xi//#. 7- '^ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 'X
 
 V 
 
 CUKRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS
 
 CUEEENT POLITICAL 
 PEOBLEMS 
 
 WITH PBOS AND CONS 
 
 SIR J. D. lREES, K.C.I.E., C.V.O. 
 
 ACTHOB OF "THr MAHOMEDA.NB.- -TOlliB IN INDIA.' - THT. REAL INDIA, 
 " MODrBS INDIA, '■ ETC 
 
 LONDON 
 
 EDWARD ARNOLD 
 
 1912 
 
 All rii/hta rtii4rved.
 
 :j.t^^ 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The book I was asked to write was to be entitled Pros and 
 — Cons of Current Political Problems, with the intention that 
 ^the attitude of both Radicals and Unionists towards those 
 ^problems should be, as I think it is, stated. But it is 
 _f almost impossible for any one taking an interest in politics, or 
 ^indeed \n his country, to be without a decided opinion upon 
 one or the other side. If it happens that I incline in the 
 Unionist direction, the arguments on either side are never- 
 theless given with the utmost impartiality at the end of each 
 chapter. It would be possible to compose a book consisting 
 only of such pros and cons, but surely it is of more interest, 
 perhaps even of more use, for the author to give his own 
 opinions in a plain straightforward manner, which in no way 
 prevents the reader from studying the pros and cons, either 
 5 before or after he has read, or without reading, the chapters. 
 ^ In spite of the large composite majority which exists to-day 
 -<in the House of Commons, the excess of votes for the 
 j Government over those cast for the Conservatives at the last 
 -' General Election was only 6 per cent. It is possible, there- 
 fore, that there is room for a book of this character at the 
 present moment when far-reaching changes have been, and are 
 being, eflfocted in the Constitution, and in the character of 
 British rule. In that hope my volume is offered to the public, 
 in spite of all its imperfections. 
 
 Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, 
 
 Lord Cromer, Mr. Buckland, CLE., and Mr. Philip Cambray, 
 
 ^ have kindly looked at the proofs of the chapters on the Army, 
 
 Q Navy, Foreign Affairs, India and Ireland respectively, but I 
 
 2 alone am responsible for every opinion offered and every fact 
 
 stated. 
 
 J. D. Rees. 
 
 Jamuiry 1, 1912.

 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 FA.aB 
 
 Defence — The Navy . , . . .1 
 
 Its duties — Two-power standard — Estimates, 1911-12 — Great 
 Britain and Germany — Comparison of fleets — of docks — 
 of per$onnel^Folitic&\ seamanship — Subordinate Ministers, 
 Labour Party, and Little Navy — Navy and employment — 
 French Government and Little Navy — Dominions — Invasion — 
 Bight of capture at sea — Russia and Japan — Finance — Arbitra- 
 tion — Navy and social reform — Declaration of London. Argu- 
 ments/or and against Declaration of London — Reduced Navy. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Defence — The Army . . .30 
 
 Its functions — Position of Germany — Triple entente — Expedi 
 tionary force — Our land frontiers — Turkish Army — Defence 
 problem — Russia — India — Lord Haldane's policy — The Terri- 
 torial Army — Compulsory training — Lord Roberts's opinion — 
 Sir Ian Hamilton's views — Scheme of National Service League 
 — Invasion — Ethics of war and peace — Arbitration treaty with 
 America — Socialism in England and France — Expenditure on 
 armaments and waste — Colonies and defence. Arguments for 
 and again.'^t a Small Army — Compulsory Military Training. 
 Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 Foreign Affairs . . . . . .65 
 
 Parliamentary treatment — Anglo-Russian convention — Anti- 
 Russian demonstrations — Question of Finland — Somaliland — 
 Illicit arms traffic— Turkey— Albania— Crete — Egypt — Pan-
 
 Till 
 
 FAOE 
 
 113 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I8lamism-The Congo-The Baghdad Railway-Railways to 
 India-Morocco-Alliance with Japan. ArgumenU for and 
 against Friendly Relations with Russia-Russia s attitude to 
 Finland-Withdrawal from Somaliland-Representation and 
 the like reforms in Egypt-Recognition of annexation of Congo 
 —British participation in Baghdad Railway. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 India ..•••' 
 
 India in Parliament— Indian officialdom-Current contro- 
 versies—Police—High Courts— District magistrates- Congress 
 —Army— Reductions— The drain from Indiar— Tariff reform— 
 Cotton— Tea— Education- Opium— Census. Arguments Jor and 
 against the Indian Police— Reduction of Army— Preferential 
 Tariffs— Free and Compulsory Education- Opium— Unrest, 
 Representative Institutions and Reforms. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 The Colonies . . • • • 152 
 
 Imperial Conference, 1911— Imperial co-operation- Imperial 
 Council of State— Standing Committee of Imperial Conference 
 — Mr. W. Guinness's resolution— Declaration of London — 
 LabourExchanges— Interchange of Civil servants— Lord Elgin's 
 secretariat — Secretarial and ministerial proposals — Naturalisa- 
 tion — Intra-Imperial migration — Indian immigration — Socialist 
 Labour Party— Cables— All-red route— Royal Commission on 
 commercial relations — Treaties — Tariffs — Income Tax — Ship- 
 ping combinations — Imperial Court of Appeal — Enforcement of 
 arbitration awards — Defence — Criticism of general results of 
 Conference — House of Commons — Indian indentured labour — 
 Dinizulu — Southern Nigeria Liquor Commission — Masai— Waa 
 the Imperial Conference of 1911 a success ? — Arguments for and 
 against. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Trade Eelationb and Tariff Reform . . 187 
 
 The Manchester school— State interference with industry- 
 Eastern competition— Protection of labour— Prophecies falsified 
 — Protection and Democracy — "Who pays the duty — Dumping 
 —Free Trade and Trusts— The "double" market— Negoti a-
 
 CONTENTS ix 
 
 tion — "Most-favoured nation" treatment — The "evils" of 
 Protection — Everything dearer — Imperial Preference — Expand- 
 ing Colonial markets — The* " dear loaf" cry — The need for 
 immediate action— Great Britain and the Canadian agreement. 
 Arguments for and against Tariff Reform. Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Constitution ..... 210 
 
 The Constitution— The creation of peers and its effect — The 
 lesson to be learnt — The Prime Minister's admission— Only a 
 half-measure — Not a settlement — The Referendum — Radical 
 coquetting — Instability of legislation— The reform of the House 
 of Lords — Payment of Members — Repayment of expenses — 
 Unionist plans of reform — The Lords and Liberal Bills. 
 Argumevts fur and (iguin^tt the Parliament Act — The 
 Referendum — The Payment of Members. Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 rRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION . . . 230 
 
 Simplification necessary — Suggested reforms — The qualifying 
 period — The lodger franchise — Adult suffrage — Our franchise 
 system — Its extensions — Women suffrage — Plural voting — One 
 vote, one value — The need for redistribution — Methods of 
 representation —The second ballot - The alternative vote — The 
 cumulative vote — Proportional representation — The list system 
 — The transferable vote. Argument* for and against women's 
 suffrage — Plural voting — Proportional representation. Biblio- 
 graphy. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Irish Home Kule Question , . . 259 
 
 The Liberal argument for British electors— Half measures 
 useless for this purpose — What is meant by Home Rule — The 
 doctrine of nationality— A qualified acceptance — False analo- 
 gies — Separation must be faced — Unionist policy not negative 
 — Land reform and development — Nationalist attitude towards 
 self-help — The danger of extremer measures — The Unionist 
 minority — The religious aspect — The fear of intolerance — The 
 question of safeguards — Home Rule inopportune. Arguments 
 for and against Home Rule. Bibliography.
 
 PAGE 
 
 X CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB X 
 The Education Question . . . • 283 
 
 The dual system and the Act of 1870— The need for legislation 
 —The Act of 1902— The position of voluntary schools— Noncon- 
 formist opposition — Popular control — Endowment of sectarian 
 teaching— Tests for teachers— The Birrell Bill 1906— Other 
 attempts — Mr. Runciman's Bill — The need for a settlement — 
 Parents' rights. Arguments for and against Denominational 
 and Undenominational Education. Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Disestablishment and Disendowment . 304 
 
 Disestablishment — Hostility to the Church — The "breeches 
 pocket " argument — The secular solution — The complaint of 
 inequality — The obligations of Establishment — The "Free" 
 Churches — Disendowment the real question — The claim of 
 "national property" — The particular case of Wales— The 
 "majority" argument — The "alien" Church — The Irish 
 analogy — An advancing Church. Arguments for and against 
 Disestablishment and Endowment. Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Finance and Taxation ..... 320 
 
 The revenue tariff — The " higher prices" objection — Taxation 
 of necessities — Basis of taxation too narrow- -Liquor licences — 
 Revenge not revenue — Taxation of capital — Its effects on in- 
 dustry — Income tax— The land taxes— Unearned increment — 
 Site value — Undeveloped land duty — Effect on housing and 
 building — Nationalisation the objective— The problem of local 
 finance — National services paid for locally— " Assigned re- 
 venues" — Recent developments— The pressure of "efficiency." 
 Arguments for and against our financial system — Land taxes — 
 Taxation of mining royalties. Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Socialism ....... 345 
 
 Revolutionary Socialism— The evolutionary Socialist— Modem 
 
 tendencies towards Socialism— The weapon of class prejudice 
 
 Radicals and Socialism— The triumph of Fabianism The
 
 CONTENTS xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lloyd George Budget — Socialism and social reform — Economio 
 Liberalism — The Labour Party — The capture of the trades 
 unions— The Osborne judgment — The Liberal solution — A 
 question of public policy. Arguments for and against the 
 Osborne Judgment. Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Social Reform ...... 363 
 
 What are measures of — Unionists and — Future Unionist policy 
 of — The influence of Socialism — Old Age Pensions — Poor Law 
 Reform — The Minority Report — Labour conditions— An eight 
 hours day — The minimum wage — Some difficulties — Distress 
 from want of employment — Unemployment and insurance — 
 Obstacles to insurance — Sick and invalidity insurance — 
 Friendly societies — Defects of Mr. George's scheme — Small 
 provision for invalidity — Unnecessary insurance — Omissions — 
 Competitive Insurance— Cost of social reform. Arguments for 
 and against Right to Work Bill— An Eight Hours Day— A 
 Minimum Wage— Strikes. Bibliography. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Rural Land Reform ..... 390 
 
 Rural depopulation— Our foreign food supply— Tenancy v. 
 ownership — The advantages of tenancy — "The magic of 
 property" — The objections to tenancy — The burdens of 
 ownership — Assistance for purchasers — Security for advances — 
 The objection to State credit — National Land Banks — Argu- 
 iiuntc for and against an ownership system of small holdings. 
 Bibliography. 
 
 Index ....... 405
 
 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE NAVY 
 
 TT/'ORDS are wasted in demonstraliog that the Navy is 
 T Y the first line of defence, that the country looks primarily 
 to its battleships for its security, and it must never be for- 
 gotten that if our Navy fortunately is still, though unfortunately 
 no longer much, stronger than that of any other Continental 
 Power, it has duties to perform which fall to the lot of no 
 other fleet. Our insular position, thoujzh no doubt it adds to 
 our security, is in at least one important respect a disadvan- 
 tage, inasmuch as food supplies can only reach us overseas, so 
 that our battleships have necessarily to keep open the ccean 
 highways, as well as to provide for the safety of British 
 merchantmen and British possessions all over the world. 
 
 Two-Power Standard. 
 
 It is now held by the Liberal Party that the numerical 
 calculation for the two-Power standard, which was connect 
 when there were no fleets outside European waters to consider, 
 has ceased to be applicable to present conditions. Fleets have 
 now developed in different countries remote from Europe 
 which give a different value to the two-Power standard. 
 Though that standard is held to apply still to any two 
 European Powers, a caveat is now entered to the effect that 
 we need only take into consideration the joint strength of 
 any two Powers which are likely to combiue, and, of course, 
 there is so much truth in this contention that two Powers 
 thousands of miles apart could not combine against us with 
 
 'J 1
 
 2 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 a total strength equal to that of two Powers comparatively 
 near our shores. 
 
 It is strange that the English people seem slow to realise 
 the fact that the greatness of nations depends upon their 
 progress in armaments, that ruin hangs over a people whose 
 wealth and luxury stand in inverse ratio to their military 
 strength, and that though the power of Great Britain is now 
 at its zenith, its inhabitants include a very large proportion 
 of different foreign peoples, who exercise their share of political 
 control, but are without that love of the country of their 
 adoption, which engenders true patriotism. 
 
 "Time, and the ocean and some fostering star 
 In high cabal have made us what we are ; " 
 
 but of these three factors the second only is, to any extent, 
 under our control, and if we neglect it we have no assurance, 
 as regards the other two, of their continued assistance. 
 
 National expenditure must come before that incuiTed on 
 social reform, and there is more cause to apprehend oblivion 
 of this vital truth in democracies than in monarchies, for the 
 former seem specially prone to forget that nations are under 
 a necessity to exist, which is superior to considerations of 
 improved conditions of existence. 
 
 Estimates, 1911-12. 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty, anticipating the criticism 
 that his estimates were for 44, and Germany's for 22, millions,* 
 pointed out that the estimates of the two countries could not 
 be rightly compared, as in Germany suras which appeared in 
 our Naval, were found in their Civil, Estimates, while we, unlike 
 the Germans, have to pay heavily for maintaining the voluntary 
 system, and keeping up a fleet in foreign waters. He held 
 that in the spring of 1914 Great Britain would have, including 
 the programme of 1911-12, not less than thirty battleships 
 and cruisers of the most powerful modern type. 
 
 It is, however, so far as the writer can ascertain from the 
 available information, the case that in the spring of 1914 we 
 • Official Debates, March 13, 1911.
 
 THE NAVY 3 
 
 shall have twenty-nine ships of the Dreadnought and super- 
 Dreadnought type in European waters, while the Triple 
 Alliance will have precisely the same number, and that the 
 ratification of the Declaration of London would make the pro- 
 vision of more fast cruisers necessary, for it is clear from the 
 Declaration, that it is the intention of foreign Powers to arm 
 merchant vessels, and allow them to prey on the commerce of 
 an enemy. In fact, the new cruiser programme is considered 
 by all naval experts to be insuf^cient. 
 
 It is now said to be sufficient that we should maintain the 
 Navy at twice the strength of that of the next strongest 
 European Power, but there seems little chance indeed under 
 existing circumstances that we shall be able to maintain our 
 strength at double that of Germany, without taking into account 
 the fleets of her two allies. 
 
 As to the additions to our annual estimates, our increase in 
 wealth and population, even without German competition, 
 would demand them ; and while our prosperity and possessions 
 have increased enormously, the National Debt is less by 
 124 millions than that cheerfully borne half a century ago by 
 a far smaller population. 
 
 Of the £44,3'J2,500 provided by the Estimates for 1911-12, 
 £15,063,000 is devoted to new construction, a vote higher by 
 £3,000,000 than that allotted for the same purpose in the 
 preceding year. 
 
 The figures in themselves are large, but in " 1801 the 
 British Navy was superior to the combined naval forces of 
 all Europe." * 
 
 Great Britain and Germany. 
 
 Few thinking men can doubt that colHsion is sooner or later 
 inevitable between Great Britain, which claims, and at present 
 possesses, dominion of the seas, and the German Empire, the 
 redundant population of which is shut out by our Navy from 
 all the most desirable parts of the earth. The ultimate 
 struggle is as inevitable as was that between Spain and 
 Britain, and that between Germany and France. Who indeed 
 
 • Cftptain Mahan's " laflueuce of Sea Power on the French Re^'olution."
 
 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 can believe that we are safe but one blind to the history 
 of Prussia ?— Prussia, which crushed Denmark, humiliated 
 Austria, overthrew France, and is now preparing to fight 
 England on the sea. As the veteran Frederic Harrison wrote : — 
 
 " How hollow is all talk about industrial reorganisation until we have 
 secured our country against a catastrophe that would involve untold 
 destitution and misery on the people in the mass — which would paralyse 
 industry and raise food to famine prices, whilst closing our factories and 
 our yards ! How idle are fine words about Retrenchment, Peace, and 
 Brotherhood, whilst we lie open to the risk of unutterable ruin, to a 
 deadly fight for national existence, and to war in its most destructive and 
 most cruel form! " 
 
 Comparison of Fleets. 
 
 A useful conspectus of the chief navies of the world is 
 afforded by the Annual Parliamentary paper known as the 
 
 Summary of Figures given in the Dilke Return. 
 
 
 d 
 
 9 
 O 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 d 
 
 1 
 
 >> 
 
 2 
 
 If 
 5» 
 
 P 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 •S 
 
 Ships BmLT. 
 
 Battleships 
 
 Arm. C. D. Vessels 
 
 Armoured Cruisers 
 
 63 
 
 38 
 
 18 
 
 86 
 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 177 
 
 no 
 
 G:2 
 
 lu 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 23 
 
 12 
 
 17 
 7 
 
 20 
 5 
 5 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 63 
 
 191 
 
 58 
 
 8 
 1 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 23 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 7 
 2 
 2 
 
 4 
 97 
 44 
 30 
 
 7 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 32 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 24 
 
 11 
 8 
 
 1 
 92 
 80 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 3 
 6 
 
 17 
 ? 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 11 
 
 5 
 23 
 82 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 30 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 73 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 2 
 
 29 
 9 
 
 15 
 3 
 
 16 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 36 
 28 
 
 18 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 17 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 Protected Cruisers, I. ... 
 
 n. ... 
 III. ... 
 
 Unprotected Cruisers 
 
 Scouts 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 G 
 
 6 
 
 Torpedo Vessels 
 
 4 
 
 T.B. Destroyers 
 
 67 
 
 Torpedo Boats 
 
 Submarines 
 
 67 
 9 
 
 Ships Building. 
 
 Battleships 
 
 Armd. Cruisers 
 
 Protected Cruisers, II. ... 
 
 Unprotected Cruisera 
 
 Scouts 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 Submari!:e Depdt Ship .. 
 T.B. Destroyers 
 
 1 
 4 
 
 Torpedo Boats 
 
 Submarines 

 
 THE NAVY 5 
 
 Dilke Return. The last * issue of May, 1911, shows all the 
 battleships and armoured cruisers not over twenty years of age 
 on March 31st of that year, and in the case of other classes of 
 ships, those which still retain their armaments and are not 
 being sold for the scrap-heap. It is, however, incomplete as 
 regards ships under construction, and does not exhibit 
 uniformity of treatment in respect of all Powers. 
 
 It appears from the figures in the table on the preceding 
 page that as regards the two- Power standard our position 
 remains much what it previously was, viz., 53 battleships 
 built for this country, and 61 for Germany and the United 
 States combined. Meanwhile nothing is being done to reduce 
 the difference in building which obtained last year. Nine 
 battleships were being built for us against 12 for Germany 
 and the United States, the corresponding figures for the 
 present year being 10 and 15. With the addition of armoured 
 cruisers, however, the statement is somewhat more satisfactory 
 to Great Britain, though even in that case we are relatively 
 two ships short as compared with the figures of last year, and 
 should be four short, but for the Colonial armoured cruisers. 
 
 If both battleships and armoured cruisers are counted — and 
 several of the latter are quite as effective in the fighting line as 
 many of the former — the Conqueror, launched in May, 1911, is 
 the twentieth ship of the Dreadnought class to take the water. 
 The tale of these ships now stands : 
 
 Ships Completed. — Dreadnought ; three Bellerophons ; three 
 St. Vincents ; Neptune ; three Invincibles ; Indefatigable. 
 Twelve ships completed. 
 
 Ships Launched. — Colossus and Hercules (now undergoing 
 trials), Orion (launched August 20, 1910), Conqueror (launched 
 May 1, 1911), Monarch (launched March 30, 1911), and 
 Thunderer (launched February 1, 1911) ; Lion (launched 
 August 6, 1910), Princess Boyal (launched April 29, 1911). 
 Eight ships launched. 
 
 Ships Building. — King George V. and Centurion (laid down 
 January 16, 1911), Ajax (laid down February 27, 1911), 
 Audacious (laid down March 23, 1911), Qaeen Mary (laid down 
 
 • U2 of 1911.
 
 6 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 March 6, 1911). Australia and Neiv Zealand, building for the 
 Dominions, laid down June, 1910. Seven ships on the stocks. 
 
 Ships Projected. — Five large armoured ships to be built 
 under the 1911-12 Estimates. Of these, two will be built in 
 the Royal Dockyards and three by contract. None of the five 
 will be laid down till towards the close of the financial year. 
 
 The Conqueror has three sisters : the Orion, belonging to the 
 first four ships of the 1909 programme, and the Monarch and 
 Thunderer, which, like herself, belong to the four " conditional 
 ships" of that year. The fourth "conditional ship" is the 
 Princess Royal, launched in April, 1911. The dimensions of 
 these ships have not yet been officially published, but it is 
 known that the displacement will be a little more than 22,500 
 tons, the length between perpendiculars 525 ft., the i.h.p. 
 27,000, and the speed 21 knots. The armament consists of 
 five pairs of 13-5-in. guns, all placed on the centre Une of the 
 ship, together with twenty-four 4-in. guns. Of the heavy guns, 
 four will fire directly ahead and four directly astern, while all 
 ten will be available on either broadside. The torpedo equip- 
 ment is of the 21-in. pattern, and the maximum thickness of the 
 armour belt is 12 in. 
 
 The official date for the completion of these " conditional 
 ships " is March 31, 1912, but it appears at present improbable 
 that they will be finished by that date, and large allotments 
 have to be made for them in 1912-13. The fact seems to be 
 that the Government put off till the latest possible moment the 
 placing of the orders for these ships. It was impossible to deny 
 that they wei*e necessary, but it was pleasing to the Little 
 Navy group that their actual construction should be postponed. 
 Following upon this delay came the strike in the shipbuilding 
 trade in the autumn of 1910, and the net result is that the 
 ships will not be ready for sea by the time indicated, unless the 
 contractors make amends by their expedition for the delays of 
 the administration. 
 
 From answers given by the First Lord of the Admiralty in 
 the House of Commons in the Session of 1911,* it appears that 
 
 * First Lord of the Admiralty in answer to Mr. Chiozza Money, March 
 13, 1911.
 
 THE NAVY 7 
 
 the aggregate expenditure on new naval construction, including 
 armaments, between 1908-9 and 1910-11 was. Great Britain, 
 £34,531,000, and Germany, £29,365,000, and the increase in 
 naval personnel in the year 1910-11 as compared with 1904-5, 
 510 for England and 19,245 for Germany ; that the German 
 Naval Law of 1900 was amended in 1906 to allow of an increase 
 of six large cruisers, and in 1908 for four extra battleships, at 
 a total extra cost of £9,000,000 ; that our own net naval expen- 
 diture was £347,000 less in 1910-11 than it was in 1904-5 ; and 
 that the increase per cent, in expenditure on new naval con- 
 struction between the years 1904-5 and 1910-11 was, United 
 Kingdom 16 and Germany 166 per cent. In answer to Mr. 
 Ashley, Mr. McKenna said that on March 31,1911, Great Britain 
 had under construction fourteen and Germany twelve armoured 
 ships. Mr. McKenna further said that on March 31, 1904, 
 Great Britain had thirty completed battleships of, and over, 
 10,000 tons, and not more than ten years of age, as against 
 Germany's ten, and that the corresponding figures on March 
 31, 1911, were twenty-four and eighteen. There is food for 
 thought in these official figures, and in Germany itself con- 
 siderable doubt exists as to what i-eally is the programme 
 of cruiser construction for the years still covered by the Nav^^ 
 Law, or how that law should bo " interpreted " in this behalf.'"' 
 
 If the latest return, of which the figures are given above, be 
 compared with that of 1904, the last year of the pre- 
 Dreadnought epoch, it will be seen that our superiority over 
 Germany has been reduced under every head of the account. 
 
 On the last day of the official year 1903-4 in completed 
 battleships we had fifty-five to thirty for Germany. Now the 
 figures are fifty-three to thirty-two, but of ships under ten 
 years of age in this class, in 1904 we had twenty-nine to 
 Germany's ten, while in 1911 we have thirty-five to Germany's 
 twenty-two. f 
 
 * Germany has 17, Great Britain IG, battleships in Home waters, and 
 Great Britain G in her Atlantic fleet, which may be as far oS as Gibraltar. 
 Great Britain maintains 28 battleships in full commission iu 1911 as 
 against 33 in 1904. Mr. Churchill, in answer to Mr. Ashley, House of 
 Commons, November 23, 1911. 
 
 t Dilke Returns, 136 (1904) aad 142 (1911).
 
 8 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 In ships under construction in 1904 we had ten to Ger- 
 many's six, and in 1911 we have tea to nine in Germany. In 
 armoured cruisers the comparisoa is twenty-eight to four in 
 1904, against thirty-eight to ten now, so that even here the 
 proportion in our favour has been reduced. Moreover, wo 
 were, seven years ago, building thirteen armoured cruisers to 
 Germany's two, the present proportion being five to three, and 
 three of our nine Dreadnought cruisers, built and building, are 
 to serve in the Pacific, so that only six remain for service in 
 the North Sea, which has now become the waters of concen- 
 tration. 
 
 As regards protected cruisers, we have fallen in the time 
 selected for comparison from a superiority of nearly five 
 to one to a superiority of two to one, but if an age imit of 
 twelve years be exacted, the Germans in this class had ctually 
 double the number we possessed on March 31, 1911, nd this 
 though our merchant marine is over four times the size of that 
 of Germany, and our battleships, being more numerous in the 
 larger classes, require more cruisers as auxiliaries. 
 
 Lastly, in destroyers, in 1904 we had 124 to Germany's 37, 
 while in the last return the figures are 176 to 92, a margin 
 which might be sufldcient, but for the fact, often advanced by 
 Admiral Lord Charles Beresford in and out of the House of 
 Commons, that quite a large proportion of our destroyers are 
 obsolete and useless. If in this case also the ten-year limit be 
 applied our superiority is very small. 
 
 Comparison of Docks. 
 
 Germany undoubtedly is ahead of us in the number of 
 docks she possesses capable of accommodating ships of 
 the Dreadnought class, the importance of which, considerable 
 enough in time of peace, is of extraordinary magnitude 
 in case of war. 
 
 The German Navy, upon the authority of a bulletin of the 
 German Navy League, which is apparently correct in its facts, 
 possesses five complete di-y docks capable of taking the largest 
 vessels— two at Kiel and three at Wilhelmshaven. A floating 
 dock of a capacity of 40,000 tons is uuder construction at the
 
 THE NAVY 9 
 
 Howaldt Works at Kiel. In addition to these Admiralty 
 docks there are the privately owned " Kaiser Dock " at Bremer- 
 haven, and the Blohm and Voss 35, 000-ton floating dock at 
 Hamburg. There are also under construction a second dock 
 at Bremerhaven and a 35,000-ton floating dock at the new 
 Vulcan works at Hamburg. 
 
 The British Navy possesses in home waters only one single 
 war harbour, at Devonport, with adequate docking facilities 
 for Dreadnoughts — though Devonport has three large docks. 
 The only other Admiralty dock capable of taking a Dread- 
 nought is at Portsmouth. True, there are seven private docks, 
 but, with the single exception of Hebburn, on the East Coast, 
 all lie in the industrial and navigation centres of the north, so 
 that the Channel, and especially the East Coast, are compara- 
 tively denuded of docks. Two 32,000-ton floating docks are, how- 
 ever, building for the Government — one at Portsmouth and one 
 at Sheerness — and four dry docks (Haulbowliue, Portsmouth, 
 and two at Rosyth on the East Coast), while a large dry dock is 
 planned at the mouth of the Humber. 
 
 Personnel. 
 
 Another by no means unimportant consideration is the 
 personnel of the two fleets. 
 
 The increase in the five years 1901-5 to 1909-10 was 
 upwards of 15,000 in Germany and the United States, and 
 nearly 5,000 in France, while in Great Britain there was 
 actually a decrease of nearly 2,500 men. 
 
 Political Seamanship. 
 
 The belief that the Government does not accept the judg- 
 ment of the Sea Lords, but endeavours to whittle away their 
 programme, is widespread, and the public will not readily 
 forget the disclosures of Mr. Asquith* and Sir Edward Grey,f 
 following so soon upon Lord Fisher's statement at the 
 Mansion House, that they might sleep soundly in their beds at 
 
 • House of Commons, Navy Estimates, March 16, 1909, pp. 955-963. 
 t House of Commons, Naval Policy, Vote of Censure, ]March 29, 1909, 
 pp. 53-70.
 
 10 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 night. At any rate, there is a consensus of opinion that if 
 there be such a person as a political Sea Lord,' he should " be 
 cast out hke an abominable branch." As to the Government, 
 the pronouncements of the Prime Minister, the Foreign 
 Secretary, and the First Lord of the Admiralty have been 
 suitable to the high and responsible positions they hold, but 
 it would be affectation to ignore the fact that besides the 
 Civil Lord's speech, to which reference is made below, 
 disquieting and unjustifiable speeches are delivered without 
 any repudiation on the part of their superiors by subordinate 
 members of the administration. 
 
 The Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Lambert, in November, 
 1910, said that in our pre-Dreadnought fleet, carrying 152 
 12-in. guns against 40 11-in. guns of the German pre- 
 Dreadnought fleet, we had an incomparably stronger factor 
 than Germany, that "pre-Dreadnought ships were worthy 
 to stand in the battle line," and that he wished to 
 banish for ever the panicmonger and the politician. Among 
 the first class he would abolish his own Prime Minister and 
 Foreign Secretary, who honestly informed the country how 
 desperately serious the situation was, and among the 
 politicians he himself would have to go, for his statement 
 as to the value of the pre-Dreadnought fleet in the fighting 
 line facing a German Dreadnought fleet in the North Sea 
 was a piece of pure politics, and calculated to mislead upon 
 a vital issue ! 
 
 No serious student disputes the fact that the pre-Dread- 
 nought fleet is rapidly becoming, and even in a year or two 
 will have become, obsolete. 
 
 The Germans, with the completion of the three Dread- 
 noughts of 1911, will have also completed the substitution of 
 ships of that class for the older types of battleships through- 
 out their high sea fleet, both squadrons of which — one at 
 Wilhelmshaven and another at Kiel, both equally available 
 for the North Sea and the Baltic — will consist entirely of 
 Dreadnoughts. The widening of the canal at Kiel, to be 
 completed next year, is another fact which must not be over- 
 looked.
 
 THE NAVY 11 
 
 SUBOBDINATE MINISTERS, LABOUR PaRTY AND 
 
 Little Navy. 
 
 Again, the Under-Secretary for the Home Department, 
 forsaking his last, said that, " Considering the ships in the 
 two navies, any criticism should be on account of our exces- 
 sive strength, rather than on account of our weakness; " and 
 the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies — now of War — 
 declared at Liverpool that "if war come and the Dreadnoughts 
 fight and we get the worst of it, there are other war vessels 
 in the Navy to be taken into account. The man who fears for 
 his country must have forgotten that we have again and again 
 shown that we can fight even in a numerical inferiority." 
 Such utterances as these, though wholly contrary to those 
 of the party leaders in the Government and to the facts of 
 the situation, are most mischievous when they pass without 
 comment or rebuke. Again, Mr. Asquith's Government has 
 paid the utmost deference to the Labour Party, and Mr. Keir 
 Hardie, its eiewhile leader, who, in that capacity at any rate, 
 must be regarded as a responsible politician, has actually 
 stated on the platform " that no sane German, no responsible 
 authority in Germany dreamt for a moment of the possibility 
 of invading Great Britain. The Labour Party's representatives, 
 ' who wore then on the point of going to Germany ' meant to 
 say to their comrades and co-workers, ' You and we have no 
 quarrel ; we belong to the same class and have the same 
 interests ; let us bind ourselves together not to fight each 
 other, but to fight the common enemy, the capitalist system.' " 
 At the same time the Labour Leader scoSed at the " Liberalism 
 of the Asquiths, the Greys, the Haldanes, and McKeunas," 
 and wrote that " the Labour Party would, it hoped, strongly 
 oppose the Naval Estimates." Here we have the Government, 
 when proposing to do its duty by the country, opposed by its 
 own subordinate ministers, and by supporters of that class, which 
 it has been specially solicitous to please. And in neither case 
 has a word of repudiation escaped the lips of a single one of 
 the leaders. A perplexed public may well wonder which is the 
 really authoritative utterance.
 
 12 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Mr. Barnes, at the time leader of the Labour Party, after a 
 visit with an official delegation of his friends to Germany, said 
 upon his return "that the idea of war between the two 
 countries simply excited hilarity ! " But within a few weeks 
 of this sapient utterance the German National Labour leader, 
 Herr Basserman, said in the Reichstag that " Germany must 
 go on and follow England, or her Navy would be absolutely 
 outclassed." 
 
 Navy and Employment. 
 
 It might have been expected that Labour Members of 
 ParUament would remember that the million spent on a 
 battleship gives active employment to a hundred industries 
 and tens of thousands of workmen, and in point of fact in 
 dockyard constituencies individually they heartily recognise 
 that which collectively they strenuously deny. 
 
 The Germans do not hesitate to avail themselves of periods 
 of economic depression for pressing on ship-building, in order 
 to obtain better terms for Government, and in order to 
 prevent the dismissal of hands owing to want of orders. 
 
 One of the leaders of the German Socialists, Herr Sudekum, 
 lately said in the Reichstag : — 
 
 "Anybody who really knew England know that English anxiety, 
 although it might be exaggerated, was perfectly genuine. The English 
 point of view was quite iutclligiblc. Germany's position and Germany's 
 minute colonial possessions did not justify her largo naval expenditure, 
 from which it could only be inferred that German armaments were 
 directed against England. England, consequently, endeavoured to secure 
 herself as far as possible, and so Germany supplied the reactionaries in 
 England with a pretext for the perpetual increase of the Navy. They 
 would do well to note that hand in hand with the fear about Germany 
 went Protection. If German armaments produced the return of a Con- 
 servative Government, the first result would be a protective tariff. 
 That would reduce the Gorman Protectionists of to-day to despair, 
 because there was no doubt that Protection was tolerable only so long 
 as there remained in the world at least one great Free Trade country. 
 If all countries without exception went over to Protection on a high 
 scale, then Protection would lose its meaning." 
 
 Nor was even M. Monis, the successor of the great Prime 
 Minister of France, M. Briand, though the Socialists had
 
 THE NAVY 13 
 
 placed him in power, willing to be misunderstood on this 
 all-important subject. 
 
 French Government and Little Navy. 
 
 On taking ofi&ce in March, 1911, in addressing the Chamber, 
 
 he said : — 
 
 "Animated by the same sentiments which inspire the Governments 
 of the other Powers, and, like them, seeing in a strong military 
 establishment one of the essential guarantees of peace, we shall make 
 our forces on land and sea the subject of our peculiar solicitude." 
 
 The fact is, of course, that no Power which is to hold her 
 own in Europe, and least of all England, can afford to neglect 
 her Navy. Nor should the Socialists, altruists, and Eadicals 
 forget that the most powerful Navy in the world, in the 
 hands of the most peace-loving nation in the world, is the 
 greatest power for peace in the world, and to reduce the standard 
 of that Navy below what the responsible advisers of the 
 Government consider necessary for the defence of our country, 
 would be a blow struck at the cause of peace, at the price of 
 food, at the prosperity of our trade and commerce, if not at 
 the very existence of Great Britain. 
 
 Dominions. 
 
 Colonial statesmen did not shut their eyes to the facts. Mr, 
 Borden, now Premier and lately leader of the Opposition in 
 the Canadian Parliament, adversely criticised the defence 
 proposals of Sir Wilfrid Laurior's Government, pointing 
 out that the Admiralty experts at the Defence Confer- 
 ence had recommended the establishment of fleet units by 
 the great Dominions. Australia, with a population 2,000,000 
 less than Canada, had accepted this recommendation, while 
 New Zealand had undertaken to furnish one Dreadnought. 
 The Canadian Government, however, only proposed to create 
 a fleet consisting of four ships of the Bristol type, one of 
 the Boadicea type, and six destroyers, to be divided between 
 the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, at a cost to Canada of 
 £2,338,000. There was no chance of the Canadian Navy
 
 14 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 being effective within fifteen years. But the crisis would come 
 within five— probably within three— years. Great Britain, 
 through her ablest and wisest sons, had said within the past 
 few months that the hour of peril was fast approaching. Mr. 
 Borden said the Germans were supreme on land, and now 
 they boldly challenged British supremacy on the ocean. He 
 insisted that Germany's programme was expressly directed 
 against Great Britain, citing in proof of his statement the 
 following extract from the German Naval Bill of 1900 : " Ger- 
 many must possess a battle fleet so strong that a war with her 
 would, even for the greatest naval Power, be accompanied with 
 such dangers as would render that Power's position doubtful." 
 Germany, the dominant miliiary Power upon land beyond all 
 challenge, would not be satisfied until she had successfully 
 wrested the control of the seas from Great Britain. That 
 meant either the dismemberment of the Empire or its relega- 
 tion to a condition of inferioi-ity which would lead to its early 
 dissolution. Mr. Borden has now rejected Sir W. Laurier's 
 scheme, and intends to make proposals " useful alike to 
 Canada and the Empire," to be adopted after consulting the 
 Canadian electorate. 
 
 Invasion. 
 
 The question whether an invasion of England is feasible has 
 naturally much occupied naval and military experts. It is 
 assumed on behalf of the supporters of the position of the 
 present Govei'nment, that, to take things at their worst, a 
 sufficient force is available in England to defeat 70,000 picked 
 foreign troops at a time when our Regular Army is abroad and 
 the Special Reserve has been largely depleted in order to fill 
 its ranks for active service, and to stiffen the weak garrisons at 
 Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Colombo, Singapore, and Hongkong. 
 But it would take more than 150,000 Territorials to deal with 
 an invading army of half that number, and more than remain 
 out of the 270,000 Territorials we have would be required for 
 garrison duty and for local defences. 
 
 The object of the German invaders must be to obtain for a 
 limited period, two or three days, the local command of a
 
 THE NAVY 15 
 
 portion of the North Sea sufficient in area for the operations at 
 the moment in hand, and it is by no means certain that Great 
 Britain can count on having double the number of the enemy's 
 fleet at such a point at the psychological moment, for there are 
 allies available and v^ithin reach for Germany. Britain's naval 
 forces may well be scattered and unavailable without fatal 
 delay ; and in no long time her numerical superiority over a 
 Triple Alliance fleet in first-class battleships will have dis- 
 appeared. This is obvious, for a two-keels-to-one policy 
 cannot be maintained if our relative expenditure on con- 
 struction and armament and that of the Germans continues 
 at the rate of £34,500,000 to £29,500,000, which obtain d 
 etweon 1908-9 and 1910-11. 
 Why, too, should it be assumed that while we shall be well 
 posted as to the enemy's plans he will be without infor- 
 mation regarding our own positions and intentions ? Why 
 ignore the fact that the Germans have fast steamers of upwards 
 of 16,000 tons in which to transport troops, and could make 
 a short crossing while the battle fleets were engaged ? Why 
 rely on our coast submarines even in water in which they 
 cannot operate ? Why ignore the probable action of the 
 powerful German Navy, forget the surprise at Port Arthur, 
 and pretend oblivion of the enormous advantage of the initia- 
 tive which will rest with any invader, but never with us, how- 
 ever imperative for our preservation, with the British democracy 
 in its present temper? Why should we conceal the fact that 
 in our own naval manoeuvres the weaker attacking fleets have 
 often been successful ? 
 
 Germany and Austria. 
 
 How is it possible to forget that Germany's friends are 
 bound to her by a firm alliance, ours by an Entente as senti- 
 mental in character as our own domestic policy, and why not 
 acknowledge that the word supremacy hardly applies at 
 present to our position at sea, and that we cannot maintain 
 such supremacy as we have in the Pacific, Atlantic, and 
 Mediterranean without leaving unprotected the British Isles, 
 whose inhabitants are not, and refuse to be, trained to arms,
 
 16 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 while vote-seeking politicians assure them that they are safe 
 without making the sacrifices which other countries wilhngly 
 suffer to ensure safety ? 
 
 It is, moreover, clear that in this country the importance of 
 the Austrian alliance to Germany is hardly appreciated. At 
 the close of 1912 Austria will have seven of the most powerful 
 battleships in the world, and six of older pattern, which would 
 dominate the coast of Italy, and British possessions in 
 Cyprus, Malta, Egypt, and the Suez Canal, if ever we were 
 again forced to abandon the Mediterranean. Already the 
 Austrian Mediterranean fleet is not much inferior to our own 
 in the inland sea, which consists of six battleships, four 
 armoured cruisers, and ele-^en destroyers of antiquated type. 
 The thirteen Austrian ships with their flotillas of destroyers 
 and torpedo-boats will practically form a squadron of the 
 German armada, and would have nothing to fear from France 
 so long as the German is superior to the French army. The 
 Italian coast-line would be at the mercy of the German- 
 Austrian combination, and the dual monarchy could make 
 her own terms in the Near East. The Austrians are good 
 seamen, their naval personnel can be extended to 30,000 men, 
 and their ships and their organisation are all in first-rate 
 order. 
 
 The theory that Britain cannot be invaded, though com- 
 fortable and convenient to ministers who depend on Irish, 
 Socialist, and Labour votes, found no favour with our greatest 
 statesmen. After the surrender of Cornwallis, Pitt said on 
 February 17, 1783, " I am sorry to say that we discovered 
 the fabric of our naval superiority to be false and baseless " ; 
 and in 1786 he said, " The opinion of the sea officers was that 
 in certain circumstances it was possible for the enemy to 
 land." On July 22, 1803, after a succession of great naval 
 victories, he declared that " it is admitted that our Navy, great 
 and powerful as it is, cannot be relied on with absolute cer- 
 tainty to prevent an invasion." This was when our Navy 
 was equal to the combined navies of all Europe ! * Again, the 
 
 • Captain Mahan's " Influence of Sea Power on the Fr-^nch Revolu- 
 tion."
 
 THE NAVY 17 
 
 late Lord Goschen declared in the House of Lords in July, 
 1905, that he "declined altogether to give a guarantee against 
 invasion because there vpas so much of the element of the 
 unforeseen, which could not be left out of consideration in a 
 matter of this supreme importance " ; and on November 23, 
 1908, Lord Crewe said in the House of Lords that " it was 
 impossible to announce an actual guarantee against the landing 
 on these shores of an invading force." 
 
 We in England, who are lulled into supine ease by assertions 
 that invasion is impossible, might learn something from 
 General Lee's calculation that Japan could land 300,000 men 
 on the Californian coast in twenty-two days. 
 
 Pitt, who would have been dumfounded could he have 
 seen a situation like the present in England, considered the 
 duty which devolved upon a British Minister to be " to array 
 the loyal, sober-minded, and the good in defence of the 
 venerable constitution of the British monarchy " ;'^' but though 
 it is well known that this country needs 600,000 Territorials 
 for a second line, unless the Navy, and indeed the Kegular 
 Army, are to be diverted in war-time from their legitimate 
 duties, thera is apparently no prospect of a force of these 
 dimensions being raised. 
 
 It has been estimated by Dr. Eiesser that the cost of a land 
 war to Germany for three million men under arms would be 
 £900,000 a day, aud as the greatest financial Power besides 
 ourselves, France, is our own friend, if not ally, a short, sharp 
 and decisive struggle is necessary for the Germans, to whom 
 a long dragging war is impracticable, because the nation's 
 existence depends on the uninterrupted activities of commerce 
 aud industry.! 
 
 England is not only Germany's greatest rival, but she alone, 
 if not crushed in the beginning by a surprise at sea, has the 
 power to force her enemy to fight the long-drawn war so 
 dreaded by German strategists. 
 
 The power of England to bring a contest to an end would 
 be immensely impaked by the proposed renunciation of the 
 
 * Epitaph in Guildhall. 
 
 t " Der Kreig iu der Gogenwart," Deutsche Rundschau, January, 1909. 
 
 3
 
 18 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 right of capture at sea. Captain Mahan has pointed out in a 
 recent letter to The Times that the system, which it is now 
 proposed to abandon, enables a belligerent nation to bring 
 almost decisive pressure to bear on an enemy by completely 
 disorganising the conditions of business. 
 
 "To say," he write.s, "that the greatness and intricacy of modern 
 industrial and commercial development will cause the pressure hereafter 
 to be greater is reasonably probable, and may safely be prophesied. 
 
 " To bring the pressure of war to bear upon the whole population, and 
 not merely upon the armies in the field, is the very spirit of modern 
 warfare. It may safely be asserted to be least inhuman of all the 
 inevitable inhumanities of war, because the danger of it deters from war ; 
 and because, while hostilities are proceeding, it tends most to make the 
 war unpopular and so to hasten peace. 
 
 " As a matter of European politics, the right of maritime capture is the 
 principal, if not the only, strong weapon of offence posset-sod by Great 
 Britain against the nations in arms of the Continent." 
 
 It was perhaps to be expected in these circumstances that 
 continual pressure would be, as it is, exercised by extreuii 
 Radicals and Socialists to induce England to consent I 
 indeed to lead the movement for, the abolition of this righi, 
 to her own exceeding great loss and detriment. 
 
 Russia and Japan. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone in 1878 said that the strength of England 
 would not be found in alhances with great military Powers, 
 but in the efficiency and supremacy of her Navy — " a Navy as 
 powerful as the navies of all Europe." 
 
 While it must be admitted that this ideal is no longer 
 capable of realisation, the great lesson of the Russo-Japanese 
 war is the appalling risk to an island Power of an inadequate 
 margin in battleships. In three days the Japanese lost a third 
 of their battleship strength owing to the operation of the 
 enemy's mines, and had the Russians possessed a good naval 
 commander the issue of the war might have been different 
 in the end. Twice during this fateful struggle the issue of 
 battle hung upon a lucky shot, and the loss to Japan from the 
 depredations of the Vladivostock cruisers was greater than 
 would have beeu the cost of the additional battleship^ requii-ed
 
 THE NAVY 19 
 
 to sink or put them out of action early in the war. But 
 Eussia, which did not suffer the loss of a square mile of her 
 territory, far less the dismemberment of her empire, as the 
 result of defeat, has now adopted, out of her comparative 
 poverty, a battleship building programme of £30,000,000, 
 providing for eight Dreadnoughts in addition to those to be 
 launched in 1911, for the necessary complement of submarines 
 and destroyers, for two dockyards, and a naval base. 
 
 Finance and Arbitration. 
 
 Continental Powers do not hamper themselves with pedantic 
 regulations in respect of the financing of their measures of 
 defence. Neither in Russia nor in Germany have operations 
 to be terminated or postponed, surpluses surrendered, and 
 deficits avoided, irrespective of the business aspect of the 
 transaction, to tit in with the machinery of Appropriation 
 Bills. In competing with countries which build ships out of 
 loans or their equivalent, our Admiralty should be freed from 
 checks which interfere with the uninterrupted prosecution of a 
 ship-building programme. 
 
 The Admiralty expenditure should, of course, be subjected 
 to a close and continuous audit, but the Empire's safety is a 
 higher consideration than an occasional deficit for an individual 
 year. Our practice as regards contracts also requires revision. 
 A contractor will not incur a large outlay in laying down plant 
 unless he has a reasonable belief that it will be employed, and 
 in certam cases the only orders which can be given for its use 
 and can ensure a return of the capital expended must come 
 from Government, which alone requires heavy armour plates, 
 large forgings for guns, and complicated machinery for 
 gun-mountings. 
 
 Our private ship-building firms complain, perhaps with some 
 reason, that their position is not sufficiently considered by 
 Government, with which they are in effect in partnership in 
 respect of carrying out naval programmes of construction. 
 
