Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/589

 lwws 567 not merely the relative, merit of his work. The, quality by which above all it is characterised is its unimpeachable honesty. There is no desire either to overstate or to understate the facts: the palpable wish of Mr. Booth himseft, and of all who have aided him, is to ascertain and to present the truth. He is ready at every opportunity to lay bare the method of investigation which has been pursued; and in this volume he supplies exact copies of specimen pages from the note-books used. The primary sources of his information have been the School Board visitors; and his calculations are based on the assumption, as explained in his first volume, that as is the condition of families with school children, so on the whole will be that of the entire population, or, so far as there is any difference, better rather than worse. He follows in the present volume the same division of the population into eight classes, of which A, B, C and D, represent those in' poverty,' and amount for all London to some 30 per cent., and E, F, G, and H comprise those in' comfort,' and amount to some 69 per cent. Of the first four classes, A, which is the lowest and consists of ' loafers and semi-criminals,' only ac- counts for some '9 per cent.' and B for 7'5 per cent. These results indicate an increase of 6 per cent. of poverty over those previously obtained for East London alone; and for the difference ' South London and the district about Holborn are mainly responsible.' An area with about 33,000 inhabitants lying between Blackfriars and London Bridge has close upon 68 per cent. of poor; and, whatever method of comparison we adopt, ' at every point South London takes the lead in this miserable competition.' In extending his inquiry from East London to the whole Metropolis, Mr. Booth states that his inethod of investigation has been so far altered as to take the street as the limit rather than the family, and to postpone for the most part the question of occupation to a subsequent volume. The streets are classified, and coloured on the maps in various shades, according as their inhabitants belong in the main to the different classes. The colour black on these maps corresponds to A, dark blue to B, light blue to C and D, purple to C and D with E and F, and a mixture of B, pink to E and F, with a proportion of G, red to middle- class families with one or two servants, and yellow to the wealthy. It is in this classification of streets that the thoroughness of Mr. Booth's inquiry is perhaps most evident; for after, the particulars given in the note-books had been utilised, and the classification had been' revised' by his secretaries, who ' walked over the whole ground,' and by the School Board visitors, it was then referred to the relieving officers, and to the agents of the Charity Organisation Society; and the police were consulted with regard to the black streets, and the clergy and district- visitors with reference to ' most of the poorer parts.' Descriptions are given with considerable and interesting detail of samples of the various streets, in most cases under reigned names, and these are followed by tables in which the sample streets, with the exception of those coloured black, are' arranged according to the proportion found in them