Who's Better Off?

Britons were comfortably reassured last week that they never had it so good. Two families out of three, said an official government handbook, have a television set and vacuum cleaner, one in three has a washing machine, one in eight a refrigerator. Half the population spend their holidays away from home, and half the younger generation attend the movies once a week at 50-c- a seat. One-quarter of the adult population either play in or watch a football (soccer) or cricket match every week. All this, plus the superior feeling that one has just for being English, on an average income of $2,100 a year.

Britons actually had very little to be complacent about, snapped Britain's weekly Time and Tide; the U.S. Negro was actually better off. Basing its article on a U.S. embassy pamphlet, The Economic Situation of Negroes in the U.S., Time and Tide reported that U.S. Negroes make more money ($2,700 a year) than the average Briton. More Negroes live in their own homes (36% v. 32%). More than one-third of U.S. Negroes between 18 and 19 were still in school, as compared with fewer than 17% of English children over 16.

Time and Tide's comparisons failed to take into full consideration some of the differences in the cost of living between England and the U.S. The average Briton pays little for his basic necessities, though what he gets for his money is admittedly basic. Two-bedroom apartments owned and subsidized by local authorities can be rented for as little as $7.60 a week, while the maximum for a four-bedroom house in the suburbs begins at $11.20 a week. The average British family can be fed on $14 a week. Taxes are heavy, but the government pays for womb-to-tomb medical care. And the average Briton lives to be a healthy 70, compared with 45.5 for the U.S. Negro.

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