We have not been able to make any original enquiry into the systems of school feeding existing in other countries. The following history of the "Cantines Scolaires" in Paris and brief notes as to the provision made in other foreign towns may, however, be useful for purposes of reference, and as showing how widespread has been the movement for the feeding of school children. The information as to foreign towns other than Paris is derived mainly from Prize Essays on Feeding School Children, 1890; Report of London School Board on Underfed Children attending School, 1899, Appendix ix., pp. 255-272; Feeding of School Children in Continental and American Cities (Cd. 2926), 1906; The Free Feeding of School Children, a reprint of the reports by the Special Sanitary Commissioner of the Lancet, 2nd edition, 1907; while fuller and more recent information is to be found in School Feeding, its Practice at Home and Abroad, by Louise S. Bryant, 1913.

(a) France

(i) The Cantines Scolaires in Paris

Paris has long offered to other cities an inspiring example of an efficient and uniform system for feeding poor school children. She was the first to make systematic provision on a large scale. She had a basis of organisation ready to her hand in the Caisses des Ecoles. These bodies correspond in some degree to the English Care Committees, though with a far wider sphere of action. The original object of these school funds was to encourage school attendance by rewards to industrious pupils and help to the needy. The first Caisse was established in 1849 by the National Guard in the second arrondissement, and gradually the system spread. In 1867 a law was passed encouraging the formation of Caisses in every commune, and directing that their revenues were to consist of voluntary subscriptions and subventions by the commune, department or state.^[584] This law was merely permissive, but in 1882, by the Compulsory Education Law, the establishment of these organisations was made obligatory.^[585] A Caisse was accordingly set up in each of the twenty arrondissements of Paris. Attendance at school being now compulsory, and it being therefore no longer so necessary to provide incentives to attendance, the Caisses, though they still continued to grant prizes, turned their attention more and more to the physical needs of the children, boots, clothing, food, country holidays and, later, crÈches, Savings Banks, skilled apprenticeship and medical treatment. The Caisse was a voluntary body, but was officially recognised by the municipality. The General Committee was composed of the Mayor, the members of the Municipal Council, and the school inspector for the district, together with from twenty to twenty-four persons elected by the subscribers.^[586]

As in other towns, the early attempts at feeding poor school children were due to private initiative; meals were provided by the Caisses des Ecoles or other voluntary associations or by philanthropic individuals. These attempts were unco-ordinated and inadequate to deal with the evil of underfeeding. In 1879 the Municipal Council made an enquiry into the whole question. As a result a scheme was drawn up to place the work on a more satisfactory and uniform basis under public control. The provision of meals was entrusted in each arrondissement to the Caisses des Ecoles, and a grant of 480,000 francs was voted by the Municipal Council to aid them in this work.^[587]

It is interesting to note that it was seriously considered whether the meals should not be supplied free for all children attending the schools. The Council, however, came to the conclusion that, "in freeing the parents of all responsibility with regard to their children, and in accustoming them to evade their duties, they would be running the risk of weakening the family spirit, to the great detriment of the morality both of the children and of the parents."^[588] It was, therefore, decided that free provision should be limited to necessitous children. At the same time it would be difficult to exclude children who were willing to pay for their meals, hence provision should be made for these too.

The voluntary subscriptions which had supported the work before 1880 continued in theory to be the chief resource of the new Cantines Scolaires. These voluntary subscriptions rapidly decreased, being either withdrawn altogether or diverted to the other objects of the Caisses. At the same time both the number of meals provided and the proportion of free meals increased no less markedly. In 1880, the first year in which meals were provided under the new system, only 33 per cent. of the meals were supplied free (the remainder being paid for by the parents); in 1898 this proportion had nearly doubled, being 63 per cent. The municipal subsidy rose correspondingly, and in 1899 amounted to 1,017,000 francs. The Council took fright and appointed a Commission to consider the question, with the result that the grant was restricted to 1,000,000 francs.^[589] This limit has been fairly strictly adhered to, for the grant amounts now to only 1,050,000 francs, though the proportion of free meals has continued slowly to increase.^[590]

