rr AFTER-WAR PROBLEMS After- War Problems By The Earl of Cromer, Viscount Haldane, the Bishop of Exeter, Professor Alfred Marshall, and Others Edited by William Harbutt Dawson NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY First published in (All rights reserved) CONTENTS PACK INTRODUCTION. By the Editor . . . . .7 I. EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP CHAPTER I. IMPERIAL FEDERATION. By the Earl of Cromer . 17 II. THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN. By Bishop Welldon . 39 III. THE CULTIVATION OF PATRIOTISM. By the Earl of Meath 59 IV. THE ALIEN QUESTION. By Sir H. H. Johnston . . 65 II. NATIONAL EFFICIENCY V. NATIONAL EDUCATION. By Viscount Haldane . -79 VI. ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIONAL RESOURCES. By Sir Joseph Compton-Rickett, M.P. . . . in VII. THE STATE AND INDUSTRY. By Dr. W. Garnett . 123 VIII. THE STATE AND LABOUR. By Professor S. J. Chapman 137 IX. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOUR. 1. THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR. By G. H. Roberts, M.P. . . . . .149 X. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOUR. 2. THE STANDPOINT OF CAPITAL. By Sir Benjamin C. Browne . . . . . .170 S CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XI. THE LAND QUESTION. By W. Joy nson- Hicks, M.P. . 185 XII. THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE. By Mrs. Fawcett ...... 191 III. SOCIAL REFORM XIII. THE REHABILITATION OF RURAL LIFE. By the Bishop of Exeter (Lord William Gascoyne- Cecil] . .219 XIV. HOUSING AFTER THE WAR. By Henry R. Aldridge . 233 XV. NATIONAL HEALTH. By James Kerr, M.A., M.D., D.P.H. 251 XVI. THE CARE OF CHILD LIFE. By Margaret McMillan . 278 XVII. UNSOLVED PROBLEMS OF THE ENGLISH POOR LAW. Sir William Chance, Bart., M.A. . . .291 IV. NATIONAL FINANCE AND TAXATION XVIII. NATIONAL TAXATION AFTER THE WAR. By Professor Alfred Marshall . . . . . 313 1. The Appropriate Distribution of its Burden . 313 2. Taxes on Imports: The New International Situation 329 XIX. NATIONAL THRIFT. By Arthur Sherwell, M.P. . 346 Introduction BY THE EDITOR ult it becomes to OWING to the abnormal conditions now prevailing and the word is . ,. f convenience to in the printing and bookbinding trades, the pubh- cation of this book has been unavoidably delayed. esterday, nor to- This fact is stated in justice to several of the JL m *~ Contributors who have incorporated in their , e tne fulness and chapters statistical or other data which need to does not feel that ways broken with be adjusted to continually altering circumstances. , n of j^ hi stol y } d, so that when tne day ot peace arrives, be it soon or late, we shall be confronted at home, as well as abroad, by an altogether altered situation? In every department of our domestic affairs new con- ditions and relationships have been established during the last two and a half years, and these have created and will create new problems, some of a profoundly important and delicate character, affecting the entire fabric and the innermost texture of our social life. The conditions and problems of the war in their military aspects are hardly likely to undergo further fundamental change. Can it be said, however, that the nation yet fully realizes what the war will mean for its future life at home the duties which will have to be faced there, and which we shall shirk at our peril, and the demands which these duties will make upon patriotism, public spirit, and the best energies that can be evoked by an enlightened and self-sacrificing citizenship ? We are told almost every day stories which may materialize or may not of the wonderful expansion that awaits our commerce ; markets from which we have been 7 S CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XI. THE LAND QUESTION. By W. Joy nson- Hicks ^ M.P. . 185 XII. THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE. By Mrs. Fawcett ...... 191 III. SOCIAL REFORM XIII. THE REHABILITATION OF RURAL LIFE. By the Bishop of Exeter UM^MMaaL^xOSfoyne- Cecil} . .219 XIV. HOUSING AF XV. NATIONAL H. XVI. THE CARE c XVII. UNSOLVED Sir Will IV. NATIO XVIII. NATIONAL TAXATION AFTER THE WAR. By Professor Alfred Marshall . . . . . 313 1. The Appropriate Distribution of its Burden . 313 2. Taxes on Imports: The New International Situation 329 XIX. NATIONAL THRIFT. By Arthur Sherwell, M.P. . 346 Introduction BY THE EDITOR THE longer the war lasts the more difficult it becomes to project one's mind into the new England the word is used in a representative sense as one of convenience to which our armies will return when their tasks have been completed. To-day can never be as yesterday, nor to- morrow as to-day. If that is true for the life of the indi- vidual, it is still more true for the life of a nation. We are living at a time when days and weeks have the fulness and significance of years and decades. Who does not feel that since August 1914 England has in many ways broken with her past and entered an entirely new epoch of her history, marked by transformations of every kind, so that when the day of peace arrives, be it soon or late, we shall be confronted at home, as well as abroad, by an altogether altered situation? In every department of our domestic affairs new con- ditions and relationships have been established during the last two and a half years, and these have created and will create new problems, some of a profoundly important and delicate character, affecting the entire fabric and the innermost texture of our social life. The conditions and problems of the war in their military aspects are hardly likely to undergo further fundamental change. Can it be said, however, that the nation yet fully realizes what the war will mean for its future life at home the duties which will have to be faced there, and which we shall shirk at our peril, and the demands which these duties will make upon patriotism, public spirit, and the best energies that can be evoked by an enlightened and self-sacrificing citizenship ? We are told almost every day stories which may materialize or may not of the wonderful expansion that awaits our commerce ; markets from which we have been 7 8 INTRODUCTION driven are to be reoccupied, never again to be relinquished, and many of our industries and trades are to have the time of their lives. These things should not be belittled, since the unexampled strain of war indebtedness will call for the utmost development of the nation's industrial, agri- cultural, and commercial resources ; yet, none the less, they do not touch even the outermost fringe of the question which really matters for the England of the future : How is the war going to leave the nation itself, its life and ideals, its motive forces and aims? There is danger that in our concern for the smaller things we may overlook the greatest, and that in giving overdue prominence to the material effects of military success the nation may be led to lose sight of the higher and more lasting values. So, again, we are told of what Germany is to be com- pelled to do, of the capitulations and penalties which are to be required of her as the price of peace. Here like- wise prophecy, in so far as it is well informed, is perfectly legitimate and may be helpful. Yet there are thousands of Englishmen, and they not the least patriotic, who are quite as eager to know what England herself is prepared to do in order to help in and sustain the coming reign of peace and goodwill which all men long for and too many of us think will come automatically, and of the example which she is going to offer to the world of order and harmony in her own household. Already the nation's contribution to the awful holocaust of life and treasure demanded by the war has been appalling, and still the full toll has not been paid. What is to be the gain in return the gain, not to Europe and to civilization at large, which to most people are mere abstractions, but to ourselves ? If the gain is to be equal to the sacrifice, it must surely be in the things wherein we as a people have hitherto been most lacking. The war has sobered us. Have its lessons been taken truly to heart? Will the transformation wrought by the war prove permanent? Let us think back. How was it with England before the clarion note of war called her people to forsake the ways of ease and complacency ? How many were the earnest voices voices neither of pessimists nor croakers which had warned us of a grow- ing slackness in the national character, of increasing flaccidity of will, of a love of luxury spreading downward from stratum to stratum of society, and a steadily weaken- ing grip upon the true elements of individual and national INTRODUCTION worth 1 How many there were who longed that this care- less, spoiled England would just for one quiet, patient, unhurried hour commune with her own soul Stand still, my soul, in the silent dark : I would question thee and ask in honest concern if all were really well there ! Perhaps to some of these there came at times unbidden the thought, which they almost feared to harbour, that per- chance no greater blessing could be bestowed upon this great nation so rich in its gifts yet so slow to value them, capable of the highest things yet so prone to be satisfied with the mean and the trivial, spoiled by wealth and appar- ently enervated by success than the discipline of a great ordeal, some mighty stirring that should perturb it to the depths of its being, and mercifully compel it to face the master facts of life in a spirit of true soberness. Observers of developments in other parts of the world, with their eyes fixed specially upon a country which now is our mortal enemy, yet was not always so, and believing that in some respects that country held the key to our own fate, preached in season and out of season their sermons on the prosy texts of Order, Authority, Discipline, Organization, Patriotism, the greater merging of the one in the all, and, not least, Universal Service in a form suited to our national conditions and traditions. Our sermons may have been dull, and perhaps might have been made less so, yet at least they were not duller than the hearing of those who refused to heed. Even these appeals on the lower plane of self-interest seemed to pass unregarded. Now the trial has come, and though it came unex- pectedly, and when in many ways we were unprepared for it, we know, happily, that the doubters doubted too much and the prophets of evil prophesied not in all things truly. Compelled, in one of those supreme crises that come so rarely in the history of nations, to choose between honour and dishonour, between duty and ease, the nation has proved, no less by its choice than by the manner of sup- porting it, that it is sound at the core, however much there may be on the surface of its life that is capable of betterment. A people deemed by its enemies to be decadent and almost a cumberer of the earth, and by many of its best friends, like the plain-speaking American Mr. io INTRODUCTION Price Collier, 1 to be dangerously ill in its vital parts, suddenly threw off lethargy and flippancy like an outworn garment. Where there seemed to be only indifference, shallowness, cynicism, and laxity there sprang up passionate enthusiasm and a boundless power of sacrifice. The nation that can thus respond to the call of a great emergency has lost none of its old will and right to live. And yet who does not feel that the severest trial for the nation at large remains still to be faced? It is the test of the moral and physical reaction which will inevit- ably come when the strain of the war, with its ardours and elations, is over, and the nation is compelled by the force of circumstances to return to the plain, uninspiring duties of every -day life. How much courage, resolution, and self- discipline it will then need, if it is to be fortified against depression, lassitude, and a disposition to adopt the deadly doctrine of laisser faire, laisser passer, of " letting things alone ": " The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done." The spirit in which the nation meets and masters this reaction, the degree to which it carries into the future the strength and steadfastness which mark the present, will for good or ill determine the course of English social life for generations to come. There is one discipline, and one only, that will carry the nation over the dead points and send it forward with a new momentum. When in 1871 France came out of her agony, torn and bleeding, broken both in body and spirit, Gambetta gave to his countrymen a watchword which acted like a magic anodyne when he called them to work : " Le travail, encore le travail, et toiijours le travail! " That, too, will be England's hope and stay, and the way of her renewal, and naught else will avail work with brain and heart and hand in a thousand ways, all energies bent to the one purpose of healing the ravages of war, giving to the national life a new and greater order, bringing up the arrears of neglected social duty, and making out of the old England an England worthier of the men who have fought and fallen for her honour and her homes. It is here that we touch the deepest domestic problem of the war. The ordeal which the nation has been called to face has evoked an outburst of moral energy without 1 " England and the English," a book full of wholesome criticism, first published in 1909, and now more than ever worth thoughtful pondering. INTRODUCTION ;rr parallel in the history of the British race. Shall the moral forces now in action be demobilized in county and city, in town and hamlet, when the struggle is over ? Must they not rather be preserved in being, as a standing army for the service of the national life, to do battle everywhere against the enemies within our own gates? Nobly have the nation's manhood and womanhood responded to the call of duty. Soon there will come to those who have done great deeds on the high plane the chance of proving a like heroism and devotion in the trivial round and com- mon task of social and civic service. Is it a misuse of words to say that when the war abroad is over the war at home will only begin? We may conquer Germany, emancipate Belgium, and free Europe and mankind from the menace of malign ambitions, yet if the war does not win for the homeland likewise the things so supremely necessary to its welfare and peace we shall have fought and suffered and sacrificed in vain. The call comes from the graves of the dead that we falter not in this high purpose. Who can think without emotion of those gallant youths, the flower of the nation's life, whose eager faces were turned to the future with hope and ardour, who yet at the call of duty forsook all else that was precious to them on earth, and whose bodies now lie beneath unnumbered mounds on the fields of Flanders, the hillsides of Gallipoli, and the deserts of the more distant East ? They died, we say, for England, those brave lads, fresh from school and college and home. Rather, they died for two Englands the England which we know, with all its social evils, that shame our culture, baffle our morality, and make our national greatness seem a cruel mockery ; yet perhaps more truly, if not more consciously, for another England altogether, an England that lives as a " vision splendid " in the imagination of all true-hearted youth an England of cleaner life, sweeter manners, purer laws, and happier homes, the England of their hopes, ideals, and longings. They have not lived to re-create that England, but the thought of their loss to us would be appalling were it possible that their aspirations should be quenched like smoking flax, and their dreams perish and pass with them unrealized into the silence of the unknown. Rather should our duty to the dead serve as the measure of our responsibility to the living. Thus and thus only will England pay her due debt to those who have fallen 12 mTRODUCtlON for her sake, and prove that she was worthy of the sacrifice. It is good to wish and hope for such a national renewal so long as we do not forget that if it is to be realized it will be by systematic hard work by intelligent national effort co-ordinated in a manner and on a scale never con- ceived as possible or necessary before. To this end the nation needs direction quite as much as impetus and stimulus. We are not on the whole a hard-thinking people, but rather a people of action, impatient of theory and method, empirical in a high degree, and prone to approach our problems on the easy solvitur ambulanda principle. Yet the nation has always shown willingness to listen to the counsels of men and women who enjoy its con- fidence. In the hope of contributing towards the great task of after -war reconstruction this volume has been written by publicists for all of whom this claim may justly be made. A book of this kind could not with advantage have been written by one hand. Pre-eminently the problems with which it deals called for treatment by specialists, and it will be seen that every one of the contributions to this symposium relates to a subject with which the writer is in some special way closely identified. The book has been written in the full stress of war-time, and the readers to whom it is addressed will not fail to appreciate at its proper value the patriotic spirit which has prompted it ; for in the case of most, and probably all, of the writers the following essays represent just one more act of public service to be added to the rest the one additional task for which, happily for the public life of this country, the busiest men and women always have or are able to make time. It seems desirable to say at once that the Editor accepts full responsibility for the plan of the book, with the choice of subjects, and that all shortcomings on that score must be laid solely to his account. On the other hand, each writer has exercised the fullest latitude in the treat- ment of his subject, and is responsible only for the opinions covered by his signature. The work had necessarily to be confined within somewhat narrow limits, so that it has been possible to review only a selection of the larger, more urgent, more obvious of our national problems. Yet diverse though the subjects dealt with are, it will be found that a certain sequence and unity runs through the book. INTRODUCTION f|'3 For the sake of convenience the subjects have been divided into broad groups, yet the intimate interrelation of the several groups will be at once recognized. Problems of national efficiency and social reform, for example, are inseparable and almost identical. For not only is all social reform in essence a question of national efficiency, but the great social changes and ameliorations which are vital to any real renewal of England will un- questionably make great demands upon the nation's material resources, already deeply mortgaged by the war, and these demands in turn will be successfully met just in the measure that the productive forces of the country, from first to last, are developed with greater energy, concentration, and intelligence than ever in the past. If, therefore, special stress appears to have been laid upon the economic aspects of the question of national efficiency, it is from a recognition of the integral relation- ship between national wealth and national welfare. Bis- marck gave Protection to the industrial and agricultural classes of his country in order that he might be justified in levying upon them in turn tribute in the service of costly insurance legislation and other social reforms. I admit frankly that in giving 1 prominence in this book to pleas for the greater efficiency and better ordering 1 of .our national economy, as a task in which the State will need to co-operate with private effort more closely and actively than ever before, I have had in mind the prospect of reciprocal social recompense in other directions, though it is right to add that this is a purely personal view 1 . In a truly civilized society wealth creation can never be an end in itself. Wealth, for nations or individuals, is only moral when it is acquired by moral means for moral ends, and the greatest of moral ends is the evolution of humaner social conditions and relationships. That way, too, and that way only, lies the hope of social peace. With these explanatory words the book may be left to speak for itself and, if possible, to achieve its purpose. Every thoughtful man and woman knows of the problems which it discusses and of those other problems of society some created, others merely accentuated by the war which have been passed over in consequence of limitations of space. The urgent thing is that we should endeavour betimes to see our way through these problems, so hastening the day when this England, this Scotland, Wales, Ireland I 4 INTRODUCTION for one may stand for all where all are one shall at last become a real home to all her sons and daughters, calling up as never before to their affections and their reverence the truest friend they know and the best they love in the wide world. The nation's moral awakening 1 has come: now comes the need for the moral life. Yet let us not look for miracles. Whatever the new England becomes will be the result of long and painful effort, of sacrifice and renunciation of all kinds, made by men and women of good -will ; and we shall succeed in proportion as we keep before our eyes ideals that are not so high that they " lose themselves in the sky," aiming 1 at the best practicable for the present, and from that slowly work- ing on to the best conceivable. The- individual citizen will help in the common task by: going back, as far as in him lies, to the forgotten habits of simplicity, sober- ness, diligence, and self-control. Old truths will need to be revived the truths that obedience is not dishonouring, that liberty can live only in the atmosphere of law, that Jack is as good as his master only when he proves it and not because he says it, that some men are fitted to rule and others more fitted to serve, yet that ruling and serving are but two parts of the same act, whose name is duty. The nation collectively will help by bringing into the order- ing of its life and policies clearer aims, greater intelli- gence, and a higher moral purpose, by trusting more to principles and less to instincts not supplanting the instincts, but directing them by reason and by thinking always of the second and the third step before the first is taken. Only by the cultivation and co-ordination of all her intellectual and moral forces and vitalities will England come through her final ordeal triumphantly, able to face the future with unshaken will and undaunted spirit not, in the words of the Oxford poet, as " the weary Titan bearing on shoulders immense, Atlantean, the load, well- nigh not to be borne, of the too vast orb' of her fate," but rather, in the image of that older poet of the sister University, as "an eagle mewing her mighty youth and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam." .# I EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP CHAPTER I Imperial Federation 1 BY THE EARL OF CROMER THE predominating feature of modern political thought in the domain of international affairs is unquestionably the idea of Nationalism. Every statesman at all events, every democratic statesman is convinced that in the more ample recognition of the Nationalist principle is to be found, not merely a means for harmonizing political action with the dictates of justice and sound public morality, but also the 1 The lamented death of Lord Cromer on January 29, 1917, a short time after he had corrected the proofs of this chapter, allows the Editor to acknowledge here the readiness with which this distinguished Englishman, who by his great work in Egypt has placed not only that country but the Empire and the world in lasting debt, gave to the proposal to prepare the present volume of essays his warm sympathy. Invited to co-operate in the undertaking, and, if willing, to select one of three subjects suggested to him, he at once wrote, " There can be no doubt whatever as to the necessity of such a book. I shall be very glad indeed to do what I can to help, and I think probably the best subject for me to deal with would be Federation." How conscious he was of the difficulty as well as the urgency of this question is shown by some further words in the same letter : " Federation is in the air. Every one is preaching it. But the difficulties of finding some practical way of giving effect to it are enormous. ... I do not anticipate that I can do much more than state the pros and cons, without attempting to suggest any cut-and-dried solution." In a later letter he wrote : " All the political thinkers tell us that we ought to federate, but unfortunately they all end where the practical politician would like them to begin. They do not tell us how the policy is to be carried into execution. . . . The main thing for the moment is to discuss the whole question thoroughly, and in a spirit very sympathetic to the Colonial demands. The Colonies have a very strong case, but, I repeat, the whole of the difficulties are not questions of principle but are purely practical." It will be seen from the following essay that when he came to face his task Lord Cromer found himself able to go beyond the mere statement of the case for Federation, and, without attempting a " cut-and-dried " solution which no one knew better than he to be, at the present stage, impossible to make practical suggestions of high value. THE EDITOR. .2 17 i8 key to many of the most perplexing problems of the day. It is not unfrequently held that this principle is the anti- thesis of that of the old theory of the Balance of Power, which is now almost universally condemned. The argu- ment, though in some respects valid, may, however, be pushed too far. It is true that in past times the principle of the Balance of Power has been applied in a manner which was not merely neglectful of, but even diametrically antagonistic to, the assertion of national rights, but no moralist or enlightened politician would now be disposed to defend such applications of that principle as were involved, for instance, in the successive partitions of Poland. Nor would they counsel adhesion to views such as those held at a later period by statesmen of the type of Metternich and Castlereagh. Nevertheless, it would be altogether a mistake to suppose that the necessity for a Balance of Power of some sort has altogether disappeared. Far from this being the case, there probably never was a time when the maintenance of a just balance between the strength of the Great Powers of the world was more necessary than now, for one amongst them avowedly aims, not merely at European hegemony but even at universal world -dominion. But the Balance must be established with aims wholly different from those which have heretofore prevailed. It must be directed inter alia, not to the discouragement but to the encouragement of national unification. ' Indignation at Prussian methods and condemnation of latter-day Prussian policy should not be allowed to obscure the fact that, even so late as 1870, the absolutist Government of Prussia was endeavouring to assert the right of homogeneous peoples to amalgamate, whilst the relatively democratic Government of France was prepared to resist that right by a recourse to arms. French opposition to the unification of Southern and Northern Germany was the real cause of the Franco -Prussian War. Any attempt to place obstacles in the way of the applica- tion of the Nationalist principle because it incidentally leads to an aggrandizement of territory by an homogeneous com- munity should, therefore, be definitely set aside. On the other hand, the new Balance should have as one of its main objects the realization of the political ideal of Wordsworth, who, as Professor Dicey has recently reminded us, was an early and extremely rational Nationalist. It should be directed to guaranteeing the independence of each genuinely 1.9. Nationalist unit, and more especially that of the least powerful amongst them. Obviously, one of the first preliminary conditions essen- tial before applying the Nationalist principle is to obtain some idea of what is meant by a nation. Much has been said and written on this subject. It is probably impos- sible to define so complex a conception as nationality in the terse language of an epigram, but for all practical purposes the definition given by Mr. Arnold Toynbee, in his work entitled " The New Europe," may be accepted as a Igood workable basis for discussion. Mr. Toynbee says that in order to call a nation into existence there must be "a will to co-operate." The existence or absence of that will depends on several factors, which vary according to the special circumstances of each case. It may be created by identity of race, religion, language, and senti- ment. It may, on the other hand, be absent even in cases where all these elements, tending to cohesion, exist in a full degree. It may be due to common economic interests which are sufficiently strong to overcome all the centrifugal forces of racial animosity, divergence of national senti- ment, and differences of language or religion. Thus, the South American republics, many of whom were at the time merely republican in name, flew asunder directly after they had thrown off Spanish or Portuguese domination, in spite of the existence of many elements which would have appeared to tend to close union. Their economic and presumed political interests diverged, with the result that they fought bitterly with each other and that each . eventually established its own separate independence. Immediately after the British provinces of North America had declared their independence it seemed highly prob- able that something similar would occur. Mr. Olivier, in his Life of Alexander Hamilton, says that the first step which the thirteen States of America took after they had shaken off the British yoke was '' to indulge themselves in the costly luxury of an internecine tariff war. . . .Pennsyl- vania attacked Delaware. Connecticut was oppressed by Rhode Island and New York. ... It was a dangerous game, ruinous in itself, and, behind the Custom-house officers men were beginning to furbish up the locks of their muskets. . . . And at one time war between Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York seemed all but inevit- able." Rather more than half a century ago the racial 20 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, and other ties which united the several States of North America did not prevent the occurrence of a civil war, which originated in what was really an economic question, although it had important humanitarian and political aspects the continuance or abolition of slavery. On the other hand, in spite of racial animosity, diversity of language, and to some extent of religion, an identity of economic interests has tended, and may perhaps still continue to tend, to hold together the discordant national units which collec- tively make up the Empire of the Habsburgs. The case of the British is the exact antithesis of that of the Austrian Empire. Identity of race, language, etc., has proved an effective binding force, in spite of a divergence, or. supposed divergence, of economic interests. How is Nationalism, which is based on the right to autonomy, to be reconciled with Imperialism, which is often dictated by economic interests or geographical considera- tions, and which need not necessarily, but may often, be irreconcilable with the assertion of autonomous rights ? Democratic political thinkers answer, almost with one voice, " By the adoption of the system of Federalism." They are unquestionably right in principle. Federalism is the natural and legitimate offspring of Nationalism. The idea of federating the British Empire has for many years been in the air. The days are long past when it was necessary for such a man as Wakefield, of whom Sir Charles Metcalfe said that " God had made him greater than the Colonial Office," to ply reluctant and short-sighted statesmen with arguments to convince them that the Colonies were not a burden to the Mother Country, and that they were wrong in thinking that the only wise policy to pursue was to shuffle off the load as soon as circumstances would permit of the adoption of such a course. Any public man who now ventured to give utter- ance to such sentiments would forthwith condemn himself to political extinction. The very term " colony," which as Sir George Cornewall Lewis pointed out in 1841, was even then often misapplied, has now become a complete misnomer. In the most important cases it has been already changed into " Dominion." What were formerly British Colonies have, in fact, now grown into being allied British nations. In this case the " will to co-operate " exists in the highest degree, both on the part of the parent stock and its offspring. The self-governing Dominions are IMPERIAL FEDERATION "21 closely united to each other and to the United Kingdom by the bond of identical political institutions and by community of sentiment and opinion as regards the general principles on which government should be conducted. In many of them complete racial affinity, the use of a common language, similarity of religious faith, and identity of manners and customs serve to tighten the bond, and where, as in the case of the French in Canada and the Dutch in South Africa, these latter elements of cohesion are in some degree wanting, experience has shown that by the adoption of a wise and liberal policy such differences as exist in no way tend to enfeeble the desire for unity. Instead of the feeling of oppression at being burthened by the Colonies which formerly existed, there has grown up in the United Kingdom a very legitimate sense of pride in the colonial connection, a conviction that, far from proving a source of weakness, each unit in the Empire serves to enhance the strength of the whole fabric, and a strong sentimental feeling which, in dealing with a people whom so acute an observer as Lord Beaconsfield characterized as the most emotional community in Europe, should by no means be neglected, that it would be shameful for England to play the part of a political Clytemnestra and to act as an " unmotherly mother " (juriTrip a//7?Tw///o),i who rejects the claims based on parentage and spurns her own offspring. The link with the Colonies, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain very truly said, " must not be galling." The colonials fully recognize that it does not gall, and that it rests with them, and with them alone, to sever it completely should they wish to do so. They are fully aware that no sane British statesman would for one moment propose that coercion should be exercised in order to oblige them to main- tain a connection which had become irksome or distaste- ful to them. But they are far from desiring severance. They hold that both self-interest and sentiment point to the conclusion that, if any change is to take place, it should be in the direction, not of separation but of closer union, which must never, however, in any degree impair local autonomy. Recent events have enormously tended to strengthen the force of these considerations. Never did the short-sighted and defective statesmanship of Berlin err more conspicuously than when it thought that national peril would exercise a dissolving effect on the component 1 Sophocles, El. i. 154, 22 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP parts of the British Empire. The very opposite has taken place. The event which it was thought would sunder the colonial connection has tended to solder it together to the extent of imparting to it a strength and rigidity which has astonished the world. To the amazement of all abso- lutists and coercionists the link was found to be so tough because it was so slender. Never have democratic prin- ciples achieved a greater triumph. Professor Macphail, who is a Canadian, says with great truth, in one of his " Essays in Politics," " The greatest feat of England in Empire -building since 1759 is that, during the past twenty years, she has won back her Colonies by the cords of affection alone." Looking to all these favourable symptoms and conditions, it may well be asked, Why has the policy of Federalism, up to the present time, only been applied locally? Why has it been confined to the accomplishment of the highly important, but nevertheless subsidiary, tasks of federating the Dominions in Australia, British North America, except Newfoundland, and with the exception of Rhodesia, which, it may be hoped, will ultimately join South Africa? The answer, broadly speaking, is that the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans interpose an obstacle which, if not insuper- able, is certainly very formidable. The proximity of each unit to the other component parts of the Federal group did not, indeed, cause but it immensely facilitated the process of federation in the United States and in the more recent British cases. Distance, on the one hand, greatly enhances the difficulty of carrying the work of federation to its logical conclusion. Even New Zealand, although separated from Australia by a distance slight by comparison with that which lies between the United Kingdom and any of the self-governing Dominions, does not form part of the Australasian Commonwealth. The subject must, however, necessarily be reconsidered at the close of the present war, and it will be as well to ponder beforehand over what can be done to secure, if not the establishment at one bound of a system which fully realizes the Federal ideal, at all events the creation of one which will unite the whole Empire together by ties even stronger than those which already exist. ' [ ; j The strength of the bonds which unite the Mother Country and the Colonies was never put to a more severe test than when, during the mid -Victorian period, the latter IMPERIAL 1 FEDERATION 23 claimed and were allowed the right to tax British imports. The issue at stake was one that might conceivably have led to disruption. It did nothing of the kind. Experi- ence has proved that full fiscal autonomy can be exercised by the Colonies without impairing the unity and solidarity of the Empire. Since then one of the burning questions of the day has been whether it is possible or desirable to revert to the old practice of according Preferential treat- ment to colonial produce imported into the United Kingdom, or whether the Dominions and Colonies should, as at present, continue to be treated, for the purposes of the present argument, in every respect on the same basis as foreign countries. I should like to preface the remarks I am about to make on this subject by explaining the personal point of view from which I approach it. It is that of a convinced Free Trader. Although, of course, I am not prepared to say that I agree entirely with all that Free Traders have in the past said about Free Trade, I (am nevertheless far from holding that, to use an expression which is now very com- monly employed, Free Trade is a mere " fetish." On the contrary, I hold very strongly that the essential prin- ciples of Free Trade are justified by economic laws which cannot be violated without eventually taking condign vengeance upon those who violate them. The general arguments for and against Protection will, in my opinion, remain just the same after the war as they were before its outbreak. Protection must always operate to the advan- tage of the few and to the detriment of the many. None the less, I am quite prepared to admit, not only that circumstances have been greatly changed by the war, but also that the whole question of fiscal policy cannot be decided wholly by looking to the economic aspects of the issues at stake. Political considerations have also to be taken into account. I am wholly out of sympathy with the view apparently entertained by Mr. Norman Angell and others of his school that all but economic arguments should be ignored. As regards the special case of Germany, I am, of course, of opinion that, until peace is concluded, a vigorous trade war is not merely justifiable, but is imposed by the necessities of the case. I may go farther than this and say that even after the war, if the political institu- tions of Germany remain unchanged, if they still consti- tute a menace to the peace of the world, and if the German 24 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, Government still continues to adopt commercial methods for the attainment of political objects and military advan- tages, the trade war may justifiably be continued and that economic considerations may, while such a state of things lasts, remain in abeyance. On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that it is conceivable I dare not be so sanguine as to say that it is probable that after the war German political institutions will undergo a radical change, that a more democratic system of government will be estab- lished in that country, that the militarist spirit will, to a certain extent, be quenched, that Germany will be in a condition again to take her place amongst the comity of civilized nations, and that German statesmen will be pre- pared to base their political action upon the moral standards which her present rulers spurn and reject, but which are generally accepted by the rest of the civilized world. If any such transformation should take place, and if we should in the future have to deal with a changed Germany, any attempt to boycott that country would involve our losing a good customer and at the same time debarring ourselves from using such of the products of Germany as may profitably and advantageously be imported into this country. It is obviously impossible for any one at present to attempt to sketch out any cut-and-dried scheme in respect to the fiscal policy which we must adopt in the future. All that can be done is to indicate a few general principles which may profitably be borne in mind. Before we can go farther we must all, whether Free Traders or Tariff Reformers, know how we shall stand at the close of the war. All that is at present clear is that we shall have to bear an enormously increased charge for interest on the accumulated debt, for Sinking Fund, for pensions, and other consequences which will result from the war. Further, if the adoption of such a course can possibly be avoided, we ought not to arrest, even for a term of years, the pro- gress of social, and notably of educational, reform. It is abundantly clear that in order to meet all these charges a very large increase of revenue will be required, and the increase will certainly be considerable even supposing that, as a result of the war, a large permanent reduction is possible in the direction of naval and military expendi- turea point as to which nothing can be foretold until the terms of peace are settled and we know whether other nations IMPERIAL' FEDERATION '25 are prepared to adopt a reasonable policy of disarmament. As regards the methods of raising increased revenue, I am very clearly of opinion that, in the first instance, it should be raised, as is at present the case, by the imposi- tion of direct taxes which will fall mainly on the well-to- do classes. But not merely is it a matter of justice that all classes, whether well-to-do or the reverse, should bear some share in the new burdens, but, further, it is to be observed that, although we have perhaps not yet reached the maximum amount which it is possible to levy upon the rich, we are approaching the limit beyond which nothing more in that direction can be done without entailing disastrous consequences, which would fall, not merely on the rich but also on the poor. I hold to it, therefore, as proved that indirect taxes will have to be imposed, and I have for long considered that the Government is blame- worthy for not having imposed more taxes of this nature some while ago. It is certain that some of these taxes will act protectively. This cannot be avoided, for even if it were thought desirable to impose equivalent excise duties, their imposition in every case would be practically impossible. Amongst the numerous plans which have recently been put forward for dealing with the fiscal future there is one which certainly possesses great attraction. It is that the United Kingdom, its Colonies and Dependencies, and the Allied nations should join together and that all should agree to impose import duties for revenue purposes only. It is to be presumed that under this system other neutral nations would be allowed, should they think it desirable to do so, to join the Concert. If the plan could be carried out, it would be a very distinct step towards that Free Trade within the Empire which for a long time past has been the ideal both of Free Traders and Protectionists in this country. Indeed, it would go farther than this, for the same conditions, which would be mutually conceded by the United Kingdom and the Colonies to each other, would be granted to a large and important group of foreign countries. But is this programme at all capable of execu- tion? I greatly doubt it. I question whether the British Colonies or the friendly nations, whom it is proposed to bring into the group and who are now all Protectionists, would agree to abandon their Protectionist policy and to allow free competition within their own territories in so '26 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP far as it was not impeded by the relatively low duties imposed for revenue purposes. Failing the adoption of this somewhat grandiose project, which appears to me, for the time being at all events, to be incapable of realization, the question will remain as to what is to be done by the United Kingdom in respect to the Preferential treatment of the Colonies. The question obviously presents itself for consideration under conditions different from those which have heretofore prevailed. One, though not the only, objection which Free Traders have in the past urged against according Preferential treatment to the Colonies has been that the adoption of this course necessarily involved the imposition of a general tariff. I hold that the establishment of such a tariff is now inevit- able. If this view is correct, one of the most formidable of the Free Trade objections will be removed. More- over, for my own part, I am quite prepared to admit that, looking to recent events and to the staunch loyalty with which both the Dominions and India have stood by the British Empire in the hour of trial, the political should be allowed to predominate over the economic arguments, and that if any fairly workable scheme can be devised Preference should be accorded at British ports to colonial and Indian produce. But it is essential that the scheme should be workable, and this, I venture to think, can only be done if the Preference accorded is not excessive. Past history affords a very useful lesson as to what not only mav but certainly will occur if Preference on an excessive scale is allowed. To quote one or two instances in illus- tration of what I mean, I may mention that in the old days of colonial Preference a duty of 555. per load was im- posed on timber coming from foreign countries, whereas on timber from the Colonies a duty of only 55. a load was paid. The result was that timber was imported from the Scandinavian countries to Canada and then re -shipped to the United Kingdom as Canadian timber, the difference of 505. a load making the transaction very profitable to the exporter. Similarly, coffee was sent, not merely from Bra?il but even out of bond from England, to the Cape of Good Hope and re-exported to the United Kingdom, the duty on colonial coffee being only 6d., whereas that on the foreign article was is. 3d. a pound. I greatlv doubt whether any elaborate system of certificates of origin and suchlike devices, though giving an infinity of trouble, would IMPERIAL FEDERATION "27 be able to check evasions of this description. Therefore I maintain that, for all practical purposes, if a Preference is to be accorded to the Colonies, it will be imperative that the difference between the duty on colonial produce and on that of a similar nature which comes from foreign countries should not be so great as to give rise to a revival of the abuses and evasions of the past. Divergence of opinion on matters connected with fiscal policy is not, however, the main obstacle which stands in the way of complete federation. The question of the extent to which the self-governing Dominions should contribute to the defence of the Empire has to be considered. This is a matter of great importance ; but if it stood by itself, the solution of the problem involved need not necessarily entail any fundamental changes of a constitutional character. The question of the amount which each unit of the Empire should contribute to Imperial defence, leaving it, of course, wholly to the local legislatures to decide how the money should be raised, does not inevitably involve the discussion of any very vital questions of principle. It could perfectly well be settled by negotiation, without the necessity arising for making any fundamental change in the existing framework under which the several parts of the Empire are governed. The future treatment of all matters which fall within the domain of foreign policy raises issues of a more im- portant and also of a far more complex character. More- over, inasmuch as foreign policy is intimately connected with the relative naval and military strength of various States, and the maintenance of the army and navy depends in a very great degree on the financial resources of each State, it may well be that if any fundamental change is made in the manner in which that policy is conducted, the transformation would carry with it the desirability, or even the necessity, of effecting a corresponding change in the control of the military and naval forces of the Crown, as also, although to a less extent, in the financial methods adopted for the maintenance of those forces. Is, there- fore, any such change desirable or necessary ? If so, what should be its nature? These are questions which will certainly have to be considered with the utmost care at the close of the war. There has recently been a good deal of discussion, some- times of rather wild discussion, on the subject of what is now termed "secret diplomacy." So responsible a states- 28 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP man as Lord Haldane, although in using the phrase it is to be gathered from the context of his remarks that he did not attach the same significance to it as that with which it is not unfrequently vested in the public estimation, is reported to have said that, in his opinion, one result of the war will be that " secret diplomacy will disappear." There appears, indeed, to be an opinion very generally entertained by an influential section of the British public that a profound dislike of democracy and of all demo- cratic ideas and methods of government is innate in the minds of all members of the diplomatic service, that they are constantly engaged in weaving mysterious and generally nefarious plots to the detriment of peace and of the general interests of civilization, that they are aware that their pro- ceedings will not stand the light of day, and that the main object of their lives is to cast a veil of profound secrecy over both their intentions and their methods. I am now speaking only of British diplomatists. I am not concerned with the proceedings of those of other nations. More especially do I gladly yield those of German and Austrian diplomatists to the tender mercies of their most severe- British critics. So far, however, as British diplomacy is concerned, I can, speaking perfectly untrammelled by official obligations and with a quarter of a century's experience of the methods adopted by the Foreign Office, declare very positively that these notions constitute a complete delusion. They are based on false and haphazard conjectures and on the wholly erroneous supposition that the traditions of eighteenth -century diplomacy, albeit they survive to this dav at Berlin and Vienna, are still current in Downing 1 Street. As a matter of fact, those traditions have long since been banished from British official life. British diplomacy may at times have been inept, but for many a long year it has been scrupulouslv honest, perfectly able to stand, without shrinking, the light of the utmost publicity, and wholly in conformity with the aspirations and moral standards adopted by an advanced democracy. It was not the fault of the British diplomatists that the outbreak of the present war came like a thunderclap to the amazed people of this country. Some of them probably showed greater foresight than others. Some believed, and others disbelieved, in the possibility of preserving the peace of the world. But whatever may have been their opinions, IMPERIAL FEDERATION 29 it was not part of their duty to proclaim them to the rest of the world. If the public were not forewarned, the responsibility lies, not with British diplomacy, but with British statesmanship. It seems impossible to escape from the dilemma that the Ministers of the day collectively either failed to realize the gravity of the impending danger, or, if they realized it, lacked the moral courage to impart their apprehensions to the democracy and to take beforehand the measures most essential to meet the coming crisis. All this is true enough. Nevertheless, in so far as the subject now under discussion is concerned, there is much force in the accusation that British diplomacy has been unduly secret. The self-governing Dominions of the Crown have been asked and expected to take part in the greatest war recorded in history without either their responsible rulers or their inhabitants being in any way consulted as to the wisdom of engaging in hostilities, and without being previously furnished with any adequate information in respect to all the circumstances which preceded the declara- tion of war and which rendered it inevitable. They re- sponded nobly and willingly to the call. But will they be prepared to adopt a similar course in the future ? Will they continue to acquiesce patiently in a system under which their national destinies, the lives of their inhabitants, and the resources of their Treasuries are placed absolutely at the disposal of an authority over whom they can exer- cise no control, and of whose proceedings they are kept in whole or partial ignorance ? So far as can at present be judged, the answer to these questions must be in the negative, more especially in so far as Canada is concerned. Some quotations from the most recent utterances of eminent colonial statesmen will suffice to show the views which they generally entertain on this subject. Sir Robert Borden has emphatically stated that in the future Canada will " no longer be content to be an adjunct even of the British Empire." Even before the war that is to say, in September 1913 he spoke of "the inborn feeling in the Canadian breast that a British subject living in this Dominion must ultimately have as potent a voice in the government and guidance of this world-wide Empire as the British subject living in the United Kingdom." Sir George Perley who, Messrs. Percy and Archibald Kurd say, '- is known in this matter to be expressing the deep 30 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, convictions of the Prime Minister of Canada," 1 after stating in a recent speech that he represented a county in the Province of Quebec, added : ''- 1 wish to say that it would be impossible for me to get up on a platform in that county, which I have represented for ten years, and to argue that Canada should do as she is now doing for all time, whenever war may come, without knowing before- hand and being consulted regarding the questions at issue which may make such a war necessary." Messrs. Kurd also say : " The British House of Commons was recently startled by the quotation in debate of the declaration of a Canadian who was described as ' one of the greatest men in Canada.' Discussing the services Canada rendered in the war he said, ' It is the last time Canada is going to do this ' ; and he added that England ' could not count in future on the splendid contribution of Canada to our armed forces if we did not take Canada more into our councils and confidence.' " 2 Sir Charles Sifton, speak- ing at Montreal early in 1915, said : " Canada must now stand as a nation. It will no longer do for Canada to play the part of a minor. It will no longer do for Canadians to say that they are not fully and absolutely able to trans- act their own business. We shall not be allowed to do this any longer by the nations of the world. We shall not be allowed to put ourselves in the position of a minor. The nations will say, If you can levy armies to make war, you can attend to your own business, and we will not be referred to the head of the Empire ; we want you to answer our questions directly. There are many questions which we shall have to settle after this war is over, and that is one of them." The Hon. W. P. Schreiner, High Commissioner for South Africa and ex-Premier of Cape Colony, recently said : "I associate myself very much with the idea that the near future after the war must see a little more attention given to practical improvement in the methods and system under which the Empire is now run. I am not prepared at the moment to say what particular way should be followed, but some way should be followed, not in order to tie the bonds more tightly for they should remain elastic but so that there should be no knots to cause friction." Expressions of opinion of this sort, all pointing to the same general conclusion, might be multiplied. 