PART  II
The  Government’s  Record  in  Slum  Clearance
"  While  the  housing  of  the  working  classes  has  always  been  a
question  of  the  greatest  social  importance,  never  has  it  been  so
important  as  now.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  an  adequate
solution  of  the  housing  question  is  the  foundation  of  all  social
progress.  Health  and  housing  are  indissolubly  connected.  If
this  country  is  to  be  the  country  which  we  desire  to  see  it  become,
a  great  offensive  must  be  undertaken  against  disease  and  crime,
and  the  first  point  at  which  the  attack  must  be  delivered  is  the
unhealthy,  ugly,  overcrowded  house  in  the  mean  street,  which
we  all  of  us  know  too  well.
"  If  a  healthy  race  is  to  be  reared  it  can  be  reared  only  in  healthy
homes  ;  if  infant  mortality  is  to  be  reduced  and  tuberculosis
to  be  stamped  out,  the  first  essential  is  the  improvement  of  housing
conditions  ;  if  drink  and  crime  are  to  be  successfully  combated,
decent,  sanitary  houses  must  be  provided.  If  ‘  unrest  ’  is  to  be
converted  into  contentment,  the  provision  of  good  houses  may
prove  one  of  the  most  potent  agents  in  that  conversion.  .  .
So  spoke  the  King  by  the  advice  of  his  present  Ministers
on  nth  April,  1919,  at  the  start  of  the  Government
Housing  Scheme.  Let  us  see  what  the  Government
have  done  to  make  good  His  Majesty’s  words.
The  law  on  the  subject  is  clear.  The  1919  Housing
Act  provided  that  all  schemes  technically  known  as
Part  I  and  Part  II.  i.e.,  Schemes  providing  for  the
clearance  of  slums  and  of  unfit  houses,  were  to  be
financially  assisted  by  the  Treasury  precisely  in  the
same  manner  as  Part  III  Schemes  (i.e.,  schemes  for
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