 The arbitration agreement negotiated "^'^ with the United States 
 cannot affect the position of our Navy, as it is not against 
 * Not yet passed by American Senate, or ratified by British Parliament.
 
 20 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 America we are building ships, and no European Power except 
 France has so far treated the arbitration question with other 
 than a poUte and non-committal interest. 
 
 America, with a quarter of the globe to herself, is in a 
 wholly different position from nations crowded together in 
 Europe with manifold conflicting interests therein, and in other 
 parts of the world. Not, however, that she has been blind to 
 the necessity for armaments. 
 
 Indeed, when she began the construction of a battleship of 
 21,000 tons called the Pacificator, President Roosevelt said : 
 " Remember that the prime use of the United States Navy is 
 to avert war. The Navy is the cheapest insurance Uncle Sam 
 has. It is the surest guarantee against our ever being drawn 
 into war ; and a guarantee efifective just in proportion as the 
 navy is efficient." 
 
 Every word of this speech is of equal, nay, of greater, 
 application to our own case. 
 
 Arbitration treaties are well enough as sacrifices to the 
 divinity of Peace, which we all worship ; but how could 
 Germany be expected to agree to a halt in ship-building which 
 would perpetuate a status in which we hold the first place at 
 sea, with all the vast actualities and potentialities implied in 
 such a position ? 
 
 Moreover, as regards the volume of the Naval Estimates and 
 the resulting financial pressure, in the first place, the whole 
 amount is spent on British insurance in Great Britain, to the 
 advantage of her industries, and to the employment of British 
 labour, and the figure of even 50 millions, as the insurance 
 on our mercantile marine, amounts to a charge of no more 
 than 2 per cent, as agaiust 11-5 per cent, in Germany, and 
 25 per cent, in America for the same purpose. The British 
 Government has, moreover, to face the greater cost of volun- 
 tary service, pensions, and other non-eflfcctive charges, the 
 larger number of ships in commission, and the longer time 
 spent in sea training. The able military correspondent of The 
 Times wrote : — '•= 
 
 * The Titws, January 10, 1911.
 
 THE NAVY 21 
 
 "Estimates of 60 millions for tho Navy will give you security ; so will 
 your present NaN-y Estimates, plus national service, which will cost you 
 an additional eight millions or so. But, if you will neither pay nor 
 play, the great business of the British Empire will soon go into liquida- 
 tion. Where in history can you find mention of a people which refused 
 personal service and effort and were successful in the end against a rival 
 prodigal of both ? " 
 
 In the days of Cromwell, by the unanimous verdict of 
 history one of the greatest rulers England ever had, the Navy 
 Estimates amounted to half, whereas at present they are no 
 more than a quarter, of the annual revenue. But half was 
 cheerfully paid, after a Dutch Admiral had sailed up the 
 Thames, with a besom at his masthead 1 
 
 Navy and Social Reform. 
 
 It is the constant efifort of advanced Radical and Socialist 
 Members of Parliament to prove that any kind of social 
 reconstruction that would improve the condition of the 
 working classes is incomoatiijle with perpetual increase of 
 naval expenditure, and they would not allow for any normal 
 and progressive enhancement of the cost of insurance pro- 
 portionate to the increase in the amount of national assets to 
 be protected. But we are right in the path of a Power 
 which is at once the greatest military counti'y and one of the 
 greatest naval Powers on the Continent, possessed of allies 
 bound to it by the close bonds of sympathy and interest, and 
 of the even greater asset of pure and self-denying patriotism. 
 It is not now a question of defending an outpost of the 
 Empire near the Oxus or the Indus. The Germans will 
 say, as the Mahrattas did of the decaying Mogul Empire, 
 " Strike at the heart and the withered limbs will fall," and 
 already they see in no distant future the once all-powerful 
 mistress of the seas, wearing out an opulent dotage by the 
 sufferance of a younger, stronger, and more patriotic power. 
 
 Declaration of London. 
 And, indeed, there are not a few who saw in our acquiescence 
 in the Declaration of London an unwelcome sign of degeneracy. 
 This instrument has given rise to a considerable amount of
 
 22 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 not unnatural alarm and distrust in the minds of the public 
 and those best acquainted with the problems involved, and it 
 would be strange if agreements of this character entered into 
 between Great Britain, the greatest naval Power, and other 
 Powers were not designed to place impediments in the way of 
 the use by the former of that arm in which she is most 
 powerful. 
 
 Indeed, it must be admitted that the case against the 
 Declaration is very strong.* It is disapproved by almost all 
 naval officers, though those on active service are necessarily 
 muzzled, and the Chambers of Commerce and Shipping have 
 lifted an almost unanimous voice of condemnation, in which it 
 is of less importance that some of our greatest jurists concur. 
 The vote in favour of ratification given at the Imperial Conference 
 can hardly be regarded as conclusive, or as passed in view of 
 the arguments on the other side, for only the Government 
 case was before the representatives of the Dominions, which, 
 of course, had no share in the Hague Convention, when many 
 petty little States recorded a vote, nor will they have any 
 judge on the Tribunal, to which thirty-six minor States — six of 
 which, as Mr. Bowles has pointed out, have defaulted — will 
 each send a member and may vote, to the prejudice of the 
 great trade and Imperial defence of our Dominions. 
 
 The Commonwealth representatives proposed a resolution 
 regretting that the Dominions had not been consulted, con- 
 demning the inclusion in Article 2-t of foodstuffs, and the 
 adoption of the provision permitting the destruction of neutral 
 vessels. Sir E. Grey is believed, liowever, to have convinced 
 the Conference that the Declaration must be accepted or 
 rejected as a whole, that no amendments were possible, and 
 that acceptance was practically obligatory. The only con- 
 cession he could make was that for the word " enemy," 
 " enemy government " should be substituted. 
 
 It was formerly the practice of the strongest naval Powers 
 to object to the sinking of neutral prizes, and such, therefore, 
 could not, unless the Declaration came into force, become 
 
 • The rejection of the Naval Prize Bill by the House of Lords on 
 Dec. 12, 1911, renders ratification of the Declaration doubtful.
 
 THE NAVY 23 
 
 a regular incident of naval warfare, for such Powers brought 
 almost irresistible pressure to bear against those perpetrating 
 these acts of destruction. 
 
 Sir Edward Grey, while speaking on the Declaration, rather 
 gave his case away when he said, " If we refused at this stage 
 to agree to its ratification it would be a great blow to the 
 confidence of other Powers in us, as a Power prepared to 
 forward arbitration. As a power anxious to co-operate with 
 the United States in reference to arbitration, it was essential 
 that we should go through with the Declaration of London." 
 • It would be diflficult to give a less cogent reason, even if it 
 could, as it cannot, be accepted that the United States make 
 ratification a condition of arbitration. An English Foreign 
 Minister, speaking on a subject closely connected with our 
 naval power and position, might well remember that " la 
 raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleur." 
 
 The agitation against the Declaration derives considerable 
 support from the attitude of Germany in respect of this instru- 
 ment. In a leading article in the Haynhurger Nachrichten* 
 the following paragraphs find place : — 
 
 " A temporary disturbance in the working of the oversea transport 
 of food would bring about the severest crisis in Great Britain, and not 
 only in the direction of raising the price of food commodities, but 
 also a financial overthrow and collapse. 
 
 " England carried out her last important sea battle a hundred years ago, 
 and since that time she has become more %-ulnerable, and it is this which 
 accounts for the nervousness of the entire English people. The posi- 
 tion of Germany, which is yearly becoming less vulnerable, is more 
 and more appar^-nt to Englishmen. 
 
 " The formation of the North Sea is one naturally favouring a 
 blockade of German eea traffic, and even for what the English call 
 ' the high-sea blockade,' by the closing up of the arm of the sea between 
 Scotland and Norway. This is what they call ' sealing the North Sea.' 
 
 " But by the Declaration of London such a blockade may not be 
 carried out, as by Article I. it is provided that a blockade must not 
 extend beyond the ports and coasts belonging to or occupied by the 
 enemy ; and Article 18 says the blockading forces must not bar access 
 to neutral ports or coasts. In Germany we have received these decisions 
 with exceptional pleasure." 
 
 • June 18, 1911.
 
 24 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The feeling against the Declaration entertained iu naval 
 and commercial circles is shared by the insurance interest and 
 by the City of London, wherein the underwriters of Lloyds 
 decided on July 24, 1911, to abolish all free war risks, partly 
 because of the threatening situation in Morocco, and partly 
 because of the unsatisfactory position of neutrals revealed by 
 the Declaration of London, and aggravated by its confused 
 and conflicting causes. 
 
 The most objectionable provisions of the Declaration have 
 been concisely abstracted by Mr. Atherley-Jones in the 
 following summary : — 
 
 1. The substitution of an Interaational Court of Appeal for diplo- 
 matic action will upon a number of vital questions of Prize Law pre- 
 clude neutrals from attempting to arrest a continuing mischief, whereby 
 irreparable injury may be inflicted upon a belligerent and great loss 
 upon the carrying trade of neutrals. 
 
 2. The destruction of neutral prizes, until the Russo-Japanoso War 
 practically unknown to the history of naval warfare, never sanctioned 
 by the Prize Courts of this country, and generally condemned as con- 
 trary to the elementary principles of humanity, has now, by the 
 Declaration, received the formal sanction of Great Britain. It is a 
 provision which can be of little service to a country which possesses 
 ports in almost every sea, but otherwise to a nation like Germany or 
 Russia not similarly circumstanced. 
 
 3. The Declaration sanctions, under illusory provisos, the conversion 
 of merchantmen into men-of-war upon the high seas. 
 
 4. It abolishes the practice of pre-nmption. 
 
 5. The security of articles ancipitis tisus, including foodstuHs when 
 in transit in neutral bottoms to ports other than those of naval and 
 military equipment, is imperilled by the substitution of vague rules 
 for the well-established customary law, and the fate of the neutral 
 ship carrying corn to Hull or Liverpool is left to the discrimination of 
 the naval commander, perhaps corrected when the war is over by the 
 International Court of Appeal, vr-hether or not these ports are "bases 
 of supply " to tlie armed forces of the enemy ; or again to his dis- 
 crimination whether or not he may treat it as a " fraud " and so seize 
 her when she is on her way to a neutral port within easy reach of a 
 belligerent port to which from the neutral port she may proceed under 
 convoy. 
 
 Before leaving the Navy it is needful to repeat that we are 
 daugeiously deficient in proper organisation for war, of which
 
 THE NAVY 25 
 
 proof was afforded in a recent crisis. It is believed, however, 
 that Mr. Winston Churchill, who has recently become First 
 Lord, proposes to create a war staff at an early date.* May he 
 remember, " qui mare teneat, eum necesse rerum potiri." 
 
 Arguments For and Against a Reduced Navy. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The international conscience increasingly revolts from war, and the 
 star of arbitration is ever in the ascendant. 
 
 2. The nations of the world more and more realise that their revenues 
 should be spent on social reform, and not on armaments. 
 
 3. Our Colonies and Dependencies are preparing to defend themselves, 
 and in an increasing degree arc becoming able to provide this service. 
 
 4. It would be better to lose our Colonies than to postpone or abandon 
 the beneficent projects of social reform, which are the chief end of 
 civilised government in the twentieth century. 
 
 5. Previous programmes of construction and expenditure, which are 
 eclipsed by the latest vote, proved sufficient for the maintenance of 
 British peace and the British Empire. There has already been an 
 increase of nearly thirteen millions in six years, and of nineteen millions 
 in the preceding ten years.f 
 
 6. It is clear that there is a desire on the part of the public that 
 Parliament should be required to spend less on naval and military 
 organisation. 
 
 7. Our Navy is, according to the Dilke Return, 542,000 tons in excess of 
 the tonnage of the combined navies of the United States and Germany. 
 
 8. The Territorials are an efficient home defence army. No reduction 
 has been, but such should be, effected on that account. 
 
 9. Increasing difl&culty is experienced in raising money for great 
 armaments. 
 
 10. As our Dreadnought and super-Dreadnought tonnage has increased, 
 our pre-Dreadnought tonnage should have been decreased, and less ships 
 of this class kept in commission, whereby a saving in personnel would 
 have been, and such should now be, effected. 
 
 11. Our superiority in heavy guns, in men, and in tonnage is above the 
 two-Power standard. There is little or no reason to fear a combination 
 of the United States with Germany or with France against Great Britain. 
 Germany, France, and the United States are the three strongest Powers 
 to be taken into consideration in fixing the two- Power standard. Our 
 relations with them, and theirs with one another, are the factors to be 
 
 • This has been done. 
 
 t Parliamentary Debates, March 13, 1911, p. 1884.
 
 2fi CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 considered in this connection. We have no actual or potential diSerence 
 with those Powers, as we had with France and Russia in the days of their 
 alliance, and before the creation of the Triple Entente. 
 
 12. The Labour Party, which in every country is increasing in strength 
 and influence, favours reduction and arbitration. 
 
 13. It is we, and not Germany, who set the pace in building. We 
 should reduce, whether other Powers follow or not, and set a good example, 
 
 14. " Warlike preparations familiarise ideas which, when familiar, lose 
 their horror, and light an inward flame of excitement, of which, when it 
 is habitually fed, we lose the consciousness.'" 
 
 15. The possession of great armaments directly leads to the making of 
 occasions for their use. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The British Navy is far weaker than it was a century ago relatively 
 to the growth and development of the population, wealth and territory- of 
 the Empire, and to the increase in naval power of other nations. In 1801 
 the total trade (exports and imports) of the Empire was valued at 
 79 millions, and in 1903 at 2,022 millions, and the total British tonnage 
 increased between 1800 and lOOS from l,85G.OOO to 13,183,000.1 
 
 2. The introduction of machinery has neutralised the previously existing 
 advantage the British derived from their superior seamanship. Other 
 nations are equally proficient in working machinery. 
 
 3. The blockading of an enemy's fleet is far more difficult now that the 
 blockading ships have to be more frequently relieved, owing to the 
 enormous consumption of coal by modern battleships, and o.ving to the 
 universal use of steam, which makes escape from the blockade much 
 easier than in former days. 
 
 4. Our naval reserve of 55,828 men is insufficient, and of these only 
 30,000 are fully trained men, as against 100,000 of the Gorman naval 
 reserve, all of whom have served in the active Navy. J 
 
 5. The difficulty of providing for a naval reserve is immensely increased 
 by the great proportion of Asiatics and foreigners in the mercantile marine, 
 from which the na%'al reserve is chiefly recruited. 
 
 G. The total annual value of the sea-borne commerce of France. Russia, 
 Germany, and Italy compares with the value of British commerce as 95 
 compares with 100. Their mercantile tonnage is as 44 to 100, and yet 
 their naval expenditure per ton of shipping is three times as great as that 
 of Great Britain. § 
 
 7. In the case of Great Britain, her trade and commerce include her 
 food supply. No less than 73 per cent, of our imported wheat and flour 
 
 * Lord Morley's "Life of Gladstone." 
 t " The Briton's First Duty," p. 4i. 
 J Ibid.,^. 41. § Ibid., p. 45.
 
 THE NAVY 27 
 
 comes from foreign countries, and only 27 per cent, from British 
 Dominions. 
 
 8. The British Navy, unlike the navies of other Powers, is hampered by 
 the absence of a sufficient home defence army to set it free for the 
 performance of its proper duties. The British Navy, besides protecting 
 our foreign possessions, our commerce, and food supply, has to protect 
 our coaling stations all over the world. 
 
 9. During the war in South Africa nothing but the superior strength 
 of the British Navy saved us from the intervention of foreign Powers. 
 
 10. A comparison of the total British warship tonnage with that of 
 other Powers is wholly illusory, with the exception of so much as relates 
 to capital ships. 
 
 11. Our present superiority is chiefly in pre-Dreadnoughts, which have 
 become, or are rapidly becoming, obsolete. 
 
 12. Any reduction in the number of trained bluejackets would be most 
 unfortunate, as each one is the product of long training, and is very hard 
 to replace. Probably no individual Briton is of greater value to the State 
 than the efficient bluejacket. 
 
 13. Our reductions in naval programmes between 1906 and 1908 were 
 met by an acceleration on the part of Germany, resulting in the serious 
 disturbance of our relative positions and in subsequent inevitable increases 
 in construction. The Germans in that period dovibled the estimates of 
 the Fleet Law. • 
 
 14. Our offer to make proportionate reductions in concert with other 
 Powers mcit with no support at the Hague Conference. 
 
 15. The British Navy is, and always has been, an instrument of peace, 
 and not of war. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Declaration of London. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. This subject has been more fully debated than any other upon which 
 an international agreement has been reached. 
 
 2. The Dominion Prime Ministers have given it a general approval. It 
 was impossible to refer to a Royal Commission, or to any such body, for 
 opinion external interests such as are treated by the Declaration. 
 
 3. The experience of the Russo-Japanese War showed the necessity for 
 an International Prize Court, in view of the present uncertainty respect- 
 ing the treatment of neutral vessels, and the difficulty of obtaining redress 
 
 Mr. McKenna, M.P., Parliamaatary Dabates, March 13, 1911, p. 192i
 
 28 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Under existing oircumstances, dissatisfied neutrals can only appeal to a 
 Prize Court of the offending belligerent, after the war is over. 
 
 4. The Declaration does not alter geographical facts or afiect the 
 position of this country in respect of its dependence upon foreign 
 markets, for the food provisions do not impair the right of blockade. 
 
 5. Only a small proportion of our food supplies come in neutral 
 ships. The bulk arrives in British vessels, for the protection of which 
 we must depend as heretofore on the strength of the Navy, as a sub- 
 stitute for which the Declaration is in no way put forward by its 
 supporters. 
 
 6. The risk of seizure of food in neutral ships is diminished by the 
 Declaration, and if we refuse to ratify it, there is a risk that food will 
 be declared absolute contraband of war, whereas, at present, it is only 
 on the conditional list. 
 
 7. Even if food were on the woe list. Great Britain would always be 
 bound to rely on her own ships for bringing it to these islands. 
 
 8. The free list secured by this instrument contains many articles 
 necessary for our industries and manufactures, which, under its provi- 
 sions, cannot be declared contraband in neutral ships. 
 
 9. As regards the sinking of neutral prizes, only a vessel of which 
 more than half the cargo is contraband can be sunk. 
 
 10. As to the conversion of merchantmen into war vessels, the risk 
 under the Declaration is no greater than before, and few merchant 
 vessels possess sufficient speed to be worth converting. 
 
 11. If the Declaration is not ratified, and Great Britain refuses to 
 submit to restrictions for the benefit of neutrals, she will have to rely 
 on more Dreadnoughts, and there will be an end to any policy of 
 limitation of armaments and arbitration. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Great Britain stands to lose more than any other country by any 
 limitation of naval action. 
 
 2. The Declaration cannot put an end to competition in armaments, 
 but can and will prejudice Britain in such competition. 
 
 3. It is equally prejudicial to naval and to mercantile interests. 
 
 4. It gravely threatens the food supply of the kingdom in time of 
 war.* 
 
 5. Even a weaker naval Power, without maintaining an effective 
 blockade of this country, might so affect the supply of foodstuffs from 
 abroad as to paralyse its action in a great emergency. 
 
 6. Such emergency might arise owing to the provisions of the Declaration 
 regarding the treatment of food as contraband of war, the conversion of 
 
 * Mr. Balfour, London Chamber of Commerce, June 27, 1911.
 
 THE NAVY 29 
 
 merchantmen into cruisers upon the high seas, and the capture and 
 sinking of neutrals. 
 
 7. Provisions for appeal against infractions of the Declaration are 
 useless. Converted merchantmen would properly and naturally run all 
 risks to strike an effective blow in a great national emergency. 
 
 8. Granted for the sake of argument that the free list of the Declaration 
 is advantageous in respect of material for manufactures, of what advantage 
 is the provision of such material to a starving people ? 
 
 9. The contention that other countries do not possess many merchant- 
 men sufficiently speedy to justify conversion is notoriously untenable. 
 Germany possesses many such ships. 
 
 10. Great Britain, as an island Power, can only bring pressure to bear 
 upon belligerents by blockading the enemy, and by the seizure of vessels 
 with their cargoes. The Declaration therefore obviously and conspicuously 
 hampers a blockading Power. 
 
 11. Great Britain has properly and necessarily refused to agree that 
 private property shall not bo liable to capture, on the ground that she 
 can only put pressure on a belligerent by attacking the great lines of 
 communication across the seas. It follows that Great Britain should 
 refuse to ratify the Declaration, which is opposed to the attitude rightly 
 taken up in respect of the right of capture of private property. 
 
 12. Any converted merchantman after ratification of the Declaration, 
 could, when wo are next at war, take any neutral vessel carrying food to 
 a port in Great Britain, which the commander of the converted merchant- 
 man chose to consider to bo a base of supplies, and sink it ; and under the 
 Declaration almost any port might be so described. 
 
 13. In short, while international public opinion has hitherto condemned 
 the sinking of neutrals, or the destruction of foodstuffs as contraband, 
 under the Declaration such action merely comes up for judgment before 
 an international tribunal after the war is over. The Declaration is 
 therefore, from the point of view of international law, a retrograde step. 
 
 NAVY BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The Colonies and Imperial Defence. By P. A. Silburn. 
 
 Our Navy for a Thousand Years. By Captain S. Eardley Wilmot. 
 
 The Briton's First Duty. By G. F. Shee. 
 
 Influence of Sea Power on the French Revolution. By Captain Mahan. 
 
 The Ocean Empire, its Dangers aud Defence. By Gerard Fienues. 
 
 The Naval Annual. By Hon. T. A. Brassey (Viscount Hythe).
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ARMY 
 
 THE everlasting problem of the British Army yet remains 
 to be solved. If Great Britain is to fight Continental 
 Powers on the Continent, she must have an army on the 
 same scale and of the same character as Continental forces, 
 or at any rate large enough to help in upholding the balance 
 of power in Europe, with a strong potential reserve. But Con- 
 tinental armies are primarily destined for the defence of their 
 own countries, while the defence of this country devolves in 
 the first instance upon its fleet. In our case the Army is 
 primarily intended to hold India and to garrison various 
 strategic points all over the world, and we must have a 
 sufficient mobile force for this purpose, which we call the 
 Expeditionary Force. 
 
 Function of the Army. 
 
 But we must also have enough troops to defeat such hostile 
 expeditions as may elude the vigilance of the fleet, which it 
 is assumed will be sufficient to command the seas. This is 
 the position adopted by Lord Haldane, who has held the 
 position of Secretary of State for War almost longer than any 
 of his predecessors, and has been sadly hampered in his 
 efforts to create an improved army by the continuous attacks 
 of Socialists, Nationalists, Labour Members, and peace-at-any- 
 price Radicals, who were, and are. a formidable proportion 
 of the supporters of the Governments of the late Sir Henry 
 Campbell-Bannerman and of Mr. Asquith. 
 
 Another school, so far, probably because the conditions are 
 concealed and not explained, without much support in the 
 country, includes in the requirements of Great Britain an army 
 
 30
 
 THE ARMY 31 
 
 sufficient to maintain the balance of power in, and to prevent 
 any one Continental nation acquiring the hegomony of, Europe. 
 Unless, for instance, England could send a force to help France 
 against aggression on the part of Germany, before the Russian 
 Army could come to her aid, the arms of England would not 
 avail to save France, unless she was strong enough to face 
 Germany alone and unaided. Nor would any but our regular 
 forces at present be equal to this duty. 
 
 Position of Geemany. 
 
 A new feature in the situation, which will soon compel even 
 this careless country to reconsider its position, is the startling 
 naval development of other Continental Powers, and pre- 
 eminently of the greatest of these, Germany, wherein there 
 has also been an equal increase in the tonnage and carrying 
 capacity of merchantmen. While Germany, on land and sea, 
 at home and abroad, has advanced by leaps and bounds, the 
 development of France has been arrested by socialistic and 
 democratic developments and by a stationary population, and 
 Russia, with which Empire also Great Britain has entered into 
 friendly relations, has suffered serious reverses at the hands 
 of Japan. It is too late to consider whether the prevention 
 of the dominance of any particular Power in the concert of 
 Europe is a part of the policy of this country. The assertion 
 of this once cardinal principle would entail a challenge to 
 Germany over her ship-building programme, which neither 
 party in the State is prepared to give, and which it would 
 be impossible to give, in the present state of public opinion 
 in England, so far as such can be judged by the results of 
 general elections. 
 
 The alliance of Germany is courted because, as Austria has 
 lately learnt, she is ready to throw her sword into the scale, 
 and it is notorious that the reverse is at present the case with 
 England, a fact which renders her alliance of comparatively 
 little value. 
 
 The Germans are self-sacrificing and patriotic, even the 
 Socialists among them renouncing with scorn the inter-
 
 32 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 nationalist and unpatriotic attitude with which Socialists 
 in England have unfortunately made us familiar. 
 
 Without indulging in any altruistic dreams of the efi&cacy 
 of arbitration, the Germans are content to deal with the 
 world as it is, and they may well reflect that a nation which, 
 amidst the clash of preparing arms, is dreaming of perpetual 
 peace, is not hkely to resist the Kaiser's armaments as she 
 once resisted those of France and Spain. 
 
 True it is that the geographical position of Germany, and 
 the insular conditions of England, which, moreover, lies across 
 all the sea routes of German trade, enable the latter to hold 
 her own in spite of her military inferiority so long as, and 
 only so long as, she pos-sesses a paramount Navy. But 
 England might well remember the case of Athens, " the rapid 
 loss of whose new conquests after 447 B.C. proved that she 
 lacked a sufficient land army to permanently defend her 
 extensive frontiers."* 
 
 Tbiple Entente. 
 
 However little comfort may be found in the attitude of the 
 British democracy towards the question of defence, we may be 
 permitted to feel a certain amount of what our neighbours call 
 schadeiif reticle in considering the strategic position of Germany, 
 situated between France and Russia. The French Army is in 
 far better condition than the French fleet, and the Russians, 
 unlike ourselves, are sparing no pains to profit by the lessons 
 of their latest war. If the Triple Entente really meant 
 business, like the Triple Alliance, Germany would be between 
 the devil and the deep sea. The question is, Does the Triple 
 Entente mean business ? Can we and would we send a force 
 to help France if attacked by Germany, or would Germany 
 overwhelm her neighbour to the South before the Russians 
 could bring their vast army from the North into the field ? 
 Does acquaintance with the temper of the British democracy 
 inspire a definite and decided answer in the affirmative to these 
 searching questions? So far as numbers go, we could im- 
 mediately dispatch our expeditionary army of, according to 
 * " Encyclopaedia Britannica," 11th edition, vol. ii. p. 842.
 
 THE ARMY 33 
 
 latest figures, 186,000, but probably not really in excess of 
 150,000, men to aid our close friend but not quite ally? But 
 should we do it ? If our allies feel we should, then we are still 
 a great, if not the greatest, feature in maintaining the balance 
 of power in Europe. Again, shall we increase our striking 
 forces as our Empire increases in wealth and population ? At 
 present he would be a bold man who would answer in the 
 affirmative. 
 
 Expeditionary Force. 
 
 At any rate it is of vital import that no interference should 
 be allowed with the principles upon which the expeditionary 
 force is recruited and maintained. 
 
 It is folly to suppose that any less time than two years' 
 service with the colours will suffice for men who are to 
 compete on even terms with Continental armies. While 
 Germany takes two or three years — and we know that the 
 British public will not yet agree to compulsory service for 
 home defence — the practical problem is to increase and improve 
 the Regular army we have, which was most unfortunately 
 reduced in 1906-7 in deference to Socialist and Radical 
 agitation. 
 
 The policy which inspired the creation of the Territorial 
 Army postulates the assumption that our naval supremacy 
 is maintained at least in home waters, and that the Territorials 
 will be embodied and undergo training before the expedi- 
 tionary force has left the country, which is hardly possible. 
 The Territorials then assume that the Navy will destroy any 
 hostile expedition of over 70,000 men, and that they can 
 defeat invaders who number less than that figure, with the 
 help of the expeditionary force. 
 
 The figure 70,000 is that of the Defence Committee, but 
 it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that invasion in far 
 larger numbers may be effected, unless everything happened 
 to suit ourselves and nothing chanced to favour the enemy. 
 
 It is not clear how many Territorials are required for the 
 defence of the country, but it is certain that the numbers 
 Lord Haldane wanted and expected have not come forward, 
 
 4:
 
 U CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 and the confident assertion that the country cannot be invaded 
 is not eminently calculated to inspire its manhood with a 
 strong feeling of the necessity for coming forward in its 
 defence. It is, too, very uncertain that the Territorial force 
 can be maintained even at its present inadequate strength 
 without some form of compulsion, while there appears to 
 be an urgent necessity that the expeditionary force should be 
 increased if the position of Great Britain as a world-Power 
 is to be maintained. Compulsory cadet training should at 
 once be introduced, and means taken to instruct the country 
 as to its true position, and to awaken it to the fact that its 
 military necessities are such as can never be satisfactorily 
 met under existing conditions. In the opinion of Lord Roberts 
 a million trained men are required to defend the country and 
 provide a suitable reserve. 
 
 Our Land Frontiers. 
 
 At the present day the British Empire has a land frontier of 
 many thousands of miles in Afi'ica, Asia, and America, and 
 British territory now marches with great Powers, not only with 
 buffer States. The case has greatly altered since the wars of 
 the eighteenth century were waged, and not by any means in 
 our favour. 
 
 We are at present the greatest Continental Power in the 
 world, marching from 18,000 to 20,000 miles in three con- 
 tinents with seven of the nine greatest military Powers of 
 the day. 
 
 Nor has any nation in Europe yet reduced its army because 
 it is on good terms with a contiguous country. Rather do all 
 recognise the often proved fact, that international agreements 
 are of an ephemeral and undependable character, often 
 "breves," and sometimes also " infatistos," like the loves of 
 the Roman people. 
 
 Turkish Army. 
 
 A new and disturbing factor in present-day European politics 
 is the reappearance of the Turkish Army upon the scene. It 
 is believed that the Young Turks can place 300,000 well-armed
 
 il 
 
 THE ARMY 35 
 
 men in the field, and that they aim at being able to mobilise 
 four or five times that number. 
 
 The raw material of the Turks was always amongst the best 
 in the world, and their army may yet prove a very formidable 
 factor in Eastern Europe and Western Asia, and perhaps also 
 and above all in Western Europe, if they enter, as now appears 
 probable, into close relations with Germany. The Russians, in 
 the Trans-Caucasus, and the British, in Egypt, offer a vulner- 
 able front to Turkey, and the senseless and sentimental attacks 
 made upon her administration in Parliament, at a time when 
 she had Arabian, Albanian, and Macedonian troubles on hand, 
 cannot but exasperate and emphasise all possible points of 
 difference, to some of which attention is drawn elsewhere in 
 this work. 
 
 Defence Problem. 
 
 The defence problem is now far more difficult and complex 
 both in Europe and India than it was in previous periods of 
 our history. There is the steady march of Germany, already 
 noticed, and our garrison in India, fixed after the Mutiny in 
 order to secure the safety of our fellow-countrymen and women, 
 has not been augmented, while the popalation of India has 
 increased by 120 millions, and our Eastern possessions have 
 enormously expanded in area. 
 
 The increase of armaments in modern nations cannot be 
 regarded as proof of barbarism, for it coincides with their 
 increase in comfort and wealth. On the other hand, weakness 
 in France spelt loss of provinces, of milliards, and death and 
 disaster, though never unpatriotism and despair. 
 
 Russia. 
 
 We should have learnt from the Russo-Japanese War of the 
 indispensable necessity for co-operation between Army and 
 Navy, of the necessity for patriotism by which limitless heroism 
 is inspired, and of the power of Russia by means of a single 
 line of railway to despatch and keep in the field an army of 
 four hundred thousand men many thousands of miles from 
 its base.
 
 36 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Although we are at present on friendly terms with Russia 
 we must not forget that good relations may not always exist, 
 we must remember that the lesson of Manchuria is not likely 
 to be wasted on a Power which possesses railway communica- 
 tion from Orenburg to Tashkent, and from Krasnavodsk to the 
 actual borders of Afghanistan, and on through the Central x\sian 
 Khanates. In fact, Russia has two lines of communication by 
 railway, and two advanced feelers actually abutting on the 
 Afghan frontier. 
 
 The Orenburg-Tashkent railway can carry twelve pairs of 
 trains in twenty-four hours, and it is a strategic line of first- 
 rate importance. Supplies can usually be obtained from 
 Western Siberia, and tue distance from the base at which 
 operations would be carried on is about one-third of that 
 between Russia proper and Manchuria. Herat, at any rate, 
 could be carried without the slightest difficulty, and then 
 Northern Afghanistan would be at the mercy of the invader. 
 
 India. 
 
 Nevertheless, the reduction of the army in India is con- 
 tinually urged in Parliament owing to the existence of the 
 entente with Russia ; and while these pages are being written 
 the Under-Secretary of State for War declares in the House of 
 Commons " that the Government, while not contemplating any 
 reduction of the British forces serving in India, are fully pre- 
 pared to consider favourably the proposals that the Government 
 of India may find it in their power to make for effecting such 
 readjustments in the Native Indian units, with a view to 
 economy, as could be carried out without loss of efficiency 
 to the army in India as a whole." * 
 
 The discovery that there are regiments in the Indian Army 
 so inefi&cient as to be useless, just at the moment when the 
 finances of the country are adversely affected by the opium 
 policy, and at a time when advanced English-educated Indians 
 are clamouring for the Indian analogue of that many-headed 
 creature social reform, is, to say the least, suspicious. Lore 
 
 * House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates, May 31, 1911, vol. 26 
 P. 1078.
 
 THE ARMY 37 
 
 Kitchener at any rate gave no hint to this effect when he 
 left India. 
 
 Lord Haldane's Policy. 
 
 I Lord Haldane has succeeded in organising a home defence 
 army on scientific lines, but has under the circumstances been 
 unable to endow it with sufficient training, and if it is necessary 
 to call up the Territorial army for six months' training after 
 mobilisation has taken place, it must be admitted that their 
 annual training and the resulting expense is to a great extent 
 wasted. 
 
 Lord Haldane lays down certain basic principles for dealing 
 with the problem. The first is that the command of the sea is 
 the foundation of our home defence, and as the Navy must be 
 sufficient to maintain such command, the Army must not be 
 made so expensive as to starve it. The suggestion is that the 
 country cannot stand the expense of a first-rate navy and a 
 first-rate army. 
 
 To supplement the Navy an army is, however, needed, a 
 striking force probably destined to act far from home, a highly 
 trained, professional, and necessarily volunteer, army. We 
 need, therefore, a second line for home defence to deal with 
 any small forces which may slip through our naval defences, 
 or to compel the enemy to send a force so big that it cannot 
 escape the notice of our fleet. The old myth that even a 
 dinghy-load of men could not be landed is now exploded, and 
 for some reason or other it is assumed that 70,000 men would 
 or might come, and that it would take them no less than three 
 weeks to embark in no less than 150 vessels. It would seem 
 as if Lord Haldane almost accepted these highly debatable 
 premisses. He holds at any rate that the second line army must 
 be a citizen force, and therefore created the Territorials, consist- 
 ing of fourteen divisions and fourteen mounted brigades, of which 
 five-sixths were enlisted in two years. He contests the truth 
 of the statement that this army cannot take the field unless it 
 has six months' embodied training following on mobilisation, 
 and urges that they could earlier take the field when stiffened 
 by some regular units and some special reservists. " Can it
 
 38 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 be," he asks, " that we have not 315,000 young men sufficiently 
 patriotic to come forward, though we have not the population 
 required for recruiting an army on the Continental scale for 
 home defence?" The National Service League would sub- 
 stitute 80,000 men less trained than his special reserve for that 
 body, and in place of the Territorials 320,000 men compulsorily 
 enlisted and trained for four months, for which 5,000 officers 
 would be required in order to train 150,000 annual recruits. 
 
 The Terbitorial Abmy. 
 The Territorial soldier enlists for four years and must be 
 seventeen years old. In his first year he does forty drills of an 
 hour each and from a week to a fortnight's camp. In the 
 next three years he does ten drills of an hour, and the same 
 amount of camp. The minimum number of rounds fired is 
 twenty-three, an absurdly small number, the whole training is 
 obviously altogether insufficient to make any sort of soldier, 
 and about 100,000 either failed to qualify or did not fire 
 at all. The Territorials are not, of course, recruited for 
 service outside the United Kingdom, but they are liable to 
 embodiment at home up to the age of thirty in cases of 
 national emergency. It is proposed, however, to give these 
 forces six months' training after the outbreak of war, and 
 it is officially admitted that they are not fit for their func- 
 tions till they have had such training. How, then, are 
 they to repel raids, short, sharp, and unexpected, free 
 the Regular army for operation abroad, and the Navy to 
 seek out and destroy the enemy in his own waters? It is 
 obvious they cannot, and that our army and navy would be 
 paralysed by the necessity for protecting these islands, and 
 that even with the highest bounties again given, and with 
 reductions of standards, as in the past, the necessary forces 
 could not be improvised. The age of recruitment, eighteen for 
 Regular army, is, moreover, too low, lower than that of other 
 nations, and the requirements and measurements fall short of 
 a desirable standard, in spite of which our system is as much 
 more costly, as it is more unsatisfactory, than that of com- 
 pulsory service nations.
 
 THE ARMY 39 
 
 The whole assumption upon which the advocacy of the 
 Territorials rests is that the fleet will be so powerful that even 
 if half be absent, the remainder will avail to deal with the 
 strongest fleet of the enemy, as well as to prevent the landing 
 of a hostile force, but we well know that this is hardly the 
 position at present, when Germany and her allies have 
 seventeen and we have only twenty-five Dreadnoughts com- 
 plete or in course of construction. 
 
 The general idea of the Territorial army was to amalgamate 
 existing auxiliary levies into one homogeneous body in place of 
 the separate forces, representing separate interests and serving 
 on different terms, which previously existed, and important 
 new features are the decentralisation of administration and 
 organisation and the creation of the local County Associations. 
 
 The system postulates, as General French said, that it is 
 the bounden duty of every able-bodied young man to take part 
 in the defence of his country, and the National Service League 
 would begin with Boy Scouts, Cadets, and Boys' Brigades, so 
 that from the outset the youth of the country may appreciate 
 their duties as patriotic citizens. 
 
 Among the causes which have militated against successful 
 recruitment for the Territorial army are the absence of a paid 
 and permanent recruiting staff, the conditions of service, 
 which are, probably without sufficient reason, regarded as too 
 strict, the refusal of separation allowances to married privates, 
 and perhaps more than all the widely expressed opinion that 
 the force is of little use and not a serious factor in our 
 defences. 
 
 And in fact of 275,000 * enlisted not less than 100,000 are 
 boys under 20 — too often town-bred rather useless lads — an 
 equal number has failed to qualify in musketry, and under 
 10,000 have volunteered for foreign service. 
 
 Even those who are most sanguine regarding the future of 
 the Territorials must admit that they need more money and 
 more time for training officers and men, and that if they do not 
 get more time and money, that which is already expended 
 upon them is only too likely to prove wasted. 
 
 • Now 268,453. Colonel Seely, House of Commons, August 9, 1911.
 
 40 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The causes of the deficiency in the numbers of the Terri- 
 torials have been concisely summarised by the Military 
 Correspondent of The Times, and are given below/'' 
 
 Compulsory Training. 
 
 In the minds of most practical men the conviction grows 
 that safety lies only in compulsory military training for home 
 defence, however small appears at present the chances of its 
 adoption. 
 
 So virulent and unreasoning was the opposition in Parliament 
 to elementary training in defence of the country, that the 
 military and educational departments of the Government of 
 Sir Henry Campbell-Banneiman had to climb down when the 
 International Arbitration League " protested against the 
 teaching of rifle-shooting in elementary schools, and sincerely 
 hoped that a progressive Government did not intend to 
 authorise or permit boys in State-aided schools to be 
 instructed in the art of shooting, only calculated to brutalise 
 youths, by developing in them the fighting instinct, and 
 strengthening their combative nature ! " 
 
 It is difficult to understand how any body, including, as it 
 must, men who have had to make their way in the world, 
 could have assented to a resolution, drawn in terms which 
 would justly provoke the ridicule of any assembly of public- 
 school boys. 
 
 * " On the subject of the causes of the present deficiency, and upon that 
 of remedies, opinion is much divided. The main causes of the deficiency 
 probably are : Inadequate public spirit due to our failure to educate youth 
 in the duties and responsibilities of State citizenship ; want of convinced 
 belief and of sustained interest in the Force on the part of the upper and 
 upper middle classes, a majority of whom are adherents of the National 
 Service League ; evasion of all duties relating to defence by the lower 
 middle classes ; good trade and the busy life of 99 per cent, of the popula- 
 tion leading to the employer difficulty, which is increasingly serious ; 
 the counter-attraction of emigration on the one hand and of the varied 
 amusements of the people on the other ; a growing sense among the rank 
 and file that they are out of pocket by joining the Force ; dissatisfaction 
 with headquarters in many cases ; and lastly the pauperising influence 
 of modern legislation, which tends to discourage individual effort and to 
 throw all burdens upon the State,"~T/i« Times, November 20, 1911.
 
 THE ARMY 41 
 
 Lord Haldane's scheme is a last effort to fulfil our require- 
 ments by voluntary recruiting, and unless it be considered to 
 have proved a success we are already face to face with the 
 necessity for some form of compulsion, for permanently to 
 maintain the position that loyal and respectable citizens should 
 take upon themselves the whole burden of the defence of the 
 Empire, while idle and conscienceless loafers look on, will 
 prove in the long run impossible. 
 
 Our most eminent and most experienced soldiers do not 
 pretend to accept the soothing conclusions published broad- 
 cast on behalf of the anti-military party, and of those who 
 have succumbed not to their arguments, but to their votes. 
 
 Lord Eoberts's Opinion. 
 
 In the opinion of Field-Marshal Lord Eoberts* an invading 
 force is as likely to be 150,000 as 70,000 strong, and in either 
 case he does not see how the Territorials are to get sufficient 
 training after the outbreak of war, if, as is certain to be the 
 case under the present system, they do not get it before that 
 event. He does not think that untrained men are of any use, 
 and it is his deliberate opinion that while other nations are 
 daily and steadily becoming stronger this country is daily and 
 steadily losing ground. He believes that while the margin of 
 safety at sea is rapidly disappearing, war when it comes will 
 find us totally unprepared. In reply to this argument it is 
 urged that the expense of a large army is prohibitive and that 
 it would in any case be impossible to provide officers for such, 
 as a sufficient number cannot be obtained for our present 
 forces, that the voluntary system has now supplied an ex- 
 peditionary force, a Special Eeserve, and a Territorial army, 
 comprising in all 580,000 men, that the voluntary system is 
 not bankrupt, and that the country in any case will not stand 
 compulsion. Lord Haldane fully accepts, as probably all 
 others would in his place, the truth of the latter argument at 
 any rate, and he has succeeded in rousing wide interest in 
 national defence and military organisation, and in this alone, 
 to say nothing of other respects, has rendered great service to 
 * House of Lords, April 4, 1911,
 
 42 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the nation. It is admitted by Lord Roberts, a somewhat 
 hostile critic, that the Special Reserve, now enlisted for foreign 
 service, is in that respect an improvement on the old militia ; 
 but there is a general consensus of opinion that the two chief 
 shortcomings of the old system revealed by the Royal 
 Commission have not been overcome. These are the want 
 of a sound system of expansion and the insufficient training 
 of the home army. Nor can it be regarded as other than a 
 retrograde and unfortunate measure that the Regular army 
 was reduced by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's Govern- 
 ment by about 18,000 men,* while the Territorials have not 
 come within 50,000 of the number laid down as a minimum at 
 the outset. Not that a full tale of Territorials would have 
 atoned for the loss of so many of our best men, trained 
 material, not easily replaced. No great nation could afford 
 to reduce such valuable factors in the defence of the country, 
 in order to swell the ranks of the unemployed, and gladden 
 the heart of the paid agitator, whose hands are never idle, 
 whose voice is never silent, whose employment never fails. 
 
 Sir Ian Hamilton's Views. 
 
 Much interest has been excited by the contentions of 
 General Sir Ian Hamilton, ex-Adjutant-General of the 
 Forces, regarding the incompatibility of the scheme of the 
 National Service League with the necessary recruitment 
 for the expeditionary army. 
 
 General Hamilton argues that compulsory service is in- 
 spired by the spirit of conservatism, and voluntary service 
 by the spirit of expansion and self-confidence, and that on 
 this account the adventurous impulse of Imperialism and 
 the appreciation of the romance of war — in fact, the true 
 animus of a professional army — can only find legitimate 
 expression in the voluntary service system. Compulsory 
 service is, he says, less civilised than voluntary service, and 
 statesmen under the former plan are constantly sacrificing 
 important ambitions on the altar of home defence ! This 
 
 • With the addition of the resulting reserves the figure rises to upwards 
 of 30,000.
 
 THE ARMY 43 
 
 argument is extremely difficult to follow, and amounts to 
 little more than an assertion, which the recent records of 
 compulsory service nations, with Germany at their head, 
 sufficiently refute. 
 
 General Hamilton thinks compulsory service the natural 
 outcome of the specialisation of modern life. One class fights, 
 and the other class pays. Hence, he says, the masses of the 
 nation regard wars too lightly, and are encouraged to run 
 risks in home defence, rather than abate by one square mile 
 their Imperial pretensions ! Again this argument appears 
 singularly inconclusive and stands in need of some concrete 
 illustration. Is there any proof anywhere that a compulsory 
 citizen army regards war as a thing to be rashly and lightly 
 undertaken? England is a voluntary service nation, and 
 certainly its present attitude hardly points towards high 
 Imperial pretensions, or to a disposition to regard war as 
 a national activity to be encouraged. Eather is it regarded 
 as a calamity to be avoided at all costs. Nor will the ordinary 
 reader follow General Hamilton when he describes France 
 and Germany as nations overshadowed by an imminent peril 
 from which Great Britain is immune, or be at all ready to 
 accept the position that a compulsory army becomes inefficient 
 in proportion as the idea of conquest dominates the idea of 
 defence. If, as he says, not German soldiers but Bismarck 
 fought for Alsace-Lorraine, it must be remembered that the 
 German Empire got Alsace-Lorraine, and that the German 
 soldiers fought like heroes, and with no doubt of the justice 
 of the national cause. And when he argues that a voluntary 
 expeditionary force cannot be maintained alongside a com- 
 pulsory home defence army, he forgets that France actually 
 maintains alongside her conscript army a practically voluntary 
 foreign service force of 56,000 men, of whom 28,000 are 
 serving abroad. 
 
 General Hamilton denounces, disparages, and demolishes 
 the National Service League scheme of compulsory service 
 on a militia basis in the place of Territorials and Special 
 Eeserve, but under the League's scheme, at any rate an army 
 of 400,000, with a reserve of 600,000 men, could be obtained.
 
 44 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 General Hamilton thinks that members of this force would not 
 re-enlist for the Regular army, that the classes which now fill 
 the regular ranks would find sufficient work in the summer 
 under the National Service League scheme, and that recruiting 
 for the regular arms would dry up to such an extent as within 
 two years to end in disaster. But the Territorials attract 
 young men in regular employment and not the men out of 
 work or in trouble, who can only enlist with advantage in the 
 Regular army. Not that the latter when once enlisted do 
 not learn to like the pleasant associations and good fellow- 
 ship of military life, which they give up with sorrow, and to 
 which, like the Surrey veterans, they are glad to return. So far 
 is it from being true that compulsory training and service give 
 men a distaste for military life.''' 
 
 Scheme of National Service League. 
 