1 " The New Empire Partnership " by Percy Hurd and Archibald Hurd, p. 253. * Ibid., p. xi. IMPERIAL FEDERATION 31 The case of the self-governing Dominions, considered as a matter of theory and exclusively on its own merits, is absolutely unanswerable. No believer in democratic institutions can for one moment contend that several powerful and populous democracies can be expected patiently to endure the continuance of the present system. The strength of the case has been in some degree enhanced by reason of the absence of satisfactory results obtained under the present regime. It would not only be premature, but in the highest degree unjust, to condemn the recent diplomacy of the British Foreign Office without, in the first instance, obtaining that full information about what has actually occurred which is not at present avail- able. Moreover, it has to be remembered that Downing Street has not, like Berlin with the Viennese Foreign Office practically in its pocket been altogether master in its own house. It has been necessary to bring no less than four different and distant Foreign Offices and War Offices into line in order to ensure common action on the part of the Allies. It may confidently be surmised that the difficulty of securing complete unity of action has often been very considerable. At the same time, it cannot be denied that the diplomacy of the Foreign Office, especially in the Near East, has not been productive of satisfactory results, and it is very natural that grave suspicions should have been excited that it has not been conducted with any marked degree of skill or judgment. Not only, however, is the case of the Dominions un- answerable, but it may confidently be asserted that there is no sort of desire to contest its validity. The force of the colonial arguments is generally admitted. The " will to co-operate " exists in the highest degree. Only one question remains outstanding. It is how best to ensure the desired co-operation. It must be admitted that the solution of that question bristles with practical difficulties. The conservative and perhaps, it may to some extent be said, the official view of the matter may briefly be stated as follows : The existing system, it is urged, is admittedly full of anomalies. It is indefensible in theory. But in practice it works well. It has produced admirable results, which might very probably not have been secured by the adoption of a more rigid and logical system. Beware, lest in touching so delicate a piece of political machinery, you do not bring the whole fragile fabric about 32 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, your ears. No solution, or at all events no immediate and complete solution, is possible. Leave well alone. It is better to bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of. It would be a very great error to neglect views of this description merely because they are conservative and run counter to the direction of the popular feeling of the day. They are, in a greater or less degree, held by many who have made a special and lifelong study of colonial ques- tions and who can speak with very high authority upon them. Thus Sir Charles Lucas, speaking recently at the Royal Colonial Institute, said : ''I want to warn you all that any Federation or Union of English people must grow. Any cut-and-dried scheme would be fatal, con- trary to English history, contrary to English instincts, a German plan which they call Kultur." Nevertheless, jit will only be with the utmost reluctance that the public, whether in the United Kingdom or in the Colonies, will be led to believe in the bankruptcy of British statesmanship. There must surely, it will be urged, be some means for solving the problem, thorny though it be. It may con- ceivably be necessary to fall back on the maintenance of the status quo if, after every endeavour has been made to introduce some satisfactory and generally acceptable changes, the result is failure. But until this happens, the hope of realizing the noble ideal and the far-reaching political conception which now expands before the eyes of the Anglo-Saxon race should on no account be abandoned. The only practical proposal in connection with this subject which was made at the Colonial Conference in 1911, was that brought forward by Sir Joseph Ward. It is unnecessary to describe it in detail. Indeed, the precise nature of the suggested scheme was left by its author in some degree of obscurity. But it is essential to refer to the highly important speech made by the Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith) when the matter came under discussion. He stated emphatically that the authority of the Imperial Government in dealing with all matters connected with foreign affairs " cannot be shared." The view thus taken by Mr. Asquith is unquestionably sound in this sense, that, in the interests of the whole Empire, there must be unity of control over the conduct of foreign affairs, and that this unity can only be secured by confiding the direction of foreign policy to the hands IMPERIAL FEDERATION 33 of the predominant partner in the Imperial concern. It would, indeed, be possible to create a separate Imperial Cabinet and an Imperial Parliament to deal with such matters. I will allude further to this proposal presently. Here I need only remark that, even if such a plan were adopted, the practical result, although it would be attained by a different and more circuitous route, would not very materially differ from that which is secured by the exist- ing system. The authority and responsibility of the Imperial Government would, indeed, nominally be " shared by the Governments of the Dominions ; but under any scheme which would present the least chance of being generally accepted the voices of the British representa- tives, both in the Imperial Cabinet and the Imperial Parliament, would be so enormously preponderating as practically to leave them masters of the situation. I may mention incidentally that, in writing on this sub- ject, Messrs. Hurd appear to attach special importance to the fact that on July 15, 1915, Sir Robert Borden was invited to attend a meeting of the British Cabinet. The incident also seems to have been regarded by a section of the British and colonial Press as an epoch-making event. It would be an exaggeration to regard it in any such light. It was a satisfactory symptom that the British Government wished, on some point of special importance, to obtain an expression of opinion from the Canadian Prime Minister. But it was not more than this. It gave no indication of any intention to usher in a radical change in the existing system for conducting business. It has for long been the practice, when any special issue was under considera- tion, occasionally to invite some individual, whose opinion it was thought necessary to obtain, to attend a Cabinet meeting. Under the Ministries both of Mr. Gladstone and the late Lord Salisbury I was on several occasions re- quested to attend when Egyptian questions formed the subject of discussion. Before proceeding any farther it may perhaps be as well to dispel an illusion which may possibly exist in the minds of some. A pledge has been already given that, before the terms of peace are settled at the conclusion of the present war, full consultation shall take place with the responsible Ministers of the Dominions. It may perhaps be thought by some people that all that is now required is that a somewhat similar pledge should be given in 3 34 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, respect to future action that is to say, that no decisive step should be taken in the domain of foreign policy with- out previous consultation with the Governments of the Dominions. Any such idea would be a complete delusion. More than this is required. Apart from the consideration that in many cases such prompt action is required as to render consultation even by telegraph highly objectionable, if not altogether impossible, it is to be observed that any one who has had practical experience in dealing with foreign affairs must be cognizant of the fact that it would be futile to expect even the most capable man or body of men to give any valuable opinion on a special issue unless they had previously acquired full knowledge of all the events which had led up to the issue being raised. In the large majority of important cases the whole field of foreign relations, as also their recent history, has to be surveyed before a definite or valuable opinion can be pro- nounced on any special point, and in order advantageously to make any such survey a full acquaintance with all recent circumstances and incidents of real importance is essen- tial. More than this, it is often not by any means easy to decide, in the first instance, what is and what is not a really important issue. It not unfrequently happens that some incident occurs, or that some decision has to be taken, which appear at first sight to be unimportant, but which acquire, by the light of after -events, a character of very great importance. It is essential, therefore, that if the Governments of the Dominions are to be taken seriously into council they should be in a position to watch the operations in the whole field of foreign policy during normal times, and this they cannot do unless they are kept well informed. Broadly speaking, there are two methods by which con- sultation with the Dominions can be secured. One is to associate them to a greater extent than at present with the executive action of the British Government. The other is to go farther afield, to change the whole Constitution of the British Empire, and, by some kind of legislative amalgamation, to enable the people of each separate Imperial unit to make their voices heard by adopting the normal and habitual proceedings common under all demo- cratic forms of government. Obviously, the former of these two alternatives possesses the advantage that _'.c involves, relatively speaking, a far ^ less degree of radical IMPERIAL FEDERATION 35 change, and that it is much less difficult to carry into execution than the latter. In order to associate the Dominions with the executive action of the British Government it would be possible to establish a special department at the Foreign Office, whose functions would be to keep the representatives of the Dominions fully informed of everything of importance that passes in connection with foreign affairs, leaving it to them, at their discretion, to inform the Dominions' Ministers either by mail or telegraph, as occasion might demand. There are, of course, certain objections to the adoption of this course. There would be a risk that the information communicated to the representatives would speedily find its way to the columns of some colonial newspaper, and, little as I believe in the existence of any Foreign Office secrets which cannot at the proper time be divulged with- out doing the least harm, it cannot be denied that cases might well occur in which premature disclosures 'might cause much inconvenience and even be seriously hurtful to the public interest. This risk would, however, have to be faced. It is not, in my opinion, to be weighed in the balance against the advantages which would accrue under the proposed plan. It would, of course, have to be fully understood that no papers communicated by the Foreign Office to the Dominions Governments should be presented to their respective Parliaments without British consent having been previously obtained. If this measure were not deemed sufficient, a furthdr development in the same direction might be found by estab- lishing an Imperial Council, to sit in London, composed of delegates appointed by the Dominions and of such British Ministers as it might be thought desirable to associate with them. This body would have to be solely consulta- tive and advisory. There would, in Mr. Asquith's phrase, be no question of " sharing authority." The British Government, and the British Government alone, would in each case have to decide. But, if an Imperial Council were established, the British Ministers, before they came to any decision, would be enlightened as to the views held by the Dominions Governments. This would assuredly be a very great advantage. The proposal is open to two objections one British and the other colonial. The British objection consists in the fear that, by the establishment of an Imperial Council, the powers and independence of 36 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP. the existing Cabinet would be impaired. It is urged that, by the creation of the already existing Committee of Imperial Defence, a sort of Cabinet within the Cabinet has been formed, and that this has caused much incon- venience. It is for those who have had practical experi- ence in the working of the system to say to what an extent the alleged inconveniences have been of a serious nature. I cannot help thinking that, if they have arisen, their occurrence might be obviated by an improved organization which ought to be able to insure hearty co-operation between two separate but closely connected bodies. The colonial objection is of a wholly different character. Would the responsible Ministers of the Dominions and their electors be prepared to delegate their powers and to leave a certain amount of discretion in the hands of their London repre- sentatives ? I cannot say . The matter is one for Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and South Africans to decide for themselves. If, however, I am correctly informed, it is extremely doubtful whether their consent to any such delegation as that which is suggested could be obtained. All that can be said at present, however, is that if after the war a Conference is summoned to consider this and cognate matters, one of the first duties of the British Ministers would appear to be to elicit an expression of opinion on this point. The second alternative to which I have alluded above involves a far more drastic reform. It is that an Imperial Cabinet and an Imperial Parliament should be created, which would deal with all the affairs connected with the Empire as a whole, that in this Cabinet the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, the War Office, the India Office, and the Crown Colony side of the Colonial Office should be repre- sented, that a Ministry should be created to deal with Imperial finance, and that the present British Parliament should in reality become a Home Rule Parliament, which would only deal with the local affairs of the United Kingdom. Many high authorities, such as Mr. Curtis and Mr. Basil Worsfold, who have paid special attention to this subject, favour this idea. It cannot be doubted that the plan is theoretically sound, and that it carries out the principle of Federation to its logical conclusion. But is it capable of execution? No answer can be given to this question until the whole scheme is formulated and presented in such detail as to enable all concerned to form a matured opinion as to its IMPERIAL FEDERATION 37 merits and demerits. It is clear, however, that the obstacles to be encountered in devising a workable plan of this sort are very formidable. Of these, perhaps the most serious is to discover some principle upon which representation in the Imperial Parliament should be based. Are the numbers to be sent to the Parliament by each unit of the Empire to be decided with reference to com- parative wealth, or population, or relative naval and military strength ? Whatever basis is adopted it is certain that the result, as I have already mentioned, must be to give an enormously preponderating voice to the representatives of the United Kingdom. Would the overseas democracies be prepared to acquiesce in such a situation ? I cannot say. It would be for them to decide. Then, again, is the decision of a majority to be final ? Is each unit of the Empire to be bound by the votes of the collective body, or, in case of dissent, is it to be allowed subsequent freedom of action ? Are decisions in such vital matters as peace and war to be unanimous ? The idea is incon- ceivable. Such a system would reproduce all the political anarchy caused by the exercise of the Liberum veto in the old Polish Diet. These, and a number of other ques- tions of a scarcely less complex character, would have to be most carefully considered before any opinion can be formed on the expediency or practicability of the project. It would, I venture to think, be a mistake to be unduly daunted by the obvious difficulties which will have to be encountered in devising a plan. Personally, although I am strongly convinced that some changes should, if they are at all possible, be made, I am inclined to think that, looking to the extreme complexity of the subject and to the great importance of avoiding a false step, it would be wise for all concerned to proceed very cautiously and tentatively, to be satisfied for the time being with dealing with the comparatively easy subject of somewhat closer association in executive matters, and then to see how the revised system works before proceeding to reforms of a more drastic and far-reaching description. But I speak under correction. It may be that others who approach the subject with greater knowledge and who can speak with greater authority upon it than myself tnay be able to devise some unobjectionable plan of a more satisfac- tory and comprehensive description, which would be capable of immediate adoption. The matter should certainly be 38 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP fully discussed and the relative merits of the rival plans carefully examined. Until this is done, it will be well to suspend final judgment as regards the merits of any particular scheme. In any case, it would seem desirable, even if no more important changes be made, to arrange that the Imperial Conference should, for the future, meet every two years, instead of, as at present, at intervals of four years. Thus, the statesmen both of the United King- dom and of the Dominions would more frequently be brought in close contact with each other. They would be able mutually to exchange views. The result could not be otherwise than beneficial. The case of India is also of the greatest importance. It differs very materially from that of the self-governing Dominions. I cannot attempt to deal with it fully at present. That some reforms will have to be made after the war in the methods under which India is at present governed is both possible and probable. The general direction which those forms may profitably take was indi- cated in a dispatch of the Government of India, written in December 1911, which contains the following passage: " The only possible solution of the difficulty would appear to be gradually to give the Provinces a larger measure of self-government, until at last India would consist of a number of administrations, autonomous in all provincial affairs, with the Government of India above them all, and possessing power to interfere in case of misgovernment, but ordinarily restricting their functions to matters of Imperial concern." I am very clearly of opinion that India is not yet ripe for complete self-government in the sense in which that term is used in the Dominions. The same may be said of Egypt and the Soudan. It would at present be altogether premature to discuss the desirability of bringing either of these two countries within the full scope of a general scheme for the Federation of the Empire. CHAPTER II The State and the Citizen BY BISHOP WELLDON MAN is, as Aristotle says, a political or a social animal (iroXiriKov wov). It is to him a natural impossibility that he should live alone. As a human being, he stands immediately in relation to other human beings who are like himself. No sooner do he and they meet than a community of interest or service arises, and a primitive association is formed ; " the companions of the meal -tub " or "of the hearthstone," ' if they were the first persons who entered into a simple partnership, laid the foundations of all human society. They were the original parents of th city or the State. The Greek thinkers, such as Aristotle and his master Plato, who traced the beginning of society to the common advantage which two or more human beings enjoy, when each of them contributes to the other something which he can best supply and which the other or others cannot supply so well, if indeed at all, were the first political economists. They saw clearly that men living and acting in combina- tion can accomplish far more than is possible, if every man lives or tries to live in independence of other men. They saw, too, that men who unite to make life possible or easy continue in union to make it happy and prosperous. The association exists to ensure not life only but a good life (yiyvo/u.vr) jj.tv ovv row f}v HVEKEV oixra Se row tv fjv). 2 It is evident, then, that human society, as it amplifies, proves to be greater not only than any individual who is a member of it, but than all its members taken together. The individual, indeed, in becoming a member of society, loses something of his own freedom. There is a sense ' Aristotle, " Politics," i, 2, 5. Ibid., i, 2, 8. 39 40 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, in which a savage is freer than a civilized man. But law is not the antithesis to liberty ; it is the guarantee, and the only guarantee, of full liberty. For civilization affords men the opportunity not only of enjoying greater benefits, but of attaining larger and higher objects, than are possible in a state of barbarism. The individual gains or may gain more by claiming less. His self-restraint is the condition of his self-satisfaction. As Goethe says: " In der Beschrankung zeigt sich erst der Meister, Und das Gesetz nur kann uns Freiheit geben. 1 Thus the relation of the aggregate society to the indi- viduals who compose it becomes at once a disputable question. Does the State exist for the individual, or does the individual exist for the State ? Is it the service which the society can render to its members, or the service which the members can render to their society, that is the dominant factor in municipal and national life? Upon the answers, given explicitly or implicitly to these questions, has depended the history of civilized mankind. If it were necessary or desirable to enunciate a broad generalization, it might be said that in the pre-Christian world the law was the supremacy of the State, but that in the Christian world it has been the supremacy of the indi- vidual. Yet the Christian world has not been exempt from reactionary or retrogressive movements, and among these movements the most conspicuous has been in modern Europe the history of the German Empire. It would appear that in ancient Greece and in ancient Rome, the two countries from which European .civiliza- tion has mainly sprung, the State (TroXic or civitas) was the object of general homage. The contrast between civilization and barbarism was strongly felt. Everybody who was not a Greek was, by the Greeks, adjudged to be a barbarian. Everybody who was not a citizen of Rome was, by the Romans, held to be devoid of civic rights. The city or the State was the author of the insti- tutions and instruments by which life, as the Greeks and the Romans alike regarded it, was made worth living. It was owing to the State that the individual citizen could live and move in safety, could possess and enjoy such wealth as 1 " Was wir bringen," Auftritt 19. THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN 41 he had acquired, could make the best of himself physically and aesthetically, could refine his intellect and use his leisure and his culture as stepping-stones to a higher life. He was therefore a debtor to the State ; and whatever claim the State might make upon him, whether in the way of military service or of pecuniary tribute, it was his absolute duty to satisfy ; for at the best he could never hope to discharge the full obligation which rested upon his whole life. When Lord Palmerston, in his famous speech upon the case of Don Pacifico, quoted the formula " Civis Roma nits sum " as a model or earnest of British citizen- ship, it was the overshadowing, protective power of the State, strengthening, as it were, and dignifying all its citizens, that gave a proud significance to his words. But there were two circumstances which, in Greek or Roman eyes, invested the State with an unique authority. One was the institution of slavery. It is difficult, in the modern world, to estimate what was in the ancient world the magnitude of slavery. But two striking figures may be cited. Athenasus states, as the result of an investigation made by Demetrius Phalereus, that at the beginning of the third century B.C. the true Athenians in Attica were 21,000, the Metics Ouero/icot) 10,000, and the slaves 400,000.' Marquardt has estimated the population of Rome in the first century of the Christian era as 1,610,000, including women, children, and foreigners, and of this total number the slave population as 900,000.2 Christianity changed at once, not the institution of slavery but the position of the slave. It made him, as St. Paul says in his Epistle to Philemon, " no longer a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." It did not abolish, yet it mitigated, slavery, because master and slave became one in Christ Jesus. Thus it is that of the early Christians, who were buried in the catacombs, no one is described as a slave. The transformation of the Roman " familia " into the Christian " family " is a sign, as it is a measure, of the social revolution wrought by Christ- ianity. It is sadly true that slavery, although it was con- demned by the finest and noblest Christian spirits, as universally by Pope Gregory the Great, lingered for many centuries in some parts of Christendom. Not until the year 1861 A.D. did Alexander, the Tsar of Russia, emanci- 1 " Deipnosophist," bk. vt. ch. 103. 2 " A Companion to Latin Studies," vi. 4, p. 354, "42 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP pate the five million serfs in his mighty empire. Not until 1865 was the death -knell of slavery sounded in the United States of America by the assassination of President Lin - oln. It was of him that the American poet Bryant wrote : Thy task is done : the bond are free. We bear thee to an honored grave, Whose proudest monument shall be The broken fetters of the slave. His poem " On the Death of Lincoln " is immediately followed by his other poem, " On the Death of Slavery." So long as slavery endured, and, still more, so long as the slaves were a majority of the people in a country or a city, the sentiment of individual right was practically negligible, in comparison with the power of the State over all its citizens. Democracy has been a plant of slow growth in the modern world. In the ancient world there was no such thing as democracy. The most democratic city of antiquity, even Athens itself, was in fact a narrow oligarchy. It was only through the Christian conception of the soul, and its relation to God, that democracy dawned upon the world. To the condition of slavery in ancient times must be added the long national habit of warfare. An ordered and settled peace has been only too seldom known in civilized and Christian Europe. Among the nations of antiquity it was never known. No political constitution in the ancient world was internally or externally stable. Slavery was itself an abiding peril to national and civil peace, as the Servile Wars in the history of Rome amply proved. The dread of revolution or insurrection (oracnc as it was called in Greece) brooded as a haunting fear upon all statesmen and administrators. The gates of the Temple of Janus before the reign of the Emperor Augustus were seldom closed. But amidst wars and rumours of wars the State inevitably asserts itself. It calls the citizens to arms ; it disciplines them in tactics ; it enforces duty, obedience, subordination ; it is, or it feels itself to be, the custodian of interests so momentous that it cannot recognize or tolerate any assertion of individualism against them. It is probable that the nearest parallel to the modern Empire of Germany, at least on its military side, would be found in the Empire of Rome, For an empire founded THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN '43 upon force is naturally hostile to freedom. It was neces- sary that some such pacific influence as that of the Christian Church should move the heart and conscience of the world, before men and nations of men could believe, even as a theory, that peace, and not war, is the natural and normal rule of human life. There is a third element which has largely entered into modern European civilization the Judaic. But Judaism was a theocracy ; and under a theocracy the Government or the Constitution, as embodying the direct will of God necessarily exercises a controlling influence upon the actions, whether great or small, of the individual citizen's life. It follows that, in so far as Europe in the early Christian centuries derived guidance from the Bible, and particu- larly from the Old Testament, it -tended to emphasize the prerogative of the State as against the rights and liberties of the citizen. The Church, during all the early ages of her history, was the great equalizing power in the Christian world. She stood over against the State as a rival nay, in her own eyes, as a superior. She claimed to prescribe the duties and responsibilities of the State. In her eyes sovereign and subject, peer and peasant, master and servant were all equal, as they were equal before God. Salva- tion was the same for all, and it must be won by all on the same terms. The humblest of the people, if he entered the ministry of the Church, became ipso facto invested with a spiritual power which gave him authority over the highest and the noblest. It is impossible to over- estimate the service so rendered by the Church to humanity. She, and she alone, inspired the principle of brotherhood and charity in an age of cruel selfishness. She alone lifted her voice against the oppression of the mighty ; she alone extended her shield over the weak, the suffering, and the desolate. She created and consecrated the home, and she lent her sanction to the sense of individual value in every inmate of the home. It is true that the old tendencies of human nature soon reasserted themselves within the Church. She does not and cannot repress them ; but, if they reappear in defiance of her teaching, it is she who suffers discredit for them. Thus persecution is a natural instinct of human wickedness or weakness. It is not limited to the sphere of religion ; it permeates all life. But ? when it becomes religious persecu- 44 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP tion, it is felt to be especially censurable, as it conflicts with the spirit or character of religion and of Christianity. It is an heretic that makes the fire, Not she which burns in't. 1 So, too, tyranny, or monarchy, as it had been estab- lished in the ancient world, may have been inconsistent with the principles of Christianity. But it survived the conversion of the Western, as of the Eastern, world from paganism to the faith of Jesus Christ. The Papacy, as it extended and augmented its power, arrogated to itself all, and more than all, the authority of the State. It is not, indeed, difficult to discern in the Roman Catholic conception of the Church some of the elements which form, or tend to form, the modern Prussian conception of the State. There is the same subordination of all interests in the one case to ecclesiastical, in the other to political, authority. There is the same repression or denial of intel- lectual and spiritual liberty. There is, or there has been, the same willingness to use force, as checking and thwart- ing the dispositions which militate against the efficiency of the whole. Modern Kaiserism is a secularized Papalism. Nor, indeed, does the practical reverence for the Kaiser differ intrinsically from the far more ancient and more logical reverence for the Pope. The system of the Church of Rome, and so of Western Christendom generally, tended to become more and more monarchical. Democracy, as it is understood in the modern world, dates from the Reformation. Although democracy is generally regarded as political, yet in its origin, like many political movements or systems, it was spiritual. It depended upon the relation of the individual soul to God. Before the Reformation it was only through the long avenue of sacerdotal powers, of theological doctrines and eccle- siastical ceremonies, that the soul of man could draw near to its Maker. Luther swept away the obstacles which barred the immediate access of the soul to Christ and God. Liberty of conscience, the open Bible, the very change in the aspect or structure of the churches, were signs of the spiritual independence which the Reformation asserted for humanity. It is thus that the Reformation is the abiding test of the principles by which men and 1 Shakespeare, " The Winter's Tale," ii. 3, 146-7. THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN 45 nations of men guide their lives. If they care most for discipline, order, and perhaps for grace and peace, they have remained or become Roman Catholic. If they care most for truth, freedom, and charity, they have chosen the steep and stony path of Protestantism. The new spirit is visible all along the line of the Elizabethan era. It is characteristic of Raleigh, Gilbert, Drake, and Frobisher, as it is of Shakespeare and Spenser. It is the spirit of men who have set out, in the faith of their own strong nature and purpose, for the conquest of new worlds, whether territorial or spiritual. In most of them, or in nearly all, the religious spirit survived the revolt against the Church of Rome. They were Christians still, but they were Christians in virtue of argument, not of authority. It is hardly too much to say that the triumph of democratic and individualistic sentiment was propor- tionate to the clearness and positiveness of the Protestant creed. The Presbyterianism of John Knox, if it did not create, yet consolidated the character which has made the Scotch people the most self-reliant element in the British Empire. The Puritan Pilgrims of the Mayflower were not unnaturally, although they were unconsciously, the founders of the greatest Republic upon earth. A philosopher may well feel surprise at discovering that anybody living in the twentieth century should be prepared, for any imaginary gain of catholicity or unity, to barter the spiritual liberty which his forefathers won by so long an effort and at so high a price. But, as often happens, the underlying principle of Protestantism, or Puritanism, was slow in making itself universally felt. The Declaration of Independence, which is the Charter of the United States of America, was drafted, it is well known, by Jefferson. It begins by assert- ing, as a self-evident principle, that all men are by nature equal, and all are by nature free. There is a story that, when Jefferson was asked how he reconciled that asser- tion with the existence of slavery, he confessed himself unable to give a satisfactory answer. The difference of colour has, in all ages and in all countries, corresponded with a difference of social or political status. Whether the word " men " in the Declaration of Independence did, or should, include women, was a question left, and perhaps intended to be left, in uncertainty. But there can be no doubt that, in the United States of America as well ;as 46 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, in the European world, events are tending towards the equalization of manhood and womanhood in politics. Subject, however, to these considerable limitations, democracy, and equality as its natural issue, have, in the last three or four centuries, become more and more strikingly the axioms of modern life. For circumstances have insensibly tended to lessen or narrow the differences between one class and another in the same community. The gulf between the peer and the peasant is incommen- surable with the gulf between the master and the slave. Education is no longer the property of the few ; it has descended to the many ; and the humblest labourer, when he reads his Sunday newspaper, can inform himself as easily as a statesman or professor about the course of events all over the world. Wherever political suffrage is universal, or nearly universal, the theory of " one man one vote " invests each citizen with the same influence as any other citizen upon the political history of his nation. One strange consequence has been an apparent perversion of the moral judgment. Because the majority of votes in the House of Commons or in an election decides the issue, it has been assumed that, whatever the will of the majority may be, it must be right. But the fact that votes, if they are numerous enough, confer power, does not ensure or imply that they constitute right. Too often has the minority or the individual been the representative of free- dom or progress ; too often has the majority sinned against the light. Yet the working-man, however ignorant he may really be, has, in virtue of his education or his political enfranchisement, been led to think that he is as good and as wise as any one else. Even in modern war- fare it is number which tells. The day when the issue of war could be decided by heroic individual valour has passed away . One man is like another ; and the nation which can send the largest number of its citizens into the field, if it can adequately arm them and train them, is the nation to which the promise of victory belongs in warfare to-day. All these are elements in the changing conception of life ; they all foster a general impatience of subordination or control, a claim to participate in all that makes life happy or comfortable. The result has been manifest in various ways. It has shown itself in the ever -increasing demand of the people; upon the State or the Government. Sometimes in the THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN 47 early days of modern democracy they were content with claiming equality before the law. In recent days they have, under the title of socialism or communism, claimed the assimilation of all classes upon one level of faculty and opportunity. Sometimes, again, the less highly placed or highly paid classes have demanded free educa- tion, and free, or nearly free, insurance against accidents. In times of exceptional stress they have demanded for their children free meals and even free medicines. The State has become more and more socialistic. More and more it has humoured and favoured the proletariat. While it has, justly or unjustly, increased the burden of taxa- tion upon the rich, it has pretty well relieved the poor of all direct, and of much indirect, taxation. The people have been taught that they may gratify their own tastes, as in marriage, without restraint, and that, if difficulty or suffering falls upon them, the State must relieve it. The State has become their foster-mother. It has been thej unfailing resource upon which they have fallen back as a remedy for their own faults and follies. There has been, in fact, a demoralization of the people ; and among the persons responsible for it none have been more con- spicuous offenders against economical and social laws than the politicians, who have vied one with another in teaching the people, each for the ends of his party, to use their votes, not in the interest of justice or equity but for the assertion and advancement of their own privileges, against the other parties. It can be no wonder that, even under the stress of war, citizens, who have long been schooled in subservience to party, were, at first, slow to learn the lesson, and to exhibit the spirit, of patriotism. The Church, indeed, has taught, or professed to teach, duty duty to God and to man. But that sublime principle of English life the watchword which inspired Nelson at Trafalgar and Wellington at Waterloo has been wellnigh deadened by the noisy cries of conflicting self-interests. Yet the question, What can I get from the Staite ? is essentially poor and mean in comparison with the question, What can I give to the State ? For it ignores the citizen's primary obligation to the State which has been, in a large measure, the source of his personal and social happiness. It concentrates his desires and interests upon himself, instead of extending them upon a wide range of offices and respon- sibilities which reach beyond and above himself. There 48 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, can be little doubt that in British schools, and especially in the elementary schools, patriotism has not been incul- cated, as it might have been, and should have been, upon youthful hearts. How strong the effect of patriotic teach- ing in youth may be, is exemplified by countries like France and Japan. Even in Germany the spirit of patriotism, clouded as it is and often distorted by national pride and selfishness, still burns with an impressive lustre. The ancient Universities and Public Schools of England have nobly responded to the call of arms. It is with a splendid self-devotion that their sons have flung away their lives in the war. If elsewhere some hesitation was shown at first, it evidently arose from ignorance or misunderstanding of the relation in which the citizen stands to the State. Modern German, or Prussian, militarism is not indeed rightly appreciated, except as a reaction against the indi- vidualistic tendency of life in Great Britain. The Germans had formed the opinion that Great Britain, as an Imperial Power, was decadent, if not actually dying. It was not in itself a wholly unreasonable opinion. Empires, one after another, have, in the ages of history, been born and flourished, have reached the acme of their might ; and then have gradually waned, decayed, and perished. Such has been the fate of all modern empires the Spanish, the Portuguese, the French, the Dutch except the British Empire. Whether the British Empire alone among the empires of the world will survive or not, is a question lying in the womb of futurity. But the Germans argued, or assumed, that the apparently universal law of empires would fulfil itself, soon or late, in the British Empire. They held that Great Britain had lost the faculty of government. It could not, as they thought, control its Colonies ; it could not control India ; it could not even control Ireland. The spiritual forces, sympathy, affection, loyalty, by which peoples are held together, were unrecog- nized, and probably unimagined, by the Germans. No revelation of the war can have been more surprising to them than the spirit which has been displayed by South Africa. It was their confident expectation that the Colonies and Dependencies of the British Empire would rise against the Mother Country, so soon as she was engaged in perilous warfare. They have succeeded only, against their own will, in riveting the Empire by bonds which can never be broken. It is certain that, when the war is over,, Great THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN 49 Britain and the British Empire will be stronger, not only by force of arms and by the union of hearts, but in the respect of civilized mankind, than they have ever been before. Yet the Germans thought they could discern the signs of British impotency, as much in the relation of the State to its citizens as in the relation of the Dominions beyond the seas to the Mother Country. They mistook tolerance for degeneracy. They watched, with sinister eyes, what they thought to be the revolt of various parties or interests against authority. It seemed to them that, if Great Britain could not rule the Labour Party, the Suffragist Party, the Anti-Vaccinationists, and the other conscientious objectors, she must have lost all political and martial efficiency. It is only right to admit that the German estimate of Great Britain might not have proved so hopelessly wrong, had it not ignored the moral and spiritual motives which are, after all, the sovereign principles of human nature. For Great Britain in the days before the war was undoubtedly less effective and impressive in action than she would have been, if her political system had not rendered her Ministers of State unwilling, or unable, to take cogent action against those persons or classes which would sacrifice, if they could, the national supremacy to their several and separate interests. KuUur, as the Germans call it, is efficiency ; and if efficiency, attained by any means and at any cost, is the true object of a State, the Germans are, and have proved themselves to be, more efficient than any other people. For they judged, not without some reason, that individualism was, or ought to be, the ruin of Great Britain, and they determined that it should not be the ruin of Germany. It is not difficult to trace the process by which the German worship of efficiency assumed its present character. The State was the idol set up before adoring minds in the universities and schools of Germany. The Germans, young and old alike, were taught and forced to bow down before the golden image of the State. But the State rested upon force ; the embodiment of force was the Army ; and the State and the Army have in Germany been two names for one body. The State on its military side was the Army ; the Army on its civil side was the State. All disloyalty to the Army was high treason. The Kaiser was the head both of the State and of the Army ; and German 3 So EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP writers, like German statesmen, have generally held that the Government of Germany must be monarchical, as monarchy was the governmental system which would best guarantee efficiency, and, above all, efficiency in war. It is curious to notice how human nature, if it is checked and bound on one side, breaks out on other sides. The freedom denied to highly educated Germans in the domain of politics was accorded to them in the domain of philosophy and theology. Extravagance of speculative thought on all subjects outside politics was answered by its close circumscription in the political sphere. As a modern English writer has said, it was legitimate to deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ, but to deny the divinity of the Kaiser was lese majeste. Let me quote from German writers some few passages as showing the modern German view of the State, the Army, and the Kaiser. Nietzsche is the originator of the doctrine of the Superman. It may, or may not, be true that he owed his doctrine to the Darwinian theory of the struggle for exist- ence and the survival of the fittest. But from the doctrine of the Superman there was only a step to the doctrine of the Superstate ; and that Superstate, as all Germans assumed, must, and could, be Germany alone. In public, as in private life, Nietzsche identified not only happiness, but virtue, with power. The following is a passage taken from his " Antichrist ": What is good ? All that increases the feeling of power, will to power, power itself in man. What is happiness ? The feeling that power increases, that resistance is overcome. Not contentedness but more power ; not peace at any price but warfare : not virtue but capacity (virtue in the Renaissance style, virtue free from any moralic acid).' It was left to Treitschke to assert the supremacy of the State i.e. of the German State, the assumed Super- state over the whole life, moral as well as political and practical, of individual citizens. His teaching is so well known that it is not necessary to quote more instances of it than the following : The moment the State (he says) calls : " Myself and my existence are now at stake ! " social self-seeking must fall back and every party hate be silent. The individual must forget his own ego and feel himself a member of the whole : he must recognize what a nothing his life is in comparison with the general welfare. 7 1 J 2. "Selections from Treitschke's Lectures on Politics," p. 23. THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN 51 And again : Since the State is power, it can obviously draw all human action within its scope, so long as that action arises from the will which regulates the outer lives of men, and belongs to their visible common existence, Historical experience, examined fairly and without prejudice, teaches us that the State can overshadow practically the whole of a people's life. It will dominate it to the precise extent in which it is in a position to do so. 1 Such a book as Dr. White's " America and Germany " is replete with passages which show how the worship of the State has entered as an axiom into the political thought of German professors and literary men. 2 " In the German view," says the late Professor Miinsterberg 1 ^ " the State is not for the individuals, but the individuals for the State." " To the Germans," says Francke, " the State is a spiritual, collective personality, leading a life of its own, beyond the lives of individuals, and its aim is, not the protection and the happiness of individuals, but the making of a nobler type of man, and the achievement of high excellence in all the departments of life." Not to multiply quotations, the truth, as Germans have lately conceived it to be, is well summed up by the author of Germany's War Mania " : To modern German writers the State is a much more tremendous entity than it is to Englishmen or Americans. It is a supreme power; with a sort of mystic sanctity, a power conceived of, as it were, self-created ; a force altogether distinct from, and superior to, the persons who compose it. 3 The notorious military incident at Zabern was illumi- nating as a lightning-flash, and its significance has been enhanced by the events which followed it. Historians like Treitschke or Delbriick insist as strongly upon the supreme virtue of the Army as military writers like Clausewitz and Bernhardi. According to Miinsterberg, the men who have achieved the marvellous progress of German civilization have acted in the conviction that " the military spirit is a splendid training for cultural efficiency." But as the worship of the State leads to the worship of the Army, so the worship of the Army leads to the worship of the Kaiser. " The idea of the Emperor is that he is the symbol of the State as a whole, independent of the will of the individuals, and, therefore, independent of any elections." He is " the incarnation of active and disciplined Germany." ' "Politics," translated by Blanche Dugdale and Torben de Bille, vol. i. p. 62. pp. 174 sqq. s p. 10. 52 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, A careful American observer has recently declared that " the German people are as inseparable from the Kaiser as we, in America, are from our Constitution." He adds that " the Social Democratic Party in Germany is, itself, organized upon the principle of submission to the monarchy, and does not in the least resemble the Democratic Party in the American sense of the word " a statement true enough if the submission is understood to be not voluntary but enforced. It is upon the ground of Kultur or efficiency that the Germans justify their system of government. But that from such a system flow certain consequences of grave and serious moment for humanity they do not attempt to deny. The State is, in their eyes, supreme. It can do no wrong ; it can offend no moral law ; for duty to the State is the climax of morality. It can excuse no disloyalty or indifference. It claims, and it is entitled to claim, the subordination of every citizen, and in every citizen of his whole nature, body, soul, and spirit. Neither above, nor beside, the State is there, nor can there be, anything which a citizen can justly regard in comparison with the State itself. It would be amusing, if it were not distressing, to observe how German thought naturally rises above the individual, above the family, above the town, above the city to the State ; but at the State it stops dead. It takes no account of Europe or the world, humanity or God. It takes, or it seems to take, no account of other States than the German. No feature of German political speculation is more remarkable than the narrow limits within which it moves. Even in the domain of philosophy and theology German writers have lately exhibited, and have felt no apparent shame in exhibiting, a curious ignorance of much that has been thought and taught outside Germany. But in political history they think of Germany alone. "The real hypothesis of all their reasoning" is an exclusive nationalism. We read of Deutsche Treue, Deutsche Tap- ferkeit, Deutsche Kultur, until we begin to realize that the German mind lives in an exclusively German world of its own. The wind of the spirit that blows freely through Europe stops at the Rhine, and a new wind of the German spirit takes its place." x 1 " Nietzsche and Treitschke. The Worship of Power in Modern Germany," by Ernest Barker, pp. 19, 20. THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN 53 No authoritative German writer since Kant has, appar- ently, asked why England or France or Russia should not, in international relations, make precisely the same claims as Germany, and how, if such claims are made by all the great States, they can be adjusted without an un- ceasing warfare between them, until, at last, all the States are absolutely merged in the one supreme, victorious State. That State, as the Germans necessarily anticipate, will be Germany itself. For the essential superiority of the German people to all other peoples, as of the German State to all other States, is an axiom underlying much, if not all, that German publicists and philosophers have lately written upon the history and the destiny of mankind. The worship of the State, and of the German State, is admittedly inconsistent with the relation in which Chris- tianity has stood, or has aspired to stand, towards the national, no less than the individual, life. Nietzsche is no Christian at all. His hatred of Christianity is only second, if it is second, to his hatred of Great Britain. Bernhardi is a Christian after the Kaiser's own heart ; but he holds that Christianity, if it is good enough for the Church and the family, neither possesses, nor ought to possess, any influence upon the conduct of nations. The repudiation of the Christian faith is naturally followed by the repudia- tion of Christian morals. The individual man becomes no more than a machine. He is the subject or the serf of the State. Whatever the State bids him to do, it is his duty to do, because it is the will of the State, and nothing is, or can be, higher than the State. But the State, or the Army as the impersonation of the State, may, and will, commit every crime for its own ends. There lies in this doctrine of the State the germ of the " f right - fulness," which the Kaiser preached to his troops before they sailed to China at the time of the attack made by the Boxers upon the Legations in Pekin, and which he has since practised, or ordered to be practised, in Russia, in Poland, in France, in Flanders, and in Belgium. If the Germans are called, and if they resent being called, Huns, it is only fair to plead that the Kaiser himself held up the example of Attila before their eyes. Unfortunately Attila has reappeared, but not St. Leo the Great. There is literally no action, however immoral, however inhuman, of which the Germans in their present mood would not be guilty, or would not be capable of being guilty, if it 52 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, A careful American observer has recently declared that " the German people are as inseparable from the Kaiser as we, in America, are from our Constitution." He adds that " the Social Democratic Party in Germany is, itself, organized upon the principle of submission to the monarchy, and does not in the least resemble the Democratic Party in the American sense of the word " a statement true enough if the submission is understood to be not voluntary but enforced. It is upon the ground of Kultur or efficiency that the Germans justify their system of government. But that from such a system flow certain consequences of grave and serious moment for humanity they do not attempt to deny. The State is, in their eyes, supreme. It can do no wrong ; it can offend no moral law ; for duty to the State is the climax of morality. It can excuse no disloyalty or indifference. It claims, and it is entitled to claim, the subordination of every citizen, and in every citizen of his whole nature, body, soul, and spirit. Neither above, nor beside, the State is there, nor can there be, anything which a citizen can justly regard in comparison with the State itself. It would be amusing, if it were not distressing, to observe how German thought naturally rises above the individual, above the family, above the town, above the city to the State ; but at the State it stops dead. It takes no account of Europe or the world, humanity or God. It takes, or it seems to take, no account of other States than the German. No feature of German political speculation is more remarkable than the narrow limits within which it moves. Even in the domain of philosophy and theology German writers have lately exhibited, and have felt no apparent shame in exhibiting, a curious ignorance of much that has been thought and taught outside Germany. But in political history they think of Germany alone. " The real hypothesis of all their reasoning is an exclusive nationalism. We read of Deutsche Treiie, Deutsche Tap- ferkeit, Deutsche Kultur, until we begin to realize that the German mind lives in an exclusively German world of its own. The wind of the spirit that blows freely through Europe stops at the Rhine, and a new wind of the German spirit takes its place." * x " Nietzsche and Treitschke. The Worship of Power in Modern Germany," by Ernest Barker, pp. 19, 20. 