We thus see that 7230 persons shown by this enquiry to be in state of primary poverty, representing that section who happened to be in one of those poverty periods at the time the enquiry was made. Many of these will, in the course of time, pass on into a period of comparative prosperity; this will take place as soon as the children, now dependent, begin to earn. But their place below the poverty line will be taken by others who are at present living in that prosperous period previous to, or shortly after, marriage. Again, many now classed as above the poverty line were below it until the children began to earn. The proportion of the community who at one period or another of their lives suffers from poverty to the point of physical privation is therefore much greater, and the injurious effects of such a condition are much more widespread than would appear from a consideration of the number who can be shown to be below the poverty line at any given moment (Rowntree 1901, pp 137-138).
Rowntree, B. S. (1901). Poverty; a study of town life Available from http://books.google.com/books?id=BLoVAAAAYAAJ&dq=poverty+a+study+of+town+life&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=rOHjSdF-wYW2B_yK_LAM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4
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