 The fact is that the Army Reserve and Special Reserve 
 would hardly suffice to keep our expeditionary force up to 
 strength during a campaign even of brief duration, whereas 
 a home army such as is contemplated by the National Service 
 League would enable us to deplete the country of regulars and 
 reserve, nevertheless leaving behind a proper provision for 
 home defence. Nor is there any fear that such home defence 
 army would not volunteer for service abroad, as the experience 
 of the South African War, when 50,000 militiamen volunteered, 
 is sufficient to prove. On the other hand, the plight of this 
 country can be readily imagined if when our navy and ex- 
 peditionary force are needed elsewhere, they are tied to our 
 shores by the insufficiency of om' home defence army, as may 
 well prove the case under the existing system. 
 
 In answer to the argument that compulsory training would 
 create a difficulty in recruiting for the Regular army, Mr. 
 Fortescue's " County Lieutenantcies and the Army " should 
 be studied. He shows that between 1805 and 1813 out of 
 227,510 recruits, 99,755 joined voluntarily from the militia, 
 which was then raised on a compulsory basis. It should also 
 be remembered that upwards of 44 per cent, of the special 
 » Field-Marshal Lord Boberts at Guildford, May, 1911.
 
 THE ARMY 45 
 
 reservists volunteered for the Eegular army in 1908-10, and 
 that the old militia was notoriously the best recruiting-ground 
 for the Regular army. Yet both these bodies undergo com- 
 pulsory training. Again, the Japanese experienced no difficulty 
 in sending to Manchuria, to fight like heroes, hundreds of 
 thousands of soldiers raised by compulsion for home defence. 
 The National Service League scheme, while it only proposes 
 compulsory service for home defence, thereby liberates the 
 voluntarily raised expeditionary force, and the Navy, for their 
 duties of attack and offence. This is a great feature, and 
 Great Britain does not now occupy such a position of 
 superiority compared with other Powers in respect of wealth, 
 or exert such political influence as to be able to subsidise 
 allies in the day of trouble, as she did in the wars with 
 Napoleon, nor do present conditions admit of such procedure. 
 Everything makes for anti-militarism wherever democracy is 
 in the ascendant. 
 
 At present the State feeds, doctors, and caters for children 
 who are brought up not to think what they can do for the 
 State, but what the State can do for them ; not to consider 
 how much better off they are than persons in similar positions 
 in other countries, but how much more they can wring from 
 the Government. And the average teacher in an ordinary 
 school, if not quite, is, as a rule, something very near, a 
 Socialist. 
 
 Education in Britain deals solely with rights and not with 
 duties, and when discipline and self-denial disappear dry-rot 
 and decay replace them. National service is necessary to 
 develop and brace up national character, no less than for 
 the defence of the fatherland. 
 
 Safety can only be found in the provision of an adequate 
 home defence ; for even if we could stand, as we cannot, the 
 continuous strain of keeping up the two-Power naval standard 
 against more populous nations, we could not man the number 
 of ships we should in that case require. 
 
 The National Service League advocates the replacement of 
 the Territorial army by a national militia, or citizen army, 
 because the former is deficient in officers, men, guns, trans-
 
 46 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 port, and artillery. It is difficult to see what object a retired 
 veteran like Lord Roberts can have in misrepresenting a 
 situation for which he himself cannot altogether be without 
 responsibility, but it is easy to understand how difficult, 
 indeed how impossible, it is for politicians to act with inde- 
 pendence, and without regard for any considerations other 
 than the public safety, when they are dependent upon the 
 support of men abysmally ignorant of international conditions, 
 who, in turn, depend upon voters, whose chief knowledge 
 on these subjects, which they do not study for themselves, 
 is derived from agitators, whose livelihood is the fruit of 
 misrepresentation. 
 
 The main argument against the proposal for national service 
 is that young men will be taken for the Citizen army at a time 
 when they are wanted for the Regular army, and that their 
 experience in the militia will not induce them to pass on to the 
 regular forces. History, however, affords no confirmation of 
 this position, and the class which joins the Regular, is not that 
 which would fill the Citizen, army. Rather are they men who 
 cannot get, or do not want, regular work, and for want of it 
 are short of funds and food. Moreover, when in 1808 there 
 was a scarcity of recruits, an Act for compulsory training was 
 passed, after which the numbers who volunteered from the 
 militia for service in the Regular army was gi'eatly in- 
 creased. 
 
 Universal military service must not be confounded with 
 conscription. The former is a measure for peace, the latter a 
 measure for war, and necessary as a last resort to fill the 
 depleted ranks of an army. 
 
 Conscription enables the rich to purchase a substitute for 
 personal service, and really only survives in Spain, where it 
 is rudely assailed, and in Portugal, where it is moribund. 
 
 Some, like Sir Ian Hamilton, contend that volunteers fight 
 better than the compulsorily recruited, and deny that the 
 voluntary spirit which inspired this country is dying or dead. 
 The answer to which is that upon the Continent larger and 
 far more efficient armies are raised and maintained at a less 
 cost upon the universal service system.
 
 THE ARMY 47 
 
 The views of the anti-compulsion school are based upon the 
 fundamental fallacy that the military system must be shaped 
 on political ideals, the fact being to the exact contrary, for if 
 military systems are to be of any value whatever, they must be 
 fashioned on steady principles to meet the end in view, and 
 not to suit the fantastic and varied notions of changing Parlia- 
 ments. It will be of little use to explain when we are defeated 
 that we did the best we could consistently with proper respect 
 for the views of the peace- at-any-price school and the Socialist 
 contingent in the State. 
 
 And even General Hamilton completely gives away his own 
 case when he actually falls back as a last resort on a third 
 line raised under the sanction of latent compulsion, like the 
 Garde Nationale, in order to legalise which he would introduce 
 a Bill into Parliament. 
 
 The pith and substance of the whole matter is found in the 
 Report of Lord Elgin's Commission to the effect that no 
 military system will be satisfactory which does not contain 
 powers of expansion outside the regular forces of the Crown,* 
 and in the resolution of the Duke of Norfolk's Commission to 
 the effect that the militia was unfit to take the field for the 
 defence of the country, that the volunteers could with no 
 prospect of success face the troops of Continental armies, and 
 that an efficient home defence army can only be raised and 
 maintained on the principle that it is the duty of every citizen 
 of suitable age and sound physique to be trained to take part 
 in the national defence, f 
 
 The same criticism, of course, would apply to the Terri- 
 torials, though their organisation is admittedly an improvement 
 on that of the militia. 
 
 Invasion. 
 
 All the schools allow that the Navy cannot complete its 
 victories without the help of an army, and, if not all, most 
 admit that we cannot defend the country with the certainty of 
 Buccess unless we can provide an army for use at home and 
 
 • Cd. 1789 of 1903. 
 t Cd. 2061 of 1904 .
 
 48 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 for warfare overseas. Those who hold that the invasion of 
 this country is impossible forget the landing of General 
 Humbert in 1798 in Co. Mayo, where he kept the field for 
 seventeen days, with hardly any artillery, no cavalry, and no 
 base, at a time when it was believed that 40,000 troops with 
 guns could without difficulty have been landed in Ireland. 
 
 Members of this school also forget the failures of blockades in 
 naval manoeuvres. Can we watch 1,200 miles of German coast 
 so closely that a small squadron could not break through? 
 Commissions have proved that even the success of an enemy 
 at sea would not necessarily starve these islands into sub- 
 mission, and that the enemy would be compelled to attempt 
 an invasion. An intelligent enemy would therefore begin with 
 that with which he must eventually end. 
 
 But even in the days when blockades were more effectual 
 than they can be made in this epoch of mines and wireless 
 telegraphy, Napoleon overran Europe, when he had not the 
 command of the sea, and quite recently Japan sent her first 
 army across to Korea before fighting the Russian fleet. 
 Obviously, the United States might invade Canada, Russia, 
 India, and Turkey, Egypt, without any interference from our 
 navy. All these possessions might be taken from us in spite 
 of our supremacy on the sea. It is madness to extend 
 principles, good in respect of insular, but bad in respect of 
 Continental, countries, alike to continent and island. 
 
 Why is the fact always forgotten that only one-quarter of 
 our Empire, containing a fraction of our population, is insular 
 in character, and that if we lose our Continental possessions 
 we shall be ruined? In truth, supremacy at sea is relative and 
 not absolute, and would not necessarily prevent the occurrence 
 of a panic which might destroy the mercantile credit of 
 this country, built, as it is, upon a wholly insufiBcient gold 
 reserve. 
 
 Behind even a successful navy there must be an adequate 
 army to complete and confirm its victories, and a powerful and 
 efficient army and navy gain for the fortunate country which 
 possesses them such objects as are otherwise affected by the 
 agency of war and conquest.
 
 THE ARMY 49 
 
 Ethics of Wae and Peace. 
 
 Agitators and altruists forget that Ruskin, a thoroughgoing 
 Radical, said : — 
 
 " We talk of peace and learning, of peace and plenty, and of peace and 
 civilisation : but I found that these were not the words which the Muse 
 of History coupled together, that on her lips the words were peace and 
 seiisuality, peace and selfishness, peace and death. I found, in brief, that 
 all great nations learnt their truth and strength of thought in war : that 
 they were nourished in war and wasted by peace, taught by war and 
 deceived by peace : trained by war and betrayed by peace, in a word, 
 that they were born in war, and expired in peace." 
 
 They are now engaged in persuading the proletariat that 
 war is necessarily a crime, that peace should be secured at 
 any price, that patriotism is a tinkling cymbal, and a foreign 
 master as good as our Sovereign Lord the King. 
 
 The advocates of peace at any price rarely if ever abstain 
 from citing in their own favour a well-known passage from 
 Isaiah. But they carefully omit to read the chapter, or to 
 quote its governing words. Nay rather, they wrest the text 
 from its context, and never use it but to abuse. The prophet 
 pictured a once powerful and favoured nation in the last stage 
 of decay, decrepitude, and despair. " It shall come to pass in 
 the last days," he said, when Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is 
 fallen, "that they shall beat their swords into plowshares, 
 and their spears into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up 
 sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." "' 
 The neglect of a free people to arm for their defence was cited 
 as the last proof of degradation, and there are nations in 
 Europe among whom the same high standard is maintained to 
 this day. It was only in the final day, at the last stage of 
 national ruin, that this symptom appeared, which is regarded 
 on the Peace and Ploughshare platforms as suitable for the 
 greatest Empire in history at the height of its power and in 
 the pride of its fullest growth. 
 
 "War has been described as the irreconcilable conflict of 
 two national consciences. As Joubert said : " C'est la force 
 
 * Isaiah ii. 2, 4. 
 
 5
 
 50 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 et le droit qui r6glent toutes choses dans le monde ; la force 
 en attendant le droit." This philosophy justifies war in the 
 present condition of the world and it leaves room for the 
 hope that it may some day in the future be superseded, or 
 at least diminished in its frequence, between nations of high 
 and equal civilisation. 
 
 But under present conditions " Les pacifistes," says M. 
 Ernest Denis with much force in his new book on the German 
 Empire, " sont les complices des conqu^rants, parce qu'ils 
 sollicitent leurs cupidites en 6nervant les resistances." 
 
 And Count Eeventlow recently described England's proposals 
 in respect of the limitation of armaments as an attempt to 
 meddle in the affairs of inother Power, with the result that 
 she was making herself ridiculous. 
 
 Nor were politicians of a different class and character slow 
 to speak. 
 
 The German national Labour leader stated in the Reichstag 
 in March, 1911, that he was strongly opposed to any agree- 
 ment to determine the state of the forces on either side, 
 saying that Germany could as little conclude an agreement 
 with Great Britain regarding naval construction as a man 
 could agree with a boy regarding their rate of growth. Such 
 an agreement would be an abdication of Germany's status as 
 a great Power and a capitulation to Great Britain. 
 
 The Germans maintain, in the words of their Ambassador in 
 London in 1910, that, in order to secure the freest possible 
 expansion of the economic power of the nation they were com- 
 pelled to move out into the wide world and across the sea, that 
 their national aspirations threatened no one, that while their 
 army had preserved peace for them for forty years, the safe- 
 guarding of steadily growing interests on the sea now called 
 for a powerful fleet. " The ocean," Count Metternich 
 significantly observed, " is free, and according to the con- 
 ceptions of all civilised nations belongs to no single Power 
 alone." 
 
 M. Clemenceau, late Prime Minister of Republican France, 
 is an advanced Radical, but concluding his series of lectures at 
 Buenos Aires with an address on "Democracy and War," he
 
 THE ARMY 51 
 
 expressed the opinion that, of view of the fact that it would be 
 impossible to " balance " armaments, any attempt to reduce 
 them would be the surest means of provoking war. There 
 could be no hesitation, he thought, between the choice of 
 peace on the one hand and, on the other, the humiliation 
 of one's country. Everything possible to prevent war should 
 be done, but it would be madness for any nation to disarm at 
 a moment when the whole world was arming on land, on sea, 
 and in the air. The democratic States were not bent on con- 
 quest or aggression, but peace as well as war demanded action. 
 M. Clemenceau thought with Tacitus, " miseram pacem vel 
 bello bene mutari," but a Eadical English Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer speaks of the "infamy of war" without 
 qualification. '^' 
 
 President Roosevelt, the Pacificator of Japan and Russia, 
 when he was presented by Sir Howard Vincent with the medal 
 of the British Inter-Parliamentary Union, " expressed the hope 
 that unbroken peace might mark the future relations of the 
 nations of the world " and said, " the best way to secure peace 
 is to learn to shoot straight.'' And on another occasion, while 
 welcoming the prospect of a second Peace Conference at the 
 Hague, he stated in the following terms the ethics of war and 
 peace : — 
 
 "It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely justifiable, but 
 imperative, upon honourable men, upon an honourable nation, where 
 peace can only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction or 
 of national welfare. Peace is normally a great good, and normally it 
 coincides with righteousness ; but it is righteousness and not peace 
 which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the 
 conscience of an individual. A just war is in the long run far better 
 for a nation's soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by 
 acquiescence in wrong or injustice. Moreover, though it is criminal 
 for a nation not to prepare for war, so that it may escape the 
 dreadful consequences of being defeated, yet it must always be remem- 
 bered that even to be defeated may be far better than not to have 
 fought at all. As has been well and finely said, a beaten nation is not 
 necessarily a disgraced nation ; but the nation or man is disgraced if 
 the obligation to defend right is shirked. 
 
 Mr. George at Bath, November 24, 1911.
 
 D'ri 
 
 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 " Fantastic extremists are not in reality leaders of the causes which they 
 espouse, but are ordinarily those who do most to hamper the real leaders 
 of the cause and to damage the cause itsolf. As yet there is no likelihood 
 of establishing any kind of international power, of whatever sort, which 
 can effectively check wrongdoing, and in these circumstances it would be 
 both a foolish and an evil thing for a great and free nation to deprive itself 
 of the power to protect its own rights, and even in exceptional cases to 
 stand up for the rights of others. Nothing would more promote iniquity, 
 nothing would further defer the reign upon earth of peace and righteous- 
 ness, than for the free and enlightened peoples deliberately to render 
 themselves powerless while leaving every despotism and barbarism armed 
 and able to work their wicked will. The chance for the settlement of dis- 
 putes peacefully, by arbitration, now depends mainly upon the possession 
 by the nations that mean to do right of sufficient armed strength to make 
 their purpose effective." 
 
 These words may well be taken to heart in Great Britain, 
 which seems too ready to forget that it was the knowledge of 
 the inadequacy of our army which led the Boers to engage in 
 hostilities with us in 1899. Had we been prepared for it, war 
 would not have come. 
 
 Abbitbation Treaty with Amebica. 
 Nor has Mr. Roosevelt's successor, Mr. Taft, omitted to 
 rebuke the unpatriotic element in American politics. " I am 
 not in favour," said he, " of making the United States a war- 
 like nation, but I am in favour of a large Navy commensurate 
 with the population, wealth, and interests that need protection 
 against intervention by some meddling foreign Government." 
 Mr. Taft evidently does not consider this attitude inconsistent 
 with the promotion of an arbitration treaty with a friendly 
 Power, for on August 3, 1911, during a thunderstorm, arbitra- 
 tion treaties were signed in his presence ■■'' between the United 
 States and Great Britain, and between the United States and 
 France. 
 
 " The Treaty which Mr. Knox and Mr. Bryce have negotiated preserves 
 the principle of Commissions, and extends, indeed, its scope. Heretofore 
 questions insoluble by diplomatic negotiations have either been left un- 
 solved or in recent years have been submitted to The Hague Tribunal, and 
 between diplomatic negotiation and reference to arbitration there has more 
 
 * This awaits the ratification of the Senate and of Parliament.
 
 THE ARMY 53 
 
 thau once been an awkward interval. Such, for instance, was the case 
 over the Atlantic Fisheries dispute. To bridge that interval, and to give 
 the nations an opportunity of settling difficulties without the expenditure 
 of money, time, and trouble, involved in a reference to The Hague, the 
 new Treaty arranges for the appointment of an International ' Com- 
 mission of Inquiry ' to deal with questions that diplomacy has failed 
 to settle. This will consist of any nationals that the contracting parties 
 like to appoint. There is no reference to membership of The Hague 
 Tribunal as a qualification, and the Commission will settle disputes that 
 may hereafter arise between the contracting Powers."* 
 
 It is, of course, anticipated that in most cases the Commission 
 will be able to arrive at a solution acceptable to both Govern- 
 ments concerned. 
 
 " If it does not provide for unrestricted arbitration, the Treaty provides 
 mechanism for the settlement ' out of court * of practically all disputes 
 that can reasonably arise between friendly nations. By omitting the 
 clause which most similar arrangements at present contain, reserving 
 from arbitration questions of national honour, but without necessarily 
 including questions obviously unfit for arbitration, it can hardly but con- 
 tribute to the cause of International goodwill; and while it has been drawn 
 up with especial reference to Anglo-American relations, it has been the 
 evident intention of the negotiators to make its terms universal enough to 
 be susceptible of extension to other Powers. "f 
 
 It is noteworthy that nothing can be referred to arbitration 
 without the consent of two-thirds majority of the Senate, and 
 that the Irish-Americans denounce this Treaty, as they did the 
 earlier effort in the same direction of the Olney-Pauncefote 
 Treaty. 
 
 Not only the Presidents of the United States, but the Presi- 
 dents of smaller Republics also have not been backward in 
 expressing their opinion of the folly of the policy of disarma- 
 ment, which finds favour in Socialistic circles and with 
 politicians depending on their votes in England. 
 
 M. Muller, President of the Republic, said in the Swiss 
 Chamber : — 
 
 " History has shown us that nations which allowed their military strength 
 to decline have perished. We are a small nation, and we are aiming at 
 
 The Times, August 4, 1911. t Ibid.
 
 54 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 peace. Nevertheless, we are desirous of keeping our independence, and 
 for this purpose it is absolutely necessary to maintain our military power 
 in the highest possible efficiency." 
 
 Socialism in England and France. 
 
 Nevertheless, the SociaHstic and unpatriotic dry-rot of anti- 
 miUtarism spreads apace. France was once the greatest 
 military Power on the Continent, but not only has there been 
 an increase in the number of her young soldiers, who fail to 
 join on the due date, but for the last twenty years an amnesty 
 Bill has been passed in favour of deserters and recalcitrant 
 reservists or recruits. 
 
 Another disquieting featL^re in France is the growth of anti- 
 militarism in the large towns, the General Confederation of 
 Labour being most concerned with this treasonable agitation, 
 which was most vigorously denounced by the Prime Ministers, 
 MM. Clemenceau and Briand. Unfortunately, what he calls 
 international humanitarianism, is almost a religion with the 
 primary school teacher in France, who, as too often is the 
 case in Great Britain also, regards patriotism as no part of his 
 creed, and gives it no place in his school curriculum. 
 
 The Government of the Republic, however, cannot be blamed 
 for this disastrous state of affairs. 
 
 The arch agitator against national defence, M. Herv6, was 
 sentenced not long since to one year's imprisonment, having 
 escaped from several previous prosecutions, when the Socialist 
 leader, M. Jaur^s, urged that England allowed her citizens to 
 indulge in criticisms of Colonial policy at least as strong as that 
 of the incriminating articles. It was on this occasion that the 
 French Foreign Secretary, M. Pichon, said : — 
 
 " The spectacle we are witnessing, the care with which the greatest 
 nations of Europe are attending to their armaments, would alone suffice 
 to put our patriotism on its guard. The sense we have of our duty, our 
 knowledge of the laws of history, the necessity imposed upon us to show 
 ourselves worthy of the great confidence we inspire and of the high 
 authority we possess, to promote the ideas of which we are the guardians, 
 ought to prevent us from allowing to collapse in our hands the instrument 
 necessary for our defence and our power, blasphemed by an infinitesimally 
 small but turbulent gang of spouters, buffoons, and featherheads. "
 
 THE ARMY 55 
 
 No similar statement has yet been made by English Ministers, 
 though equal provocation has not been wanting, and a repudiation 
 of the disloyal speech and acts of agitators would be welcomed 
 in all responsible quarters throughout the country. 
 
 Seldom has a more comprehensively unjustifiable resolution 
 been passed by any Parliament than that of our own, which 
 declared in 1906 " that the growth of expenditure on armaments 
 is excessive and ought to be reduced. Such expenditure lessens 
 national and commercial credit, intensifies the unemployed 
 problem, reduces the resources available for social reform, and 
 presses with exceptional severity on the industrial classes." * 
 Nor is there any foundation whatever for the resolution of the 
 International Arbitration and Peace Society to the effect that 
 expenditure on armaments is dragging all the great States of 
 the world towards ruin. In fact, the expenditure of the United 
 Kingdom has not increased in recent years in proportion to her 
 resources. The charge for her army and navy represents an 
 insurance of 3 per cent, on the annual income, and 0*4 upon 
 the capital, now reckoned by statisticians to be twenty-two 
 thousand millions. 
 
 There is no sign in Germany that the people are crushed 
 under military expenditure, which indeed all classes are 
 patriotic enough to bear willingly, since they see that they 
 are becoming prosperous in proportion to, and very largely in 
 consequence of, their strength. 
 
 EXPENDITUKE ON ARMAMENTS AND WaSTE. 
 
 It is extraordinary that economists who protest against any 
 increase in the expenditure on the Army and Navy overlook the 
 fact that most of that expenditure goes to support industry and 
 labour in this country. Our annual expenditure under this 
 head employs hundreds of thousands, subsidises a large ship- 
 building industry, and keeps our shipyards in constant occupa- 
 tion, and in a state of efficiency. It is a matter of primary 
 importance that the large dockyards on the Clyde, Tyne, and 
 elsewhere should be maintained in a state of the highest 
 efficiency by constant contracts. Warship construction is the 
 * Parliamentary Debates, vol. 165, 1906, page 1416.
 
 56 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 salvation of many districts, and airship construction in a less 
 degree should afford employment to scientific men and to 
 skilled artisans as soon as its importance is more generally 
 appreciated. France and Germany lead the way, and the 
 Coalition Government of Mr. Asquith has at length announced 
 its intention of training selected officers and mechanics in 
 aviation, making a grant in aid of their expenses, developing 
 the Air Battalion, and purchasing airships with due regard to 
 the rapid rate at which at present the latest designs become 
 obsolete.* Perhaps in time attention will be given to the all- 
 important question of the supply of officers, which remains 
 stationary in the face of the steadily increasing demand, which 
 results from the extension of the Empire, The pay of every 
 one has been raised except that of the loyal British officer, who 
 neither strikes nor agitates, but grumbles and does his duty. 
 The Army affords most valuable employment to our upper and 
 middle, as well as to our lower, classes, and steps must be taken 
 to maintain the attractiveness of the service, especially at a 
 time when salaries are being thrust upon unwilling Members 
 of Parliament as a consequence of the dictation of the Socialist 
 and Labour groups, and when paid offices are being created 
 with alarming and unnecessary profusion. 
 
 The greater portion of the expenditure on armaments cir- 
 culates in our own country and amongst the labouring classes. 
 Soldiers and sailors profit no more than the sellers of guns, 
 rifles, swords, horses, saddlery, and a thousand and one 
 other necessities. General disarmament would cause wide- 
 spread ruin and hardship in the ranks of labour, and the 
 British Navy and Army have not only maintained peace, but 
 have given, and do give, work to hundreds of thousands of our 
 fellow-countrymen. 
 
 Not only our home trade and industries would suffer from 
 reckless disarmament or reduction, but our Eastern trade 
 would disappear, and 132 millions of British, and 80 millions 
 of Indian, capital invested in India, would be imperilled or lost. 
 We should, too, lose the wheat trade which supplies this 
 country with bread. 
 
 * Colonel Seely, in the House of Commons, July 19, 1911.
 
 THE ARMY 57 
 
 Expenditure on armaments must be regarded as an insurance 
 against the great loss involved in a war, and the incomparably 
 greater loss, involved in defeat. The total Army and Navy 
 Estimates are certainly not excessive, and are proportionally 
 about a third of what they were in 1830, when the volume of 
 our trade then and now is taken into account. Under the 
 voluntary system, however, the Army and Navy have to com- 
 pete in the labour market in the ordinary way, and their pay 
 has therefore to be raised to correspond with the increase in 
 wages and the standard of comfort whicli is so marked a feature 
 of our national life. 
 
 The Germans appreciate the fact that the German army is, 
 as the Prussian War Minister lately said, an entry on both 
 sides of the account, and not only expenditure. That is 
 equally true, of course, of naval and military expenditure in 
 Britain, and Labour Members show that they are aware of the 
 fact, which they deny collectively, when those of them, who 
 represent dockyards and arsenals, loudly exclaim against any 
 reduction, however small, in their individual constituencies. 
 
 The same Prussian War Minister also urged the people 
 never to forget the advantages which military service con- 
 fers in the way of health, discipline, and education, devotion 
 to duty, and obedience and love of the Fatherland, saying, 
 " The great progress which Germany had made in every sphere 
 of activity is not due solely to victorious wars and the influx of 
 wealth, but in a very large degree also to the education of the 
 German people by universal service." 
 
 The National Liberal leaders do not seriously contest this 
 obvious fact, and Herr Basserman has pointed out that the 
 increase in armaments is a burden that ought to be borne in 
 the interests of the maintenance of peace and the protection of 
 the whole system of trade and industry. Disarmament, he 
 said, was doubtless an ideal, but Germany had to deal with 
 certainties, and it was quite certain that the problem of inter- 
 national agreement would not be solved in the near future. 
 At present Austria was building Dreadnoughts, Eussia was 
 strengthening and reforming her army, in America Imperialism 
 was growing, and he need only mention Japan. The peace of
 
 58 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the world was saved by the might of Germany when she sided 
 with Austria in the Balkan crisis of 1909. 
 
 No tonic of this character has been administered by Liberal 
 leaders to their followers in this country, though there is sore 
 need for a recognition of the fact that there are weak joints in 
 our domestic and Imperial armour. 
 
 Colonies and Defence. 
 
 Owing to the want of Imperial organisation in that behalf, 
 the whole burden of home defence has hitherto rested on the 
 Mother Country, and unless some concerted policy is adopted 
 for future observance, nothing can prevent the dissolution of 
 the Empire from within, even if, which is unlikely, it escapes 
 dismemberment from without by a stronger Power. All over 
 the world the British possess the best of everything, the 
 coast and the fertile maritime tracts, leaving to other nations 
 the comparatively valueless hinterland. It has now the 
 greatest land frontier of any Empire or kingdom in the world, 
 and unless it becomes far stronger than it appears to be in 
 comparison with the strength of other great Powers in the 
 almost immediate future, it cannot expect to be left to enjoy 
 its great possessions in opulent and slothful ease. 
 
 The Colonies themselves recognise the position, and Mr. 
 Fisher, Premier of the Commonwealth Labour Government, had 
 hardly landed in England in 1911 for the Coronation of King 
 George V., when he publicly repudiated the Socialist Labour 
 Member Mr. Keir Hardie's anti-military attitude, and said, 
 " that if he himself stood by and saw Australia undefended, he 
 would feel he had been criminally negligent of one of his first 
 duties." Indeed, " he regarded Imperial Defence as the most 
 important point for Australia at the Imperial Conference," and 
 stated the view of the Australian Labour Party to be that 
 "Australia must first be able to defend herself, before she could 
 consider her share in a general Imperial Defence scheme." 
 
 So clear is it that in the present condition of the world 
 universal training or service are necessary to the independence 
 of a nation, that even the unwarlike and war-despising Chinese 
 are awakening, and a National Merchants Corps, inaugurated
 
 THE ARMY 59 
 
 in 1906 in Shanghai, has now nearly reached its full strength 
 of 1,000, and will in no long time be raised to a strength of 
 3,000 men.* The Chinese greet this novel movement with the 
 utmost enthusiasm, and it is becoming recognised that it is the 
 duty of the people to render military service, and that soldiers 
 and soldiering will soon cease to be relegated to the lowest 
 grade of the social hierarchy of the Middle Kingdom. And 
 after all, what nobler, more elevating, and more democratic 
 ideal can there be than that of an army consisting of young 
 men of all classes daily devoting themselves to the same 
 duties and making the same sacrifices ? What finer example 
 of collectivism than a community of burdens in the hour of 
 danger ? and what a contrast such an ideal affords with col- 
 lective plunder, under the form of legislation, of the property 
 or income of an unpopular or a politically hostile class? Surely 
 universal military training is more democratic than fighting by 
 proxy ; surely the democrat in Britain will not be content to be 
 distinguished for all time from his brother in other countries 
 by his unwillingness to defend his fatherland ! 
 
 Arguments For and Against a Small Army. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Money spent on armaments is wasted. Germany is unlikely to attack 
 England. Arbitration treaties are likely to increase and multiply, and 
 war will vanish from the face of the earth. 
 
 2. International interests are increasing, and social and financial interests 
 render future wars improbable. 
 
 3. English international influence is greatest because of her humani- 
 tarian sympathies, and her influence is against war. 
 
 4. The British people will never agree to compulsory service or training, 
 and the Territorial army will suffice for the defence of the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 5. The Territorial army could deal with an invading force of 70,000 
 men, and no greater force could elude the vigilance of the Navy. In 
 Continental wars Great Britain cannot, and should not, take part. 
 
 6. The scheme of the National Service League for compulsory training 
 is incompatible with recruitment for the Regular army. 
 
 The Tivies, June 3, 1911.
 
 no CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 7. Compulsory service lacks the adventurous impulse which animates 
 a voluntary army. 
 
 8. No country can afford to have a large army and a first-class navy, 
 and Great Britain must do without the former as the latter is a vital 
 necessity. 
 
 9. The waste of money on armaments prevents the progress of social 
 reform, and makes internal improvement impossible. 
 
 10. The expenditure upon the Navy is already about 3 per cent, of the 
 value of our trade, and nearly one-fifth of our income. 
 
 11. England is practically immune from invasion. Why throw av.'ay 
 this advantage by maintaining a large army, such as nations must, who 
 are liable to this disaster? "The serioiis invasion of these islands is 
 not an event we need seriously consider."* 
 
 12. After making necessary deductions for garrison and local defences, 
 we have a sufficient field army of about 120,000 men available to deal 
 with an invading force. 
 
 13. The greatest military Power of the Continent, Germany, is a 
 friendly kindred Power possessing the same civilisation, the same ideals 
 and standards as ourselves. She is of all nations the most unlikely to 
 make war upon us. 
 
 14. The Territorials, who are about the number of the old Volunteers 
 and Yeomanry, which cost £1,971,000, already cost £2,650,000, and will 
 cost twice this sum when properly equipped. The expenditure upon the 
 existing forces is almost prohibitive, and cannot be increased. 
 
 15. As nations become convinced that military force does not deter- 
 mine economic power, the necessity for great armaments disappears, and 
 this conviction grows apace. It is obvious to all that the Hollander and 
 the Swiss are better off than the German and the Austrian, that they 
 receive equal consideration in the world's markets. 
 
 16. Wealth consists in the activity of the people. Germany, if it took 
 England, would perforce let everything go on as before. A blow to 
 England's would be a blow to her own credit, and a greater blow. 
 
 17. It is better business to have a good market than an exclusive 
 economic advantage. f 
 
 18. If you desire peace, you must prepare for peace. 
 
 19. All questions including, as is now admitted, those of national 
 honour, can best be settled by arbitration. 
 
 20. When immunity of private property at sea is established, for 
 which a great majority of delegates at last Hague Conference voted, 
 Germany will no longer continue to build against England, and the 
 latter' s naval and military strain will at once be relaxed. Our own 
 commerce is open to attack at sea like that of other Powers, and we 
 should agree to abolish the right of capture. 
 
 * Mr. Balfour, April, 1905. 
 
 t Mr. N. Angell, at Sphinx Club, May 5, 1911.
 
 THE ARMY 61 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Universal peace is a dream; the German Navy can only be directed 
 against England, and has no other raison d'etre. War is with difficulty 
 avoided at the very moment when certain nations are negotiating arbitra- 
 tion treaties. 
 
 2. The international attitude is scorned even by the Socialists of the 
 Continent, and is almost peculiar to the British brand of Socialist. France 
 is no less vehement than Germany in her repudiation of these disloyal 
 ideals.* 
 
 3. England's alliance is little valued because she is known to be unwilling 
 to fight, or unable at present to overcome the reluctance of the peace-at- 
 any-price party. 
 
 4. The Territorial army has been denounced by most distinguished and 
 independent soldiers, expecially by Lord Roberts,f as wholly inadequate, 
 and therefore a positive danger to the country. 
 
 5. There is no reason why a larger force than 70,000 should not slip 
 across the North Sea, as half the fleet might be absent in other parts of 
 the world. Even the whole fleet might conceivably be eluded. 
 
 6. Lord Roberts and other distinguished soldiers hold that compulsory 
 training would rather stimulate than impede recruitment for the Regular 
 army. 
 
 7. Records of compulsory service in Germany and Japan sufficiently 
 refute the argument that compulsorily raised forces lack the enthusiasm 
 and staying power of a voluntary army. 
 
 8. Expenditure on the Army and Navy results in employment of multi- 
 tudes of British subjects, and supports innumerable trades and industries, 
 including some of the most important in the country. 
 
 Reduction and disarmament would not only create unemployment 
 and disorganise industry, but would result in the loss of our Eastern 
 trade, and of British capital invested in India. 
 
 9. The other party to an arbitration award will only abide by it if we 
 are strong, and will reject it, if we are weak. 
 
 10. Social reform comes after safety. A house must be certain to stand 
 before it can be made comfortable inside. 
 
 11. The Army has not increased proportionately to the increase of the 
 Empire in extent, wealth, and population. 
 
 12. It has not increased relatively to the increases in military strength 
 of other Powers. 
 
 13. The British Empire is not an island, but has a vast land frontier to 
 defend, nor can war be won or ended by merely defensive action. We are 
 also practically pledged by treaty to offensive action in favour of guaranteed 
 Powers, such as Belgium. 
 
 * The Times, July 22, 1911. 
 
 t House of Lords, April 4, 1911,
 
 62 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 14. If Germany acquired Holland and Belgium, which, without an army 
 we could not prevent, she would at once be in a position to destroy our 
 sea power. 
 
 15. The Army must be sufficiently large to give strategic freedom to the 
 Navy by relieving it of the duty of home defence. 
 
 16. The expenditure on the Navy in 1801 was 18 per cent, of the value of 
 our trade. The function of the Army becomes more important as the naval 
 defence becomes less in proportion to the value of our trade. 
 
 17. If a home defence army is required, it must be able to deal 
 successfully with any troops to which it is likely to be opposed.* 
 
 18. Lord Wolseley asserted his " belief in the possible invasion of 
 England."t So does General von der Goltz, who writes : " It is incorrect 
 to consider an invasion of England to be chimerical or irrealisable."J 
 
 19. Mr. Balfour said in 1909 that the Committee of Defence had then 
 come to think that we must be prepared for an invasion of 70,000 men.§ 
 Germany has ample transport for ihis number. 
 
 20. Mr. Asquith said on the same occasion that we must have a home 
 army adequate to repel raids and compel an invading enemy to come with 
 a force so large that it could not evade our fleet. || 
 
 21. A maritime Power must succumb to a blow struck at its heart. 
 
 22. The home army of 100,000 to 120,000 available for repelling an 
 invasion would be second line insufficiently trained troops. 
 
 23. We are by no means popular on the Continent. 
 
 24. We have had continual misunderstandings with Germany, and the 
 need for fresh markets and for room for her increasing population must 
 bring her into collision with her chief rival. Great Britain. 
 
 25. Lord Haldane himself, when he first launched his scheme, " hoped 
 eventually to see a defensive force of 800,000 to 900,000 men, a nation in 
 arms, the only safeguard " % in war, but the establishment is now 312,577 
 men, and on September 30, 1910, the deficiency on that was 44,374.** 
 These are not enough to repel an invasion and provide for local and 
 garrison defence. 
 
 26. Only a nation with a sufficient military force can secure the most 
 advantageous economical position. 
 
 27. Talk of arbitration treaties is folly while we ask Germany as a con- 
 dition to maintain pormanently a secondary place at sea and consequently 
 in the world's commerce. 
 
 • Lord Roberts, House of Lords, November 28, 1908. 
 
 t Lord Wolseley, letter to Lord Wemyss, November 28, 1906. 
 
 I Deutsche Rundschau, 1900. 
 
 § Parliamentary Debates, July 29, 1909. 
 
 II Parliamentary Debates, 1909, vol. 8, p. 1388. 
 II Speech at Newcastle, September, 1906. 
 
 ** Lord Lucas, in the House of Lords, November 15, 1910.
 
 THE ARMY 63 
 
 28. True, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland have equal chances with 
 the great Powers in tha world's markets, but only because they are secured 
 in peace and independence by the armies and the jealousies of great 
 Powers. They also depend on armies and navies, but not upon their own. 
 
 29. By agreeing to the immunity of private property at sea, England, 
 the greatest naval Power, would surrender a great, perhaps her greatest, 
 naval advantage. 
 
 Arguments For and Against Compulsory Military 
 Training for Home Defence. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Universal military training will improve the character, discipline, 
 and physique of our race. 
 
 2. Defence of country and self is the first duty of a citizen, and England 
 alone of European nations raises its whole army on a voluntary system. 
 
 3. The compulsion is that of the popular voice, public opinion rejects 
 the imposition upon a few of the duty of all, and the relegation of a 
 national duty to those who perform it because they are driven thereto by 
 poverty and lack of other resources. 
 
 4. Other Powers, such as France and Germany, garrison their foreign 
 stations with voluntarily enlisted troops. Compulsory service for home 
 defence is found to be no bar to such enlistment. 
 
 5. " The voluntary principle overlooks the great moral value of the idea 
 of a general patriotic obligation."* 
 
 6. Our soldier in the Regular army costs £163 a head a year against £57 
 for Germany, £15 for France, £86 for Russia, £13 for Austria, and £84 
 for Japan. 
 
 7. We have needed and used limited and class impressment and con- 
 scription in the past and thus won Trafalgar and Cr^cy. The principle is 
 conceded, the application should be general. 
 
 8. " The nature of the voluntary system makes it impossible to demand 
 a reasonable standard of efiiciency without greatly reducing the forces."! 
 
 9. " The progress of industry and the development of the industrial 
 spirit are fatal to the voluntary system. "| 
 
 10. Every man of every rank and class of sound physique, and between 
 certain years of his life, should be liable for service in the home defence 
 forces. 
 
 11. For this he requires for the infantry continuous compulsory training 
 
 * Lord Milner in the House of Lords, July 10, 1906. 
 t Duke of Norfolk, Chairman of Commission on Auxiliary Forces, 
 House of Lords, June 28, 1904. 
 I Shee's " The Briton's First Duty," p. 127.
 
 64 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 for four months between 18 and 21, and for the three following years a 
 fortnight's camp in the Territorial ranks, and a musketry course, and he 
 should be liable up to the age of 30 to be called out for home defence in 
 case of a »rave emergency, which Parliament should decide. 
 
 12. The extra cost would be well under four millions, and safety is cheap 
 at the price. 
 
 1-3. Compulsory training will also promote industrial prosperity, as the 
 physical training and exercise prolong the period of the wage-earning 
 capacity of the citizen. 
 
 14. Compulsion of all sorts abounds and increases daily as our govern- 
 ment becomes more and more Socialistic in character. 
 
 15. Every modern great Power, except the United States, has abandoned 
 the voluntary system. 
 
 16. When every man has to fight in time of war, the nation is more un- 
 willing than ever to make war without good reason. 
 
 17. Universal compulsory training does not interfere with industry. All 
 employers would be on the same footing, and the labour withdrawn would 
 at its highest be but 2-58 per cent. Germany with compulsory service 
 advances industrially faster than any other nation. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Compulsory service is repugnant to the feelings of the nation and 
 inconsistent with the liberty of the subject. 
 
 2. It cannot provide troops for overseas garrisons and stations, for which 
 we must have voluntarily enlisted men. 
 
 3. The Militia Ballot Act, 1757, in abeyance since 1832, actually 
 provides for universal personal service, but public opinion does not allow 
 it to be enforced, so opposed is the idea to national feeling. 
 
 4. The Regular army gives no permanent employment, and so promotes 
 eventual unemployment. 
 
 5. Arbitration is fast becoming the accepted method of settling inter- 
 national disputes, and the adoption of compulsion is therefore less than 
 ever necessary. 
 
 6. The adoption of the proposals of the National Service League would 
 cost an additional £7,820,000 to the Army Estimates.* 
 
 7. Readiness for war promotes war, the larger the army the more it 
 seeks for warlike occupation. 
 
 8. Universal compulsory training interferes with trade and industry. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. . 
 
 Facts and Fallacies. By Field-Marshal Lord Roberts. 
 Compulsory Service. By General Sir Ian Hamilton. 
 The Briton's First Duty. By George F. Shee. 
 
 War Office Memorandum, No. 101, July 8, 1909.
 
 CHAPTEE III 
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
 
 Parliamentary Treatment. 
 
 IT is clearly equally impossible to wholly omit, or fully 
 treat of, foreign affairs in a little work of this kind The 
 mean course appears to be to briefly notice those subjects 
 upon which controversies in and out of Parliament at the 
 present time prevail. There is, of course, in some sense, a 
 controversial question as to the manner in which foreign 
 atfairs should be ti-eated. A section of the House of Commons, 
 composed for the most part of advanced Eadicals, Labour 
 Members, and Socialists, desires that the control of the 
 House over the Foreign Secretary should be increased, that 
 treaties and agreements with other nations should be sub- 
 mitted to Parliament, and indeed that such submission should 
 be a preliminary to effective negotiations. Whether from 
 want of experience of, or from indiff rence regarding, the real 
 conditions of international intercourse, or from a feelitig that 
 their intervention is attended with results of national or inter- 
 national importance, is hard to say, but for these or other 
 reasons the section of the House of Commons which holds 
 these opinions is that which is most insistent in pressing 
 for a reduction of those armaments of which diplomacy is 
 but the pale reflection, and without which no attention 
 whatever would be paid to England's voice among the nations. 
 There is, for example, a little group of Members who urge 
 armed intervention in the Congo, regardless of the fact that 
 such would probably provoke war with Germany, which, on 
 the other hand, they illogically declare to be a crime as 
 unthinkable, as everybody at the moment agrees to regard a 
 
 6 ^
 
 66 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 .'•onflict between England and the IJaited States, though every 
 one, n^'vertheless, is well aware that peace between these coun- 
 tries might in certain contingencies be broken. It is, of course, 
 true that under existing circumstances the House of Commons 
 is not taken into the confidence of the Foreign Minister, and 
 that the fullest expression is not given to the views of the 
 democracy, if, for the moment, it be conceded that such views 
 are truly represented by the House of Commons ; but in fact 
 the conduct of foreign affairs would become impossible if 
 assent was given to the wishes of this group.* Already 
 England negotiates with her hands tied owing to the fact that 
 her foreign p )licy is liable to fitful and unaccountable changes, 
 as the opinions of the demciracy are guided hither and thither 
 by agitators, who train them into grooves in which they desire 
 them to run, and in which, as far as may be, they shall seem 
 natural and spontaneous. No other European Power, not 
 even the French Republic, works under this difficulty, for 
 in France la patrie has still much of the meaning which 
 Vaterland has in Germany, and the internationalist, the 
 Socialist, the faddist, and the altruist have not yet been able 
 to exercise much influence, nor have the many associations 
 and societies, the object of which is to protect everything and 
 everybody except their own country, been taken at their own 
 valuation in the chanceries of the Continent of Europe. It is, 
 of course, true that under a perfectly developed democracy 
 foreign politics will be discussed and settled by the repre- 
 sentatives of the people, as they were in Athens, and with 
 probably the same result ; but as it is admitted in Great 
 Britain, even by a prominent Socialist Member, that Parliament 
 does not yet represent the people, probably the majority of its 
 inhabitants will be content that the Foreign Office should 
 continue to maintain such continuity of policy as it can, 
 and that the Foreign Minister should carry on his delicate 
 duties as successfully as may be under the exceedingly great 
 difficulties of his position. If there was any sign that the 
 decisions at which the Foreign Office arrived gave dissatisfaction 
 
 • " Diplomacy is of necessity mora or less of a secret game." — Mr. 
 Asquith, House of Commons, November 27, 1911.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 67 
 
 [to the electors, then obviously the desired change would have 
 
 jto be introduced, but there is not the slightest manifestation 
 )f any such feeling, and indeed under existing circumstances 
 It is impossible to say that the electors have given any clear 
 knd unmistakable mandate on this or on any other subject. 
 
 JHad the policy to which reference has been made above been 
 irried out in the Parliament which sat from 1906 to 1910 
 
 |we should, as Sir B. Grey said in the House of Commons, 
 not have been on speaking terms with any other country." 
 It would be of little use, and is certainly outside the scope of 
 this book, to discuss the position in the Near East, when in 
 1909 Germany threw her sword into the scale in favour of the 
 recognition by Europe of the annexation of Bosnia-Herze- 
 govina by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or the acute situa- 
 tion which arose when she intervened for the first time in 
 respect of Morocco, on neither of which occasions did this 
 country play a very effectual part. Nor would it be of any 
 advantage to discuss a situation such as that which is now 
 developing in Albania, or the war forced upon Turkey by 
 Italy. Other subjects, however, claim attention, and the most 
 important instruments negotiated by the British Government 
 in recent years are the Anglo-Russian Convention and the 
 renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 
 
 Anglo-Russian Convention. 
 
 Under the former agreement the Governments of Great 
 Britain and Russia, while engaging to respect the integi'ity and 
 independence of Persia, accepted the principle that each of them 
 had, for geographical and economic reasons, a special interest 
 in the maintenance of peace and order in certain provinces of 
 Persia adjoining, or in the neighbourhood of, the Russian 
 frontier on the one, and the frontiers of Afghanistan and 
 Baluchistan on the other, hand. The practical outcome is that 
 either Power undertakes not to seek, or support its subjects in 
 seeking, within certain defined limits any concessions of a 
 political or commercial nature, these being understood to com- 
 
 * Debates, House of Commons, vol. 10 of 1909, p. 2302 ; also Speech 
 on Morocco, November 27, 1911.
 
 68 CUERENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 prise concessions for railways, banks, telegraphs, roads, 
 transport, insurance, and the like purposes. 
 