53 No authoritative German writer since Kant has, appar- ently, asked why England or France or Russia should not, in international relations, make precisely the same claims as Germany, and how, if such claims are made by all the great States, they can be adjusted without an un- ceasing warfare between them, until, at last, all the States are absolutely merged in the one supreme, victorious State. That State, as the Germans necessarily anticipate, will be Germany itself. For the essential superiority of the German people to all other peoples, as of the German State to all other States, is an axiom underlying much, if not all, that German publicists and philosophers have lately written upon the history and the destiny of mankind. The worship of the State, and of the German State, is admittedly inconsistent with the relation in which Chris- tianity has stood, or has aspired to stand, towards the national, no less than the individual, life. Nietzsche is no Christian at all. His hatred of Christianity is only second, if it is second, to his hatred of Great Britain. Bernhardi is a Christian after the Kaiser's own heart ; but he holds that Christianity, if it is good enough for the Church and the family, neither possesses, nor ought to possess, any influence upon the conduct of nations. The repudiation of the Christian faith is naturally followed by the repudia- tion of Christian morals. The individual man becomes no more than a machine. He is the subject or the serf of the State. Whatever the State bids him to do, it is his duty to do, because it is the will of the State, and nothing is, or can be, higher than the State. But the State, or the Army as the impersonation of the State, may, and will, commit every crime for its own ends. There lies in this doctrine of the State the germ of the " f right - fulness," which the Kaiser preached to his troops before they sailed to China at the time of the attack made by the Boxers upon the Legations in Pekin, and which he has since practised, or ordered to be practised, in Russia, in Poland, in France, in Flanders, and in Belgium. If the Germans are called, and if they resent being called, Huns, it is only fair to plead that the Kaiser himself held up the example of Attila before their eyes. Unfortunately Attila has reappeared, but not St. Leo the Great. There is literally no action, however immoral, however inhuman, of which the Germans in their present mood would not be guilty, or would not be capable of being guilty, if it 56 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, while to consider what is the true relation of the State to its citizens and of the citizens to their State. There can be little doubt that, if citizens in the future are to discharge their patriotic duties, they must be taught from early childhood how heavy is their debt to the State, and how urgent is the obligation upon them to pay it by personal service and sacrifice. The individual will be regarded, not by himself, in the light of his own interest, but in his subordination to the State. He will realize that he cannot attain the perfection of his own moral or social nature, except in society ; and he will repudiate the idea of expecting and demanding the benefits which society confers upon him, without making an adequate return for them. As the individual is dignified, first, by membership of the family and then of the clan and the town, so, too, will he gain further dignity as a citizen of the State. Patriotism is an inspiring and ennobling virtue, if only because it lifts a (man's eyes above himself into the region of altruistic duties and responsibilities. But if there is a brotherhood of individuals, so is there, at least in idea, a brotherhood of nations or States. It is an error to assume that one State can rightly conceive and execute a policy, which would be intolerable or impos- sible, if it were the policy of all States. Kant's great principle that it is a man's duty to act in such a manner as would be beneficial to the world, if all men acted as he acts, is not less applicable to States. It is, indeed, the Golden Rule enunciated by Our Lord, though perhaps in less persuasive terms than His who first laid it down. Statesmen and diplomatists, if they desire to promote human good, can pursue no better goal than that of inducing communities to act in the spirit of Christian gentlemen. Whatever distinguishes civilization from barbarism in per- sonal life, e.g. a recourse to the judiciary for the peaceful settlement of disputed questions, should, in the long run, be practised by all the civilized nations of the world. The case of the Alabama has now pretty well faded from memory ; but it was a case which initiated the only sound Christian principle of regulating international disputes. It may be argued that the true and the false spirit of a nation's life are nowhere more clearly seen than in its relation to its colonies and dependencies. "The white man's burden," as it has been so well called by Mr. Kipling, positively forbids such practices as Germany THE STATE AND THE CITIZEN 57 appears to have employed in the country of the Hereros or in the Cameroon ; but it prescribes the spirit which, upon the whole, though not without grave mistakes, has actuated the British Government in India, and that Government has found its reward in the general loyalty of the Indian princes and peoples during the war. No doubt authority rests, and must rest, upon force. Yet force should be not that of one State armed against another, or against others, but that of the United States of Europe, and, ultimately, of the world, banding themselves together against the aggressiveness of any one State. For there can be freedom in a State only when it allows freedom outside itself. But freedom is the condition of progress. The danger of suppressing individual opinion and action is as serious in a democracy as in a monarchy or an oligarchy. Burke has, indeed, argued that the tyranny of a democracy is the most dangerous of all tyrannies, because it allows no appeal against itself. If small States have done as much for the advance of the world as large States, if minorities have been as often right as majorities, if individuals have again and again asserted the wrong of laws or usages which had until then been universally accepted, if they have fought and suffered and, not seldom, died for the reforms which have made human life sweeter and happier, then it follows that the State attains, or comes near to attaining, its ideal, in so far as it allows every individual citizen the utmost measure of liberty which is not incompatible with the rights of other citizens and with the welfare of the State. It appears, then, that education after the war will be directed more than it has been towards good citizenship as its goal. The citizen of the future will be instinct with the love of his country. He will estimate no personal sacrifice too heavy as a return for the benefits which his country confers upon him. He will feel proud of subordi- nating his private interests and ambitions to the public good. He will shrink from such trifles, disputes, and antagonisms as impair, and may even destroy, the efficiency of his State. But he will look upon his State as one member in the confraternity of States which constitute the sum of civilized humanity. He will prepare himself to defend his State by compulsory training, if not by com- pulsory service, in arms. But he will remember that his patriotism, good as it is in itself, may become an evil, 58 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, if it ignores or disputes the rights of other nations than his own. The nations of the world are a family ; and the more closely they are united by ties, commercial and political, the nearer will they approximate to the ideal of humanity. It is not by warfare, then, but by arbitration that States, like individuals, will aspire to settle their differ- ences. There will be a Federation, such as the United States of Europe, which will bring the collective forces of the nations to bear upon any one nation which may be thought to aim at violating international peace. It is prob- able, as indeed President Taft once declared, that there will, in the end, be no international question which may not be brought before some such tribunal as the Court of the Hague. For when the love of country coincides with the love of mankind, progress the only progress worth attaining and ensuring becomes possible. Many years ago, in 1842, the poet Tennyson, in '* Locksley Hall," drew a prophetic picture. There were two elements or aspects in the picture. One of them has been already realized in the present war. The world has Heard the heavens fill'd with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew From the nations' airy navies, grappling in the central blue. It will be the sacred task of humanity in the future to realize the second aspect of his picture : Till the war drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. CHAPTER III The Cultivation of Patriotism BY THE EARL OF MEATH I HAVE been asked by the Editor of these essays to con- tribute an article on the Cultivation of Patriotism. I gladly accede to his request, for it appears to me that the sentiment of patriotism, when founded on the love of home and of free institutions, and when unalloyed by admixture with the baser qualities of arrogance and of vainglory, is a source of untold strength to a nation. Such a sentiment cannot be ignored with impunity. It cannot be forced by educators or statesmen, nor is it capable of being produced at the arbitrary will of the tyrant. It is a delicate plant which refuses to be cultivated on uncon- genial soil, but, given the proper conditions of growth, it is in the power of the cultivator, either by neglect to starve it into atrophy, or by care and proper nurture to cause it to bring forth fruit, so that it shall repay him a hundredfold for his toil and attention. No foolish fear of fostering a military spirit should ever lead those who have in their hands the direction of youth- ful education to stunt or repress the growth of this valuable sentiment ; let them rather guide it into healthy directions, where its progress, far from being a source of danger to humanity, may, by stimulating the energies and purifying of the motives of the sons and daughters of Britain, be the means of bringing untold blessings to millions of the world's inhabitants. The present world -war has called forth a marvellous exhibition of the power of patriotic feeling amongst the free peoples of the Empire. His Majesty the King, in his noble Message to his people of May 25, 1915, pointed this out when he said : "I desire to take this opportunity of 59 60 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, expressing to my people my recognition and appreciation of the splendid patriotism and self-sacrifice which they have displayed in raising by voluntary enlistment, since the commencement of the war, no less than 5,041,000 men, an effort far surpassing that of any other nation in similar circumstances recorded in history, and one which will be a lasting source of pride to future generations." The self-sacrificing effort which the nation has made to supplement these large figures by placing at the dis- posal of the Government the services of every man fit for national work between the ages of eighteen and sixty is another proof of the existence amongst the peoples of Great Britain of immense reservoirs of patriotic feeling, and a similar spirit is manifest in all portions of the Empire. Compulsory national service has been adopted in Australia and New Zealand, and doubtless will shortly be in force in the other self-governing Dominions. If the war should last for a considerable time longer, it is probable that compulsion will be enacted in the case of women who have not offered their services to the State, for work of a national kind suitable to their sex. The exhibition of patriotic feeling amongst women, and the splendid manner in which they have spared neither health, strength, nor money in advancing the public interests, has strengthened the hearts of men, has added to the glory of Britain, and has established a national asset of incal- culable value. They have proved themselves worthy to be invited to take their part in the future in the government of the British Empire and in the maintenance of its honour. Such has been the power of patriotic feeling amongst the vast majority of the freedom -loving British peoples ; but let not our justifiable pride in this exhibition of patriotism blind us to the fact that there have been un- mistakable signs amongst small sections of both rich and poor, especially in the British Isles, of a selfish, indifferent, cowardly spirit which has declined to associate its interests with those of the community at large, and has to the best of its power attempted to seek exemption from all national sacrifice. These sections are principally to be found amongst those who have grown suddenly rich and who have managed to escape from the responsibilities attaching to wealth, and, at the other extreme of the social hierarchy, amongst those who have become victims of the exploita- tion of the former class, or who by misfortune or their THE CULTIVATION OF PATRIOTISM 61 own weakness have sunk to such depths of misery and penury as to render the growth in their minds of any patriotic feeling an almost absolute impossibility. The experience we have gained in this time of national war stress should guide our conduct in the future. Recog- nizing the value of patriotism, we should do our utmost to cultivate the sentiment amongst all classes, and especially amongst the young. It is evident that it is a plant which needs a congenial soil. Let us remove all hindrances to healthy growth ; let us break up hard, ungrateful soil, and replace it by rich and fruitful mould. We shall be repaid a hundredfold for our trouble. There must be an end to slums, to exploitation of labour, and to all conditions which contribute towards a low national standard of moral, mental, and physical health and strength. Lord Beaconsfield once said : " The public health is the foundation on which repose the happiness of the people and the power of a country. The care of the public health is the first duty of a statesman." We must see that the people are provided with decent homes and with the means of acquiring with ease a direct interest in the soil which under present legislation they may at any time be called on to defend. " The foundations of national glory," said King George V, " are set in the homes of the people, and they will only remain unshaken while the family life of our nation is strong, simple, and pure." True and noble words, which it behoves us never to forget ! What are the steps, then, which can be taken to encourage the cultivation of patriotism? 1 . Every effort should be made in the schools to explain to children the solid foundations on which British patriotism is founded to point out to them that, notwithstanding much which is regrettable in the conditions of life at home, speaking broadly, in no country, and under no form of government outside the British Empire, are more equitable laws, purer justice, and more righteous administration to be found. 2. Greater attention should be paid in the schools to the teaching of the history and geography of the Empire, and some knowledge should be imparted in regard to the characters, religions, ideals, customs, and manufactures of the A2o millions of our fellow -subjects throughout _the world . 3. Greater stress should be laid in schools on the teach- 62 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP ing of practical subjects which would enable every boy when he left school to be able to earn his own living, and every girl to be able to cook, to make her own garments, to care for a baby, and to keep house. 4. Both boys and girls should be taught the rudiments of hygiene, sanitation, and physiology, so as to have some slight knowledge of the causes of disease and the means which can be taken to avoid it. 5. The training of children in character and in self- restraint should take precedence of mere book-learning and the co-operation of parents should be invited in all schools in order that such training may be properly con- tinued at home. The " Duty and Discipline Movement " might perhaps assist in this direction, and the adoption of the " Boy Scouts " and " Girl Guides " curricula as part of the training of every boy and girl attending schools should form part of a national system of juvenile character training . As the founder of the " Empire Movement," the watch- words of which are " Responsibility, Duty, Sympathy, and Self-sacrifice," perhaps I may be excused if I suggest that a more general adoption of the movement throughout the entire community, and especially in the schools of the Empire, would materially assist towards the cultiva- tion of a national and imperial patriotism founded on sane and reasonable lines. It need hardly be pointed out that it is the moral character of the people of a nation which determines the position which such a nation shall occupy in the world. It is useless to multiply armies and fleets, to supply them with the most modern appliances of war, if the men behind the guns are ignorant of the meaning of the terms loyalty, obedience, self-sacrifice, courage, and devotion to duty. The same remark is equally true in regard to the avoca- tions of peace. The country may possess richly endowed universities, colleges, and technical schools ; its factories may be supplied with the best machinery ; but if its merchants, its manufacturers, and its workpeople are self- seekers, devoid of honesty, careless of the general weal, idle, and profligate, ruin will sooner or later overtake that country, and sooner rather than later. If we desire the cultivation of patriotism amongst the rising generation, support should in the first place be given to any efforts which may be made by parents and teachers, THE CULTIVATION OF PATRIOTISM 63 and by organizations like the " Duty and Discipline Move- ment," of 117 Victoria Street, S.W., to instil into the minds of the young the importance of certain virtues which in the past have been sometimes neglected namely those of unselfishness, and of respect and of obedience to lawful authority. Without these virtues no people can become permanently great. History distinctly teaches us this lesson. Wherever and whenever in the past history of the world a people have become united by reverence for the powers that be whether these powers were represented by an autocrat or by a popularly elected ruler or when- ever and wherever a people have been animated and united by some common ideal of a personally unselfish character, there and then that people have stepped into the front rank amongst nations. When, on the other hand, a people have lost respect for their rulers, or have allowed the selfish interests of the individual to take the place of devotion to the State or the common good, then, however apparently strong, however rich, however lavishly equipped either for peace or war, that people have ultimately fallen from their high estate. The lesson of civic duty needs to be taught to both rich and poor. If in the past the rich had been more alive to their civic duty and had taken a more personal and active interest in the welfare of the masses, and in the training and education of the people, there would have been less class hostility, and the opening of this war would have found us an even more united nation than it did. The patriotism displayed by the nation has been great, but British patriotism has during the course of the war been not infrequently robbed of half its effective force through a national lack of discipline and of preparedness for all eventualities. Let us see to it that in future our patriotic fervour be not weakened by lack of discipline. Let us remember that no nation can be permanently strong 1 which declines to be united by the fortifying cement of discipline. Let us not be misled by words. Hatred of German ~" Kultur " and of the cruel, heartless discipline practised by our enemies should not blind us to the imperative need of a reasonable discipline, without which it would be impossible for the free nations of the world to withstand successfully, either in war or peace, the concentrated blows of a trained military autocracy seeking the domination of the world. 64 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, We cannot hope to engraft the civic virtues on an un- disciplined race. Let our first endeavour in the cultiva- tion of patriotism be to restore, where lost, a reasonable discipline to the home and to the school, and then we may hope to instil that sensible loyalty to King and Empire, that sense of duty to the State and to the community, that love for our fellow -creatures, which shall enable the subjects of King George, in whatever part of the globe they may reside, to think, not only imperially, but nobly and intel- ligently, thus rendering them worthy of the vast privileges and responsibilities to which, in the providence of God, they have been called. Our word is peace, our rights are equal laws, Our arms of love we spread from sea to sea, Our life is progress toward the broader cause, Our hope, through justice, to give liberty. CHAPTER IV The Alien Question BY SIR H. H. JOHNSTON IT is requisite to approach this problem of the United Kingdom and of the British Empire in general without the slightest prepossession founded on ignorance ignorance especially of ethnology and history. Unhappily, all British Governments down to 1916, Government permanent officials of all Government departments (with a few exceptions), all schoolmasters, all Civil Service Commissioners, have united to oppose or neglect the teaching 1 of ethnology in our primary, our secondary, our public and proprie- tary schools. Ethnology, it is true, is treated admirably and on a broad basis and yet with scrupulous regard to detail at our great Universities ; but as it does not figure to any extent that matters in the curricula of all Government examinations, it is very seldom taken up as a subject of learning, even by those of our fellow- countrymen who desire to serve the Empire abroad. It is still less studied by the classes that furnish the members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. Simi- larly, history above all, modern history and history which takes the sciences into account is neglected in the education of all parts of the British Empire. Therefore our statesmen, our journalists, our men and women in the street, our politicians, and almost every one except the clergy and a few men of science approach the question of Alien Emigration, of the naturalization of persons not of British birth, with preju- dice, rancour, or unintelligence. I except the clergy of all denominations and churches from my diatribe because the influence of missionary societies has been enormous in liberalizing religion and in imparting I will not say an internationalism so much as an inter -Imperialism into the 66 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP concepts of the Anglican, the Roman Catholic, the Presby- terian, the Congregationalist, the Baptist, the Methodist, the Quaker, and the Unitarian. What does the study of anthropology and ethnology teach us in regard to the past history of the population of the British Islands ? It shows us that in ancient times Great Britain and Ireland were fantastically shaped peninsulas of France and Flanders, and that they received thus from North -West Europe primitive races that were fleeing from rivalry with more advanced types, or bold and reckless pioneers of these newer types that were seeking fresh and unspoiled hunting-grounds, grazing lands, root- and nut- and fruit -bearing forests. The peopling of Great Britain in Palaeolithic times was often interrupted and greatly restricted by climatic conditions. The Ice Ages must have wiped out the first colonizations, most of the second and of the third, and the damp and misty climate that succeeded have restricted Post Glacial human settlement to the grassy downs or the sea -coast. The stony mountains were too bleak, the forests too dense and too thickly inhabited by dangerous wild beasts. The earliest type of Briton as yet discovered the Pilt- down man of Sussex was an ape -like creature, with pointed and projecting canine teeth. He was apparently succeeded by races more akin in skull form to the Australoid and the Negroid ; then at a much later date came the Cro- Magnon type, possibly the first definite example of the highest type of Homo sapiens, a generalized Caucasian not without suggestions in his skull and leg bones of the Mongol and the Negroid. In appearance he may have resembled both the higher types of Red Man in North America or the tall peoples of North -West India. Then, as he died out or became fused with preceding types of population, there may have been invasions in the far North of Scotland and Ireland by the Eskimo, coming from Boreal Europe ; while the South of England, and soon afterwards all Ireland and much of Scotland were penetrated by the Mediterranean or Iberian type of man, akin to the basis of the population in modern Spain and Portugal, Western and Southern France, Italy and North Africa. These were probably the people of the Neolithic or perfected -stone-implement civilization. Then, again, Eastern England was reached from the coasts of Flanders and Holland by a round-headed type which may or may not THE ALIEN QUESTION 67 have been akin to the Alpine peoples of Europe and, farther back still, to the Mongols of Central Asia. They brought with them, at any rate to some extent, the first use of metals, improvements in pottery, and possibly the art of domesticating animals and the pursuit of agriculture. Some three thousand years ago or less arrived the first Aryan populations, able to impose themselves on the pre- ceding amalgam of British races by their bronze weapons, their superior physique, their more warlike qualities. Quite possibly they were themselves of mixed racial type, in which, however, the Nordic or fair -haired man of Northern Europe and Russia prevailed. For many centuries they were the dominating racial type in our two Islands. They were the ancestors of the Goidhelic Kelts, and their supre- macy began to be contested about 600 B.C. by the British Kelts, whose language still persists in Wales. The ancestral British came from the estuary of the Somme and from Belgium. They subdued the greater part of England and Wales and South-West Scotland, and possibly attempted occasional incursions into Ireland. The rest of our country's ethnological composition is set forth in written history. The southern coasts of England, and perhaps of Ireland, were in all probability visited by the Phoenicians, but they were first definitely reached by the Greeks of Marseilles about three hundred years before the Christian era. In B.C. 55-54 the Roman conquest of Britain began, and by the middle of the fifth century of the Christian era had linked up England to a remarkable degree with the civilization and history of Western and Southern Europe. Not even the huge extent of Teutonic colonization which ensued from the beginning of the sixth century onwards could efface this latinizing of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The Romans at one time had conquered half Scotland. They never reached Ireland as conquerors, but their civilization was carried thither by British missionaries ; and Ireland in the Dark Ages was a more Christian country than England, and actually sent out missionaries to hasten the Chris- tianizing of Germany, Holland, and Scandinavia. Ireland also took advantage of the breakdown of the Roman power in Britain to conquer and colonize portions of Wales, the Isle of Man, and much of Scotland. This action either brought back to Great Britain or established there for the first time the Goidhelic lang-uage, still spoken in Western 68 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, and Central Scotland and the Isle of Man, and only extinct in South -West Wales since about nine hundred years. The nearly five centuries of Roman rule had undoubtedly imported many different racial types, many " aliens " into England and Wales. I continue to harp on the subject of Wales, because North Wales and Anglesey, especially, seems to have attracted a very considerable degree of Roman coloniza- tion. The Romans here fought out the last of their battles with the Druids, whom they had chased from France and followed up through the forests of Britain. You may see to-day in North Wales most interesting churches the dis- establishment of which shows the complete lack of ethno- logical knowledge in the British Government which had been first of all Druidical temples and were next con- verted into Roman Christian churches, remaining as such, with scarcely an interference from the Saxons, until they were remodelled and touched up by the French civilization of mediaeval England or the hideous utilitarianism of eighteenth -century English Christianity. The Romans, therefore, must have established many ari Italian, Dalmatian, Pannonian, German, Gallic, or Spanish settler in our principal island, who intermarried with the British women and left his strain behind him. But the greatest ethnological event in our history was *he Germanic conquest of England and Lowland Scotland between the sixth and the eighth centuries. These appar- ently long-headed, tl Gothic " types from Western Germany came chiefly from what is now Holstein and Southern Slesvig, from Oldenburg and Frisia, and were represented, in the wording of contemporary history, by the Angles, the Jutes, and the Saxons. The Angles and Jutes probably spoke a Low German dialect, of which the existing' Platt-Deutsch' is the descendant, while the Saxons were more likely iden- tified with the modern Frisians, and their language became the chief parent of ' r Anglo-Saxon," modern English, and the Friesisch dialects of Slesvig, Oldenburg, and North Holland. The Angles, Jutes, and Saxons were pre-eminently a fair-haired, blue-eyed people, of robust build and good stature, and with skulls that were long in shape rather than broad. They found in our Islands a population which, simi- larly, was for the most part dolichokephalic, though with a broad -headed element in Eastern England that had remained from the time of the Bronze Age. The Scandi- 6.9 Flavians Danes and Norwegians who began to colonize Britain and Ireland between the ninth and the eleventh centuries were also long-headed. In stature they were even taller than the Anglo-Saxons ; they were blonder and more uniformly grey-eyed and blue eyed, though amongst them occasionally appeared dark-haired and dark- eyed Danes, who still remain as the relics possibly of the Bronze Age peoples in Jutland. Anglo-Saxon rule over England was rudely upset by the Norman invasion of 1066. These Normans, who henceforth became the aristocratic caste in England, Wales, Southern Scotland, and Ireland, were themselves a very composite type perhaps the finest and handsomest human development that history has known, the culmination of the White man. They consisted of a blend of Scandi- navian, Frank, and Romanized Kelt ; indeed, they repre- sented in themselves once again the principal strands of the British people. They brought with them a Latin civilization and a dialect of the French language. They made our English tongue what it is to-day, a speech mainly of Germanic stock but stuffed with Greek and Latin words, either derived through the Norman French or by the direct and artificial action of the Latin schoolmen. The Normans conquered Ireland, and the conquest was further carried out by their Angevin successors. The Crown of England had passed from the family of William the Norman to the descendants of Fulke of Anjou, which meant that the Royal Family of Britain and Ireland was of much more French stock, had more of the aboriginal Iberian and Alpine elements in its composition, than its predecessors from Normandy. The English King ruled on both sides of the Channel, and his domain in France extended to Gascony, with the result that many adventurers of Basque, Iberian, Auvergnat stock came to England and founded great families, whose blood percolates through all our English, Scottish, and Irish aristocracy. The French Kings of England were practical men, and found both England and Ireland in a state of very imperfect civilization as regards the arts and industries. They noted the remarkable civilization of Belgium and South Holland, and imported during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries hundreds, even thousands, of Flemish artisans, artificers, agriculturists, stock-breeders, and planted them in colonies throughout the coast regions of Wales, of East 70 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, Anglia, and Southern England. A trend of colonization also from France had set in with the advent of William the Norman, which scarcely ceased until Tudor times. A century or so before the first Tudor the first really British dynasty ruled over England and Ireland, Italians had begun to come here in search of employment : men full of new and brilliant ideas, especially as regards naviga- tion. One of these Italian families the Cabots induced Henry VII to supply ships and money for a great over- sea adventure the crossing of the Atlantic to find North America. The Genoese had already led British commerce by the hand into the Levant, and right across the Levant to Persia and Central Asia. Venetians and Genoese, alike, in their bitter rivalry with Spain and Portugal, egged on the English in Tudor times to establish trading stations on the coast of West Africa and in Turkey. In Tudor times we had no British portrait -painters, few, if any, British goldsmiths or artificers in the precious metals. We imported and employed in these capacities Italians (" Lom- bard Street "), who in course of time became British citizens and founded English-speaking families. In the seventeenth and in the eighteenth centuries came the invaluable French Huguenots from Western France and Southern France, and some of our most distinguished British citizens at the present day are of French descent on one side. Several of the leading industries of Belfast were founded and are still conducted by men bearing French names. French names, indeed, not only of Norman and Angevin descent but of much more recent origin, stud the Army lists and the Navy rolls, the Indian and Diplomatic services, and stand out prominently in the achievements of British science. The very wars between Britain and Spain and the alliance between England and Portugal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries brought numerous Spaniards and Portuguese to our coasts, either as shipwrecked mariners, prisoners of war, or voluntary exiles. Many of these remained. Many of them stimulated British enterprise across the seas. Most of them founded British families. More Spanish and Portuguese names were implanted in our country by the readmission of the Jews into England under Oliver Cromwell. The result of this action, which perhaps chiefly took effect during the eighteenth century, was the inclusion amongst British names of the Basevi, THE ALIEN QUESTION 71 the Souzas, the Disraelis, or the Lopezes, and the almost innumerable patronymics of Spain, Portugal, Venice, and Northern Italy which appear in the political and industrial annals of Great Britain, which stand out so prominently in the scarcely written history of the British West Indies (where the Jews ever and again acted as unacknowledged inter- mediaries between Spain and England) . Readers of this book scarcely need to be reminded that during the latter part of the sixties and much of the seventies the United Kingdom and the British Empire were virtually ruled by a Jew of Venetian descent, hailing farther back still from Spain ; and this great Jew Benjamin Disraeli who left a lasting mark on the history of Britain and of the world, was encouraged and partly saved from financial anxiety by the generosity of a Jewess of Portuguese descent (Mrs. Brydges Williams). William of Orange conquered Ireland and established himself as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, chiefly with the aid of Dutch troops and Dutch generals, whom he made peers of the United Kingdom. He introduced many Dutchmen into the British service and into the British aristocracy, where their names figure prominently. Queen Anne, like her great-grandfather James I, had a Danish consort, whose residence here attracted a few Danish followers, the descendants of whom still spell their names -sen instead of -son. George I, and for a short period George II, imported thousands of German soldiers to main- tain them on the British throne. All through the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century the influx of Germans, due to the German origin and relationships of our dynasty, was most noteworthy and vastly beneficial to the home and imperial progress of the United Kingdom. I have said in other books that it is not easy to write a well -packed page of the history of the British Empire with- out bringing in a German name if one is to write that history truthfully. A German accompanied as second-in- command the great Alexander Mackenzie when he crossed the Dominion of Canada from east to west and planted the British flag on the Arctic Ocean and on the Pacific Coast. Germans figure quite as much as English, Scottish, and Irish pioneers in the opening up of South Africa, in the discoveries of India, in British East Africa, in British West Africa, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in Tropical America. ?2 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP. The nineteenth century saw Britain becoming the home of many a political refugee Hungarian, Italian, Prussian, Badenisch, and Pole. Eccentric some of them might have been in their political propaganda, but most of them were brilliant men, who achieved great distinction in our home or foreign service. Of such a type, for example, was Antonio Panizzi, who was long at the head of the British Museum. In our own days thousands of Germans, and still more thousands of Russian, Polish, and Rumanian Jews, have come to England to seek peace, a respite from religious or civic persecution, and a livelihood. A small proportion of these adventurers have been wicked people 1 , coming here to develop vile industries, but nine -tenths of them at least have ultimately proved citizens of distinct value, from their ideas, from the wealth they have made and have spent in Britain and on British interests. In our great Imperial adventures most of them very splendid, some of them very shady German or German Jewish names figure markedly. One German financier intervened finan- cially to save Egypt for the British Protectorate. Several German financiers beguiled timid British statesmen into the planting of the British flag here, there, and elsewhere; in Africa, even when it frustrated the designs of Imperial Germany. Prior to the outbreak of this lamentable war, if any British man of genius wanted to start a new venture that was literary or dramatic, the opening up of a new country, the carrying out of a brilliant invention in industry, in chemistry, in science generally, to whom did he first appeal ? Usually to a German, and most often to a German Jew. Facts are facts, however they may be unwelcome at this and that stage of our national history. In short, the summing up of this historical survey is that throughout its known history, from the date of the existence of Piltdown Man to July 1914, Britain and Ireland have not only received colonization from almost all types of the European peoples, but more than any other part of Europe they have been enriched, stimulated, built up into the most magnificent position that any nation lias yet known in the history of the world by a succession of alien immigrations. The literature of Shakespeare is virtually international ; the English language is virtually inter- national, as it has borrowed from more sources than any other example of European speech. British art and archi- tecture are international. British science is international. THE ALIEN QUESTION 73 We are really we British people the pick of Europe, because we have not shut out immigration, because we have welcomed new-comers and new ideas. This war, however, has caused a great searching of hearts. It has been estimated that even since the expul- sion of most of the Germans we have still in our midst an alien population of 200,000 Russian, Polish, Rumanian in origin mainly, but also Swiss, Swede, Dane, and Italian ; French, Belgian, and Portuguese. Great Britain and Ireland still contain, despite the discomforts of the war, many men and women of United States nationality, but in this case the distinction between the two peoples is almost derisory. An Englishman is scarcely a foreigner in the United States, and to no greater degree is the American man or woman in Britain. Are we to make the existence of " friendly " aliens uncomfortable so that they eventually leave our shores ? Are we to refuse any more, formal naturalization of foreign -born people ? Are we when the war is over to take special means to prevent people from other European countries coming here to reside and do business and perhaps settle down. Some suggest whilst the war is going on that we should constrain all men of military age and of friendly foreign nationality to leave Great Britain and repair to their respective countries of origin, there to do their duty as soldiers. This seems an unanswerable proposition, except when special excep- tion is made for political refugees that might be maltreated at home, or persons of weak health and poor constitution. But this temporary measure will not solve the greater questions of naturalization and future immigration. How are we to deal with these? Mainly on their merits and by no sweeping dictum, affirmative or negative. A foreigner of worth who has proved his value to the British community by a sufficient term of residence and a sufficient creation or importation of wealth ought certainly to be naturalized if he asks for the privilege. We should be surprised if our fellow- subjects who had invested their all of wealth and energy and talent in the United States (for example) might not be given naturalization for themselves and their descendants if they desired it. We know that there are many naturalized families of British descent in Russia, in France, in Italy, and in other European countries. But naturalization should be a carefully considered privilege which is not granted 74 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, to any persons who by their poverty or their lack of proof of sterling qualities are not worth making into British citizens. However we may sneer at wealth and howeveir rightly we may insist on the equity of methods by which wealth is attained, we cannot deny that it is a factor of importance in estimating the value of individuals and races. Should immigration be continued without much further restriction when the war is over? Herein we must be guided by the rise or fall of our birth-rate, and to some extent by the nationality, physical and mental qualities of the immigrants. Theoretically, if we are to write and interpret history on the lines of truth, we must admit the enormous indebtedness of the British people in all the centuries which precede the twentieth to Germany. The British people in the main is a Germanic people and speaks a Germanic language. Because Prussia has poisoned Germany, because there are cruel Bavarian Roundheads, that is no reason for denying the very great physical and mental value of the Germanic millions on the Continent of Europe. Undoubtedly, Germany has been well served by her special spies established in England, Scotland, and Ireland prior to 1914, and even cleverly maintained here in many cases since the outbreak of war. But these in actual numbers are small in proportion to the honest German immigrants who, if they did not return to Germany by expulsion or by patriotism, have maintained a perfectly honest and upright attitude towards their adopted country. They have deeply regretted the gulf which now yawns between Britain and Germany ; a gulf which doubtless cannot be bridged for another fifty years, and which has been widened and deepened by the murder of Edith Cavell, Captain Fryatt, and the passengers of the Lusitania, the Faiaba, and the innumerable other merchant ships sunk without warning by German torpedoes, by the hideously cruel maltreatment of British prisoners of war, and by the many other unforgivable war outrages of the German military caste. In the state of public opinion after the war it may be impossible for a British Ministry to accord naturalization even to those interned Germans against whom no accusation of treachery can be brought ; and certainly until a complete change in German feeling towards Britain and the British Empire is manifested by a political revolu- tion against the Hohenzollern dynasty, it would be neces- sary to discriminate in our immigration laws against 75 Germans and in favour of the subjects of our present Allies. But the general question of admitting foreign immigrants as residents must after the war depend greatly on the numbers, the birth rate, the prosperity of the British peoples. Our attitude towards Germany for the next fifty years, or even a century, will depend very much on the events of the next two years. If Germany remains faithful to the Hohenzollerns to the conclusion of peace and beyond, we can have no dealings, commercial or international, with Germany which can possibly be avoided. But as regards the main question of alien immigration, I would submit that we should be wiser to continue to leave things as they are or as they were prior to August 1914 namely, carefully to scan all immigrants, to reject those whose physical constitution, mental ability, and moral history do not come up to the requisite standard, but to put no obstacle in the path of those who are likely to prove valuable citizens. Certainly not from any superstition as to the existence of any special British race or class ; seeing that we are compacted of all European types, with a dash of the Asiatic and even of the African, and that we do not hesitate to plant ourselves in foreign countries. But those countries are usually thinly populated for their size and capacity of food production. We do not want Great Britain and Ireland to be an ever -open receptacle for very poor immigrants who will sharpen the struggle for existence among the poverty-stricken in our own land. We might even forbid pauper immigration until the social fabric of Great Britain is so reorganized that poverty, insufficiency of good food and good housing, and " sweated labour " are extinct ; and until hours of work are so graded that no citizenness or citizen is overworked or without a reasonable proportion of time for education, rest, and recreation. But I see no reason why our immigration laws should be framed to keep out from residence, or even from naturalization, foreigners of good repute, of useful talent, and of sufficient means. As to conditions of naturalization!, I think those recently issued by the Unionist War Committee not unreasonable, except the last, No. 5. Here they are: 1. The principle of parentage should be substituted for birth as the basis upon which British citizenship may be acquired. 2. Seven years' residence in British Dominions before naturalization. 76 EMPIRE AND CITIZENSHIP, 3. Renunciation of allegiance by the applicant for naturalization of his previous nationality. 4. Full disclosure of previous history and business of every applicant for naturalization. 5. No naturalized person to be eligible for either House of Parliament, or the Privy Council, or any civil office of the value of more than ^160 per annum. I believe myself that we have done well for the Empire and for the United Kingdom hitherto by taking a large view in regard to this fifth proposition. I really do not know nor even much suspect any instance in which any naturalized British subject admitted to these high honours has been false to the trust reposed in him, save in the one notorious case of Trebich -Lincoln. On the other hand, enormous benefits to the British Empire have accrued by the Britannicizing of talented and wealthy foreigners who have figured in our Parliament and our Privy Council. I think there ought to be a national discrimination. It ought to be as easy for a United States citizen to be naturalized a Briton as for one of us to be naturalized an American on the lines of our international penny postage. II NATIONAL EFFICIENCY CHAPTER V National Education BY VISCOUNT HALDANE IN the summer of 1914 humanity met with a staggering shock. Of a sudden war broke out without parallel in history for the magnitude of its scope and for the extent of the values which it threatened. The destruction of life and property became as ruthless as it was farspread, yet none of the nations involved paused to look back. It was for all of them a conflict of ideals and a struggle in which the individual was forced to realize that the cause was everything and he himself was nothing. In this titanic effort the violence and the passion have deflected thought as profoundly as action. Such is the situation, and it is one which inevitably gives rise to new and far-reaching problems. It is already evident that in the case of each of the nations engaged the recovery of its old position when the war is over will depend on the possession of character and of mind, of resolution in action and capacity in thinking. It is to the development of these among the peoples they guide that the national leaders may be called on after the war to devote their first thoughts. In the struggle to excel in this development the various nations will compete, and, if success in the competition is to be attained, concentra- tion and resolute effort will be essential. In this country we dare not let time slip by without taking action, if it be only in the direction of clearing our thoughts as to the course we must adopt. For it is certain that without much preliminary thought confusion and vagueness will result. For us the interests of the coming generation are all important. These interests will be profoundly dependent 79 8o NATIONAL EFFICIENCY on the way in which we educate those to whose hands we shall in the course of nature have to transfer the torch. The planning- of such education is like the planning of a campaign. It requires what may be called General Staff work of a high order, for without this preliminary work indecision and waste will be inevitable. We have been unwilling witnesses in the course of the present war to the advantages which are attained when a body of picked military thinkers have for long years been set aside and segregated from all direct concern with administration and business, in order that they might devote themselves to the organization of armies and to strategical objects towards which the instruments made for the accomplishment of these objects could be directed. Such work implies the study of possible campaigns far in advance, and systematic elaboration of the methods for their prosecution when decided on. It has not been our strongest point to concentrate on thinking ahead in war, or, for that matter, in affairs of a different kind. We are a good deal better in this respect than we used to be. But other countries have been developing the habit yet more rapidly than we have. Those who seek to plant ideas here and to water them find that what is planted is of disappointingly slow growth, and that its life is apt to prove precarious. To induce a permanent habit of reflec- tion and to render it useful is no easy task in these islands, where what Matthew Arnold long ago called " inaptitude for new ideas" is a general defect. This inaptitude prevails in education not less than in other subjects. It is true that if we turn back to what Matthew Arnold himself and other educational reformers wrote half a century ago we shall see, by comparison with the state of matters to-day, that much has been accom- plished ; indeed, most of what they asked for. The Act of 1870 gave us a general and compulsory system of elementary education. The Act of 1902 extended the organization of this system and much improved it, by rendering it possible to get free from a technical rule which limited what could be legally taught in the national schools. In Scotland the Education Act passed still more recently in 1908 has carried the process a stage further, with the result that instruction of a secondary type is more widely provided there than it is south of the Tweed. Again, an immense advance has been made throughout NATIONAL EDUCATION 81 Great Britain in the development of technical education. Much of it is given in special schools and institutions, but even in the ordinary schools, both public and private, there is increasing recognition of its value and provision of facilities. Then there has been a marked extension of the activities of the teachers in the Universities. Oxford and Cambridge have opened their doors to the movement for recognizing Applied Science as among subjects which may be of a true University type. But still more striking has been the establishment of the new Universities. Of these there is at last a considerable number in existence. What used to be merely University Colleges, institutions in great cities of interest only to a comparatively small section of the community and inadequately endowed and supported, have been developed into Universities with a high place in the city life and with resources in all cases largely increased. At the outset there was a good deal of oppo- sition to the effort to get this done. There was much talk of the danger of Lilliputian Universities and of low standards of teaching and examination. But this question was brought to trial by the State before a very high tribunal, and a firm decision was given in favour of the principle. It is remarkable, as showing how slight has been the public interest in education, that the newspapers hardly noticed and did not report the proceedings which took place before the Special Committee of the Privy Council which conducted a semi-judicial inquiry into this subject in the end of 1902. The occasion was the petition of Liverpool for a charter of incorporation as a University for the University College. The petition was keenly opposed by the supporters of the old Victoria University. This was little more than an Examining Board at Man- chester which granted degrees to the students of several colleges in the North of England, for whose students it conducted external examinations, without controlling the colleges or influencing the atmospheres in which these students were educated. The question was whether for this type of so-called Federal University there should be substituted in Liverpool and Manchester teaching Univer- sities, where the degrees might be given locally by those who had watched the records as well as the examination papers of the undergraduates. The opposition was of an influential character. It came from men some of whom afterwards, when the new Universities had at last come 6 82 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY into existence, threw themselves whole-heartedly on their side . But the resisting party was large and was at first of a formidable character. Finally the matter was decided by a very remarkable Committee of the Privy Council which sat and heard counsel and witnesses at length. The late Duke of Devonshire, then President of the Council, pre- sided. His colleagues were the ex-Prime Minister Lord Rosebery, the Secretary for Scotland, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Lord James of Hereford, and Sir Edward Fry. The case made for the petitioners was that under the so- called Federal system education was being subordinated to examination instead of examination being used simply as a means for testing the reality and results of teaching in an academic atmosphere. After hearing the parties for three days the Committee took time to deliberate, and finally, on the loth of February 1903, a date which should be recognized as notable in the educational calendar of this country, an Order in Council was promulgated which pronounced that the case presented by Liverpool was made out. The principle was affirmed, and in addition it was laid down that the step of granting the charters involved issues of great moment which should be kept in view, and for the solution of which due preparation should be made, especially with respect to those points upon which, having regard to the great importance of the matter, and the effects of any changes upon higher education in the North of England, co-operation was expedient between Universities of a common type and with cognate aims. The results of thus laying down a great principle soon became apparent. The old University Colleges in Liver- pool, Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield blossomed out into teaching Universities of the new type, in which the record of the individual undergraduate counted for much and his examination for his degree became, not an end in itself, but a means to an end, a test of the fashion in which he had made use of his opportunities. Nor did matters stop here. London had, by the University of London Act of 1898, put itself in a position to contemplate the bringing together of her colleges in a general organization through the establishment thereafter of a real teaching University. Mr. Chamberlain had taken time by the forelock and had obtained a charter under which a teaching University became established in Birmingham. Bristol followed suit some years later, and Durham reformed itself by incor- NATIONAL EDUCATION 83 poration under a new constitution of 'the colleges of the neighbouring industrial city of Newcastle. Ireland estab- lished two new teaching Universities in Dublin and Belfast respectively, in addition to the old University of Dublin. Thus in England there were set up what amounted to six newly constituted Universities, together with two more that had been largely reconstituted. With the two new Irish Universities an addition of ten had been made to the old strength in England and Ireland. Wales had previously established three colleges and had developed a little later a University of the federal type. Scotland had already its four Universities, and St. Andrews had enlarged its scope by incorporating the University College of Dundee. Moreover, for all the Universities, excepting Oxford and Cambridge, which did not desire the inter- ference of the Treasury, new grants of money were made by the State, and through the medium of these grants the so-called Treasury Committee and the Board of Education began to put pressure towards development on modern lines in the new English Universities. The effect of this, even on Oxford and Cambridge, which remained independent, was presently seen in the new efforts which these older Universities began to make in the development of their teaching in Science. In other places, such as Reading, University Colleges began to grow up. Besides all this, under stimulus from the Board of Education grants, an improvement took place both in the number and in the quality of the technical schools and institutions throughout the country. In London an entirely new departure was made by the establishment of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, an institution which in many points resembled the great technical college at Charlottenburg, which is a rival institution to the University of Berlin. The foundations which had been laid for London by the Act of 1898 remained, however, to be built on, and this necessity was recognized in the appointment of a Royal Commission which, after four years of investigation, and the examination of numerous witnesses, not only from this country, but from France, Germany, and America, reported in 1913. The Report was an effort to lay down a policy for a really great teaching University in the metropolis of the Empire. The details of this policy and the scheme which it recommended for developing the teaching side of the University were based on certain general principles 84 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY. formulated in Part II of the Report. The essence of these principles was that " while the power of granting degrees is one of the chief characteristics of all Universities it is not the real end of their existence. The University fulfils its end for the nation and the world partly by the advance- ment of learning, but partly also by sending out into many of the different paths of life a constant stream of men and women who have been trained by its teaching and influenced by its life. The object of going to a Univer- sity is or ought to be to obtain a University education, and the degree ought to signify that this end has been attained. It is required for practical purposes as the sign and guarantee of a University education." Substantial progress has been made in the development of great University Colleges in London of late years. The Imperial College, already referred to, and the expansion of the Bedford College for Women are notable examples of additions that have been made. But until the work of the various colleges has been adjusted so as not to overlap unduly, and has been brought under the common direc- tion of a real governing body on which the teachers have a proper place, points on which the Report of the Royal Commission insisted, the work of providing London with an adequate system of University education will not have been accomplished. It is time to return from what is an illustration of the general problem as it confronts us in practice to the character of the problem itself. And here we come face to face with a difficulty of great magnitude, the virtual exclusion of the democracy as it is to-day from almost every chance of pursuing learning. How far can education of the University type be made available for the general mass of our population ? It is no doubt possible to give the chance of obtaining it to nearly all exceptionally endowed boys and girls. Already a good deal has been accomplished in this direction by means of scholarships, and a good deal more is possible. But at the best this part of the " educational ladder " will remain very narrow. The great majority of children, thanks to the policy of compulsion adopted in 1870, now obtain an elementary education. But for the vast majority educa- tion stops soon after the age of thirteen is attained. A good many then proceed to forget most of what they have learned. When I was in charge of the War Office NATIONAL EDUCATION 85 I found that a surprising number of recruits could not read or write. The reason was, not that they had not learned, but that they had forgotten what they had once learned. We put this right by seeing to the re-education of our recruits. But the number was significant. It was due to the fact that only a small proportion of our popu- lation continue their education after leaving the Elementary School. In England out of about 2| millions of boys and girls between twelve and sixteen nearly 1,100,000 do not go to school at all. But this is not the worst. A large proportion of those who do go only for a brief part of the period between twelve and sixteen, the bulk of those who attend being made up of boys and girls who continue till thirteen or fourteen at the Elementary School. Only about a quarter of a million attend at proper Secondary Schools, and these do not by any means remain there during the whole of the four years. About 390 out of every thousand between thirteen and sixteen get no further education at all, and the bulk of the others get on the average very little. In Scotland the state of things is rather better, only some 280 out of every thousand between these years getting no further education. When we pass to the age between sixteen and twenty- five what we find is of course much worse. Out of about 5,850,000 young persons in England and Wales between these years of age about 5,350,000 get no education, while 93,000 receive a full-time training during some part of the period, and some 390,000 get part-time instruction. In Scotland the proportion of those educated is again rather better. Whereas in England 917 out of every thousand get no education during this period, in Scotland 832 is the corresponding number. In England 18,000 enter University institutions (including Agricultural Colleges), in Scotland, with a relatively small population, the entries are 7,700. While only three per thousand of those between sixteen and twenty -five get some kind of training of a University type in England, nearly ten in each thousand get it in Scotland. The figures I have given are of course only approximate, but they have been arrived at after careful examination by competent investigators. It is thus apparent that the vast majority of our popu- lation are not systematically educated at all after leaving the Elementary School. In days like these, and with a struggle for international supremacy in the application of 86 knowledge to practical life threatening us, the fact is a deplorable one. For it means that if we are to enter on a competition, not with Germans only but with other nations also, after this war is over we shall compete at a dis- advantage. It also means that we are not giving our democracy a proper chance of supplying from its vast reservoir of undeveloped talent the help we require. We are as a nation neglecting the most obvious methods for bringing the fittest to the front. I have already pointed out that in the development of our system of University education a great deal has been accomplished since the commencement of the present century. The educational authorities have done their best among a people deficient in ideas and in interest in educa- tion. I should add that in the development of our higher technical schools in particular much has been brought about . In the industrial centres opportunities for technical learn- ing have been of late years provided on a very large scale. The Board of Education in England and Wales and the Education Department in Scotland have accom- plished much. In Ireland too the same process has been operative in a somewhat different form. It is instructive to watch the tendency to bring the higher forms of these schools into relation with the neighbouring Universities. Germany, in the opinion of some of her most competent authorities, has suffered by a sharp separation of the Technical College from the University, a result which is due to the principle on which her great system of secondary schools, the preliminary places of training for her students , of University age, has been split up into systems of Gymnasia, Real Gymnasia, and Real-Schulen. So com- petent a critic as the late Professor Paulsen has, I think, dwelt on this mistake. Fortunately, we are showing a decided tendency to avoid the error. Education as a great factor in life is one and indivisible. That is why a Univer- sity like Cambridge is now going to considerable lengths in extending the ambit of the education which it provides to instruction in technical matters of a kind which would be looked upon in Germany as belonging to a different type of institution. In Manchester and Glasgow two great technical colleges are being brought into close relations with the Universities of these cities. And the same tendency is apparent elsewhere. The last thing that I wish to do is to give my fellow- NATIONAL EDUCATION 87, countrymen the impression that I would have them follow where the German spirit leads. We have been the witnesses in these days not only of ethical shortcomings in the ideas of the leaders of the German nation, but of sheer intellectual failure to comprehend. Germany has not been intelligent in the things that matter most, any more than she has been moral. But none the less she possesses marvellous capacities for organizing, and of these capaci- ties we should be unwise if we failed to take account, or to watch what she is about. She is indeed an enemy from whom there is a good