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CHAPTER XV.
Conclusion.
We do not claim to have prescribed in this chapter for all the evils
associated with housing in the crowded urban and industrial areas, but
we believe that, by a combination of the methods we have discussed, many
of the worst features now in existence could be greatly improved or even
eliminated. There can be no doubt that action is urgently necessary to
counteract the serious effect on the health of the workers for which present
conditions are responsible. Evidence is not lacking that part of the
labour unrest which has characterised industrial development during
recent years is due to the realisation, however vague, onthe part of the
worker that his standard of living is too low and that he can never hope
to raise that standard until his home provides him with a degree of com-
fort which is at present beyond his reach. This awakening sense might
well be used to give him a truer understanding of what can be done to
place him in more sanitary surroundings and what he can himself do to
further that end. Much thought, energy and money will have to be
expended before an appreciable advance can be effected, but of the
argent necessity for such advance there can be no question and every
humanitarian instinct should compel a united and continuous effort to
that end.