THE  HOUSING  QUESTION

9i

position  was  grave  in  the  extreme.  And,”  continued  the  lecturer, ­
  "  the  building  of  houses  is  being  stopped  in  the  holy  interests
of  economy.  Was  there  ever  such  a  false  idea  of  what  real
wealth  is  ?  Wealth  is  not  money.  If  we  can  provide  houses
we  shall  be  building  up  real  wealth.  It  is  the  opposition  of  the
Minister  of  Health  to-day  that  is  keeping  houses  from  the  people,
and  our  own  folly  in  not  spending  money  on  our  houses.  Bradford
wanted  10,000  more  houses,”  continued  Dr.  Buchan,  "  excluding
about  5,000  which  should  replace  unfit  ones,  and  they  were  to
have  only  800.  People  were  being  overcrowded  in  miserable
dens.  Venereal  disease  was  not  so  far  apart  from  housing  as  was
thought.  The  great  barrier  to  it  should  be  a  proper  environment
at  home.  It  was  the  worst  where  homes  were  worst.  Among
the  decent  working-classes  there  was  least  of  it,  and  it  was  most
prevalent  among  the  richest  and  the  most  miserable  poor.  In
slumdom  the  people  could  not  help  not  having  moral  ideals,
and  the  rich  seemed  to  have  too  much  money  to  spend  to  cultivate
them."
The  following  further  quotation  from  Sir  Alfred
Mond’s  speech  in  Parliament  on  13th  March,  1922,
and  its  refutal  by  his  own  political  supporter,  Colonel
Fremantle,  Chairman  of  the  L.C.C.  Housing  Committee,
is  significant:—
Sir  Alfred  Mond  :  "  .  .  .  The  last  census  shewed  that  in
normal  times  you  have  430,000  empty  houses  of  the  working-class
kind.  My  point  is  that  all  these  houses  have  been  filled  with
tenants,  and  that  fact  has  never  been  taken  into  account.”
Viscountess  Astor  :  “  Were  they  uninhabited  ?  ”
Sir  A.  Mond  :  "  Yes.  We  all  know  that  there  was  throughout
the  country  a  certain  number  of  empty  houses.  ...  I  know
that  a  large  number  have  disappeared,  and  this  has  no  doubt
relieved  the  situation  to  a  considerable  extent.
Colonel  Fremantle,  :  “.  .  .  The  Right  Hon.  Gentleman ­
  made  one  point  which  must  be  explained  or  I  will  challenge
it  as  wrong.  He  said  that  there  were  450,000  empty  houses