Each Caisse is allowed a free hand in the actual details of administration, hence the arrangements vary in the different arrondissements. The want of uniformity has obvious disadvantages, and a proposal was recently made that the system should be centralised, but this would have necessitated the appointment of a large and expensive staff, and it was felt desirable to leave the initiative and responsibility to voluntary workers.^[591] Everywhere the meal is served on the school premises, a kitchen being established for each school or group of schools. The meal is cooked by the cantiniÈres, and is sometimes provided by them at a fixed price per head; more often the Caisse prefers to purchase the materials itself, a more economical method, and one which ensures a better quality of food.^[592] The dinner may consist of one, two or three courses. The food is plentiful and good, well-cooked and well-served, and the menu sufficiently varied. The meals are made as attractive as possible to encourage the better-class parents to make use of them. The price charged varies from 1d. to 2d.; in almost all the arrondissements the charge appears to be below the cost price. No difference is made between the children who pay and those who are on the free list. The teachers do not assist in serving the food, as in England, but are always present to supervise the children, and, in some schools at any rate, they eat their dinner with them. At first the supervision was undertaken voluntarily, but since 1910 the teachers have received an extra remuneration of 1·50 francs a day for this duty.^[593] This sharing in a common meal by all classes alike, together with the presence of the teacher, has had a marked influence on the children's manners. Besides the mid-day meal, which is given by all the Caisses, breakfasts of soup are sometimes supplied to the children who are receiving free dinners, while in some arrondissements, e.g., the eighteenth, a small meal is also given at four o'clock to these children if they remain at school for the "classe de garde."^[594] A further extension has recently been made in the seventeenth arrondissement, where it was decided in 1912 to try the experiment of a "classe de garde" till eight o'clock in the evening, with a supper, for children of widows or widowers who were at work till late, or for other especially poor children, or children with bad homes, the object being both to secure them adequate nourishment and to remove them from the temptations of the streets. For this purpose the Municipal Council voted a sum of 10,000 francs.^[595] Weakly children have codliver oil given to them in winter and syrup of iodide of iron or phosphate of lime in the summer.

The methods of enquiry vary in the different arrondissements. Usually the enquiries are made by a paid investigator, but the numbers of children on the free list are so large that the investigation is as a rule very superficial. The necessity of keeping secret the fact that a child is receiving the meals free also militates against any effective enquiry into the parents' circumstances. The meals are granted for a school year, hence it frequently happens that a child continues to receive them long after the need has passed away.^[596] The enquiries are, as might be expected, the least satisfactory part of the Paris system. In granting the meals the Caisses usually take a generous view; it is held, for instance, that a man earning up to 30s. a week cannot adequately feed and clothe more than three children, and if his family is larger than this the Caisses are prepared to assist him; while widows' children are invariably fed if application is made.^[597]

An interesting feature of the Paris system is the provision of clothes. The municipality insists that the children shall come to school properly clothed; it is ready to provide the requisite garments, but it insists that they shall be kept clean and tidy. Frequent inspections are made for this purpose. The result is a notable raising of the level of cleanliness and tidiness in the schools, both the parents and the children themselves learning to take a pride in their appearance.^[598] So far, indeed, from the work of the Caisses having undermined parental responsibility, it would appear that the reverse is the case, the parents responding to the higher standard demanded of them.

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]

(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 SociÉtÉ de Fourneau des Ecoles LaÏques 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.

Thus at Havre, in 1898, the municipality was making a grant of £500 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]

At Marseilles Cantines Scolaires were organised by the municipality in 1893. Prior to this date meals had been provided in some three or four schools, but only in a haphazard manner by voluntary agencies. By the bye-law of 1893 a committee of twenty-two was to be appointed by the Mayor, and presided over by him or his representative; this committee was to investigate the demands made for free meals. In 1905 about 8 per cent. of the children in the communal schools were dining at school, about half this number paying for the meal; in the infant schools the proportion fed was much greater, viz., 18 per cent., while only about one-sixth of the parents paid. As in Paris, no distinction was made between the paying and the non-paying children. Dinner tickets could be bought at all the police stations; if the parents wished to receive the meals free, they had to make application personally or by letter to the education department; if on investigation they proved to be unable to pay, the municipality provided them with tickets.^[602]

