Page:The character and extent of air pollution in Leeds - (A lecture delivered before the Leeds Philosophical Society, on March 3rd, 1896.) By Julius B. Cohen (IA b21534160).pdf/7

7 health, that they are therefore a source of danger to the community, and should not be permitted to exist longer than is needful for their removal.

And there is another weighty consideration, which should encourage us to take these matters in hand with as little delay as possible. We know from the Registrar-General's report, that three-quarters of the whole population of England and Wales has drifted into the towns. Over twenty millions of English people are dwellers in cities, and in those clusters of small daughter towns, which have grown up around them with all the harsh features, but with none of the elevating influences of the parent city.

If the conditions of life in towns are unhealthy, and if the air, the very fountain of health, is polluted, then we have to face this fact, that three-quarters of the whole population are living under these conditions, and that, in proportion as the rural population diminishes, the invigorating admixture of country labour will decrease. Mr. Acland stated in an address delivered a little time ago, that "all those who are making a careful study of the condition of our towns were perfectly aware of this fact, that a great deal of the work in the towns, which necessitated strong and healthy men, was done by those who had been brought up in country homes and not in towns." It is just worth while considering what might happen, if country homes should disappear or cease to feed the town with healthy labour.