deal to be learned by study of her methods. ' , | ( j Now I a^m keenly aware that we are in danger of over- looking the formidable character of the organization which Germany will presently bring to bear against .us in the training of those who must be our competitors for indus- trial supremacy. It is in a region different from that of which I have just spoken that this danger is greatest. I refer to that region of instruction after the years of elementary training have ceased to which I have already referred earlier. Germany has realized that education in her great system of Secondary Schools can only be for the few, and she has set herself to solve the probletm of how to get over this difficulty in a way which is charac- teristic. We have to watch what she is doing if we are to avoid being outclassed. We should be very foolish if we did not watch what she does in the preparation of artillery. But it is not only in the organization of artillery that she has shown a dangerous capacity for preparation in advance. I wish to point out a serious peril to which our easygoing attitude towards a great problem in educa- tion is exposing us under present conditions, a problem over the solution of which Germany, and other countries also, will try to catch us unprepared in days that are drawing near. The sons of all classes in this country who are not otherwise educated go for the most part to Elementary Schools, where they are taught till about thirteen on an average, unless indeed they proceed earlier to a more advanced place of instruction. The sons of those who can afford to continue this education go on to Secondary Schools. Of these the provision in England is wholly insufficient, but in Scotland it is considerably more ex- tended. The great majority of the boys who go to the 88 NATIONAL 1 EFFICIENCY Secondary Schools remain there only for a year or so, and of the few that go on by far the greater number stay only until they are sixteen or seventeen. The parents who can afford it continue the education of a very small number of these boys a little longer at the Secondary School, and then send them to the University. But the vast majority of boys are the sons of working- men who cannot afford to keep them after thirteen, an age at which they may begin to earn. The boys therefore either enter a factory or some other place of employment, or they earn a livelihood by doing odd jobs, or in some occupation which is open to boys only and which leads to nothing beyond. They may run messages or sell news- papers or find other miscellaneous employment in what, so far as preparation for work as adults is concerned, are blind alleys. Occupation of this kind rarely affords any training for a higher kind of work, and it usually ends in a life more or less undirected. It is out of this uncared- for class that the wastrels of the future emerge. The hooligan and the young criminal become rife in its numbers. The waste of potential man -power which might have strengthened the State is scandalous. For it is a waste that is not only great but could have been prevented. Already foreign countries are taking the matter in hand with varying degrees of vigour, and in this country there are indications of a coming attempt to grapple with the problem. The London County Council has made an effort to organize on lines of their own, but they have been much hampered by the want of any power of compulsion. In Scotland the Education Act of 1908 has provided for real advances in the Scottish system of education. By section 3 a School Board may provide any form of educa- tion or instruction which is sanctioned by the Education Department. By section 7 the duty is imposed on parents of providing efficient education for their children up to the age of fourteen. By section 10 it is made the duty of a School Board to provide continuation classes for the further instruction of young persons over fourteen 'with reference to the crafts and industries practised in the dis- trict and in certain other industries, as well as in the laws of health, and to afford opportunities for suitable physical training. The School Board may further make bylaws compelling attendance at such continuation classes up to the age of seventeen. There are also powers, con- ferred by other sections, for developing secondary educa- tion, and for reforming the application of educational endowments . This remarkable Statute is a good way in advance of anything that has been enacted in England, and it has the root of the matter in it. As the result, considerable growth has taken place. The Act has done something to demon- strate how much is required in order to set the educational system in the rest of the country on a proper footing. For it has exhibited the principle of the obligation of the State to provide facilities for the further education of that great mass of the children of the working classes who cannot proceed, as things at present stand, to the development of the latent abilities which many of them possess, and which all of them ought to have the chance of having developed. The last thing the people of this country are likely to do at this moment is to look willingly at the example the people of Germany are setting for the solution of this problem. But none the less it remains true that we have to acquaint ourselves with the steps Germany has been taking in this direction in recent years. For if we fail to do so we shall fail to prepare ourselves for the shock of contact with a new instrument of industrial competi- tion. The trained workman may prove as formidable a weight in the balance as the improved machine. We cannot afford to be behind in either. I therefore turn to the consideration of a new system which Germany had begun before the war to call into existence. I make the preliminary observation that I have no desire to see this country slavishly copy German insti- tutions. All I am anxious about is that we should realize what is going on abroad, not merely in Germany but in Austria also, and to some extent in France and the United States. I will take the German prototype as my illus- tration, because it is, or was before the war, being rapidly developed. We must work out our own educational salvation in our own way, but this we cannot accomplish unless we provide ourselves with full knowledge of what we have to guard against in advances that are being made by our rivals. The most definite attempt made in any country at a thorough organization of the continuation school on lines adapted to the necessities of special trades is that carried out in various parts of Germany on the inspiration of 90 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY Dr. Kerschensteiner, the Director of Education in Munich. The problem to be faced was how to find something better than the old general continuation school for the boys and girls who left the primary school at fourteen. Dr. Kerschensteiner is a man with many fine ideals. In his writings I have never come across a trace of the influ- ence of writers such as Nietzsche or even Treitschke. On the contrary, his books are full of insistence on the necessity of genuine ethical ideals. "Instruction," he says ("The Schools and the Nation," English Translation, p. 13), "in matters of moral import is ineffective everywhere when it is not combined with practical exercise or custom. In this point of exercise and custom the public schools of England and the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge are far in advance of us. We Germans always believe that we can effect all school education by means of explana- tions, by words or books, through mere lectures and addresses of all kinds. That is certainly the most con- venient and the cheapest method of public education. It is, moreover, not quite fruitless, provided that the seeds fall on a mind well prepared by home or other influences. When this is not the case, however, the method is of little value. The training of a people demands Tnore. It must accustom the boys and girls to direct, as far as their nature allows, not only their thoughts and feelings but also their actions in all critical positions towards the service of common interests. But this only takes place through work, through real practical work, whether in a school organization or in practical life. ... I should like, there- fore, to state the problem of popular education in this form : it is the systematic training and organization of the people to take pleasure in active constructive work for the common good." The author of " The Schools and the Nation " places highest, of course, the education which proceeds through the Secondary School to its culmination in University life. But his problem is how to make the principle just stated, which underlies this as well as all other forms of educa- tion, apply to the education of the sons and daughters of the working class. They cannot continue their education after fourteen unless it be through the medium of special training in their own callinig, training which will pay for itself. Can such training be so organized as at once to produce, when adult life is reached, industrial efficiency NATIONAL EDUCATION 91 of high value to the individual and the State, and at the same time a real educational value? The method actually adopted in Germany for the solution of this problem is the substitution of the special tradei continuation school for the old general continuation school, and the making of such education compulsory up to eighteen. The future workman is asked on leaving the elementary school or before that time to choose a trade. He then enters the service of an employer in that trade. He works as an apprentice at a low wage. But the employer is bound by law to send him to the appropriate special trade school for about nine hours altogether in each week. In that school the boy or girl is taught the trade. But the teaching of the trade gives various oppor- tunities for imparting knowledge of a wider kind. In Munich, just before the war, the population of 600,000 included between 9,000 and 10,000 apprentices. These were in compulsory attendance at separate trade continua- tion schools for eight to ten hours a week, taken out of working hours. There were fifty-six of these separate trade schools. The number was not so formidable as it looks, for a good many schools were housed together in one building and the cost of running them was not large. Of the fifty -six special trade schools seventeen were de- voted to metal -work. They included instruction for smiths and fitters for the building trades, art smiths, machine- builders, craftsmen in delicate machine and mechanical work, mechanics, fine mechanics, and also for gunsmiths, smiths and wheelwrights, jewellers, gold and silver workers, plumbers, gas, water, and electric light fitters, and metal spinners, clock and watchmakers, and tinsmiths. For wood working there were seven schools, which provided for future carpenters and cabinet-makers, wood turners, coopers and cask makers, and sculptors in wood and ivory. Then there were for the building trades seven schools. These provided for bricklayers and carpenters, sculptors in stone, stucco workers and stonemasons, potters, stone setters, workers in porcelain and earthenware, upholsterers, painters, decorators and paperhangers, decorative painters, chimney-sweeps, glaziers, painters on glass, porcelain, and enamel. For the graphic trades there were four schools, for litho- graphers, photographers, half-tone zinc engravers, book printers, and compositors. For the food and provision trades there were six schools, for bakers, butchers, con- 92 fectioners, wine and restaurant keepers. For the clothing trades there were four schools, extending to shoemakers, tailors and furriers, hairdressers and wigmakers, tanners and glovemakers . For agriculture and the vehicular trades there were two schools, which included gardeners, cab and taxi-cab drivers. For paper and leather work there were two schools, providing for bookbinders and cardboard workers, saddlers, trunkmakers, and glovers. For shop- keepers there were two schools, extending to druggists, grocers, colourmen, and other businesses. There were also schools for musicians, clerks, and others who had elected for work which was not of the artisan type. A school was grouped out of not less than twenty apprentices. These figures I (have taken from Dr. Kerschensteiner's own book. But there is a great deal of further information on the subject in another valuable work, " The Problem of the Continuation School," by Messrs. Best and Ogden, which is based on personal investigation. This book 'explains more fully than Dr. Kerschensteiner's work does how the boys are induced to select a trade, and why, in a city of 600,000 inhabitants like Munich, all but 8 per cent, of the boys go straight from the elementary schools to definite trades. The reason is that in the eighth year of educa- tion in the elementary school the boy of thirteen goes to an " eighth-year class," in which he is taken to the work- shops of the special trade schools and is there encouraged to form a taste for a special kind of work. Those that do not so elect go to a general continuation school. The outcome has been that rather less than 8 per cent, choose no trade or go to "blind alley" occupations. "The children," writes Dr. Kerschensteiner, whom the authors quote, " had tasted the joy of solid practical work, and the shunning of skilled occupation was at an end." It appears that the mode of attraction is the creative work which they are allowed to initiate and occupy themselves with in the laboratories and workshops of the trade schools. The teachers look after and help them, but they are left free as much as possible. When they enter an apprentice- ship this takes the form of an undertaking that they shall be taught their trade, and the " taught " worker is reckoned higher socially than the untaught. The obligation of the employer is of a very general and varying kind, yet it is carried out. It may last for twelve months or it may extend to four years. But the employer has to do what NATIONAL EDUCATION 93 he has bargained to do, and may be fined if he fails. The conclusion of the period of apprenticeship entitles the young workman, if he has been satisfactory in school and factory, to a certificate that he is a qualified journeyman. Later on he may attain to the status and certificate of a master workman. The trade guild looks after all these matters in each trade and locality. The distinction aimed at throughout is one between those who are " untaught " i.e. exploited for the gain of the employer and those who are "taught" i.e. prepared with a view to gain for the community. The case of a young brassworker may be taken as illus- trating the system. He has to attend the special school for four years, during the first three for seven hours a week, and during the last for eight hours. His education in his special trade school includes trade arithmetic and book-keeping, business composition essays and reading, citizenship, sensible living and hygiene, information about trades, goods, and tools, drawing and practical work. Religious instruction is also given. For the first two years no practical work is taught in the school, for the scholar is learning in the workshop. In the last two years he gets two or three hours of practical work of a higher grade than he is likely to get in the workshop where ha is employed. The hygienic instruction takes the form not only of special instruction in hygiene, but also of gymnastics and suitable games. As to the cost, Messrs. Best and Ogden report that while Birmingham, with 830,000 inhabitants, spends 777,000 a year on its schools, Munich, with its 600,000 inhabitants, spends 600,000 altogether. The employers give a good deal of assistance in kind, considering that it pays them to do so. The result, according to the authors of ' The Problem of the Continuation School," appears to bear this out. "We saw," they say (p. 13), "youths making scale -balances for laboratory work (those square chemical balances enclosed in a glass case for delicate weighing). They made them throughout in the school (cases, balances, and weights) . We saw them at work adjusting the weights which they had made to the delicacy of 5 milligrams ; boys from fourteen to eighteen years of age made one hundred of these scale -balances for their elementary schools to use in their laboratories. Purchased in a 'shop they would cost 3 los. each, while made in the 94 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY school the cost was only 175. each. This reminds us of a Birmingham buyer of such balances who had placed a large order in Germany, and who declared it was impossible to place the order in this country jat anything like a reasonable competitive figure." In the fifty-six trade schools of Munich there are about 150 teachers exclusively attached to the schools, and about 300 more who give lessons there in addition to other work. "The teachers," report Messrs. Best and Ogden, " are recruited from all kinds of professions and vocations. Academic and normal school-teachers co- operate with master workmen, journeymen, artisans, and agriculturists, and they exert an excellent influence on each other. The artisan, the master, and the journeyman learn to respect the schoolmaster, and the schoolmaster learns to respect the master workman, who is engaged with him on the same educational problem." The authors lay stress on a feature which they appear to have observed particu- larly. "Teaching in drawing and arithmetic is carefully associated with practical instruction. Nothing is drawn that has not been made in the workshop. Thus the drawing is made interesting even to the boy who has no particular impulse to attempt it. Moreover, any process in work or construction is followed out by figures. It is by making out estimates and bills that the pupil learns the significance for cost of production of the material used and the time expended. After the same fashion principles in physics and chemistry, so far as the work illustrates them, are taught and made interesting. Indeed, it is part of the general system of teaching to use every opportunity of stimulating interest in wider kinds of knowledge, within sight of which the pupil is brought in the course of his practical work." In his book on " Education and Social Progress " Dr. Morgan, the Principal of the Provincial Training College in Edinburgh, has drawn attention to the difference between compulsory continuation classes and trade schools strictly so called. In the latter the young worker is taught from the foundation all the departments of work in a certain trade or skilled occupation, including the use of all the hand and machine tools required for the processes involved. In schools of this special character the entire apprentice- ship is carried out, and the classrooms resemble workshops. Now it is obvious that such schools, although they do NATIONAL EDUCATION 95 exist in Germany and elsew'iere, can never be numerous. The cost and complication are prohibitive, and they cannot be made a general substitute for apprenticeship. They may, as Dr. Morgan points out, be necessary for a few special crafts. But, as he truly adds, for the great mass of workers what is really wanted is "a well -developed day continuation school system for the various trades, with a thorough mutual understanding as to the part of the train- ing to be done by the school and workshop respectively." It is upon this ideal that Germany seems to have concen- trated. Dr. Morgan observes that in twelve of the States which make up the Germanic Empire every apprentice has to attend a continuation school for from six to eleven hours a week during the whole period of his apprentice- ship or until the completion of his eighteenth year, and his certificate as a journeyman is only granted if he has satis- fied the necessary educational tests. In ten of the Stages there is " local option " regarding continuation school attendance, and in only four States is attendance voluntary. It is interesting to learn from Dr. Morgan and from other sources, that in Edinburgh^ where, as I have already stated, the School Board has taken advantage of the powers con- ferred by the Act of 1908, the curricula and practical details of the work in the continuation schools that have been estab- lished is submitted to consultative committees, consisting of representatives of employers and employees in the dis- trict, as well as of the teachers and the educational authority. There appear to be in Edinburgh about twenty of these advisory committees, each representing a different trade. Lest it should be thought that I am exaggerating the seriousness of the advance in democratic education which is taking place abroad, I will quote another set of observers. And I will quote pretty fully, even at the risk of repetition, for I am anxious to bring home to those who do not realize what is taking place abroad its seriousness for ourselves. I have already mentioned that the London County Council has set itself to the task of initiating the new system here. In 1914, just before the war, Sir Robert Blair, its Education Officer and a man of great ability, made a Report, based largely on infor- mation obtained by Mr. J. C. Smail, the London County Council Organizer of Education for boys, as to trade and technical education in France and Germany. This Report 96 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY is a valuable and instructive document. It is published, and it ought to be studied by those who are concerned about our deficiencies. Meantime I extract from it what follows . Sir Robert Blair begins by saying that the facts and the observations made by Mr. Smail after visits to Paris, Munich, Leipzig, and Berlin deserve the most serious con- sideration, especially those relating to Germany. The Paris special schools are mainly professional trade schools which train foremen, leaving these to train the workmen in the shops ; whereas the German continuation schools sup- plement apprenticeship and are aiming at the uplifting of every man in his fourfold aspect of member of his trade, member of his family, member of the community, and member of the State. In Berlin, Munich, Leipzig, and other towns the organized efforts of the State and the Municipality are reaching nearly every boy and many girls in a way that would hardly be credited in England, but for the fact that experienced officers have seen it in opera- tion. The British method makes the best top. It also produces the worst tail, and it does not do much for the general raising of the great mass of workers. It must not be forgotten that the London evening student makes on the average fifty hours' attendance per session, while the German boy makes 240. The German boy must take a three or four years continuation course ; the English boy may take as much or as little as he pleases, and 75 per cent, between fourteen and seventeen either cannot or do not please even for one year. Such is the substance of the preliminary observations of Sir Robert Blair in submitting Mr. Smail's Report on what he had found on the Continent. I now turn to the Report itself. As regards Germany, Mr. Smail found evidence every- where that she was aiming at building up a great industrial nation, partly by the thorough training of the leaders as experts, partly by the training of the middle -grade workers, such as draughtsmen and foremen, as thoroughly accurate and careful managers, and partly by the training of all grades of workmen and mechanics as skilled craftsmen and good citizens. France, on the other hand, is aiming at industrial excellence, partly by the training of highly skilled experts, and partly by the training of those who should become the best workmen and the best foremen. NATIONAL EDUCATION 97 This is a good exercise of the power of the State, but it is not so systematic or thorough as the German method. Our own method, on the other hand, is individualistic. We aim in Great Britain at providing individual excellence, partly by offering avenues of training and chances for willing and persevering workmen to climb the industrial ladder. "It is necessary," says Mr. Srnail, " to bear these ideals in mind while considering any organization for technical education, for, while these ideals have probably not been expressed, their influence has undoubtedly been behind the progress made. The German ideal may be termed the long view which must eventually lead the German nation to and maintain it in a foremost place as an industrial world power. The British method may be regarded as more philanthropic than patriotic ; the ideal is admirable, but the bulk of the nation's workers are not catered for by this ideal, and on the bulk of the workers much of the material prosperity of a nation must depend." Mr. Smail observes that expenditure on extended educational effort may be regarded and justified as a national investment, for the character and capacity of its people is the nation's greatest asset. In order, he says, to appreciate the character of the German effort it is necessary to bear in mind the pro- vision that Germany has already made for the training of the professional experts in the Universities, Technical High Schools (another form of teaching of a University type), and other special institutions. There are in that country, as he points out in an appendix, twenty -two Universities and eleven Technical High Schools, in addition to three Mining Academies, four Forestry Academies, four Agri- cultural High Schools, five Veterinary High Schools, six Commercial High Schools (somewhat resembling, I believe, the London School of Economics, which was a pioneer institution), sixteen Academies of Art, and eleven Academies of Music. The total of these teaching institutions of a University or post -secondary type is eighty- two, and they educate on an average 82,000 fully qualified and 22,000 other students. In addition to those in the list above given there are other schools for Administration, Medicine, etc. The German plan of thus training leaders has contributed much to clearing the way " for a closer scrutiny of the middle and lower technical and trade problems of education. As a result 7 98 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY the educational world in Germany is in a state of intense vitality in the solution of the lower technical problems." In these matters the United States are profiting by a study of the German example, and we are threatened from that side of the Atlantic with new movements. One of the things which the Kerschensteiner method promises to accomplish is the solution of the apprentice- ship question. Germany has dealt with this matter by law ; in France and England it has lapsed into an un- satisfactory condition. "There is," says Mr. Smail, "an organized system by means of which an apprentice is sheltered by the State during his period of apprenticeship, and has opportunity for learning his trade in the workshop under a competent person, as well as securing in the con- tinuation class a knowledge of the technology of his trade. The reduction of the period of apprenticeship to four years is probably a vital factor in the continuance of the system. The British schemes, which require five, and in some cases seven, years of apprenticeship, are not generally drafted in the interests of the boy, but rather to secure a limita- tion in entry to the trade. It is not always the case that apprentices are placed under the charge of some one com- petent and willing to teach them the trade. Further, boys are generally allowed to pick up the technology of their trade as they themselves may please. The number who do this seriously from the beginning of their apprentice- ship is extremely small." Turning to the demand for unskilled boy labour in great cities, which is always considerable, the Report quotes Dr. Cooley, of Chicago, as estimating that the proportion of unskilled boy workers is in Munich 10 per cent., in Berlin 40 per cent., in London 68 per cent., and in Chicago 85 per cent. But, then, in Germany unskilled boy workers are required to attend general continuation classes, jand separate courses are provided for them, and they pass gradually into skilled trades. By consulting the necessi- ties of the employers Berlin manages to secure an adequate attendance at continuation classes of about 90 per cent, of the boys. The Report proceeds to give a striking instance of the way in which vocational instruction of this character is used as a medium for a more general educa- tion. The apprentices to the boot and shoe makers in Munich are taught the position of the whole trade in Germany, its localization, size and growth ; the character 99 of the manufactured materials in use and their origin ; the imports and exports and output of foreign countries, with diagrams and curves which the teacher makes interesting by concrete explanation, concrete questions being shown to turn on principles of general application. It concludes by saying that a solution of the apprenticeship problem may be looked for with the aid of definitely organized compulsory continuation classes. It warns the public here that Germany is systematically training the whole nation in different ways for different spheres, and that the effect of this in a generation will have far-reaching consequences. The conclusion to which the story that I have endeavoured to record points is that the new century is witnessing the development of a fresh phase in educa- tion, a phase which is likely not only to add to the practical efficiency and power of the working classes, but to afford the hope of at least partially redressing the in- justice to which they have hitherto been subjected by having the avenues to general knowledge and education closed early in life. There are probably yet more possibili- ties latent in vocational training than either we or even thie foreign nations, which in this matter are in advance of us, have yet discovered. Even if a certain lowering of educa- tional ideals were involved by such training it would still be better to have something substantial than the alternative which in practice is nothing at all. But it is far from clear that lowering of ideals is implied. The new movement which owes so much to the Workers' Educational Associa- tion, and the devoted labours of men like Mr. Mansbridge, and the stimulus which the new movement is receiving from University extension classes, show that the atmosphere in which training is given mav be purified from materialism and rendered of a high quality. It is to the continuation of these movements, in the last mentioned of which this country is in the van of progress, that we have to look for the solution of one of the greatest problems of our time. For it is not too much to say that on the level of intelligence in the working classes of this country and on the capacity for initiative which seminal ideals alone can give depend much of our prospects in the future. That was whv the Royal Commission on University Educa- tion in London recommended (in paragraphs 409, 410, and 411 of its Report, and in the final scheme set out at page '207) that the University -extension tutorial classes loo NATIONAL EFFICIENCY conducted in connection with the Workers' Educational Association should be developed, and a centre provided in the Goldsmith's College, where the most inspiring teachers could lecture, and where debates and social meetings could be held. "At first," the Report said, "no doubt the classes of the Workers' Educational Association were devoted to a study of those sides of history and theory which seemed to bear most closely upon the needs and difficulties of the worker in the modern industrial State. That was right and proper, for men and women of adult years, not less than younger students, will do their best work where their interests lie. Already, however, a demand is growing up for courses in literature and other subjects of value for their time of leisure, and we believe this demand will grow, until the students of the Workers' Educational Association will realize one of the greatest truths a University can enforce, the essential unity of know- ledge. We think the University should consider the work it is doing for these men and women one of the most serious and important of its services to the Metropolis." In order to cover the main ground in this review of the advantages and disadvantages to which the nation is subjected by reason of the condition of our system of education, it is necessary to glance at certain other features of that system. A national system it is not that is to say, it is not a system fashioned in the light of a general and dominating conception of a whole, a thought-out and comprehensive purpose which has throughout been kept in view. Our system has grown up sporadically. This has not been due to the want of would-be reformers who knew what they sought after. It has been due to the want of ideas in the nation itself. No political leaders can get far forward without a certain receptivity to work upon, and this receptivity has been wanting. The great bulk of our people, well to do as well as poor, have hitherto been indifferent to effort at educational reform in a large sense. Perhaps this world crisis, with the practical and sharp lessons which it is teaching, may awaken us, and convince the country that it is on the quality of its own workers, and on nothing short of that, that it must rely if it is to hold its own. We have been too much in the habit of acting as though form could be divorced from substance, and wisdom be embodied in a few epigrams. The type of mind on which the older Universities have NATIONAL EDUCATION 101 set most store has tended to develop this shortcoming. Our future rulers are trained admirably in the old Univer- sities for the forum and the senate. For concentration on organization and method they have not been adequately trained. Parliament is a mirror in which this shortcoming has been reflected, and Cabinets in their turn have reflected the mind of Parliament. One of the most serious deficiencies in our system is to be witnessed in the condition of the secondary schools. What I refer to are the schools in which our middle classes are mainly educated or ought to be so. The great Public Schools have no doubt marked deficiencies. Of these much has been heard, and more is likely to be heard hereafter. But the Public School system of training the boys who attend them to rule themselves and so learn to rule others later on has excited a good deal of admiration on the Continent. There is nothing in either France or Germany quite comparable to this system of training, and foreigners are well aware of it. What I am really referring to is the secondary school of a less well -understood type, the type of the school on which the bulk of the middle classes have to rely. The school of this type has been little looked after by the State, and there is no clear view of its function. The Education Act of 1902 has rendered a great deal of reform possible by the establishment of new authorities with wider functions than the old School Boards. But even in this direction much remains to be accomplished before it can be hoped that a united and harmonious effort will be made throughout the country. Then, again, no adequate provision exists for freeing educa- tional endowments from the grasp of the " dead hand," often maintained for a period far exceeding that which the law against perpetuities allows in the case of private trusts. An Educational Endowments Commission is wanted south of the border to do this work, as it has been done in Scotland. Further, the secondary schools must be of several types. There ought to be more variety in these than exists at present, and the grading should be more distinct. The higher secondary schools (ought, as a definite function, to have the duty of preparing students for the University. Instead of doing so, they stop short and leave a gap. The result is that the Univer- sity is hampered in its work by having to spend much of its energy in doing the work of preparing the undergraduate 102 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY, by preliminary studies for his University training proper. We are not alone in this respect. In the United States the difficulty has been felt so deeply that the American Universities have organized in connection with their work so-called " colleges/' into which the boys from the secondary schools go to complete a training which ought to have been adequately given them. But with us the defect is far from having been repaired. It used to be strikingly ex- hibited in Scotland. There the first year at the University had to be devoted to work which should have been done in the secondary school. But of late years the secondary schools in Scotland have been much developed in quality and increased in number. The State supervises most of them, and has instituted a Leaving Certificate which is intended to be given only to boys and girls who, by their record as well as by the result of examinations, are shown to be fit to proceed to the Universities, where the certificate is a passport to admission to University training properly so called. In England there has been no parallel develop- ment. The system of the Leaving Certificate has been introduced, but only sporadically and not under direct State supervision. The result is that the test is unequally applied and is not general. Now this is hardly due merely to the absence of effort. It is as much due to the fact that there are far too few secondary schools, and that many of those that exist are in a very unsatisfactory condition. One of the most in- structive volumes that has been issued by the Board of Education in recent years is the Report of the Consultative Committee on Examinations in Secondary Schools, pub- lished in 1911. This Report contains an exhaustive review of the situation. It insists on the necessity of far-reaching reform, if the secondary school system is to be made adequate to the needs of England. In particular it recom- mends the introduction of secondary school certificates, which should take account of the record of the pupils' schoolwork, and should be a guarantee that the holders had taken due advantage of the training for a stated period. The judgment of the teacher and a suitable examination, under the supervision of an independent examining authority, should be the tests. It is suggested in the Report that this authority should, for the present at least, be a repre- sentative council, on which the Board of Education, the Universities, the Local Education Authorities, the teachers, NATIONAL EDUCATION 103 and persons with experience of practical life should be represented. The Report recommends that there should be two such certificates, one for pupils who have remained in the secondary school until sixteen ; the second, a time- leaving certificate, which should be attainable only by pupils who have remained on until eighteen or nineteen. The latter certificate would form the passport, not only to University life, but to other forms of life, and should accomplish the end which the State has already sought to accomplish in Scotland. I doubt whether the Report goes far enough in its recommendation as to the Examining Authority. I think that the Board of Education might now, in view of certain strides which it has been making, organize the examinations for the certificates directly, using the help of the Universities largely, and calling to its aid advisory committees, on which other and necessary interests would be represented. It is probable that if effect were given to the main recommendations of this Report the result would be to ease the problem of State aid for the secondary schools in England at once. Now this problem is not only, as things stand, very, very pressing, but the absence of a solution is exercising an evil influence in other spheres than those of secondary education merely. As has already been pointed out, the Universities are being heavily hampered in their work by having to divert much of their energies to preliminary studies which ought to have been completed in the secondary school. How great an evil this is any one may see who will turn to the Report of the Royal Commission on University Education in London, a Report which deals with this question at large. It is, further, an important fact that those who are responsible for regulating entry into the professions and occupations which require a good standard of preliminary mental train- ing are, under present circumstances, impeded in the diffi- cult task of selection by the absence of the individual guarantee which a reliable certificate of secondary education would supply. Our secondary school system is in reality the weakest part of the educational organization in England. To realize how short it falls it is only necessary to compare it with the secondary school system in Germany, which is the strongest part of the German organization. There the system is probably carried to excess. What makes the 104 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY German problem comparatively easy is that the German Freiwilliges Examen exempts the holder from compulsory military service for more than one year. The certificate therefore is strenuously sought after and crammed for. To avoid the crammer the German authorities have laid stress on the bringing to bear of the opinion of the teacher and of record in making the test. But the secondary school in Germany is, notwithstanding efforts made to obviate the result, a tremendous place of discipline and of mere book knowledge. The Germans, in consequence, turn their eyes longingly to features in our great English Public Schools which they have hitherto been unable to repro- duce. The ideal for us and for them would be a combination of the best features of both types of school. There can be no doubt that the eight or nine years spent in the German secondary school and the intellectual discipline which is there instilled have exercised a great influence, on the whole beneficial, on German University life. Lehr and Lernfreiheit became possible simply because the whole of the necessary preliminary training has been accomplished in the gymnasium. The student, who as the result of this arrives at the gate of the Univer- sity some two years older than with us, comes with a passport in the shape of his certificate, without which he cannot proceed, and in the light of which the University can rest satisfied that he is probably fit for training in the higher atmosphere of the University. In that atmo- sphere there is little examination and almost less super- vision. The student is left free to choose his course and make the most of his time. But when at the end of that time he presents himsjelf for his degree, he must satisfy the University authorities that he has used his opportuni- ties adequately. He must submit a thesis showing some originality of effort in thought, and he must orally satisfy his examiners that he has bean a student in the real sense. This at least is the obligation aimed at. The sanction is not only that if the student fails to obtain his University degree he will run the risk of finding some at least of the best avenues in civil life closed to him. His Univer- sity training is essential as the preparation for another test. It is the work done during the period of training at the University that enables him to pass that Staats -Examen, the portal through which he must pass if he desires to enter the majority of these avenues. NATIONAL EDUCATION It seems evident that what is most wanted in England is a concentration of effort ion the development and the reform of the secondary school system. We have made immense strides in primary education since the years antecedent to the Act of 1870. But for secondary education, although a good deal has been done, and the Education Act of 1902 has been a stimulus, almost everything that. is requisite remains to be accomplished. Until a real advance has been made, no satisfactory progress is possible in the direc- tion of the full development of a complete national system of education. Quantity and quality are alike deficient. And until the deficiency is repaired not only elementary educa- tion, of its full value only in so far as it fills its place in an entirety reaching beyond itself, but post -secondary education which depends on what is secondary for its foundation, will remain imperfect. It is this imperfection which lies at the root of much of our national shortcoming in organizing power. Since the war began, a determined effort has been initiated to make up something of this shortcoming. A Special Committee of the Privy Council has been constituted to superintend and give sanction to the work of a new Advisory Council. This advisory body has on it repre- sentatives both of Education and of Science. The object is to develop the number and quality of those who will devote their energies to applying science to industry. For the accomplishment of this object it is necessary, not only to improve organization in the secondary and technical schools and the Universities and University Colleges, but to develop the scholarship system and the necessary pecuniary facilities for picked students devoting themselves to post-graduate research. The necessity for a marked advance if, in industries dependent on science, this country is to recover lost ground, or even hold what it has now, is everywhere apparent. To take as an example the chemical industries in the United Kingdom, there are only some 1,500 chemists, including analysts, employed in the whole of these industries. In Germany the four chief firms in the colour industry alone employ 1,000 research chemists . The new Committees are doing valuable and necessary work. But they do not profess to be able to get at the root of the problem, which can only be reached by dealing with the organization of education as a whole. Still, it is io6 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY a great matter that the war has put ideas into our people which have induced them to take even this step. It can- not be too firmly insisted on that all proposals for increased teaching of science in our schools, and for giving it a more important place in public examinations, useful as they are in attracting attention to a grave need, merely scratch the surface so far as real preparation of the ground is concerned. We know quite well what has to be done, and forty years ago Matthew Arnold warned the nation of the consequences of not doing it. To-day there is a body of experts who have carried on the tradition of his teaching, and have developed his recommendations. The field is mapped out. The keenness of the Board of Educa- tion and of the cognate bodies elsewhere leaves nothing to be desired excepting the putting into their hands of the instruments they require. But the difficulty is, what it always has been, the lack of interest and of ideas among our people. Ministers are, after all, only the mandatories of the nation, and if the nation will not give them a mandate they can make but little progress. For years the voices of the party of education have been as the voices of those crying in the wilderness. But, while the older Universities continue to be ruled by absentees and clergy- men, and the interest in the other Universities remains local and not national, higher education cannot flourish. And it is the indifference which lets this state of things continue in existence that accounts also for the slow pro- gress in dealing with our secondary education and in getting rid of the hindrances caused by religious controversy to the improvement of our elementary schools. The want of keen- ness is again due to the want of ideas. Scotland and Wales have been better in this respect than England, and as the result they have got more done for them and have been enabled to do more for themselves. But then among these peoples there has been diffused something of that passion for excellence in knowledge which penetrates only among the few in England. Without the touch of that passion it would have been hard for them to get the Scottish Education Act of 1908 and the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 out of apathetic Cabinets and indifferent Parliaments. In the arts of war and the arts of peace the same thing is true. We suffer from want of organized intelligence. The warning as to the consequences has been given again NATIONAL EDUCATION 107 and again during the last half -century. And those who know are repeating it now. But if Cabinets are indifferent, and Parliament is indifferent, and the Press is indifferent, it is not to be wondered at if the warning turns out each time to have fallen on deaf ears. And yet in the end the Cabinets and the Parliaments and the newspapers turn out to be what the public has made them, and thus it results that it is to the people themselves that the evangelist must go with his summons. He must tell them that however easily we may appear to have escaped the consequences of our own low standard in generations gone by, the present generation is not one in which a similar escape is prac- ticable. For other nations have advanced in this very business of organizing knowledge while we have stood still, and in material respects they are now ahead of us. And whether it is Germany that is concerned, or France, or the United States, or for that matter our own Dominions, there is only one way in which we can secure our position in the future, and that is by not being behind these coun- tries in the organization of knowledge, and above all in the preparation of that future generation that will have to carry the national banner. No Protection, no wall of tariff, will help us if we suffer from this deficiency. Nay, if taken by themselves and in isolation, they will rather hinder us, for they will divert our steps into byways from the straight and narrow path of mental discipline along which with hard toil of the spirit our coming race must struggle if it is to attain supremacy and keep it. And it is not only scientific knowledge that is required. It is the wider outlook, the deeper insight, that comes of what is spiritual, even more than from what is purely intel- lectual. Never was there a time when the preachers were more needed by the teachers. Can the Churches but rise to it they have one of the greatest opportunities of leading that has ever come to them. For there is a disposition everywhere, a disposition which the tremendous event of this war has heightened, to regard the dogmas and the doctrines round which theological quarrels have centred as themselves symbolic of deeper realities about which there can be no genuine doubt. Faith begins to have a new significance, and the spirit of those who call to faith is in consequence being penetrated with new and dominating impulses . Let us now try to realize the extent of the ground that io8 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY has to be covered if provision is to be made to enable the future generation to compete on even terms with its rivals across the seas. In the first place the number and the health of the future generation must be improved by the resolute carry- ing out of the measures necessary to prevent pre-natal wastage and infection. To enter on this subject at length would be beyond the scope of this paper. It is enough to refer to the Reports recently issued by the Local Govern- ment Board . Probably 1 5 per cent . of those who might under better conditions have been born into the world as healthy children die before birth from preventible causes, while a large number of the residue are born diseased or defective. The recent Report of the Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases, and its Appendices, throw a search- ing light on one terrible source of this evil, and show that much may be done to diminish it. But phthisis and other transmissible diseases are not less formidable. For- tunately, we now know how to diminish these sources of wastage. Again, at least 10 per cent, of the children who are actually born die within the first twelve months from causes which could in large measure be obviated. If these two wastages were got rid of, we could contem- plate the steady diminution of the birth-rate with easier minds easier because there would be a great gain not only in quantity but in quality of life, and some of the most difficult problems of public health would in conse- quence be much reduced in dimensions. But the matter does not end there. The reforms I have mentioned belong in the main to the department of local government. To the department of education belongs a further reform, that of the physical care and development of the child through its educational period. This is a question with which real progress had been made before the war by the Board of Education. Indeed, the recently published Reports of Dr. Newsholme, of the Local Govern- ment Board, and of Sir George Newman, of the Board of Education, are among the most striking evidences of actual progress made progress, it may be added, which probably places us ahead in this respect of any other nation. The proper organization was being rapidly developed before the war with the aid of voluntary assistance under scientific direction from the State, and there was promise of very valuable results for the population generally. We must NATIONAL EDUCATION 109 see to it that we do not let our minds be diverted from this most vital branch of reform, for it lies at the root of progress in education, as well as in other things. In the second place, it is much to be desired that there should be an improvement in the condition of our elementary schools. Not only are better buildings re- quired, but if we are to get the teachers we need the remuneration we offer must be improved. This reform is less pressing than others only because a good deal has been done in this direction during the last twelve years. But much remains to be done, not only as regards buildings and teachers, but in the direction of physical and other training. It is, for example, plain that physical training may be greatly aided by the introduction of methods of self-discipline, such as Sir Robert Baden Powell's Boy Scouts' organization has applied with conspicuous success. It is also plain that in the last years at the elementary school we have failed to take the opportunity of training boys for practical life in the way in which it has been done on the Continent. The last year, in particular, should be one where the boy is made ready and encouraged to think of his future calling, and to look forward to the continuation school . In the third place, if the order is made to follow the stages in life reached, comes that vital necessity for intro- ducing a far-reaching system of vocational training to which I have already devoted a good many of these pages. In the fourth place there is the great effort that must be made to put our secondary school system on a proper footing, and of this I have already said sufficient to indicate the nature and necessity of this effort. I will only add that in France three times as many of the population as with us study in the upper classes of the secondary schools, and in Prussia more than five times as many. These figures tell their own tale. In the fifth place comes the development of our Univer- sity system, and the introduction of much needed reform, which will, among other things, give to the teaching of science not only in the Universities but in the secondary and technical schools a larger place. I say no more than I have already said on this subject in the preceding pages, because my views were fully expressed in the Report of the Royal Commission on University Education in London, 'no NATIONAL EFFICIENCY views which I hold certainly not less strongly than I did when I signed that Report. As regards both the continuation and the secondary schools, public opinion is probably now ripe for a feature corresponding to the " Boy Scout " training in the elementary school, but of a more advanced character. Compulsory cadet training would, I think, be an unmiti- gated advantage for the great majority of boys up to about eighteen, the age at which those who care to do something for national defence have the Territorial or Citizen Army open to them in normal periods. Such compulsory training would probably be popular with the boys, and consequently would not interfere with the dis- position to join the regular Army later, a danger to which compulsion for adults is held by many to lay itself open. Moreover, it would render the raising and training of a large Army in an emergency such as we are witnessing much easier and more rapid. The contribution of the Universities and the University and Technical Colleges to National Defence would naturally, as at present, assume the form of Officers' Training Corps, and from these the older boys in the Public Schools should not be excluded. The war has shown the value to the nation of the Officers' Training Corps movement, and its possibilities as a side of post -secondary education are by no means exhausted. It should certainly be a prominent feature in our University life. The war has indeed made the demand for urgency about reforms such as I have suggested more pressing. They seem to me vital for our national life unless we are con- tent to subside, slowly it may be but surely, into a lower place in the hierarchy of the great nations. None of the reforms so loudly called for to-day in newspapers and on platforms can take their place or in any material degree affect their necessity. They will cost money and involve sacrifices. We must accomplish them with the utmost economy in days in which we are becoming a country overburdened with debt. But accomDlish them' we must. For if we do not we shall lose the tide. CHAPTER VI Organization of the National Resources BY SIR JOSEPH COMPTON-RICKETT, M.P. IN discussing the resources of the nation we must be careful not to limit those resources to immediate money gain and to material advantage. For the moment it is evident that the mind of the nation is concentrating upon a higher ability of production in order to make good its losses, to carry taxation easily, and to come to close grip with the dead weight of its debt. Important as these con- siderations may be, we must not fail to take stock of our intellectual resourcefulness, lest in a passion for production we lose hold of that capacity which enables us to rise to higher planes of living, and incidentally to lift our treatment of business to the same measure of ability. It is possible to develop a selfishness so intense that it does not take account of the diverse conditions of the Empire, and regards the prosperity of foreign States as contradictory instead of complementary to its own. We must freely admit that the British are jealous of their individual independence, and do not easily submit to rules and to regulations. It is the old story, the alternative, presented again and again in history, should liberty be claimed upon its abstract merit, or because of the benefit which accrues to the nation which declares for it ? We cannot always have it both ways, and it looks as if the moment had arrived when the British democracy must make up its mind and pronounce. Shall we take life as easily as in the past, smoke our pipe and swing our legs upon the handiest fence, a little out at elbows, but happy ; or, realizing that liberty has often degenerated into licence, call the nation to account and entrust some of its affairs to those competent to co-ordinate them? 112 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY Something may be said for our native independence. It is not wholly due to our insular position, to simple ignorance of others, but to the fact that these Islands have been the refuge of men and of ideas which did not com- mend themselves to continental rulers. These homeless exiles, whether human or ideal, for many centuries have settled here, for we were the ancient outpost of civiliza- tion. Fugitives, discontented with their old belongings, claimed sanctuary for every kind of opinion, .industrial, scientific, constitutional or anarchic. It is not strange that the British race has been largely affected by this constant immigration. But now America has taken the place of the British Islands and receives the outpouring, not to say the outscouring, of Europe. Yet we admit that bread must come first. A nation to be really great is better for some wealth. After the demands of bare living have been met, it must reserve energy for the higher things, or it will lose its life in the very act of saving it. There must be a margin of profit, a surplus which can be put out to interest in leisure for Science and for Art, and for a better understanding of the Universe. It was out of this surplus (profit that China of old built up her civilization, and we owe more to the wealthy areas of the Euphrates and of the Nile than mankind has fully realized. We must look to the peculiar position of our own country, for it has insular advantages as well as disabili- ties. Our way is in the sea and our path is in the great waters . In spite of the tediousness of the long voyages, and the perils of the deep, there is comparative