At Nice also Cantines Scolaires were established by the municipality about 1896. Here the object was not so much to feed starving children as to provide a suitable meal for children who came such distances that they were unable to return home at mid-day. The municipality built kitchens, provided all the necessary apparatus, and paid the salaries of the cooks. A penny was charged for a dinner of soup, the meal being given free to those who could not afford to pay. Any deficit was supplied by voluntary subscriptions. In the infant schools, on the other hand, the municipality assumed the entire responsibility, and a hot meal was provided for all the children without payment.^[603]

By 1909 Cantines Scolaires of one kind or another had been very generally established. It appeared that at this date something like three-fifths were supported entirely by public funds, the remainder being so supported indirectly and partially. In many towns where regular cantines had not been instituted, the teachers or janitors served warm soup to the children at a nominal sum. In country districts or smaller towns, the children would bring the raw material for soup and the teacher would prepare it; the children would also bring their own bread, and sometimes wine and cake. Whether any organised provision was made or not, the great majority of the schools everywhere had a stove on which the children could warm any food they brought with them.^[604]

(b) Switzerland

Switzerland was one of the first countries in which provision for necessitous school children became the subject of national legislation. The question early attracted attention. The long distances which many of the children had to walk to school rendered the provision of a mid-day meal of the greatest importance, while clothing and especially boots were little less necessary. After 1890 the system of providing food and clothing was greatly extended. The provision was everywhere made by voluntary societies, but assistance was given from the cantonal and communal funds. The cantonal contribution was derived chiefly from the alcohol monopoly profits and was devoted to this provision for the children's wants on the theory that their misery was in most cases the direct result of parental insobriety!^[605] This method of administration by voluntary societies, subsidised but not controlled by the municipal authorities, proved most extravagant, and led to much abuse, while it aroused sectarian jealousies. The municipalities began, consequently, to take over the direct management of the school meals.^[606] In 1903 the Federal Government issued an order making it obligatory for cantons to supply food and clothing to necessitous children in the public elementary schools. Three years later it authorised the use of state funds for this purpose, on the understanding that in no case should the cantonal or city support be lessened because of this federal support.^[607]

(c) Italy

As in other countries, the early attempts at school feeding in Italy were made by voluntary agencies. In many towns, towards the close of the nineteenth century, Committees of Assistance and Benevolent Funds were instituted to assist poor pupils in the elementary schools, chiefly in the matter of books and clothing, but in several communes of Lombardy and Romagna meals were also given. A small grant, which in 1897 was raised to 120,000 francs (£4,800), was made by the Department of Public Instruction to the school authorities in the large cities, and especially Rome, who provided a mid-day meal for their children.^[608]

The first town in which the municipality undertook the provision of meals was San Remo, in 1896. This policy was inaugurated by the Socialist Council. It was temporarily abandoned in 1898, when a Conservative Council was appointed who preferred the subsidising of voluntary agencies to direct municipal action, but was re-introduced on the return of the Socialists to power some four years later.^[609]

In Milan an agitation for the provision of meals was set on foot in the last decade of the nineteenth century. The municipal authority declined to undertake the work themselves, but advocated the formation of charitable committees to raise subscriptions for the purpose, offering to supplement these voluntary funds with a municipal subvention. This grant amounted in 1897 to about £400.^[610] It was soon found that this system did not work satisfactorily, and the municipality was obliged, though somewhat reluctantly, to assume the responsibility.^[611]

