What strikes one in comparing the Paris system with that obtaining in English towns is the thoroughness with which the problem is tackled in Paris and the widespread interest taken by the citizens generally in the work of the _Caisses_. No half measures content them. From the first the work has been educational, the primary object of the _Caisses_ being to encourage school attendance rather than to relieve distress. The educational progress of the children, the improvement in their physique, the raising of the standard of manners and cleanliness, all show that the results have amply justified the expenditure.[599] Footnote 599: For the above description, see, besides the references already quoted, Report of London School Board on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, Appendix IX., pp. 262-5; "The Cantines Scolaires of Paris," by Marcel Kleine, in _Report of Proceedings of the International Congress for the Welfare and Protection of Children_, 1906, pp. 65-82; "Feeding School Children: The Experience of France," in the _Manchester Guardian_, February 22, 1906; "Children's Care Committees in Paris," in the _Morning Post_, March 19, 1909; "School Canteens in Paris," by Miss M. M. Boldero, in the _School Child_, July, 1910; _School Feeding, its History and Practice at Home and Abroad_, by Louise Stevens Bryant, 1913, pp. 77-93; Conseil Municipal de Paris, Proces Verbal, June 25, 1909, December 31, 1909, March 23, 1910. (ii) Provision in other French Towns. Paris was not the first municipality in France to interest itself in the provision of school meals. The pioneer town in this respect seems to have been Angers, where as early as 1871 the Societe de Fourneau des Ecoles Laiques was founded with the support of the municipality, to provide hot dinners, either free or at a cost of 10 centimes, during the winter.[600] Towards the close of the nineteenth century many municipalities were providing meals, either directly or indirectly through voluntary organisations. Footnote 600: _School Feeding_, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913, pp. 93-94. Thus at Havre, in 1898, the municipality was making a grant of L500 to a voluntary society; meals were provided for 10 centimes, or were given free in cases of poverty; about five-eighths of the children who attended paid for the meals.[601] Footnote 601: London School Board, Report on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, p. 265.