safety in sea transit. With the building of great vessels the economy of water carriage has been increased, and the use of steam has added to its rapidity. We have only to imagine an earth where the oceans were landlocked seas, lacking spaciousness and depth, and where communications were mostly overland. The British Empire might indeed have grown into a second Russia, but on a much smaller scale. In dealing with our own resources we are bound to keep in mind the necessities of the Empire. It is absolutely necessary to maintain communication with every portion, and there is no better means for so doing than the maintenance) of trade. For if the Empire was not engaged in inter- trading it would weaken its interdependence ; commercial alliances would be formed with other. States, and out of ORGANIZATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCES 113 these would presently grow some political relationship. Nothing, therefore, must diminish our control of the sea- ways, nor oust us from the position of the premier carriers of the world. It is most desirable that the nation should continue to be an international clearing-house, and by its financial operations adjust the balance of trade. We can only retain this position by continuing our large opera- tions in countries sympathetic to our assistance, developing their industries by means of the loans which we issue to them, and receiving from them the interest due to us in the form of products, raw material or otherwise, such as we cannot produce ourselves or which it is not worth our while to create. All these relationships have a bearing on our mercantile marine, and this practical monopoly of seafaring industry which we now possess is a principal condition of empire. We have been accustomed to carry, not only from the Mother Country to the Dominions, but to every foreign country with which we have dealings, from one Dominion to another, and even from one foreign country to another, until we have become the common carriers of the world. Our loans reach the borrower in the form of goods manu- factured in our own country, and we retain the profits of sea -carriage as an element in the price of our exports, whilst we diminish the cost of our imports by returning to this country with full freights instead of in ballast. So long, therefore, as it is necessary for us to import raw material for our manufactures, and to add considerably to our supplies of food, we have occupation for our vessels both ways and can carry cheaper than any nation which restricts itself by a severe limitation of its imports. Inci- dentally, the mercantile marine is the nursery of our Navy. Taken altogether, we may put our merchant service as one of our resources which are essential to our imperial posi- tion. So long as we keep this fact in mind we need not favour any particular fiscal system, for fiscal systems are not intended to establish international welfare, but to favour a particular people one political organism. In coming closer to the subject we must assume a con- dition of peace. It would be a mistake to argue the question upon the assumption that we shall continue to regard any portion of the world as politically outcast. If this conflict were to be brought to a close without our obtaining a decisive result, then the combatants would have 8 .114 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY. to remain on guard like fencers who were getting their breath before they renewed the struggle. Under such a state of things it would be wholly impossible for any nation to devote itself to its best interests. Trade, like all else, would lie under the shadow of an impending disaster, and there could be no pretence of organizing this country or the Empire. But those who have so argued are really half-hearted about the result of the war. They assume that we shall have to meet a Germany as capable as the one with whom we ceased to deal when she invaded Belgium. This theory assumes that the commercial world will be grouped into two opposing alliances which will have nothing to do with one another, but each of them desperately contending in the neutral markets of the world. It would be better to continue the war than to accept such a peace, for violent commercial antipathies of this kind would be almost certain to lead to further outbreaks in an immediate future. It is not worth while even to discuss a (Commercial policy which could at the most only last a short time and which would be accompanied by very unfavourable conditions and be carried on in the lurid atmosphere of distrust. It may, indeed, be wise to have an alternative system to which we could resort in the unfortunate chance of a future disturbance. For we can- not frame life under conditions of ill-health, but for a normal and sane state of things. For example, we have been willing to sacrifice our personal liberties for a time, but we should certainly not convert the Defence of the Realm Act into a substitute for Magna Charta. Turning again to conditions of peace, we must look to our resources in the land and in the population. Is it in the best interests of the Empire that we should seek to maintain in these Islands an ever-increasing number ; or do our settlements on other continents assure to us freer geographical conditions and a better future for our race ? First, in regard to the soil. Cultivation falls far below the amount of wheat and meat which these Islands require. It has been said that this country comes only just within the wheat zone of Northern latitudes, and that our climatic conditions are not so good as the great wheat -bearing districts of the Old and of the New World. With regard to meat this is otherwise ; but land is more valuable in this country, and the feeding -ground of the American Con- tinents can produce more cheaply. Yet it is difficult and ORGANIZATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCES 115 costly to transport live beasts, and dead meat imported in a chilled condition has to accept the contingencies of transit. On the other hand, wheat can be transported expeditiously, handled easily. It is an advantage to the bread consumer that the millers' grist should be made up from wheats drawn from various parts of the world. In our climate pasture is not subject to the same risks as attend the growth of the wheat plant, and on the whole the extension of wheat cultivation will probably not be carried to such an extent as to considerably affect our importation. Mixed farming will go on as heretofore, but with better result. If, however, we are to do the best for our land, it is quite impossible to leave its cultivation to the haphazard of the individual cultivator. The old- fashioned farmer, with his leisurely ways and his weekly, market, is clearly doomed. He must give way to scheme and to purpose, a scheme which will take into consideration the supplies of the world. As I have attempted to show elsewhere, the local farmer is very little interested in the produce of distant countries, though it is virtually com- peting with his own. But a Farming Co-operation, whose agents were everywhere, could regulate the character of production by anticipating the demands and supplies of six or twelve months ahead, and would direct the energies of a farmer to that particular product best suited to his soil, and the most likely to secure a good market. The farmer would then become simply a producer ; his pro- ducts would be sold for him and his seed and appliances co-operatively provided. For the balance of food required we must draw upon the markets of the world. It is very doubtful whether our own Dominions would care prefer- entially to favour us except in time of national emergency. Many of them might have a market close at hand at a better price because of the comparative advantage of carriage. If the United States of America continues to multiply her population, she may become an importer of wheat, willing to give Canada a better price than the British market could offer. If Canada is to give us a preference, we could hardly ask them to sell to us more cheaply than to the United States. Of course in a state of war we should have to give the open market value if Canadian production generally was secured to the Mother Country. Under ordinary circumstances we can make good the difference out of Russian wheat, a wheat well adapted 116 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY to British milling, or from Indian and Australian supplies. There will always be a certain amount of Canadian wheat for which this country would be prepared to pay a high price in order to improve the millers' grist. At the present time we have the world upon which to draw. If the harvests of the Northern Hemisphere are disappointing, the Southern Hemisphere will come in to redress the balance, to make good the deficiency. To be left at the mercy of the climate of this country for the food we eat would never be tolerated. But it may be said, What are you going to do if foreign supplies continue plentiful, freights are low, and the British farmer is reduced to such straits that he cannot carry on? Is it not necessary that a minimum quantity of food suffi- cient to help in an emergency should be grown in these Islands ? We admit that this contingency must be taken into account. It is evident that land is the one indis- pensable thing. A form of property unlike all others, it can neither be increased nor 'diminished, and yet the national life would be seriously affected if the land were diverted to selfish or temporary objects. To place such land, either immediately or gradually, under the control of the com- munity is only the exercise of a common right inherent in the very thing itself. Village communities with common land were a feature of ancient England as of other coun- tries, and the Crown, as representing the community, has an implied right in its freehold to-day. The feudal culti- vation of land demanded homage to the sovereign and a response to a call to arms on the part of the feudal chief. If the community recovers the freehold, it must of course be on terms which recognizes that sale and purchase of land has been free for many years, but behind such liberty of market the rights of the community have existed. Assuming the nation becomes the freeholder and that all rights of cultivation, great and small, are derived from it, a diminution or, in extreme cases, a temporary suspen- sion of rent will act like a bounty and will carry the cultivator over a few months of distress. But it will be said, the soil is not intended to be simply a manufactory for food ; it is to give the population home, health, and opportunity. Instead of the large farm, with its scientific treatment and its unbroken area, establish small holdings, revive yeoman farming, employ a much larger number of people. Why should you concentrate such masses in ORGANIZATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCES 117 towns, with the evils of factory life impairing the health of the future race, when you could bring more land into cultivation, divide to a much greater extent, and provide homes to which Nature would contribute a restfulness and peace ? Is it not better to enjoy a sunset than to attend a cinema ? And why should sunsets fade unseen while the streets are crowded and the skies darken ? Attach the people to the country, breed a stronger race the soil is more patriotic than the street. Give stability of tenure, a sense of ownership, and the national life will be strengthened, for the wealth of the country will be expressed in healthy men and women. However true that may be, it is doubtful whether an increasing number intend to settle upon the land. The spread of education, the development of the intellect, and the multiplication of interests consequent upon both, tend to draw people together instead of dispersing them. Nature is interesting, but slightly monotonous ; she requires inter- pretation, for she speaks in a tongue of her own. We shall have to reckon upon the competition of good employ- ment in the towns. If wages are maintained at a high level, it will require much agricultural advantage to com- pete with town employment, and it is very possible that a scarcity of agricultural labour may recur. Scientific farming on a large scale, with electric -driven appliances and fewer hands, will probably become the 'method of the future. It is not very likely that the war will make a difference in this respect. It may even increase the desire for society and for neighbourliness . The scattered cottages, even the hamlet, will be thronged with the ghosts of the battlefield. Before we plunge into peasant proprietorship let us see how far our proposals are likely to be appreciated. But has not emigration to the great North -West and to other outlying parts of Empire shown that loneliness with agri- cultural pursuits are not unsuccessfully associated? Some- times ; but the results are not always as satisfactory as they seem. It is the farmer of the Old World who makes the success. He finds a better market, a more responsive soil, a sense of independence, and a Iweek-end at the nearest city, which, combined together, make life tolerable. We have referred already to the large and elastic capital which has helped the Dominions and opened fresh avenues of trade in foreign countries. These loans have been n8 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY made, not in gold, but in manufactured goods, in railway and electric plant, agricultural machinery, and much else, according to the form most desired by the borrowers. This export of material employs our factories and our mercantile marine. The interest upon the loan is paid to us in wheat, meat, hides, or some other commodity native to the borrow- ing country. We are not yet aware of how far our capacity to lend will be affected by the absorption of capital occa- sioned by the war. Upon the return of peace there will be an enormous demand, both at home and abroad ; the ravages of war will have to be repaired and a large number of commercial undertakings, extension of works, and similar developments which have been arrested for the time, will come pressing together into the market. The enemy will be too exhausted, commercially crippled as we believe, to come into active competition with its former competitors, for competition suggests sacrifice. We already see that the credit of this country stands high, and that our enemies are faced with the rapidly declining confidence of neutrals. With that credit we may hope to do our part fully in the openings for trade, which promise to widen considerably. We shall borrow better than any nation in the Old World, and provided that we work together, employers and employed, capital and labour, we shall manufacture more cheaply. There is a long vista before us of favourable trade conditions before a time of reaction sets in, if that ever occurs. But to do this it is essential that we lighten the burden of taxation, not so much by diminishing the amount that we have to pay for interest and in the reduc- tion of the principal of the debt, but in broadening the back that carries it. There is only one direction in which we can successfully increase our national income, and that is by acquiring a control of enterprises .which can be worked for the benefit of the community. To begin with, we should naturally turn to monopolies. We have applied this principle in municipalizing electric, gas, water, and light railway undertakings. It does not follow that every experiment must necessarily be successful. In some cases the area has been too small to gather the required amount of business. But we cannot gainsay the principle. Where there is no competition there is little or no incentive to the economy practised by private ownership and no call for invention. A communal authority may just as well gather in the profits for the relief of rates. ORGANIZATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCES 119 If we apply this to large monopolies, there is equally good reason for communal action and sometimes better. Why should not the communications of the country be in the hands of the nation as we monopolize the carrying of letters and parcels ? For these and other great undertakings fresh departments would have to be created, largely autonomous, though responsible to the Government as formerly to their shareholders. The control should be practically free from meddling interference, as, indeed, the Army and the Navy are supposed to be. The elimination of wasteful com- petition, the better service, the steady development of the national resources all these would help to swell the national income. The skilled management already at the disposal of great concerns would be available to a larger extent for the nation, to whom the high payment of ability would be a trifling addition to the cost of working. Exist- ing liabilities to individuals could be discharged by State bonds of different character at fixed rates of interest, according to the findings of a commission appointed for the purpose of determining them. The public would not be more remote, probably not so remote, as the shareholder is from the management of his own company at the present time. An increased amount of labour would be nationally employed upon terms which must be more satisfactory to the employed than any which private capital could offer, for it would be reliable. It could have a pension scheme as part of the reward of labour, and the workman would feel that the profit which he contributed to make was going direct to the State instead of into private hands. Trade disputes would be less frequent, and could prob- ably be avoided by the recognition of a sliding-scale method of remuneration. At any rate, the State has con- stantly to intervene in trade disputes at the present time, whereas employment on national service would secure more consideration for a worker and a healthy public opinion which would be just as well as generous. Such collectivism could be cautiously extended, and it would meet to a considerable extent the rather vague suggestions of Socialism which, on a national scale, are, for the time at any rate, impossible jn this countfy. We depend so largely upon foreign trade, that the international position is as important to us as the national. It is not difficult to see that we should require other civilized States to start with us upon full-blooded Socialism if we are 120 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY to compete with them in the markets of the world. Of course, no confiscation of existing property in personal ownership could be discussed, and probably is not enter- tained. No great reform has ever been successful when confiscation was attempted, unless it were preceded by revolution. In such comparatively minor matters as the freeing of the slaves, or the disestablishment of a Church, existing interests have been protected or have been bought outright. Therefore, in any case, State Socialism (would only be introduced by degrees. But the growth of com- munal control and of State ownership will probably secure the best of Socialism for us without its inherent weakness. Yet we must go a considerable step farther in State control of the resources of the country. Our organizing ability, so widely distributed, is exercised at the present time in a wasteful manner by the commercial world. It is almost an accident whether one industry is developed or another deserted. There is no means of determining whether an excess of labour an'd capital are being directed to one industry and too little to another. Profits may be unreasonably raised by combination or unreasonably de- pressed by competition. The consumer may be paying too much at one time or too little at another. If he be paying too little, he is estranging capital and starving the worker. The unfair cheapness of an article leads to extravagance and to waste. An employment of labour and capital in excess of natural demands for a product necessarily implies a withdrawal from some other 'employ- ment of both, more useful to the community. That which the individual cannot accomplish because he has neither the facts at his disposal nor the field to survey, national government should be able to do. It may be the duty of the new department, the Ministry of Commerce, to con- trol the output of the countrv, to see that it is maintained at the full, that new industries are experimentally started, and that an excess of output in some particular direction is checked. Already financial organizations of a national character have been suggested in order that likely projects may have some support. In other words, we are bound to make the best of what we are doing and can do. But when we have done our share in the United Kingdom, there will be work which it will pav us better to have done elsewhere. There are great Dependencies of the Empire where coloured labour should have an opportunity. The intelligence of Eastern races is quite competent to factory work, and there is no reason why the Eastern markets should not be supplied from the labour of our coloured fellow-subjects, particularly where the raw material is grown at their doors. Provided the labour of the United Kingdom is fully employed, the Indian worker should have his share. Mills could be run with shorter shifts than in this country under good sanitary conditions . The Oriental worker requires less animal food and less clothing, because the heat of the sun makes up for the difference between him and the European. There is reason to suppose that a much better wage could be paid to the Eastern worker than he has ever received, enabling him to lift his scale of living ; whilst the cost of production would be reduced by not having to bring the raw material to this country and to export it to the original source of supply across half the world in the form of manufactured goods. In any part of the world the minimum wage must be determined upon a base of comfortable living, and having disentangled that icost from wages and fixed it from time to time by local com- mittees "(as at present in coal -mining), the share which labour should have in profit should be a simpler problem in most cases, to be arranged perhaps on sliding scale like that which secured industrial peace for many years in South Wales during the latter part of the last century. Whilst a liberal share must be reserved for labour, it would be remembered that labour is a first charge upon gross profits and is paid with definite regularity. There are capitalist profits unreasonably large, but there are also failures and bankruptcies, which form part of the average in reckoning the return made to capital. Greater con- fidence, a disclosure of facts, would solve many of the difficulties between employer and employed ; difficulties which are often due to misconception. In those excep- tional cases where profits are too large the nation can recover that which has temporarily escaped its control by means of income-tax, super-tax, and death duties. These last can be trusted to reduce the largest estate to manage- able proportions, as they are imposed again and again upon successive transfers of the original property. We venture to say that if the problems which will be successively presented to us are handled with courage and enterprise, there is no reason to fear that the world will 122 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY not want us for many years to come in the various services which we have rendered in the past with so much effect. An economy in direction of our powers is demanded. Our energies, instead of being spread over too wide an area like a great river finding its way to the sea through a delta of small streams and marshland, will have to be confined in deep channels, restrained by embankment, and utilized to the utmost. Given peace and goodwill, there is no doubt this country will be able to discharge its liabili- ties, carry its taxation, and reduce its debt with the same ease with which it has pursued its way during a period of unrestrained individualism . We are coming more closely together, and this sense of common citizenship will prove even commercially profitable. CHAPTER VII The State and Industry BY WM. GARNETT, M.A., D.C.L., Formerly Educational Adviser to the London County Council WHAT has the State to do with Industry? Most British manufacturers have hitherto held that the less the State; interferes with industry the better for all concerned. They have asked only to be allowed to go their own way with as little factory legislation and inspection as possible. They have held that they know their own business best and would be hindered rather than helped by any interference from without, however well intentioned it might be. In their opinion the functions of Government lie entirely out- side the field of industry or commerce, except to see fair play between parties. The Ministers of the Crown may there- fore be lawyers and politicians, and the permanent officers of the State may be purely administrative. No know- ledge of science, industry, or commerce need be required of them. If an industrial leader rise to Cabinet rank it is an accident and of rare occurrence, while there is no record of a man of scientific attainments attaining that dignity. Perhaps Lord Playfair most nearly approached it. The unqualified attitude of competition Which obtains throughout British industry, and the spirit of individualism which largely characterizes the schools and the whole up- bringing of the commercial and industrial classes in this country, have tended to encourage the view that industry and commerce should be left to fight their own battles with as little interference as possible on the part of the State. The manufacturer pays his income-tax with a subconscious impression that it is an item of entirely unproductive expenditure. But there have been exceptions to the attitude of oppo- 123 124 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY sition to Governmental interference. As long as home markets are held exclusively by home manufacturers and competition is purely domestic the State may stand aside. When foreign goods find their way into British markets some leaders of industry say that this enables the foreigner to pay for British goods sold to him and encourages British trade abroad, but others invoke the State to institute a protective tariff ; and when the foreigner takes to supply- ing his own market with goods formerly made in Britain, so that the balance of trade is against this country, the cry for a protective tariff becomes more general. The manufacturer has not hitherto asked the State to help him to produce better or cheaper goods, or even to assist him in opening up foreign markets and securing foreign con- tracts. The spirit of competition has prevented any such united action on the part of the trades, which have been very slow even in inviting the co-operation of men of science in charge of public laboratories, partly because they have had little confidence in the assistance they could render, and partly on account of unwillingness to share information. There is one case, other than the imposition of a tariff, in which State assistance has not always been unwelcome either to industrial capital or labour. In the event of disputes leading to strikes the mediation of the Board of Trade has sometimes been useful. Hitherto association among employers has existed in this country mainly, if not exclusively, for two purposes to defend themselves against the demands of labour, and to keep up prices against the consumer. It is seldom, if ever, that an association of manufacturers has existed for the purpose of carrying out experimental investigations in their common interest, or distributing work among the several members so that it may be carried out in the cheapest way possible in the interest of the consumer and of British trade in foreign markets, or of organizing a system of training for different grades of employees. If home production and home consumption alone had to be considered, the trades would not be much the worse off for this system of competitive individualism ; but when foreign consumption of home-made goods and home con- sumption of foreign goods come to the front the case takes an entirely different aspect, and, if British industry is to hold its own under these conditions, there must be association for industrial research, for the distribution of THE STATE AND INDUSTRY 125 work, and for the training of all grades of workers. In the first and last of these objects the State is able to co-operate with the trades. The war has taught us much with regard to industrial possibilities, especially with respect to the help which industry can receive from unexpected quarters. States- men, administrators, manufacturers, teachers have all had before them object-lessons, in which they have, in many cases, themselves taken part, and many of the old tradi- tions which have been accepted without experimental investigation have been blown to the winds by the exigencies of war. Much that has been done during the last two years lies for the present under the cover of the Defence of the Realm Act, but there are some illus- trations which are already public property. For example, soon after the war broke out there was a great dearth of chemical glassware which would sustain rapid variation of temperature without fracture, and analytical chemists as well as chemical manufacturers were in some difficulty. Such glass had not been made in England, but the in- vestigations of a committee appointed by the Institute of Chemistry and aided especially by Professor Jackson, of King's College, have led to the solution of the problem, and chemical glassware is now made in this country of a quality equal to the Jena ware and at approximately the same price. There was a similar difficulty with regard to hard porcelain, and this also has been solved in the pottery school at Stoke -on-Trent. When the Ministry of Munitions commenced the establishment of shell factories all over the country the initial difficulty lay in the provision of gauges for the inspectors. The ordinary fuse of an i8-lb. shell is made of so many parts, that something like eighty gauges are required for testing them before they are assembled to form the fuse. It was consequently announced eighteen months ago that 70,000 gauges were required as quickly as possible for the use of in- spectors, and as a rule each gauge must be correct to three ten -thousandths of an inch. The country haid been dependent very largely on the Continent for precision tools. British toolmakers were already overcrowded with work, and the Ministry of Munitions had recourse to what the trade would certainly have regarded as a dernier ressort viz. the technical schools with such success that it is prob- able that very nearly 100,000 gauges will have been made 126 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY by these institutions and accepted by the Government before the end of the year (191^6). Not only gauges, though, on account of the delicacy of the work, these are by far the most important items turned out by the engineering departments of the schools, but parts of machine tools and many other items requiring considerable skill in execution are among the work executed by the schools for the Ministry of Munitions, the War Office, or the Admiralty. That technical institutions could successfully cope with emer- gency work in this way caused almost as much surprise to British manufacturers as the response of such democratic countries as France and Britain and her Dependencies to ike call of war created in the minds of Central Europe. But not only tools but men were required for the manu- facture of munitions of war, and herein came another surprise even to those who had been intimately acquainted with the training of mechanical engineers. Nearly 25 per cent, of the men employed in the engineering trades of this country had joined the colours. It was important that, as far as possible, ordinary engineering work should be continued in order that we might have something to give in exchange for imported food, but the demand for shells was paramount. Classes in fitting and turning were con- sequently established in the workshops of many educational institutions, and some schools were specially equipped for the purpose. Later on tool -setting was added to the subjects taught. The classes were attended by clerks, artists, barristers, and many others who had never handled engineers' tools, including women of almost all ages, as well as men of advanced years who had been engineers in their youth ; and it was found that an " intensive " course of instruction, extending over 150 hours (half-time for six weeks), was sufficient to enable these nondescript workers to earn a living wage in a shell factory, with prospects of rapid increase to 503. or 6os. a week. Here, again, it has been shown that the technical departments of the schools can render service of the most practical character to the State. Probably nearly 20,000 workers have been thus trained. Lens grinding for optical instru- ments is another subject which has been similarly taught. Another point which has been brought into prominence by the national emergency is the value of scientific organiza- tion in works. Not only has this enabled unskilled and semi-skilled workers to be employed to the greatest advan- THE STATE AND INDUSTRY 127 tage on work which in former days would have been carried out exclusively by skilled men, but with the with- drawal of artificial limitations it has been found possible in this country, as in America, greatly to increase the output per man and per machine without inflicting any hardship upon labour, and workmen have learned that under war conditions there is no limit to demand, and wages increase in proportion as the work is speeded up. It may, of course, be contended that the great advantage which has accrued to the workman through withdrawal of all limitations upon output has been due to the excep- tional pressure of war conditions ; but America has proved that similar advantages to the worker obtain in time of peace. In America the hours of work are not longer, but the workman earns more than double the wages earned in this country because his output is more than double ; and this output has not choked the markets of the world, because there is an unlimited demand for manufactured goods if only they can be produced at a sufficiently low price. The increased output per man, though it raises his wages in the same or higher ratio, actually lowers the cost of production because it means increased output per machine, and machines do not receive wages, and it means increased output for the buildings and establish- ment, and the cost of upkeep and of management is not increased in the same ratio. If the workers of the country will remember the lessons of the war in this respect, and if employers will abstain from putting any difficulties in the way of greatly increased wages, provided they are fairly earned although it may be that the piece-worker earns more than his foreman, just as in the public service a professional expert may earn more than his administra- tive chief Britain may hope after the war to put forth her whole industrial strength in order to win back her claim to be the " workshop of the world," instead of work- ing at less than half -power as of late years. These are questions which cannot easily be controlled by the State ; they depend upon the voluntary action of employers and employed ; but something might be done in the schools to bring about a clearer understanding of the economic problem involved without the necessity of State control of works. How can the State aid British industry? I do not propose to enter into the vexed question of - Tariff 128 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY Reform." New industries which are important to the State require protection during their infancy like all other young creatures belonging to the higher orders, but it may fairly be contended that direct assistance during the years of development is more useful than a protective tariff ; for though the tariff may secure the home market against the competition of foreign goods produced at lower cost, in order that foreign markets may be open to British goods the actual cost of production must be brought down to the foreign cost, and this reduction in cost is not hastened by a protective tariff. If industry is to be encouraged by the State, the Execu- tive Government must first realize that it has some respon- sibilities for the development of British industry. It is not sufficient to increase the territorial area of the Empire if foreigners are permitted to secure monopolies over the mineral wealth of the Dependencies. Arrangements by which plant or machinery for dealing with the mineral resources of the country is erected by foreigners, to be paid for by a monopoly of the products for a term of years, should be legalized only when the Board of Trade is satisfied on scientific evidence that the proposed monopoly is not inimical to British interests. But the most important demand on the attention of the Government is the entire absence in this country of the manufacture of goods which are necessaries of life or essential to the conduct of war. Attention has been called in the preceding pages to some features of industry which have been revealed by the present war, but probably nothing has caused so much surprise to the public generally as the revelation of the extent to which we have been depiendent on foreign nations for manufactured articles which have become the neces- saries of life and of civilization. Some years before the declaration of war the writer was interested in representa- tions made to certain Government departments on the question of the production of optical glass and the manu- facture of optical instruments. The position was that we simply did not know how to make certain glasses employed in the most important instruments required by the Admiralty and the War Office and for other scientific purposes, and the assistance of the Government 'was sought for a scheme of laboratory investigations similar to those which had rendered possible the Jena glassworks. It was pointed out that in the event of European war the Navy and Army would be THE STATE AND INDUSTRY 129 unable to secure the necessary supply of range-finders, gun- sights, binoculars, and other essential instruments, but the reply was to the effect that the assistance, if granted, would create an inconvenient precedent. Although an extensive system of commandeering optical instruments was adopted, there are those who maintain that thousands of lives were lost during the early months of the war through lack of sufficient optical instruments at the front. Since those days precedents have been ignored, and experience has shown that if the aid of the scientific investigators who were readily available had been secured the situation could have been saved. The position of this country and America with regard to dyestuffs is too well known to need more than a passing mention. Reference has already been made to glass and porcelain for chemical purposes. For very many drugs we were, and still are, dependent on foreign sources. The need for local anaesthetics came very prominently to the front at an early stage, and here the chemical labora- tories and teaching staffs of many educational institutions were requisitioned to serve the military hospitals. In the hardware trade not only the public, but in many cases the retail shopkeepers, were ignorant of the sources of supply of the goods they bought and sold. Purchases were made by provincial retailers through London factors, and a dealer informed the writer that until supplies were stopped through the war he had no knowledge that three-fourths of the tools he sold were of German manufacture. It may fairly be contended that it is a primary duty on the part of the State to secure that the country shall not be dependent on a possible enemy State for such essen- tials as drugs and optical and chemical apparatus, and, whatever the cost, persons should receive the requisite training and works should be established for the manufac- ture of all necessary goods for the supply of which we are at present restricted to a very limited number of foreign sources. If it were suggested that we should abandon our arsenals and dockyards because we can buy foreign guns and warships more cheaply than we can build them, the absurdity of the proposal would be at once apparent. But ships and guns are of little use without auxiliary appliances, and it is only necessary for this to be clearly appreciated to make manifest the folly of relegating to foreign countries the manufacture of these appliances, or the preparation of any of the materials on which their 9 130 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY manufacture depends, simply because the work done iat home does not pay. It seems a far cry from a Dread- nought to a test -tube, but a warship is of little use without explosives, or a submarine without a periscope, and the manufacture of explosives or of optical glass is a delicate chemical process which has to be watched and tested at all stages. Without the experimental apparatus of the laboratory the work of the explosives factory is impossible. It is only by this far-sighted policy of keeping an eye on every essen- tial detail, however apparently remote from the main issue, that a 'war can be successfully waged, and much the same is true, of industrial competition. The Government has already taken one important step in recognition of its duties towards industry. In July 1915 a Committee of the Privy Council was formed "for Scientific and .Industrial Research," aided by an Advisory Council of men well known in science and industry. A sum of 25,000 was entrusted to the Committee for the first year, and the grant has been increased by 40,000 for the current year. The Advisory Council has appointed Standing Committees for Engineering, Metallurgy, and Mining, and others are in contemplation. To these com- mittees will be referred particular questions relating to their respective groups of industries. It is the duty of the Advisory Council to make and consider proposals for insti- tuting specific researches ; for " establishing or developing special institutions or departments of existing institutions for the scientific study of problems affecting particular in- dustries and trades ; and for the establishment and award of Research Scholarships and Fellowships." The researches which have already been aided include, among others, laboratory glass, optical glass, refractory materials for furnace work, the properties of insulating oils, the corro- sion of non-ferrous metals, hard porcelain, tin, and tungsten, and the deterioration of structures of timber, metal, and concrete in sea-water, as well as the conservation of coal. This departure on the part of the Government is a very distinct recognition of an important responsibility, a respon- sibility which has been further recognized by the assistance rendered to the manufacture of dyestuffs. The success which is likely to be achieved depends very much on the response of the leaders of industry. The State, whether acting through the Privy Council Committee or otherwise, can assist an industry ; it cannot, as a rule, assist a par- THE STATE AND INDUSTRY 131 ticular firm which may be one of many. In order, there- fore, that any trade may secure the full benefit of the action of the Government it must be prepared to combine for the purpose of industrial research ; and, if it is to produce at the lowest cost, the objects of the combination must include distribution of work among the several manufacturers and the training of all grades of workers. 1 One of the most hopeful results of the present war con- ditions has been the increased willingness of the leaders of industry to form associations for some, at least, of the purposes indicated above ; but what has been effected in this direction is a very small fraction of what is required. For purposes of industrial research trade associations may, to some extent, be replaced by the Standing Committees formed by the Advisory Council, but the essential feature of success is the " pooling " of information, and this must be a voluntary act on the part of manufacturers. The trade association must take stock of its methods and diffi- culties, and select the subjects on which investigation is required. It must then make a schedule of public insti- tutions (university departments, technical schools, etc.) in which provision has been, or can be, made for experi- mental work in connection with the trade and also of the scientific workers available. This schedule should be pre- 1 Since this article was written the Government has made an important announcement with reference to industrial and scientific research. It was on the ist December, 1916, in reply to a deputation introduced by the President of the Royal Society, and supported by the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and by Professor Baker of the Imperial College, that Lord Crewe, then Lord President of the Council, announced that a Royal Charter had been granted to the official members of the Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research under the title of " The Imperial Trust for the Encouragement of Scientific and Industrial Research," so as to enable it to hold land and personal property for the furtherance of its objects ; and in order that it should not be entirely dependent from year to year on Parliamentary grants, in as much as its work must be continuous from year to year, it had been decided to anticipate five years' expenditure on a scale of five times the current rate by a single grant to be paid over to the Imperial Trust. It is understood that this sum, which must be of the order of ^1,000,000, is in addition to any sum which may be voted in the annual Estimates, and its expenditure will be restricted to research undertaken in connection with trade associations which will utili/e the results for the benefit of the trade generally. In this way the fund will be used to encourage the formation of such associations. Lord Crewe also announced that the Board of Inland Revenue had agreed that contributions made under suitable conditions by traders to industrial associations formed for the sole purpose of scientific research, or to the research section of an existing association, "should be free of income-tax and of excess-profits tax. 132 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY pared in consultation with the Advisory Council or one of its Standing Committees. In many cases it will be found that the existing provision for experimental work is insufficient or wholly wanting, and it should then be the business of the Advisory Council, in concert with the trade association, to make the necessary provision in a central institution, conducted more or less after the model of the National Physical Laboratory, or a local school, like the Pottery School at Stoke -on-Trent. While some, and it is hoped many, investigations will originate with the trades, others will be suggested by the Standing Committees of the Advisory Council, and many others by the scientific workers who are engaged in carrying out the experi- mental work. It has been customary for so-called " practical men " to disparage the assistance which scientific workers can render to industry, and that not altogether without reason. Too often the scientific adviser employed in a works is a young man at a very low salary who has had no oppor- tunity of gaining experience outside his college laboratory. It would not be reasonable to place a medical student in the consulting -room of a specialist and condemn medicine because his experience was not adequate to the needs of the situation. Another reason why, in this country, industry has not received as much help from science as among some of our industrial rivals is that, on the one hand, the scientific professor has kept aloof from industry in his university laboratory and has frequently been prevented from taking any part in commercial work ; the manufac- turer, on the other hand, has not taken the scientific worker into his confidence or attempted to use his ability and resources to the best advantage. It has been stated that if a professor of mechanics were taken round a weaving shed he would probably suggest a number of alterations in existing practice, only to learn that all these had been tried and for good reason abandoned long ago and that the present system was the best that could be devised. This would probably be quite true, as far as the suggestions are. concerned, if it were the professor's first visit to a weaving shed. Im- provements in industrial processes are not generally made on the first half-hour's acquaintance. If scientific and industrial research are to be of full value to industry, the researchers must, in many cases, live in close touch with the industry. The gap between the professor's THE STATE AND INDUSTRY 133 laboratory and the factory must be bridged. Lord Kelvin was a scientific instrument maker (Kelvin and White) for part of his time, a practical yachtsman for another part, and a professor conducting a research laboratory with the help of his own students only when he was not engaged in some other enterprise. Sometimes a new discovery can be at once adapted to commercial requirements, but this is not often the case. Those scientific researches which have revolutionized indus- tries have frequently required a long time for their development, which has taken place in three stages. 1 . The purely scientific research which has led to the discovery. This may have been conducted with a totally different object, or purely for the purpose of the advance- ment of knowledge for its own sake. The less the State or any other authority attempts to " organize " scientific work of this description the better. 2. Adaptation and Standardization. In this stage the discovery has to be adapted to industrial requirements so as to be commercially useful, and processes of manufac- ture and mechanical parts have to be standardized so that they can be reproduced with precision. A vast amount of scientific labour was required before Faraday's apparatus for producing a magnetic spark gave place to the dynamos capable of a specified output with a specified efficiency when driven at a specified speed. 3. Commercialization, involving the design and manu- facture of plant capable of turning out the product on a commercial scale. It is in the second of these stages that organized State aid can be made most effective. It must be carried out on a semi -commercial scale, because reactions in a test- tube may be very different from those in a steam pan. The work is essentially industrial research. The process of mining coal affords an illustration of the three stages of investigation through which an invention may have to pass before it can be utilized in commercial manufacture. In the first instance a small hole is bored and the cores are carefully examined by experts. This is a purely scientific investigation. The result is simply an increase of knowledge. Neither the hole nor the core is of any commercial value. If no coal is reached, the investigation has to be abandoned in that particular spot. If seams of coal of workable thickness are found, scientific 134 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY research passes into the stage of industrial research and shafts must be sunk to render the coal available. This operation may be far from a simple and straightforward proceeding . Sinking a shaft differs from boring a small hole to the same depth. Running sand may be met, which has to be frozen before it can be excavated, and the neces- sary tubbing inserted to line the shaft. Other difficulties, foreseen and unforeseen, may occur, but the objective is perfectly definite. Engineering skill, time, labour, and capital are all that are required. When the shafts have been sunk to reach the coal they must be connected underground, the necessary wagon ways must be started, and all the apparatus for hauling, winding, ventilating, screening, and loading, together with many other subordinate appliances, must be provided before the coal can be worked on a commercial scale. The whole process affords a somewhat crude illustration of the stages of investigation, adaptation, and commercialization necessary in order that the work of the scientific researcher may produce results of industrial value. There is another type of industrial research of a simpler character in which the object is to remove some difficulty or uncertainty in a manufacturing process, or, perhaps, to discover some more economical method of carrying out an operation. Here the investigator has a distinct object in view towards which alone he works. In the course of his investigation he may possibly alight on some independent discovery, if his mind is on the alert and his eyes are open for side issues, but the original investigation is a problem of a definite type enunciated by the trade to meet a felt want. If research is to be successful there must be an adequate supply of scientific workers. The reference to the Advisory Council covers the provision of higher scholarships for the training of these workers, and the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education is recommending the Govern- ment to provide 200,000 a year for school and univer- sity scholarships leading up to these. But if Britain is to put forth all her industrial strength, trade associations must co-operate with the State in a vastly greater educational reform than is indicated by the provision of scholarships, however numerous and valuable. The first and greatest task is to develop in all schools that spirit of collectivism which is encouraged in the universities and public schools THE STATE AND INDUSTRY 135 by means of sports. The footballer plays for his team and the oarsman rows for his boat. In the field he will fight for the honour of his brigade. The spirit of the classroom in the competition for places, prizes, and scholar- ships is purely individualistic. It has been said that in the present war the great public schools and the poiblic elementary schools have shown up better than the ordinary secondary schools, from which the majority of those engaged in commerce and in directing industry are drawn. We do not want the schools to become a tool in the hands of the State for " educating " children to regard themselves merely as pawns to be moved about by a military despotism. They must regard themselves as intel- ligent citizens with freedom of action, like the football player, but that freedom subordinated to the common weal. Self-interest is to be respected, but the claims of the com- munity come first. Knowledge is to be shared and not used for purely selfish ends. The interest of the community will in the long run make for the greatest happiness of the individual. Here is the problem for the schools. When it has been solved, trade associations for the advancement of British industry will be possible. The second problem, which is nruch easier for the State to handle, is the establishment of a system of continuation schools which shall provide at least part-time (education for all boys and girls up to the age of seventeen, attend- ance being compulsory and mostly during workshop hours. Here, again, there must be co-operation between the trades and the State, and it is very desirable that such co-opera- tion should be voluntary, the trades falling in with the legislation necessary to give effect to the scheme. In the continuation school the interest of the work must focus upon the daily occupation of the pupils, except that in the case of those engaged in " blind-alley occupations " some permanent employment in which the pupil is interested must be selected by him as the guide to his training. Focussing the interest in employment does not mean that the education provided is wholly, or even mostly, technical. Outside the continuation schools provision must be made in State-aided schools for all grades of workers, including works managers, scientific advisers, and industrial states- men. These courses should be sketched in the first instance by the trade associations, as has been done by the Man- chester engineers ; but this is not the place to enter upon 136 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY educational details. It is necessary, however, to point out that in the schools of the future, while attention must be paid to language and literature, children must be brought much more closely into touch with their environment than has hitherto been the case. There is more of " the humanities " in the construction of a toy or the making of a simple experiment, carried out spontaneously for the love of it, than in a page of irregular Latin verbs or in the speculations of the schoolmen. There is another way in which the State can assist industry if only manufacturers in each trade will combine to co-operate with the State. Under the present system of competition in foreign markets, as at home, each manu- facturer can be represented only by such agents as he can afford to pay, and these are frequently not comparable with the representatives of foreign trade combinations. If manufacturers would unite for joint representation in a foreign country, agents of high standing and great ability would be available and, as representatives of the whole British trade, they could be supported and introduced by the Consular and, when necessary, even by the Diplomatic Service. Here, too, is a vast field of educational work for schools and colleges in the training of commercial represen- tatives of British trades men whose training will not have been confined to shorthand and book-keeping, office routine and a modern language, but men who will have a thorough knowledge of the country or countries to which they will be sent and also of the goods they have to sell, including such a knowledge of their manufacture as will enable them to discuss modifications in detail to meet the requirements of foreign customers. ; CHAPTER VIII The State and Labour BY PROFESSOR S. J. CHAPMAN THE problem of the State in relation to labour raises two questions : the one, What should be aimed at in labour arrangements ? and the other, How far is the State the best engine, or even an efficient engine at all, for bringing about the desired end ? Both of these questions would be difficult to answer in normal times, for a community like the English in which springs of action that might be ignored in a simpler social system have developed into important economic forces ; and they are much more difficult to answer to-day. But immediate attention to them is called for, since economic organization after the war will be in a more or less chaotic condition, and at the same time in an unusually malleable condition, and chance is seldom a perfect architect. As in human affairs, however, an end only becomes precisely defined when it is on the verge of being realized, we cannot hope to frame more than a rough idea of the State's future duties with reference to labour. And before attempting to frame even a rough idea, it will obviously be needful to grasp the tendencies that were ruling antecedent to hostilities. Looking at the labour world in the broadest possible way, three movements proceeding from three different sources appear to stand out. One, which began as a vague demand lor greater productive efficiency, had already created some stir in capitalistic circles, and was developing a definite programme for securing what was called " Scientific- Management." Another (constituted of several movements that were assimilating), with only partially formulated ideas, was pressing the claims of labour for an improved status in reference to production, greater security of income 138 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY and position, higher wages, and, generally, a scheme of remuneration which would make wages more like a partner's share in the product of an industry and less like a com- modity's price. With a part of this mixed movement, a state of purposeless fermentation and local discontent with trade union organization and policy were associated. The term " Syndicalism " is sometimes applied to this element in the labour movement, though its affinities with the con- crete syndicalism of the Continent are not pronounced. The third group of tendencies marked a growing interest on the part of the nation in the conditions of life and physical and mental well-being, intermingled with concern for the future of the race. From this arose housing reform, schemes for equalizing opportunities, the minimum wage demand, and eugenics. The three complex social currents distinguished above cut across one another to some extent. But the first was primarily capitalistic in its origin, though, liberally regarded, its end was a national one ; the second was peculiarly labour in its initiation ; and the third, national or State, though portions of it could be equally attributed to labour. Thus social betterment relating to housing and the conditions of life has received weighty labour support, but labour