But it is in the small rural town of Vercelli that we find the most remarkable experiment.^[612] Here for some years a charitable committee had been providing meals for children who lived too far from school to go home at mid-day, and the municipality had granted a small subsidy, but it was felt that this provision was entirely inadequate. In 1900 it was decided to provide a meal for all the children attending the elementary schools. The object was not the relief of distress but education in its fullest sense, as distinct from mere instruction. It was argued that the mid-day recess furnished an opportunity for moral education which could not be imparted in the class-room. The teachers would be brought into more intimate relation with the children, while the joining of richer and poorer alike in the common meal and in recreation afterwards would instil sentiments of brotherhood. The meal was to be free to all and attendance compulsory, for rich and poor were to be treated exactly alike. With the same object of preventing class distinctions, clothes were supplied for the poorer children, the municipality providing the material which was worked into garments by the sewing classes. The teachers were to have the same food, though they were allowed a double quantity, and were to eat it with the children. For this extra duty of supervising both the meals and recreation they only received an additional £2 a year. Since the moral rather than the physical welfare of the child was the primary consideration, too little attention was paid to the actual food that was given. The parents, it was argued, could in the great majority of cases amply feed their children at home, hence all that was needed was to supply sufficient food to compensate for the waste of energy during the two and a half hours of morning school. A cold meal of bread and sausage or cheese was given. This did not satisfy the more prosperous children, who would have preferred to pay for a hot meal, and some 10 per cent. of the children, chiefly the richer ones, obtained a medical certificate exempting them from attendance. Nor was the meal sufficient for the poorest children who were suffering from lack of food. To provide a really adequate meal free for all would have been too expensive an undertaking. Accordingly, after some six years, the general free provision was abandoned. Instead, hot soup was provided, which was given free to the poorest children, any others who wished being allowed to receive it on payment of 1·50 lire a month.^[613]

The "School Restaurant" seems to have been established in Italy to a greater extent than in any other country. A very large proportion of the children attend, and a great number of these pay for the meals. In 1908-9 it was found that in forty-three cities the average attendance amounted to 37 per cent. of the total school population; while in several towns the attendance rose to over 70 per cent.^[614]

(d) Germany

In Germany little attention appears to have been paid to the question of feeding school children, apart from their parents, till the closing years of the nineteenth century.^[615] In some of the large towns, at any rate, the arrangements that were made were quite inadequate. In Berlin, for instance, there was in 1890 no society whose chief object was the provision of school meals. A society which provided food for the poor generally had a branch which devoted special attention to the needs of school children, and gave a small sum, generally only 15s. or 20s. a year, to the committee of each parish school, to be used at the headmaster's discretion. Generally milk and bread were given in the headmaster's house.^[616] About 1890 the subject began to attract more attention, especially in connection with the vacation colonies for school children; it was found that the children who were sent to these colonies, on returning to their homes, lost the benefit they had gained, owing to lack of food. On an attempt being made to continue the work of the colonies by feeding some of the children, it was found that thousands of others were also underfed.^[617] In 1897 a Bill was introduced in the Reichstag by the Social Democrats to make provision for school meals in the cities. The Bill was defeated on the ground that it would increase the migration to the cities from the rural districts.^[618] Some ten years later the agitation for national legislation was renewed, as a result of the discovery that from 44 to 46 per cent. of the conscripts for the Imperial Army were rejected on account of physical unfitness.^[619]

In 1909 it was found that out of 189 cities from which information was obtained, in 78 meals were being provided by voluntary societies, without any subsidy from, or control by, the municipal authorities, though these latter usually co-operated in the supervision and service, and often supplied rooms, gas and cooking free; in 68 cities, meals were provided by voluntary organisations, but the city governments subsidised, and usually exercised some control over, their work; while in 43 cities the provision of meals was undertaken entirely by the municipality.^[620]

(e) Austria

In Austria school meals are provided in most of the large towns.

In Vienna the Central Association for feeding necessitous school children was founded in 1887, with the help and approval of the municipality, the Mayor acting as President and the Municipal Council being represented on its Administrative Council. Meals were given from November to April, occasionally at the schools, but more often in restaurants. All the meals were supplied free. The children were selected by the School Managers and the headmaster, and enquiry was made by Local Committees with the help of voluntary workers. The teachers supervised the meals.^[621] In 1888-9, the Municipal Council made a grant to this society towards the provision of food;^[622] by 1896 this municipal subsidy amounted to 50,000 frs. (£2,000), while 52,500 frs. were granted for the supply of clothing.^[623] In 1906 the food subsidy had risen to £3,350.^[624] The provision made was, however, inadequate. Meals were only given during the winter, and were not obtained by all the children who needed them. It was felt that the city ought to assume direct control. In 1909 kitchens and dining-rooms were built in four new public schools.^[625]

