The Journey to Work. By K. Liepmann, Ph.D. (Kegan Paul.
15s.)
THE chief value of this study is that it reveals the lack of data on one very important factor in the health and happiness of the workers of the nation. Do workers prefer to live near or apart from their work? Do the majority really want to grow vegetables? What effect has (i) a long journey, (ii) a crowded or otherwise difficult journey on absenteeism, sickness, output? How large a proportion of the family income is swallowed up in fares? Does distance from work mean a lower rent? (Dr. Liepmann thinks not, but she scarcely touches on the related question of whether it means better and roomier housing.) These are a few of the problems to 'which Dr. Liepmann has been obliged to return inconclusive though interesting answers ; but they are problems to which decisive answers ought to be found. Pending the possible inclusion of suitable questions in a census, we seem to have here a field of investigation in which, e.g., the trade unions might usefully make some original research for the guidance of those who will have the planning of the locat, of post-war homes and workplaces.
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