When every competent worker is secured regular employment and a living wage, it may be desirable that forms of public provision which exist at present should cease--though, even so, it is possible that the educational value of school meals will lead to their being continued. Till that happy condition is brought about they must be not only continued, but extended and improved. Footnote 533: At Bradford a few years ago an enquiry was made with the object of discovering how far parents were obtaining the meals under false pretences. Two criteria were taken, firstly, whether the parents' statements as to the income earned were corroborated by their employers; secondly, how far the parents voluntarily withdrew their children from the school meals when their circumstances improved. As a result of this enquiry it appeared that not more than 2-1/2 per cent. were unduly taking advantage of the meals. In many cases, where the parents' statements as to income did not tally with the employers' statements, it was found that the parents, in giving their average earnings, had overstated instead of understating them. CHAPTER VII CONCLUSIONS The provision of meals for school children is, as we have pointed out, merely an attempt to mitigate some of the evil effects of industrial disorganisation. The principal end at which Society should aim is the removal of the causes, low wages, casual employment, recurrent periods of unemployment, and bad housing, which make them necessary. But meanwhile, as long as economic conditions remain as they are, some provision must be made for the present generation of school children. And the provision of school meals is not merely a question of relief, it is also a preventive measure. "Every step ... in the direction of making and keeping the children healthy is a step towards diminishing the prevalence and lightening the burden of disease for the adult, and a relatively small rise in the standard of child health may represent a proportionately large gain in the physical health, capacity, and energy of the people as a whole."[534] Footnote 534: Report of Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, p. 1.