organizations have not shown themselves disposed to spend lavishly upon it either in money or effort. Again, the Poor Law reform agitation, or attempted agitation, confirms the conclusion drawn above. Its promoters were largely middle -class and its propaganda ended generally in a limited or tepid following, though labour sympathy was not lacking. The truth is that it did not happen to be in touch with any nucleus of the distinctive labour movement. Another example may be drawn from education. It is one of the most hopeful signs of the times that there is no class without its coterie of educational enthusiasts, but there are striking differences in point of view and relative emphasis as between class and class. Industrial leaders incline to rely too much on the efficiency test, and to encourage only the technical and commercial education which makes expert producing machines excellent things in themselves, but by no means all that education stands for. The social reformer's ideal of an education which discovers talent, and by developing it makes the best men and women and gives opportunities to the poorer classes, has seldom won more than a mere intel- lectual acceptance in capitalistic quarters. To the employer, THE STATE AND LABOUR 139 broadly speaking, it seems to be only remotely " business," and, so far as it is, to conduce to severer competition, which he cannot be expected to encourage. And in labour circles, this conception of one of the functions of education has received neither the first blessing nor unqualified and unsus- picious support. Indeed, the elementary step of raising the school age has divided the labour world ; and there are those who fear lest the policy of giving special opportunities to picked individuals should weaken the cohesion of labour. The insistence, in the popular movement for the higher education of workpeople, on the principle that the work- people when educated should remain workpeople which has its good side, it must be allowed, in repudiating the mere bread-and-butter notion of education is significant. All this, of course, is to view things in the mass and not draw fine distinctions ; but viewing things in this way, we would certainly seem to be warranted in representing the movements affecting labour prior to the war as working from the three angles of a triangle, as it were, so that, when not exactly opposed, they were competing rather than co-operating. Given understanding among our official and unofficial leaders, and the avoidance of precipitancy, one effect of the war may be to resolve this triangular system of forces into parallelograms of forces. But, before this is argued, something must be said of State action along the old lines. We may agree at once that, apart from financial con- siderations, nothing has occurred to justify the curtailment of the national labour or betterment movement, while much has occurred to impel it forward in certain directions. It is true that we should have learnt to be less apprehensive about the physical and moral strength of the race, but at the same time we must be realizing more fully its extreme importance. The minimum wage policy may have to be carried farther. Again, during the demobilization of the Army and the remobilization of industry, employment ex- changes will have to work as they have never done before ; and, if the economic system can retain some of its recently acquired plasticity, the function of these institutions will be permanently magnified. In many other directions also, more will be required of the State. One question in particular will stand out for consideration de novo, namely the ques- tion of the industrial position of women. This raises issues that will be discussed in a later section, but we must notice 140 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY here that a minuter scrutiny of the conditions under which women may be safely employed will have to be under- taken. The industrial activities of Iwomen may, and probably will, continue on a larger scale than heretofore ; and, if so, it will be more than ever pressing to consider how to avoid their undue strain. Between no industrial work and indus- trial work of an arduousness and daily duration that a man can stand without undue strain, but not the average woman, there are numerous intermediate positions. It ought not to be beyond the powers of organization to fit in the employ- ment of women, under conditions suited to their powers, with the employment of men under different and less restricted conditions. The open-minded must have been convinced by now that the disposal of this Gordian knot by the slashing system of far-reaching prohibition is probably the course most to be avoided. Lengthy comment on the work of the State in spheres already approved cannot now be attempted, but we must not omit to observe further that for all time the value of its social action will probably remain greatest where it now does most. Education with a human and national end in view, and the furnishing of opportunities in other ways (among which offering a future to the enterprising on the land may be more .urgently demanded and needed after the war), make the men which make the State and lay the foundations of our well-being. We may conclude that more and not less will be required of the State on the old lines even though more economy and less comfort may have to be aimed at for a time particularly in view of the probability that the national attitude which the war has induced in the mass of the popu- lation will survive sufficiently to bring to social reform on the old lines a great accession of popular support. But the disturbing thought confronts us that financial stringency and a smaller national income may limit the Government's capacity to do all that should be done. Will there be obstacles in restricted means, and can they be minimized ? This question leads directly to the considerations to be developed next. Our analysis of pre-war conditions brought out three non- co -operating, and in part conflicting, groups of tendencies, and our immediate concern now is exclusively with the bearing of State action upon two of them. Up to the time of the war, the State had interested itself mainly in what we have called the national group, except to interpose THE STATE AND LABOUR 141 occasionally in other matters in an indirect or advisory way as public interest seemed to dictate. But there is every reason to suppose that the lines of projection of these three groups of movements will be deflected and attracted to one another by the war. For example, the interest of the State is likely to be drawn to the question of labour efficiency, both because of the enormous problems of finance that the war will leave as a legacy and because the State's economic policy, apart from finance, must have a productive side. The nation's revenue will become a matter of the deepest concern ; upon it the future of the social reform that has already been started will depend ; and what the revenue can be is largely determined by what the nation's income is. Again, it must not be assumed that the Government "will entirely ignore the productive problems involved in the maintenance of key industries and fundamental industries, and other problems that may be raised when it is sought to cement our political alliances on the economic plane. Foreign competition in over-sea markets, if nothing else, will inevitably bring the State to the capitalistic angle of vision with regard to producing costs. But this attraction will not mean a surrender of the State's constitutional point of view ; when it assumes the organizer's interest it cannot and will not discard its national bias. In short, its productive policy is bound to become inherently a social policy. Moreover, in entering as an interested party into the problem of produc- tion, the State, by virtue of the fact that it stands for all classes, will be naturally involved on the labour side ; and only in so far as it can reconcile its productive objects with labour claims will it be able to maintain a productive policy. It is, therefore, conceivable that the angles dividing the three groups of tendencies already defined may be so reduced that the tendencies will become co-operating ones. And this is possible for another reason also. The aims of the different groups of labour may become less sectional, because something of the war's public point of view may survive, and the labour movement will acquire the habit of the national outlook if it identifies itself more with what we have called the national social movement. The wish is strong enough to be father to the thought, but there is nothing inherently improbable in the thought. Scientific management could be advocated to promote the interests of labour, only in that case more weight would have to be attached to ultimate effects and 1 to the subjective 142 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY side of human activities. Opposition to scientific manage- ment has been aroused by its too exclusive reference to the magnitude of the output ; and doubtless it has been a fault in the labour point of view to ignore or treat as negligible the magnitude of the output. It does not follow that as more is produced more goes to labour, but it may be arranged for more to go to labour ; and with this arranged which means the concession of no small part of the labour demands scientific management, liberally inter- preted, would become a corollary of the contention of labour, provided that the security of the workman's income was not sacrificed, or diminished in any way, without a quid pro quo. The question of this security is one source of existing conflict. The workman is fighting for more security ; and the regulations of his trade union are to some extent designed to ensure it, by checking the substitution of un- skilled for skilled labour, for instance, and by making the demand for skilled work rigid, despite mechanical improve- ments, as in the case of rules relating to the ratio iof machines to operatives. But " scientific management " assumes the levelling or lowering of these protective barriers. It has yet to discover how to recommend itself to labour interests : that a way can be found by pruning and modifying the crude capitalistic conception of scientific management, without sacrificing its essentials, will be maintained later. Similarly, the labour demand may be reduced in substance to the capitalistic, for what fosters the motive powers of production must tend to magnify the output. Men work better when their future is assured than when they are beset with constant anxieties. Their work is also superior when their status in their firm or industry is such that they identify themselves with it, and when they not only share in its prosperity, but directly feel themselves sharing in it, because of the system by which their wages are regulated. Private incentives have hitherto been too exclusively ex- ploited in production : it has yet to be realized that social motives can be cultivated for economic ends and harnessed to production. These considerations are purposely expressed vaguely to keep their application general, and for the further and sufficient reason that what is ultimately advisable, in the matter of the operative's status and the regulation of his wages, must vary from industry to industry, and has yet to be enunciated in precise terms after discussion in contact with the relevant facts. THE STATE AND LABOUR 143 In connection with the conceivable reconciliation of the demands of capital and labour, there is a point to refer to that is of the utmost importance to our present inquiries. It is that the accommodations needed for their harmony are impeded or stopped by the crystallization of the productive system in regulations and customs, which are, after all, only means to an end. The relations between employers and workmen had set so stiffly prior to the war that employers tended to assume them in their mental speculations without realizing that they were beg'ging any questions at issue. Works organization had gone so long by rule that only the most imaginative could struggle out of the accustomed grooves. Similarly the arrangements made in the interests of the workpeople, maybe after severe conflict, had almost acquired the sanctity of " rights " defining the operatives' property in the trade. Their observance to the letter was frequently expected, however obsolete and unsuited to new conditions they might be ; and even when workpeople took a broader view, they were afraid to admit a breach lest all existing defences might go and nothing 1 take their place. Few conceived of the possibility of getting better results eventually as a result of modification. All this will come out of the furnace of war vastly changed. Many an em|- ployer has had to suffer some control and to abide by terms of employment and wages to which he would not have con- sented as a free agent ; and the working' classes 'have already had some experience of working without the rules and regulations by which their interests were, or were sup- posed to be, safeguarded. To the widespread consent to the temporary abeyances of these provisions which the majority of the working classes patriotically but apprehensively yielded, the success of the country has been largely due. Now, in order that there may be no excuse for misunder- standing, let the obvious thing be said at once, namely that all the undertakings entered into to restore these restrictions must be met fully and absolutely, without covert curtail- ment, and in the most liberal spirit whenever the demand for their restoration is made. The State could not countenance, and no patriot could suggest for a moment, repudiation, however trifling 1 , or even suspicion of repudia- tion, of the contracts that were made or implied. This is obvious : but, nevertheless, the departure from rule for the duration of the war brings a new hope of social and industrial progress in the near future. For, though 144 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY it is the workpeople's undoubted right to have reimposed the old trade union safeguards, it by no means follows that they will universally desire their restoration or con- tinuance in their old form. They will not if it is demonstrably not in their interests ; and there must be numerous cases in which it will not be, and numerous other cases in which greater advantages could be offered alternatively. In this connection, there are three points to bear in mind. In the first place, experiments have been tried which labour would otherwise have been afraid of risking, and there are said to be instances in which an all-round benefit would have resulted in any circumstances. In the second place, the world will be very different after the war. The supply of adult males will have been reduced by casualties ; and it seems highly probable that numbers will emigrate to the Colonies who would not otherwise have done so. After the kind of life lived in camp many will be attracted to colonial conditions, with which they will have come in contact in- directly through their association with colonials. Moreover, the colonial demand for labour will be more urgent than the Mother Country's, seeing that the scantier a population the more severely is a given percentage loss of people felt. In many industries, therefore, we should be prepared to discover without surprise that the displacement of the emergency labour to any large extent would act detrimentally on the employment and earning both of the men returning and of those whose labour has been diluted ; and in any event, it is unlikely that the arrangements best for the operatives under the old conditions will remain best under the new. In the third place it may be found that, though a small section of labour would gain from the restoration of certain rules, other sections would so lose that there would be a substantial balance of loss. In these cases, as experi- ments have been started and there is a good chance that people will be in the mood to try new schemes, it would be worth while considering whether some compensation for the labour in question could not be so devised that everybody would be left a gainer. Given a minimum of obstacles to improved organization, greater productivity might soon make up for the material losses of all classes due to the war. On all hands one hears that a larger output per head is pos- sible, even without an increase of effort. As path -breaking is already far advanced, thsre is no initial inertia to over- THE STATE AND LABOUR 145 come ; and it is certain that, after what has occurred, in- dustrial organizers will be prepared to contemplate arrange- ments with the operatives, the mere thought of which in ordinary times would have caused them profound uneasiness. It looks as if the post-bellum period would offer a great opportunity to the wage -earning classes ; and being in the strong position of having something to bargain with, they can speculate without any appreciable risk. But the situation will not be an easy one to deal with. The old paths of peace will be no longer where they were ; nor will they be immediately attainable. There will be a jungle of difficulties to get through first, and antecedent to this the demobilization of the Army and remobilization of industry. A few words must be said of what confronts us, for what exactly should be done in connection with the labour question is closely dependent on what may be ex- pected as regards the state of trade and supplies of labour on the termination of hostilities. Four periods, which succes- sively overlap, may be distinguished in events after the war : first, the demobilization and transition period ; secondly, the period of recovery from the destruction and deferment of production and consumption occasioned by the war ; thirdly, the period of reaction, if any ; and, fourthly, the long- drawn-out period of new normal conditions. Much depends upon the spaces of time filled by the first three periods, which will not be the same in all industries, though at certain points a general state of depression or briskness might be induced by the synchronizing of a number of large in- fluences ; and equally, as regards the character of the periods, much depends upon the rapidity with which suitable re -accommodations of productive forces can be effected. Now it is vital to the country's economic future that, when demobilization is taking place and we are equipping and reorganizing ourselves to meet civilian requirements more fully again, no unnecessary impediments should be allowed to hamper our movements. TTie task of immediate reconstruction will be sufficiently complex and onerous to tax our powers to the utmost, and in connection with it the gravest financial and other questions may arise. Moreover, our future will largely depend upon our quickness. The neutral competitor will have had a start and will have to be caught up. And pretty much the same may be said of the second period when the destruction wrought by war is being repaired. Every day wasted during the course of 10 146 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY restoration work means another loss on the top of the heavy losses still to be made good. Probably throughout this time we shall feel a pressure of demand for labour not unlike the war demand. The question, then, as to the time when settle- ment of the labour problem can be most appropriately sought is one of the deepest concern ; and of no little importance is the allied question as to the method of settle- ment, assuming it to be agreed among the operatives that negotiations with a view to new arrangements promise the brightest future. This second question brings up for consideration the functions of the State. It has been argued previously that the State will have been rendered an interested party in the labour problem in a much fuller sense than it was before the war. But State domination is neither necessary nor desirable, nor even possible. The Prussianizing of indus- trial functioning would prove disastrous if it could be carried out in England, and it could not. It would be galling to the Englishman and destructive of the spirit that has made for our industrial greatness. Compulsion will be largely out of place ; but Government will have to be entrusted with an extraordinarily responsible and difficult office. It will probably be incumbent on the State to organize, maintain and guide the multitudinous negotiations through which alone satisfactory solutions can be reached ; and it alone can bring uniformity into any emergency arrange- ments, and keep the numerous discussions that must take place in touch with each other, so that the several agreements arrived at may give promise of enduring by fitting into an harmonious whole. Men of the diplomatic order, and others with the right insight and knowledge, will be the chief requirements ; for if the oppor- tunities of the future are here read aright, difficult as is the task of the industrial conciliator ordinarily, the new tasks will be far more difficult, seeing that the range of debatable subjects will be far wider. Moreover, the task will be the harder so far as it is agreed by labour and capital that the economic system, which has been forced by the strain of war to make itself plastic, should be prevented from harden- ing again into rigid forms, if possible. Its habit has hitherto been that of the lobster to grow a shell, discard it when it becomes unbearably tight and then grow another. The ideal to aim at is continuous plasticity under working agree- ments which can be modified as need arises, seeing that THE STATE AND LABOUR 147 schemes suited to all the features of an unforeseen future cannot possibly be devised. This sketch, fugitive though it is, of the State's hand in the remoulding of the productive system, will be sufficient to indicate that for the final settlement of human industrial relationships, in a way that is acceptable to all parties con- cerned, a somewhat lengthy period will be required. It would, therefore, seem essential to enter into provisional agreements, without prejudice to the form of the final settle- ment, to enable industry to carry on meanwhile. This is the more necessary in view of the fact that the war will have so changed our markets and needs that all relevant facts will not be known till some time after the termination of hostilities. A hurried design, sketched when the future of demand was unknown and the available supplies of capital and labour were unknown for who can say what emigration will be or how many women will desire to remain wage- earning ? could never fit the circumstances and would probably lead to regrettable reactions. Consequently we may assume the need of provisional arrangements. In the framing of these a State department will undoubtedly have to take a prominent part, for reasons similar to those urged with reference to ultimate arrange- ments. Again, for the sake of insuring immediate response to sudden post-war needs, these arrangements will have to be made without delay. One awkward factor to allow for will be price variations. Prices will be affected almost at once, and they have a bearing both on the pur chasing -power of wages and the money wages that can be paid. The question of wages, in view of price variations, will probably be the most troublesome, and as prices will not keep constant after once changing the disturbance will continue. To meet this difficulty, some simple plan, to be acted upon unless there were obvious reasons to the contrary, might be devised and accepted ; and a simple uniform plan would have the merit of preventing jealousy as between one class of labour and another with reference to earnings. The obvious course is to provide for some slide of wages with an agreed index of prices for a period. But there remains the question of the starting wage. In view of the need of haste, one or two alternative pivots for wages might be selected for the least exceptional cases. Something in the neighbourhood of the present wage would probably be the most acceptable pivot, and another possible one is the pre- 148 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY war wage raised by an agreed percentage based on the rise in the cost of living. In special cases a new basis might have to be adopted. But whatever the starting amount, if prices declined at the rate that seems likely there would have to be some corresponding descent in money wages. As regards emergency action, the vital thing is to avoid delay and cessation of work. More depends upon this than many may realize in the first few months of peace. And with reference to permanent resettlement, it is essential to avoid haste and discard prejudice. A great opportunity that may never recur is before us of so harmonizing conflict- ing interests that class antagonism is transformed into a class alliance to make good the war losses that can be repaired, and continue unchecked along the path leading to greater prosperity. CHAPTER IX The Relations between Capital and Labour 7. THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR BY G. H. ROBERTS, M.P. WHEN the hideous calamities of war have passed and peace reigns again, the varied and complex group of questions constituting the Labour problem will become more insistent than ever. In pre-war days employers and employed were drifting rapidly into a state of mutual suspicion and ill-concealed antagonism. Then the pro- testations of friendliness on the part of Germany had lulled the nation into a sense of false security. When in August 1914 the naked evil stood revealed to all who could and would see, all classes cast aside the differences which had hitherto separated them, and a united people sprang to agreement and determination to defeat the foe whose aggressive purposes and moral turpitude had let loose the hell-hounds of death and destruction. With the exception of slight and occasional ripplings of discord this splendid unity has survived, and made easier the task of adjusting national resources to the pursuit and attainment of victory. Had it been otherwise, disaster would have inevitably ensued and the horrors of war have been bitterly aggravated. What a tow'er of strength was dedicated to the State in Labour's spontaneous outburst of patriotism and ready willingness to serve ! Millions of men laid on the national altar the proceeds of genera- tions of strivings and sacrifices, making but the simple and justifiable reservation that the things thus rendered to their country should be restored unimpaired to them when danger had passed, for these were the means they had fashioned '49 150 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY at tremendous cost and trouble with which to win better- ment for themselves and theirs. Without internal unity the prosecution of the war would have been hampered and hindered, and more brave men would have died and more treasure been expended. Heavy indeed are our losses under both heads, yet it is good to know that in days to come the conscience of Labour will be free of blood - guiltiness, inasmuch as its conduct did not add to those losses. None, therefore, will deny that national cohesion has proved incalculably advantageous during the war. Equally, I submit, will it be desirable in the period ensuing on the establishment of peace. The absence of industrial conflict will facilitate the readjustment of busi- nesses from war to civil standards, and the measures of reconstruction and development necessary for a speedy recovery and future safety and prosperity. Some predict that cruel and widespread class warfare will be precipitated when cannons cease to vomit and trenches are emptied. Surely every good citizen will be anxious to avert this dread possibility. Having seen the son of the well-to-do and the son of the labourer watching and fighting together in order that their country may remain great and its people free, I 'cannot think they will soon forget the comradeship that inspired them to common endeavour and sacrifice in withstanding the foe, nor that they will sanction lightly the resumption of industrial hostilities, but will elect to resort to the arbitrament of reason and justice. The supreme social service that could be rendered would be for parties and classes to sustain the closer co-operation which prevails during the war in the trying days of early peace. I am told this is too much to hope for. Assuredly, however, most will desire that the better spirit should survive, and will do their utmost to foster it. It must not be overlooked that the concessions made by Trade Unions are for the period of the war only. They would not have been conceded to private interests, but have been yielded willingly to uphold the integrity of the State, on the clear understanding that they are part of Labour's contribution towards the attainment of victory, and are to be restored in their entirety when that purpose is achieved. This constitutes a contract between the State and the Trade Unions, the terms of which are implemented in the Munitions of War Act. This Act provides for the com- plete restoration after the war of any change effected in THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 151 Trade Union rules, regulations, and customs under this contract. That this undertaking will be honoured is not seriously questioned. Maybe some friction will occur, but if the workers stand firm to their respective organiza- tions they will, with the support of Parliament, revert approximately to the conditions prevalent at the outbreak of war. Nevertheless, experiences gained through changes made during the war will not be effaced. The extensive admis- sion of semi-skilled and female labour into regions hitherto the exclusive preserve of skilled artisans will have shown employers that processes once confined to highly skilled workers can be performed by less skilled. So it may be expected that the status of classes of labour will be readjusted in the light of this experience. But no such change must be made arbitrarily. Any endeavour to depreciate pre-war conditions will provoke trouble. Unless this aspect of the matter is handled with care and sympathy, irritation and probably strikes will ensue. An ugly spirit will be engendered if employers give cause for the belief that they seek to exploit for indi- vidual ends the magnificent patriotism of the working classes. Terrible will be the anger of those hundreds of thousands of trade unionists who have been among the most valiant defenders of the Allied cause if they return to find that while fighting to keep intact their country their industrial rights and privileges have been filched. There- fore it is imperative that the restitution of Trade Union concessions be as honourably effected as they were readily surrendered. Given this, any changes experience has proved desirable to make permanent may be negotiated without prejudice in an atmosphere of mutual goodwill. No thoughtful person maintains that methods shall be stereotyped for all time. Finality in the means of wealth production should never be contemplated. Persistent ex- periment and improvement are essential in this as in other realms. In the future, more than in the past, the standard of nations will be determined by the efficiency of labour and the fairness with which wealth is distributed among its producers. Though we have prided ourselves on the high quality of British labour and business methods, yet the war has revealed startling deficiencies, and disclosed the fact that the potentialities of wealth production are enormously greater than hitherto dreamed of, and that by 152 proper organization and the smooth working of industrial forces productivity is capable of extensive expansion. The fundamental factor in the content of labour is wages forthcoming in sufficiency and with unfailing regularity. Among all classes an adequate and regular income is regarded as the first essential of life. Nothing is so demoralizing to the worker as low and uncertain wages. The breadwinner who is the victim of haphazard methods of industrial organization and is subject to periods of enforced idleness becomes moody and resentful when his wife and children suffer deprivation, and when debts are incurred, the discharge of which lowers the subsistence standard, or remains as a burden gradually dragging down him and his to the lower strata of society. Moreover, many a man whose habits are exemplary when employment is good slips unconsciously into a deteriorated state when work and wages are intermittent, and he is driven to despair of maintaining a decent standard of livelihood. Thereby is also created a condition of mind reflecting class hatred, especially when evidences of plenty, luxury, and extravagant expenditure are flaunted before and about him. Despite extraordinarily increased and increasing wealth, large masses of our working population are yet denied anything approximating to a guaranteed living wage. This is one of the ugliest blots on our social system, as well as the most fruitful cause of industrial unrest. Solve this and the number of trade disputes will diminish. With its solution, too, will decline the terrible evils of squalid homes, ill -fed children, excessive drinking, and all those ills of poverty origin which disfigure civilization. Some groups of highly skilled and well -organized workers have made substantial progress in this direction. Generally speaking, however, the majority of workers possess no assurance of a living wage when in work, let alone protection against trade fluctuations. Thus the most urgent phase of the Labour problem is a guarantee to every willing worker of such a wage as will keep himself and his in a state of decency and comfort. At this point it is desirable to acquire a clear concep- tion of what constitutes a living wage. A weekly wage that but suffices for the weekly need is not a living* wage. To arrive at a just and equitable standard account must be taken of the whole working life and the years of retire- THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 153 ment that remain. By this test a fair wage will be such as provides adequately for the immediate need, and leaves a margin out of which by savings, insurance, etc., every worker and his family shall be made secure against un- employment, sickness, and the other adversities which beset them throughout life. In the event of the State estab- lishing the right of every worker to wages based on this principle, it will be entitled to nequire that provision be made for non -working periods. Already the State compels employed persons to insure against sickness, incapacity, and in certain selected trades against unemployment. This system might be extended so that all workers are insured for a minimum weekly allowance when wages cannot be earned, leaving to the thrifty the ability to make additional provision as desired. Maybe this proposal will be con- strued by some as a further interference with individual liberty. Yet assuredly it is to the common good that when sufficiency is placed within the reach of all, none shall dis- pose of their substance so as to become dependent on their fellows. Though knowledge of my class allows me to state that the careless and reckless are a diminishing quantity, yet they exist in numbers that might prejudice the commonweal unless the State adopts safeguards as here foreshadowed. Thereunder the indifferent would be compelled to do what the better types undertake voluntarily. Some advance by the State has been made towards the fixation of fair wages, notably in the Trade Boards Act, the Fair Wages Clause that is inserted in all Government contracts, and during the war by the Minister of Munitions in State factories and controlled establishments. These measures have laid the foundations of a system, which, sup- plemental to the operations of trade unionism, is capable and easy of development till an ample and regular income is assured to every working-class family in the land. In my opinion, it should be made a misdemeanour for any person to take another into employment unless able and willing to pay him a living wage. An industry that fails to accord this is parasitic in character. Underpaid workers have sooner or later to resort to charity, the Poor Law, or other adventitious aids to help make up the deficiency. Should there be any industry that cannot bear labour charges on the scale indicated, which it is desirable to preserve, it is preferable that it should be State -aided openly and directly. 1 54 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY Politicians and leaders of every class and school of thought acknowledge that the war has wrought such a social upheaval that depressed labour conditions cannot be tolerated in post-war times. Our gallant defenders have earned the right to a fair and secure stake in the country. Furthermore, it is believed that the occasion will have im- pressed them with a sense of their worth, and inspired them with a determination to make their native land a fitting abode for all its people a place in which every one has a chance of full development. How much better will it be if the spirit of unity animating all classes in the course of the war incline iall towards co-operation in this task of regeneration, rather than that ex-service men should be compelled to wage acrimonious struggle for the right to live in a manner human justice demands, after they have vanquished for all of us the foes of human liberty and world -peace. Particularly desirable is co-operation between the employing and employed classes. Aloofness and mis- understanding between these important sections are a potent contributory to industrial inefficiency. Unless a closer degree of partnership can be effected, the future of industry will be extremely turbulent. Some employers are too prone to regard an approach from their workpeople as an impudent interference with their business. ' We intend to run our business in our own way " represents the attitude of this type. But these employers must learn that the way they run their business is a matter also of social concern, and that they cannot regard labour as they do inanimate things. Every one they employ is a human being, instinct with feeling and need, aspiration and possi- bility, like themselves. Gladly does one observe the growing disposition to have recourse to conciliation and arbitration in the settlement of disputed questions. Yet that is not sufficient : the highest interests of industry are of as much concern to employed as employer, and they should be invited to consultation as to the means of furthering those interests. It is invariably found that workers respond to fair and considerate treatment. By taking them into greater confidence, either directly or through their accredited representatives, they will become more interested and efficient workers, and more dignified and responsible citizens. By the establishment in every works of a committee, consisting of the directors and THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 155 managers, together with a corresponding number of workers elected by their fellows, and holding regular meet- ings, many valuable suggestions would be forthcoming, causes of friction dispelled, and improved understanding ensue, to the mutual advantage of the parties concerned. No student of our industrial system will claim that un- fettered private enterprise has been completely successful. Rule-of-thumb methods are still too prevalent, scientific organization and the most (modern mechanical appliances are not fully utilized. Land has gone out of cultivation, and vital industries have languished to the detriment of the State. Labour conditions are chaotic and bristling with injustices and anomalies. Employers must now recog- nize that in engaging labour they inferentially assume responsibility for its wellbeing. If they exhibit lack of ability or unwillingness to co-ordinate satisfactorily the interests of capital and labour, the State must intervene for that purpose. Whilst directing attention to the shortcomings of the employing classes, enlightened labour opinion does not claim that the workers are without fault. Yet this much may be said in extenuation on their behalf : the lesser power for good or ill has rested with them, hence their respon- sibility is the lesser. Mr. Hartley Withers, lately Financial Adviser to the Treasury, in a recently published book, entitled " International Finance," states that a regime of specialization " has brought to the majority a life of mechanical and monotonous toil, with little or none of the pride in a job well done, such as was enjoyed by the savage when he made his bow or caught his fish." Having regard to the uninteresting and changeless occupations re- ferred to, it is not surprising that many sink into a state of perfunctory performance of the daily round, and an habitual yearning for the close of the working day. More- over, many have experienced the fact that the use of machinery has not lightened their labour, and that a fair share of the prosperity that flows from improved means of production is denied to them. Industrial history records not a few illustrations where the intenser application of skill and attention has brought little or no advantage to the worker. For a time he may have been encouraged by higher remuneration to test the possibilities of new machinery and methods. When these have been ascer- tained wage rates have been depressed to a point nearly 156 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY related to older conditions. Such a policy stifles ambi- tion, weakens individuality, and tends to that restricted production which is animated by conceptions of self-pro- tection. The truth is that the relationship of employer and employed too often lacks an ethical basis. Where the quest of profit is pursued without due regard to the human factor, there the worker will either consciously or subconsciously adjust output in like spirit. One of the great lessons of the war is that our industrial system is capable of almost indefinite expansion. Despite the withdrawal of over five millions of workers, changes have been wrought speedily and yet so effectively as to maintain production at an even higher level than prevailed in pre-war times. These changes have been concerned mainly with the reorganization of methods on more scientific lines, the relaxation of trade union rules and practices, and a widespread employment of female labour. While the first -named will endure and be further developed, it is not desirable that the other two changes should be per- petuated as they have existed during the war. Excessive hours and too -intensified application over prolonged periods inevitably ensue in physical and mental tension and break- down. Rest and recreation are as essential as technical knowledge to efficient labour. Inspired by a fine patriotism, many women have under- taken tasks which considerations of race future and womanly quality decree should revert to the sterner sex when the national emergency has passed. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that the war has facilitated the entry of women into wider spheres of industry. Thus the question of female labour is likely to cause anxious consideration. Many Trade Unions have hitherto resisted the incursion of women into the domain they seek to control. This attitude has not been based so much on a sex objection as on the fact that women have frequently been used to lower prevalent rates of wages. Given an acceptance of the principle of equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex, this trouble would disappear. The importance of regulating the hours of labour is revealed by the investigations of the Committee on the Health of Munition Workers. The Committee, which included eminent doctors, officials, and representatives of labour, was set up in 1915 to inquire into all questions affecting the health of munition workers. In THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 157 the urgent crisis of the need for shells the policy was pursued of lengthening the hours of work, of establishing a seven -day working week, of abolishing holidays and periods of relaxation, and of speeding up workers to their maximum pace and endurance. This policy soon proved wasteful and dangerous. The Committee point out that the country was involved in the " extravagance of paying for work done during incapacity from fatigue just because so many hours are spent upon it, and the further extrava- gance of urging armies of workmen towards relative incapacity by neglect of physiological law." The net result was to limit output and to impair the health of the worker, who was working longer hours and turning out fewer shells. From the report of this Committee will be gathered the fact that a proper regard for physiological law is essential to industrial efficiency. These conditions show that the main lines of progress lay in the use of the most perfect machinery, the scientific organization of methods, and, perhaps most important of all, the individual efficiency of the worker. Under war stress the status of groups of labour has been readjusted semi- skilled have been raised to that of the skilled and unskilled to that of the semi-skilled, etc. Admitting that it is un- economic to retain men of great skill and capacity at minor operations, the foregoing should make for industrial pro- gress. When industry is properly ordered so that workers are regularly employed according to their respective capacities, efficiency and expanding output will result from every worker being able to visualize a career in which increasing skill and honest endeavour are accompanied by proportionate rewards. It is not uncommon for employers to protest against the establishment of standard wages and conditions of employment because there are inefficients in industry. Whilst the facts are often greatly exaggerated there is substance in them, though the implication that Trade Unions are concerned to uphold inefficiency is without foundation. It must be remembered that workers combine together in an endeavour to improve and to regulate the conditions of their industrial life. To achieve their purposes it is necessary to safeguard against idisrupting their member- ships, to the detriment of general standards, because the capacity of a few is below the average. Minimum wages are invariably fixed with a regard to the average worker 158 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY in a trade. Employers are not compelled to engage inefficients, and as a margin of labour usually exists in industry they are able to exercise considerable discrimina- tion in selecting their staffs. Even in submitting the foregoing I am vividly conscious that the standards of efficiency of both employers and workpeople leave much to be desired. Indeed, it is patent that because of this our industrial supremacy is seriously challenged by other great industrial nations, notably America and Germany. Therefore, unless we speedily enhance the efficiency of our industrial classes so that out- put is stimulated, recuperation from the effects of the war will be tardy, and the nation will be hurled from its financial, commercial, and industrial eminence by those countries which are zealously experimenting in and rapidly solving the problem. Research proves that the problem is complex in character. Only the superficial mind attri- butes it entirely to any single cause, such as the wanton- ness of Trade Unions or the shortcomings of employers. The nation as a whole must share responsibility and search out causes deep down at the very roots of society. First, our educational system requires to be overhauled. Short-sighted persons give too little heed to the school age, and seem anxious to shorten it and to thrust children to toil as early as possible. Yet a sound elementary educa- tion is essential to all-round efficiency. It is the base on which must rest the whole superstructure of perfected industry, and unless laid firm and secure will fail to with- stand the strain and stress to which international competi- tion will subject it. During the latter stages of the school period the aptitudes of the child should be watched and noted. If directed to an industrial career it should pass to the technical college, the curriculum of which is shaped with a due regard to that form of industry for which it appears the child is best adapted. When the factory or workshop is entered, regular attend- ance at the technical college should form part of the period of apprenticeship or training 1 . Thus will be acquired a knowledge of the relation of a single process to the completed whole. What is so deadening to character as to place a lad in a works at an operation which may be performed throughout the working life with- out his ever really understanding the relationship of distinct processes to a complicated product? Wherever practicable, THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 159 too, he should be transferred periodically from one -operation to another. Hitherto the recruitment of industries has been very haphazard. Such a system as outlined is necessary to insure the higher efficiency to be aimed at. It should be observed that it involves a closer correlation of the conditions of school life and the period of industrial train- ing. Too often a lad enters a works for the simple reason that it is near to his home, and without the slightest regard to his individual capacity. This is a fruitful cause of inefficiency, and accounts very often for the fact that a man who might have made a competent engineer is an indifferent clerk, or that he is a casual labourer instead of a skilled artisan. A well -furnished mind engaged at appropriate work, where the spirit of craftsmanship is fostered, makes for a greater and higher quality of output. When the problem is viewed broadly it becomes clear that the doctrine of laissez-faire must be interred beyond the possibility of resurrection. In future all classes in the State must combine to promote the nation's industries with a view to individual wellbeing and greater national self- dependency, security, and strength. Given a wiser direc- tion of the worker to the class of labour for which he is best adapted, together with the establishment of universal wage standards of the character before stated, with rising grades of remuneration for those of superior skill and industriousness, it may be confidently anticipated that production will be stimulated enormously. That the elevation of labour is dependent on flourishing industry is self-evident. Regularity of employment and high wages are only assured by good and stable trade. Undeniably even under existing conditions all-round im- provement in social standards would be effected by a juster distribution of wealth. The colossal expenditure on the war has, however, diminished the possibilities in this direction. Hence if war wastage is to be rapidly repaired, and the satisfaction of labour pursued, wealth production must be augmented. This problem presents peculiar diffi- culties in an old and settled country like Great Britain, where the resources of land, minerals, etc., are already in course of exploitation. Here progress must rest par- ticularly on the application of intensive methods, such as the utilization of the most perfect mechanical equipment, the most scientific organization, and the most efficient 160 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY labour. Our great industrial rivals are attending to these principles of industry, besides which they possess the advan- tage of unexploited natural resources. Thus for us a general increase of output becomes a matter of extreme urgency. If not secured, we shall soon be outstripped by competitors whose keenness and thoroughness ever becomes more clearly manifest. Output, then, being the outstanding factor, national welfare demands the harmonious co-operation of all parties for this purpose. As output expands, the greater the wealth created and divisible. Hitherto the workers have not seen this very clearly, mainly because they have been denied the sense and advantage of partnership. Labour must be given the certainty of reaping extra reward for extra skill and effort, otherwise the additional exertion will naturally not be made and the needed results will not be forth- coming. In the past workers have been haunted with the fear that expansive output would result in glutted markets and unemployment. The occasion is favourable for re- moving this dread. Terrible warfare will have reduced the nation's man-power, and the necessity to readjust the balance of our financial relations to other countries will render it desirable to reduce the excess of imports over exports. These conditions, coupled with an equitable diffu- sion of national wealth whereby the demand for and the consumption of commodities will be stimulated, will tend to steady both trade and employment. Whilst it does not seem possible to so order a complex industrial system as to secure absolute immunity for every worker against periods of under-employment or unemploy- ment, yet much may be done by foresight and organization to compass this evil. Cyclical fluctuations of trade and seasonal variations of employment can be anticipated, and the dislocations caused thereby can be ameliorated. Else- where I have submitted insurance against these periods as a palliative. But this will do little to steady trade and employment unless measures are adopted for preventing all possibly preventible displacement of labour. Recently, owing to shortage of labour, the chaotic struggle at docks, etc., has been grappled with, inasmuch as that it is found possible to dovetail jobs and give greater regularity of employment to this group of workers. This policy is capable of extension. National and local authorities, too, may by arranging the placing of contracts to correspond THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 161 with periods of trade depression also contribute to the regularization of trade and employment. True, the placing of such contracts may not directly absorb labour unem- ployed at the time. Yet trade stimulated among groups of workers reacts beneficially on the mass, and when applied widely and systematically will greatly ease recurrent industrial depressions . Just as State supervision is necessary to the harmonious co-ordination of the interests of capital and labour, so State action is essential to the organization and regularization of employment. In this connection it is gratifying to have Government recognition of the importance of this, as evi- denced in the creation of a Ministry of Labour and the development of the Board of Trade more in accord with a Ministry of Commerce. The function of the former is to deal with matters affecting labour conditions ; while the latter will watch and cultivate both home and foreign markets. With a co-ordinated policy these two depart- ments are destined to play an important part in the pro- motion of trade and the well-being of the working -classes. As industrial and commercial power will abide with the nations who erect their economic structure on the soundest principles, it behoves our industrial classes to early bestir themselves. No people excel and few equal the Britisher when terms are anything like equal. In this country organizing and administrative talent is plentiful ; while with considerate treatment our workpeople can prove themselves among the most efficient in the world. Their cordial co- operation can be won and their confidence gained if such treatment is given to them. Place them in possession of knowledge of the actual conditions of business and manage- ment ; make them feel that they are an integral part of industry by disclosing to them the necessity for and results of joint effort, and above all prove that when doing their best the greatest possible return is made to them. When each side understands the point of view and difficulties of the other a great step forward will be taken towards that harmonious co-ordination which is essential to the development and prosperity of British industry. Such a policy, combined with the application of science, invention, and enterprise, will produce that efficiency of production which will keep the country in the forefront of nations. If a better spirit in industry is to prevail, employers must abandon mistrust of and hostility to Trade Unions. ;rr 1 62 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY In fact, workers should be encouraged to unite for mutual purposes. On the other hand, employers should organize for the regulation of conditions common to the trade. Experience shows already that in those industries wherte employers and employed are well organized, and where the two sides meet readily in conference, there conditions are more settled and agreeable. These are signs pointing in the right direction, revealing the fact, as expressed by Professor Ashley, that " society is feeling the way with painful steps towards a corporate organization of industry on the side alike of employer and employed : to be, then, more harmoniously, let us hope, associated together, 'with the State alert and intelligent in the background to protect the interests of the community." With this corporate organization agreements as to wages, hours, and general conditions will be negotiated and become operative generally without the intervention of the State. Nevertheless, both sides may suffer and industrial peace be disturbed because some remain outside the respective organizations and refuse to be bound by an agreement to which they are not individually parties. The disastrous strike in the London Docks in 1912 was attributable primarily to the default of certain employers in this respect. In the interests of industrial peace this must be guarded against. In June 1912 the Government referred to the Industrial Council, a body consisting of twelve representa- tives of Trade Unions and twelve employers, presided over by Sir George Askwith, the Chief Industrial Commissioner, the two following questions : (a] What is the best method of securing the due fulfilment of industrial agreements ? and (0 How far, and in what manner, industrial agreements which are made between bodies of employers and of work- men should be enforced throughout a particular trade or district? The evidence taken showed that, notwithstanding the diffi- culties inherent in dealing with large numbers of work- people, agreements in most cases are well kept. The success attending the operations of various voluntary boards of conciliation and arbitration was noted, and the desirability of maintaining this form of adjusting disputes was com- mended. The basis of these boards is mutual consent, and their value depends upon the loyal acceptance, on the part of both sides, of the decisions arrived at in accord- ance with the procedure of the boards. This acceptance THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 163 is purely voluntary, depending solely upon a sense of moral obligation. Unanimity appears to have existed respecting the desirability of preserving the principle of collective bargaining. The report stated it was regarded as axiomatic that nothing should be done that would lead to the abandon- ment of a method of adjusting the relationships between employers and workpeople which has proved so mutually advantageous throughout most of the trades of the country. Complete organization is, of course, the best means of securing the fulfilment of agreements. Where the associa- tions of employers and workpeople include an overwhelm- ing proportion of the persons engaged in a trade on both sides, breaches rarely occur, or if they do take place, generally occasion little difficulty, since they are dealt with by the prompt and efficient action of the Employers Association or the Trade Union, as the case may be. But where organization is imperfect, agreements reached by such employers and workpeople as are organized are con-, stantly imperilled owing to the inability of either side to take effective action against those whose fractiousness may kindle industrial conflict. To meet these cases the details of a scheme were drawn up. This provided that where an industrial .agreement has been arrived at between representatives of employers' associations and trade unions in a particular trade or district, it shall be competent for the parties to the agree- ment to apply (at any time during the currency of the agreement) to the Board of Trade to cause an inquiry to be held, by such authority as the Board of Trade may direct, to determine whether or not the agreement shall be extended and its terms made obligatory upon all persons concerned. Upon receipt of the application the Board of Trade shall arrange for an inquiry. If the authority thus appointed are satisfied, after holding the inquiry, that the associations represented by the signatories to the agree- ment constitute a substantial body of the employers and workpeople in the trade or district, and that the agreement is a proper agreement and one that may suitably be ex- tended, the authority may declare that the agreement covers the whole trade or district. It then acquires legal sanction and becomes an implied term of any contract of