 This Convention is unfortunately regarded in many quarters 
 as an anti-Mahomedan aUiance which places Persia and 
 Afghanistan under the control of Russia and England. Nor 
 can it be said there is nothing in this view, although the 
 agreement really only confines the two Powers to their 
 Northern and Southern spheres of influence, between which a 
 neutral zone is dehmited, while it is expressly stated that it 
 does not include the Persian Gulf. Little comfort, however, 
 can be derived from the express exclusion of a sphere in which 
 British predominance cannot possibly be denied, nor has 
 any advantage so far resulted from the omission of any 
 reference to the Baghdad Railway. The agreement has been 
 severely criticised by those who have chiefly or solely 
 regarded its provisions in respect of Persia, and it may 
 be admitted that Great Britain had a good claim to include 
 within her sphere of influence not only Persian Baluchistan, 
 but the northern shores of the Gulf, and the hinterland at 
 least as far north as Kermanshah and Ispahan. There seems 
 no apparent reason why the Russian sphere should have been 
 brought down so far south as the old capital of Persia, and 
 why the northern shores of the Gulf and the country behind 
 should have been left in the neutral zone. British commerce 
 is supreme in that region, and Great Britain cleared the Gulf 
 of pirates, and policed and opened its waters to the world's 
 trade, of which in this region she has, of course, the lion's share. 
 
 There is little doubt that in spite of efforts made by the 
 British authorities to force the parliamentary Government 
 to preserve order in Southern Persia, our influence in 
 that region has been greatly iinpaired. On the other hand, 
 the position of Russia in Northern Persia has improved, and 
 owing to the retention till well into 1911 of a small body of 
 troops at Tabriz, order has been maintained, and trade, in 
 which the Russians are largely interested, has been protected. 
 
 Parliamentary Government * has resulted in absolute 
 
 * It is doubtful if this has survived the coup d'Etat of December 24, 
 1911, when the Mejliss was closed, martial law proclaimed, and certain 
 demands of Russia conceded.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 69 
 
 anarchy in Southern Persia, and in the loss of the very 
 Httle authority the Shah's Government ever possessed upon 
 the northern shores of the Gulf. The landing of the ex- 
 Shah on the Caspian coast, with the intention of striking 
 a blow for his throne, is the natural result of an exhibition 
 of incapacity such as cannot but thoroughly discredit 
 representative institutions in Persia for many years to 
 come ; if, indeed, the substitution of Bakhtiari, for Kajar, 
 tribal influence can be described as a serious essay in the 
 ai'b of representative government. Sir Edward Grey has 
 stated in the plainest possible manner that the British 
 Government will not interfere between the ex-Shah and 
 the Parliamentarians in Persia, and that the Russian 
 Government in no way connived at the Shah's return. He 
 described the ex- Shah's reappearance, however, as a " most 
 untoward event," -'^ and but for Russian and English interven- 
 tion, it is pretty clear he never would have been expelled. 
 It would appear, therefore, that neither Government repents 
 of the assistance it gave to the establishment of parlia- 
 mentary anarchy in Persia, but that both alike are 
 determined to let events in future take their own course, 
 " provided Persian independence takes account of the respec- 
 tive interests of Russia and Great Britain in the parts 
 adjoining their frontiers." f 
 
 But the guarantee of the independence and integrity of 
 Persia, which is holding good under this strain, was well 
 worth a sacrifice, and if we now occupy the northern shores 
 of the Gulf with claims and concessions, and one such for a 
 railway from Mohammera to Khoramabad has been demanded, J 
 httle harm will have been done, while the Convention has 
 
 • Parliamentary Debates, July 23, 1911. 
 
 t Sir E. Grey, House of Commons, November 27, 1911. 
 
 \ The period for which the Persian Government undertook in favour of 
 Russia not to make any railways expired in 1910, and the British 
 Government still has the right to construct or procure the construction 
 of a railway in Southern Persia, whenever railway construction takes 
 place in any other part of that kingdom by, or on behalf of, any other 
 Power.
 
 70 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 already saved the realm of the King of Kings from dismember- 
 ment. 
 
 The Nationalists in Persia were at the last gasp in Tabriz, 
 when Russia and England intervened and forced the Shah to 
 grant a truce, thus giving the Nationalists breathing time, and 
 inspiring them with the very little courage required for an 
 advance upon the unprotected monarch in his spiritless and 
 unwarUke capital. The Convention has relieved England and 
 India from immediate apprehension on the North- West 
 Frontier of India, and in Central Asia, where Russia's railway 
 system has been immensely developed in recent years, and 
 wherein that Power maintains an army of a peace strength of 
 nearly sixty, and a war strength of nearly one hundred, 
 thousand troops. 
 
 Russia can now keep an army of half a million men 
 on the Afghan frontier, and would be a greater menace than 
 ever were it not that with the independence of Persia secured 
 by the Convention, the importance to us of Afghanistan as a 
 frontier factor is greatly diminished. It was a very great 
 advantage to define our position in Persia, Afghanistan, and 
 Tibet, though it is matter for regret that the fruits of the 
 Tibetan expedition were deliberately thrown away by the 
 Conservative Government, in pursuance of a policy which the 
 succeeding Liberal Government only too eagerly adopted and 
 developed. The result of this successful, but ill-starred, enter- 
 prise is that China's shadowy suzerainty has been converted 
 into something much more substantial, and that her activity 
 on the North-East Frontier of India and the adjoining 
 country is likely, as Lord Minto, the lately retired Viceroy, 
 recently hinted, to give us no little trouble in the future, if 
 indeed she recovers from the acute internal dissensions from 
 which she now suffers, and finds Parliamentary and Con- 
 stitutional Government as impossible as they have proved in 
 Persia. Sir Edward Grey must be given credit on the whole 
 for having exhibited a statesman-like power of taking occasion by 
 the hand in 1907, when Russia, weary and wounded in the Far 
 East, was prepared to halt in her, till then, incessant progress 
 in Central Asia. It had become quite clear before the
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 71 
 
 Japanese War that she intended to turn the flank of the 
 North-West Frontier of India by penetrating Persia to the 
 Gulf. This fact also diminishes the importance of Afghanistan 
 in British Indian politics, and distracts attention from the 
 attitude of the present Ameer, now King, of Afghanistan, who 
 has not yet expressed his formal approval of the Anglo-Russian 
 Convention, but whose acts, moods, and omissions are now 
 less regarded by the British and British- Indian Governments. 
 In any case, as Germany is our competitor and potential 
 enemy, an entente with Russia, following on the Convention of 
 1904 with France, is an essential feature of a wise British policy. 
 
 Anti-Russian Demonsteations. 
 
 Regarding Russia proper two problems only have lately ex- 
 cited interest in this country. Demonstrations were made 
 in Parliament by Labour Members against the present Czar, 
 who had just conferred Parliamentary institutions upon his 
 own country, whose troops had been the means of allowing 
 Persian revolutionaries to expel an absolute Shah and place 
 a quasi-parliamentary puppet on the throne of Cyrus and 
 Darius, and who had been the initiator of the Hague Peace 
 Conference. In 1908 a reduction of the vote for the 
 Department of the Foreign Secretary was moved from the 
 Labour, and seconded from the Irish, benches, in order to 
 attack the Czar, and to condemn the visit King Edward was 
 then about to pay to that monarch. It was urged that Russia 
 was a country full of terrors, tortures, and persecutions, that 
 a visit from our King would enable the Government of that 
 country to borrow money to pursue its nefarious schemes 
 of autocratic rule, and that no Liberal Government should 
 maintain friendly relations with a State which had arrested 
 and imprisoned members of its own Duma.* All the false and 
 exaggerated statements circulated by Russian revolutionaries 
 were apparently accepted, and were certainly repeated, by those 
 who supported the motion. It was, of course, pointed out in 
 reply that the internal administration of Russia was a matter 
 in which we had no title or claim to interfere, and that it was 
 * Parliamentary Debates, 1908, vol. 190, 211 sqq.
 
 72 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 ridiculous to try to establish a sort of Irish boycott against a 
 vast Empire with which we had close and important com- 
 mercial and other relations. The British Government took 
 full responsibility for the King's visit, saying it was absurd to 
 suppose that this country could for the reasons suggested 
 abstain from maintaining friendly relations with another 
 nation, of whose government any parliamentary group or 
 section did not approve, that such a policy would be fraught 
 with disaster to a large number of the subjects of both Powers 
 in different parts of the world, and would stultify the Govern- 
 ment which had just entered into the Anglo-Russian Con- 
 vention ; that the policy of the Labour Party would lead to war 
 as surely as the Anglo-Russian Convention promoted peace, 
 that a suspension of diplomatic relations gave the rein to 
 passion and unreason ; that the policy of boycott might, and 
 would, if once adopted, be extended to the German Emperor 
 and to other European potentates ; that objections were taken, 
 and indeed by the same group in Parliament, to certain 
 features of the Governments of most of neighbours ; that all 
 moderate Liberal and reforming elements in Russia welcomed 
 the visit of King Edward, to which objection was only raised 
 by the reactionary and revolutionary party, whose chief desire 
 was to embarrass the Russian Government ; that to condemn or 
 defend Russian administration in Parliament must equally 
 give offence ; that a great deal of the disturbance in Russia was 
 occasioned by the revolutionary party ; that the political con- 
 dition of that country was improving, not retrograding ; that 
 representative government was developing ; that it was 
 ridiculous to require other countries immediately to adopt the 
 democratic franchise, which only within the last fifty years 
 had been established in Great Britain, and that any attempt 
 to bring pressure to bear on Russia would have the opposite 
 effect to that which was desired. 
 
 The motion was supported by only fifty-nine votes, but the 
 object of the promoters was presumably attained, Russia was 
 insulted, and Socialist internationalism obtained a useful 
 advertisement. 
 
 In 1909, when the Czar visited England, this demonstration
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 73 
 
 was repeated, the powder and shot being provided by a scarlet 
 pamphlet * composed by the exiled Nihilist, Prince Peter 
 Kropotkin, who was accepted as an authority on the ground 
 presumably that an unrepentant exile is the material of which 
 impartial critics may be made. The attack was again 
 delivered from the Labour benches during the debate on 
 the Foreign Office vote.f It was urged by the Labour 
 Members and their friends that Prince Kropotkin, who was 
 their authority, was a good authority, and the scarlet 
 pamphlet was hurled at the head of Imperial Parliament, 
 with its statistics of prisoners, whose numbers were considered 
 without relation to the vast population of Russia, whose 
 suicides were all described as due to official oppression, whose 
 executions were all unjust. The government of Russia was 
 described as the epitome of all evil, and Mr. Henderson, who 
 had led the Labour Party, and had supported motions for the 
 reduction of armaments, urged the Government to refuse 
 British hospitality to the Czar, at the risk of war, risks 
 equally great having been taken by this Government and 
 other Governments for less worthy objects ! The same 
 arguments were used against the promoters of this motion 
 as were urged on a former occasion, and are above 
 summarised. The Foreign Secretary naturally declined to 
 accept the statistics of Prince Kropotkin, and added that 
 accredited representatives of Russia in England, such as 
 Professor Miliukof, who said, " We are the opposition of 
 the Czar, not the opposition to the Czar," had publicly 
 resented the slight which the Labour benches had sought to 
 put upon their sovereign, that presumably they were better 
 acquainted with the feelings of Russians than were the anti- 
 Russian Members of the British Parliament, and that no 
 patriotic Russian was likely to sympathise with a motion 
 brought forward with the object of insulting and obstructing 
 his own Government. Indeed, in Sweden by a unanimous 
 vote the Chamber refused to allow a similar discussion to take 
 place. I 
 
 * Published by the Independent Labour Party, 1909. 
 
 t Parliamentary Debates, 1909, vol. 8, pp. 642 sqq. I Ibid., p. 688.
 
 74 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Question of Finland. 
 
 Efforts have also been made, some of which were frustrated 
 by the agency of the author of these lines, to raise what is 
 known as the Finnish question in Parliament. No one who 
 has travelled in the "land of a thousand lakes" — 
 
 "By the springs that loudly bubble, 
 By the rivers winding seaward, 
 On the broad backs of the marshes," * 
 
 and associated with its Finnish and Swedish populations, can 
 have other than a love of this country and its inhabitants, or 
 do other than pray that the unsought and unwelcome inter- 
 vention of foreigners may i.ot strengthen the determination of 
 the Russian Government to deprive it of such attributes of 
 autonomy as survive. Nothing is more likely to exacerbate 
 such anti-Finnish feelings as now exist among Russian 
 bureaucrats than foreign interference in the purely domestic 
 affairs of Russia. Those who meddle in this manner are in 
 fact the worst enemies of the interests which they pretend, 
 and no doubt often desire, to serve. However, a Bill based on 
 the recommendations of the Russo-Finnish Committee of 1909 
 became law in June, 1910, the main object of which was 
 to approve proposals for a new procedure in legislation on 
 Finnish matters affecting Russian interests. 
 
 Although the Emperor-Grand-Duke of Finland has the 
 right to veto any legislative measure passed by the Finnish 
 Diet, and althovigh the Russian Council of Ministers had been 
 in 1908 invested with pov/er to intervene in Finnish legisla- 
 tion and administration, the Bill of 1910 went still further 
 and allowed the Finnish Parliament no voice in legislation on 
 questions which do not relate solely to the internal affairs of 
 Finland. Under this Bill the Russian Parliament has power 
 to decide to what extent the Grand Duchy is liable for Imperial 
 expenditure and to impose taxes for this purpose, to define the 
 rights of Russian subjects in Finland, and to create exceptions 
 to the Finnish criminal law and procedure, to legislate on 
 popular education, on the right of holding public meetings and 
 * Wainamonen, " Kalevala."
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 75 
 
 associations, on customs, trade marks, copyright, money 
 system, communications, navigation, and the rights of aliens 
 in Finland. The Grand Duchy is therefore to have little or 
 no voice on Imperial questions in which she also, like other 
 portions of the Russian Empire, is interested. 
 
 On the other hand, legislative proposals, before being settled 
 by the Duma or Council of Empire, have to be referred to the 
 Finnish Senate for opinion, the people of Finland being 
 represented by one member on the Council of Empire, and on 
 the Duma by four members. Now the Finnish Senate itself 
 is nominated by the Czar, and it must be admitted that the 
 Bill will make a considerable breach in the existing Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 Apparently Finnish tariffs are not for the present to be 
 raised,''' but it is urged that this policy of unification will ruin 
 Finland without benefiting Russia, except in respect of 
 the appointments in the former, of natives of the latter, 
 country, and that the abolition of the internal autonomy of 
 the Grand Duchy cannot but injure Russian credit in the eyes 
 of Europe, throughout which the solemn engagement of 
 Alexander I., when he confirmed Finland in the enjoyment 
 of the laws which had applied to it as part of the Swedish 
 kingdom, is well known. 
 
 On the other hand, it is urged that Finland has never been 
 converted into a separate State, but is a Russian province. 
 It is, in fact, incorporated territory in the Russian Empire, 
 enjoying autonomy in purely local affairs, but being only one 
 of several provinces taken by conquest from Sweden which 
 have passed into the property of the Russian Empire, upon the 
 legislative power of which they depend. The regulation of 
 common Russian and Finnish interests by identical laws, 
 though possible before the creation of the Duma and Imperial 
 Council, could hardly survive that event. Finnish laws would 
 continue to be the work of an autocrat, while Russian laws 
 were the product of an Emperor assisted by two Chambers. 
 The law of 1910 is a necessary development of the reform of 
 the legislative system of the Empire by the Imperial manifesto 
 * Parliamentary Debates, 1910, vol. 17, page 444.
 
 76 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of 1905, and matters of Imperial interest, excluded by the law 
 of 1910 from Finnish legislation, will be decided by the 
 Russian Parliament upon a more democratic, or at any rate, 
 upon a less bureaucratic, basis. The autonomy of Finland 
 will not be destroyed, because most purely internal questions 
 are left to the ordinary course of Finnish legislation ; for 
 instance, the organisation of the Province in respect of poHce, 
 urban and rural self-government, civil service, pensions, and, 
 with the exception of such as are imposed for Imperial 
 purposes, taxes, mining industries, forestry, class distinctions 
 and privileges, excepting these of Russian non-Finnish subjects 
 in Finland, and civil and ecclesiastical affairs with certain 
 exceptions, criminal laws and procedure, education with 
 certain exceptions, commercial legislation with certain excep- 
 tions, posts, agriculture, communications, fisheries, poor law, 
 and many other heads of administration/'' Further, it is con- 
 tended, and with good reason as would appear, that Finland has 
 manifested separatist aspirations, and has been unwilling to 
 pass laws required in the general interest, or to grant Russians 
 equal rights with Fins in Finland ; that the Parliament of 
 Finland has, in fact, deprived Russians of civil, political, and 
 industrial rights, has introduced several Bills forbidding 
 Russians to be members of local government bodies, and has 
 deprived them of the right to own printing works, bookshops 
 or libraries, and to purchase real property, without the special 
 order of the Emperor-Grand-Duke obtained in each case ; 
 that it was intolerable that Russians should be treated as 
 foreigners in a province of the Empire the second town of 
 which is only twenty miles from St. Petersburg, and is more 
 or less a summer resort for the capital. Finally, supporters of 
 recent legislation insist that the isolation of Finland from 
 Russia in the case of war between the latter and any Western 
 Power could not but be fraught with danger to Imperial 
 interests. 
 
 Meetings have been held in England of the mistaken friends 
 of freedom, resolutions have been adopted of the usually 
 offensive character towards Russia, and questions have been 
 * " Finland," by Lieut. -General Borodkin, p. 100.
 
 I 
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 77 
 
 asked in the House of Commons, urging the intervention of 
 the English Government, which would be practically identical 
 with the interference of the Imperial Russian Government for 
 the purpose of protesting against the further continuation of 
 the Union between Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 It is hard to get away from the fact that as Finland is 
 indisputably an integral part of the Russian Empire, her 
 administration must be brought into line with that of Russia 
 proper, to which she lies in the most immediate vicinity. 
 Her internal autonomy is, as far as is compatible with her 
 position as a Russian province, respected. It is probable that 
 few of those who criticise, have read, the law of June 17/30, 
 1910. They resent rather the Imperial order for the payment 
 of a military contribution, and the resolutions passed by the 
 Joint Commission of Russians and Fins regarding the pro- 
 mulgation of general State laws and the scope of general 
 State legislation. There seems to the impartial observer 
 nothing here to justify the academic protests of British and 
 Continental jurists and professors. There is indeed little in the 
 Treaty of Fredrickshamn upon which to found a claim to 
 separate existence, nor can the contention hold that Finland 
 was acquired with the consent of its people in 1809, for Russia 
 undoubtedly obtained the Grand Duchy by conquest, what- 
 ever were the wishes of its inhabitants. Finland never had a 
 separate existence from Sweden, and the possession of a separate 
 coinage is no proof of a separate State system.* Siberia 
 possessed this attribute in the eighteenth century, as did Poland, 
 long after she lost her political independence. Nor can a 
 case be made out for tyrannical treatment by Russia. Indeed, 
 in the days of Swedish rule Finland was under an obligation 
 to provide^more than 13,000 troops, but under Russia she has 
 provided only 2,000 men until, in 1881, seven years later 
 than Russia, she came under the law of universal military 
 service. 
 
 SOMALILAND. 
 
 Leaving Finland,' with its thousand lakes, and its glorious 
 summer climate, for " the stark Arabian coast," Somaliland 
 » "The Rights of Finland," by E. Berendts.
 
 78 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 is the next controversial country, and though it is now under 
 the Colonial Office it may most appropriately be treated as 
 foreign in this work. The position in this barren land has 
 been, and is likely again to be, the subject of debate in the 
 House of Commons and in the country. 
 
 It has been argued with some force that while we remained 
 in Somaliland we were doing the Mullah no harm and our- 
 selves no good, and we spent a great deal of money. The 
 Coalition Government of Mr. Asquith therefore adopted 
 a policy of concentration and withdrawal, which indeed had 
 also been favoured by its Conservative predecessors. Prior 
 to its being placed under the Foreign Office the Somaliland 
 Protectorate was administered from Bombay and Aden, and at 
 that period the British-Indian Government repudiated respon- 
 sibility for maintaining peace outside a radius of ten miles 
 from the coast and declined to preserve the tribes from raids 
 or to compose any inter-tribal quarrels. It has been urged of 
 late that a railway should be constructed from the coast to the 
 interior, but obviously this would require a considerable gar- 
 rison for its safeguarding, and would be accompanied by no 
 guarantee that the present, or any future, Mullah would elect 
 to fight us in such situation that we could use our own railway 
 as our base, and there would, of course, be no commercial 
 return. Nevertheless, the fact cannot be concealed that with- 
 drawal from the interior and concentration on the coast, 
 whether inevitable or not, exposes tribes friendly to ourselves 
 to reprisals at the hands of those who are hostile to any 
 British occupation. Advocates of withdrawal contend that 
 the excommunication of the Mullah by the religious bodies 
 at Mecca is a proof that his influence is reduced to vanishing- 
 point, but it is not altogether conclusively proved that this 
 decree issued from an authoritative quarter, and there is no 
 guarantee that he, or a successor of his, will not again give 
 trouble, nor is it altogether certain that no one will seek to 
 succeed us in this inhospitable region if we withdraw. A 
 foreign Power settled opposite Aden could make things very 
 uncomfortable for us at that important coaling station, and in 
 the Persian Gulf, Egypt, and even on the Indian coast. The
 
 I 
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 79 
 
 Government of Mr. Asquith sent out, no doubt with specific 
 instructions, an admirable agent, Colonel Sir William 
 Manning, who issued arms to the friendlies, and reported that 
 they could hold their own against their enemies. But there 
 is some reason for thinking that even the qualified peace and 
 civilisation which we have introduced, has had the effect 
 described by the Sikh chief who cursed the 
 
 " Boasted progress that hunts our sons to school. 
 That breaks the sword, that snaps the spear, and bids our courage cool." 
 
 If this be so the outlook for the friendlies is other than pro- 
 mising. Indeed, Sir William Manning, who evidently had 
 instructions to concentrate, withdraw, and get the Govern- 
 ment out of its difficulties, nevertheless reported that a period 
 of disorder would probably follow upon withdrawal. It may well 
 be argued that the policy pursued in Somaliland is a reversal 
 of our traditional method of dealing with native races, and is 
 likely to be represented, and not without reason, as the result 
 of the defeat of the British by the Mullah, that Somaliland 
 touches on British East Africa, where we want to keep a 
 good name, that the Somalis are one of the finest and most 
 intelligent races in Africa, over whom for twenty-five years 
 we have exercised a more or less effective protectorate, and 
 the interior of whose country we have administered for ten 
 years, and that no notice was given of the impending new 
 departure in policy, but evacuation was begun before the 
 change was announced. Of course, Somaliland is a trouble- 
 some, and in itself an unremunerative, territory, and there is 
 much reason to fear that the policy adopted in. its behalf, as in 
 many other matters, was dictated by the necessity, as the Coali- 
 tion Government holds it to bo, of reducing expenditure under 
 Imperial heads of account, in order to devote vast sums to 
 the various processes of "making their calling and election 
 sure," which are conveniently lumped together under the 
 comprehensive title of social reform. It must, however, be 
 admitted that the policy pursued by the Coalition Government 
 does not widely differ in principle from that laid down by their 
 predecessors, though considerable differences have marked its
 
 80 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 execution, and Sir Edward Grey has evidently determined to 
 reduce our responsibilities and make, if the expression may 
 be used, a more spirited withdrawal than would have found 
 favour with the opposite party. 
 
 The Under Secretary of State, Colonel Seely, was justified 
 in saying that "it was an agreed policy to retire from the 
 coast as soon as that could be done without loss of prestige," * 
 but it is by no means certain that this material condition has 
 been fulfilled. It may be argued that the Coahtion Govern- 
 ment wisely preferred some loss of prestige to a possible or 
 probable expenditure of some millions of money in endeavour- 
 ing to catch and defeat an elusive adversary, but that there 
 has been some loss of presti.<^e, the extent of which it is difficult 
 to define, could be equally fairly urged in reply. 
 
 Illicit Arms Tbaffic. 
 
 Throughout our long hostilities with the Mullah an illicit 
 traffic in arms, in contravention of the Brussels Act of 1890, 
 has been carried on, not only with the Somaliland Protectorate, 
 but with Muscat and the Persian Gulf, where Persian Baluchi- 
 stan and Afghanistan are brought into the sphere of opera- 
 tions. This traffic it has proved impossible to stop, owing to 
 the fact that the Sultan of Muscat, though directly under tbe 
 protection of the Government of India, has treaties with Euro- 
 pean Powers, and notably with France, under which he enjoys 
 complete freedom of commerce, including the trade in arms, 
 in his dominions. All other methods of putting a stop to this 
 trade having failed, the Indian Government recently dispatched 
 an expedition into the country hitherto known as Persian 
 Baluchistan, but which, since Persia has enjoyed parlia- 
 mentary government, has been practically independent of 
 Teheran, and indeed has been bereft of any rule but that 
 of might among its wild and lawless chieftains. 
 
 Turkey. 
 
 As regards Crete frequent interpellations hostile to Turkish 
 supremacy are made by the same group which distrusts the 
 * Parliamentary Debates, 1910, vol. 17, p. 708.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 81 
 
 humanity of the Belgians in the Congo, disbelieves in the dis- 
 interestedness of the British in India, discredits the beneficial 
 results of our activities in Africa, and believe that in Turkey 
 a Mahomedan is always a bad man in the wrong, while a 
 Christian is invariably a good man in the right. The spirited 
 action of the so-called Young Turks in the assertion of Otto- 
 man sovereignty in European Turkey has somewhat discon- 
 certed this group with which the Coalition Government has 
 to reckon, in spite of the hardly concealed opinion of its 
 Foreign Secretary that their activities are most mischievous 
 in character. Indeed, but for the notorious fact that the 
 Young Turks enjoyed the friendship and protection of Ger- 
 many, the Radical-Socialist-Labour group would long since 
 have banned them with bell, book, and candle. The fact 
 that the present Ottoman Government is a military des- 
 potism is somewhat difficult of concealment, and there is no 
 reason to suppose it suffers less from interested and men- 
 dacious exaggeration than did the administration of the 
 ex- Sultan. 
 
 Albania. 
 
 There is little doubt thsit the excesses and cruelties prac- 
 tised by the armies of the Young Turks in Albania are, as the 
 Ottoman Government claims, grossly exaggerated for political 
 purposes, and that the Poite cannot be fairly criticised for 
 insisting that the Albanians shall take their fair share of 
 military duties and of public taxation. No Government could 
 continue to exist which did not put down with a strong hand 
 those who disobeyed a proclamation calling for surrender on a 
 specified date. Nevertheless, the pursuit of the Albanians into 
 their hills, the devastation of their villages, and the hardships 
 inflicted upon these brave highlanders would have called for 
 the concerted action of the Great Powers had a despotic 
 Sultan, and not the Parliamentary Young Turks, organised 
 the operations. There is more in the word Parliament 
 than there ever was in the blessed word Mesopotamia, and 
 a State possessed of any assembly pretending to the name 
 appears to be exempt from the criticism of those bodies 
 which instigate the Great Powers in general, and England 
 
 7
 
 82 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 in particular, to intervene in the internal affairs of other 
 countries. 
 
 The Austrian Government, in its capacity of self-constituted 
 guardian of Christians in the Ottoman Empire, is believed to 
 have intervened in the middle of 1911 on behalf of the Albanian 
 insurgents, and a feeling prevails throughout Europe that that 
 Government is not unwilling to adopt the attitude of the 
 Austrian Press, and say — - 
 
 " Europe will have no rest until the eternal Balkan crises 
 are radically solved once for all, and the alien element driven 
 from the site of Eastern Rome." "^^ 
 
 The Montenegrins, who are under the special patronage of 
 Austria, if they have not been accomplices in the Albanian 
 revolt, have unconcealed sympathy with the Albanian rebels, 
 while the Czar of Bulgaria is alvvaj^s ready for any interven- 
 tion which may lead to the aggrandisement of his brand-new 
 kingly crown. 
 
 Crete. 
 
 Crete also has occupied the time of our Parliament and the 
 attention of our Press, and the group of politicians, to which 
 reference has more than once been made, has invariably 
 encouraged the insubordination of this insignificant island, 
 of the inhabitants of which, as St. Paul f tells us, Aratus 
 wrote — 
 
 " KptiTEc atl xpavfTTai, icaKa dqpia, yaaTipeq apyai. 
 
 Whether or not they ever deserved such bad words, it may 
 at least be said that they are no more desei'ving of the 
 sympathy of Europe than their lawful masters the Turks. 
 
 Sir Edward Grey, when the Foreign Office vote for 1911 
 was discussed in Parliament, :J said that while anxiety on the 
 part of neighbouring countries was not unnatural, steps to 
 limit the area of disturbance resulting from the condition 
 
 * Vaterland, June 10, 1911. This was one of those journals which, like 
 Frendenblatt, played so active a part in the agitation of 1908, which 
 preceded the annexation of Bosnia and Hertzgovina in 1909. 
 
 t Epistle to Titus, i. 12. 
 
 J Parliamentary Debates, July 28, 1911.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 83 
 
 of affairs in Albania could not be initiated by us — a welcome 
 intimation, as was his assurance that the Great Powers have 
 no desire to be drawn into intervention in Turkey. 
 
 In this behalf the Coalition Government of Mr. Asquith has, 
 like its predecessors in ofi&ce, acted in conjunction with the 
 other protecting Powers (France, Austria, and Italy) to dis- 
 courage the extravagant pretensions of the Cretans, to maintain 
 the suzerainty of the Sultan, the protection of the Mussulman 
 inhabitants, and the furtherance of the government of the 
 island under an autonomous regime.* 
 
 The four Powers hold the island in trust, and continue to 
 maintain the obligation of preserving the supreme rights of 
 Turkey! , and the substitution of a veiled military despotism for 
 an avowed autocracy has, of course, strengthened the hands of 
 the Ottoman Porte and its reputation in certain previously 
 unfriendly quarters. Austria took Bosnia and Hertzgovina from 
 the Turk when he was unable to resist aggression ; but there is 
 no doubt that the Turkish Government will now prove perfectly 
 capable of suppressing revolt in Albania, Macedonia, and Crete, 
 if other Powers do not intervene in the interests of the re- 
 volters. 
 
 Turkish territory is still the storm centre of the Near East, 
 though intervention seems for the moment to be out of fashion. 
 It really is as necessary now as ever to keep the Turks in, if the 
 Russians are to be kept out of, Constantinople. Greece is 
 an impossible heir, partly because of the unwarlike character 
 of her inhabitants, and partly because she has no friend in 
 Europe except Great Britain, whose friendship »falls short 
 of fighting on her account. 
 
 Austria can hardly stretch to Constantinople, even if internal 
 tension allows her to retain her present widely scattered and 
 heterogeneous dominions. If Bulgaria succeeds to the Turkish 
 inheritance she will only rule as the obedient vassal of Russia. 
 Meantime Turkey maintains a huge army on a war footing in 
 order to keep the Mahomedans and Christians from killing 
 each other, and to preserve peace in Macedonia,* which is 
 
 • Parliamentary Debates, 1910, vol. 17, p. 1199. 
 t Ibid., 1909, vol. 8, p. 651.
 
 84 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 harried by Christian bands, half robber, half patriot, and 
 wholly anti-Mahomedan. 
 
 This army may be destined to play a considerable part in the 
 politics of the Near Bast, but there are insufficient grounds for 
 the theory which ascribes to the late Sultan a policy of bring- 
 ing about a combination of all the Mahomedan communities in 
 the world into a formidable Pan-Islamic opposition to Christi- 
 anity and Christian civilisation. Indeed, the Mahomedans of 
 Morocco, Persia, Afghanistan, India, and China are altogether 
 outside Ottoman influence. 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 To pass from one to another Mahomedan country. Many 
 features of the situation in Egypt recall those of the unrest 
 in India. There is the same violence and unscrupulousness 
 in the native Press ; the same insubordination and sedition 
 in scholars and teachers ; the same clamour for clerkships and 
 higher appointments; the same impatience of a foreign ascen- 
 dancy ; the same reliance upon the Little England attitude 
 favoured by the new democracy, and, to the ear at any rate, by 
 the Coalition Government of Mr. Asquith ; the same delay and 
 indecision in bringing criminals, claiming to be political 
 offenders, to justice ; and the same forgetfulness of the misery 
 and oppression which preceded British rule. There is, however, 
 no Brahmin class, with its incalculable hold over the minds of 
 the inhabitants, with its inherited capacity for statesmanship, 
 and no freedom of action for making experiments in self-govern- 
 ment, representation, and parliamentary or quasi-parliamentary 
 government, such as we possess in India, for in Egypt we have 
 become the trustees of Europe, which is unwilling that " the 
 gift of the Nile " should become the spoil of the agitator. And 
 Europe may well resent concessions to popular, or seemingly 
 popular, clamour, which are injurious to the majority in Egypt, 
 and indeed among other European Powers induce doubt as 
 to our good faith, which is not dispelled by a study of the 
 attitude assumed, not only without rebuke, but to some 
 extent with encouragement in high places, of a group of 
 Radicals, Socialists, and Irish Members. It is, or should be,
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 85 
 
 well known that evacuation was impossible, that the abandon- 
 ment of evacuation was distasteful to France, that from 1883 to 
 1904 Lord Cromer worked for a solution of this dilemma, and 
 after overcoming many and great difficulties, by him it was 
 eventually solved by the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904. 
 
 In 1910 ex-President Roosevelt, after visiting many parts 
 of British and other Africa, including Egypt, was granted 
 the freedom of the City of London, on which occasion he 
 dwelt upon " the wisdom of disregarding the well-meaning 
 but unwise sentimentalists who object to the spread of 
 civilisation at the expense of savagery," compared inde- 
 pendence and self-government in the Sudan with " indepen- 
 dence and self-government in a wolf-pack," and " as an 
 American, a Radical, and a real, not a mock, democrat, pro- 
 tested that the condition of affairs in Egypt was a grave menace 
 to our Empire and to civilisation." And then he used the 
 following memorable words, in which are enshrined a great 
 truth of universal application : "In such a situation as yours 
 in Egypt weakness, timidity, and sentimentality may cause 
 even more far-reaching harm than violence and injustice. Of 
 all broken reeds sentimentality is the most broken reed on 
 which righteousness can lean."* As Mr. Roosevelt said, some 
 nation must govern Egypt if it is not again to sink into a welter 
 of chaos, and as we are there for the benefit of the inhabitants 
 it is our duty to establish order and to treat as unworthy of self- 
 government a people which, if it is to be judged by its press, 
 regards assassination as the corner-stone of this system. 
 
 It may be noted in passing that every word of this is applic- 
 able not to the peoples, not to any one of the many peoples of 
 India, but to the little band of Brahmins and Babus, who, with- 
 out even representing their own class and caste, are accepted in 
 Britain as the representatives of that non-existent, but often- 
 mentioned, entity, " the people of India." 
 
 Mr. Roosevelt was perfectly justified in his remarks regard- 
 ing encouragement of assassination. The well-known journal 
 of the Nationalist party, the Leiua, never lost an opportunity 
 of attacking the Premier, Boutros Pasha, both as a Coptic 
 * The Times, June 10, 1910,
 
 S6 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Christian and as president of the Denshawai tribunal, or of 
 glorifying Indian anarchists and assassins like Dhingra, the 
 Socialists and anarchists, who met in conference at Geneva, 
 and itinerant agitators, who were unfortunately members of 
 the British Parliament, who have encouraged the aspira- 
 tions of the half-educated proletariat. The Denshawai affair 
 provided powder and shot for many an attack in Parliament 
 upon the British administration by Irish, Labour, and extreme 
 Radical Members. 
 
 As in India, so in Egypt, a licentious Press has incited half- 
 educated enthusiasts to assassination, and the British Agent, 
 the late Sir Eldon Gorst, did not scruple to indict the Nationa- 
 list leaders as morally responsible for the murder of the Prime 
 Minister, Boutros Pasha, and after the submission of his report 
 dealing with the events culminating in that odious and 
 senseless crime, and the tonic supplied by Mr. Roosevelt's 
 Guildhall speech, measures were taken, far more effectual 
 than any yet adopted in India, to repress sedition and agitation 
 in educational institutions; to break up secret societies, to 
 afford a speedy means of deporting, and otherwise dealing 
 with, offenders, and to curb the licence of the Press. But 
 three measures laid before the Legislative Council were 
 only enacted by the Council of Ministers in the teeth of the 
 opposition of the former assembly, which unequivocally took 
 the side of the irreconcilable Nationalists. 
 
 A speech made upon his assumption of ofiSce by the late 
 Sir Eldon Gorst, probably under instructions from the home 
 Government, in which he said we would only remain in 
 Egypt till the Egyptians were fit for self-government, may 
 be said to have been the beginning of the troubles, which 
 came to a head in 1909-10. There is no need on this account 
 to ascribe to Sir Eldon Gorst, a zealous, able, and courageous 
 public servant, any personal responsibiHty for what is unsatis- 
 factory in the present condition of Egypt. The policy of asso- 
 ciating the Egyptians to a greater extent in the administration 
 was indeed begun by Lord Cromer, and was only continued and 
 developed by his successor. It was thought, erroneously as 
 it proved, that though the Government might become less
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 87 
 
 efficient, it would in this way become moi^e popular ; but 
 we are now less feared and more disliked than we were by 
 the English-educated class we have created. The very un- 
 necessary submission of the agreement between the Govern- 
 ment and the Suez Canal Company to the National Assembly 
 gave that body the opportunity of exhibiting its anti-British 
 feeling, and the agreement had no chance of being considered 
 on its merits. Sir Eldon Gorst reported that the action of the 
 General Assembly was characterised by an entire lack of con- 
 fidence in the intentions and good faith of the Government, and 
 that British financial and commercial interests were adversely 
 affected ; but Sir Edward Grey * declined to take any steps to 
 enforce the adoption of the agreement, on the, under the 
 circumstances not very convincing, ground that intervention 
 could only be effected in the interests of Egypt. 
 
 Meanwhile affairs in Egypt have attracted attention in other 
 quarters. British policy has been persistently and consistently 
 attacked in the German Press, and indications have not been 
 wanting of the activity of German capitalists, such as heralded 
 in Turkey the initiation of that political, rather than economic 
 enterprise, the Baghdad Railway ; while the rank of Minister 
 Plenipotentiary has been conferred upon the German Agent 
 in Cairo. In fact, it might fairly be stated that German 
 influence increases day by day in the land of Egypt,! while the 
 weak and nerveless attitude of the British administration towards 
 the revolutionary, or so called Nationalist, party impairs the 
 firm position it had formerly occupied. At the same time, 
 British capital, so necessary for development, has been naturally 
 shy of visiting a country in the throes of political unrest, and 
 in 1910, for the first time for nearly twenty years, Egyptian 
 Unified Stock fell below par, while considerable difficulty has 
 been experienced in obtaining repayment of advances made by 
 the Agricultural Bank of Egypt, owing to the action of agitators 
 who predicted early evacuation by the British army of occupation. 
 
 • In answer to Sir J. D. Rees, July 4, 1910. 
 
 t An officially subsidised daily German newspaper, the Aegyptische 
 Nachricten, was established in October, 1911. No similar English organ 
 exists.
 
 88 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Egypt, like India, is a touchstone whereby to test the capa- 
 city of a democracy for governing an Empire, in which those 
 who have taken any part in the task, will not feel the greater 
 confidence, now that payment of Members of Parliament has 
 been adopted by the Coalition Government. Nor is the in- 
 sistence by democracy, or rather by those who till now arrogate 
 to themselves its special representation, upon the application 
 of British methods to Oriental countries, and upon the intro- 
 duction of our own system of education, of happy augury, 
 seeing how great a failure has hitherto attended this policy in 
 India and in Egypt, in which latter country our task has been 
 the harder and our failure perhaps the greater, because we 
 work through agents who are not possessed of executive 
 authority. It is in education that we have chiefly failed, and 
 it is in respect of this all-important branch of administration 
 that we most need to act in accord with local environment, 
 local tradition, and local requirements, abjuring above all 
 things adoption of European unsectarian and conventional 
 standards. 
 
 Not only are the Egyptians utterly unfit, as they them- 
 selves have proved, to govern themselves, but how is 
 self-government possible in a country, in which all important 
 laws have to receive the consent of seventeen different Powers 
 of Europe? None of these Powers would waive their rights, 
 unless the administration of Egypt was actually in the hands 
 of one of the great European Powers, and all, including the 
 English in Egypt, would scout the idea of yielding an inch in 
 regard to capitulations, or anything else, if they saw Egypt on 
 the threshold of a great and rapid expansion of native Parlia- 
 mentary institutions. The creation of an impression to this 
 effect was the great mistake made since Lord Cromer retired 
 from the ofifice he held so long with such advantage to the 
 cause of civilisation and good government in what ceased in 
 his time to be the House of Bondage. 
 
 Pan-Islamism. 
 
 The Pan-Islamic movement, which need not necessarily be 
 anti-British, is a force with which Britain must none the less
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 89 
 
 count. It is really but one of many phases of the Asiatic 
 awakening, which Japanese victories have so much advanced. 
 All Asia, including all Islam, rejoiced to see an Asiatic, defeat a 
 first-class European, Power. But when the Government of 
 the day in England inclines a favourable ear to, or at the least 
 abstains from rebuking, the ignorant and bigoted abuse 
 showered in Parliament upon Mahomedan rulers and Ma- 
 homedan rule, a hostile feeling must naturally be engendered 
 and perpetuated. The stream for the moment has dried up, 
 and with the deposition of that most astute and able ruler, 
 Abdul Hamid, Ottoman rule is no longer so strongly animated 
 by that steady, unswerving purpose of bringing into closer and 
 mightier cohesion the whole Mahomedan world under one 
 sceptre, which was the chief feature of the late Sultan's rule.^' 
 
 The Congo. 
 
 Amongst the subjects connected with the foreign department, 
 which have been frequently debated in the country and in 
 Parliament, and upon which a distinct difference of opinion 
 exists, is that of the Congo. The extreraer the Radical the 
 more determined he is to force the hand of the Belgian Govern- 
 ment, and he docs not stop to reflect that the intervention of 
 Belgium in this vast and savage region has already sensibly 
 leavened its inhabitants with at any rate some slight flavour of 
 civilisation, or that the Belgian people are no less humane and 
 at the least no less anxious than w^e are that the administration 
 of their African possessions should be a credit to their nation. 
 So oblivious of the facts arc these breathless philanthropists 
 that while they vote one day for reducing the naval estimates, 
 and hampering the War Minister in his thankless and des- 
 perately difficult task of providing for the defence of the 
 country, on the morrow they are prepared to go to war with 
 Belgium and Germany in order to prevent mutilation and 
 cruelty in a region in which the lopping of a limb has for ages 
 been the common punishment for theft and other offences, and 
 in which cruelty is so much a matter of course, that until the 
 
 • " Pan-Islamism," by V. Chirol, Central Asian Society, November 14, 
 1906.
 
 90 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 advent of the Belgians it was not regarded as an evil. Free 
 Churches pass resolutions condemning forced labour, one of 
 the most time-honoured of the customs of the country, though 
 Radicals protest that the foreign possessions of European 
 Powers should be administered in accordance with native 
 methods. The British Government has been urged again and 
 attain, in and out of Parliament, to withhold its consent to the 
 annexation of the Congo by Belgium until complete reform is 
 effected. No date is assigned for the realisation of this pious 
 aspiration;-'' but as England is held by the party which supports 
 the Government, to need reform at the present day in respect 
 of everything except her tariff, thousands of years must elapse 
 before the Congo qualifies, according to British standards, for 
 annexation by Belgium. 
 
 The resolutions passed by various Churches and associations 
 are wholly lacking in humour, when they commence by pro- 
 fessing cordial goodwill towards the Belgian people, which they 
 then proceed to condemn, root and branch, lock, stock, and 
 barrel, as wanting in an elementary sense of humanity. 
 
 It is quite probable that Belgium has derived somewhat 
 more revenue than is justifiable from its vast Central African 
 territories, but there are not wanting Members of Parliament 
 who say the same of the British "drain" from India, and are 
 equally ready to charge its agents with all that inhumanity 
 which, according to them, is the inevitable equipment of the 
 representatives of the Belgians in Africa. The Belgian Govern- 
 ment proposes to restore freedom of labour and freedom of 
 trade within three years in the territory under the direct con- 
 trol of the State, but it does not apply this counsel of perfection 
 to districts conceded to foreign companies, with which it pro- 
 poses to make individual arrangements. Honest and com- 
 passionate sympathisers with the inhabitants of the Congo 
 should remember that the credibility of the evidence of 
 missionaries received a severe shock by the finding of the 
 
 • The Under-Secretary of State said the Government would wait till the 
 whole of the three zones into which the country was divided had been 
 opened to trade. Mr. Acland in answer to Mr. A. E. E. Gardner in 
 House of Commons, November 23, 1911.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS Dl 
 
 Southern Nigerian Liquor Commission, and that proof of the 
 existence of many maimed and ill-treated Congolese is not 
 identical with proof that their condition is due to Belgian 
 intervention. That there have been abuses connected with 
 the collection of rubber is pretty clear, but it is hardly as clear 
 that the Belgian civil servants, though indirectly responsible, 
 encouraged those abuses. 
 
 The Belgian people naturally deeply resent pictures drawn 
 by irresponsible Congophobes for the purpose of misleading 
 English opinion, and the Belgian Colonial Minister, M. Renkin, 
 made an independent journey in the Congo region before he de- 
 clared that the pictures drawn in England are in flagrant con- 
 tradiction with the reality. No person acquainted with the 
 elementary conditions of the situation would deny his state- 
 ment that it is impossible to immediately revolutionise the land 
 system in these vast, unexplored, and thinly populated tracts. 
 
 The Belgians now distinctly recognise the right of the native 
 to harvest the products of the soil, but their critics maintain 
 that the continuance of the principle of State ownership of 
 vacant land constitutes a fatal flaw in the Congo reform 
 scheme. Such critics have, however, little or no acquaintance 
 with the position of the State in respect of unoccupied land out- 
 side the comparatively narrow limits of Europe, and for the 
 moment they forget that State ownership of land, occupied or 
 unoccupied, is one of the planks in the platform of their 
 Socialist allies. They urge, too, that the exception made in 
 favour of the concessionaire companies is suflicient to inspire 
 doubt of the sincerity of the whole scheme of reform. On the 
 other hand, it is argued by the Belgians that no reform can be 
 immediately carried out over an area half a hundred times as 
 large as that of Belgium, and containing 950,000 square miles, 
 inhabited by 20 or 30 millions of people amongst whom canni- 
 balism and the slave trade still flourish.* 
 
 * See Cd. 5860 (1911). Mr. Thurston, Vice-Consul in Kasai, reported 
 that the former regime, to the continuance of which the ill-treatment of 
 natives may be attributed, is undergoing a radical change, that the 
 Government decrees are being sincerely interpreted, but that the results 
 of the past cannot be wiped out in a day. He noted a great improvement 
 on the conditions described by Consul Thesiger in 1908.
 
 92 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 If the whole area of the Congo were at once thrown open to 
 freedom of trade, all concessions would be useless until arrange- 
 ments were made for the effective protection of trader against 
 the native and of native against the trader, who may debauch 
 him with drink and take his produce at unremunerative rates. 
 It must be remembered that the area now opened up includes 
 the country adjacent to the great waterways, and to the 
 possessions of other European Powers, which alone is now 
 accessible to traders ; that to throw open the whole area to 
 unrestricted commerce would be practically to favour the crea- 
 tion of fresh monopolies, and that the concessionaires have legal 
 and transferable rights which must be respected by a civilised 
 administration. The Government of Belgium also asserts that 
 forced labour has already to a great extent been abolished. 
 In Belgium the good faith of their rulers is not denied even by 
 the party which has arraigned the past misgovernment of the 
 Congo. It cannot be too clearly understood that responsible 
 statesmen in Belgium assert that accusations of cruelty and 
 oppression brought against Belgian Colonial administration are 
 utterly unfounded, and that the persistent reiteration of these 
 charges is deeply resented. In short, the Belgians would say 
 it is "righteousness," and not self-righteousness, "that ex- 
 alteth a nation," and their Court of Appeal in the Congo ■'■ 
 confirmed the sentence passed in 1909 on Lieutenant Arnold 
 of twelve years' penal servitude for complicity in the Monegalla 
 outrages. 
 
