
of food and the ability of authorities to buy cheaply in the wholesale 
market. 

The total number of children in tate-aided schools, who 

would be entitled under the scheme to receive milk meals, is 

approximately 6,000,000, of whom about 2,000,000 are children 

over eleven who would receive dinners in addition. The latter 

figure includes, however, some 400,000 children over eleven in 

secondary schools, trade schools, etc., of whom about one-half 

are fee-payers. Assuming that the parents in this case woul<.i 

continue to pay the cost of the dinner, either directly or in the 

form of increased fee , the number of children over eleven wh<t 

would receive dinners, free of charge, may be estimated at 

1,800,000. 


25 
The number of "necessitous" children, for whom additional 

provision would be required, is not so easy to detern1ine. It 
·would obviously diminish with a return to prosperity. There 
are to-day (September 1933) some 2,000,000 adult men on the 
unemployment registers, equivalent to about 22.5 of the insured 
population. On the assumption that the proportion of school 
-children, ,,·hose fathers are unemployed, to the total school 
population is abo~1t the same as the percentage of unemployment 
among in ured nule per ons, the number of children he-
longing to unemployed families would be roughly 1,200,000. 
These children, however, \\·ould anyway be entitled under the 
.scheme to milk meals, and children over eleven to dinners 
besides. This would lea,·e 800,000 children under eleven, of 
whom at least one-half. or 400,000, may be expected to apply 
for dinners. To this number must again be added some thousands 
of employed families living below the "poverty" line, or 
where the breachvinner is working half-time, say, another 
100,000 children under eleven, for whom it \Youlcl be necessary 
to provide dinners. The needs of the "debilitated" child would, 
-in great measure, be met by the general provision of milk meals, 
together ·with dinners for adolescents. The number of "debilitated" 
children under eleven (other than those belonging to 
"necessitous" families) may thus be expected to be relatively 
small. The cost of the meal could, moreover, be recovered in 
this case from well-to-do parents. 

No exact calculation can be formed of the number of 
children who would require meals on Saturdays and during the 
holidays. For the purpose of a rough estimate, it may be assumed 
that about one-third of all children, or some 2,000,000, would 
apply for milk meals. and about one-half of "necessitous" 
children, or some 250,000, would apply for dinners on other than 
school days. 

Costs per meal would vary mainly with fluctuations in food 
prices. Under the present arrangement between the National 
l\Iilk Publicity Council and the dairies, the price of milk supplied 
to the schools has been fixed at 6d. a gallon. The price is about 
the same as the average charge made to the private householder, 
and 1d. more than the charge made to hotels and restaurants 
which buy milk at contract prices, but the price does not here 
provide for costs of bottling, etc., such as are included in the 
school price. In view, however, of the wide margin which exists 
between the dairy price and the price received by the farmer 
tbetween ltd. and 2t d. a quart in the case of surplus milk), t_he 
authority should certainly be able to contract for large supp~tes 
of milk at the hotel price of 5d. a quart, or 1td. per half-pmt, 
including all costs of bottling, etc. There. is no reason to supp~se 
that costs of bottling would be greater m the case of half-pmt 
than of third-pint bottles. 


26 


Costs per meal in the case of school dinners vary widelyfrom one area to another. Thus, London reckons the cost of 
food alone at 4d. per meal. In some places, where each school 
caters for itself, the cost is 5d.; while other schools, those especially 
,,·hich grow their own vegetables, have brought down the 
cost to 2d., and even to 11d. In order, however, to secure that 
the meal should contain a full share of "animal" protein, it 
would be wise to take an average figure of 4d. Some further 
adjustment would be needed to meet differences in the food 
requirements of older and younger children. Assuming an 
average food cost of 4d. per dinner, the adjusted figure could be 
stated at 41-d. for older children and 3id. for younger children. 
These figures take no account of possible reductions in food 
prices, where the authority may be able to deal directly with the 
producer. 