service in the particular trade or district that the terms of the agreement are an essential part of such contract. The legalization of industrial agreements as suggested would 1 64 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY eliminate one cause of strikes, and possesses the advantage of retaining unimpaired the voluntary character of employers' associations and trade unions. In those instances where the organization of employers and workmen is weak or lacking, legislation must be resorted to in order to establish a living wage and regu- larized working hours. This might generally take the form of extending the principle of the Trade Boards Act to include all such cases. Agriculture affords a typical illustration. In most districts farm labourers have found it impossible to take part in building up a strong and lasting combination. This is due to low wages, the isolated conditions of rural life, and the comparative want of mobility in seeking other employment. Yet the pursuit of agriculture requires considerable training and the exercise of much skill. It is alleged that the cause of the failure of farm workers to obtain a living wage is to be found in the depressed state of agriculture. But this is only partially true, for where competitive industries exist higher wages have to be paid in order to retain labour. Whilst it is true that during the period .of 1871-1906 agriculture was in anything but a satisfactory condition, it may fairly be urged that had farmers exhibited more cohesion and enter- prise, and been animated by a greater concern for the welfare of the labourer, better wages might have prevailed . This is proved by the fact that some of the more enlightened of them have paid wages above the average, and still made farming profitable. During the past ten years, too, the prices of agricultural produce have risen, but the labourer has not shared adequately in the renewed prosperity. It is certain that the State cannot allow any section of workers to con- tinue in receipt of uneconomic wages. Such industries as that of agriculture are essential to the nation, therefore must be brought under State supervision, so as to secure justice to the labourer and stability arid prosperity to those industries. Here again progress has to be acknowledged. The Government having decided on a vigorous agricultural policy have incorporated a minimum wage of 255. a week as an essential part of that policy. Not only will this advantage the rural population but it will react beneficially on the whole wage -earning classes. To achieve and secure these purposes our industrial classes must possess an appreciation of great world facts, and the bearing of not only national but international THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 165 economics on domestic problems. Owing to the neglect of agriculture and of pivotal industries the defensive power of the nation was weakened during the war. But for the fortunate fact that our magnificent Navy was mobilized at the outbreak of hostilities, and was able to blockade the enemy's fleet, it might well have happened that our people would have experienced scarcity and even want of necessities. As it is, new and sinister devices of maritime warfare have threatened the national life, and afforded glimpses of the terrors which would have befallen us had a number of enemy cruisers slipped away on piracy bent. Most people hope this war may end war, but it may not. Thus those responsible for national defence are bound to be guided by the lessons of this war, conscious that the destruction of ships and cargoes may be infinitely more devastating in the event of another such catastrophe. Lieut. -Colonel Sir Maurice Hankey, K.C.B., Secretary to the Committee of National Defence, stated in evidence before the Departmental Committee appointed to consider the settlement and employment on the land of discharged sailors and soldiers, that the weak point of this country in the matter of defence is its dependence upon imported supplies, and that while the cutting off, for a time, of the imports of raw materials for industries would be serious, the nation could tide over such a period provided it had adequate supplies of food. In this connection, too, the large number of merchant vessels requisitioned for the conveyance to the several theatres of war of troops, stores, and munitions has created a shortage of ships available for overseas commerce. This shortage has allowed shipowners to levy extortionate freightage charges, which have contributed to swollen prices, whereby the poverty of the poor has been cruelly aggra- vated, and irritation and unrest been created even among the fully employed and better-paid groups of workers. Regrettable as is industrial disturbance during an .unpre- cedented war, it must be remembered that when workers are exerting themselves to the uttermost over unusually long hours for the sake of their country, resentment is natural when it is found that the real values of hardly earned wages are whittled away by an unnecessarily enhanced cost of living. While most are willing to recog- nize that in war-time a rise in prices is perhaps unavoid- able, indignation is justifiable when it is known that part 1 66 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY at least of the burden is imposed by interests taking advantage of a national emergency for private ends. One way of avoiding a recurrence of these evils is by increasing home -produced supplies. Whenever it is neces- sary to go into the world -markets, the prices there pre- vailing must be paid. During the war the needs of belligerent nations have been so imperative, that those holding supplies have controlled prices. According to Professor W. G. Adams, the increase in the cost of imported foodstuffs in 1915, as compared with 1913, amounted to no less than 85,000,000, although the actual quantity imported had not been increased at all. In the case of home -produced supplies public opinion and govern- mental action can influence prices, but are powerless in foreign markets. This helplessness is strictly proportionate to our need, inasmuch as that our great dependency on outside sources has been the main cause of inflated prices. At present we import four-fifths of the wheat and one-half of the meat we consume, as well as enormous supplies of cheese, butter, sugar, fruit, eggs, and other produce. The average value of such imports, excluding tropical pro- ducts, but including sugar, consumed in the United King- dom in the three years prior to the outbreak of war, 1911-13, exceeded 200,000,000 per annum. Much of these supplies could be produced at home, for our soil is among the most fertile in the world, and our climate not less favourable than that, say, of Denmark. By decreasing reliance on imported supplies greater control can be exer- cised over prices, and as the cost of living has a direct bearing on wages, it is a sound and economic policy to encourage and develop domestic production. The foregoing emphasizes the necessity for Labour taking a broad view of industrial affairs, and of co-operating on national lines to make the country increasingly self- supporting. This policy will contribute to the steadying of trade and prices ; will bring individual and social destinies under more effective control, and add to the strength and prosperity of the nation, for future well- being is indissolubly involved in the highest possible de- velopment of native land, capital, and labour. Foreign trade statistics regarded as an index of national prosperity are often misleading. If while figures reveal (prodigious exports of cotton and woollen goods, boots, and other manu- factures, masses of our own people are in need of, but THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 167, unable to purchase, these goods, can it be truly said that the nation is prosperous ? Similarly, when a huge volume of goods is imported, while labour and materials near at hand are not employed, can it be claimed that the nation pursues the wisest and most economic policy ? To state these facts reveals a paradox. Our objective, then, should be the exploitation of all home resources, and the endowment of every family with a just share of the pro- ceeds of industry, so that all may have a sufficiency of necessities and full participation in the amenities of life. A flourishing home market, created by the ability of all to purchase and consume goods, gives the greatest possible stability to trade and commerce. This does not mean the destruction of overseas trade. As the status of the working classes is raised physical and mental fitness develops, together with greater interest and contentment. These qualities constitute the basis of efficient labour and expanding output. Placed in conjunction with initiative, enterprise, and energy on the part of business men, pro- duction will assume dimensions sufficient for both home demands and a large foreign trade. Realizing the waste and folly of idle lands, and the heavy penalties of allowing essential industries, such as aniline dyes, electrical machinery (particularly dynamos and magnetos), optical glasses, etc., to pass under foreign domination, the time is opportune for the survey and reform of our industrial system. Stern necessity has brought into existence a number of factories for the creation of muni- tions of war. Reflection on the speed and efficiency of their erection and equipment, in comparison with older methods, amply proves that when necessity dictates and the purpose is defined British brains can project and act as swiftly and scientifically as any. While these factories are furnishing weapons of war, should not their capacity for turning out the munitions of peace be considered? Agri- cultural and all kinds of machinery used in manufacturing industries will be in great demand after the war. By adapting these works to the need and stimulus of general industry the State has an exceptional opportunity of associa- tion in a great national trade revival. Careful planning will be necessary to rehabilitate the nation from the ravages of war ; therefore we should prepare for peace as thoroughly as the enemy prepared for war. It seems inevitable that wherever the question of future 1 68 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY trade conditions is canvassed fiscal controversies should be aroused. These cannot be evaded. But it is desirable that principles of trade should be reviewed dispassionately and detached from past political struggles. Nearly every one believes that reversion to pre-war conditions cannot be exactly effected, and that this and many other questions have to be studied and adapted to changed circumstances. Yet without adhering slavishly to the past, it is unwise to rashly embrace grandiose proposals which may bring hurt and not benefit. The only safe course is to consider fiscal principles in the broadest sense, with a sole regard to the interests of the nation as a whole. Attempts on the part of interested groups to manoeuvre Parliament into setting up tariffs or other expedients merely to facili- tate private profiteering must be frustrated . Equally those who claim that the war makes no difference and that change should neither be considered or made must be resisted. In the life of nations as of individuals great crises emerge, calling for a thorough investigation into methods and practices. Unquestionably the present is a crisis in the history of British trade. Inefficiency and supineness had permitted German policy to worm itself quite into our economic vitals, to the extent of menacing the State. Con- siderations of safety and national integrity, let alone self- respect, require that this be changed at once and for all time. British trade, commerce, and finance must be brought under, and remain under, British control, and if fiscal change is necessary to insure it, then we should not shrink from making it. Vital industries must be fully developed and kept from outside control. When war came no great country was less self-contained in the essentials of her existence. The State has now invested capital and undertaken to assist in promoting the manufacture of dyes. Surely it cannot tolerate the undermining of this venture from without . Until this industry has had a chance of full development the State is entitled to regulate imports accordingly. This might take the form of limiting imports to supplying any deficiency in national requirements. Again, an increased wheat production is desirable from the standpoint of national safety, and is fundamental to a revived agriculture. By the guarantee to farmers of a price for wheat and oats a depar- ture from fiscal practice is accomplished, but which if successful will be beneficial nationally. A sugar-beet in- THE STANDPOINT OF LABOUR 169 dustry, too, would aid rural development, and give the nation a more complete control of supplies and prices. If the State embarked upon the manufacture of sugar either directly or in co-operation with others, its fiscal system would have to be adapted to promoting that home industry. Many working-class consumers are rightly suspicious lest fiscal change result in advancing the cost of living and depre- ciating the value of wages. But this is not inevitable. Take, for instance, the case of wheat. The State might constitute itself an exclusive importer, purchasing at wo rid - prices and arranging its distribution. Moreover, in a properly graded income-tax and the excess profits-tax the State has additional devices for protecting the people from rapacious interests. These suggestions are neither con- cerned with orthodox Free Trade or Protection, being designed simply to show that modifications of our fiscal system may serve to open up avenues of trade and employ- ment, and so contribute to the general good. Even so, the ultimate test of British industry will abide in the character and efficiency of our industrialists, and not in fiscal adjustments. In writing this chapter I have sought to confine myself to the subject of the book, and to deal with realities rather than ideals : this, though, believing what is here set forth will help towards a better and purer state of society. Whilst strongly imbued with idealism, one must never forget the tremendous distance that divides what is and what ideals lead us to think should be. My immediate purpose is to endow all with what Gibbon described as the trinity of greatness : "A head to contrive, a heart to resolve, and a hand to execute." That achieved, they will be proved capable and worthy of sublimer things. CHAPTER X The Relations between Capital and Labour II. THE STANDPOINT OF CAPITAL BY SIR BENJAMIN C. BROWNE I HAVE been asked by Mr. Dawson to deal with this question, and he told me at the same time that the same subject was being dealt with by Mr. G. H. Roberts, M.P., from the point of view of Labour. Mr. Roberts has kindly allowed me to see the draft of his paper, and I only hope that I may be able to deal with it from the capitalist's point of view as well and as clearly as he has dealt with it from that of the workmen. Substantially it appears to be, what has always been my view, that the interests of capital and labour are in the main identical ; that they ought to unite to make their trade as strong and as prosperous as possible, and, having done that, the exact proportion in which the profits are to be divided between them is a comparatively small matter compared to that of making the total amount to be divided as large as possible. But before going into details I will touch on a few preliminary principles. As I understand it, our object is to think how, firstly, to restore things to a prosperous and normal condition after the war is over ; and, secondly, to consider whether we can take advantage of what we may call this great revolu- tion in order to bring about an altogether better state of things. Of course, when we come to detail, a great deal 1 The writer of this chapter, who will long be remembered not only as one of the pioneers of industry on the north-east coast of England, but as a warm friend of labour and an earnest worker in the cause of industrial peace, died on March ist of the present year, while this book was in the press. THE EDITOR 170 must depend on the terms on which the war finishes, and how soon that event happens, and on these points we can at present say nothing ; but we have three points that we can consider : (e to repeat the miseries and futilities that were associated with the resistance to the introduction of machinery and with a like hopeless result. But it is the experience gained during the second year of the war that has destroyed the fiction that women were incapable of skilled work. It is interesting and in- structive to find that so recently as September 1915 the report, already referred to, published under the auspices of the British Association, 1 assumed in some passages, though not in all, that women were not in the skilled trades because they were unable to do skilled work. In one passage the fact is referred to that in many of the textile trades men and women work the same machines but receive very different rates of pay, and the reason alleged for this is that the work really is unequal because the women can only in rare instances " tune " or " set " their machines ; the assistance of a male tackier is re- quired, and thus time is lost and extra expense incurred. These facts are indisputable, but in connection with them another fact should be remembered namely that stringent Trade Union rules prevented women from being taught to " set " and " tune " their machines. They do not do it, because they are not allowed to learn how to do it. Now the notion that women were unable to do skilled work has been shattered by experience, one imagines that those who were its priests and prophets had never seen or heard such artists as Miss Marie Hall play the violin or Miss Fanny Davies the piano. They can hardly even have seen a woman dancing on the tight -rope, or the numerous suc- cessors of Mrs. Vincent Crummies standing on their heads " on the top of a long pole, surrounded by blazing fire- works." Let any one who imagines that this needs no skill try it. ill With every disposition to recognize nay, warmly to appreciate the absolutely indispensable services of Trade Unions, their admirers must face the fact that in the matter of their attitude to women's labour they have taken the wrong turning and have been responsible for a great deal of the misery and degradation of the sweated woman. They have been wrong, and the wrong is all the greater because it has been against the principles of the creed they have professed. The elevation of the status of labour has been a religion to many of them, but in this matter of 1 See pp. 7, n, 12, 15. POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE 199 women's labour they have " denied their faith to make their faith prevail." To forcibly prevent half the nation from undertaking, or learning to undertake, skilled work is a hideous tyranny, which has (kept huge masses of indus- trial women in a sort of serfage, from which before the war escape seemed impossible. Now the wisest and most experienced of the Trade Unionists know that the women have come to stay. Mr. J. H. Thomas, M.P., General Secretary of the National Union of Railway Men, has taken a leading part from an early date, after the new conditions caused by war became apparent, in urging that women should receive men's pay where they are doing men's work. 1 His union was the first, after the beginning of the war, to enrol women as members. As early as June 1915, addressing the annual conference of the Railway Men's Union, he urged the members to recognize that the women had come to stay, and that by every means in their power the men should insist upon the women receiving the same pay as men for the same work. " If the Concilia- tion Board agreement says that a certain rate of wages must be paid for a certain grade, it does not say that that rate is for men only and not for women." 2 In November of the same year he addressed a mass meeting of railway workers at Middlesbrough, and urged the same policy. Speaking of the great effort, financial, industrial, and military, that would be needed to bring about a satisfactory end to the war, he said : " I do not suggest that more ought not to be done, because evidence I have received from France and Germany convinces me that women are not fully utilized to-day. . . . We recognize that women ought to be employed, but we refuse to allow them to be employed at sweated wages with the view solely of keeping down the wages of our own labour. We do not object to the employment of women simply because they are women. What we object to is that women's labour should be exploited by any employer for his own personal ends. "3 In a later speech, delivered to the same organiza- 1 Up to July 1916, the following unions had also admitted women : The Railway Clerks Association, The Gas Workers and General Labourers Union, The Steel Smelters Union, and certain smaller unions such as the Amalgamated Engine and Crane Drivers Union, and the National Union of Packing-case Makers. 3 Manchester Guardian, June 21, 1915. 3 Daily News, November I, 1915. 200 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY tion at Bath in June 1916, he grappled with the industrial problems that would arise after the war, and said : " Was there any sensible man who believed that if the war ended to-morrow the women were going to be driven out of industry ? If any did so believe, he was living in a fools' paradise. Viewed from the moral standpoint, would any man contemplate with any degree of satisfaction an inten- tion of throwing out of the industrial arena one and three- quarter millions of women? He said 'No.' They had no right to set up a sex war, but they had a right to say that no employer should be allowed in future to take advantage of women's labour as a means of reducing the value of men's labour. There was only one way, and that was to insist that wherever women were doing the work of men they should be paid the same rates as men." ' Mr. Thomas's speeches have been characterized through- out by the spirit indicated in the phrase, " Viewed from the moral standpoint, would any man contemplate with any degree of satisfaction an intention of throwing out of the industrial arena one and three-quarter millions of women? " The appeal is a moral appeal, and is representative of the close and intimate connection between the Labour move- ment in this country and the religious spirit and religious ideals to which an article in the Round Table for June 1916 drew attention. This, in the opinion of the writer in that review, represents the greatest point of difference between the British and continental Labour movements. It is certain that all through Josephine Butler's campaign against the infamous, and now utterly discredited, C.D. Acts, when the whole of the great world in science, religion, and politics was against her, she relied with a certainty that was never disappointed on the moral sense of working men and women. It will be observed that Mr. Thomas puts the estimated number of women newly engaged in industry, in conse- quence of the war, at one and three-quarter millions. The Women's Labour League's estimate is as high as two and a half millions. Mr. Mallin, of the Anti -Sweating League, considers this a gross, indeed a grotesque, over-estimate. Exact figures are obviously very difficult to arrive at because of the obstacles in the way of distinguishing between those newly engaged in industrial work and those who have simply transferred their labour from one employment to 1 Daily News, June 19, 1916. POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE 201 another. We have, however, to remember that by the beginning of May 1916 more than five million men, by voluntary enlistment alone, had joined the Army and Navy ; it would be a safe estimate to reckon that nine -tenths of these were from the industrial classes. Of course, it is quite obvious that there is great shortage of labour every- where ; but it is also obvious that in a very large number of trades the work formerly done by men is now being done by women. 1 Without hazarding any guess as to exact numbers, we all know that the number of women newly employed in industry is very large ; the best judges believe that it will be permanent ; and that to safeguard the interests of labour generally the strongest possible effort should be made to secure the principle of equal pay for equal work. The representatives of the Government when they were employed in gaining the consent of the Trade Unions to the entrance of women into occupations from which they had formerly been excluded definitely and specifically accepted this principle. Captain Williams, speaking on behalf of the Board of Trade at a large meeting, which was also addressed by Lord Derby, in the Town Hall, Manchester, in June 1915, said definitely : " Let me say at once the underlying principle is that women should get equal pay with men for equal results. The intention is not to engage a cheap substitute for men's labour." Nevertheless, the movement of women into industries formerly closed to them has, at this moment, and prob- ably will have for a long time to come, to cope with constant efforts to cut down their rate of pay. The Government is very far from setting a good example in this respect. For clerical work the pay allowed by the Treasury for women is substantially lower than that for men. When in 1916 the great rise in prices called for 1 The very satisfactory trade returns for the month of June 1916 show that our principal exports are not being starved for want of labour. Part of the increase was no doubt apparent only, and must be attributed to higher prices ; but the total advance in British exports in June 1916 was 42^2 per cent, above the exports for June 1915 ; and a large part of this was due to increased output, especially in the trades where women are in a majority. Thus cotton piece goods showed an advance of 76 million yards ; linen piece goods of nearly 3 million yards ; carpets, 244,000 square yards. Women were always in the majority iin the textile trades, but they are now admitted to many processes which were formerly reserved for men. The growth in exports can fairly be attributed in a large degree to women's harder work and longer hours, 202 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY a bonus in the wages of the clerical staff in Government Departments an extra 43. a week was given to all the men from eighteen years old and upwards, but only 2s. a week to women. The old story of the men having dependents and the women having none was of course the excuse, but it is not probable that many boys of eighteen have families dependent upon them. When the question of war bonus for their employees came before the Liverpool City Council the more logical course was adopted of dividing them into two groups, irrespective of sex, those with dependents and those without dependents, and the rate of the war bonus was regulated accordingly. In munition factories the promise of the Government given in July 1915 that every woman over eighteen should be paid a minimum of i a week is still (January 1917) unfulfilled in tens of thousands of cases. In many munition works, subsequent to July 1915, women's wages have ranged from I2s. to 155. a week, and in oxy- acetylene welding, work hitherto done by skilled men paid at the rate of 425. a week, women in many cases were* only receiving 1 8s . to I . A pamphlet, published in the spring of 1916 by the Manchester Women's War Interests Committee, states that there were then many instances in the locality of adult women in munition works who had passed through the training stage, but were earning no more than 95. to 145. a week time wage. Many shops pay 153. as a time wage for women, while between 125. and 153. is an average. 1 In a letter to the Press, published in June 1916 over the signatures of Mrs. Creighton, Miss Violet Markham, Mrs. Sidney Webb, and others, it was stated that in many instances women, doing Government work, were being given wages insufficient at war prices to maintain them in full efficiency of body and mind. They quote a case where " in a recent formal arbitration under the Munitions Act the arbitrator actually fixed 2fd. an hour as the wages of adult women, many of them employed on Government work. For a sixty -hour week this is only 133. lid. a week, equal to no more than 95. or ros. a week two years ago." 2 A new Government order was issued in June 1916, 1 " Women in the Labour Market (Manchester and District) during the War." Price id. William Morris Press, 42 Albert Street, Manchester. * "The Common Cause," June 30, 1916. POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE 203 and another in December of the same year, with the avowed object of remedying this state of things and of securing to women in munition work, whether they are doing men's work or women's work, at least i a week. Neither is accepted by the women's representatives as really satisfactory. Miss Mary MacArthur wrote to the Press in January 1917 to the effect that "at the very lowest calcu- lation there are over 100,000 women working on munitions of various kinds who are not yet granted a living wage." She quoted specific instances in Sheffield and in Southamp- ton in support of this statement. 1 The fact seems to be that these repeated orders show the object aimed at by the Government has not yet been attained. The effect of the orders has been to improve the position of many of the women employed in munitions, but that the improve- ment has not reached many thousands of women working in " controlled " establishments, who are still receiving less than a living wage and who are precluded by the terms of the original Munitions Act from changing their employ- ment and transferring their labour to shops which give better conditions. The workers and their representatives argue very justly that the Government should either give the women freedom to change their employers or should vigorously enforce the various statutory orders in all munition works. It has often been suggested that women should join the men's Trade Unions. This is not quite so easy as it sounds. Many of the men's Trade Unions refuse membership to women. The constitution of the Amalga- mated Society of Engineers is so drawn that women cannot be admitted without enabling legislation. The A.S.E. made no agreement with the employers as to women's wages and conditions of work when women were admitted into the shops : in the Manchester district 10,000 women are employed, and not more than 1,000 or 1,200 are organized. The writer of the pamphlet just quoted says : ' The first attitude of the majority of unions threatened with this innovation [the introduction of female labour] was that of uncompromising refusal to work with women. When this proved untenable, the more far-sighted Trade Union leaders saw the danger of allowing a double standard of payment for the same work. It is now possible to attempt some estimate of how far the Trade Union world has 1 The Times, January 6, 1917. 204 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY been driven to overcome its prejudices against a woman receiving the same pay as a man, in order to safeguard its own hardly won rates" (p. 18). On reading the pages which follow it is not possible to form an opinion that the Trade Union world has been driven very far in this desirable direction. Still, a beginning has been made. The Railway Men's Union, as already mentioned, led the way ; the situation is modified in the direction of improve- ment from week to week, and it is satisfactory to learn that " hostility to women's labour, as such, has almost disappeared among Trade Unionists " (p. 21). Still, the difficulties are great, and are likely to continue so. On the one hand the old Trade Union prejudices against a woman receiving the same pay as a man, and on the other the constant pressure of employers who naturally take advantage of this prejudice in order to get cheap labour. The women acetylene -welders have had some experience of this. The London Society for Women's Suffrage, among their many beneficent activities during the war, have been training women as acetylene -welders. They have been able with ease to place all their trained workers in aircraft factories, where they have received wages of 8d. an hour, and in some cases 9d. or 9^d. At one of the factories the girls asked for a rise from 8d. to 9d., and it was refused. The employers then tried to makie them sign an agreement to work at a flat rate of Sd. an hour to the end of the 'war, no matter what work they were doing. They refused and formed a union, one of the rules of which was that the initial wage should be 8d. an hour. The men employed jn the same factory were, having iod., is., and is. 2d. an hour ; the women doing in most cases absolutely identical work. Now if this is allowed to go on, and if there is no real justifica- tion for the inferior rate of pay of women, it is obvious that it must end in the women monopolizing the trade and the men being turned out of it or coming down to the women's rate of wages. Therefore the interests of the men and women now employed are absolutely identical, and they should stand together and help each other. Before the war the ready explanation of the inferior wages of women would have been the alleged inferiority of women's work ; but this can hardly be urged now. For there is abundance of evidence that the allegation of the inferior productive results of women's work is with- POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE 205 out foundation. We have not only general expressions to prove this from such men as Mr. Runciman, Lord Derby, and others, but definite specific statements from experi- enced employers such as Sir William Beardmore, Presi- dent of the Iron and Steel Institute. A few quotations from both sources may not be superfluous. Mr. Runciman, in the spring of 1916 spoke, as President of the Board of Trade, of women doing " amazingly good work " ; he referred to the numbers, then reaching over 365,000, in which women in engineering had been put to do work formerly done by men. He said: "In one firm they are making electric motors, in another they are doing all the work in manufacturing 2 -inch howitzer bombs, in- cluding testing. And they are doing many other kinds of work requiring the employment of machinery and calling for the greatest skill." The Round Table (March 1916) writes of the employment of women in all kinds of trades from which they were formerly excluded, and says " they have shown an adaptability and capacity which has upset many cherished beliefs and undoubtedly made a deep impression on the public mind." These opinions, however interesting, are general in character, and they should be supplemented by specific facts drawn from practical experience. These may be found in the account in the Press of a visit to a munitions factory in February 1916, in which the employment of women and the absence of any attempt to use the women to undercut the men had had the effect of quintupling the output. Here we have the story of the former char- woman doing gun -breech work, boring a hole |-inch in diameter dead true through nearly 12 inches of steel. The test of success is the tally of broken tools, and " this woman has as yet a clean sheet." Another case was of a woman who had become " surprisingly proficient in slot- drilling 1 , a process in which thousandths of an inch matter. Like the rest of the women in the shop, she received 255. a week for a fortnight for sitting beside a skilled male hand watching him work the machine. Eventually she was allowed to try her hand at the work, then took it over under supervision, and now runs the machine un- aided during the day for the man to take it over for the night shift." * Sir William Beardmore in his presidential address to the 1 Manchester Guardian, February 2, 1916. 206 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY, Iron and Steel Institute, in May 1916, told the experience of his own firm as to the formerly unused reservoir of productive capacity which women were able to supply. He complained of the resistance of the workers under pre-war conditions to utilize to the best advantage improved methods of manufacture evolved by experimental research, and added : " Early in the war it was found at Parkhead forge that the output from the respective machines was not so great as what the machines were designed for, and one of the workers was induced to do his best to obtain the most out of a machine. He very greatly increased his output, notwithstanding his predilection for Trade Union restrictions. When it was found that the demands of the Government for a greatly accelerated production of shells required the employment of girls in the projectile factory owing to the scarcity of skilled workers, these girls in all cases produced more than double that by thoroughly trained mechanics members of Trade Unions working the same machines under the same conditions. In the turning of the shell body the actual output by girls, with the same machines and working under exactly the same conditions and for an equal number of hours, was quite double that by trained mechanics. In the boring of shells the output was also quite double, and in the curving, waving, and finishing of shell -cases quite 120 per cent, more than that of experienced mechanics." ' Now these facts, the importance of which cannot be minimized or explained away, reveal a defect in our whole industrial organization. Masses of men, for the most part clear-headed, public-spirited and honest, conceive it to be an essential part of their duty to their class artificially to restrict output and thus render their labour vastly less pro- ductive than it might easily become. They know that millions of their fellow working men and women live habitually on the poverty line, and often below it ; they know that the total remuneration of capital and labour can come but from one source--the product of their joint activities and yet they sedulously set themselves to reduce this product and believe they are serving the cause of Labour by doing so. Until this blot in industrial organiza- tion is removed the outlook for the future remains dark and threatening. It is not my part in this chapter to endeavour to suggest how the difficulty should be tackled. 1 Manchester Guardian, May 16, 1916. The italics are mine. M. G. F. POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE 207 I am now concerned with its influence on the industrial position of women ; and I can only say that the exclusion of women from the skilled trades which was a part of the Trade Union policy up to 1915 has reduced a great mass of industrial women to a position of virtual serfdom, forcing them out of the ranks >of skilled industry for which they are well fitted into the already overcrowded ranks of the unskilled and unorganized. Women in skilled employ- ments have been turned out of them by the pressure of Trade Unions, and the freeing of women from these jshackles has only been accomplished at the price of a world war on an unprecedented scale. It may well be said, "At a great price bought I this freedom." There has been nothing like it in industrial history since the Black Death in the fourteenth century broke down villeinage and serfage. Let it be remembered that we can no more afford to have under -efficiency and under-production after the war than during the war. We shall be a vastly poorer nation. The whole energies of the country are being rightly con- centrated during the war to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion, but it must be remembered that this is the same thing as saying that our national energies are now mainly devoted to destruction. To repair the loss will be the task of the years that immediately follow the war. Every man and woman will have to work harder and live simpler than in the pre-war era. Our national habit of not using to anything like their full extent the industrial and professional capacities of women must be abandoned and recognized for what it is, a gross waste of national resources . But this is not the only defect in our industrial system which has been brought to light by the war. Another has been exposed in the waste involved in systematic under- payment and overwork. The higher wages earned by women during the war, notwithstanding the great strain of long hours and (in many cases) a seven days' week, have been accompanied by an actual diminution in the cost of sick leave in the women's insurance societies. Thte published returns show that while this was 2' 60 pence per week in 1914 it fell to 2-04 pence per week in 1915. This has been attributed to the better food that the workers have been able to enjoy in consequence of their better wages. 1 The unexpectedly high sick leave in 1 Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for the year 1915. 208 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY women's insurance societies before the war may therefore be reasonably believed to be due to malnutrition. I can contribute a fact bearing on this point from the history of women in the Savings Bank. When Mr. Fawcett was Postmaster -General he induced the Treasury to advance the initial wage paid to women in the Savings Bank from 40 to 65 a year. Lord Frederick Cavendish, who then represented the Treasury, told him this was the highest proportionate advance which had ever been sanctioned by the Department. After it had been in operation a few months Mr. Fawcett inquired of the lady at the head of the women's side of the Savings Bank what had been its general result. She replied, " They dine more frequently." It is evident to most of us that " dining frequently," at least as frequently as once a day, is an important element in the preservation of health. A rise of wages from 155. to 255. a week enabling women to enjoy this indulgence must make for good health and consequent productive capacity . Experience gained during the war has also revealed the bad economy of long hours and the advantage, from the mere economic point of view, of the Sunday rest. The Chief Inspector of Factories reports that fresh demands for per- mission to work on Sundays are now rarely received, and are confined to cases where sudden and unexpected emergency arises. The undesirability of Sunday work is also insisted upon by the Health of Munition Workers Committee. The shortening of the hours of work has not infrequently been accompanied by an actual increase of output, and it has been proved that over -fatigue on the part of the workers greatly adds to the liability to accidents. The provision of canteens, messroom accommodation, ambulance -rooms, with qualified nurses in attendance, rest-rooms for girls and women have proved extremely useful, and are likely " to leave behind," according to the Chief Inspector of Factories, "a permanent improvement in factory life." The Chief Lady Inspector emphasizes these points. She urges that more should be done to shorten the hours of women who are still in many cases working a twelve -hour day, and she cites one instance of the illegal employment of girls of thirteen and fourteen for fourteen and fifteen hours a day. Her report states that a prosecution followed, and overtime was in the Yorkshire textile factories very materially diminished. Miss Anderson add^s ; " As im- proved organization to meet war pressure has proceeded, and a supply of women's reserve labour is being brought forth sufficient for the great industrial demands, all excuse for the essentially wasteful expedient of overtime and night employment of young girl labour vanishes, except for the most extraordinarily sudden emergencies." Miss Anderson points out that as early in the war as 1915 at least two hundred thousand women were being employed in engineer- ing work and other allied trades, and had set a " fashion in attracting large supplies of women of a good type not hitherto employed industrially." Mr. Kellaway, M.P. for Bedford, parliamentary secretary to Dr. Addison (of the Ministry of Munitions), speaking in July 1916, said that in 1914 there were 184,000 women engaged in war indus- tries. "To-day there were 666,000. . . . The labour situation had been to a considerable extent saved by our women. . . . The women of France were doing wonders in munition making, but our women munition workers beat the world." ' This is the reservoir of women's labour to which Lord Revelstoke referred as one of the mainstays of England's financial stability. It is strange, as the Chief Lady Inspector of Factories points out, that the continuous demand which factory inspectors have made for many years for an increase in the number of women inspectors, and also for the provision of rest-rooms, canteens, ambulances, nurses, means of personal cleanliness, etc., should have passed unheeded in the time of peace, and that the nation's eyes should only have been opened to their necessity by the conflagration caused by a great war. Turning now to the position of the professional women and how it has been affected by the war, no such startling changes can be recorded as have been wrought in the position of industrial women. It is true that in the medical profession the value of women's services has received more public recognition than ever before. The then Prime Minister, together with an ex-Prime Minister and a former Governor -General of India, in a letter to the Press com- mended the claim of the London School of Medicine for Women to the support of the public. Women can raise the several thousands which they need for the extension of their school or for the erection of a new hospital almost as easily as the Chancellor of the Exchequer can get millions by adding d. to the sugar duty or is. to the 1 Manchester Guardian, July 8, 1916. 14 2io NATIONAL EFFICIENCY income-tax. One of the least creditable manifestations of the Trade Union spirit in the medical profession has been the way in which before the war medical women, graduates as well as students, have been debarred from clinical experi- ence in the great hospitals, and in none more rigidly than in the hospitals for women and children. In London they had only their own small hospital in the Euston Road and the Royal Free Hospital, entrance to which their prede- cessors had bought for them by annual payments. Now an arrangement has been concluded between the London School of Medicine for Women and the Governors of St. Mary's Hospital for receiving women students ; and, under the pressure of war conditions, opportunities for clinical experience for women in other hospitals are being granted, Charing Cross Hospital and King's College Hospital being among the earliest to make satisfactory arrangements for teaching women. The long boycott of women medical students in Edinburgh University has been brought to an end. Almost directly after the appointment of Sir James Ewing as the new Principal, early in July 1916, it was agreed by a large majority at a meeting of the Senate to recommend to the University Court that women should be admitted to the University classes, provided suitable arrangements could be made. The Court agreed to this on July roth, and a committee was appointed to make recommendations for carrying it into effect. To break down, whether in London or Edinburgh, the exclusion of women students from clinical training, except within a very limited range, ought to be followed by excellent results. Whilie it was maintained it acted as an unfair handicap on the women. The story of the relations between the British Red Cross and medical women's organizations has in it almost farcical elements. In the first few months of the war the British Red Cross refused all recognition to hospitals officered by medical women for foreign service, and the Army medical department also refused offers of help from highly qualified medical women. The reason alleged was the supposed reluctance of the British soldier to be medically or surgically treated by women. Why women nurses should be wel- comed and women doctors disapproved was not explained. Our Allies had no such prejudices, and therefore in the first months of the war British women doctors, anxious to serve the wounded, had no choice but to place themselves POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC UFE ait under the French or Belgian Red Cross. The hospital opened in Paris in September 1914 by Dr. Louisa Ander- son and Dr. Flora Murray was consequently under the French Red Cross. It was splendidly organized, and was one of the show hospitals in Paris, second to none in efficiency and in popularity among our wounded men. Dr. Alice Hutchison had a typhoid hospital in Calais in 1914, so well run that she had the lowest death-rate of any similar hospital at the same time and place. The highest praise was earned, and well earned, by English women doctors who had hospitals in Antwerp at the time of its fall. Their courage under fire and their devotion and that of the nurses to their wounded men were fully appreciated by the Press and by the public all over the civilized world. Still, the British Red Cross and the British Army medical authori- ties could not bring themselves to recognize British medical women. The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies was sending out their Scottish women's hospitals for foreign service in the autumn of 1914. Their first hospital at Royaumont, near Creil, had to be under the French Red Cross, and their second hospital at Troyes was under the French Army Medical Department ; not that they would not have preferred working under their own national organizations, but that was not possible at the time. The first British official recognition of the value of the woman doctor in war-time was in February 1915, when Surgeon -General Sir Alfred Keogh placed Dr. Louisa Anderson and Dr. Flora Murray at the head of a military hospital of 520 beds in London, not giving them com- missions, but allowing them the rank and ratings of majors in the Army and treating them in all respects as well as if they had been men. He spoke in public of the work of women doctors at the front as being beyond all praise ; it was an example, he said, of how such work ought to be done (The Times, February 19, 1915). No British women had, however, at that time been authorized by British authority to give their services as doctors or surgeons to their own countrymen abroad. In May 1915 Lord Methuen, as Governor of Malta, stopped a ship conveying one of the N.U.W.S.S. hospital units, then on its way to Serbia, and bade them come to the help of British wounded men who were pouring in from the Dardanelles. This of course they did with great zeal an' efficiency. When they left Lord Methuen sent 212 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY a letter of thanks, in which he said : ' They leave here blessed by myself, surgeons, nurses, and patients alike, for they have proved themselves most capable and untiring workers." Their heroic work in Serbia in coping with and stamping out the typhus epidemic in the spring of 1915 is well known . Their courage in the black hour of Serbia's devastation in the autumn of the same year is also now an old story ; how some did the marvellous trek of three hundred miles across the snow-bound mountains till they reached the Adriatic, while others, under Dr. Elsie Ingles and Dr. Alice Hutchison, stayed on at their posts, working to the last until they became prisoners in the hands of Germany, the way they kept up their courage and good spirits through every insult (not from Austrians) and hard- ship all this is well known, but it did not cause any relaxation in the determination of the British Red Cross not to recognize women doctors. A kind of ostrich policy seems to have been adopted, for the word must have gone forth to pretend that medical women were not doctors, but nurses : so paragraphs duly appeared in the Press, " Return of Nurses from Serbia," and with no mention at all of the gallant women who had led them. The good offices of the British Red Cross were, however, extended to the medical units, officered entirely by women, sent to Russia by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and very valuable aid was extended to them in the matter of identification certificates and hi the forward- ing of equipment, with the advantage and protection of the Red Cross labels. After declaring in May that nothing would induce them to send medical women abroad for Army service at the beginning of July 1916, the R.A.M.C. asked for the services of forty women doctors for foreign service, and would have liked eighty if they could have been spared from their work at home. The whole story is an illustration of the prejudices which women still have to overcome, of the Trades Union spirit among the men in the medical profession, of the gradual influence of war conditions in breaking it down, and of the gain to the nation of utilizing the capabilities of women and the corre- sponding waste of not doing so. Dr. Weinberg, Chef de Laboratoire in the Pasteur Institute, Paris, was lecturing to the medical profession in Glasgow in February 1916 on gas gangrene. In the course of his remarks he paid a remarkable tribute to the N.U.W.S.S. hospital at Royau- POSITION OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE 213 mont. "He had," he said, "seen hundreds and hundreds of military hospitals, but none the organization and direc- tion of which won his admiration so completely. Every duty in the hospital from those of the chief surgeon to the chauffeur of the motor -ambulances was performed by women. He was impelled to express his admiration of the manner in which cases were treated. . . ." About the bacteriological department, which was arranged by Dr. Elizabeth Butler, Dr. Weinberg was equally enthusiastic. He was struck by the most perfect order which prevailed, notwithstanding the apparent entire absence of anything in the form of rigid disciplinary measures. He atttri- buted this ". . .to the soldiers' natural recognition of the excellent services and attention given by the whole staff, and particularly by the chief surgeon, Miss Ivens, who was ably assisted by numerous colleagues, all inspired by the same devotion." ' Fifty or sixty years ago all this capacity for service would have lain dormant, because it could have had no outlet ; the training for it would have been absolutely inaccessible : Sure, he, that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unused. The women who have shown themselves capable of this great work would have been condemned to the sort of life described in the first volume of Florence Nightingale's Life, a round of trivialities, a sort of cage-bird life. But, as her biographer remarks, " Thousands of women to-day are born free " ; but it was at a great price that the pioneers had to buy their freedom. And to-day their freedom is by no means complete. They have won their way into one great and splendid pro- fession ; but nearly every other profession is still closed to them in this country. Important educational posts are ' On Saturday, July 22, 1916, the Figaro had a long article expressing the warmest admiration of the National Union of Women Suffrage Societies' Hospitals in France. After speaking of the general work of the Suffragists in their own country, the paper goes on to describe the hospitals which they have organized in France, which, it says, " are marvellous from all points of view." The article concludes, 'These women are putting their whole soul into the work without any thought of recompense, without vainglory, without any motive but the desire to alleviate pain." 214 NATIONAL EFFICIENCY open to them ; they have themselves created a new pro- fession in nursing. 1 But both branches of the law are banged, barred, and bolted against them. No woman can become a chartered accountant, or take Holy Orders, nor is there any authorized channel by which women can enter upon the higher posts of responsibility in the Civil Service. The Civil Service Commission, which reported in 1914, some months before the war, recommended " that specially qualified women should be eligible for appointment to par- ticular administrative situations in such departments as ... the Board of Education, the Local Government Board, the Labour Department of the Board of Trade, the National Health Insurance Commission, and the Home Department." Nothing was done to carry out this recommendation. It may be thought that the outbreak of war was a sufficient excuse for doing nothing. On the other hand, the exigen- cies of the war, the great need of men to create the new armies, provided an additional reason for taking steps quickly to introduce qualified women into the Civil Service, so as to set free more and more men for military service. It has been pointed out that if action had been taken quickly on the lines recommended by the Royal Commis- sion the task would have been considerably simplified, and a fairly large group of women would long before the third year of the war have received sufficient training to enable them to do the work now being done by men. Since the war began a few women have been introduced here and there into higher posts in the Civil Service, but there has apparently been no settled plan and little or no co-ordination between the various governmental departments one department appearing hardly to know what another department was doing. An instance has been discreetly brought to light in which two women were appointed by two departments unknown to each other to carry out much the same job. However, the women appointed with much good sense met together and arranged a reasonable division of the work between them. 1 The low level from which Florence Nightingale and her successors have lifted nursing is well illustrated by a letter written in 1856 quoted in the " Life of Lord Granville " (vol. i. p. 136) : " Lady Pam thinks the Nightingale Fund [for training "nurses] great humbug. The nurses are very good now ; perhaps they do drink a little, but so do ladies' monthly nurses, and nothing can be better than them (sic). Poor people, it must be so tiresome sitting up at night, and if they do drink a little too much they are turned away and others got," POSITION OF. WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE 215 Eloquent and powerful appeals have been made by political leaders to Trade Unionists in the name of patriotism and national danger to give up their Trade Union restrictions on the labour of women ; and, on the whole, the Trade Unionists have responded generously to these appeals ; but the professional classes have not followed suit. The workmen have given up their exclu- siveness, but the members of the Civil Service, the lawyers and members of the other professions show no sign of giving up theirs. When will they begin to practise themselves what they have recommended to others ? We have made a beginning towards repairing the waste of which we have been guilty in not using the powers and capabilities of women ; but there is much still to do ; in many respects other countries in this matter are far ahead of us. The commercial position of women in France is extremely good. In England women can hardly be said to have any commercial position at all. In nearly all European countries, as well as in America and in several of the overseas Dominions of Great Britain, women become lawyers, and practise their profession with distinction. Why should England be half a century behind them? There is no waste so great as the waste of the powers and gifts of the human beings who make up the nation. Let us resolve to make an end of it. Ill SOCIAL REFORM CHAPTER XIII The Rehabilitation of Rural Life BY THE BISHOP OF EXETER IT is hard to over -estimate the value to the country of having a numerous and prosperous rural population. Even before the war we thought it important. We realized that the country -bred children are healthier than even those raised in the healthiest quarters of our large towns, and the toll that is paid in child -life by the big city alone recom- mended every measure that encouraged the increase of the rural population. And when we added to this fact that a rural population is generally contented and happy, even in spite of wages being low, we brought into the balance two considerations of the greatest importance. For, after all, the happiness and health of the population should be the great object of government ; and though money and wealth are as a rule necessary to promote these objects, it is possible to over-estimate the importance of money and to forget that it is, after all, only a means to an end, and that a happy and healthy population is what every statesman should strive to create. Besides, a rural population is naturally sane, sane because it is healthy and happy. A friend once pointed out to me how far more sane were the politics of rural than urban France. I think that a similar thesis could be maintained in England. A countryman may be less educated, but he has a far better judgment than the townsman. We realized all this in peace time, and we there- fore deeply regretted the flow of the country population to the towns. But the war has revealed two other facts, which from their importance throw everything else into the shade, and make the formation of a large and prosperous rural population one of the first objects of sound statecraft. First, we have **> 220 SOCIAL REFORM realized how important the countryman is as a soldier. Not only does he make a finer soldier than his town brother, but he is not addicted to the celibate life or to any Malthusian plan which diminishes the increase of popula- tion. The countryman as a rule marries and has a large family, and therefore as long as the rural population is large we may hope to have a numerous army to defend our Island. Secondly, the increase of production of food in our own country is a matter of prime importance. Many have been shocked at the vast amount of land that lies fallow in England. They will be surprised to learn how much of that land was cultivated at one time. We are told that three and a half million acres have gone out of cultivation and been turned from arable to grass land since 1872. One has only to travel by train and note the number of pasture fields that have once been under the plough to realize how serious has been the movement towards diminishing the production of food in England. Yet the production of food is of vital importance to us in case of a war, and it can never be accomplished without two things : a better system of agri- culture, and, what must be associated with that system, a more numerous and a more efficient rural population. Without a large and efficient rural population more ex- tensive cultivation is an impossibility. All the newer ideas involve not only more labour, but what I am afraid the farmers of England do not realize, more science and more knowledge of machinery in fact a more educated t 1 ! ' ' I " '' < " < I labourer. One hears constant complaints against farmers and land- lords for not breaking 1 up pastures during 1 the present war. But it must be remembered that it takes much labour to break up pasture, and labour is the one thing we have not got at the present time. And until the land has been cul- tivated for a year or two the returns are very disappointing*. Much of the land before it could be touched would need draining, which is of course out of the question. The increase of the cultivated area must be a question of development and labour. It can be gradually extended if we have a large and efficient population living on the land. Therefore the increase of our food supplies furnishes us with another important argument for the rehabilitation of rural Ijfe. THE REHABILITATION OF RURAL LIFE 221 I. CAUSES OF DEPOPULATION. The first and principal cause of depopulation is the one to which we have referred, the conversion of arable into pasture. To appreciate the importance of this factor one must remember that arable requires eight times as much labour as pasture. In the agricultural depressions land went out of cultivation and became grass land. Land " tumbled back " into grass. Sometimes it has gone farther and become waste land, and the thorn -tree and the rush occupy land that should be producing food and giving work for a rural population. The chief reason for this most regrettable development has been the low prices of the eighties and nineties. We all remember the ruin of the high farmer. It began with the bad years '78, '79, and was gradually com- pleted through the next fifteen years. The disaster which fell upon those who had done their best to improve the cultivation of the land at that time, and the little sympathy that was extended to them by the State, frightened all classes. The landlord ceased to put capital into his land, many of the farmers' sons sought other means of livelihood, the flow to Canada became rapid, while all the best boys in the village school went to the town or anywhere but on the farm ; wages failed to rise with the general rise all over the country, and in many districts it was only the residuum of the countryside who remained. The subsequent rise in the price of wheat, which has now reached such an extraordinary height, never really remedies the condition. For no one is willing to put capital into the land without some pledge that prices shall be maintained, and without capital you cannot increase the cultivated area. All who remember the crash of the eighties ask themselves whether, when the war is over, they may not be left with great responsibilities and low prices. If it were possible by a sliding scale to fix a minimum figure for wheat, the tendency would be the other way. But without this the re -population of rural England must be a matter of considerable difficulty. The future development of either Canada or Argentina may again lower the price of wheat and spread ruin among our own agricultural community. Subject to this first and vital consideration there are several other important causes of depopulation. 