The Case for Family Allowances. By Eleanor F. Rathbone, M.P.
(" Penguin Special." 6d.) The Case for Family Allowances. By Eleanor F. Rathbone, M.P. (" Penguin Special." 6d.) SIXTEEN years ago Dr. Rathbone produced a book, The Dis- inherited Family, in which she produced a powerful—indeed, an overwhelming—case for the institution of family allowances. Here she has brought the argument up to date, presenting it succinctly but in sufficient fullness for the purposes of a " Penguin Special." She shows how the system of wage-payments breaks down when they have to provide for men with wives and children. A wage that may be more than adequate for a bachelor is insufficient tc keep a family of five from poverty, involving malnutrition foe the children. No raising of the standard wage such as wou:,: be feasible today or in the near future would avert poverty from large families—and never before was it so evident that the State needs the procreation of children. The present system is such that under it children will always be the largest proportion c: persons living in conditions of poverty. The obvious remedy an adjustment of payments so that whole families will receive more than single individuals. This might be provided by State payments, or contributory insurance, or by means of equalisation funds administered by industry. Dr. Rathbone argues that the time for this reform was never so favourable as in this present war-time. It is " ripe for a bold, imaginative effort to cut at the root of a form of discontent which may seriously impede our war effort." The author has presented an unanswerable case with lucidity and authority.
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