 The British Government makes much of the necessity for 
 recognition, but the Belgian Government holds that neither 
 international law nor existing conventions require such 
 formahty. 
 
 The Baghdad Railway. 
 
 A matter, unlike the Congo, of real importance to Great 
 Britain is the Baghdad Railway. Since the British Govern- 
 ment in 1903 declined to take any hand in the proposals for 
 the Anglo-Franco-German construction of this line, the con- 
 ditions of the Middle East have been entirely changed as 
 * The Times, July 28, 1911.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 93 
 
 regards the relative positions held by Turkey, Germany, and 
 Great Britain, and as regards the position of England in 
 Persia, which has been greatly prejudiced by the withdrawal 
 of Western Persia and the northern shores of the Gulf from 
 the British sphere of influence. 
 
 This arrangement, like most others of contemporary date, 
 will inevitably make for the greater aggrandisement of 
 Germany, and the Power which controls the Gulf section of 
 the Baghdad Railway will necessarily dominate South- West 
 Persia and to some extent menace the security of our 
 Indian Empire. 
 
 The interests of the British Government in this project are 
 twofold. We have commercial and economic interests in every 
 section of the railway — from the Mediterranean to the Persian 
 Gulf ; and political, strategic, and Imperial interests in those 
 sections which are in the neighbourhood of the Gulf, As to the 
 first, over almost the whole of the area covered by the railway 
 British trade is predominant. We have to see, therefore, that 
 British ti'ade shall not be subject to any differential treatment 
 in the future. A mere clause in the statutes of the Railway 
 Company prohibiting differential rates is not sufficient, for it 
 would be comparatively easy to frame a tariff favouring 
 categories of goods which come mainly from Germany, as 
 opposed to goods coming mainly from Great Britain and 
 India. 
 
 As Lord Morley said in the House of Lords in March, 1911 : 
 " People do not yet recognise how enormous are the issues 
 involved, how enormous is the area involved. The Govern- 
 ment fully realise that British trade interests in these regions 
 are of real and enormous importance." 
 
 Lord Fitzmaurice, who represented the Foreign Office, 
 speaking in 1906, said the Baghdad Railway was one of the 
 greatest questions of the times, and occupied the same position 
 in the Oriental world which many years ago was occupied by 
 the making of the Suez Canal. 
 
 The line has so far not been constructed beyond the 
 Taurus mountains, and capital must be raised before real 
 progress can be made with the next most expensive sec-
 
 94 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 tion, in which much tunnelling, cutting, and bridging will be 
 necessary. 
 
 The need for further capital is urgent and immediate, but 
 the assent of England and France is necessary to an increase 
 in the Turkish customs duties, without which money for a 
 guarantee can hardly be raised, and this assent probably cannot 
 be got without some compensation. Although a good deal 
 of French capital is already through underground channels 
 employed in the project, the Government of France has 
 not yet admitted Baghdad Railway stock to an official quota- 
 tion on the Paris Bourse. 
 
 Every increase in Turkish customs falls mainly on British 
 commerce, as we supply three-fifths of the trade on which 
 these duties are levied, while at the same time we are the only 
 Power which gives Turkish products free admission to its 
 home markets. It is therefore by no means clear why the 
 English should be asked to agree to an increase in customs in 
 order to facilitate the construction of railways whereby a 
 German army corps could, if necessary, be poured into Syria 
 within two weeks of the declaration of war, to say nothing of 
 the probable effect of the completed project on our position in 
 the Gulf and in India. 
 
 Under the kilometric guarantee system on which the line is 
 built, the remuneration being the same for the easy as for the 
 difiScult sections, it paid the Railway Company to stop on the 
 western side of the Taurus. 
 
 It is pretty certain that the construction annuities leave a 
 very substantial balance to the promoters; and under Article 35 
 of the Railway Convention, until the gross receipts per kilometre 
 reach 4,500 francs, or £180, per annum, the difference between 
 that sum and the actual gross receipts will be made up to the 
 Company by the Ottoman Government. It is obvious that 
 under this arrangement there can be no loss to the Company so 
 long as the gross kilometric receipts are kept down below £180. 
 Their interest, therefore, is to discourage traffic, and take the 
 balance of profit on construction without running any risk of 
 a counter-balance on working expenses, because, when once a 
 profit of £400 is reached, the excess above that amount is
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 95 
 
 divided in the proportion of 40 to the Company and 60 to the 
 Government, an arrangement unusually favourable to the latter 
 party to the agreement. 
 
 The amount might well be considered excessive, but, on the 
 other hand, a guarantee of some sort, which is found necessary 
 in India, is far more indispensable in Turkey to the introduction 
 of foreign capital. 
 
 The construction guarantee provides that the Turkish 
 Government shall pay the Company £10,764 of 4 per cent. Gov- 
 ernment bonds for each kilometre completed, according to a 
 stringent specification, for which amount, worth about £8,500 
 in cash at present, rolling stock also must be provided. Though 
 this sum left a large margin on the easy Kouieh-Eregli, it will 
 be quite insufficient on the Taurus, section, which has next to 
 be made, and it is doubtful if a proiit of more than 15 per cent. 
 will be realised on the whole length — not such a very excessive 
 rate when the risks of investment in Turkey are considered. 
 
 It would appear, then, that the severe strictures passed upon 
 the greed and extortion of the promoters are hardly justified 
 upon a dispassionate consideration of the facts. A great deal 
 of superfluous sympathy is, however, as is usual in England, 
 expended upon those who either are, or consider themselves to 
 be, quite capable of looking after their own interests. 
 
 It must never be forgotten that the Baghdad Railway is a 
 German concession in Turkish territory, which originally pro- 
 vided for the construction of a railway reaching from the heart of 
 Asia Minor to some undefined point upon the Persian Gulf. 
 
 This point is generally regarded as Koweit, and indeed it is 
 hard to say what other place would offer the requisite 
 accommodation. 
 
 The British have, however, hitherto exercised a practical 
 protectorate over the Sheikh of Koweit, and the promoters of 
 the Baghdad Railway acknowledged his independence by 
 sending an unsuccessful mission in 1900 to ask him for a 
 concession for a harbour. The Turks, when the prospect of 
 the construction of the railway became known, endeavoured to 
 assert their dormant, if existent, suzerainty. 
 
 In 1901 the senior British naval officer in the Gulf expelled
 
 96 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 from Koweit Harbour, a Turkish corvette with troops, and 
 when that town was threatened from Central Arabia, it was 
 Great Britain which saved it from destruction. It appears 
 that the Turks have succeeded in encroaching upon the out- 
 lying portions of the Sultan of Koweit's dominions ; but there 
 is little fear now of the reassertion of any claims to Koweit 
 itself from this quarter, unless Germany should claim " com- 
 pensations " in the improbable event of England's extending 
 her influence or augmenting her territory in any direction. 
 
 Under the original agreement only general rights were 
 enjoyed beyond Baghdad, and the choice of a terminus was 
 expressly reserved for special agreement between the Company 
 and the Turkish Government. Words would be wasted in 
 proving that Great Britain should have control over the Gulf 
 section, for nearly 90 per cent, of the trade to Baghdad is 
 British and Indian, and large numbers of Indian subjects visit 
 and hve at the neighbouring holy places. 
 
 But while there are unanswerable reasons why England 
 should have the chief control in the Gulf section, there are 
 more good reasons why she should prefer that no railway 
 through Turkey should reach the Gulf. It is by no means 
 certain, indeed it is hardly likely, that the construction of 
 such a line would increase our trade ; it would probably never 
 pay, and it would bring other nations to what is practically as 
 much a British, as the Caspian is a Russian, lake. 
 
 Now that Germany has arrived at an understanding with 
 Russia, as regards railway spheres of interest, she is free to 
 push her wares in Central and Southern Persia, and with the 
 aid of the Baghdad Railway and by manipulation of rates she 
 will be able to compete successfully with British goods. 
 Germany, and Turkey under her auspices, are already com- 
 mencing to compete with Russia in Northern, and with 
 England in Southern, Persia, and Turkey's hold on her more 
 distant eastern provinces will be immensely increased by the 
 completion of this politically important enterprise. 
 
 Besides a branch of the railway from a point near Baghdad 
 to Khanikin, the entry to the Kermanshah route into Persia, 
 which it is settled shall be made, branches to the north have
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 97 
 
 been coutemplated from Mosul, Nisibin, aud Harran, and the 
 Ottoman Government has entertained the idea of a line from 
 Trebizond to Erzerum. These projects have, owing to the 
 direct or indirect influence of German official or unofficial 
 agencies, been abandoned, to the satisfaction of Russia, which 
 thus postpones the approach of a strategic railway towards her 
 frontiers. 
 
 Sir Edward Grey has stated that England can success- 
 fully demand guarantees of equal treatment and the absence 
 of preferential rates. It can only be hoped that he is justified 
 in this pronouncement, but our fate under similar circum- 
 stances in other directions does not inspire a firm hope that he 
 is right. 
 
 As regards the Baghdad-Khauikin section, when the 
 Russian railway is complete from Teheran down to the 
 frontier, the whole of the trade of Northern and Central Persia, 
 so far as it goes down to the south by the customary caravan 
 route to Bushire, will probably be diverted to the new line. 
 Hence the importance for the protection of British trade of the 
 branch, for a concession for w^hich the British Government has 
 applied, from Burujird southwards to the Gulf. This route 
 would have a very great advantage over that from Bushire to 
 the interior by way of Shiraz and Ispahan, which is one of the 
 worst tracks in the world, and by its adoptiou British goods 
 for Persia would not need to enter Turkish territory, as the 
 line would run through the whole length, north and south, of 
 the sphere which was left neutral under the Anglo-Persian 
 agreement. This railway would also connect with the 
 contemplated Russian line from Teheran to Khanikin, to 
 which place a branch of the Baghdad Railway will be con- 
 structed. 
 
 It is not likely that this British concession can be refused in 
 view of the autograph letter of Nasr-ed-Din Shah of 1888, in 
 which he declared " that his former promise with regard to the 
 priority of the British Government over others in the construction 
 of the southern railways held good, that certainly whenever a 
 railway concession in the north was given to others, imme- 
 diately a concession for a railway from Teheran to Shustar
 
 98 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 should be given to an English company, and that no southern 
 railway concession would, without consultation with the 
 British Government, be granted to any foreign country." These 
 explicit assurances were confirmed in 1900 by Muzaffer-ed- 
 Din Shah, are in full force to the present day, and are not 
 likely to be repudiated so long as Great Britain and Russia 
 act in accord. 
 
 Owing to the fact that the greater part of the northern shore 
 of the Persian Gulf is declared to be a neutral sphere under 
 the Anglo-Russian Convention, it is by no means impossible 
 that if Germany controlled the Gulf section of the Baghdad 
 Railway, German policy might contemplate the extension of 
 the line from Busra along the coast of the Gulf to, or beyond, 
 Bushire. It is obvious that Great Britain should carefully 
 watch all developments of this far-reaching proposition, though 
 Russia, which was understood to regard the whole scheme 
 with disapproval, may have been, and obviously has been for 
 the moment, pacified. 
 
 True it is that the German concessionaires have now 
 renounced the right they had under the original concession 
 to construct the section from Baghdad to the Gulf, for the 
 good reason that funds are obviously not likely to be forth- 
 coming for the completion of the whole length. But new 
 conventions were signed in the spring of 1911 dealing with the 
 construction from El Halif to Baghdad, and with a new branch 
 of 38J miles to Alexandretta, to which no kilometric guarantee 
 is attached. This compensation for the renunciation of the 
 Gulf section is more than sufficient, for it will probably draw 
 to the Mediterranean, by the new route, all the traffic which 
 now goes to Baghdad and southwards to the British sphere 
 of the Gulf. 
 
 The concession for the Baghdad Railway covers a period of 
 ninety-nine years, but its life will be longer, because the 
 terms run from the dates on which the bonds in connection 
 with the different sections are issued. 
 
 Amongst the minor concessions and exemptions comprised 
 in the original scheme was included the right to found a port 
 on the future terminus at the Gulf, and an unrestricted right
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 99 
 
 of navigation in the Tigris and Euphrates, to exclusive control 
 of which the Turkish Government now puts forward a probably 
 untenable pretension. 
 
 It is said that the stipulation which found place in the 
 original concession, to the effect that the Gulf section should 
 not be begun until the line was completed as far as Baghdad, 
 was insisted on by the ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid, for the express 
 purpose of keeping Britain back till Germany was well 
 established in the Mesopotamian capital. 
 
 The Turkish Government believe, it is said, that the line 
 will be completed within five years as far as Baghdad, but 
 this is probably an altogether over-sanguine estimate. 
 
 The conventions created in 1911 between the Ottoman 
 Government and the Baghdad Railway Company are four in 
 number. 
 
 The first makes financial provision for the construction 
 between El Halif and Baghdad, the second gives the Company 
 the right to build a branch to the Mediterranean at Alexan- 
 dretta, the third gives power to the Company to construct a 
 new port at the same place, and the fourth relates to the 
 continuation from Baghdad to Busra and to the Persian Gulf. 
 There can be no doubt that the acquisition of the port of 
 Alexandretta is a serious matter, for the Germans, as Mr. 
 Lynch pointed out, have now obtained full and undisputed 
 control of the machinery of transport and connection from the 
 coast of the Mediterranean to the frontier of Persia.* 
 
 It is true that the German syndicate at the same time 
 renounced its right to construct the section from Baghdad 
 to the Gulf, and left Turkey free to provide for this section by 
 internal arrangement ; but Germany under the scheme is 
 entitled to have a share equal to that of any other Power 
 in this section. The British-built trade on the lower Tigris 
 is no doubt endangered, for Germany will have under her 
 control, not only the trunk railway, but the branch to 
 Khanikin on the Persian frontier, which must divert trade 
 from Busra and the Gulf to Alexandretta and the Mediter- 
 
 * Fortnightly Review, May, 1911 ; " The Baghdad Railway," M. Chdra- 
 dame. Central Asian Society, 1911.
 
 100 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 ranean. There is also reason to fear that Baghdad itself may, 
 like Alexandretta, be leased to the German syndicate. 
 
 It is not known what success has attended the negotiations 
 between the British and Persian Governments for the opening 
 of the Karun Valley by railway, but this is not the only 
 railway scheme affecting Persia now under consideration. * 
 
 Railways to India. 
 
 One proposal is to link Baku on the Caspian with Quetta 
 by a line from the Trans-Caucasian Railway skirting the shore 
 of the Caspian and crossing the Elburz mountains to Teheran, 
 whence it would run through Kashan, Yezd, and Kerman to 
 British Baluchistan. The latter part of this, the Russian scheme, 
 lies through desert, but from the shores of the Caspian to 
 Kerman is an easy alignment which admits of diversion 
 to Bam and Bampur and thence to Kotri on the Indus or 
 to Karachi. 
 
 Russia, however, might prefer to make a line from Teheran 
 to Mashad, whence it would be easy to link up with her system 
 in Turkestan. 
 
 Of course, it remains to be seen whether Germany can, 
 without British help, raise money for the farther prosecution 
 of the Baghdad Railway, but until this great project is more 
 actively prosecuted than it is at present, Russian railway 
 schemes in Persia will probably not be stimulated into great 
 activity, and Germany cares less about Koweit, but confidently 
 looks to tapping Persian trade through the branch from 
 Khanikin to Baghdad. 
 
 In 1903 the position very generally adopted was that, with 
 the Baghdad Railway, and particularly the Gulf section, under 
 the control of the greatest military Power in the world, the 
 British position in Egypt would be enveloped, the route to 
 India would be turned, and Persia would be bound to a 
 Power far more to be dreaded and far more formidable, in 
 fact, than Russia. 
 
 The disposition now is to disregard these apprehensions, and 
 
 * " Railways in ths Middle East," H. F. B. Lynch ; " Proposed Trans- 
 Persian Railway," by Colonel Yate.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 101 
 
 to doubt whether this railway will ever be used as an alterna- 
 tive to the present sea route to India, since a sea journey 
 of over 1,100 miles is inevitable ; the climate of the Gulf is 
 worse than that of the Red Sea, the mail service by the latter 
 route admits of considerable acceleration, if competition super- 
 venes, and for goods the longer sea line must always be the 
 cheaper." India therefore is less directly concerned than 
 might be supposed, but the effect of the intrusion of Germany 
 into the Gulf would be most unfortunate and indirectly dis- 
 astrous. Now, however, that the Gulf section is withdrawn 
 from the German concession, a means of accommodation is 
 afforded. But if British capital makes, or participates in 
 making, this section, which can only pay, if the Mesopotamian 
 irrigation schemes mature, Britain must decide upon the loca- 
 tion of the terminus, whether it should be at Busra, forty-five 
 miles up the joint Tigris and Euphrates, or Shat-el-Arab, or 
 preferably at Koweit, the only natural harbour on the Gulf, 
 situated a little to the south of the mouth of the river. The 
 Koweit question brings us into direct conflict with Turkish 
 pretensions in that region, which might yet give no little 
 trouble. 
 
 Every consideration points to the wisdom of non-intervention 
 in Albania, wherein the British philanthropists are urging that 
 we should interfere, and wherein our interference would neces- 
 sarily exasperate the Turks. Sir Edward Grey gave great 
 satisfaction to sober-minded men by saying in Parliament 
 that " the Government could not contemplate the sort of 
 intervention," irritating and ineffectual, he might have 
 added, " which took place under the old regime in Mace- 
 donia. The Great Powers of Europe had no desire to be 
 drawn into intervention in Turkey, which would mean the 
 destruction of the new regime and the hopes founded upon it."f 
 There seems happily to be little fear that Great Britain will be 
 persuaded to take a "humanitarian initiative" on this occa- 
 sion, albeit the " Liberal and Constitutional Committee," which 
 is masked by the Ottoman Parliament, has proved no more 
 
 * TJie Times ("British Interests in the Persian Gulf"), July 25, 1911. 
 t Parliamentary Debates, July 23, 1911.
 
 102 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 acceptable to the associations and humanitarians than the 
 " Great Assassin," Abdul Hamid. 
 
 MOEOCCO. 
 
 The intervention of the French in June, 1911, in the 
 internal affairs of Morocco may be fairly held to have been 
 directly within the terms of the Algeciras Act, the Madrid 
 Treaty of 1880, and the Secret Treaty between France and 
 Spain of 1904.* The French, moreover, entered the country 
 by the express invitation of the Sultan, and for the purpose of 
 strengthening his authority, but the Spanish intervention at 
 Alcazar was uninvited by the Sultan, and was a patent breach 
 of the Algeciras Agreement. It was, moreover, so regarded 
 by the tribes. 
 
 It is roundly asserted, however, in Radical quarters, which 
 charge themselves with the protection of all non-European 
 nations, that the French expedition to Fez was a wanton 
 exploitation of a meaningless scare arranged by stockbrokers, 
 who deal in Moorish loans, and by armour-plate firms, and as 
 soon as France decided to send troops, Germany instructed 
 her legation at Tangier to investigate the expulsion by the 
 French of a German mining expedition from Debu. Now, 
 Germany handles only 10 per cent, of the total trade with 
 Morocco, as against 40 per cent, in British, and an almost 
 equal amount in French, hands. Cotton goods are the chief 
 imports from England, and the total trade is worth upwards 
 of 2^ millions sterling to this country. The German need for 
 new markets was stimulated by the proposed treaty between 
 Canada and the United States, which must have had the 
 effect of checking their exports. Local interests have accord- 
 ingly been created in North Africa, as they have been in Asia 
 Minor, upon which diplomatic agreements have been founded, 
 and Germany has practically torn up the Algeciras Act and the 
 Franco-German agreement of 1909, by sending warships to 
 Agadir. She has no valuable rights in Morocco, for the 
 renunciation of which she can fairly claim compensation. No 
 Powers other than France and Spain have other than economic 
 * No. 24 Treaty Series 1911 [Cd. 5969].
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 103 
 
 interests in Morocco, and there was no possible justification, 
 other than such as is derived from the law of the strongest, for 
 the demand that France should cede the coast and interior of 
 the French Congo up to the Sanga River, together with French 
 rights of pre-emption in the Congo, as compensation to Ger- 
 many for loss of rights, which she never possessed, in Morocco. 
 Indeed, Germany expressly recognised as much in her agree- 
 ment of February, 1909, with France, when she declared 
 that "the special political interests of France are closely bound 
 up with the consolidation of order and peace in the interior," 
 and that she was "resolved not to impede these interests." * 
 
 The expedition to Fez was not challenged by Germany, 
 and there can be no pretence that there was any similar 
 justification for the German " demonstration " at Agadir. 
 
 By the Anglo-French Convention of 1904 this country 
 recognised the right of France to assist in the administrative, 
 economic, financial, and military reforms of Morocco, and the 
 Algeciras Act recognised the special position of France and 
 Spain in regard to that country, and at the same time declared 
 that order, peace, and prosperity could only be based upon 
 the triple principle of the sovereignty and independence of the 
 Sultan of Morocco and the integrity of his State. 
 
 Mr. Asquitht stated in July, 1911 that the French and 
 German Governments were engaged in negotiations to which 
 Great Britain was not a party, and that she would in no case 
 interfere with territorial arrangements considered reasonable 
 by those directly interested. Failing a settlement, we should, 
 however, he intimated, become an active party in the discus- 
 sion of the situation, as a signatory of the Treaty of Algeciras, 
 under the terms of our agreement of 1901 with France, and 
 possibly in defence of British interests directly afi'ected by 
 further developments. Mr. Balfour added a few impressive 
 and patriotic words, and the occasion was not allowed to pass 
 without a jarring note from the Labour Party, the leader of 
 which for the time, Mr. Macdonald, said that if the path of 
 peace was to be wrecked his friends would stand by peace 
 after it was wrecked, by which presumably he referred to the 
 • The Times, July 28, 1911. t Parliaioentary Debates, July 28, 1911.
 
 104 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 sinister and odiously unpatriotic threat of a general strike, by 
 which our arms might be paralyzed in case of war, which is 
 one of the articles of the Internationalist Socialist creed. 
 
 Finally, in November, 1911, an agreement* was concluded 
 whereby Germany gave France a free hand politically in 
 Morocco. German economic interests in that country were 
 safeguarded, and cessions in the French Congo increased the 
 German Cameroons by an area estimated at from 100,000 to 
 200,000 square miles. On November 27th, Sir E. Grey, while 
 studiously conciliatory in tone, showed in the House of 
 Commons that Germany had wholly failed to shake the Anglo- 
 French entente, that England had expressed her intention of 
 standing by her friend whatever the consequences might be, 
 and he said that " when one nation had the biggest army in the 
 world, and a big navy which it was going to increase, it must 
 do all in its power to prevent a natural apprehension that it 
 had aggressive intentions." Mr. Bonar Law strongly supported 
 Sir E. Grey, Vv^hose spirited action met with considerable 
 opposition on his own side of the House, and provoked an 
 open attack by Lord Courtney in the House of Lords. A 
 feature of this incident, which met with universal disapproval, 
 was the bellicose and untimely intervention of the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, Mr. George, and the general result was that 
 England and Germany were left in the position of potential 
 antagonism, which they previously occupied. 
 
 Alliance with Japan. 
 
 Under Lord Lansdowne's Treaty of 1905 with Japan, 
 England was bound to come to her assistance in war in 
 certain definite contingencies. 
 
 The objects of the Treaty were : — 
 
 (a) The consolidation and maintenance of the general peace in the 
 regions of Eastern Asia and of India ; 
 
 (6) The preservation of the common interests of all Powers in China by 
 insuring the independence and integrity of the Chinese Empire and the 
 principle of equal opportunities for the commerce and industry of all 
 nations in China ; 
 
 * This agreement, ratified by the Chamber of Deputies, on December 
 20th, 1911, awaits ratification of the French Senate.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 105 
 
 (c) The maintenance of the territorial rights of the High Contracting 
 Parties in the regions of Eastern Asia and of India, and the defence of 
 their special interests in the said regions. 
 
 In order to carry out these objects the following agreement 
 was made by Article 2, viz. : — 
 
 " If by reason of unprovoked attack or aggressive action, wherever 
 arising, on the part of any other Power or Powers either Contracting 
 Party should be involved in war in defence of its territorial rights or 
 special interests mentioned in the preamble of this Agreement, the other 
 Contracting Party will at once come to the assistance of its ally, and will 
 conduct the war in common, and make peace in mutual agreement 
 with it." 
 
 It will bo clear that the clauses providing for mutual 
 assistance ia war given by one to the other of the High Con- 
 tracting Parties could not apply when one of such Parties was 
 fighting a nation with which the other Party to the Treaty had 
 concluded an Arbitration Agreement. 
 
 The Alliance was accordingly revised and renewed in July, 
 1911, for a period of ten years from date of signature, its 
 provisions and objects being unchanged except in respect of the 
 omission of stipulations, now unnecessary, regarding Japanese 
 rights in Corea and British rights on the Indian frontier, 
 and of the insertion of the new Article 4, which is given 
 below, viz. : — 
 
 " Should either High Contracting Party conclude a treaty of general 
 arbitration with a third Power, it is agreed that nothing in this Agreement 
 shall entail upon such Contracting Party an obligation to go to war with 
 the Power with whom such treaty of arbitration is in force." 
 
 One of the most significant features of the new Agreement 
 is not recorded, namely, the fact that its revision and renewal 
 were carried out after full consultation at the Imperial Con- 
 ference with the Dominion Premiers, who, it is believed, gave 
 the Treaty their complete support. The renewal of the 
 Alliance causes general satisfaction in Australia, because it 
 gives her ten years in which to strengthen her defences,* in 
 Canada because the practical exclusion of the United States 
 from its operation removes the only serious objection held by 
 » The Times, July 17, 1911.
 
 106 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 her to the Alliance, in America because of the acceptance of 
 the principle of Mr. Taft's proposed treaty of arbitration and 
 because of its proof of a friendly disposition on the part of 
 Japan towards the United States. 
 
 The Franhfurter Zeitung observed '^' that the Treaty would, 
 in the event of a war between England and Germany, acquire 
 a very real importance ; and it is probable no disappointment 
 would have been felt in Germany had the Alliance been 
 wrecked upon the difficulties between England and America, 
 which resulted from the tension between the latter country 
 and Japan. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Maintenance of 
 Friendly Relations with Russia. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Russia is fast adopting Representative Institutions, and her present 
 ruler has created a Parliament, assisted the Parliamentarians in Persia, 
 and established the Hague Conference. 
 
 2. The internal and financial administration of Russia is a matter with 
 which we have no concern. 
 
 3. As a fact bitter enemies of the Russian Government, against which 
 they are offenders, and by which they have been expelled from Russia, 
 are busily occupied all over Europe in misrepresenting the state of affairs 
 in the Russian Empire. 
 
 4. We have important trade relations with Russia, are near neighbours 
 in Asia engaged in the same civilising mission, and our friendly co-opera- 
 tion is most advantageous to ourselves and to the world. 
 
 5. Russia and England are both close friends and almost allies of 
 France, and both have occasion to dread the rapid aggrandisement and 
 increasing strength of Germany. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. It is not desirable that the British democracy should be associated 
 with an autocratic Power like Russia, which denies liberty of thought, of 
 the press, and of speech. 
 
 2. Friendly visits should not be exchanged between the Czar and the 
 King, which would increase the credit of Russia and enable the Russian 
 Government to raise money in London for the coercion of its subjects and 
 the strengthening of autocracy. 
 
 * July 15, 1911.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 107 
 
 3. The evidence of Russians exiled and persecuted for their political 
 opinions should not be the subject of suspicion. They are martyrs in the 
 cause of progress and liberty. 
 
 4. Her Government's treatment of Finland and of the Duma proves 
 that Bussia has not sincerely entered upon the path of parliamentary 
 government. 
 
 Arguments For and Against Recent Russian Legislation 
 regarding finland. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The unwelcome intervention of foreigners must produce a feeling of 
 resentment, which cannot but express itself in hostility to Finland. The 
 relations between Russia and Finland are of a domestic character, like 
 those existing between Great Britain and Ireland, with which Russia does 
 not attempt to interfere. 
 
 2. The Finnish Parliament still predominates in respect of legislation 
 regarding, and the general management of, Finnish affairs. 
 
 3. No laws can be passed without reference to the Finnish Senate for 
 opinion, and Finland is duly represented in the Duma. 
 
 4. The previously existing constitution of Finland could not survive in 
 its entirety the creation of the Duma and of the Imperial Council, and 
 the changes made, amount to the introduction of parliamentary, and the 
 cessation of autocratic, rule in the Grand Duchy. 
 
 5. The opposition to Russia in Finland is Swedish, not Finnish, and 
 does not exist among the latter Nationals.* The Swedish Party have 
 been plotting to wrest Finland from Russia, and have joined in the 
 Russian revolutionary movement, of which the murders of Bobrikoff 
 and Plehve were incidents. The Swedes are only 14 per cent, of the 
 population. 
 
 6. The pro-Finnish agitation in Europe was carefully organised by 
 certain anti-Russian and pro-Nihilist revolutionaries from Finland. 
 
 7. Russian repressive action dates from the adoption of active anti- 
 Russian measures by Finnish Swedes. 
 
 8. Russia cannot be bound by an undertaking only to promulgate laws 
 with the consent of the Finnish Diet, now that that body has adopted 
 universal suffrage. Women cannot run the Russian Empire. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The Emperors of Russia are sworn to respect the internal autonomy 
 of Finland, which has nevertheless been whittled away from time to time 
 by Russian autocracy. 
 
 The Finnish Revolution," by G. Dobson, p. 11.
 
 108 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 2. The abolition of Finnish autonomy will injure Eussia in the eyes of 
 Europe, and b3 regarded as au infraction of the solemn engagement 
 of Alexander I. 
 
 3. The Russian policy of unification is opposed to the policy of 
 Alexander I. and his successors. 
 
 4. Finland was not incorporated in the Russian Empire, but only 
 attached to it under the personal rule of the Emperor as Grand Duke. 
 
 Arguments Fok and Against Retreat to the Coast, and 
 Abandonment of Hinterland op Somaliland. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. While we remain in Somaliland we do the Mullah no harm, ourselves 
 no good, and spend much money. 
 
 2. ConcentraDion and withdraw!,! to the coast was favoured by 
 Conservative as well as by Liberal Governments, but the time for carrying 
 out the policy arrived under the latter administration. 
 
 3. The construction of railways into the interior is necessary for 
 continued retention, and the necessary expenditure would be unjustifi- 
 able. 
 
 4. We have no moral right to subjugate the free inhabitants of the 
 country, who have done us no harm, and we obtained no commercial or 
 other adequate return by our occupation of the interior of this barren 
 
 land. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Concentration and withdrawal to the coast amounts to abandonment 
 of the country and of friendly tribes, and is fatal to British prestige not 
 only in Somaliland, but in Arabia, East Africa, India, and the neighbouring 
 countries. 
 
 2. The Mullah had ceased to be a power in Somaliland, and peaceful 
 occupation was almost in sight. 
 
 3. General Manning, who was sent to carry out the withdrawal policy, 
 admitted that the subsequent outlook for the friendly tribes was far from 
 satisfactory. 
 
 4. The tribe^ have no moral right to be independent. They became 
 subject to others because they were not able to govern themselves in peace 
 and order. They profited by the British occupation. 
 
 Arguments For and Against Representative Institutions 
 AND the Like Reforms in Egypt, 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. British rule has encouraged education and freedom of speech, and 
 should act up to the principles it adopts by giving the Egyptian people a 
 predominant voica in the settlement of their own affairs.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 109 
 
 2. It is not just to educate people and then deprive them of openings 
 for the use and display of the qualifications they have acquired. 
 
 3. The people of Egypt are homogeneous, and the difficulties arising in 
 India from the presence of many nationalities under one Government do 
 not exist. 
 
 4. The British Government in Egypt has been prone to undue severity, 
 notably in the punishments awarded by the Deanshawai Tribunal, of which 
 the assassinated Prime Minister was President. 
 
 5. The rejection by the Legislative Council of the Suez Canal scheme 
 and of various measures of repression followed upon due and proper 
 discussion, and there is no evidence of the unfitness of the Egyptians for 
 the performance of legislative and executive functions. 
 
 6. England has protested, on the last occasion by the mouth of Sir 
 Eldon Gorst, that she will only remain in Egypt till the Egyptians are fit 
 to rule themselves, a timi which has now arrived. 
 
 7. The policy of associating Egyptians to a greater extent with the 
 admiaistration of the country, began by Lord Cromer, continued by Sir 
 Eldon Gorst, should be carried to completion by Lord Kitchener. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The English in Egypt are the trustees of Europe. Other nations 
 would resent concessions to the clamour of a small minority, which would 
 prove injurious to the majority in Egypt, and to bondholders in Europe. 
 
 2. The concessions we have made to a factious opposition have already 
 caused Europe and America to doubt our good faith. 
 
 3. Egypt, and the Sudan, in a still greater degree, are unfit for repre- 
 sentative government, if indeed there is any proof that at any future time 
 this form of government will be suited to the land of Egypt, which under 
 Britain has ceased to be a house of bondage. 
 
 4. The attacks on British administration have proceeded from im- 
 ponderable agitators, ill-informed and irresponsible Members of 
 Parliament, and from German competing capitalists. 
 
 5. The experiments already made in the direction of representative 
 government have been most disastrous, and resulted in the rejection by 
 the Legislative Council of useful and popular measures, in agitation, 
 sedition, and organised assassination. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Recognition of the 
 Annexation of the Congo by Belgium. 
 
 FOE. 
 
 1. The Belgians have admittedly greatly improved the condition of the 
 Congo. They are no less humane than ourselves, and wholly to abolish 
 cruelties or uncivilised practices of immemorial use in a short period is 
 impossible.
 
 110 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 2. Britain cannot go to war with Germany and Belgium in order to 
 indulge the humanitarian proclivities of those who shut their eyes to the 
 chief factors in the situation. 
 
 3. Forced labour, to which particular exception is taken, is an insti- 
 tution established from time immemorial, known of the people, racy of 
 the soil, and impossible of speedy eradication. 
 
 i. The evidence of cruelty on the part of Belgian officers is generally, 
 like the evidence upon the abuse of the liquor trade in Southern Nigeria, 
 unreliable, and whenever cruelty has been proved, the perpetrator has been 
 severely punished. 
 
 5. The Belgian Government has not asked for, and is under no obligation 
 to seek, formal recognition from the signatory Powers. The United 
 States Government has already implicitly recognised annexation.' 
 
 6. The right of the natives to harvest the products of the soil is now 
 admitted by the Belgian administration. 
 
 7. Our responsibility under the Bflin Act f is not greater than that of 
 other nations, who are parties to that instrument, and it is neither 
 necessary nor proper to take the execution of the Act into our own 
 hands. 
 
 8. The Congo is not a British possession, and no serious alternative to 
 Belgian annexation has ever been put forward. 
 
 9. The diplomatic action of England has been more insistent than that 
 of any other Power, and public opinion will not support other than 
 diplomatic representation. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Belgium, through her King, through companies, and now through 
 the Government, has levied and is levying an unduly large toll from the 
 Congo. 
 
 2. She does not propose to restore freedom of trade and labour to 
 districts conceded to companies. 
 
 3. Serious and admitted abuses have attended the collection of 
 rubber. 
 
 4. The system of forced labour still survives almost unchecked, and this 
 is practically slavery. 
 
 5. Such conce:=sions of freedom of trade and labour as have been made 
 are practically valueless, owing to the fact that in the districts in which 
 they operate, trusts, in which the Government is interested, hold complete 
 sway, so that no private merchant can compete with them. 
 
 G. " The Congo is a territory towards which and its population we have 
 undertaken a most solemn responsibility." | 
 
 * TJie Times, August 3, 1911, telegram from Brussels, 
 t General Act of International Congo Conference, 1885. 
 I Mr. Asquith's speech. Mansion House, November, 1909.
 
 FOREIGN AFFAIRS 111 
 
 7. " The retention by the Belgian Government of the Congo Adminis- 
 tration's policy, under which all land is treated as ' vacant,' deprives 
 the native races of all guarantees of future security, and constitutes a 
 monstrous invasion of human rights." * 
 
 8. The Congo is called upon to provide emoluments for members of the 
 Belgian Royal Family, and to contribute largely to the upkeep of diverse 
 establishments in Belgium, contrary to all modern conceptions of just 
 Colonial administration. 
 
 9. The British Government is pledged not to recognise annexation till 
 it has satisfactory reports from its agents showing that the necessary 
 changes in the treatment of the natives have been effected. 
 
 Arguments For and Against British Participation 
 IN THE Baghdad Railway. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The Power which controls the Baghdad Railway, and particularly 
 the Gulf section, will dominate South-Western Persia and Mesopotamia, 
 and will menace the security of the Indian Empire. 
 
 2. British trade and interests are supreme in the Gulf and in certain 
 contiguous regions. 
 
 3. As Germany has a claim to equal participation with any other Power 
 in the Baghdad-Busra or Gulf section, and has the concession up to 
 Baghdad, it would be a serious blow to British prestige and to British 
 trade had she no share in the section nearest to her sphere of influence. 
 
 4. The completion of the line to Baghdad, with a branch to Khanikin, 
 must divert trade from the Shat-el Arab and the Gulf, which are in the 
 British sphere, and the British should have an interest, with which 
 to negotiate and bargain. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The Baghdad Railway route to India will never supersede the Red 
 Sea route, being hotter and more troublesome, and including also a sea 
 journey of no less than 1,100 miles. 
 
 2. The Gulf section, Baghdad to Busra, is no longer included in the 
 German concession, and Britain need not trouble herself about Meso- 
 potamia and Asia Minor. 
 
 3. The assent of England and France is necessary to an increase in 
 the Turkish customs, without which no sufficient money can be raised 
 to pay guarantees and interest. Such increase would operate chiefly 
 against British trade, and need not be sanctioned by us. 
 
 •' The Future of the Congo," E. D. Morel, p. 59.
 
 112 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 4. The Baghdad Railway would never pay as a commercial undertaking, 
 while the Gel-man concession for a line to Alexandretta must divert trade 
 from the direction of the Gulf in the direction of the Mediterranean. 
 
 5. The less easy it is made for any other Power to approach the Persian 
 Gulf and India the better for the British Empire. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Proceedings of Central Asian Society — 
 
 Railways in the Middle East. By H. P. B. Lynch. 1911. 
 
 The Baghdad Railway. By M. Ch^radame. 1911. 
 
 Asiatic Turkey and the New Regime. By Mark Sykes. 1909. 
 
 The New Regime in Turkey. By Sir R. Hamilton Lang. 1909. 
 
 The Future of British Relations with Persia. By H. F. B. Lynch, 
 1908. 
 The Finnish Question. By N. N. Korewo, St. Petersburg. 1911. 
 The Situation of Finland. By VValdemar Churberg, St. Petersburg. 1911. 
 Finland. By Lieut.-General Borodkin, St. Petersburg. 1911. 
 The Finnish Revolution. By G. Dobson, St. Petersburg, 1911, 
 The Rights of Finland. By Professor Berendts, St. Petersburg. 1910. 
 Return by H.M.'s Agent and Consul-General on Finances, &c., of Egypt 
 
 and Sudan, Cd. 5633. 1911, 
 Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt. By Wilfrid Scawen 
 
 Blunt. 
 The Marches of Hindustan. By David Eraser , 
 The Future of the Congo. By E. D. Morel. 
 The Opium Trade. By David Maclaren. 
 An Eastern Miscellany. By the Earl of Ronaldshay, M.P. 
 The Congo Reforms. By a Belgian Minister. 
 British Interests in the Persian Gulf. The Times, June 19th, July 6th, 
 
 8th, 12th, 14th, 22nd, 25th, August 1st, 8th 1911. 
 Vnutrennoe Samostayatelnost Finlandia, By Prince Esper Ychtomsky.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 INDIA 
 
 INDIA and its problems have been discussed by many writers 
 in many aspects during the last few years, amongst others 
 by the writer of these pages.* Articles upon the Indian 
 Empire, able and authentic as are all those published by The 
 Times, will be found in the special issue of that journal for 
 May 24, 1911. t Pamphleteers, political week-enders, breathless 
 philanthropists, heedless altruists, and empirical politicians of 
 every sort have raced across various parts of the peninsula in 
 the train, and have returned to readily yield to the pressure 
 of those who assure them that an anxious public is impatiently 
 awaiting the appearance in print of their impressions. It is 
 therefore unnecessary to add, as it would be outside the scope 
 of the writer's instructions to attempt, any survey of the Indian 
 Empire. There are, however, certain Indian questions which 
 may be regarded as current and controversial, and to deal with 
 such briefly and succinctly falls within the author's present 
 province. 
 
 India in Parliament. 
 
 Unceasing endeavours are made in Parliament, by the same 
 group which opposes its fellow-countrymen engaged in the 
 service of the Empire all over the world, to drag India into 
 the fatal orbit of party politics. Extreme Radicals, Labour 
 Members, faddists, altruists, sentimentalists, and Nationalists 
 have all got a finger in the Indian pie, and from recent signs 
 and portents it appears not improbable that some of them hope 
 
 • «'The Real India," by J. D. Rees, M.P., 1908; "Modern India," 
 by Sir J. D. Rees, K.C.I.E., M.P., 1910. 
 
 t Republished in one volume under the title, "India and the Durbar." 
 
 9 "«
 
 114 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 to extract therefrom the proverbial plum. During the Parlia- 
 ment of 1906-1910 determined efforts were made to support 
 sedition in India, but Lord Morley deliberately declined to 
 damage India and endanger the Empire in order to satisfy 
 those whom he humorously and aptly described as " the 
 simpletons of democracy." * These gentlemen argue that 
 as soon as an ordinary Briton is invested with any authority 
 over subject races, he throws off all humane and upright 
 attributes, and becomes an "oppressor of such as are poor 
 and have no comforter," and they allege that " on the 
 side of the oppressors there is power," and that the poor 
 Indians " have no comforter." It is, of course, the case 
 that great cruelties were practised by the Spaniards in 
 South America, and that the English, Uke other Europeans, 
 when exempt from supervision and the pressure of public 
 opinion, might develop a haughty and tyrannical attitude 
 towards subject races ; f but the history of India at any 
 rate offers no justification for any such theory, and the 
 inhabitants, with the exception of those who organise or join 
 the present seditious movement, have testified by their 
 attitude to the fact that they regard the British as eminently 
 just and impartial rulers. At the present day, and any time 
 during the last twenty-five years, English administrators in 
 India, so far from being exempt from criticism, have been 
 subjected to the most searching and unfriendly inquisition on 
 the part of certain organs of the vernacular Press, all of 
 which are habitually scanned by officials (of whom the writer 
 was one), whose duty it is to bring to the notice of the 
 Government any reflection, justifiable or unjustifiable, on the 
 conduct of public officers. Not only does this safeguard exist, 
 but surely no public functionary ever lived in such a glass house 
 as one who from morning to night is the centre round which 
 
 ♦ Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, June 30, 1908. 
 
 t On the date on which these lines were written, exactly one hundred 
 years ago, a Member of Council, an English planter of position in the 
 West Indies, was hanged for having a negro on his estates flogged to 
 death. This is evidence that even a century ago violence to subject 
 races was hardly tolerated by the British Government.
 
 INDIA 115 
 
 circulate thousands of intrigues, the cynosure of every neigh- 
 bouring eye, the dispenser of patronage, the wielder of power, 
 the sun around which revolve all the local administrative, 
 financial, judicial, municipal, and social constellations. Lord 
 Lytton, when Viceroy, wrote : — 
 
 " I cannot be for one second alone. I sit in my private 
 room, and if I look through the window there are two sentinels. 
 If I open the door, there are two jemadars If I steal out of 
 the house, I find myself stealthily followed by a tail of fifteen 
 persons." * 
 
 Indian Officialdom. 
 
 An Indian official cannot cough but an attendant rushes in 
 to know what he wants, and he has far less chance of abusing 
 his power than a public servant in this country, who can do 
 pretty much as he likes, provided no one asks questions about 
 his acts in the House of Commons. 
 
 Current Controversial Questions. 
 
 Controversies regarding the administrative division of the 
 old Province of Bengal, and the reforms introduced by Lords 
 Morley and Minto into the Legislative Councils in India, can 
 hardly at the present moment be said to be current, though the 
 latter will inevitably recur.t The only questions which just now 
 can be properly described as current political problems are those 
 connected with the reduction of the Indian army, the conduct 
 and capacity of the Indian police, the abolition of the opium 
 trade with China, the tariff question, the education problem, 
 and the eternal controversy about the so-called drain. The 
 unrest in India has been fully treated in so many books 
 in recent years that nothing more than a summary of the 
 arguments is needed. It is indisputable that great anxiety is 
 felt by those conversant with Indian politics, in consequence of 
 
 • The Titnes, Empire edition, May 24, 1911. 
 
 t It was nevertheless announced by the King-Emperor on Dec. 12, 1911, 
 at Delhi, that the partition would be cancelled, Bengal and Eastern Bengal 
 reunited under a Governor in Council, Assam again made a Chief Commis- 
 fcionership, a new Lieutenant-Governorship created of Bchar, Chota 
 Nagpur, and Orissa, and the capital of India transferred from Calcutta 
 to Delhi.
 
 116 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the action taken in Bengal, no doubt with the concurrence of, 
 or under instructions from, the Indian Government, in making 
 a compact * with certain accused persons in a case of robbery 
 with violence tried before a special tribunal of the High 
 Court. It is an entirely novel and exceedingly ominous 
 feature of government in India, that an agreement should be 
 made to the effect that the accused in a serious crime should, 
 because forsooth they claim to be political offenders, plead 
 guilty on the understanding that they would be released to 
 appear when called up for judgment. At the same time 
 the High Court in Calcutta has played a part, which has unfor- 
 tunately become habitual in recent years, of opposition to the 
 police and the executive Government. It will be convenient, 
 therefore, to take first the vexed question of the conduct of the 
 police. 
 
 The Police. 
 
 Dealing with the attacks made in England on the Indian 
 police, it must be remarked at the outset that the latter force 
 is recruited from all classes of all peoples which inhabit all the 
 countries in the Indian peninsula. It has proportionately 
 fewer European officers than any other department, and may 
 therefore be justly regarded as a mirror of Indian administra- 
 tive capacity or incapacity. The methods of the police 
 which are seized upon by critics are the native methods, and 
 their standards are the native standards of Indian administra- 
 tion. If occasionally they relapse into ill-usage of prisoners 
 it should be remembered that prior to British rule tortur© 
 was an ordinary and recognised feature of Indian police and 
 judicial administration. Abuse of the force is emphatically 
 abuse of the natives of India, and condemnation of its methods 
 is condemnation of native rule. Yet those who are loudest in 
 criticism profess themselves to be ardent admirers of natives 
 of India and strong supporters of the government of India by 
 native methods. 
 
 The evidence of an impartial outsider possesses special 
 value, and fortunately such is not wanting apon this impor- 
 * Lord Morley in House of Lords, July 19, 1911.
 