To the cost of food something more must be added for 
eo ts of cooking, fuel, etc., and service. In London, where 
wages are relatively high, these costs are estimated at about 2d. 
per dinner, making an average total cost of 6d. per dinner. Costs 
of service, however, could be substantially reduced in the case 
of school canteens for children over eleven, who may be expected 
for the mo t part to wait on themselves. Costs of cooking, fuel, 
etc.. vary again to some extent with the number of children to 
be fed. and the regularity with which the dinners are supplied.
An all-round total cost of 6d. per dinner would be a not unreasonable 
e timate. Of this sum, expen es other than food 
would represent about one-quarter as regards older children 
supplied regularly with dinners, and rather more than two-thirds 
in the case of younger children receiving dinners only from 
time to time. 

On the above basis, the cost of the scheme may be stated 

as follo·ws :£ 
l\lilk meals supplied to 6,000,000 children at l±d. 
per meal on five days a week for 44 weeks 
Extra milk meals supplied to 2.000,000 at l±d. 
per meal on Saturdays and during the holidayDinners supplied to 1,800,000 children over 
eleven at 6d. per meal on five days a week for 
44 weeks 
6,875,000 
958,000 
9,900,000 
Dinners supplied to 500,000 necessitous children 
under eleven at 6d. per meal on five days a week 
for 44 weeks ' 2,750,000 
Lxtra dinners supplied to 250,000 necessitous 
children at 6d. per meal on Saturdays and duringthe holidays 575,000 

Total ... £21,091.000 



27 


How the Money Should be Raised. 


Under the present grant formula, education authorities are 
able to recover from the Board of Education one-half of their 
total net expenditure on school meals. The cost is thus borne 
equally between local rates and the Exchequer.

The larger the volume of public expenditure the more important 
it is that the burden should be equitably spread. Local 
rates to-day bear very unevenly over the country. They presslightly on rich areas, but heavily on poor areas. Thus, in well-
to-do residential resorts, such as Bournemouth, Eastbourne, or 
Hove, rates in the £ are 7s., 7s. 6d., 7s. lld. respectively, while 
in poverty-stricken industrial areas such as Rhondda, Caerphilly, 
or Merthyr Tydfil, they are as high as 23s., 23s. 6d., even 27s. 7d. 
The result is that, where the need for school meals is greatest, 
the authority can least afford to provide them. Rates bear again 
unfairly on households within the same area. They are, in effect, 
a tax on house-room. Large families pay more than small 
families. There is no necessary relation between rates and familyincome. Unlike income-tax, rates are a direct charge on industryand commerce. They have to be paid before a profit can be 
made, or if no profit is made at all. This unfairness has, in fact, 
been recognised by Parliament, and substantial relief given in 
recent years to manufacturers and farmers, but at the expenseof the householder and the shopkeeper. High rates are at least 
a contributory factor in the high level of retail prices, which 
bear again more heavily on small incomes than on large ones. 
In any but the richest areas, a rise in rates would be a much 
more serious affair than an increase in national t<L"Xation. 

It is, therefore, proposed that grants from the Exchequerin respect of school meals should be raised from 50 per cent. 
to 80 per cent. of the total net expenditure. In order to avoid 
extravagance on the part of local authorities, as well as to secure 
the greatest measure of efficiency, it would be advisable that 
the Board should fix a maximum cost per meal (subject to price 
fluctuations) and a minimum content. It would be a definite 
advantage that school dietaries should be brought under the more 
direct supervision of the Board's medical staff. The marked 
improvement in recent years in the dietaries in children's residential 
homes may be very largely attributed to the guidancecoming from the Central Department. 

Conclusion. 

