to work, or more often to work in the home. Usually they 
drifted into the worst-paid work, swelling the ranks of the 
sweated worker, and dragging down the standard of living for 
single women. These widows and necessitous mothers were to he 
found in every sweated trade, among the chain makers of 
Cradley Heath, in the lace factories, and among the shirt 
makers of our great cities. It had to be emphasised in reply 
to those who were anxious to safeguard the freedom of women 
to work as many hours as possible for as little wages as they 
may receive, that this kind of work in sweated trades was not 
the work that was loved for its own sake. There was no joy 
of craftmanship in it, but needs must when poverty drives. & 
All the natural instincts of motherhood were stunted, children 
were neglected, and in the case of the home worker the whole 
family were pressed into service. 
Baby fingers had to learn to card hooks and eyes. 
In Birmingham slums babies of three and four years 
of age had been found helping their mothers to card 
hooks and eyes as late as nine o’clock at night. These 
children were suffering from want of proper care and medical 
treatment, and the proposal of the Minority Beport was that 
the mother should be allowed as a right an amount fully ade- 
ouate for the maintenance of each of her children. This had 
been called the “Boarding out” of children with their own 
mothers, but that was a contradiction in terms. The plan 
was reallv to enable a woman to support her children and make 
her an ademiate allowance for this purpose. It was necessary 
for the State to see that the mother was able to do her duty 
to her children. This it was proposed should he done by the 
Education Authority in the case of children of school age and 
bv the Health Authority in the case of infants. Children 
ought never to he regarded as paupers at all. The memory 
of that taint followed the child through life and embittered 
manhood or womanhood. Children should be under the 
supervision either of the Education or the Health Authority 
according to age. Every mother should be left with her children 
if possible, and proper provision made for their support, but 
in the ease of mothers for whom circumstances had been too 
much and who had become unfitted to take charge of their 
cVldren, then the children must be treated as orphans and 
boarded out. 
THE AGED AND INFIRM. 
TStr-rti-p,t to the ouestion oftheagedand infirm, these formed 
ore-thUd of all the pawners, although it was difficult to draw 
a line iw-tvppo the infirm and those incapacitated by sick 
ness. TVr umber of old pponle in workhouses had not yet 
been diminished to any very large extent by the granting of