 INDIA 1 17 
 
 tant question. M. Chailley, an eminent French publicist and 
 deputy, and a distinguished writer upon and student of the 
 government and colonisation of dependencies, published in 
 1909 his work on the administrative problems of British India." 
 It is difficult at first sight to account for the fact that 
 Brahmins and Babus connected with the Congress, the 
 boycott, and the seditious Samiti movements, should attack a 
 body so eminently and exceptionally Iiulian us the police, liut 
 the reason is not far to seek. They must take up this attitude 
 in order to explain the assistance the sedition movement has 
 received from Brahmins and Babus of good position, who have 
 time and again been convicted of instigation of, and complicity 
 with, crime. The inefficiency and corruption of the police, 
 who in the proper performance of duty put their friends in 
 prison, is therefore an essential plank in their platform. 
 M. Chailley, however, sympathises with the force and with 
 the executive Government in the difficulties they experience 
 owing to the "exigency of the High Courts in matters of 
 evidence." "The lower tribunals," he says, "which are 
 nearer the native population, and the magistrates of the first 
 instance, who are largely native, know the customs of the 
 country, and content themselves with proofs which rest on 
 what one might call common sense. The superior courts 
 have another standard which often renders conviction im- 
 possible." "The executive," he continues, "asks for 
 remedies, and is supported in this by the bulk of native 
 opinion, but not by the Babus, by men of the University and 
 the Bar, or by the Eadical Party in England." f 
 
 Since this was written the Executive have, however, afforded 
 in the Khulna dacoity case an exhibition of composition with 
 crime which is as novel as it is unfortunate. 
 
 Lord Curzon's Commission on the Indian Police, referring 
 to certain cases of torture upon which the accusers of the 
 force had relied, added that " such cases are now rare," 
 qualifying words which the accusers have conveniently 
 
 • " Administrative Problems of British India," by M. Joseph Chailley, 
 translated by Sir William Meyer, K.C.I.E. 
 t Ibid., p. 433.
 
 118 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 omitted from their indictments. Indeed, the cases brought 
 forward have generally been garbled and misrepresented for 
 parliamentary consumption, and members of the anti-British 
 group have not scrupled to accuse the Government of India 
 of condoning torture, and the police of making away with a 
 woman convicted of murdering her husband by an experienced 
 European civilian judge and two of her own fellow-countrymen 
 sitting as assessors. Numerous questions on this subject, 
 probably drafted by a syndicate in Calcutta, were put by 
 members of the anti-British group in Parliament ; nor did 
 these gentlemen hesitate to suggest that the European police 
 ofi&cers in India suborned native members of the force to bring 
 false evidence and make chargt«3 against their own countrymen. 
 
 High Courts. 
 
 Barristers who have not been appointed judges by Govern- 
 ment often appoint themselves judges of Government, and 
 such as are appointed to the High Courts in India have not 
 been conspicuously successful at home. No rising barrister 
 will leave England to spend upwards of a decade on the Bench 
 in India in order to earn a pension of £1,200 a year. The bait 
 is not big enough, but those who obtain these appointments, 
 pitchforked into positions in which they judge subordinate judicial 
 officers (immeasurably superior to themselves in knowledge of 
 the people, the country, its languages and customs), almost 
 invariably fall into the error which attracted the attention of 
 M. Chailley, and become, as the Calcutta High Court has lately 
 become, a stumbling-block and rock of offence in the adminis- 
 tration of justice in India. The High Courts, only from written 
 records, presume to weigh evidence better than men who have 
 spent their lives in the country and have personally heard and 
 observed the demeanour of the witnesses. The result of this 
 attitude is becoming daily more and more serious, and the 
 police, who in rural districts are the sole representatives of 
 law and order, are being discredited by the action of judicial 
 bodies, which, to the infinite regret of all who have practical 
 experience of Indian administration, the executive Government 
 has for the first time imitated in the current year (1911).
 
 INDIA 119 
 
 Sympathisers with sedition, and those who make haste to 
 discredit the force, endeavour to establish a standard of com- 
 parison between British and British-Indian police. The proper 
 standard, of course, is the pohce of another Oriental country, 
 or at any rate of an Asiatic possession of some European Power. 
 By means of garbled quotation, suggestion, and allegation the 
 anti-British party endeavour to establish for the British Indian, 
 a character which in ante-British days did attach to the Indian, 
 police. By such artifices they succeed in obscuring a great 
 triumph of British-Indian administration, the conversion of 
 a rough-and-ready, unscrupulous police into a very fair and 
 improving imitation of the force we have learnt to admire in 
 these islands. They also endeavour to build up for themselves 
 a character for criticism, while they are in fact the catspaws of 
 malign misrepresenters of British rule in India. The same 
 party endeavours to convey the impression in England that 
 the District Magistrate, who is also the head of the police, first 
 of all initiates a prosecution, and then convicts the person 
 prosecuted. The fact is that though the District Magistrate is 
 the head of the police, in the same sense that he is the head of 
 all departments in his district, he is no more the actual chief 
 of the police, and no more participates in the detailed conduct 
 of their cases, than the Home Secretary does in like 
 circumstances participate in police work in Loudon. In 
 dealing with prosecutions, in detecting crime, and in matters 
 of discipline and administration the police have their own 
 departmental chief under whose orders exclusively they 
 work. The object is to make an opportunity for attacking the 
 district magistrate, who is the representative of Government 
 in the different administrative areas. From time imme- 
 morial judicial and executive functions have in India been 
 united in an official, corresponding in essentials with our 
 Deputy Commissioner, or Collector and District Magistrate ; 
 and it is to impair this functionary's position as the outward 
 and visible sign of British supremacy, and not to improve the 
 administration, that doctrinaire critics, sentimental reformers, 
 and sons of sedition wish to wholly and formally separate 
 judicial from executive functions. The District Magistrate
 
 120 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 performs hardly any magisterial work, but it is absolutely 
 necessary that this power should be left to him, since its 
 removal would be regarded all over India as a victory for the 
 enemies of British rule over the Indian civilian, whose position 
 would be seriously impaired by the change. These charges, 
 brought by the self-constituted advocates of India and by 
 anti-British busybodies in this country, find no support in the 
 Indian Legislative Councils, in which attacks are never made on 
 the police similar to those advanced in the British Parliament. 
 No charges of actual misconduct are in either country brought 
 against the British officers in the police, and the suggestion 
 that the Government of India condones torture, because it has 
 not published any order forbidding that which is already a 
 penal offence, is sufficient to show the spirit in which these 
 ignorant and malevolent attacks are conceived and delivered. 
 It is, no doubt, due in a large measure to such attacks, and 
 to the support they received from tha recent action of the 
 Government in Bengal, that the Collector at Tinnevelly, Mr. 
 Ashe, was murdered by a Brahmin attorney on June 17, 
 1911, and that a sub-inspector of police was assassinated at 
 Maimansingh in the same month. 
 
 Indian Congress. 
 
 Unfortunately the Indian Congress, long distinguished for 
 its comparative moderation, has in recent years adopted a 
 hostile attitude towards British-Indian administration, which 
 has given no little encouragement to the half-educated and 
 misguided enthusiasts from whose ranks assassins are 
 recruited. 
 
 It may be well, therefore, to quote what M. Chailley says of 
 the Congress : — 
 
 "It is a party of theorists, armchair politicians, which 
 to observers from home at first sight appears worthy of 
 sympathy, but from which on closer observation such observer 
 is bound to withdraw a portion of his admiration, if not esteem. 
 It is composed of writers and orators, proud of their knowledge 
 and their caste" (the quintessence, by the way, of aristocratic 
 exclusiveness and family pride such as democrats denounce).
 
 INDIA 121 
 
 " They are aloof from the mass of the people, of which they 
 have little more knowledge than they derive from the docu- 
 ments brought together and published by that Anglo-Indian 
 Government they tax with selfishness, oppression, and ignor- 
 ance. The estates of the zemindars of Bengal, who are a 
 bulwark of the Nationalist party, show that these have not 
 ameliorated the condition or even relieved the sufferings of 
 their own tenantry. x\s a matter of fact this so-called National 
 party is really a party of privilege, a concourse of representa- 
 tives of the high castes and rich classes, which is really a 
 stranger to the nation on whose behalf it professes to speak." * 
 
 Beductions in the Army. 
 
 To leave the civil for the military arm, although it is 
 openly said in the Indian Press that it is the joint fear 
 of Germany, and not the Anglo-Eussian Convention, which 
 has removed the Eussian menace, it can hardly be denied 
 that, as the Anglo-Russian Convention has proved success- 
 ful, the political and military outlook in India has undergone 
 a change, such as might be expected to lead to a demand 
 for reductions in military expenditure from those who urge that 
 money spent upon large armaments in time of peace is 
 money wasted. The fact that only a small proportion of such 
 men and armaments are ever used for other than precautionary 
 purposes increases the obligation of Government, as they say, 
 not to keep them above the necessary standards. One of their 
 concrete suggestions is that several British regiments should 
 be withdrawn, and recalled when wanted. But it is by no 
 means certain that they would in the latter event be available, 
 and a margin above actual needs is indispensable to an army 
 which is called upon to help in any emergency in any part of 
 a far-flung Empire. It may, however, be fairly contended that 
 for merely policing India fewer troops are required, since the 
 armies of the native states, which made for disturbance and 
 disorder, have practically disappeared with the establishment 
 in 1885 of the Imperial Service Movement. But if the strength 
 of regiments is reduced and their establishments maintained, 
 • " Administrative Problems of British India," pp. 163, 164.
 
 122 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 undue expense in respect of oflScers and in other directions 
 is inevitably incurred, and, unless regiments are altogether 
 abolished, little real saving v^rill be effected. 
 
 The army in India now numbers upwards of 75,000 
 European and 159,000 native troops, =•■ to which should be 
 added 35,000 Volunteers, and 46,000 Reserve and Imperial 
 Service troops, or in all 315,000 men, to protect 1,773,000 
 square miles, with a land frontier 6,000 miles long. Suggestions 
 have been made from time to time that the relief from tension 
 on the North- West Frontier, which has followed upon the Anglo- 
 Russian Convention, would justify reductions in these numbers, 
 but, as Lord Minto lately said, there is another land frontier 
 problem on the North-East whioh may develop into something 
 formidable. Again, the calls upon the army in India are not 
 solely made on account of frontier requirements, for Indian 
 troops have been sent to Persia, China, Egypt, and East, and 
 South, Africa, and it is also its duty to maintain internal 
 security. The field army is now composed of nine divisions 
 and eight cavalry brigades, besides troops which in the absence 
 of the field army from India would become responsible for the 
 maintenance of internal peace. War material is now made 
 in the country, and the efficiency of the army, and of its 
 musketry and general training, has reached a high standard. 
 The Indian forces are, however, quite small compared with the 
 armies of our potential rivals on the Continent, and unfortunately 
 they lack proper means of expansion in war time. On the other 
 hand, as a long-service army, that of British India is composed 
 of professional soldiers of high merit. 
 
 During the Session of the Imperial Legislative Council in 
 1910 an unofficial resolution was put forward recommending the 
 Government to order a public inquiry into the increase of civil 
 and military expenditure, in order that economies might be effec- 
 ted, and the Finance Member of Council, in reply, stated that 
 the subject was under consideration. The necessity for effecting 
 savings arises chiefly from the impending extinction of the 
 opium revenue, and also from the necessity for greater expen- 
 diture on education, a system of free compulsory primary 
 * The Times, May 29, 1911.
 
 INDIA 123 
 
 instruction for boys being urged on Government by native 
 members of Council. Indeed, the demand for reduction in 
 army expenditure which proceeds from these gentlemen is the 
 counterpart of the pressure brought to bear on the home 
 Government to provide funds for social reform at the cost 
 of national defence. The same inability to realise that you 
 must keep, before you can improve, your house characterises 
 advanced Socialists and Radicals both in England and in India. 
 Meantime, the raising of more revenue in the latter country 
 is exceedingly diflScult unless a tariff upon imports is imposed, 
 of which Lord Minto since his retirement has practically ex- 
 pressed his approval,* and of which general Indian opinion 
 undoubtedly approves. 
 
 The minimum strength of the standing army in India was 
 fixed by a Royal Commission after the Mutiny at a figure 
 sufficient for the protection of the British administration, 
 before the acquisition of Burma, when the amount of wealth to 
 be insured and the numbers of the population, and the area to 
 be protected were far smaller than at the present time. Yet the 
 strength of 80,000 European soldiers has never been reached, 
 though it was considered only just enough long before the 
 Russian menace — indeed, at a time when Russia had been 
 severely handled in the Crimea, and before her expansion in 
 the Caucasian, Caspian, and Central Asian regions. Neither 
 was the internal condition of India then so threatening as it 
 now is, nor was Persia a centre of disturbance, nor China in a 
 ferment of reform and regeneration. 
 
 Lord Kitchener, when he recently retired, recommended 
 no reduction in the Indian army, and the discovery that it 
 would be the better for the disbandment of certain unsatisfactory 
 regiments suspiciously synchronises with the need for replacing 
 the sacrificed opium revenue. The reduction just now sug- 
 gested would only be enforced in the native ranks, but the 
 argument that decrease in numerical strength will be 
 counterbalanced by a higher efficiency in the units preserved, 
 recalls the assertions made in England that the reduction of 
 the British army by 18,000 troops, when the Liberals came 
 • Speech at Central Asian Society's Dinner, May 17, 1911.
 
 124 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 into office in 1906, increased its efficiency for war ! Of course, 
 if there are regiments of no fighting value their disbandment 
 would not weaken the army, but if indeed such exist, their 
 retention until the present day convicts the authorities of 
 culpable negligence in the past, and their sudden awakening at 
 the present juncture cannot but be regarded as a miracle of 
 opportune coincidence. 
 
 Colonel Seely said " that His Majesty's Government did not 
 contemplate any reduction of the British forces serving in 
 India, but were fully prepared to consider favourably any 
 proposals the Government of India might find it in their power 
 to make for afi"ecting such readjustment in the native Indian 
 units with a view to economy a^ could be carried out without 
 loss of efficiency of the army in India as a whole." * 
 
 But the late General Sir Edwin CoUen, a distinguished ex- 
 military member of the Viceroy's Council f expressed his 
 deliberate opinion " that no great saving could be made without 
 impairing the strength and reducing the efficiency of the 
 Indian army," and he deprecated the abolition of regiments, 
 which would throw commissioned and non-commissioned 
 officers on our hands for whom pecuniary provision would have 
 to be made ; and condemned the reduction as likely to unsettle 
 and disturb the minds of the native troops. At the same time, 
 he took the opportunity to repeat his strongly held opinion 
 that the separate army commands should not have been broken 
 up into divisions, whereby the aim is served of those who wish 
 to make India one nation for the purpose of disputing the 
 mastery with ourselves. 
 
 Sir Charles Crosthwaite, another eminent Indian adminis- 
 trator, pointed out that it is dangerous to leave wide areas in 
 India without garrisons, and that the same dependence cannot 
 be placed upon armed police as upon regular soldiers, while a 
 reduction in the native army cannot be made without 
 abolishing most of the smaller cantonments which yet remain. 
 He also expressed a well-founded fear lest the reduction of the 
 native army should lead to subsequent proposals to cut down 
 
 * Parliamentary Debates, May 31, 1911, vol. 2G, p. 1078. 
 t Letter to The Times, May 31, 1911.
 
 INDIA 125 
 
 the British strength, the present proportion of the native army 
 and British troops being roughly as two to one, a proportion 
 settled upon adequate political and military grounds.* It may 
 be stated without hesitation that an adequate army in India is 
 far more necessary to the peace and prosperity of the country 
 than the various reforms and concessions of which so much 
 more is made at the present moment. The same argument 
 applies to the army in the United Kingdom, and as Lord 
 Haldane has often contended in the House of Commons that 
 reduction cannot be effected at home while the forces abroad 
 are maintained at existing strength, an uneasy feeling is 
 engendered that when a reduction is made in the native, a 
 corresponding diminution will be effected in the British, 
 army in India, following upon which our already inadequate 
 army at home will be susceptible of, and will surely be sub- 
 jected to, further unwise reduction. 
 
 It should not escape notice that the Under-Secretary 
 of State, Mr. Montagu, during the Budget debate of 1911, 
 in reviewing the departments in view to effecting economies 
 for the replacing of the lost opium revenue, scouted the idea 
 that the military department should be exempt. His words 
 follow : — 
 
 " It is said that we propose to cut down the military forces in India. 
 Well, what if we did? Is it suggested that when we are reviewing the 
 expenditure in other departments we should except the military depart- 
 ment ? If there were no army in India no one would suggest that the 
 army should be made anything but large enough, and only large enough, 
 for the needs of the situation, but simply because the army was devised 
 and organised at other times it is seriously suggested that no modification 
 should be made, and that even though you are searching for economy in 
 every department you should not be allowed to question your military 
 expenditure. I can assure hon. members that the Government does not 
 share this illogical review, but that nothing is, or will be, contemplated 
 that will impair the efficiency of our army for defending and guarding the 
 peace of our Empire."t 
 
 But a recent traveller, who wrote an admirable book on India, | 
 
 • The Times, June 6, 1911. 
 
 t Parliamentary Debates, July 26, 1911. 
 
 J "The West in the East," by Price Collier, p. 163.
 
 126 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 remarks that it will be a miracle if there is no trouble with 
 Germany or in India within ten years. 
 
 The Drain. 
 
 Closely connected with this, and indeed with every financial, 
 question, is that of the so-called drain from India to England. 
 
 Opponents of British rule in India assert that the latter 
 country is being drained of wealth owing to her connection 
 with Great Britain, and that this is one of the causes of the 
 unrest which exists. It is admitted by our antagonists, as well 
 as by ourselves, that the need of India is industrial develop- 
 ment and diversity of occupation, and that capital, which is 
 not available locally, must be borrowed. Nor will any sane 
 controversialist deny that interest must be paid on borrowed 
 money. The suggestion is that in the case of India, alone of 
 borrowing countries, capital obtained at a very moderate rate 
 of interest is a drain upon its resources. 
 
 This subject has been admirably handled by Sir Theodore 
 Morison, and as he points out, that portion of the debits of 
 any country which is not balanced by material assets is dis- 
 charged by an excess of exports, either of goods or money, so 
 that in order to ascertain the extent of the drain from India, 
 we have to find out what in any given year is the amount of 
 exports in goods or money for which in that year she receives 
 no material equivalent.* The excess of exports of goods and 
 money for which India received no material equivalent between 
 1899-1900 and 1908-9 was about one hundred and fifty 
 millions sterling, or an average of fifteen millions a year. 
 This figure is taken from the trade return of goods entering and 
 goods leaving India by sea ; and if goods received by land were 
 included, the amount of the drain would be sHghtly reduced. 
 It is said by critics of our rule that the home charges alone 
 amount to an average of over 17^ millions a year, but this figure 
 includes stores, which are imports, and have been taken into 
 account in arriving at the figure of fifteen millions. When 
 these are deducted for the decade under examination the home 
 charges fall to £15,750,000 per annum, or to an amount 
 * " The Economic Transition of India," by Sir Theodore Morison, 1911.
 
 INDIA 127 
 
 slightly larger than the estimated drain, the difference being 
 explained by credits India obtained from loans invested in the 
 equipment of modern industry, such as machinery.-'^ India 
 receives, of course, full value for those loans. 
 
 Accepting, then, as is inevitable, the recorded figures of the 
 drain at fifteen millions per annum, it is necessary to compare 
 these with similar conditions in other countries. Facts and 
 figures have no significance as isolated units, but only when 
 compared with those of other countries, of which, such as 
 import more than they export, are those wherein industrial 
 development has made such progress that they have surplus 
 capital to lend. Of these England is the most conspicuous 
 example. There are also many countries which export more 
 than they import, and they are, for the most part, those in 
 which industrial development is less advanced. Of this class 
 are the United States, Eussia, Argentina, New Zealand and 
 Australia.! It is evident that political conditions have nothing 
 to do with the drain, because excess of exports equally 
 characterises independent States like Eussia and the United 
 States, self-governing colonies like Australia, and dependencies 
 like India. These are all alike, however, in being countries of 
 which the resources are still to a greater or less extent 
 undeveloped. It is also evident that the debtor countries 
 which export more than they import are amongst the most 
 prosperous in the world,]: that they are every year adding to 
 their wealth, and that the payments they make to their foreign 
 creditors cannot with any regard to fact be described as 
 a drain. 
 
 India, then, possessing land and labour, but lacking money, 
 borrows the capital it needs at a low rate of interest. Such 
 capital, obtained at 3^ per cent., returns 4, 5, 6 and 7 per cent. 
 in railways and irrigation works, while the fund from which 
 wages and rent are paid is enormously increased, to the incal- 
 culable benefit of the country. 
 
 • " The Economic Transition of India," p. 197. 
 
 t Statistical Abstract for Principal and other Foreign Countries and 
 Statistical Abstract for British Colonies, published by the Board of Trade- 
 I "Economic Transition of India," p. 210.
 
 128 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 In the case of the railways, over half a million of the 
 inhabitants make a living on the lines, and the State, after 
 paying interest to its foreign creditors, has drawn a clear profit 
 of eight millions in the ten years under notice, to the great 
 advantage of the community.''' 
 
 Again, the value of the crops raised in 1908-9 in the area 
 irrigated by works constructed out of loans was 121 per cent, 
 of the capital outlay f (£34,500,000). The prodigious strides a 
 developing country can make with the aid of foreign loans is 
 illustrated by the case of Japan. | 
 
 If the nature of the Indian home charges be examined it 
 will be found that they are (over and above interest on capital 
 borrowed, and payment for stores) incurred on account of such 
 items as pensions, gratuities, leave allowances, India Office, 
 army and marine. Of the seven millions which might in any 
 way be said to be due to the political connection with England, 
 the whole amount is expended on account of services rendered, 
 and would be paid for such services even if England were not 
 the over-lord of India, except that the amount would be 
 enormously increased for the provision of a fleet to preserve 
 peace, order, and independence. The Japanese Navy is now 
 costing seven and a half millions a year to maintain, while India 
 annually contributes no more than £100,000 towards the up- 
 keep of the British fleet. Moreover, India as a constituent 
 part of the British Empire, borrows at 3^, while Japan pays 
 4^ and 5 per cent, on her foreign loans. This difference alone 
 more than counter-balances the pensions, gratuities, and other 
 items upon which expenditure out of the country is necessi- 
 tated, owing to circumstances inherent in British rule. 
 
 Tariff Eefobm. — Cotton. 
 
 It is not possible to leave this subject without referring to 
 the probability that in the near future the reconstructed 
 Legislative Councils, reinforced by more of the Indian Congress 
 element, will press for protection, and will make a more 
 
 • " Economic Transition of India," p. 222. 
 t " Review of Irrigation in India," 1908-9. 
 
 ♦ " Economic Transition of India," pp. 207, 226.
 
 INDIA 129 
 
 effective protest than has yet been raised against the counter- 
 vailing excise on certain classes of cotton goods, an import 
 duty of 3| per cent, being levied on all cotton, except yarn and 
 twist, and an equivalent excise being imposed on certain com- 
 peting products of Indian power looms, in order to prevent 
 the import duty acting as a bounty in favour of Indian manu- 
 factures as against those of Lancashire. This duty cannot be 
 defended except on the ground, on which the writer voted for it 
 in the Governor-Genei'al's Legislative Council, that it is a 
 necessary consequence of India's connection with Free Trade 
 England. No one can argue that it is justifiable, or required, 
 in the separate and exclusive interests of India, which is 
 financially independent of Great Britain. India is, of course, 
 subject, as regards all matters by which other parts of the 
 British Empire or foreign countries are affected, to the 
 necessity of adopting the principles Imperial Parliament pre- 
 scribes as applicable to all dependencies of the Crown. But 
 this is a principle which will not for a moment be accepted by 
 those who oppose the connection with England, and have been 
 encouraged by concession after concession to hope for com- 
 plete emancipation. 
 
 Lord Minto, since his return from India, has testified to the 
 " extraordinary advance of political thought throughout Asia," 
 and he said " that if we want to create great industries in 
 India, he did not see how it could be done without something 
 like Tariff Reform. It was certain that in the future, and very 
 soon, we should be hearing strong expressions of opinion in 
 India that something must be done in that way to safeguard 
 Indian interests, and it was because he had the welfare of the 
 country very much at heart that he felt so strongly upon this 
 economic question." '•' 
 
 Lord Minto at the same time pointed out that Canada could 
 never have become the great country it now is without a high 
 tariff wall against the products of the United States. It has 
 often been remarked that as India already possesses a small 
 general tariff, the adoption of Imperial Preference would be a 
 much simpler and easier matter therein than anywhere else in 
 • Speech at Central Asian Society's Dinner, May 17, 1911. 
 10
 
 130 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the Empire, for such adoption would not necessarily involve the 
 imposition of fresh taxation, but only the remission of existing 
 taxation on imports from the United Kingdom and the 
 Colonies.* Of course, what the anti-British want is protection 
 for India against all competition, including that of England, It is 
 difficult to say why tea should not have a measure of protection, 
 and it would be quite easy to discriminate between the Indian, 
 Chinese, and Japanese leaf in dealing with this important article 
 of commerce produced by British planters, using British capital, 
 with British-Indian labour in British territory, which at present 
 yields a large return to the Imperial, and no tax revenue to the 
 Indian, exchequer. The arguments of Mr. Lloyd George in the 
 debate on the Budget in 1911, to the effect that to treat our 
 own people better than strangers is to discriminate against 
 foreign nations, is one which, as Mr. Austen Chamberlain re- 
 torted, is repudiated by every other Government in the world. 
 It is only comparable with the pusillanimous arguments put 
 forward to the effect that by looking after ourselves and our 
 Colonies and Dependencies, we may offend the Governments of 
 other nations. It is evident that in the internal politics of 
 India economic development will play a large part, and this 
 makes it the more unfortunate that just now the Government 
 of India should have notified that it proposes to repeal, from 
 July 1, 1913, the Act which regulates labour recruitment within 
 the Indian Empire under a system of indentures, on the ground 
 that the tea industry must fall into line with other employers 
 of labour and forego the special law upon which it has hitherto 
 relied. As the chairman of the Indian Tea Association said at 
 the annual general meeting of 1911, " The majority of planters, 
 especially in Assam proper, were probably strongly of opinion 
 that a local Act was required to protect them against outside 
 influence. With the large demand outside for their imported 
 labour, and with large tracts of waste land available for cultiva- 
 tion, the tea planter was surrounded by influences draining his 
 labour force to which other employers were not liable to any- 
 thing like the same extent." A local Act for Assam is at any 
 rate regarded as a necessity, and it would appear to be indefen- 
 • «' India and Imperial Preference," by Sir Boper Lethbridge, p. 2.
 
 INDIA 131 
 
 sible that certain wilder tracts should be closed against recruiting 
 for Assam, and open, as would appear to be the case, to the 
 Colonial recruiter. 
 
 Nor will the feeling of uneasiness which exists be other than 
 augmented by Mr. Montagu's reply during the Indian Budget 
 debate of 1911 to Lord Eonaldshay, who asked why it was that 
 the doctrine of Free Trade, when applied to India, required 
 vindicating in the case of the cotton industry only — why it 
 was, for example, that fiscal orthodoxy demanded the imposition 
 of an excise duty upon the products of the Indian cotton mills 
 to countervail the duty upon imported cottons, but did not 
 demand the imposition of an excise duty upon the 73,000,000 
 gallons of home-produced oil annually consumed in India, to 
 countervail the duty of l^d. a gallon on the 84,000,000 gallons 
 annually imported from elsewhere? To which the Under- 
 Secretary of State replied as follows : "I will only say on be- 
 half of the Government we have no intention of departing from 
 the Free Trade system in India. I will go further and say that 
 as and when opportunity offers we shall take steps to make the 
 fiscal system of India more nearly in accord with what we 
 believe to be the only sound economic doctrine." 
 
 Is India really to expect more countervailing duties, and is it 
 wise to pile additional burdens of this sort on the elephant ? 
 
 Education. 
 
 Among the administrative problems of modern India is that 
 of free compulsory primary education, and Mr. Gokhale, the 
 well-known additional member of the Governor-General's 
 Council, has introduced a Bill to bring about this highly 
 debatable reform. No one denies the advantages of primary 
 education," but it is a very nice question whether an 
 alien Government should force upon peoples, who do not desire 
 it, universal and compulsory instruction of a character alien in 
 letter and spirit from their own religious traditions, manners, 
 and customs. Would it not be dangerous, under the circum- 
 stances, to tax the inhabitants of India for this purpose ? It is 
 
 * Primary education has just been made free in the North-West 
 Frontier Province with effect from April 1, 1912.
 
 132 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 quite beside the mark to point to the State of Baroda, an 
 extremely rich and self-contained principality of small geogra- 
 phical dimensions, 8,226 out of 1,766,642 square miles, and a 
 population of 2,000,000 out of 315,000,000 for India. Baroda 
 is governed by an Indian Chief, who has no international 
 questions to consider, the word international being limited to 
 Indian nations and states only, nor is H.H. the Gaekwar a 
 representative Indian Prince, nor is his principality a normal 
 native state. It is not poverty which prevents recourse to 
 the existing schools, and no one acquainted with the facts will 
 imagine that if all fees were abolished they would immediately 
 be filled. The Minister of Baroda wrote of the figures for the 
 year 1909-10, " State compulsion is by no means an assured 
 success, but a praiseworthy attempt, with an excellent chance 
 of final success." Mr. Gokhale's Bill provides that Municipal 
 or District Boards may, with the sanction of the local Govern- 
 ment, levy a special education rate for the provision of elementary 
 education in their areas. This provision is permissive, but it 
 will be difficult for one, to lag behind another, local body, and 
 the result of the passing of the Bill would probably be to lead 
 to the widespread introduction of a compulsory rate and of 
 compulsory schools. It is suggested that a local tax of this 
 character would be preferable to an Imperial impost, because 
 the former would be specially earmarked for its own purpose ; 
 but Mr. Gokhale provides also for a large contribution from the 
 Imperial exchequer, and this is the principle upon which H.H. 
 the Gaekwar has proceeded in Baroda.* The Bill has been 
 opposed by the more advanced organs of the Hindu Press, and 
 strong objections all over the country have been raised against 
 the imposition of any cess or tax, especially now that so large 
 a diminution in the opium revenue is being forced on India in 
 order to satisfy the vicarious philanthropy of a highly vocal 
 section of politicians and altruists in England. While Lord 
 Crewef receives most sympathetically at the India Office a 
 deputation in favour of the Bill, the very sane administration 
 
 » July 27, 1911. 
 
 t One of the Coronation concessions of December 12, 1911. was the 
 provision of £333,300 for the promotion of primary education.
 
 INDIA 133 
 
 of the Central Provinces issues a resolution showing how 
 unfair to the general taxpayer it is that Government should 
 pay practically the whole cost of higher education. 
 
 Opium. 
 
 The mention of opium suggests that a few words may con- 
 veniently follow here upon that subject. The opium revenue, 
 which, roughly speaking, amounted annually to five million 
 pounds sterling, is now doomed to early extinction. Under 
 the existing system the cultivation of the poppy is only per- 
 mitted in parts of the Province of Bengal, part of the United 
 Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and a small area in the Punjab 
 for local consumption. In the monopoly districts the cultivator 
 receives advances from the Government for the preparation of 
 the land for the crop, the whole of which he is bound to sell at 
 a fixed price to the Government agent in order that it may be 
 prepared for the market in Government factories, after which 
 the manufactured product is sold every month by auction in Cal- 
 cutta, for dispatch to China, only a sufficient reserve being kept 
 in hand to supply the deficiencies of bad seasons. The poppy 
 is also grown in the Native States of Kajputana and Central 
 India, which have agreed to conform to the Government system. 
 They levy varying rates of duty on opium exported from their 
 territories for the China market, which pays the Indian Treasury 
 a duty fixed at present at 625 rupees a chest when the pass 
 is granted at Ajmere, and 600 when it is granted elsewhere."^ 
 
 The tentative agreement made in 1907 between India and 
 China was on May 8, 1911, followed by a new agreement be- 
 tween the British and Chinese Governments, which follows : — 
 
 The British Government, recognising the sincerity of the Chinese 
 Government and its pronounced success in diminishing the production of 
 opium in China during the last three years, agrees to continue the 
 arrangement made in 1907 for the unexpired period of seven years under 
 the following conditions : — 
 
 Article I. — China shall diminish annually during the next seven years 
 the production of native opium in the same proportion by which the 
 annual export from India is diminished. 
 
 Statesman's Year Book, 1911, p. 134.
 
 134 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Article II. — China haviDg adopted a rigorous policy for prohibiting the 
 production, transport, and smoking of native opium, the British Govern- 
 ment agrees that the export of opium from India shall cease in less than 
 seven years if proof is given that the production of native opium has 
 completely ceased. 
 
 Article III. — The British Government agrees that Indian opium shall 
 not be conveyed to any province of China which has effectively suppressed 
 the cultivation and import of native opium. It is understood, however, 
 that the closing of the ports of Canton and Shanghai to the import of 
 Indian opium shall only take effect as a final step for the completion of 
 the above measure. 
 
 Article IV. — During the period of the agreement the British Govern- 
 ment is permitted to obtain continuous evidence of the diminution of 
 cultivation by local inquiries conducted by British officials. 
 
 Article V. — China may dispatch an official to India to watch the opium 
 sales and the packing of opium, buu without any power of interference. 
 
 Article VI. — The British Government consents to the increase of the 
 present duty to 350 taels per chest, the increase taking effect simultane- 
 ously with the imposition of an equivalent excise tax on native opium. 
 
 Article VII. — So long as the additional article of the Chifu agreement 
 is in force, China will withdraw all restrictions now placed on the whole- 
 sale trade in Indian opium in the provinces. The foregoing articles shall 
 not derogate from the force of laws published, or hereafter to be published, 
 by China to suppress the smoking of opium and to regulate the retail 
 trade. 
 
 Article VIII. — During 1911 the Indian Government wiU issue export 
 permits for 30,600 chests, progressively reducing the number until the 
 extinction of the export trade in 1917. Each chest so certificated may be 
 imported into any Treaty Port in China. 
 
 Article IX. — This agreement may be revised at any time by mutual 
 consent. 
 
 Article X. — The agreement comes into force on the date on which it is 
 signed.* 
 
 The Under Secretary of State for India! said in the House 
 of Commons that during the next seven years the revenue of 
 three millions received by India from the export of opium to 
 China might disappear, but that it would be prematui'e to 
 consider the question of a contribution from the Imperial 
 Exchequer. Mr. Montagu might have said this revenue will 
 certainly cease, but subsequently, on July 26, 1911, he said in 
 
 * Treaty Series, 1911, No. 13, Cd. 5660. 
 t Parliamentary Debates, May 10, 1911.
 
 INDIA 135 
 
 the House of Commons that the question whether the loss of 
 the opium revenue will involve fresh taxation cannot be 
 definitely answered. He made it clear that the Government 
 looked to economies to balance the loss, and committed himself 
 to the indefensible statement that the Indian people, the tax- 
 payers, were willingly and cheerfully sacrificing in this humane 
 interest a valuable source of revenue. The agreement of 
 1907 provided for the gradual reduction of the Indian export 
 at the rate of a tenth annually, which would have extinguished 
 the trade in seven years from 1910, but the British Government 
 has now, in 1911, agreed that the Indian exports shall cease in 
 less time, if the Chinese Government proves that China has 
 ceased to produce opium. We have also undertaken to reduce 
 the Indian export by an additional amount equal to one-third 
 of the uncertificated Indian opium in bond in China on a 
 given date, and as there are great accumulations of the bonded 
 drug, Indian exports will be quickly reduced to small pro- 
 portions. In the interval between the signing of the first and 
 second agreements, the price of opium ruled so high that the 
 diminution in export in no way prejudiced the Indian Ex- 
 chequer, which now, however, is face to face with the almost 
 immediate extinction of a very profitable source of revenue. 
 It is by no means improbable that the Indian peasant will 
 shortly have to submit to an increased salt tax in consequence 
 of this policy, and not one person acquainted with him will 
 endorse Mr. Montagu's statement that he will cheerfully and 
 willingly pay. The Native States, which have been exporting 
 opium to China for centuries, were no parties to either of these 
 agreements, against which some have protested, and to which 
 all object. There can be no doubt that several States will be 
 seriously affected, and large claims for compensation will 
 undoubtedly have to be met. 
 
 The opponents of the opium system in India invariably argue 
 as if "this drowsy syrup of the East" was in itself a thrice 
 damnable thing, the whole and sole effects of which are 
 evil. The fact is, of course, that the medicinal properties of 
 opium are of great value to dwellers in the extensive malarious 
 tracts of India, and an absolute need in many regions of the
 
 136 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 hillmen, who without it cannot exist. To such an extent is 
 this recognised that in British-Indian jails humanity makes 
 it obligatory to supply to certain of the inmates a dole of the 
 drug. Malarial fever, which is beyond all others, and infi- 
 nitely more than plague, pestilence, or famine, the scourge of 
 India, is best combated by doses of opium or preparations 
 derived therefrom, at any rate in certain localities. Nor 
 indeed, even in China, is the abuse of opium greater than that 
 of alcohol amongst ourselves. The Indian Press pertinently 
 asks, Would the House of Commons be so eager to wipe out this 
 trade if the Imperial Exchequer stood to lose three millions a 
 year over the transaction.* In the same direction comment 
 is made upon the support given by Scottish Members to the 
 anti-opium crusade, and to the great influence of Scotland in 
 Mr. Asquith's Government, which, it is openly stated, could 
 not resist the pressure put upon it without alienating some of 
 its most earnest supporters. The net result will probably be that 
 while India will lose three to four millions a year, Persia will 
 gain no small part of this amount, though it is announced! that 
 the Chinese Government has decided to prohibit importation 
 of Persian and Turkish opium from January, 1912. The anti- 
 opium party argue that the Indian Government has already 
 made too much from this tainted source, which it knew must 
 one day run dry. Others point out that as England, which forced 
 India into this traffic, now demands its cessation, it is only fair 
 that she should indemnify the innocent loser. It is astonish- 
 ing that an English Minister should say, as did the Under- 
 Secretary of State, that there are no indications of unwillingness 
 on the part of the Indian taxpayer and cultivator to endorse 
 the anti-opium policy of the Government, for there cannot be a 
 single ofiicial at the India Office who does not know that the 
 voice of the Indian taxpayer and cultivator rarely indeed 
 makes itself heard, and that it is by no means identical with 
 that of his self-appointed, denationalised English-educated 
 representative. Again, upon the moral point it is notorious 
 
 * Wednesday Review, May 31, 1911. 
 
 t The Times, July 19, 1911 : telegram from Peking, July 18, 1911 ; 
 July 20, 1911 : telegram from Peking, July 19, 1911.
 
 INDIA 137 
 
 that the use of opium in the East will be, and is already being, 
 replaced by that of morphine and cocaine * from England, and 
 from the Continent, which at any rate we cannot prevent. 
 India's sacrifice of the opium revenue is vain unless the 
 importation of these drugs is prohibited by agreement amongst 
 treaty Powers, which have no intention of entering upon a 
 quixotic and necessarily abortive campaign for the extinction of 
 the use of stimulants in Asia. 
 
 The opium agreement was concluded by the Government 
 without the sanction of the House of Commons, which merely 
 passed platonic resolutions f of condemnation in an almost 
 empty House, upon the motion of a private member. Con- 
 siderable doubt exists as to the trustworthiness of the statistics 
 produced by China, and Consul-General Sir Alexander Hosie, 
 though his report | was generally in favour of the sincerity and 
 success of the Chinese elforts to suppress the poppy, admitted 
 that in Shansi, one of the chief opium-producing districts, he 
 was forced to discredit the assurances given him by the 
 officials, and to put down the reduction in the amount of 
 opium as certainly under 50 per cent., while in Kansu the 
 reduction was less than half this amount, and only half that 
 claimed by the officials of the province. § Sir Alexander Hosie 
 reported that the yield of opium in Szechuan used to be four 
 times the whole annual importation from India, but that since 
 the Imperial decree of suppression, for the present at least the 
 
 * The Excise Commissioner of Bengal reported in 1910-11 that in spite 
 of prosecutions and high prices, the use of this drug is on the increase. 
 Other Commissioners report that as heavier duties are imposed on 
 opium, the use of more dangeroas intoxicants grows apace. 
 
 Mr. Knox, Secretary of State, in his report to President Taft of 
 January 7, 1911, states that "the illicit use of morphia and cocaine is 
 widespread in the United States, and is rapidly spreading through Indo- 
 China and other parts of the Far East, where it threatens to become 
 more baneful than the opium-smoking habit." The average American 
 import of opium in the last ten years has been over 400,000 lb., more than 
 half of which has been used in the manufacture of morphia for improper 
 uses. 
 
 t Parliamentary Debates, 1906, vol. 158, p. 516 ; 1908, vol. 183, p. 380. 
 
 I Cd, 5658, p. 9. § Ibid., p. 18.
 
 138 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 province produces no opium, but is disposing of surplus stocks.* 
 Of Yunnan, which produced the best opium in China, he 
 wrote that the cultivation had been stopped in the plains for 
 the last three years, but still continued in the hill tracts and 
 semi-independent zone. On the whole there had been a 
 reduction of 75 per cent.+ in the manufacture of opium in the 
 province, wherein the price of the drug had risen to six 
 times that ruling before 1907. 
 
 It is, of course, a common error to suppose that all opium 
 grown in India is exported to China. When the agreement 
 of 1907 was negotiated statistics showed that out of 67,000 
 chests only 51,000 went to the Middle Kingdom, and 16,000 
 to other countries, to which export will presumably continue as 
 long as purchasers are found, while some 10,000 chests have 
 hitherto been required for use in India, with which, in view of 
 its valuable medicinal properties, it may be hoped that no 
 interference will be exercised. It is suggested by certain 
 authorities, including the late Sir Charles Elliott, :J that opium- 
 producing Native States should continue to supply such opium 
 as will be needed after the extinction of the Chinese export. 
 Others point out that the average income for the three years 
 preceding 1907 was only three and three-quarter millions, but 
 this is small comfort when the revenue had risen in subsequent 
 years to five millions. It is also urged that there will still be an 
 income of perhaps one million from the supply of opium to 
 other countries, and that a saving of nearly two millions will 
 be effected in the opium department. These calculations are 
 contested, and indeed are based upon false and illusory 
 premisses, and it may be regarded as absolutely certain that 
 a loss of several, probably of four, millions a year will be 
 inflicted on Indian revenues by the action of the anti-opium 
 party at home, while it is by no means certain that less opium 
 will in the long run be consumed in China, or that the supply 
 of the necessary quantity will in any way be reduced by the 
 sacrifice made in India. Indeed, China will be at liberty to, and 
 
 during the Revolution actively does, cultivate the poppy again. 
 The Chinese Government under the new agreement has the 
 
 • Cd. 5658, p. 20. f Ibid., pp. 22, 23. J The Tirnes, May 17, 1911.
 
 INDIA 139 
 
 power to close province after province against the importation of 
 foreign opium on producing evidence, all too readily accepted, 
 that production in and import into such province of Chinese 
 opium has ceased. It has by irregular interference with the 
 entry of Indian opium into the interior of the country caused 
 great congestion of stocks at the Treaty Ports, and has taken 
 advantage of its own wrong by making the complacent 
 Government of India proportionately cut down its imports for 
 future years. In fact, China wins on every point at the expense 
 of the Indian taxpayer, and for the satisfaction of the anti- 
 opium party in England, who apparently care not at all, if the 
 Behar and Oudh cultivators starve, if all the cultivators in British 
 India are taxed, or if in Central India and Eajputana ruling 
 chiefs are so embarrassed as to be driven to collect fresh 
 taxes from their subjects. The rights of these chiefs to com- 
 pensation were admitted by the Opium Commission. With 
 the extinction of the China trade Malwa opium will have no 
 market left, though the Government monopoly opium will still 
 find a field in the Straits Settlement and in India itself. 
 
 The sacrifice of revenue becomes more serious, as the taxable 
 resources of the country do not increase as rapidly as its 
 population. 
 
 Coronation Concessions. 
 
 To the Coronation concessions announced as lately as 
 December 12, 1911, brief reference is made in a footnote on 
 page 115. They have, as far as can be judged so soon after 
 the event, been received by the Congress and anti-EngUsh 
 party in Bengal with satisfaction, tempered by regret at the 
 loss of Calcutta as capital of India, by the European com- 
 munity of Calcutta, a numerous, independent, and able com- 
 munity, and by the Mahomedans of Eastern Bengal with 
 natural displeasure, and by Hindus and Mahomedans in 
 general with that indifference which might have been expected. 
 Orientals have little or no sentiment. They are practical to 
 the core and leave to European races this enervating luxury, 
 which has become their self-indulgence and their bane. But 
 that such great concessions to a moribund agitation, and such 
 far-reaching administrative changes should have been made
 
 UO CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 over the heads of all concerned, and without the previously 
 ascertained consent of Parliament, the Provincial Governments, 
 and public opinion is generally regarded as a violent departure 
 from constitutional precedent, only rendered possible by the 
 shelter of the royal presence and prerogative. 
 
 Census. 
 
 The general census of India, taken in March, 1911, includes 
 Baluchistan and several remote and very sparsely populated 
 districts in Burma, not hitherto included. The result shows 
 a total population of 315,132,537, of which 244,267,542 were 
 inhabitants of British territory and 70,864,995 of Native States. 
 There was an increase of 7'1 pe*- cent, between 1901 and 1911, 
 as against 2-5 per cent, in the preceding ten years, and an 
 increase of 12-9 per cent, in Native States as against 5-5 per 
 cent, in British territory which may be regarded as a 
 readjustment of a decrease of 5 per cent, in Native 
 territory as against 4-7 per cent, increase in British territory 
 at last census. 
 
 This result merely confirms previous experience, to the effect 
 that after a severe scarcity resulting from successive bad 
 seasons the population increases by leaps and bounds ; and 
 while famine prevailed in the last decade in the Native States, 
 owing to better administration nothing more than hard times 
 were felt in British India. 
 
 Although the plague occasioned great mortality in the decade 
 now censused, the mortality from fever greatly exceeded the 
 total number of deaths recorded from this cause, and the 
 remarks made regarding the use of opium, as distinguished 
 from its abuse, are not without application to the health 
 statistics of the Indian Empire. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Attacks made on the 
 Character and Efficiency of the Indian Police. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. It is urged that this body is hopelessly corrupt, that its members 
 habitually bring false charges and manufacture evidence. 
 
 2, The subordinate ranks of the police are drawn from the lowest
 
 INDIA 141 
 
 and poorest castes ami classes, and are not lepresentativo of the more 
 intelligent inhabitants in India. 
 
 3. They are so badly paid as to render bribery a matter almost of 
 necessity. 
 
 4. " The police impose upon the ignorance of the common people in the 
 rural districts, and induce persons charged with offences to make con- 
 fessions, even when they are innocent."* 
 
 5. They use torture to extract evidence, and ill-treat their prisoners. 
 
 6. The lower ranlis practise intolerable oppression over the villagers, 
 extorting money and service from them. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The Indian police compare most favourably with the police of other 
 Oriental countries, with which, and not with the police of European 
 nations, they should be compared. 
 
 2. The police is the most exclusively native of all departments of Indian 
 administration, and its methods and its faults are those of the country, 
 racy of the soil, understood of the people. 
 
 3. The police in India work under peculiar difficulties, inasmuch as they 
 lack the co-operation of the educated classes, upon which their fellows in 
 Europe can count. 
 
 4. They labour under special difficulties also in respect of evidence, 
 European judges often requiring a standard of proof that in India is well 
 nigh impossible, and renders conviction most difficult. 
 
 5. Lord Curzon's Commission on the Indian Police found that cases of 
 torture were now rare, and it must be remembered that under native rule 
 torture was the recognised mode of procedure. The severest punishment 
 is awarded when any case is proved against the police. 
 
 6. In spite of assertions of oppression, the villagers recognise that the 
 police are effectual in preserving order and securing the safety of the com- 
 munity in the most practical manner by protesting against the removal of 
 a station whenever suggested or contemplated.! 
 
