Allied to this subject is the enormous waste caused by ignorance of cookery.  A really excellent dinner in France or in Switzerland is often made from materials which would be despised in this country.  Anyone who is in the habit of roaming about the country on foot or on a bicycle will know that in many parts it is impossible to get a decent meal; the provision made is frequently nasty without being cheap.  In rural districts in France delicious meals can be obtained at a lower price.  Domestic economy should be taught in every school, and to people of every rank, but the teaching should be practical.  I remember wishing to see in an excellent school something of the teaching of domestic economy, and found the girls and boys, instead of learning to cook, were learning what was called science, writing down in copy-books “the operative principle of tea is theme.”  This kind of pseudo-science, teaching people to write a jargon which conveys no meaning to their minds, is one of the things which is called education, but is really mental demoralisation.  The process may be continued, perhaps, in classes on “practical citizenship” for adolescents, who will be taught to say “the operative principle for the amelioration of states is democratisation.”  Great improvements in the teaching of domestic economy have been made during the last few years in many places, but there is no doubt that an enormous amount of waste is due to ignorance and neglect in the choice and preparation of food.

Again, every possible effort should be made to encourage habits of thrift, and to provide satisfactory modes of investment for small savings.  As regards this question, War conditions have positively had a beneficial effect.  The need for all classes to contribute to War Loans has been recognised; facilities to enable the small investor to contribute have been carefully arranged, and the War Savings Committees have done admirable work in bringing the question home to the people.  The result has been on the whole most satisfactory.  Not only has a very substantial sum been provided towards meeting the cost of the War, but habits of thrift have been fostered, and the sense of having a stake in the country, a direct financial interest in the national funds, makes for order and will form an element of stability in national life which will be invaluable.

Notwithstanding the “ingrained prejudice against thrift” among the majority of all classes, which is a marked characteristic of the English nation as compared, for example, with the French, the number of holders of national securities has increased enormously.  Before the outbreak of the War it appears that only 345,100 persons held securities of the British Government.  It was estimated that at the end of the year 1917 Government securities had been distributed among no fewer than 16 million persons, including 10 million holdings of War Savings Certificates.[8] It was further estimated that “during 1917 over 51 millions