32 HOW TO PAY FOR THE WAR

family. This proposal was rightly criticised onthe ground that the resulting allowance wasinadequate. The foUowing scheme goes muchfurther and is, I venture to think, a greatimprovement.

For some years past the weight of opinion hasbeen growing in favour of family allowances. Intime of war it is natural that we should be moreconcerned than usual with the cost of living; andas soon as there is a threat of a rising cost of livingand a demand for higher wages to meet it, thequestion of family allowances must come to thefront. For the burden of the rising cost of livingdepends very largely on the size of a man'sfamily. At first sight it is paradoxical to proposein time of war an expensive social reform whichwe have not thought ourselves able to afford intime of peace. But in truth the need for thisreform is so much greater in such times that itmay provide the most appropriate occasion for it.

I share the view held by many others that thisis so. I recommend, therefore, that a familyallowance of 5s. per week should be paid in cashfor each child up to the age of fifteen. I amestimating the net cost of this at £100,000,000 thebasis for which is explained in Appendix III .

Is this provision enough? We have to considerthe fairly large class with small incomes whichwill not be increased by the war, or at any ratenot sufficiently to keep pace with the increasein the cost of living. And there is the demand ofthe Trade Unions for some security against therisk that the rise in prices will outstrip the level