232 SOCIAL REFORM II. BIG ESTATES versus SMALL OWNERS. Undoubtedly in the past the big estate has been most beneficial to English agriculture. The energy and go which many great landowners showed in the beginning of the last century has been the means of bringing much land under cultivation. They took the lead in great works of arterial drainage, in the promotion of railways, in the development of scientific agriculture, and the debt that England owes to their energy and vigour, though rarely acknowledged, is very great. Such a work as " Young's Surveys " shows how much landowners did in the Napoleonic wars to promote the food production of the country. And at that time game- keeping and foxhunting were really beneficial, for they kept a class of intelligent resident capitalists interested in the country's welfare, and if the farmers grumbled at the damage done by the game it was when they forgot that the lowness of their rents was because the game rights were not let with the land. But now all this has changed and is changing. The large landowner tends to live less and less on Jus property. He goes to London, Monte Carlo, Switzerland, and a hundred other resorts. When he does come down for his big shoot the last thing he wants is trouble. Besides which, he does not look on the ownership of land as a business matter, and he as little thinks of making money out of his land as he does out of his wife's diamond tiara or his own motor-car. The result is that a great deal of the land is under-rented, and this more or less suits the temper of mind of many of the farmers. As a class farmers have little ambition and share the dislike of their landlords to trouble and activity. With the low rent the landlord requires, the farmer has no need to bring more land under the plough or in any way to improve the condition of his holding". In fact, he not uncommonly lets land drift into almost uncul- tivateable conditions. All this reacts on the agricultural labourer. The demand for labour is in normal peace times very small, and what is equally regrettable is that the standard required by the farmer is low. He does not want intelligent people, he thoroughly despises any scientific development that would need intelligence, he mistrusts even those agricultural implements that his Canadian son has used these twenty years. What he wants is a submissive sort of man who is willing to work for the miserable pittance THE REHABILITATION OF RURAL LIFE 223 that he is justified in giving in view of the limited production of his farm. The farmer does not believe in high wages and plenty of labour justified by a proportionately large increase of farm produce. If the land was an ordinary com- modity no doubt the evil would cure itself. The landowner, in view of the poor return the land was giving, would be glad to sell, the sleepy farmer would be hustled out of the way, the demand for a higher class of agricultural labourer would be brisk, and in response to that demand wages would steadily rise. And no doubt after the war the present tendency of landowners to sell their land may produce such a development. Even if landowners are unwilling to do so, there will be a growing necessity, owing to higher taxation, to make land produce more money, and it would be well if those who are in possession of extensive estates would consider that what England wants is not so much economy as greater production. To make good the losses of the war we want every man and every acre of land to give their maximum production. This increase of pro- duction will be hampered, no doubt, by want of capital ; but, on the other hand, a great deal might be accomplished by more education in agricultural matters and owners taking more trouble to understand its problems. One would like to see a knowledge of agriculture included in the normal curriculum of all educational establishments for landowners' sons. The Eton boy should' be taught to milk the college cow and to clean out the byre, and the Christ Church under- graduate to plough the college farm, just as their sailor brothers have to learn to splice a cable, or their cousins in the engineering works to use the lathe and the fitters' tools. Under these conditions agriculture might receive a great impetus. The big estate might regain the important position it once occupied and become a large business concern. The tenant farmer would disappear, and his place would be taken by highly educated specialists. Just as in the industrial concern there are managers of various depart- ments, buyers and travellers, so it would be on the big estate. For as these methods tend to economy and efficiency in the industrial world, so they would in the agricultural world. The late Lord Salisbury farmed a large portion of his Hatfield estate twenty years ago and introduced electricity as the motive power for agricultural operations. The plan was still in the experimental stage when his return to office compelled him to put aside all such interesting pursuits. 224 SOCIAL REFORM With the development of electricity one might well expect to see large estates farmed by electrical power. Such a development would economically require a bigger unit than the ordinary farm. The present system of agriculture is composed of units too small to profit by the advances in engineering and chemistry. But even if the tenant farmer were preserved and many of us are fond of him as a class he would be much assisted and inspired by the influence of his landlord. The landowner would take the lead in the various co-operative undertakings. His experimental farm would test and prove the value of the new machine or the scientific discovery. His personal influence would com- bat the economic and scientific heresies to which the agri- cultural mind is prone, such as low wages being an economy, and that a practical man needs no knowledge of the theory of agricultural science. But, above all, he might improve the conditions of the agricultural labourer. One would like, for instance, to see some of the landowners inserting a wages clause in their new agreements. Better wages are necessary if we are to induce men to return to the land after the war. Better wages for a better class of man, who is capable of intelligently working all the newer plans for increasing the yield of the land. III. SMALL-OWNERS AND SMALL-HOLDERS. Many look to a development in the opposite direction to improve the conditions of country life. They plead for the small-holder against the big farmer. One cannot under- stand how a small -holding can be a permanent success, though under the present inflated condition of agriculture every form of cultivation of land may succeed. The small- holder labours under so many disadvantages. The rent, if economic, must be high. It is obviously cheaper to build one cow-house for two hundred cows than fifty for four cows each. How can a man who can only buy by the hundred- weight compete with men who buy by the ton ? Again, he is handicapped by being unable to use machines. The people who talk about the co-operation of small -holders in the matter of machinery forget the uncertainty of our English climate. Supposing there is a fine week in hay time and one small -holder has the reaping-machine, he will cut his crop, make it, and prosper. The next holder will fall on a wet period, lose his crop, and be ruined. How THE REHABILITATION OF, RURAL LIFE 225 is it possible that such a system can work? Both of them subscribe towards the machine. One has all the benefit and the other none. If there is to be any co-operation at all it must be complete co-operation. The small-holders must be formed into a company with a manager at their head, and at the end of the year they must share equally the profits of their holding. Any other form of co-operation is an impossibility, owing to the irregularity of the climate and the uncertainty of the conditions of agriculture. Besides, small -holdings have been constantly tried in England, and the universal experience has been that with normal agri- cultural conditions the small-holder cannot survive bad times. The only exceptions are where the nature of the culture is such as to require a great deal of personal attention and the minimum use of machinery. There is a great deal more to be said for the small - owner. The small -owner has this great advantage over the small -holder that he is not burdened by a rent which must necessarily be heavy. His gains may not be great, but they are less uncertain than those of the tenant farmer. Under the ordinary system of English agriculture the pro- duce of the land may be divided into three funds. First, the land has to pay for the labour expended on it. Secondly, the land has to pay rent. Then what is left goes to the tenant farmer. As the first two funds are fixed, all variation in the production of the farm is felt by the third, so the gains and losses of the tenant farmer are great in proportion to the capital involved. Now with a small -owner all these funds are united. He is labourer, landlord, and farmer in one. In bad years as farmer he may make nothing, but he still receives the return as labourer and owner. In very bad years he may get neither farmer's nor landlord's profit, but the land will probably produce enough to pay his wages, and, although poor, he will not be ruined. On the other hand, in good years he will get not only labourer's wagies and landlord's profit, but he will also get such a large farmer's profit as to enable him to save money, and he will probably invest the saved money in his own land. A French peasant proprietor explained to me that this was the way the system worked in France ; it is fair to add that in France the peasant proprietor has no rates to pay. Whether the English mind could resist the temptation of wasting the money in the good years, is the doubt that naturally crosses the mind ; but one must always remember the desire to spend '5 SOCIAL REFORM money on land that one owns is very great, and the small- owner might be able to resist the temptation to extravagance in good years and spend the money he saved on fruit -plant- ing, stock, or in any other way likely to ensure a good return. The difficulty of creating a class of peasant pro- prietors is that of inducing working-men to save enough money to buy themselves plots of land, and also to secure that there should be a sufficient number of such plots in the market. The efforts of Mr. Jesse Collings are in this direction worthy of all praise, and should secure support from both sides of the House. Such a scheme might espe- cially succeed in the fruit districts of England. At any rate, why should not a system which is working successfully in Ireland and producing a class of peasant proprietors be tried also in England? IV. VILLAGE INDUSTRIES. One of the results of encouraging the sale of land in small plots would be to promote village industries. Obviously no one would invest their money in an industry unless they had some security that they would not be turned out. There- fore a population pf small freeholders tends to promote such industries ; besides which, the founding of industries is often the result of an almost imperceptible development. Take the example of a man, or rather his wife, who succeeds with two or three hens kept in the back garden. Instead of killing her chickens one year she determines to increase her stock. For that purpose she must find a quarter of an acre of ground to let in a suitable situation. When she has hired the land she finds she must spend ten to fifteen pounds to enable her to take full advantage of it. They may have saved the amount, but they will be unwilling to invest it till they can get some security that they will not be turned out. And here it is that the Department of Agriculture might help ; it might give them security and allow them some years during which they could buy that land by easy instal- ments. If the poultry business turned out a success they would be able to buy the land ; if it failed, they would only lose their outlay on coops and runs. But a man must have two things to encourage his effort first, a suitable piece of land easy to get and from which he is in no danger of being turned out ; secondly, he must not himself be liable to be moved for village industries are often in origin secondary THE REHABILITATION OF, RURAL LIFE 227, employment, so that the growirig migratory conditions of the rural population tend to prevent such developments. Industries such as fruit-growing, bee-keeping, market- gardening, rabbit -keeping, all require a stationary popu- lation. More, indeed, might be done than is done at present to educate people as to the advantages of these industries, but without land and a stationary population they will never succeed. I well remember an old woman who made 3 living chiefly off some black currant bushes. These bushes had been planted and cultivated by herself, and as long as she lived she protected her crop against the birds and gathered it and sold it in her neighbouring town. Her cottage was not let with the farm, and she had, therefore, a security of tenure, and with her cottage went a quarter of an acre of land. But one must add that a lonely cottage, even if it has a large bit of land attached to it, rarely attracts tenants, and the tendency to scatter cottages to oblige the farmers is one of the many reasons why country life is disliked. , V. DISADVANTAGES OF ISOLATED COTTAGES. To the town dweller those lonely cottages standing far from any other human habitation seem ideal abodes for working folk ; he probably sees them in the spring and summer, and they blend in with the verdant landscape and seem part of a life of poetry. The sweet honeysuckle clam- bering over the porch, the garden gay with its roses, hide by their beauty all the very real disadvantages yes, hard- ships of those lonely habitations. Even if they were held independently of the farmer which is becoming rarer and rarer they would be disliked by working folk, for isolation, unless you have some means of conveyance, means discom- fort and even hardships. Visit those same cottages on a wet, winter day, when the flowers are all gone and the leaves fallen from the trees are resolving themselves into black and greasy mud, then those houses will seem little better than purgatory. The children are coming back from school, soaked and tired, for they have been wet pretty well the whole day, and tea is not ready for them because the baker has not caUed ; it is perhaps a mile's walk to his shop, and so, as the mother must stop at home to mind the baby, the poor child has to turn back in the early winter night and struggle again through the mud to get the necessary bread. 228 SOCIAL REFORM The mother dreads the result of the long) wetting', for she has known better days once ; perhaps she was a servant in a smart house, and the contrast between her former comfort and her present want embitters her. Now she can only moan about the bad condition of their boots ; those boots were new a short time ago, but the daily wear to and from school has reduced them to a mere fiction in fact they are only now worn for respectability's sake, as the water flows in and out with the greatest ease ; and how can she get new boots on the miserable pittance her husband earns? Why, she will explain to you at length, she finds it difficult to keep him in boots. When the child returns with the bread it is no wonder that she looks ill ; she had a bad cold this morning, but she would go to school because she is trying to get the silver watch the County Council gives for five years' constant attendance. She can scarcely, carry the bread in, and the cold has obviously taken a turn for the worse. When the father comes home from work the parents agree that the doctor ought to see the child, but how impossible it is to get hold of him. Father is tired out and the nearest doctor is three miles away, and it is not unlikely that even when the father reaches the doctor he will refuse to come out on such a night and only send a bottle of medicine ; and so they agree to wait till the morn- ing. But the sickness will not wait, and as the night goes on the child gets worse and worse. Ah, my town dweller, especially if you are in a good position, how little do you realize these moments of anguish. You have only got to touch your telephone and the doctor is at your door ; it is not so in the country, for though the child seems dying, the father still hesitates about starting to fetch the doctor. Some doctors will not come unless a conveyance is provided for them ; many treat the disturber of their slumbers with scant courtesy and little sympathy. But at last the father walks the three miles, and comes back with the bottle of medicine and a promise that the doctor will call to-morrow. Yes, they won't be surprised if he doesn't call for two or three days ; and one can scarcely blame him, he has been; up himself a night or two ; and one must admit that the calls of the poor are not infrequently very unnecessary. Oh, many is the tragedy which one could tell of the isolated cottage, which have as their result a constant tendency to induce migration to the towns, especially among the young. Some- times, indeed, one is astonished that the older people do not THE REHABILITATION OF RURAL LIFE 229 move into the village when one realizes the inconvenience of isolation ; but, however lonely the house, the labourer cannot give notice he is bound to the house, for if he changes his house he changes his work. VI. TIED HOUSES. The lonely cottage has always been a difficulty for the country folk, but of late years a serious grievance has been created by the introduction of a new system of tenure, developed, I believe, from the system in Scotland. There the " hinds " are hired for a year and a cottage provided for them. This system may have its advantages, for a man knows exactly where he is ; he is there for a year. But the new English system works out most unfairly, for a man is hired by the week and is liable to be ejected from his house at a month's notice. Clearly a working-man cannot afford to move often, therefore once he is in his cottage he must remain there whatever the conditions of his employment. His master may be just and generous, but he may be the reverse, and even if he be an ideal master it would be hardly safe for the working-man to spend much money on ihis garden ; and so the modern cottage tends to be destitute of fruit-trees, an industry which might well be developed all through the country if only the cottager had security of tenure. In the old houses which do not go with the farm there stand one or two queer -shaped apple-trees, planted perhaps generations ago, defended every year against the depredations of the boys with the greatest difficulty, needing all the vituperation that the mother of the house can put into her shrill voice to save it from being looted by the urchin. It was possible to plant that old apple-tree because the house never went with any farm and was let to the same family, father and son, for fifty, perhaps a hundred years ; now the new cottages will never have an old apple -tree in their garden, for who cares to plant a tree when in another month they might be turned out. Besides, the insecurity of tenure naturally makes people migratory. Many, realizing 1 their insecurity, prefer to leave at a moment advantageous to themselves rather than be turned' out when it iwould involve family disaster. The family is growing* up ; the sons, and especially the daughters, must soon be started in life. There are always few opportunities in the countryside ; what few there are are not attractive enough to those wh0 "230 SOCIAL REFORM may at any moment be turned out of their houses. The daughter might be a pupil -teacher at the village school a post of some dignity and importance in village life but if the farmer turns the family out, what will happen? The son may succeed the father, and if the father was certain of stopping mother would persuade him to do so, in spite of the bad pay and the quiet life ; but if the father's tenure is uncertain, the son had better begin life in the town. So the family had better move now at once to the factory town, to one of those grimy, monotonous houses in a street of dreary aspect, with a grand -sounding name. It is true that neither mother nor father will be as happy there as they would in the open country, but no one will turn them out of their house as long as they pay their rent, and their children will not have to be separated from them, and the doctor will be close at hand, and there will be a wealth of butchers and grocers to choose from ; and, besides, the children will like all the joys of the cinema, the street talk, yes, and' the girls will like that which father does not like the sixpenny dances. VII. JOYS OF THE OLD VILLAGE LIFE. Years ago the village held its own against the charms of town life. The men and women bred in the village found their living there, and only went to town occasionally ; they were frightened by its noise and shocked by its wickedness. The village might be dull sometimes in the winter, but it was a sort of family establishment everybody was related to one another and loved the place, except, perhaps, the new-comer, and as he came in only fifteen years ago he could scarcely in such a short time have learned to appre- ciate all the advantages of the village. The doctor lived at one end of the village, so that if he was wanted to give a bottle of medicine which cured equally all the ills to which man is heir, or to pronounce the death' sentence on the sick which seems for some reason to please the countryman's heart or to give advice in a hundred small matters on which his wise counsel was sought, he was always at hand. Besides the doctor there would be all the other characters of the village. The clergyman lived near the church, neither beloved as the good story-book tells you, nor hated as the radical pamphlet avers, but just part of the village and treated as such. So the family would go to church half an hour before the service people in the country villages do not cut thing's THE REHABILITATION OF RURAL LIFE 231 fine and after church they would exchange greetings and discuss the weather and the crops. Again, on the weekday the school would be near at hand so that the children could get back for their dinners, and there would be no wading back amidst mud on a winter's evening. The old village, in fact, had many charms, but the farmers did not like it. They would explain to you that it made the men independent, so that if the price of labour was rising the men would demand their share. A man could give a week's notice if he thought he was badly treated ; if he had been a good, steady man it mattered little when he left his employment, for one of the other farmers would gladly take him on, or he would find work at the brickfield, or at the squire's house ; so if the farmer were overbearing he could speak to him as one man to another his family were not hostages to the farmer as they are in those tied houses. VIIL THE IDEAL VILLAGE. I should like to see some village built on the old lines, with its church and its school in the centre and a great open space where all can meet and gossip in the summer evenings, and where the children could play. The village should stand off the main road, not where the motors come rushing through so that children are in danger. There might be a maypole, and' a flag hauled up on days of festival. These things all make life sweeter. Round the green should cluster cottages : do not let us have them too monotonously built, and we need not have the initials of the owner built into them, but let each house have its individuality. Could it not also be arranged through some building society that some of these houses should be owned by the men who live in them? Behind the row of cottages, roughly and irregu- larly arranged, should be the yeomen's freehold plots of land. Trees should be planted round the village, to shelter it from the wind and make its lanes look pretty when the spring sun comes through the early opening leaves ^nd young men and maidens wander down those lanes hand in hand, or sit in silent and mutual adoration for hours together. The farmers will like the scheme in the end : it is true they will dislike it at first ; they will find men will be much more independent and self-respecting, but they will get a better class of labourer. The chief advantage '232 SOCIAL REFORM will be that England will be provided with a virile and happy rural population, able to enjoy its happiness in peace time and to defend it in the terrible hour of war. It is little use to organize navies and armies if you have not men bold and skilful enough to fill them. It is the personal factor that tells in the end. Help the countryman to raise a large and healthy family, and England will be safe. Allow the rural population to be diminished, and we shall soon be at the mercy of our bitterest foes. N.B. This article was written before I came into the west country ; still I have seen nothing here to induce me to modify my views. Perhaps, indeed, they have been strengthened as regards the importance of agricultural education. Housing after the War BY HENRY R. ALDRIDGE, Secretary of the National Housing and Town Planning Council BEFORE stating in close detail the main features of the housing problem which will present itself for solution at the close of the war, it will be of service to give a short summary of the housing problem as it presented itself to reformers at the opening of the war. As a (heritage from the past we were then burdened with many " survivals of the unfit " in the shape of large numbers of insanitary houses unfit for human habitation, and in these houses from 5 to 10 per cent, of our poorer working-class population were housed. Overlapping with this problem of unfit housing accom- modation we had, according to the 1911 Census, i o per cent, of our urban population (nearly three million persons) living under conditions of overcrowding i.e. with an average of more than two persons to each room. In two counties of England, viz. Durham and Northumberland, the proportion of overcrowded persons to the total popula- tion reached nearly 30 per cent. Added to these problems of insanitary houses and over- crowding we had a growing shortage of small houses a shortage due to the fact that in the five years preceding the war the supply was far short of the normal demand. There has been much controversy as to the causes of this diminution in the supply of small houses, but it is clear that the constructive action of builders and investors has been adversely affected by the provisions of the Finance (1909- 10) Act, 1910. A leading authority amongst the estate agents of the kingdom, Mr. A. W. Shelton, F r A.I., has col- ?33 234 SOCIAL REFORM lected the figures of cottage building in seventy towns (with an aggregate population of 13,000,000) for two periods, 1906-10 and 1911-15. These figures show that in the five years preceding the passing of the Finance Act 169,896 small houses were built, and in the five following years 89,654 a falling off of 80,242. The value of the figures is lessened by the fact that the last period of five years includes a full war year, but there can be no doubt that the builders have cause for complaint. This is placed beyond question by the fact that the Government in 1913, and again in 1914, admitted the existence of a grievance. In March 1914 the Parliamentary Secretary of the Treasury pledged the Government to introduce legislation in relief of builders, and but for the outbreak of war this legislation would without doubt have been passed. This admitted decline in building activity greatly in- creased the difficulties of the general shortage of small houses which had been felt for a long period in certain areas more especially in mining districts and in rural villages and it will not be an overstatement of the housing shortage problem, as it presented itself in July 1914, to state that 400,000 new houses were needed and that the provision of these would have left unremedied, for the greater part, the insanitary houses and overcrowding referred to above . THE HOUSING PROBLEM DURING THE WAR. In the first month of the war the housing problem occu- pied the attention of Parliament, and a wise step was taken by the Government in making provision for the lending of 4,000,000 on special terms to local authorities and public utility societies to be expended in housing schemes. One of the main factors in the decision of Parliament to pass the Act embodying this provision (the Housing, No. 2, Act, 1914) was the fear that there might be a great amount of unemployment in the building trade. ( j ' i But as time passed the fear of unemployment was dis- pelled and the application of local authorities and public utility societies for loans under this Act were not granted. [ i ! jj In the first two years of the war the shortage of houses has been further increased by the cessation of cottagiej HOUSING AFTER THE WAR 235 building activity in most centres a cessation due in part to the unwillingness of those controlling capital to lend it for cottage building, but more especially due to the high cost of building materials and the lack of labour. It is interesting to note the fact that although millions of men are now serving with the colours the shortage of cottage accommodation is nevertheless acute. In the early months of the war period it was quite commonly sug- gested that with the calling up of great numbers of men to serve, the pressure of demand for cottage houses would diminish and a great number of houses would be left untenanted. Those who made this forecast failed to take into account the determination of soldiers' wives to keep their homes intact and ready for their husbands' return at the close of the war. Many wives were urged by well- meaning philanthropic advisers to give up their homes and crowd in with their parents, but the great majority of them had the good sense to maintain their homes and to regard the payment of the rent as the first charge .on a separation allowance, which, for the first time in the history of European wars, has been sufficient to enable our soldiers' wives to maintain their homes without charit- able aid. | i | ! But whatever may be the reasons for the continued pressure of demand for the tenancy of cottage houses, there can be no doubt that, except in certain areas, it is as great now as it was in the year preceding the war. In many of the great cities of the kingdom this shortage has, moreover, assumed the character of a house famine. This is especially true of the great munition areas. The usual consequence of a house famine a steady rise in rents began to appear in the summer of 1915, and in October of 1915 it became apparent that unless strong action was taken by the Government grave disputes between landlords and tenants would be engendered with embittered rent strikes as a result. In fairness to houseowners it should be made clear that the majority of them were willing to place aside the opportunity, given by the shortage, to charge higher rents. Another factor, how- ever, came into play viz. the general rise in the rate of interest and the consequent endeavour of those who had lent money on mortgage on cottage property to secure the payment of higher rates of interest on these mortgages, 236 SOCIAL REFORM Two factors contributing towards a demand for the payment of higher rents were thus operative viz. : (0) The desire of those who had lent money on mortgage for the purchase or erection of small houses to secure the same rate of interest as that which they could secure by investing money in War Loan Stock, and, consequently, the natural attempt of property owners to transfer this burden to their tenants. (fr) The desire of those letting house property to secure the higher rents which the shortage of houses enabled them to demand. Of these two forces the first was by far the more serious. Within a short time of the issue of the War Loan at 5 per cent . many of those controlling mortgage investments issued notices, intimating to those to whom money had been lent on the security of cottage property that in future an increase of \ per cent, or i per cent, interest must be paid. As the addition of I per cent, to the interest charge in the case of a loan pf 200 on the security of a small house involved an additional payment of 2 per year (or about Qd. per week on the rent of the cottage), the nominal owner of the mortgaged house had, in the great majority of cases, no choice except the loss of livelihood but to transfer the added interest charge in the form of weekly rent. As a result notices demanding an increase in rent were served throughout the whole country, and many bitter controversies arose. It then became clear that legislative action must be taken, and, acting on the advice of housing reformers, the Govern- ment introduced into Parliament and placed on the Statute Book an Act providing that for the period of the war and for six months after the close of the war : (a] Rents should not be raised ; (b] The rates of interest on mortgages should not be raised ; and (c] The foreclosure of mortgages should be for- bidden, except under special circumstances. (These provisions apply only to houses let at less than certain rentals stated in the Act.) In regard to this Act it is interesting to note the fact that its provisions have been accepted loyally, and that as a result of its operations peace from rent disputes has been secured throughout the land. Another aspect of the housing question occupied the HOUSING AFTER THE WAR 237 attention of Parliament in the early part of 1916, when the announcement that married men, attested under the Derby scheme, would be called up, rendered necessary the giving of attention to the grave problem which confronted married men in regard to the maintenance of their homes. There was not a little danger that the moratorium method (adopted in France and other countries) would be adopted here also, but as the result of a strong appeal to members of the Government, and to members of both Houses of Parliament, the proposal to pass a Moratorium Act was rejected and a promise made by the Government that action should be taken on well-considered lines to maintain free from debt the homes of married men called up to serve. Finally, it was decided to appoint a number of Commissioners acting for the Military Service (Civil Liabilities) Committee these Commissioners to receive applications and make recommendations as to special grants. Grants up to a total of 104 per year may be made by the Committee in regard to obligations in respect of rent ; interest and instalments payable in respect of loans, in- cluding mortgages ; instalments payable under agreements for the purchase of business premises, a dwelling-house, furniture, and the like ; rates and taxes, insurance premiums; and school fees. Up to December 31, 1916, the local Commissioners had received 155,882 applications, and they had made recommendations in 130,000 cases The Committee had at the same date decided 119,500 applica- tions, and had awarded grants in 86,000 cases, representing an annual payment of 1,654,000. THE HOUSING QUESTION IN THE PERIOD IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. That the need for constructive housing action will be greater at the close of the war than at the commencement of the war is beyond question. But quite apart from this persistence of the pre-war need for housing activity, those responsible for the guidance of the housing reform move- ment have been compelled to give their earnest thought and care to a constructive problem iof great magnitude and first-class national importance viz. the preparation for the home-coming of the quarter of a million men in the building trade who have responded to the call of their country and are now serving in the Army and Navy. 238 SOCIAL REFORM The gravity of the problem will be realized from the following facts and figures : The building industry is the third greatest industry in the kingdom, and no less than 905,202 workmen are employed in it. Since the war started quite 270,000 of these have joined the Army. Probably about 50,000 more have temporarily changed their occupation and are work- ing in the production of munitions. Of the 600,000 building -trade workmen remaining at home the greater part are engaged in war -building work the construction of factories, aerodromes, etc. and day by day the pro- portion of the men thus employed rises. It is clear, therefore, that with the coming of peace a colossal crisis of unemployment may arise in the building trade unless wise measures are taken to avert it. The general features of this problem have been so admirably stated by Mr. B. Seebohm Rowntree that, with his kind permission, the following paragraph may be quoted from an article appearing in the Contemporary Review for October 1915 : Directly peace is signed, demobilization of the greater part of our Army will begin, and the bulk of its members will be thrown upon the labour market. Theoretically, demobilization should only take place gradually, as the labour market is able to absorb the men demobilized, but fact in this case can hardly be expected to conform to theory. A great proportion of the men definitely joined the Army for the duration of the war only, and were promised reinstatement in their old jobs at its close. We do not know exactly what the proportion of these men is, but it must be very large, and it is highly improbable that they will agree to stay with the colours for months after hostilities cease. The great majority of them will return straightway to their previous employment, throwing out of work those who have occupied their places during their absence. No doubt there will be exceptions : some will remain with the colours : some will emigrate : a few will seek fresh occupations, less monotonous or more lucrative ; but their proportion is not likely to be relatively very great. Even men whose situations have not been kept open for them will probably, as a rule, be disin- clined to remain in the Army after peace is signed. In this connection it may be noted that after the Civil War in America the authorities sought to avoid rapid demobilization, but the men insisted upon it. They preferred to take their chance of finding work, and a similar experience will most likely be ours. Thus, making full allowance for all possible exceptions, and likewise for those university students, for instance whose return will not affect labour, I believe we shall be well within the mark in assuming that considerably over a million men will be thrown on the labour market within three months of the termination of the war, and that work will have to be found either for them or for the individuals whom they will displace. Moreover, the labour market at the time will be singularly unqualified to absorb this additional labour. Vast numbers of workers to-day are engaged in manufacturing goods, the demand for which has HOUSING AFTER THE WAR 239 been created directly or indirectly by the war. When peace is signed the great bulk of this demand will cease, and consequently there will be very serious dislocation of industry apart from that caused by the demobilization of the Army. This dislocation is likely to be more considerable than in August 1914, for although at that time much unemployment was certainly caused by panic and the sudden stoppage of our export trade, men were enlisting, and so being taken off the labour market, at a very rapid rate, and enormous demands were instantly forthcoming for the manufacture of all kinds of war materials. No doubt the return of peace will create a spirit of confidence among manufacturers, who will begin at once to prepare for active trade. Moreover, we must bear in mind that our soldiers will not return with entirely empty pockets. Still, I doubt whether those factors, during the first few months, will operate so powerfully in the reduction of unemployment as did the enlistment and demand for war materials of last August (1914). The same problem has been stated in general terms and as affecting the industries of the country by the Chairman of the Birmingham Trades Union Congress (1916), Mr. H. Gosling, L.C.C., in his opening address : When the Government on the resumption of peace suddenly lessens its gigantic pay-roll, the biggest that the world has ever seen, and stops its colossal orders for every conceivable commodity when millions of soldiers are dis- banded at approximately the same time that two or three million munition workers are discharged when something like a third of the whole wage- earning population of this country will be simultaneously losing their jobs there is bound to be almost a flood of men and women seeking new situations. . . . This will be a moment of the gravest industrial peril. . . . The nation has a right to ask that the Government, which knows that peace will come one day, and which must realize that it will >be the Government itself that will deliberately give the signal for the dismissal of six or seven million men and women from their present employment, should take all the necessary steps in advance by properly organizing the extensive public works of all kinds that must necessarily be undertaken to prevent the occurrence of any widespread or lasting unemployment. Now it is clear that in some " key " industries mining, shipbuilding, and, in a measure, engineering all the skilled men available can be usefully absorbed as and when they return from the Army. But it will be unwise to deduce from forecasts of the probable condition of employment in special " key " industries any forecast as to general industrial activity at the close of the war. Each industry should be made the subject of separate and careful investigation, and when this wise course is followed it becomes evident that in the building industry great diffi- 240 SOCIAL REFORM culties will present themselves in the year following the close of the war and that three factors will operate to produce unemployment : (0) There will be difficulty in securing capital to finance building operations. There can be no doubt that the demand for capital for short invest- ment loans will be very great and that the supply of capital for long -period investments (such as building operations) will be directly affected. (b] The rate of interest will be high. It is clear that 5 per cent, will be the minimum rate at which capital will be available in the open market for Government loans, and this will certainly be the minimum rate for all private operations. (c) The prices of building materials will continue to be high . At the present time the average cost of the materials for building a small house is between 30 and 50 per cent, greater than in the months immediately preceding the war . With the return of skilled workmen the cost of production of home-made materials e.g. bricks will diminish and prices will fall, but it is certain that for many months following the war the price of timber will continue to be abnormally high. All these factors will operate in the direction of dis- couraging activity in the building trade in the period following the declaration of peace. The tendency will be to delay or postpone the construction of new buildings (as distinct from the completion of buildings already com- menced) until the time when capital will be obtainable at lower rates and when the prices of building materials have been reduced. It will clearly be an impossible task to persuade those private persons who have the power to finance private building contracts that in the face of discouraging factors they should decide to act. Their capital will flow into more encouraging fields of action, and there is only too much reason to fear that the close of the war will mark the commencement of a great crisis of unemployment in the building industry that is to say, a crisis in an industry which has, in the past, as a result of such crises of un- employment, suffered more demoralization than any other great national industry. But it will be urged that the period following the close HOUSING AFTER THE WAR 241 of the war will be the time when the unemployed insurance legislation as applied to the building trade will prove to be of special service. A little reflection will, however, show that there are two grave reasons why another solu- tion should be found. The first of the reasons is that public opinion will not permit the adoption of a method which will mean the flooding of our towns with unemployed workmen returning from the danger of the battle -line and receiving sums in unemployment benefit which, even when supplemented by Trade Union savings, will be admittedly inadequate to maintain a proper standard of comfort in their homes. The second reason is that the usage of unemployment insurance funds for the purpose of relieving unemploy- ment in the building trade due to the war cannot be justified, except on the ground that other forms of remedial action are impossible. These funds have been accumu- lated for the purpose of mitigating ordinary. trade unemploy- ment, and they should be strictly conserved for the purposes for which they have been created. It may, however, be suggested that the difficulties can be surmounted by the adoption of the policy of slow demobilization. This proposal is much favoured by those who only "think one thought deep." But quite apart from the inevitable discontent of men who will desire to return to their homes and daily occupations as early as possible, a policy of slow demobilization of men in the building trade, adopted not for military reasons, but to guard against unemployment, will be prodigally wasteful and unwise in the interests of national economy. Every man kept with the colours in accordance with a policy of slow demobilization will cost the nation at least 3 per week for Army pay, maintenance, and separation allowance . It is true that we may be compelled, through lack jof sufficient care in devising other more useful and less costly means of dealing with unemployment, to adopt this policy, in regard to many industries, but in the building industry a better way has been clearly outlined and a definite policy has been placed before the Government for consideration. This policy may be described as that of preparing plans and outlining schemes to secure mainly through the agency of the local authorities of the kingdom that work of real service to the community shall be provided for the men in 16 242 SOCIAL REFORM the building trade, as and when the need arises at the close of the war. There is good reason to hope that the Government will adopt this line of policy and will encourage local authori- ties to concentrate their attention during the period which will elapse before the close of the war on the task of preparing and holding ready plans and schemes for building, such schemes to be carried into effect " as and when the need arises." Principal amongst the items of building work of real service to the country may be placed that of providing houses to meet the admittedly great housing shortage, and for this reason the policy outlined above commends itself to housing reformers. It received warm support at a National Congress on " Home Problems after the War," held in April last in London, and attended by four hundred representatives, who between them represented practically the whole of those interested in the building industry, as well as local authorities and great workmen's associations in the kingdom. The Congress unanimously passed the following resolution : That this Congress urgently directs the attention of the Government to the critical need for the provision of additional housing for the working classes, and in respect of the national interest and responsibility in the matter urges upon the Government to set aside no less than 20,000,000 to make such advances to Local Authorities and other agencies as will enable them to provide houses at reasonable rentals having regard to all necessary and equitable circumstances and conditions. This resolution was submitted to the Government by means of a deputation received by Mr. Walter Long, as President of the Local Government Board, on September 20, 1916. In his reply Mr. Long stated that he had already submitted to his colleagues in the Government " a com- prehensive and practical scheme," and that, together with the Secretary of State for Scotland (who presides over the Local Government Board for Scotland), " he would lose neither time nor opportunity in pressing upon his colleagues in the Government the acceptance of the pro- posals they had made or were prepared to make." In regard to the particular sum asked for, Mr. Long said that it would be premature for him to make any announce- ment he was not in a position to do so, and " he was HOUSING AFTER THE WAR 243 not at all sure that the 20,000,000 named was even an index of what might be required if this work was to be properly carried out." In regard to the terms on which the money should be lent by the Government the members of the deputation made the definite suggestion that the terms granted should be similar to those given by the Treasury in the case of housing schemes for munition workers. The following paragraphs from the Memorandum sub- mitted by them are of special importance : In regard to the conditions under which the capital sum asked for (20,000,000) should be lent, the members of the Deputation feel that they should urge most strongly the necessity for giving an assurance to Local Authorities and other agencies that the whole of the capital sum will be avail- able and will be advanced on the terms determined on by His Majesty's Government, until it is all applied for, and, further, that in view of the special difficulties which will be present at the close of the war, His Majesty's Govern- ment, in making loans from this capital sum, should give a substantial contri- bution in the form of grants in aid or in other forms. In doing so His Majesty's Government will be following the precedent already set in the framing of the terms for lending the 4,000,000 provided under the Housing (No. 2) Act, 1914, and will be continuing the practice of the Treasury in regard to loans for the provision of houses for munition workers. How essential it is that such aid should be given will be clear from the following tables showing : (a) The annual and weekly rent which a Local Authority required to charge in 1913 for a cottage costing 235 (including roads and lands), the money being lent by the Public Works Loan Commissioners at 3j per cent. ; and (6) The rent which the same Local Authority will need to charge for a cottage costing the same amount, the loan being granted by the Public Works Loan Commissioners at the rate of interest fixed under the Treasury Minute of November 1915, viz. 5 per cent. TABLE A. Per year. Per week. S. d. s. d. Interest on 235 at 3j per cent 846 32 Estimated repayment of principal on loans for different periods (roads, building and land), los. per cent. ... 136 06 Rates assumed at 8s. in the , and taken on an assumed assessment of i i 480) 21! Water rate 10 per cent, on 11 i 2 of Fire insurance on 215 at is. 6d. per cent. 036 Repairs and maintenance say, 10 per cent, on gross rental I 16 o Management and collection say, 5 per cent, on gross rental , o 18 o 1 17 15 6 6 ii 244 SOCIAL REFORM TABLE B. Per year. Per week. S. d. s. d. Interest on 235 at 5 per cent n 15 o 4 6J Estimated repayment of principal on loans for different periods (roads, building and land), 8s. per cent. ... I o o 05$ Rates assumed at 8s. in the , and taken on an assumed assessment of 13 " ... 540) 2 ^ Water rate 10 per cent, on 13 i 6 o) Fire insurance on 215 at is. 6d. per cent 036^ Repairs and maintenance say, 10 per cent, on gross rental 260 Management and collection say, 5 per cent, on gross rental 130' 22 17 6 8 n (In Table B the assessment has been taken at 13 instead of 11.) It will be seen from these tables that the rise in the rate of interest alone will involve an increased rent of 2s. per week. This is quite independent of the advance in the cost of building materials, and if the cost of building materials does not decline at the close of the war an even more serious advance in the rents of new houses will be inevitable. The difficulties of Local Authorities and other agencies in dealing with the problem will be thus in- creased and the case for giving substantial help will be made even more clear. For the purpose of housing munition workers the Treasury have made free grants of from 25 per cent, to 30 CS CS N M o tH NO cs NO t-N i CO ^ cs 00 NO M ON ON m ON <* NO NO OO ,n oo ^ $ o ^ ^ CO co co co co o CO o CO CO 1 in CO ^ m *t M O Ix. 1-1 o ^. NO NO in NO tx & l-N t-N NO HI OO ON M NO in in NO N8 3 m i op ON H ON tS ON O Jt 1 O ON t-s in f * in CO CO CO CO CO CO CO cs w C4 in oo O 00 CO b Tf ON p ON OO tx p w NO NO \b in in in H in - M CO i CO ON in CO op CO rt- in NO CS M ON N C CS w NO b NO ON ON i ON ON NO ON g CO OO OO NO tx NO in NO ON t*x NO O ON ON OO M Tl- M NO op 1 m OO m tx M O M in o oo m m CO CM ON 00 oo *" in in TJ- ON OO OO NO in rt- CO 1 M CO CO 00 ON * NO in ^ oo l-l *" NO NO m Tj- CO CO t>. tx NO m * CO N J M ON m tx o <* o <* M m tx M NO M in * rf CO CO \S vN in in ii- ro CO cs d | in t-N CO CO ^fr ON ^1- OO W CO in in ON oo 00 NO in ^h f) OO OO tx NO in * CO A M jj R rj- NO tX tX NO NO * "< t*N tX CO M CS CO OO NO NO NO in ON hH V) oo m b CO 1 o o 1 & O Q O ON O w % O Q O O W if) \5 tx OO 1 ? o OO in 00 00 00 00 ON O OO OO ON >t in NO r-> Q oo oo oo oo 00 oo ON 00 SN b 258 SOCIAL REFORM Testing Progress and Comparing Conditions of Health. Many reports of medical officers of health seem to base their chief considerations on the general death-rates of their districts, and year by year the same trite and unimportant observations are made on mortality. Death-rates thus used are but poor indicators of health conditions, and might not only give misleading impressions but even conceal disease. The Registrar -General recently pointed out that the crude death-rate of Lancashire, with all its factories and labour, was lower by 7*8 per cent, than that of quiet, restful agricultural Cardiganshire. Allowing, however, for the age and sex distribution of the population, the corrected death- rate is 2 9' 4 per cent, in excess. Lancashire, which uses up its people in its manufacturing, has an abnormally small proportion of persons at the more advanced ages at which mortality is high, whilst Cardiganshire contains an abnor- mally large proportion of old people. In Lancashire less than 3^ per cent, exceed sixty-five years of age, whilst in Cardiganshire it is about 9 per cent. If instead of simply taking death-rates as a vitality measure of the population these are analysed into their different age groups, the alteration in recent years may be judged. Whilst among women and young persons the improvement has been steady, it is wanting among mature men, and the premature attrition of these men goes on with unabated vigour. When these mortality rates of populations are synthe- sized by the actuarial process of constructing a life table, an exact measuring scale is got of what would happen to 100,000 infants born, if they lived under the condi- tions existing at the time and place considered. By such means the vitalities of populations for which life tables have been made become exactly comparable in terms of deaths and survivals. Few medical officers of health have prepared life tables for their separate localities, not having appreciated that the considerable trouble is well repaid by their immense value as a measure of local conditions. Fortunately those in charge of the national statistics fully understand this. Life tables for Scottish towns, based on the 1911 Census, have appeared, and later similar ones for England are to be expected, and will be a powerful stimulus to increase interest and regard for the national health. NATIONAL HEALTH '259 Taking various periodic life tables published for England and Wales, there has been an increase in the expectation of life at birth. EXPECTATION OF LIFE AT BIRTH. 1838-1854 1871-80 I88l-C)0 1891-00 Males -JQ'QI al'^S 41 -66 44'I-J Females 4I'8i; 44.'62 47-18 47 "77 If now the age of fifty is considered, instead of a gain an actual loss has been taking place. EXPECTATION OF LIFE AT FIFTY. 1838-1854 1871-80 1881-90 1891-00 in- ?/i 1 8 -01 18-82 ig-gO 2O -7 C 20-68 2(VC