6 , Middle-Class Argument"
Sia,—There are many parents with a child at an elementary school who spend thirty shillings a week on amusements and as much again on tobacco. It never occurs to them that, if they dispensed with these indulgences, they could afford to give their child the education which my wife and I choose to provide for ours. Instead, they regard us as undeservedly fortunate.
A similar outlook leads a miner to absent himself from work when he thinks his pay-packet already large enough for his needs. If his horizon were that of the middle class, he would work long hours to secure a house of his own away from his depressing village, a better education for his offspring than the State can provide, and perhaps a car in which to travel to work. At present he either regards these things as beyond his reach or feels it to be the duty of his fellow-countrymen to supply them.
—Yours faithfully, C. J. L. HIBBERD. 37 Meads Road, Guildford, Surrey.
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