(f) Belgium

In most of the Belgian towns in the last decade of the nineteenth century voluntary organisations were to be found whose object was to provide food and clothing for poor school children. This provision was made to enable them to attend school instead of begging in the streets, since education was not compulsory.^[626] In Brussels the chief society was "Le ProgrÈs" Club, which in 1888 commenced the provision of soup dinners in the schools. The Town Council assisted by providing tables and undertaking the carriage of the food to the different centres, and in 1891 by granting a subsidy of 5,000 frs. An application was very soon made for an increase of this subsidy, whereupon the municipality undertook a detailed enquiry into the whole question of the food, clothing, lodging, cleanliness and health of the children in the communal schools. It was found as a result that 16·89 per cent. were badly shod, 25·04 per cent. badly clothed, and 25·55 per cent. insufficiently fed.^[627] The work of medical inspection and treatment was very early undertaken by the local authority. At the date of this report (1894), a doctor and dentist were attached to each school; frequent inspections were made by the doctor, and preventive medicine, e.g., codliver oil, was provided from public funds.^[628] The provision of meals continued to be undertaken by voluntary organisations, aided by a municipal subsidy. In 1903-04, this subsidy amounted to 10,000 frs. for the communal schools, and 5,000 frs. for the clerical schools. In addition large quantities of clothing were supplied from public funds.^[629]

At LiÈge, as early as 1883, the municipality organised the provision of soup for all children in the kindergartens who wished to receive it.^[630] The dinner was only given on condition that the children were clean and tidy. Each child was expected to have clean linen twice a week and also to have a pocket handkerchief. A teacher was present to supervise the children, and share the meal with them. Each child brought a basket of bread and fruit to supplement the food provided, and at the end any bread that remained was packed in the baskets by the children, to prevent waste and to inculcate habits of thrift.^[631] The whole cost was borne out of municipal funds. In 1901 a voluntary committee was formed for providing soup in the communal primary schools. This committee placed at the disposal of the municipality a sum of 10,000 frs., in order that general provision might be made for the first year's scholars in the primary schools, on the same lines as in the kindergartens. In other classes in the primary schools soup was given only to necessitous children, or to those whose parents were at work all day; this provision was at first limited to three months during the winter, but in 1905 the municipality voted a grant of 7,000 frs. in order that it might be extended to six months.^[632]

(g) Holland

Holland was the first country to enact national legislation for the provision of school meals. The law of 1900 enforcing compulsory education authorised municipal authorities to provide food and clothing for all school children, whether in public or private schools, who, owing to lack of these necessaries, were unable to attend school regularly. This provision might be undertaken directly by the municipality, or by means of subsidies to voluntary organisations.^[633]

(h) Denmark

In some of the cities of Denmark meals were provided by voluntary agencies in the 'seventies. In 1902 a law was passed allowing municipal authorities to subsidise these organisations. This system, however, proved unsatisfactory and, in 1907, a campaign was set on foot for compulsory national legislation.^[634]

In Copenhagen the municipality from 1902 made a grant of 25,000 kr. (about £1,400) to the "Society for Providing Meals to Free School Children," the voluntary contributions to which were rapidly diminishing. This society, though a voluntary organisation, was directly connected with the municipality, its Executive Board consisting of the seven municipal school inspectors and four private gentlemen, while the municipal school director was ex officio president. More than half the total expenditure was met out of the municipal subsidy, the balance being made up by voluntary contributions. Dinners were given three days a week to all the children in the free schools who wished to attend. No charge was made and no question raised as to the economic circumstances of the parents. About 33 per cent. of the total number of free school children availed themselves of this provision.^[635]

(i) Norway

Christiania was the first town in Norway to make municipal provision for underfed school children. The system was started in 1897. A proposal was made to distribute food free to all elementary school children, but this was, at the time, rejected. In the winter of 1897-8, applications were made on behalf of 25.92 per cent. of the pupils in the school, the great majority of the meals being given free.^[636] The children made such marked progress as a result of this experiment that the system was extended and in Christiania and several other towns a good dinner was provided by the school authorities for all school children who cared to attend, the entire cost of the system being met by taxation.^[637] It was soon found that the advantages of this free provision outweighed the expense. At Trondhjem, when the proposal was first made by the Socialists, it was bitterly opposed, but by 1906 the system was unanimously supported by all sections.^[638]