 7. The police live in glass houses in which none of their delinquencies 
 can be concealed, and the questions asked against them in the House 
 of Commons, garbling their cases and misrepresenting their conduct, are 
 for the most part drafted by a hostile syndicate in Calcutta for use by 
 the " friends of India" in England. 
 
 8. Impartial observers testify to the exoellence of the work done by the 
 Indian police, e.g., M. Chailley, above quoted. 
 
 9. Since the presentation of Lord Curzon's Police Commission Eeport, 
 the practical necessity for corruption has ceased to exist in consequence 
 of the grant of reasonable wages to the lowest ranks of police. 
 
 • Sir A. Fraser, " Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots," p. 229. 
 t Ibid., p. 228.
 
 142 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 10. " Most of the denunciation of the work of the police that one now 
 hears is based on the traditions of the days of their most defective work, 
 on the too ready acceptance of tales invented by the criminal classes 
 to cast discredit on police witnesses, and on complete ignorance of the 
 present conditions of the force, and of the rules under which inquiries 
 are now conducted and supervised by officers of high character and sound 
 training." * 
 
 Reduction of Indian Aemy. 
 ARGUMENTS AGAINST. 
 
 1. It is the fear of Germany on the part of Russia and England, and 
 not the Anglo-Russian Convention, which has removed the Russian 
 menace. 
 
 2. The army gives regular occupation to multitudes of Indians 
 of all races and classes, and to reduce it would cause hardship, as 
 has been pointed out in the native Press. 
 
 " The disbandment of native regiments must result in the sudden 
 unemployment of those sent out of the army, and the scope for military 
 service and distinction must correspondingly diminish." f 
 
 3. The army is very small compared with the population and extent 
 of country to be protected, and though trouble has been removed on the 
 North- West, it has been replaced by the like anxiety on the North-East, 
 Frontier. 
 
 4. It is necessary to ensure the safety of the house before it can be 
 improved, and all projected reforms of all sorts reallj' depend for a 
 successful issue upon such safety being assured by sufficiently strong 
 defences. 
 
 5. The strength of the Indian army was not fixed with reference to the 
 Russian menace, while the internal condition of India points to the 
 necessity for more rather than less troops. 
 
 6. The Indian army is an indispensable auxiliary of our other forces 
 in war time. 
 
 7. The Indian troops once mutinied as the result of gross mis- 
 management and provocation, but they are similar soldiers to those who 
 drank rice-water that Olive's Europeans might have rice, and it was 
 with their help that the Mutiny was suppressed. 
 
 ARGUMENTS FOR. 
 
 1. The Anglo-Russian Convention has removed the Russian menace, 
 to meet which the army is chiefly required. 
 
 2. It is waste of money to pay soldiers who are not wanted, the worst 
 of all possible waste. 
 
 * " Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots," by Sir A. Eraser, p. 237. 
 t Indian Patriot, June 2, 1911.
 
 INDIA 143 
 
 3. Since the armies of the Native States, which were merely un- 
 disciplined rabbles, have been disbanded, fewer troops arc necessary 
 for the peaceful policing of India, which is now one of the chief functions 
 of the British-Indian army. 
 
 4. Funds cannot be provided for social reform until military expenditure 
 is reduced. 
 
 5. It is not the function of the Indian taxpayer or of the Indian army 
 to come to the assistance of British armies engaged outside the Indian 
 Empire. 
 
 6. The reduction of three Indian, can be effected for the sum saved 
 by reducing one British, soldier, and those who oppose reduction insist 
 chiefly upon keeping the British troops up to strength, 
 
 Peefeeential Taeiffs with India. 
 ARGUMENTS FOR. 
 
 1. India is the commercial and industrial supplement of the United 
 Kingdom, and both should be closely bound together by the knot of 
 Imperial Preference. 
 
 2. Her existing tariS renders preference easy of arrangement. 
 
 3. She requires protection for her nascent industries. 
 
 4. Imperial Preference is India's best defence against the import of 
 foreign products. 
 
 5. The Government of India is in favour of retaliation, which involves 
 the sanction of preferential duties. 
 
 6. There is no danger of retaliation from foreign Governments,* which 
 already tax their imports of Indian goods, and cannot afford to exclude 
 Indian exports of food and raw material. 
 
 7. Out of the total Indian export trade of Rs.1,346,000,000, trade 
 of the value of no less than Rs. 920,000,000 will be either benefited or 
 wholly unprejudiced by Imperial Preference. 
 
 8. Imperial Preference would be acceptable to Indian patriotism, and 
 would promote the moral and material welfare of India. 
 
 9. It would entail, or would promote, the abolition of the unpopular 
 and unjustifiable excise on Indian cotton goods f and would encourage 
 the tea, coffee, and indigo industries, and the Indian mills. J " Since the 
 enlargement of the Indian Council efforts have been made to abolish this 
 duty, and it has been condemned by every Indian member of the Viceroy's 
 
 * Cd. 1931 (1904). 
 
 t All goods imported into India pay an ad valorem duty of 5 per cent., 
 except cotton goods. There is no import duty on cotton yarns, and only 
 a 3^ per cent, ad valorem duty on cotton cloth, while at the same time 
 there is an equivalent excise duty of 3J per cent, on the products of the 
 Indian cotton miUs. 
 
 J Lord Ronaldshay, Parliamentary Debates, July 27, 1911.
 
 144 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Council. It was said that this duty was necessary in the interests of Free 
 Trade, but if so it should apply to all goods, not merely to cotton goods. 
 The increase in the petroleum import duty by 50 per cent, has been 
 defended on the ground that it might protect the Indian industry, 
 and might drive imported petroleum out of the market. The Free 
 Trade defence of the cotton excise duty would not hold water. The 
 real reason for its existence was the influence which Lancashire was 
 able to exert in Parliament, but Lancashire would not object to the 
 abolition of the excise duty if the import duty on Lancashire cotton goods 
 was also abolished. To make up for the loss of revenue which that 
 would cause a higher duty could be placed on foreign goods, which 
 were becoming increasingly powerful competitors." * 
 
 10. It is evident from the above figures that there is ample opportunity 
 for establishing a reciprocal tariff between India and Great Britain. 
 
 11. Moreover, India possesses a monopoly of jute, which foreign 
 countries obtain free from duty ; whik they exact high duties upon jute 
 manufactures from India and Great Britain. 
 
 ARGUMENTS AGAINST. 
 
 1. India without preferential tariffs already enjoys in exceptionally 
 large measure the advantages of free exchange of imports and exports, t 
 
 2. From a financial aspect the danger to India of reprisals by foreign 
 nations is so serious, and their results would be so disastrous that the 
 Indian Government would not be justified in embarking on such a novel 
 policy, unless sure of greater or more certain benefits than are now 
 discernible. 
 
 3. If the matter is regarded exclusively from an economic standpoint, 
 India has something, but not very much, to offer to the Empire, but she 
 has a great deal to lose or risk, and very little to gain in return. 
 
 4. India as a debtor country is dependent on her trade with foreign 
 countries for the discharge of her net international obligations. 
 
 5. Of the total value of Indian exports, 50 per cent, are raw materials 
 
 * In 1899 the foreign imports were £10,000,000, while in 1909 they 
 were £24,000,000. Belgium sold seven times as much bar steel in India 
 as British manufacturers, Japan sold eight times as much hosiery as 
 British manufacturers, and Japan and Sweden between them sold fifty 
 times as many matches as British manufacturers. The demand of India 
 for such goods as apparel, furniture, clocks and watches, hosiery, glass, 
 hardware and cutlery, matches, steel, and woollen goods in a year is 
 £11,000,000. Out of that amount the British manufacturer supplied 
 little more than £5,000,000. 
 
 t Cd. 1931 (1904). Views of the Government of India on preferential 
 tariffs.
 
 INDIA 145 
 
 required by the importing countries for their manufacturing industries, 
 and therefore admitted on the easiest possible terms. 
 
 6. Powerful trades in Great Britain would demand that their interests, 
 which are never necessarily identical with, and are often opposed to, those 
 of India, should bo considered. India and Ceylon between them have 
 more than nine-tenths of the tea trade of the United Kingdom. 
 
 7. "To develop Indian industries by a protective tariff would be to, 
 expose India to the worst evils of Western capitalisation." * 
 
 8. " The Indian publicists by no means unanimously favour 
 preference." 
 
 9. "While we dictate the political we must dictate the fiscal policy of 
 India." t 
 
 Arguments for and Against Free Compulsory 
 Education. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The general movement of the present time, democratic, industrial, 
 and humanitarian, points to the necessity for removing the ignorance 
 of the masses, and raising the moral and civic status of the working man. 
 
 2. The Government of India Despatch of 1854, the Education 
 Commission of 1883, and the Government of India Resolution of 1904 
 advocate the extension of elementary education. Mr. Gokhale's Bill 
 makes primary education free and compulsory, and therefore fulfils 
 these conditions. 
 
 3. In all countries elementary education has rather to be forced on the 
 masses. 
 
 4. Education is free and compulsory in Baroda, and therefore can 
 be made compulsory in British India, 
 
 5. Out of every hundred boys in India, education reaches thirty- three ; 
 out of every hundred girls only four. The attendance at schools in 
 British India is 1-9 per cent., as compared with 20 per cent, in Great 
 Britain, 11 per cent, in Japan, and 4'5 per cent, in Russia. The 
 expenditure per head of the population in the United States is 16s., 
 in England and Wales 10s., in Russia 7Jd., and just a penny in India. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. India has not risen to those mental and moral standards which 
 would make compulsory education acceptable to the masses. 
 
 * Mr. Montagu, Parliamentary Debates, July 27, 1911. 
 
 t The writer voted for the countervailing duties in the Indian Legislative 
 Council following this principle, but it does not avail when the Free Trade 
 policy itself is under trial. 
 
 11
 
 146 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 2. Tho masses do not, even now, generally send their children to school. 
 
 3. Compulsion will cause discontent. 
 
 4. The untouchable classes cannot be educated in the same building 
 with the children of caste people, and the provision of two sets of 
 buildings is prohibitive in cost. 
 
 5. The fact that the Indian masses are divided into touchables and 
 untouchables is sufficient to show that they are not ripe for compulsory 
 education. The first step is to make elementary education free, and if 
 widespread advantage is taken of the privilege, it will then be right 
 to consider if compulsion should follow. 
 
 6. Baroda is under a personal ruler, and compulsion is not therefore 
 resented as it would be if proceeding from an alien and impersonal 
 Government. An autocrat is possible only as long as people are left 
 largely to themselves and to their own social and political devices. 
 
 7. The Gaekwar of Baroda says that " his reforms are disliked by his 
 people," and " he speaks freely of the ignorance of the people he 
 governs, and says that even his own relatives disapprove of his travelling 
 and of his eating with strangers." * 
 
 8. Baroda and its ruler are other than representative of Indian princes 
 and States. 
 
 9. " There is no general demand for education among the people. 
 There is a duty on the part of reformers to create a willingness to help to 
 pay the taxes or fees by which alone large educational schemes can 
 be financed." t 
 
 Aeguments For and Against the Reduction and 
 Extinction of the Indian Opium Tkaffic. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. It is so immoral to sell opium to the Chinese that this traffic should 
 be stopped, regardless of the suffering entailed on Indian cultivators, and 
 without reference to the resulting necessity of subjecting them to 
 increased taxation. 
 
 2. The reports of Consul-General Hosie prove that China is sincere 
 in her efforts to abolish the cultivation and use of opium in the Middle 
 Kingdom. 
 
 3. It is incumbent on the dependency of a Christian State to co-operate 
 with a non-Christian State in its endeavours to abolish a pernicious 
 habit which enslaves and enervates. 
 
 4. " The Emperor of India is the largest manufacturer in the world of 
 
 • '• The West in the East," by Price Collier, pp. 255, 256. 
 f Mr. Montagu, Parliamentary Debates, July 27, 1911.
 
 INDIA 147 
 
 an article not one grain of which dare be sold in his home territories, even 
 for medicine, without being marked ' poison.' " * 
 
 5. Of the results of indulgence in opium, Sir Charles Aitchison, Chief 
 Commissioner of British Burma, wrote : " The habitual use of the drug 
 saps the physical and mental energies, destroys the nerves, emaciates the 
 body, predisposes to disease, is one of the most fertile sources of 
 misery . . . and enfeebles the constitutions of succeeding generations." f 
 
 6. It was an Emperor of China who said : " It is true I cannot prevent 
 the introduction of the flowing poison [opium] ; gain-seeking and corrupt 
 men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes ; but nothing will 
 induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people." 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The Chinese will probably continue to smoke opium, or if deprived of 
 this drug will substitute, indeed are already substituting, for it the more 
 noxious morphia and cocaine. 
 
 2. Opium-producing Native States, which were no parties to the agree- 
 ment between England and China, will suffer, and must be awarded com- 
 pensation, to raise which the Indian peasants' salt will probably be taxed. 
 
 3. Opium is useful as a medicine, and no more abused as a stimulant in 
 China than alcohol is in Europe. 
 
 4. It is intolerable that a lawful trade should be destroyed and Indian 
 peasants taxed because Scottish temperance advocates possess undue 
 influence in Parliament. 
 
 5. Either the loss to the Indian cultivator should be made good by the 
 English taxpayer, or he should repudiate the anti-opium agitation, and 
 cease from troubling the Indian ryot. 
 
 6. The reports of Consul-General Hosie disclose a doubt as to the ability 
 of China to abolish poppy cultivation in all her provinces, and exaggera- 
 tions, at any rate in some quarters, of the progress already accomplished. 
 
 Abguments Fob and Against the Furtheb Extension op 
 Eepbesentative Goveenment and the like Eefobms. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The Congress, advanced reform, English-educated, and Babu party 
 urge that an insufficient number of natives is employed in the adminis- 
 tration of India, and complain that they are excluded from all the more 
 highly paid appointments in the Civil Service. 
 
 2. They declare that the elective principle is not given sufficient play in 
 the government of the country, and that even the District Boards, which 
 
 * " The Opium Trade," by D. McLaren. f ^bid.
 
 148 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 have popularly elected members, are practically dominated by the 
 Executive Government and its officers. 
 
 3. They protest that judicial and administrative functions should not be 
 united in the person of the District Officer, because it is unfair that the 
 authority which directs the prosecution should also try the charge. 
 
 4. They are strongly opposed to the partition of Bengal, alleging that it 
 involved the dismemberment of an ancient Hindu kingdom, and a separate 
 well-defined and self-contained province of the Indian Empire. 
 
 5. They urge that too much money is spent on the army and too little 
 on education. 
 
 6. India is annually drained of fifteen millions sterling a year in home 
 charges, and cannot effectually protest. 
 
 7. Educated Indians are said to be treated with a lack of consideration 
 and respect by British officers. There is a considerable feeling of dis- 
 content among the English-educated that social intercourse between the 
 two races is practically barred. 
 
 8. The lower social status of some of the present British-Indian officials, 
 chosen by competitive examination, makes them less acceptable to the 
 high caste native, and they are sometimes ill-suited to the positions they 
 are called upon to fill, and cannot adapt themselves to the ceremonial of 
 politeness so necessary in Oriental intercourse. 
 
 9. If the Native States bear a heavy land-assessment, at least all money 
 so raised is spent and circulates in the country of its origin. 
 
 10. England is merely exploiting India for her own financial and 
 commercial benefit. 
 
 11. The forest regulations press very heavily on the peasant, who was 
 formerly free to cut wood or pasture cattle when he would, but is now 
 excluded from reserved lands and forests and needs a licence to cut wood 
 or pasture cattle. The same remark applies to rivers and fishing, which 
 used to be free and now are or may be preserved. 
 
 12. A potent factor in the unrest in India is the system of education 
 pursued by the English Government, in so far as it creates a class of 
 English-educated Indians, for only a small proportion of which openings 
 are provided in the Civil Service, for appointments in which the education 
 given particularly and pre-eminently fits the recipients. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Natives of India hold a large majority of posts in the Civil Service, 
 a small number only being reserved for Europeans.* Out of about 29,000 
 appointments ranging from an annual value of £60 to £5,000 a year, 
 22,000 are filled by natives of India. " Further, while the total number 
 of Government appointments has thus increased between 1867 and 1904 by 
 110 per cent., the figures show that the number of posts held by Hindus 
 
 " The West in the East," by Price Collier, p. 174.
 
 INDIA 149 
 
 has increased by 179 per cent., by Mahomedans 129 per cent., by 
 Eurasians 106 per cent., and by Europeans only 36 per cent." * 
 
 2. The Government officials do not interfere with Municipal Boards 
 except in important matters, and it must be remembered that the elected 
 members of these Boards are nearly always drawn from one, the Babu, 
 class, who in no sense represent the masses of the people. 
 
 3. The existing combination of judicial and administrative functions 
 derives from our predecessors in title, and is not an invention of the 
 English. The District Officer in practice has little to do with launching 
 prosecutions, being only in a formal sense head of the police, who have 
 their own administrative officers, actual prosecutions being generally 
 conducted before subordinate magistrates. 
 
 4. It is impossible to dismember that which no longer exists as an unit. 
 Bengal, either as a whole, or in two parts, is still only a portion of the 
 British-Indian Empire. The partition has, moreover, enabled a vast area 
 to be better administered, the official machinery has merely been dupli- 
 cated, the same laws are administered by the same Civil Service, and the 
 anti-partition movement has notoriously been engineered from Calcutta, 
 and does not represent the feelings of the populations affected, who have 
 made no serious sign of disapproval. 
 
 5. It would at present be difficult to raise money in India for the 
 extension of educational facilities by reducing the army, the strength of 
 which is very small in proportion to the population and area to be 
 protected. That strength was fixed after the Mutiny, and should now 
 be raised rather than reduced in proportion to the increased area and 
 population. The country must be safe before it can be educated. Safety 
 before even education. 
 
 6. The larger part of "the drain" represents interest on capital 
 borrowed from England at exceptionally low rates, owing to the con- 
 nection between India and Great Britain, and remuneratively employed 
 in railways, irrigation, and other public works of utility. 
 
 7. As regards social intercourse the absence of commensality and the 
 seclusion of native women forms an effectual bar, of native making, to 
 unrestricted social intercourse. English officers who are guilty of 
 discourteous treatment of natives are severely punished by the Govern- 
 ment, and while every such case is magnified and turned to account by 
 agitators, the generally friendly relations existing pass unnoticed. 
 " The accusation of lack of sympathy, comradeship, and social inter- 
 course is twaddle ; there is an ample supply of honest comradeship and 
 real sympathy, not of the tea-cake varieties, which is merely the 
 doctrinaire philanthropy of parochial officialdom." f 
 
 8. As to the class of the Indian Civil Servants at present provided by 
 
 * " Lord Curzon in India," p. 144. 
 t "The West in the East," p. 182.
 
 150 CUREENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 competitive examination, there will by chance, of course, be some un- 
 satisfactory youths recruited, though the great majority are of exactly that 
 public school and university, social and educational extraction favoured 
 in the Holmes circular, to which in advanced Radical quarters such 
 strong exception was lately taken. Avoidance of occasional malrecruit- 
 ment is inevitable under a democratic competitive system, and must be 
 endured, since it is most improbable that the Government of India 
 will enlarge the sphere of private and official patronage. 
 
 9. Native States are, so far as their foreign relations are concerned, 
 under the protection of the British Government. They have no inter- 
 national obligations and no occasion for spending money on defence. 
 The British Government is differently situated in this behalf. 
 
 10. The occupation of India by the English has given personal freedom, 
 general prosperity, and security to an extent hitherto unrealised and 
 unimagined, put an end to the perpetual internecine wars between the 
 many peoples of India, and established a settled order of things on which 
 men may count. Crime in high places is no longer common. Sati has 
 been abolished, sorcery, poisoning, domestic murder, and lives of senseless 
 depravity are disappearing.* 
 
 11. The forest regulations are made in the permanent interests of the 
 people themselves, such protection being necessary in order to the 
 preservation of the sources of rivers, streams, fuel, and timber, for 
 the retention of moisture in the soil, for the mitigation of heat, and 
 the more equable distribution of rain. 
 
 12. The English Government does not provide education merely as a 
 means to obtaining Government appointments, but as a means of 
 uplifting the recipients to a higher moral plane. That the class of 
 education given is unsuitable for this purpose cannot be denied, since 
 it is undenominational and tends to increase atheism and agnosticism. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Northern India. By W. Crooke. 
 
 Lord Curzon in India. By Sir T. Raleigh, K.C.S.I. 
 
 Indian Problems. By S. M. Mitra. 
 
 The West in the East. By Price Collier. 
 
 The Native States of India. By Sir William Lee Warner, K.C.S.I. 
 
 Indian Speeches. By Viscount Morley. 
 
 An Eastern Miscellany. By the Earl of Ronaldshay, M.P. 
 
 Administrative Problems of British India. By M. Joseph Chailley. 
 
 Economic Transition in India. By Sir Theodore Morison, K.C.I.E. 
 
 The New Spirit in India. By H. W. Nevinson. 
 
 * "India Under Ripon," Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, p. 308.
 
 INDIA 151 
 
 Among Indian Kajahs and Ryots. By Sir Andrew Fraser, K. C.S.I. 
 
 Indian Unrest. By Valentino Chirol. 
 
 The Awakening of India. By J. R. Macdouald, M.P. 
 
 India. By J. Keir Hardie, M.P. 
 
 Studies of Indian Life and Sentiment. By Sir Bampfylde Fuller, K. O.S.I. 
 
 Police and Crime in India. By E. Cox. 
 
 India Under Ripon. By Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. 
 
 The Opium Trade. By D. McLaren. 
 
 India and the Durbar. Macmillan, 1911. 
 
 The Real India. By J. D. Rees, C.I.E., M.P. 
 
 Modern India. By Sir J. D. Rees, K.C.I.E., C.V.O., M.P. 
 
 The Mahomedans. By J. D. Rees. 
 
 Tours in India. By J. D. Rees.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE COLONIES 
 
 Imperial Conference, 1911. 
 
 PROBLEMS connected with our Dominions and Colonies, 
 being equally numerous, complex and controversial, it is 
 obvious that they cannot be discussed in a work such as this 
 in other than brief and comprehensive fashion. And in fact 
 the most important questions have just come under review at 
 the Imperial Conference of 1911, which will undoubtedly 
 prove to be a new point of departure, at which most of the 
 current controversies assumed a novel form, and from which 
 their future development will date. 
 
 It was not Colonial but Imperial in character ; it was not a 
 discussion upon domestic relations between the Mother 
 Country and her Colonies, but a Conference between the 
 Governments of five self-governing nations of equal status 
 within one Empire, concerning their common interests, and 
 at which for the first time foreign relations and defence were 
 the most important subjects upon the agenda paper. 
 
 It was already obvious long before the Conference met 
 in 1911 that existing arrangements under which the Colonies 
 were allowed complete local autonomy, while Imperial afi"airs 
 were entirely under the control of the British Government, 
 could not much longer endure, and that as the daughter States 
 increased in population, trade, and importance they neces- 
 sarily became more and more likely to be immediately affected 
 by and concerned with British foreign policy. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain at the Conference of 1897 said, " It is not 
 necessary for me to argue on the advantages of closer union 
 between England and the Dominions. Strong as is the basis of
 
 THE COLONIES 153 
 
 sentiment, we all feel that it would be desirable to still further 
 tighten the tie which binds us together. The idea of federation 
 is in the air." Little, however, was then done to strengthen 
 what Mr. Chamberlain described as the principle of " mutual 
 support " and to develop a " truly Imperial patriotism." 
 
 At the Conference of 1902 Mr. Chamberlain did not hesitate 
 to say " that in his opinion the political federation of the 
 Empire was within the bounds of possibility." He specially 
 dwelt on the increase of armaments amongst foreign nations, 
 and in further considering the Imperial system of defence he 
 promised a voice in Imperial affairs as a return for an 
 Imperial subvention. It was then resolved that a quadrennial 
 Conference should be held, and all the Premiers, except 
 Sir Wilfrid Laurier, accepted the principle of contributions to 
 the cost of the British Navy, in recognition of which a 
 resolution was passed to the effect that so far as possible the 
 views of the Colonies should be obtained in negotiating treaties 
 with foreign Powers. 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain, however, after his visit to South Africa 
 was less hopeful of the early political federation of the 
 Empire, and looked rather to commercial union as the 
 immediate goal. The Conference of 1907 accordingly resolved 
 that quadrennial meetings should be known as Imperial 
 Conferences, and that at such meetings questions of common 
 interest should be discussed and considered as between 
 the British Government and the administrations of the 
 self-governing Dominions beyond the seas. This substituted 
 a basis of Imperial co-operation for one of Imperial Union, 
 and the principle of contribution to the British Navy was 
 abandoned in favour of a policy of construction of Colonial 
 fleets. Questions of foreign policy and defence were not 
 discussed at that Conference, an omission partly due no 
 doubt to the attitude of the then newly elected Liberal 
 majority which supported Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. 
 
 Impeeial Co-operation. 
 
 Before the meeting of the Conference of 1911 the confes- 
 sions of Mr. Asquith's Government as to the, till then
 
 154 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 unappreciated, advance of Germany towards a position of 
 equality with this country at sea augmented the importance 
 of the meeting and emphasised the necessity for the co- 
 operation of the Dominions in defence and in foreign 
 poHcy. 
 
 Canada then agreed to create a navy of five armoured 
 cruisers and six destroyers, and Australia of one Dreadnought 
 cruiser, three armoured cruisers, and six destroyers. New 
 Zealand agreed to contribute at once one Dreadnought cruiser 
 for service in New Zealand and Chinese waters and an 
 annual grant of £100,000. The new navies were to be 
 under the control of their own Governments, but Sir "Wilfrid 
 Laurier alone declared " that it was not advisable for Canada 
 to mix in the armaments of the Empire, but that it should be 
 left to the Canadian Parliament, Government, and people to 
 take part in wars in which they have no voice only if they 
 thought fit to do so."" 
 
 A special significance attached to this declaration as at that 
 time not only had the German scare supervened, but 
 Canada had negotiated with Japan upon Japanese immigration 
 through the British Ambassador at Tokio, as she has since 
 with America with the help of our representative at Washing- 
 ton, and South Africa has made a treaty with Portugal 
 regarding Delagoa Bay. 
 
 It does not appear that the subsidiary Conference of 1909 
 appreciated the fact that in determining the manner in which 
 the Colonies could best participate in Imperial defence, it was 
 practically superseding the old idea of Imperial Union by a 
 new policy of Imperial co-operation, fraught with tremendous 
 issues. Sir W. Laurier's contention that Canada should take 
 no part in the drafting of treaties lest such participation 
 should imply responsibility for, and obligation of sharing 
 in, any resulting war, was repudiated by the most important 
 organs, even of the Liberal Canadian Press. The Winnipeg 
 Free Press wrote : " When Great Britain is at war the whole 
 Empire is at war, therefore the overseas Dominions, not less 
 than the Motherland, are open to attack. In actual practice 
 * Canadian Parliament, November 29, 1910.
 
 THE COLONIES 155 
 
 the Dominions would be involved only in the event of a war 
 with a first-class Power, but technically they arc engaged in 
 hostilities in every little war that breaks out on the far-flung 
 boundaries of the Empire."'" 
 
 The Toronto Globe declared that, " In defence of the 
 Empire there is no doubt what would be Canada's attitude. 
 Every man, every dollar would be sent to the aid of the 
 Motherland were she hard pressed." t 
 
 Since Canadian Liberals take this line, and since there 
 is not much doubt that Canadian Conservatives hold, at 
 least as strongly, identical opinions, it may be hoped that 
 before long a general agreement will be reached to the effect 
 that when England is at war the Empire is at war. It is 
 pretty clear that the navies of the Dominions cannot be 
 allowed a free hand without bringing the Imperial structure 
 to the ground. Unity in defence is no longer in sight, and 
 identical foreign policy seems likely to vanish from the 
 political horizon if the Canadian Premier's disastrous lead finds 
 any general following. 
 
 As Mr. Jebb has urged, " there is a strong particularist 
 tendency of national feeling in all daughter States," I but this 
 need not necessarily be antagonistic to Imperial co-opera- 
 tion, nor can any daughter State have isolated diplomatic 
 relations with foreign Powers unless she has an army and navy 
 of strength something like equal to that of the armaments of 
 the other contracting party behind her own diplomacy. 
 
 Imperial Council of State, 
 
 The first proposal which came before the Conference of 1911 
 was that of New Zealand, which set out that the present stage 
 of Imperial development rendered it expedient that there 
 should be an Imperial Council of State — with representatives 
 from all the self-governing portions of the Empire — in theory 
 and in fact, advisory to the Imperial Government on all 
 questions affecting the interests of His Majesty's dominions 
 overseas. This, however, was withdrawn, after failing to 
 
 » June 8, 1911. f June 7, 1911. 
 
 1 " Studies in Colonial Nationalism."
 
 156 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 meet with the approval of the representatives of other 
 Dominions. 
 
 Standing Committee of Imperial Conference. 
 
 Other proposals, also made by the Prime Minister of New 
 Zealand, regarding the reconstitution of the Colonial Office 
 were met by alternative suggestions put forward on behalf 
 of the Imperial Government. The latter involved the creation 
 of a new committee, composed of the Secretary, Under- 
 Secretary, and Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, and of the High Commissioners or other repre- 
 sentatives appointed by the Governments concerned. Neither 
 the New Zealand nor the Colonial Office proposals were 
 carried. 
 
 Prom time to time during the Conference of 1911 the Prime 
 Ministers of the overseas Dominions met on the Imperial 
 Defence Committee, but their proceedings were considered to 
 be confidential in character and were not published. It was, 
 however, regarded as highly satisfactory that these statesmen 
 were admitted frankly to the innermost circle of the British 
 Government, as had indeed been promised by the Colonial 
 Secretary when a valuable resolution moved by Mr. Walter 
 Guinness was adopted in the House of Commons on April 19, 
 1911, to the effect that "this House is of opinion that 
 discussions on the international situation should be added to 
 the programme of the Imperial Conference." * 
 
 Hon. Walter Guinness's Resolution. 
 
 In this debate an Imperial Advisory Council was advocated 
 as well as a proposal to sever the administration of the 
 Dominions from the Colonial Office, and to create a separate 
 Minister for Imperial affairs. It was urged that the States of 
 the Empire had outgrown the condition in which they were 
 content to leave the control of their foreign affairs entirely to 
 the home Government, since they had now decided to construct 
 fleets for themselves. The Declaration of London was in- 
 stanced as a case, which, like the New Hebrides Convention, 
 * Parliamentary Debates, April 19, 1911.
 
 THE COLONIES 157 
 
 should have been, and was not, brought before the Govern- 
 ments of the Dominions and Colonies, and in ignorance of the 
 forthcoming renewal stress was laid upon the urgent necessity 
 for arriving at some common understanding before the termina- 
 tion in 1915 of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 
 
 Que object of Mr. Guinness's motion was to ensure that the 
 Prime Minister and the Foreign, as well as the Colonial, 
 Secretary should be present at the sessions of the Conference, 
 and that the inter-dependence of naval defence and of responsi- 
 bility for foreign affairs should be fully admitted. Able speeches 
 were delivered upon the great question whether in the future 
 the wars of the United Kingdom would necessarily be those of 
 the whole Empire, and weighty opinions were expressed to the 
 effect that only at an Imperial Conference could any progress 
 be made towards a solution of the difficult and menacing 
 problem of Asiatic immigration. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that their own participation 
 in the deliberations of the Imperial Defence Committee was 
 warmly welcomed by the Dominion Premiers and will prove to 
 be a new departure of happy augury. A singular feature of the 
 conference was an entertainment at the Eighty Club, at which 
 Mr. Lloyd George expressed Imperial sympathies, and at 
 which Mr. Fisher, the Prime Minister of Australia, who had 
 commended himself to public opinion in this country by his 
 early and complete repudiation of the anti-military agitator of 
 the type of Mr. Keir Hardie, made a somewhat cold rejoinder 
 to Mr. George's lead regarding "the necessity under which the 
 Old Country feels itself of banishing those social evils which 
 undermine its lustre and strength." Mr. George during the war 
 in South Africa had, of course, himself occupied a somewhat 
 similar position to that of Mr. Keir Hardie, and Mr. Fisher 
 seemed anxious above all things to dissociate himself from any 
 peace-and-ploughshare policy which was, or might be described 
 as, wanting in proper patriotic spirit. 
 
 Declaration op London. 
 The discussion upon the Declaration of London showed that 
 the Colonies regarded this instrument with, to say the least.
 
 158 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 very moderate satisfaction, but the Conference decided to 
 support its ratification* upon the understanding that on all 
 future occasions of the hke character the Dominions would be 
 consulted before any Hague Conference was held from which 
 any such agreement might result. The Australian Common- 
 wealth, however, was no party to the resolution, and telegraphic 
 advices from the Commonwealth, commenting on the attitude 
 of the Australian Prime Minister, indicated that a strong feeling 
 prevailed in well-informed circles to the effect that the Declara- 
 tion was unfavourable to Australian interests. 
 
 Sir "Wilfrid Laurier, on this occasion also, took a line, after- 
 wards more or less abandoned, which would be fatal to any 
 permanent connection between Canada and the Mother Country. 
 It is difficult to understand his attitude. Either Canada is or 
 is not part of the British Empire. The accepted position 
 recognises her as a member, and it would cost her infinitely 
 more to maintain by her own armaments that security which 
 she now possesses by virtue of her partnership. Under Great 
 Britain, or some powerful nation, so far as can be foreseen, her 
 destinies must be accomplished. 
 
 Labour Exchanges. 
 
 It was probably in deference to the British Labour Party that 
 a resolution, which had subsequently to be withdrawn, was 
 moved for the extension of the system of Labour Exchanges 
 upon an Imperial basis between the Mother Country and the 
 Colonies. This, as might have been expected, met with general 
 condemnation from practical statesmen. 
 
 Resolutions were passed in favour of greater uniformity 
 throughout the Empire in laws relating to copyright, trade marks, 
 and companies, but a motion by Mr. Fisher, the Premier of a 
 Labour Government, be it remembered, urging the support of 
 British manufactured goods and British shipping, proved 
 abortive. 
 
 Intbechange of Civil Servants. 
 
 The Government proposal, to which reference has been made, 
 to establish a Standing Committee of the Conference, containing 
 
 * See p. 22.
 
 THE COLONIES 159 
 
 the High Commissioners as well as representatives of the 
 home Government, not meeting with sufficient support, and the 
 resolution of the Government of New Zealand dealing with the 
 reconstitution of the Colonial Office having been withdrawn, a 
 resolution was passed at the instance of New Zealand in favour 
 of an interchange of selected officials of the respective Civil 
 Services of the Imperial Government and the Dominions, with a 
 view to the acquirement of better knowledge by both services 
 in regard to questions of common interest. 
 
 LoED Elgin's Secretariat. 
 
 Upon the whole, the discussion upon reorganisation in 1911 
 showed the wisdom of Lord Elgin's scheme of 1907, the 
 adoption of which did not involve any interference with the 
 responsibility or the organisation of the Colonial Office. 
 Lord Elgin's Secretariat has done most useful work, and 
 the Conference was not able to improve upon the arrange- 
 ments made in this behalf in 1907. The difficulty of creating 
 satisfactory machinery for carrying on the work and influence 
 of the Conference between the meetings hinges upon the 
 necessity for - maintaining the responsibility of the Ministers 
 concerned to the various Parliaments. It was this objection 
 which led to the rejection of the scheme for the creation 
 of an Advisory Body, Australia possesses a Department of 
 External Afl"airs and a Department of Defence, the Ministers 
 of both of which were present at the Conference of 1911. 
 Canada has only recently, and South Africa and New 
 Zealand have not yet, created a department of the like nature. 
 In Canada Defence is divided between the Ministers of Marine 
 and Militia, in South Africa it has a share in a Minister, and in 
 New Zealand this portfolio is, with several others, in the hands 
 of the Prime Minister. It is clear, therefore, that some change 
 in the direction of co-ordination is required in the Dominions 
 as well as in the Colonial Office. 
 
 Secretarial and Ministerial Proposals. 
 
 There must at any rate be a further development of inter- 
 course between the Ministers concerned at home and abroad,
 
 160 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 and the appointment of a whole-time Minister for the 
 Dominions in the British Government is a reform already 
 well in sight. 
 
 It might well be urged " that in future the Colonial Ministers 
 of Defence should be made members of the Imperial Com- 
 mittee of Defence, and that each Government should create a 
 Ministry for External Affairs whose functions would correspond 
 with those of a British Minister deputed to control the existing 
 work of the Dominions Department of the Colonial Office, and 
 that work alone." 
 
 These excellent suggestions were made by the able writer 
 who deals with this subject in The Times* 
 
 Natukalisation. 
 
 Upon the not unimportant subject of naturalisation the 
 Conference decided to re-draft the Bill prepared in 1907 upon 
 the principles that the five years period now required for 
 naturalisation in Britain might be spent anywhere within the 
 Empire, and that nothing in the Bill should affect the validity 
 of local immigration laws. This question had given rise to 
 considerable difficulty in 1907 on account of the attitude of 
 South Africa and Australia towards coloured immigrants. It 
 was obvious that those Dominions which object to such 
 immigrants were not likely to agree to receive non -Europeans 
 as citizens by virtue of naturalisation, effected in parts of the 
 Empire which do not object to coloured immigration. At present 
 the period of residence required differs in different countries 
 of the Empire. The British law requires five years' residence 
 in the United Kingdom — for which, under the Bill now pro- 
 visionally accepted by the Conference, five years' residence 
 within the limits of the Empire will be substituted. Canada 
 requires three, Australia two, Newfoundland five, years' resi- 
 dence, while New Zealand exacts no definite period. Most of 
 the Dominions accept a naturalisation certificate of the United 
 Kingdom in lieu of residence, and Australia, New Zealand, 
 South Africa, and Newfoundland refuse to naturalise members 
 of certain non-European races 
 
 * Junes, 1911
 
 THE COLONIES 161 
 
 Intra-Imperial Migration. 
 
 A resolution was also passed recommending that the present 
 policy of encouraging intra-Imperial migration should be con- 
 tinued, and that full co-operation should be accorded to any 
 Dominion in want of immigrants. Mr. Burns was able to 
 show that while in 1900 only 33 per cent, of the emigrants 
 from the United Kingdom migrated to other parts of the 
 Empire, the proportion in the first few months of 1911 had 
 risen to 80 per cent. A Standing Committee appointed in 1910 
 by the Royal Colonial Institute, under the chairmanship of the 
 Duke of Marlborough, to report upon measures for the better 
 organisation and control of emigration from the United King- 
 dom to the Dominions, reported in the following year. 
 
 In its report the Committee pointed out that " the tide of 
 satisfactory emigrants from North-Western Europe appears to 
 be ebbing and a less eligible class is presenting itself from the 
 East and South." "While, however, it is becoming more and 
 more necessary for the Dominions to attract eligible settlers 
 from the British Isles, a difficulty is created by the desire in 
 the Dominions only for a class of emigrant which the United 
 Kingdom is unwilling to lose. The Committee holds that a via 
 media satisfactory to both sides can nevertheless be found, 
 since in its opinion " there are many people who are unem- 
 ployed or under-employed and have no prospects in this 
 country, yet who would, and who in practice do, prove admir- 
 able colonists, on the land or in the towns, if they can be 
 transferred to suitable employment in the Dominions before a 
 long period of idleness has undermined their self-reliance and 
 weakened their habits of industry." 
 
 The Committee considered that an oflBcial committee should 
 be constituted to represent the existing voluntary emigration 
 societies and harmonise conflicting interests, and thought such 
 a committee might be developed out of the existing Emigrants' 
 Information Office and might include representatives of the 
 Dominion Governments. The functions suggested for it are 
 as follows : — 
 
 (a) To advise on all general questions of policy affecting emigration. 
 
 (b) To co-ordinate the emigration societies of the United Kingdom. 
 
 12
 
 162 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 (c) To collect and disseminate the information now dealt with by the 
 Emigrants' Information Office. 
 
 (d) To deal with labour exchanges, boards of guardians, county 
 councils, distress committees, the Central Unemployed Body, and other 
 bodies on all matters connected with emigration. 
 
 (e) To deal with High Commissioners, Agents-General, and agencies in 
 the Overseas Dominions in regard to questions of emigration. 
 
 Indun Iumiqbation. 
 
 As regards the vexed question of the immigration of natives 
 of India into the territory of the South African Union, the 
 only possible attitude for the Imperial Government to take 
 was to recognise the right of a self-governing community to 
 choose the elements of which it should be constituted. The 
 Home Government, therefore, in no way pressed the Govern- 
 ment of the Union to admit a class of immigrants, which the 
 people of South Africa was determined to exclude. They only 
 asked that the exclusion should be effected in such a manner 
 as not to humiliate the natives of India concerned. The 
 attitude of the South African Colonies is in no way singular, 
 for the influx of coloured persons into Australia is successfully 
 prevented by legislation, which, without drawing distinctions 
 on the ground of race and colour, sufficiently safeguards the 
 inhabitants of the Commonwealth. Coloured persons are not 
 excluded by any colour bar, but by the action of the immigra- 
 tion officers. The British Indians have, however, a special, as 
 well as a general, claim upon the English in South Africa, for 
 during the Boer War great services were rendered in Natal 
 by the Indian community, which behaved in so unselfish, 
 courageous, and public-spirited a manner that it might well 
 be urged that they were ill requited by the local Governments 
 when peace was restored. On the other hand it must be 
 admitted that natives of India completely undersell natives of 
 Europe whenever they come into competition with them, and 
 that the solicitude of the Union and local Governments in 
 South Africa for the interests of their white subjects was not 
 only excusable but absolutely necessary and correct. 
 
 It is not only in South Africa that acute difficulties in regard
 
 THE COLONIES 163 
 
 to immigration arise. Such have been experienced in Canada, 
 which its inhabitants are determined shall remain a white 
 man's country, not only for social and economic reasons, but 
 on national and political grounds. Canada claims that British 
 alliances or British obligations shall not lead to any restric- 
 tions on the right of the Dominion to legislate as regards 
 immigration. The competition of Indian labour, if it was 
 largely increased, would occasion general unrest amongst the 
 white working men, whose standard of living is higher than 
 that of Asiatics, and who as citizens have obligations to fulfil 
 and expenditure to meet, in fact, a general status to maintain, 
 with which the Indian coolie has no concern. 
 
 As emigration to Canada under an agreement to labour is 
 not lawful under the Indian Emigration Act of 1883, unless 
 Canada provides such laws as the Indian Government thinks 
 sufficient to protect immigrants, it is within the power of 
 either the Indian or Canadian Governments to stop this move- 
 ment, and the Dominion Government has accordingly passed an 
 Order in Council prohibiting the landing in the Dominion of 
 immigrants who come to Canada in violation of the laws of 
 their own country, and rendering them liable to deportation. 
 So far as contract labour, the most dreaded class, is concerned, 
 this remedy is complete, and in respect of other immigrants, 
 the regulation of the Canadian Government requiring a con- 
 tinuous passage upon through tickets from the country to 
 which such immigrants belong, and the possession of a mini- 
 mum sum of $25, should prove an effectual bar. There is 
 not, of course, and never has been, any indentured emigration 
 from India to Canada. The people of India, it is said, will 
 resent Canada's action. "What people ? What castes and 
 sections of which people inhabiting which regions in a vast 
 continent, the home of numerous races without cohesion, 
 fellow-feeling, or common sentiment ? The Bengali Press and 
 the Indian Press elsewhere controlled by Bengali Babus and 
 Poena Brahmins, will tell a different tale, but Asiatics do not 
 sympathise with brother Asiatics as Europeans, often in a 
 most ineffectual manner, do sympathise with brother 
 Europeans. Mr. Meredith Townsend with perfect truth wrote
 
 164 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 in his remarkable work, " Asia and Europe" : " Sympathy has 
 yet to be born in Asia. Asiatics lack that side of the 
 imagination which we call ympathy, which has become so 
 dominant among ourselves, that we are apt to forget how 
 comparatively recent its development has been." It has 
 indeed become dominant among ourselves to such an extent 
 that we are in danger of forgetting that in India itself, as well 
 as without its wide limits, an Imperial governing people must 
 continue to practise an Imperial impartiality, for sympathy 
 with one race, caste, class, sect, or religion provokes antipathy 
 against another, while sympathy is ever in danger of degenera- 
 tion into tawdry and mischievous sentiment, and lends itself 
 with fatal facility to prostitution as a party pawn and foul 
 play as an agitator's counter. 
 
 It must also be recognised that Indians coming from 
 tropical climates possess manners and customs so unlike those 
 of the Canadians that they must necessarily suffer privations 
 such as render a discontinuance of such immigration most 
 desirable in their own interests, and that the emigration 
 of Indians to Canada was due to highly coloured pictures of 
 Canadian prosperity circulated broadcast in certain parts of 
 India in the interests of steamship companies and sundry 
 industrial concerns, which desired to obtain unskilled labour 
 at wages below the current rates. Steps have now been taken 
 to counteract these inducements, and immigrants who come 
 otherwise than by a continuous journey from their own country 
 are, as above stated, not permitted to land in Canada. 
 
 It is not, however, only, or chiefly, a question of Indian 
 immigration. As the result of a careful inquiry the Com- 
 missioner appointed by the Canadian Government reported 
 that unless measures were adopted sufiQciently effective to 
 prohibit absolutely all immigration from Hawaii, and the 
 importation of contract labour from Japan, there were strong 
 grounds for believing that the number of Japanes likely to 
 enter Canada would become excessive, and that a traffic in 
 Japanese labour would be developed such as had never been 
 equalled in the importation of any class of coolie labour ever 
 brought to the Canadian shores.
 
 THE COLONIES 165 
 
 Mr, Mackenzie-King thought that an immediate considera- 
 tion of the subject was desirable, not only in the interests of 
 British Columbia, but of the whole Dominion, and that any 
 effective solution demanded the prohibition of such Japanese 
 immigration as might come from countries beyond Japanese 
 jurisdiction, and an absolute restriction of the numbers coming 
 directly from that country. Japanese emigration into Hawaii 
 has, however, fallen largely in 1909 and 1910, and the island 
 Empire wants all her spare population, and more, to settle in 
 and develop, Formosa, Korea, and Manchuria. 
 
 There is good reason to believe that the South African 
 Indian immigration question has been used as an agitator's 
 counter in India, and it is, of course, from this point of 
 view, and still more in view of the necessity for deahng 
 generously with British Indians, most desirable that humili- 
 ating and restrictive legislation should, as far as possible, 
 be avoided. 
 
 Eepeal, however, of the Asiatic Law Amendment Act, 1907, 
 implies not only the discontinuance of the methods of identi- 
 fication by finger-prints, but the surrender by the Transvaal 
 of certain powers of exclusion, which the whole white com- 
 munity has determined that the Government shall retain and 
 exercise. 
 
 The Asiatic Eegistration Amendment Law of 1908 allowed 
 signatures to be taken only in the case of educated property 
 possessors and well-known Asiatics, and finger-prints in other 
 cases, and also prescribed that no regulation should be 
 enforced to which the Asiatics had religious objections. The 
 objectionable part of the Asiatic Law Amendment Act was 
 cancelled, but Indians still remain subject to its provisions, 
 and do not come under the Immigrants Restriction Act, which 
 provides in the case of healthy, sane, and satisfactory 
 immigrants a dictation test only, in some European language. 
 
 Lord Sanderson's Committee. 
 
 A Committee appointed in March, 1909, to report on Indian 
 emigration to the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, of which
 
 166 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Lord Sanderson was Chairman, fully considered this general 
 question and reported* : — 
 
 (1) That subject to certain recommendations in regard to individual 
 colonies, the system of indentured immigiration as actually worked is not 
 open to serious objection in the interests of the immigrant labourer. 
 
