At the same time, and though, no doubt, there has
been in some places very acute distress, one very consoling fact has emerged : the people as a whole have evidently a good deal more put by than is usually imagined. The present writer, for example, only the other day came across the case of a young man of the working class under thirty who had never had very high wages or any windfalls and who had yet saved £100. We may add that no one would have expected this satisfactory fact from his surroundings or way of life. He was in no sense an exceptional man, and undoubtedly there are plenty like him. Bit though one is sorry that savings have been depleted, in one sense the advantages of saving have had a great advertisement. There are hundreds of thousands of families in the country to-day where men feel that but for money saved they would in the past month not only have suffered in body, but have also endured the extreme humilia- tion of having to obtain relief from publics or private sources.
Previous page