(j) Sweden

In many towns in Sweden schemes for feeding poor school children were started in the 'eighties, these voluntary schemes being later subsidised by the local authorities.^[639]

In Stockholm several voluntary organisations were formed for supplying meals, the provision being usually limited to necessitous children. In order to preserve the self-respect of the children and parents, some of these societies adopted the plan of allowing the children to contribute to the expense of the dinner by performing some manual work, the making of baskets (which were sold), the mending of clothes, the sweeping out of the rooms, etc.^[640] Towards the close of the nineteenth century the School Boards of the several parishes resolved to build kitchens at the schools. The kitchens generally contained several fireplaces, at each of which dinners for a certain number of children were prepared by the elder girls.^[641] Each child only received a dinner three times a week.

At JÖnkÖping the free distribution of meals dates from 1887. The funds, which were derived from voluntary contributions and proceeds of concerts, were administered by the Board School Inspector, and the distribution of the food was supervised by the School Board. The children were usually sent for dinner to the houses of private ladies who undertook the catering.^[642] The poorest children were fed twice a week, those who were rather less poor only once.

At Gothenburg, besides the provision made by voluntary agencies, the Board of Education distributed bread to certain children who were selected by the School Board.^[643]

(k) United States of America

In America^[644] the movement for the feeding of school children is of comparatively recent date. It is true that in the numerous Day Industrial Schools which were instituted in the nineteenth century by voluntary organisations, e.g., by the Children's Aid Society, meals were always given,^[645] but it was not till 1904, when Mr. Robert Hunter in his "Poverty" stated that probably 60,000 or 70,000 children in New York City often arrived at school hungry and unfitted to do their school work well,^[646] that public attention was seriously directed to the question of under-feeding among school children.

In New York in 1908 a School Lunch Committee of physicians and social workers was formed with the object of ascertaining if a three cent lunch could be made self-supporting. This idea of making the meals self-supporting seems to be characteristic of the provision made in most of the American cities. Two schools were at first chosen, and the experiment proved so successful that two years later the Board of Education gave permission for lunches to be supplied in other schools. The Board provided rooms, equipment and gas; the cost of the food and service had to be met by the sale of tickets. The meals are served sometimes in the basement in the schools, and there does not appear to be always adequate accommodation. The meal itself is well cooked and served, the elder children helping the staff. A physician draws up the dietaries. These include one main dish such as soup, stew, rice pudding, etc., costing the child about four cents. There are besides "extras," such as dessert, cakes or other delicacies, which may be bought for one cent, but only by children who have had the main dish. The meals are not quite self-supporting, as a small number are given free.^[647]

In Philadelphia the Starr Center Association undertook school feeding in some schools over fifteen years ago, but it is now managed by the Home and School League. Several of the schools provide a meal, some at 10.30 a.m., others a fuller meal at midday. The cost is one cent for lunch and three to five cents for dinner. There is one hot dish of soup or rice pudding, etc., and the children may spend another cent on the "extra" dainty. The meals are self-supporting. The teachers co-operate enthusiastically, and sometimes eat with the children. The food is served on japanned trays in enamel bowls and a paper napkin is provided. The washing up is done by the children under supervision, and everything is carefully sterilised. Both the superintendent, who is responsible for planning the meals and purchasing the food materials, and the home visitor are trained dietists.^[648]

In Boston the Hygiene Committee of the Home and School Association began to organise school dinners in 1909, at a school with a kitchen attached. By 1911 meals were being supplied at twenty-two schools. Equipment was given in the first place, and the meals are now self-supporting. In schools where there is a kitchen, the cooking classes prepare and serve the meals; here one cent amply covers the cost of the food. In other schools outside help is hired, and an extra cent per meal ticket meets this expense.^[649]

Throughout the rest of the States the system is gaining ground. By 1912 some thirty cities had organised the provision of school meals, while in at least twenty others the question was under consideration. Everywhere this provision was made by voluntary organisations.^[650] Public funds could not be utilised, but there was growing anxiety that the question should be made a national concern. The nearest approach to legislative action was taken by Massachusetts, where in 1912 the Committee on Education of the Lower House reported favourably a Bill to allow School Boards to spend part of the school funds on the provision of meals.^[651]