Great as would be the gain to the children from the scheme 
and, ultimately, to the nation as a whole, it may yet appear to 
the taxpayer, who has to pay the bill, that a sum of £21,000,000 
a year is a lot of money to be spent on the feeding of school 


-children. \Ve are, most of us, creatures of habit. We are accustomed, 
as taxpayers, to spend largely on some things, say, wars 
and war debts, and we do so as a matter of course. We are 
not accustomed, as taxpayers, to spend largely on other things,
say, education and the school medical services, and to do so seems 
to us shocking. It is then primarily a matter of a change of 
fashion. 

A sum of £21,000,000 is no doubt a lot of money to be 
spent on anything. Yet it is only a fraction-hardly more than 

0.5 per cent.-of the total national income. It is roughly equivalent 
to, say, another 4-!d. on the income-tax, or an all-round 
rise of 6d. a week on the earnings of all occupied persons. We 
are, after all, a rich, even an extravagant, people. In our more 
frivolous moods, we do not hesitate to spend in hundreds of 
millions of pounds on, say, tobacco and drink, joy-rides and 
cinemas, sports, gambling, cosmetics, and such-like adult indulgencies. 
Nor does it appear that there is a particular virtue in 
not spending. The economists teach, on the contrary, that the 
purpose of money is to spend it. That is, they say, what money 
is for. We may, of course, spend wisely or foolishly, productively 
or wastefully, for public or private purposes. We may he 
the richer, or the poorer, in consequence, though hardly so pooras we should be from not spending at all. It is up to those who 
are opposed to school feeding on the ground of expense to 
explain how money could be better or more productively spent 
than on "the slow unfolding in growth of the best potentialqualities, physical and mental, innerent in the child at birth." 

SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS. 


The main proposals of the scheme may be summed up as 
follows:


(1) The Provision of Meals Act, 1906, should be amended 
so that authorities would be granted full and unconditional 
powers in respect of school meals, and the duty further imposed 
on them of securing that no child in a state-aided school should 
lack the essentials of a satisfactO?'Y diet. 
(2) Authorities should be required to establish a system of 
milk meals in all state-aided schools, and to supply, free of 
charge, not less than half-a-pint of milk, on each school day, as 
pO!Yt of the ordinary school routine. Milk meals should be supplied 
on Saturda·ys and during the holidays on notice being given 
by the parents that they wished the child to receive them. 
(3) Authorities sho.uld be required to establish school 
canteens in all schools or departments for children over eleven, 
and to supply dinners, free of charge, on each school day as 
part of the ordinary school routine. The provision sho.uld be 
extended to grant-aided secondary schools as well as to senior 
schools and departments coming under the elementary heading. 
In the case of fee-paying parents, the cost of the meals could, if 
desired, be added to the fee. 
(4) The Board of Education should prescribe an income-
limit, based on the minimum cost of a satisfactory diet, below 
which awthorities should be required, on application from the 
parents, to, provide, in addition to milk meals and other meals 
given as part of the ordinary routine, school dinners, and if 
necessary, breakfasts and teas, free of charge, to all children, 
irrespective of age, in need of them. In the case of very poorfamilies meals should be given to "necessitous" children on 
Saturdays and during the holidays as well as on scho,ol days. 
(5) Authorities should be required to provide extra nourish-
ment in a.tl cases, including borderline cases, where the child i.r 
referred by the school doctor as subnormal in nutrition, without 
reference to the family income, and in such way as he may prescribe. 
The cost in this case coruld be recovered from well-to-do 
families. 
(6) The Board's grant in respect of school meals should be 
raised from 50 per cent. to 80 per cent. of the total net expendittwe. 
The Board should fix a maximum cost per meal and a 
minimu.m content. 

TI-IE FABIAN SOCIETY. 


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THE FABIAN .SOCIETY. 

Established 1883. 

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP. 

BASIS. 

The Fabian Society consists of Socialists. 

It therefore aims at the reorganisation of Society by the emancipation of Land and 
lndu,trial Capital from individual ownership, and the vesting of them in the community 
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............as my first subscription. 


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Parhamentary Co11stituency. 

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