 (2) That Indian immigration is of the greatest assistance in developing 
 the resources of soma of our tropical colonies, and in increasing their 
 prosperity. 
 
 (3) That in the present condition of India, indentured emigration is 
 the only practicabla form of emigration to distant colonies on any 
 considerable scale. 
 
 Lord Sanderson's Committee had no concern, of course, with 
 self-governing Dominions and in no way helped to a solution 
 of the difficulties in South Africa. 
 
 It was urged on behalf of the Indians in the Transvaal that 
 a system of identification by finger-prints is degrading, 
 although such a system is enforced without the slightest 
 objection in every registry office in Bengal, besides being used 
 in many parts of India in commercial transactions. It was, 
 moreover, adopted by the Indian Government in 1899 as an 
 efficient method of preventing perjury and personation, and is 
 a system against which no objection can be raised on the 
 grounds of religion, caste, sex, or rank in society. An excellent 
 authority has also given as a good reason for its introduction 
 the fact that " there was no prejudice to be overcome in obtain- 
 ing the fiager-prints required."} At present, moreover, such 
 test is in practice only exacted from uneducated Indians who 
 have no formed handwriting. | The fact is that under existing 
 conditions in British India the unrestful English-educated 
 malcontents are on the look-out for any grievance, and take 
 any opportunity like this which offers for attacking the 
 Government. 
 
 The Asiatics in the Transvaal themselves have accepted the 
 position that further immigration of their fellow-countrymen 
 should be stringently restricted, but it is not unnatural that 
 
 » Cd. 5192. 
 
 t " The Classification and Uses of Finger Prints," by Sir Edward Henry. 
 
 J Cd. 5679, 1911. Union of South Africa : Bill to regulate immigration.
 
 THE COLONIES 167 
 
 domiciled Indians who have left the Ti-ansvaal have returned 
 to India with feelings of resentment at the treatment they 
 experienced at the hands of their European fellow-subjects. 
 Such resentment is not without some justification, of which 
 the disloyal elements in the Indian population are swift to 
 make use. The Asiatic Law Amendment Act, which was based 
 upon the assumption that there was a considerable illicit 
 immigration into the Transvaal, has been replaced by a new 
 Validation Act, to which Asiatics take no great exception. It 
 was, in fact, a sentimental grievance, which Asiatics ventilated 
 against a law which had already become practically inoperative. 
 There was more point, however, in their request that the right 
 of educated Indians to enter the Transvaal, unrestricted by 
 general immigration law, should be recognised. 
 
 It is evident that no step more fatal to the Empire can be 
 taken than to attempt to force on colonists a code of conduct, 
 such as could never be made applicable to inhabitants of Great 
 Britain, in regard to their relations with the inhabitants of 
 other non-European countries, whether or not such are fellow- 
 subjects of the Crown. 
 
 Behind the trivial points at issue in the dispute in the 
 Transvaal lies the tremendous question of the relations 
 between Europeans atid Asiatics, in which the self-governing 
 colonies are most interested, and which must settle such 
 questions for themselves. 
 
 Keen sympathisers with Indians in the Transvaal should 
 not, however, be blind to the fact that it is gross hypocrisy for 
 England to denounce a colony for taking in the face of com- 
 petition on the part of Asiatics, precisely that action which 
 the British Government, by itself, or under pressure from the 
 Labour Party, would at once take in the same circumstances 
 in Britain, nor do the Native Indian Governments at all 
 observe the principle that all British subjects should have 
 equal treatment under all Governments in the British Empire, 
 for Europeans are excluded by a colour bar from settling 
 within the limits of several of the Native States in India, and 
 in other cases they can only do so with the express permission 
 of the Government. It is also somewhat inconsistent that
 
 168 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 this theory should be advanced from India at a time when 
 Babus of Bengal and Brahmins of the Deccan, who claim to 
 be representative of the peoples of India, are urging the 
 expulsion of the English from that country, and indeed have 
 organised a spirited campaign, after the Russian Nihilist 
 model, for the assassination of the British officials. The fact 
 is that no colony is likely to relinquish what Lord de Villiers, 
 Chief Justice of the Cape, described "as one of the most 
 precious privileges of any community, that of deciding for 
 themselves of what material the future nation shall be built." 
 Least of all will the colonists in the South African Union 
 relinquish this privilege when they have before their eyes the 
 case of Natal, which, having, in haste to obtain labour, accepted 
 the condition of the Indian Government that imported 
 Asiatics should be allowed to settle in the Colony, now 
 possesses a population in which the Asiatics number thirteen 
 to every ten Europeans. In Natal the former have replaced 
 the European artisans, cultivators, and tradesmen, and have 
 invaded the professions and the highest walks of commercial 
 life. Sir Arthur Lawley, Lord Milner, and Lord Selborne 
 have pointed out * that unless white society is allowed to 
 legislate for its own protection, the conditions of South Africa 
 will be assimilated to those of India, and she will not be able 
 to maintain control if the natives rise, or to protect her own 
 shores, without a paid army imported from Europe. 
 
 The theory that all subjects of British Imperial rule 
 are entitled to equal treatment in every part of the Empire 
 must break down wherever it is exposed to a working test. 
 Carry this theory to its logical conclusion, and it will be 
 necessary to reserve the tropical possessions of Great Britain 
 for the Indian, and the temperate zones for the European, 
 colonists, and any attempt to coerce the self-governing colonies 
 in this behalf can only result in their ceasing to be integral 
 parts of the Empire. 
 
 Another aspect of the case which arises is that the spectacle 
 of British-Indian subjects combining together to break the law 
 is not very improving for the masses of our native African 
 • Cd. 2239 of 1904, p. 28 ; Cd. 3308 of 1904, p. 2.
 
 THE COLONIES 169 
 
 subjects, and may indeed well prove pesshni exempli, nor can 
 the British Government, with any consistency, urge that action 
 should be taken by a self-governing colony which it did nob 
 itself take when the territory of such colony was actually 
 administered by itself as a Crown Colony. 
 
 The whole subject is one eminently worthy of attention 
 from the Imperial Conference, at which, however, no more than 
 a resolution was carried calling for greater uniformity in 
 Imperial legislation on the subject. 
 
 No claim of the natives of our colonies and foreign 
 possessions to share with white citizens the obhgations of 
 citizenship, and the corresponding social and political rights 
 and privileges, will colonials concede, and any attempt to 
 force upon them any such system can only result in the 
 transference of territory now directly or indirectly under our 
 rule to that of some more virile and sensible community. Nor 
 is such a community wanting, or unwilling to take over so 
 great and glorious a charge. 
 
 The difficulties of the situation, far from diminishing, are 
 only likely, as time passes, to increase. For instance, although 
 the great need by common consent of Australia is po ulation, 
 the Labour Party now in power in the Commonwealth use all 
 their influence and power to prevent immigration, and appeals 
 addressed to them on the score of the need for the develop- 
 ment of the dreary solitudes of a vast unpeopled continent 
 are made in vain. 
 
 At the present moment a Bill * is before the Union Parlia- 
 ment of South Africa for the Kepeal of the Asiatic Eegistration 
 Act, for the removal from the text of the Immigration Act of 
 1907 of any differential bar to the entrance of Asiatics as such, 
 for the substitution of an education test on the Australian 
 principle, and for providing by regulation for the entrance 
 each year of a limited number of educated Indians. It is, 
 however, as the Prime Minister, General Botha, hinted in 
 a dispatch to the Colonial Office, only too probable that this 
 settlement will not be accepted as final by all the parties 
 
 * Cd. 5579. Union of South Africa : Bill to Regulate Immigration 
 into.
 
 170 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 concerned, but will become a fresh starting-point for another 
 agitation for new demands in the future on the part of agita- 
 tors in India, who work upon their fellow-countrymen in South 
 Africa, at least in part to serve their own ends. 
 
 Immediately before the Imperial Conference met in London 
 in 1911 General Botha announced that a provisional settle- 
 ment had been reached in regard to the question of Asiatics 
 in the Transvaal upon lines approved by the Imperial and 
 Union Governments, and that the passive resistance move- 
 ment had been abandoned. In addition to those, to which 
 reference has already been made, the following further con- 
 cessions have been allowed to the Indians by the Union 
 Government. 
 
 (1) Asiatics in South Africa, who have not applied to be registered in 
 consequence of the passive resistance movement, are permitted to make 
 application within six months. 
 
 (2) Thirty Asiatics now in India, who were deported under the Acts of 
 1907 and 1908, or who left in consequence of the passive resistance move- 
 ment, and who otherwise would be entitled to registration, can return 
 and apply within six months. 
 
 (3) Six educated Indians will be admitted annually free from registra- 
 tion. For the present year ten Indians now in the Transvaal may 
 remain under temporary permits as special cases pending fresh legisla- 
 tion. 
 
 (4) Well-educated and well-known Asiatics are exempted from thumb- 
 prints when making application. 
 
 General Botha expressed his great satisfaction at the 
 settlement, and said that this difficult problem had been 
 solved at the right moment, that the Indians should realise 
 that in framing these regulations great difficulty was experi- 
 enced in obtaining the concessions made, and that he hoped 
 that Indians both in South Africa and in India would 
 understand this and play their part, fully assured that the 
 Transvaal Government was actuated by no feelings of 
 hostility against them. 
 
 Socialist Labour Party. 
 
 The general policy of the Socialist Labour Party in Parlia- 
 ment is t3 support the native inhabitants of any British
 
 THE COLONIES 171 
 
 possession against the claims of the European settlsrs in such 
 colonies and dependencies. It is singular that those who are 
 specially elected for the protection of British labour in Great 
 Britain should object to any protection whatever being given 
 to their fellow-countrymen in partibus. Such, however, is 
 invariably the case ; and although the Government of Sir 
 Henry Gampbell-Bannerman is entitled to the credit of having 
 exercised courage and forethought in the settlement of South 
 Africa, the Boers, in that region for whom his administration 
 always professed affection and admiration, by no means carry 
 out a pro-native policy, neither can such a policy stand the 
 t st of competition between British and native labour in South 
 Africa, or any other part of the world. 
 
 So strongly does the Labour Party take the pro-native line, 
 that the Under-Secretary of State, Colonel Seely, behaved 
 with exemplary courage in denying in Parliament " that in 
 respect of humane treatment of the natives in South Africa 
 we have a monopoly of morality in this House." ''' 
 
 This attitude is, moreover, by no means confined to the 
 Labour, but characterises a large and influential section of 
 the Kadical Party, which contained at least one eminent 
 parliamentarian, the late Sir Charles Dilke. Even in his 
 case sympathy with the native seemed invariably to connote 
 distrust of the Em'opean, and in the case of lesser lights of 
 the like mind this prejudice against the white man is a 
 strong and constant feature. 
 
 Cables. 
 
 Turning to other matters which engaged the attention of 
 the Imperial Conference, the cable question, of course, again 
 came under consideration. Australia favours the nationalisa- 
 tion of the Atlantic cable so as to ensure a State-controlled 
 system from Great Britain across Canada to Australasia, a 
 proposal with which New Zealand is in substantial accord. 
 Indeed, a State-owned Atlantic cable is a logical corollary of 
 the action of the Mother Country, Canada, AustraHa, and 
 New Zealand in providing a Pacific cable from Vancouver 
 • Parliamentary Debates, 1909, vol. 9, p. 1598.
 
 172 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 via Fanning Island to New Zealand and Australia. From 
 this has resulted a reduction of the ordinary rates between 
 Great Britain and Australia to 3s., and for the press to 9d., 
 a word. A further reduction in the Atlantic charges is long 
 overdue, but as the traflBc between the United Kingdom and 
 Canada is only a fraction of that between the United Kingdom 
 and North America, and the lower rate granted in the one, 
 would necessarily be applicable to the other, case, it has been 
 proposed to establish a State-owned line from Scotland via 
 the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and the coast of 
 Labrador. Of course this route is not " All Red," but the 
 exceptions, Iceland and Greenland, are Danish territory. 
 Nevertheless, resolutions advocating a State-owned Atlantic 
 cable were withdrawn at the Conference, after a motion in 
 general terms in favour of a cheaper rate was carried. No 
 doubt the reason for withdrawal was that the Postmaster- 
 General, Mr. Samuel, stated that negotiations were in progress 
 with the private cable companies, but the reductions suggested 
 were so large as to create doubt as to their success.* A 
 resolution was passed to the effect that if they proved unsuc- 
 cessful, a subsidiary Conference should be held to reconsider 
 the subject of a State-owned cable. 
 
 " All Red " Route. 
 
 Resolutions were passed in favour of an " All Red " mail 
 route from Great Britain to Canada, Australia, and New 
 Zealand, and of Imperial co-operation in commercial relations. 
 To this Sir Wilfrid Laurier carried as an addition the appoint- 
 ment of a Royal Commission representing the United Kingdom 
 and the Dominions to investigate and report on the whole 
 subject, including the question to what extent, if any, trade 
 between each of the different parts of the Empire has been 
 affected by the existing legislation in each part, and by what 
 
 * Mr. Samuel announced on December 27, 1911, that after January 1, 
 1912, plain language telegrams for Australasia, Canada, India, South 
 Africa and other British Oversea Dominions, and the United States wiU 
 be accepted at half the ordinary rates, on condition that they may, if 
 necessary, be deferred for 21 hours in favour of full rate traffic.
 
 THE COLONIES 173 
 
 methods, consistent with the existing fiscal policy of each part, 
 the trade of each part with the others may be improved and 
 extended. 
 
 Treaties. 
 
 A very important resolution was moved by the same 
 statesman, and carried with the approval of the other four 
 Premiers and the Foreign Secretary, whereby the British 
 Government was asked to open negotiations with foreign 
 Governments having commercial treaties with us which apply 
 to the Dominions, in view to securing liberty for any 
 Dominions which may so desire to withdraw from the opera- 
 tion of the treaty without impairing its validity in respect 
 of the rest of the Empire. This was supported by reference 
 to the experience of the Commonwealth Government, which, 
 when it wished to give preferential treatment to British 
 products carried in British ships was prevented from so 
 doing by " the most-favoured nation " clause in certain 
 treaties. A similar difficulty arose when Canada desired to 
 give a preference to the Mother Country, and as there are in 
 existence twelve treaties containing the obnoxious clause the 
 question is one of great importance. 
 
 Tariffs. 
 
 Although the tariff question is no less important than that of 
 Imperial Defence, it has only reached its present prominence 
 with the amazing development in the last reign of the diiTerent 
 parts of the Empire. Whether or not the so-called Free Trade 
 of England can be maintained in this country, it is already 
 obvious that Imperial Union is incompatible with a policy of 
 Fi'ee Trade here and a policy of Protection in all the self- 
 governing Dominions, and in no long time a choice will have 
 to be made between free imports and Imperial Union. That 
 the subject has not been discussed at the Conference is due to 
 the fact that the party in power in Great Britain was recently 
 returned, as may be fairly contended, by an electorate inclined 
 on the whole to prefer Free Trade, though it might also with 
 reason be argued that the largest party in the State, that of the
 
 174 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Conservatives, is the Imperial Preference and Tariff Reform 
 Party. 
 
 Treaties with Belgium and Germany were denounced in 
 1898 because they established the principle that the Empire 
 consisted of separate commercial units, whose arrangements 
 with each other might be taken to constitute discrimination 
 against foreign Powers, and in 1903 the preference Canada 
 gave to Great Britain led to a tariff war between herself and 
 Germany. Canada stood stoutly by Lord Salisbury's con- 
 tention that a tariff concession given by one to another 
 part of the Empire is a matter of domestic concern, and 
 cannot properly be regarded by foreign Powers as coming 
 within the province of most-favoured nation treaties. This 
 principle, so vital to Imperial co-operation, is now pretty well 
 established, but if the Dominion Governments can carry on 
 separate commercial relations with foreign Powers, it must 
 necessarily be abandoned. It is not probable, however, that 
 Britain will be able to maintain her interpretation of the most- 
 favoured nation clause to the effect that the most favoured 
 shall receive all favours extended to any other nation. This is 
 the interpretation she adopted, with the adoption of Free 
 Trade, after which she could no longer expect favours as the 
 result of bestowing them. The principle is incompatible with 
 that of fiscal autonomy for the self-governing Dominions, has 
 not been accepted by other Powers, and is rejected, to our loss, 
 by the United States. 
 
 Income Tax. 
 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer summarily disposed of a 
 proposal put forward to abolish the duplication of taxation, and 
 particularly of income tax, by the Imperial and Colonial 
 Governments, which of course occurs also in the case of India. 
 Nevertheless there is a good deal to be said for the objections 
 which are raised to the present procedure, and there is at least 
 a colourable case of injustice, though on the other hand it may 
 be regarded as equitable that payment should be made to the 
 Government of the country in which income is made, as well as 
 to that of the eountry in which it is spent.
 
 THE COLONIES 175 
 
 SnippiNa Combinations. 
 
 The home Government also intimated that it was not 
 prepared to take any taction dealing with shipping combin- 
 ations based on the system of deferred rebates, which endows 
 a shipowner with considerable power over his customers and 
 has the effect of practically establishing a monopoly on certain 
 routes. It is true that the Royal Commission of 1906 did not 
 recommend any far-reaching reforms, but the Majority and 
 Minority Reports alike suggested certain changes upon which 
 further action could be based. There is a probability that if 
 some relief is not proposed by the Board of Trade steps will 
 be taken by the Dominions concerned to remedy grievances 
 which are felt to be alike serious and susceptible of removal. 
 
 Imperial Court of Appeal. 
 
 The Commonwealth representatives were of opinion that an 
 Imperial Court of Appeal had become a necessity. So long as 
 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the court of final 
 resort for the Colonies and Dependencies, while the House of 
 Lords occupies the same position in respect of the United 
 Kingdom, there can be no uniformity of judge-made law and 
 identity of standards, nor can the Court of Appeal, which holds 
 that position in respect of the Colonies only, satisfy the 
 requirements of an Imperial Court, Moreover, the Judicial 
 Committee does not contain representatives of the self- 
 governing Dominions from which appeals are brought possess- 
 ing the necessary local knowledge for their disposal. It^was 
 suggested that judges from each of the Dominions should serve 
 a term on the Committee, but no definite decision was reached 
 upon this or upon any other point in regard to this admittedly 
 important subject. Lord Haldane * has, however, since intro- 
 duced in the House of Lords an Appellate Jurisdietion Bill, 
 whereby it is proposed to lay the foundations of a stronger 
 single Court of Appeal for the whole Empire, which could 
 sit both as a House of Lords Court of Appeal and as a 
 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, but not, as at 
 * Parliamentary Debates (Lords), August 1, 1911.
 
 176 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 present, so as to clash one with the other, and to make the 
 provision of judges, especially for the Judicial Committee, 
 a matter of difiQculty. 
 
 Enforcement of Arbitration Awards. 
 
 A resolution was, however, carried calling for some arrange- 
 ment whereby awards under commercial arbitration given in 
 one, can be enforced in another, part of the Empire, and the 
 final^ session was marked by the passing of two resolutions 
 the importance of which will depend on the manner in which 
 they are carried out. The first was to the effect that it is 
 desirable that Ministers of the United Kingdom and the 
 Dominions shall, between Conferences, exchange reciprocal 
 visits ; '^the second that the Government shall take into 
 consideration the possibility of holding Conferences in one or 
 another of the Overseas Dominions. 
 
 Defence. 
 
 The proposal made by New Zealand in favour of an 
 Imperial Council of State to advise the Imperial Government 
 in all matters affecting the Dominions, though it was not 
 carried, met with considerable approval, because it is felt that 
 the creation of such a Council would be an important step in 
 the direction of Federation, and might foreshadow a future in 
 which the Dominions would share in the effective control of 
 the Empire, the daughter States of which have already far 
 outgrown that stage in which they were, or could be, content 
 to leave the control of their foreign relations entirely in the 
 hands of the British Government. Their present conditions 
 demand new openings for commerce and for intercourse with 
 foreign nations. Australia and New Zealand will soon have 
 a fleet of one Dreadnought, three cruisers and six destroyers, 
 while Canada is preparing to construct five cruisers for home 
 defence. It is obvious that difficulties such as arose when the 
 Imperial Government concluded the New Hebrides Con- 
 vention, without consulting the Commonwealth of Australia, 
 must recur, and may become more formidable in the future. 
 Delicate questions must arise regarding the immigration of
 
 THE COLONIES 177 
 
 Asiatics into Australia, and of Europeans into Japan, and 
 some system must be developed under which such matters 
 will receive adequate consideration, and in which the interests 
 of the Empire, and of individual Dominions will be adequately 
 and equally safeguarded. The question, baldly put, is, Are 
 the interests of the United Kingdom in the future, whether 
 immediate or remote, to be those of the Empire as a whole ? 
 
 The Dominions and Colonies no longer live outside the 
 ambit of international politics, nor now enjoy immunity from 
 international troubles and obligations, and the whole position 
 is altered by the addition of strong navies to powerful armies 
 in the case of three of the greatest Powers. It is doubtful 
 whether this country can any longer continue adequately to 
 protect her Colonies, especially as owing to the rapid increase 
 in German naval construction, almost the whole strength of 
 our fleet is now concentrated in the North Sea. 
 
 It is matter for congratulation that the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, Mr. McKenna,* described the naval arrangements 
 recently made with the Dominions as most satisfactory. 
 Eeviewing the gift of a Dreadnought cruiser by New Zealand, 
 the resolve of Australia and Canada to develop fleets of their 
 own, and of South Africa to continue to assist the British Navy 
 with an annual subvention, he announced that, where the 
 Dominions have undertaken to develop fleets of their own 
 there would be interchangeability of officers and men and 
 such common standards of training and discipline as to insure 
 in the event of war that the joint fleets would act in complete 
 union. This is an announcement of the first importance. 
 
 It is not now a matter of course that navies of the Dominions 
 will come under the Admiralty in the event of war, but the 
 Canadian Government, at the end of July, 1911, presented to 
 their Parliament a memorandum embodying a scheme of con- 
 joint naval organisation agreed upon at the recent Imperial 
 Conference.! By this it is provided that the "naval services 
 and forces of Canada and Australia will be exclusively under 
 the control of their respective Governments, that the training 
 and discipline of such forces will be generally uniform with 
 ♦ Speech at Pontypool, June 13, 1911. + Bee page 14. 
 
 13
 
 178 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the training and discipline of the British Navy," and that " in 
 time of war when the navy of a Dominion, or any part thereof, 
 has been put at the disposal of the Imperial Government, the 
 ships will form an integral part of the British fleet, and will 
 remain under the control of the British Admiralty during the 
 continuance of the war." 
 
 This memorandum is a refutation of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's 
 contention, which has also been put forward and vehemently 
 repudiated in South Africa,''' to the effect that the Dominions 
 can be independent in time of war. 
 
 It is already decided that the Prime Ministers of the Greater 
 Dominions shall not only be consulted at the periodical Imperial 
 Conference upon matters of internal moment, but that they shall 
 also attend meetings of the Committee on Imperial Defence. 
 
 Meanwhile the Greater Dominions are preparing to defend 
 themselves. Under the Australian Defence Act of 1910, 
 wherein are embodied Lord Kitchener's recommendations to 
 the Federal Government, the Commonwealth has been divided 
 into 215 military areas, each of which is under the command 
 of a Commissioner, assisted by one or two non-commissioned 
 officers. 
 
 The era of compulsory service was inaugurated in July, 1911. 
 One hundred and five thousand boys of from 14 to 18 years of 
 age have been brought under the immediate discipline of a 
 training that requires at least four whole-day and 12 half- 
 day parades and 24 night drills a year. Next year 30,000 
 youths of 18 will enter the ranks of the National Militia, and 
 in each succeeding year similar batches will follow, so that in 
 seven years the citizen army will number, allowing for wastage, 
 120,000 trained men. 
 
 The same month witnessed the inauguration of the com- 
 pulsory Naval Force, the total required enrolment being 
 3,700. There are two sections of the force, an adult, and a 
 
 • The South African Defence Bill adopts as its fundamental principle 
 the liability of every citizen to serve the State in time of need, and to 
 prepare himself by regular training in the use of arms. A system of 
 rifle associations and of compulsory cadet training is also provided, and 
 the principle of a cash contribution to the British Admiralty is maintained.
 
 THE COLONIES 179 
 
 cadet, reserve, the ages of the latter ranging from 14 to 18 
 years. 
 
 The cadet system, which was proposed for adoption in 
 England by Lord Haldane, but dropped by the Government to 
 satisfy the Socialists, has been adopted in the State schools in 
 Australia, wherein there are upwards of 50,000 well-trained 
 cadets, who are subsequently taken over by the volunteer and 
 militia organisations. 
 
 This lesson might well be learnt at home by politicians, who 
 never weary of holding up for imitation the example of Aus- 
 traha in having, under wholly different conditions from such as 
 obtain in Britain, adopted woman suffrage. 
 
 " Of two such lessons why forget 
 The nobler and the manlier one?" 
 
 In New Zealand also compulsory military training is most 
 popular, and the Socialists in a decided minority, while in the 
 Australian Commonwealth generally the purely voluntary 
 system is allowed to have broken down, so that every colonist 
 regards it as ignominious to allow the burden of his defence to 
 rest on others than himself. 
 
 This spirit, and the earnest appeal made to politicians to be 
 patriots first, are full of hopeful augury, and England, while 
 herself still unprepared for compulsory training, does not 
 hesitate to applaud, without imitating, the enterprise and 
 patriotism in this behalf of daughter States. 
 
 Australia has not yet accepted the recommendations of 
 Admiral Henderson's report, but if, as is not unlikely, she 
 does, she will embark on the construction of eight Dread- 
 noughts, 16 protected cruisers, 18 destroyers, 12 submarines, 
 and the usual complement of subsidiary ships. When she has 
 a fleet of these dimensions she must have a foreign policy, and 
 the same argument applies to the other Dominions, though 
 Great Britain can hardly be committed by the policy of the 
 daughter States on questions of war and peace. 
 
 Criticisms of Geneeal Eesults. 
 It must be reluctantly admitted that the results of this Con- 
 ference, at which so many points of Imperial importance were
 
 ]80 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 raised, have been disappointing. The Gape Times * discovered 
 no sign of advance, but rather of retrogression, in regard to both 
 closer political and commercial union, and found support for 
 this opinion in the resolution extending to Dominions liberty 
 to make independent commercial treaties with foreign countries, 
 and in the omission to deal with the Imperial Preference 
 policy which was accepted at the previous meeting. There is 
 only too much truth in the following words : " The Imperial 
 Conference is being stifled in deference to the fears of the 
 politicians, both of Great Britain and the Dominions, who are 
 afraid to open their windows to the Imperial air lest party 
 interests in a domestic sense may suffer. Some means must 
 be devised to prevent what was intended to be an Imperial 
 gathering, called to discuss Imperial questions from an Imperial 
 standpoint, from degenerating into a hollow makeshift of windy 
 pretence, where Imperial questions likely to prove troublesome 
 in local party politics are excluded by mutual agreement, and 
 suppression is commended to the Empire as a notable step 
 towards better mutual understanding." 
 
 The Johannesburg Star,\ while declining to consider the 
 results as disappointing in all respects, hoped the Overseas 
 delegates at the next Conference would be able " to devote most 
 of their attention to concrete measures rather than to the dis- 
 cussion of principles." The Australian Press hoped that the 
 Prime Minister, Mr. Fisher, would adopt a wider outlook than 
 was usual with members of the Labour Party, and urged the 
 importance of giving practical encouragement to capital and 
 immigrants. Sir Wilfrid Lauder's foreign treaty proposals 
 were criticised as entirely opposed to the Imperialist ideal and 
 a complete negation of the ImperiaF idea, since, if they were 
 adopted, one portion might have better tariff terms with a par- 
 ticular country than were enjoyed by another portion of the 
 Empire. Generally speaking, public feeling in Australia was 
 unfavourable to the opinions and proposals of the Canadian 
 Prime Minister and could not understand why he opposed Mr. 
 Harcourt's contemplated Standing Committee of Dominion 
 representatives as involving Imperial interference, unless 
 • June 22, 1911. f June 21, 1911.
 
 THE COLONIES 181 
 
 he confounded the autonomy vfith the isolation of the 
 Dominions. 
 
 The general feeling that little or nothing was really accom- 
 plished was expressed by Mr. Fisher when he took refuge in 
 the oracular statement that " the Conference has broadened the 
 basis of Imperial unity," and by Mr. Batchelor, his Minister for 
 External Affairs in the Commonwealth Government, when, 
 while professing to be satisfied with the results, he said : 
 " Although it was not found possible for the moment to develop 
 further the organisation of the Empire, yet aspirations for 
 a better organised political union have had no kind of set- 
 back; on the contrary, our feeling of close comradeship 
 among the members of a united Empire has been strengthened. 
 In all that makes for the Empire's unity there has been a 
 great advance. No one has banged any doors." An Imperial 
 Conference would appear, therefore, to be successful if it 
 results in no set-back, and if no one — as it seemed necessary 
 to protest — has banged the doors ! 
 
 House of Commons and Indian Indentured Labour. 
 
 Many other questions connected with the Colonies and 
 Dominions become from time to time the subject of controversy 
 in the House of Commons, but they are as a rule not subjects 
 of much general interest. An example is the labour question 
 in the island of Trinidad. A member of the Labour Party con- 
 tinued from 1906-1910 to ask questions on behalf of the 
 Trinidad Working Men's Association, but these ceased to have 
 much interest when the Under-Secretary of State * informed 
 the House that the membership of this Association, according 
 to the latest available figures, was only 223. Lord Sanderson's 
 Committee found no such result as reduction of wages or 
 unemployment from the use of indentured labour. 
 
 Frequent objections are taken in Parliament by the Labour 
 Party to the supply of Indian indentured coolie immigrants 
 into the Western Indies, though the prosperity of some of these 
 islands entirely depends on this class of labour, the supply of 
 which is equally beneficial to India and the West Indies, and 
 » Parliamentary Debates, 1909, vol. 4, p. 1028.
 
 182 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 notwithstanding the report * favourable to this movement 
 of labour and to its conditions, which was made in June, 1910, 
 by the Committee on Emigration from India to the Crown 
 Colonies and Protectorates. This report made mincemeat of all 
 contentions regarding the inherent wickedness of indentured 
 labour, which are articles of faith with the Labour Party. 
 
 The Committee reported that Indian indentured immigration 
 had rendered invaluable service to our Colonies in which a 
 supply of steady labour has been required for development 
 by methods of work from which the native population is 
 averse, both by supplying labour and by the example afforded 
 by the Indians of thrifty and persevering habits, that those 
 who remain after the expixy of their indentures prove 
 a valuable addition to the population as orderly and law- 
 abiding members of the community, that the system is not 
 open to serious objection in the interests of the immigrant 
 labourer, that such emigration should only be conceded to 
 colonies which allow time-expired immigrants to settle on the 
 land, that it does not lower the wages of the native popu- 
 lation or older colonists, but provides taxpayers who contribute 
 in no inconsiderable degree to the revenues of the colony 
 in which they settle. 
 
 DiNIZULU. 
 
 Another matter, also in the hands of the Labour Party, 
 assisted by Radicals, Socialists, and Irish, was the treatment 
 of Dinizulu, who, having adopted an attitude hostile to the 
 British Government, was immediately provided with numerous 
 allies in the House of Commons. Interest in, and sympathy 
 with, this potentate reached its climax when the Natal 
 Government were constrained to take criminal proceedings 
 against him in 1907. He was sentenced to four years' im- 
 prisonment for harbouring rebels. It was immediately sug- 
 gested that it was advisable to remit this sentence because 
 he was convicted of crimes less serious than rebellion and 
 murder, f Urgent cables were sent to South Africa to satisfy 
 
 • Cd. 5192 and Cd. 5194. 
 
 t Parliamantary Debates, 1909, vol. 1, p. 1575 ; vol, 2, 1909, pp. 733, 743.
 
 THE COLONIES 183 
 
 the anxiety of honourable members who feared that the 
 imprisonment might be of a rigorous, or at least uncomfortable, 
 character. 
 
 The fact that a handful of fellow-countrymen had to preserve 
 their lives and goods amongst a vast African population was as 
 usual entirely overlooked. 
 
 Southern Nigeria. 
 
 Leaving South for West Africa, a Committee of Inquiry into 
 the Liquor Trade in Southern Nigeria was appointed in 1909, 
 under Sir Mackenzie Chalmers, with the result that the 
 allegations, supported in high quarters, against British officers 
 and British policy, broke down with ludicrous completeness. 
 
 The views of the group above mentioned received a severe 
 check when this Committee reported (1910) that the natives 
 of the country had always been alcohol drinkers, that the 
 spirits imported were of good quality and contained nothing 
 of a dangerous character, both the rum and the gin being of 
 about the same quality as the better class of spirits sold in 
 England, that no deterioration of race had taken place which 
 can be attributed to the use of alcohol, that general sobriety 
 was a characteristic of the people, that the standard of sobriety 
 in Southern Nigeria was higher than that of the United 
 Kingdom and compared most favourably with that of other 
 colonies inhabited by negro races.'" So in India the native 
 Press is becoming restive under the representations of the 
 friends of India in Parliament that her sober population is 
 addicted to drink. "It would be impossible to abandon a 
 substantial source of revenue. It is not likely that diminu- 
 tion of shops will discourage sale. The result is not what 
 temperance reformers want or what is beneficial to the people. 
 Government only takes more cash out of the pockets of the 
 poor, who spend a larger proportion on drink and less on 
 food of their small resources." t 
 
 It seems unlikely at present that the British campaign 
 against the use of stimulants — by others — will succeed. 
 » Cd. 4906, 4907 ; Tlw Times, June 30, Jvily 7 and 14, 1911. 
 t Indian Patriot, Juue 19, 1911.
 
 184 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Masai. 
 
 A typical instance of the kind of intervention which makes 
 the proper conduct of affairs in British possessions increas- 
 ingly difficult occurred during the debate in Supply on the 
 Colonial Office* in July, 1911. The leader of the Labour 
 Party, Mr. Macdonald, attacked the Colonial Secretary for 
 curtailing the grazing areas enjoyed, but not exclusively 
 enjoyed, by the Masai tribe in the East Africa Protectorate, 
 and the local administration for an alleged failure to deal with 
 a case in which a native was slain by a white man. The 
 Colonial Secretary had no difficulty in repelling the attacks, 
 but it is interesting to see the anti-British party in Parliament 
 driven to support the extremest rights of landownership, the 
 most extensive sporting rights, and general quasi feudal claims 
 on behalf of a small tribe of aristocrats who have the use of 
 1,300 acres per family as against an average of twenty acres 
 enjoyed by the ordinary working agriculturist of East Africa, 
 over whom the Masai claim and exercise quasi baronial rights.! 
 In Persia the soldier, riever, rover, and swashbucker are 
 picturesquely described as blood-drinkers. The Masai literally 
 drink blood drawn from their living cattle, hate honest work, 
 like any agitator, and are as idle and as rich as any tribesmen, 
 to be found in all Africa. Were they white they would be 
 held up to everlasting obloquy as tyrannical landlords ; but 
 the pigmentary privilege avails to secure for them the 
 patronage and support of the Labour Socialist party, which 
 vigorously denounces privilege in the case of any white man 
 and particularly of a fellow-countryman. 
 
 Was the Imperial Conference op 1911 a Success? 
 
 NO. 
 
 1. The actual results were very small. The Colonial Office put forward 
 little or nothing of a constructive character. The proposal for establish- 
 ing a Standing Committee was half-hearted, and not pressed. J 
 
 • Parliamentary Debates, July 21, 1911. 
 
 t Mr. Grogan, in The Times, July 21, 1011. 
 
 J Mr. Lyttelton, Parliamentary Debates, July 21, 1911.
 
 THE COLONIES 185 
 
 3. The reference to the Royal Commission to be appointed excluded 
 Imperial Preference, and did not include in its purview the Crown 
 Colonies. Thus the most important of all subjects is excluded from 
 investigation. 
 
 3. The Home Government, after receiving the report of the Com- 
 mission on the relations between the West Indies and Canada, was 
 naturally afraid to give the new Commission a chance to be converted 
 in the like manner to Tariff Reform. Co-operation is almost impossible 
 in an Empire consisting of a Mother Country under Free Trade, and 
 Dominions under Protection. 
 
 4. The admission of the Dominions into the Cabinet circle as regards 
 questions of foreign policy, though satisfactory, was not due to the 
 Government, but to the House of Commons.* 
 
 5. The exclusion of the Crown Colonies from the reference to the 
 Royal Commission is indefensible, seeing that their population is twice 
 that of the Dominions. 
 
 6. The introduction into the resolution of the words "consistent with 
 the existing fiscal policy " will allow overtures from the United States to 
 Newfoundland and the West Indies, on the lines of the defeated Re- 
 ciprocity Agreement. 
 
 7. The important question of co-operation in emigration was left 
 unsettled, as was also the question of the sale of liquor to natives. 
 
 YES. 
 
 1. The results were most satisfactory, if only the new departure be 
 considered, in accordance with which the foreign policy of the home 
 Government was discussed with the Dominion Prime Ministers. 
 
 2. Cheaper postal and cable rates resulted. 
 
 3. The Government was bound to limit reference to the Royal Com- 
 mission to methods consistent with the existing fiscal policy, being itself 
 bound to that system by the results of two successive General Elections. 
 The Dominions desired no change which would increase the burdens on 
 the poor in England. 
 
 4. The Royal Commission applies only to the Dominions which were 
 represented at the Conference, and could not well be extended to India 
 and the Crown Colonies which were not represented. 
 
 5. The existing Secretariat at the Colonial Office, under the arrange- 
 ments made by Lord Elgin, admittedly prepared the material for the 
 Conference in a perfectly satisfactory manner. 
 
 6. The consultations with the Committee of Defence have been a great 
 success, and were of immense value. f 
 
 • See page 15G. 
 
 f Mr. Harcourt, Parliamentary Debates, July 21, 1911.
 
 186 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Imperial Outposts. By Colonel A. M. Murray. 
 
 The Colonies and Imperial Defence. By P. A. Silburn. 
 
 Yesterday and To-day in Canada. By the Duke of Argyll, K.G. 
 
 Cape Colony. By Rt. Hon. John Xavier Merriman. 
 
 A History of the British Dominions Beyond the Seas. By A. H. Forbes. 
 
 Expansion of England. By Sir J. Seeley. 
 
 The Government of Great Britain. By W. F. Trotter. 
 
 Papers laid before Imperial Conference, 1911. Cd. 5745. 
 
 Precis of the Proceedings of the Imperial Conference, 1911. Cd. 5741.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 TRADE RELATIONS AND TARIFF REFORM 
 
 TEN years ago any man who denied that our existing system 
 of free imports was other than the best possible was 
 looked upon as a crank, and as one bereft of understanding. 
 His views were regarded as eccentric and unworthy of serious 
 attention till Mr. Chamberlain took in hand this all-important 
 subject, when the impregnability of our fiscal system was soon 
 shown to be a snare and a delusion. In less than ten years 
 from the beginning of Mr. Chamberlain's campaign conditions 
 have so altered that it would be fair to assume the existence 
 of a majority in Parliament against Free Trade, if the com- 
 plications introduced by other political questions were absent.* 
 This position has been achieved in the face of many obstacles. 
 Amongst others, the political party advocating Tariff Reform 
 was handicapped by having had a long spell of office, which 
 had made them unpopular in the country, and the proposed 
 changes gave opportunities for misrepresentation, of which 
 their opponents could hardly be expected altogether to 
 forego the use. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the 
 movement has progressed, and is progressing, to such an extent 
 as to keep its opponents in a condition of anxious activity. To 
 the necessity of showing that the present fiscal system is not 
 incapable of expansion and of proving that under it the condition 
 of the people can be improved, may in a great measure be 
 attributed the programme of social reform upon which the 
 Government of Mr. Asquith has embarked. Whether time 
 will show that the burdens which the present administration 
 
 * It is reasonable to assume that the Irish Nationalist Party, if the 
 Home Rule question could be eliminated, would support a change in our 
 fiscal system, from which Ireland certainly has gained nothing. 
 
 187
 
 188 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 is piling upon the State can^iot be borne under the present 
 fiscal system is the subject of another chapter.* If such 
 burdens prove too great to be borne the "Free Trade" party 
 will have killed the " Free Trade " system as a practical policy, 
 just as by their social reform measures they are killing the 
 theories upon vs^hich their predecessors built up the doctrines 
 of "Free Trade." 
 
 The Manchester School. 
 
 "Free Trade" was logically advocated by the Manchester 
 School of Cobden and Bright as part of a policy which re- 
 stricted the interference of the State to the smallest possible 
 dimensions. With perfect consistency they opposed the 
 Factory Acts and Trade Unions, and they would have been 
 horrified at such measures as Old Age Pensions, National 
 Insurance, and Eight Hours for Miners. 
 
 The social reform programme of the Government is no doubt 
 indirectly intended to demonstrate the soundness of our fiscal 
 system. Nevertheless it also indirectly assists Tariff Reformers, 
 since it accustoms the public mind to State action in all the 
 aspects of industrial and commercial life. Adherence to our 
 present fiscal system is no longer associated with a general 
 belief in the restriction of State action. It becomes a thing 
 apart to be justified only by proof of the existence of special 
 conditions attaching to the trade of this country. The more 
 social reform measures are passed the more insistent will 
 become those doubts, which have already invaded the public 
 mind, as to the reason of a fiscal system, which leaves un- 
 controlled our foreign commercial relations, while conditions 
 closely affecting our home trade are minutely regulated by 
 Parliament. 
 
 State Interference with Industry. 
 
 According to the workmen's creed Parliament very properly 
 
 insists upon healthy, sanitary labour conditions, and rightly 
 
 sanctions combinations of workers to regulate wages and hours 
 
 of labour. All this is done in the interests of efficiency and 
 
 * See " Finance and Taxation," Cliapter XII.
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 189 
 
 fair treatment, but it all means additional expenditure for the 
 employer, and increases the cost of production. If, however, 
 such restrictions and burdens upon industries are applied all 
 round, at home and abroad, no one suffers injury. The cost of 
 living continues no doubt to be increased, but wages rule 
 higher and general standards are raised. 
 
 Easteen Competition. 
 
 The imperfection of our system is seen when manufactures 
 which have been produced under these State- regulated condi- 
 tions come into competition with manufactures produced with- 
 out any artificial increases in cost. The contrast presents 
 itself in the acutest form when West competes with East, 
 wherein the ruling standards of comfort and the cost of living 
 are from the European standpoint so low that wages are 
 pitched upon a scale which a Western workman would con- 
 sider unthinkable.* Without taking into account the advan- 
 tage derived from a protective tariff in an Eastern nation, the 
 Western manufacturer is handicapped by higher wages and by 
 State restrictions. So far, then, as the Eastern market is con- 
 cerned the Western product cannot hope to compete with the 
 Eastern manufacture,! and in the neutral markets of the East 
 the lower wages paid by the Eastern manufacturer give him 
 an immense advantage over his Western competitor. But 
 although European industries are bound to be at a disadvan- 
 tage in these markets it is difficult to see what can be done to 
 place the Western competitor upon a more equal footing. 
 Great Britain, of course, is fortunately circumstanced in her 
 possession of India, and the falling off in the exportation of 
 cotton goods by the former to the latter country in recent 
 years is due to the rapid growth of the Japanese cotton industry, 
 
 * In Japan the wages of male textile workers are lO^d. aud of female 
 textile workers 5|d. a day (Cd. 3727-235, Report of British Consul- 
 General for Japan, 1907, p. 50). 
 
 f The Lancashire cotton trade was able to overcome the advantage 
 which the Indian tariff gave Indian manufacturers only by persuading 
 the Government to compel the Government of India to impose a counter- 
 vailing excise duty on the Indian production.
 
 190 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 which enjoys in the low ruling rate of wages a great advantage 
 over the British import. This competition is likely to become 
 greater as years go by, since Japan is fast growing as an 
 industrial nation. Purely theoretical Free Traders would argue 
 that Lancashire should eventually abandon the cotton industry, 
 since the natural advantages lie with the Japanese, but 
 common sense forbids, and Lancashire is not likely to agree. 
 Nevertheless, in order to keep her Indian market, Great Britain 
 must sooner or later abandon her present poHcy. Fortunately 
 India has a keen interest in retaining the British market, 
 which absorbs large imports of her raw natural products. It 
 so happens that under our present fiscal system some of these 
 products are taxed. What more simple and beneficial arrange- 
 ment can be conceived than that Lancashire should receive 
 advantages in the Indian market over Japanese and other 
 competitors, in return for preferential treatment accorded to 
 Indian products on this side ? 
 
 Protection of Labour, 
 
 The more direct question for an industrial population at 
 home is the attitude to be adopted in respect of Eastern 
 competition in Great Britain, which in a few years is likely 
 to be more pressing. Not only Japan, but China* also is 
 becoming an industrial nation. If their goods were produced 
 here at the rate of wages ruling in those countries organised 
 labour would naturally and immediately revolt. What then 
 should be done ? Clearly it is impossible to insist upon equal 
 rates of wages and similar conditions being imposed upon 
 Japanese and Chinese manufacturers. But inasmuch as to 
 admit their products freely is to injure our own industries by 
 unfair competition, they must be kept out, or only admitted 
 
 * Steel rails are now roUed and pig iron produced in China, and the 
 latter product also sent to the United Stales to be rolled. The Chinese 
 wages are one-fifteenth the rate ruling in the Pittsburg mills, while the 
 efficiency of the skilled Chinaman is 90 per cent, of that of the white man. 
 See Nineteenth Century, November, 1910, p. 918, " The Theory of 
 American Protection," by Moreton Frewen, where the effect of the low 
 rate of exchange is also discussed in its relation to Chinase competition.
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 191 
 
 under such restrictions as will place them upon an equality 
 with our own State-controlled and regulated, and otherwise 
 heavily burdened industries. Free Trade, especially that form 
 which we possess, the system of " free imports," obviously fails 
 to ensure equality of opportunity for home industries and 
 home workmen. In theory, at any rate, no Free Trader would 
 stir a finger to prevent the importation of low-waged goods, 
 but every Trade Unionist would protest against such com- 
 petition, if the goods were produced by home manufacturers. 
 How then can he tranquilly suffer unfair competition, which 
 differs only from that of the home manufacturer in having still 
 less claim to protection, in view of its foreign origin ? That is 
 the question to be answered. It may be years before it pre- 
 sents itself in an insistent and immediate aspect, but whenever 
 it does the Trade Unionist who will support Free Trade as 
 against Protection will be an interesting survival of a worn- 
 out creed. 
 
 Prophecies Falsified. 
 
 Although the need for Protection may not appear urgent 
 to-day, there are movements in progress in international 
 trade which make its eventual adoption inevitable. The 
 predictions of Cobden have been falsified by events : we have 
 not lost our Dominions : other nations have not adopted Free 
 Trade. It would be impossible to deny that Great Britain has 
 made great progress under Free Trade, but the foundations 
 and earlier developments of her industries date from the days 
 of Protection. Great Britain had started long before other 
 nations. Some were wholly undeveloped when she began, and 
 the energies of others were monopolised by war. But Cobden's 
 ideal of Britain as the manufacturing nation of the world, to 
 which others should be content to supply raw material, and 
 from which they should buy our manufactured products, has 
 never been, and in the future it is very evident never will be, 
 realised. 
 
 Pbotection and Democracy. 
 
 The workman is being urged to resist Protection on the 
 round that it means low wages and dear food. With
 
 192 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 magnificent audacity Free Importers allege that it would 
 reduce wages to a lower level, quite ignoring the fact that in 
 other countries wages have increased more rapidly under 
 Protection than here under " Free Trade." * The argument 
 that Tariff Reform is but a capitalist's selfish scheme for 
 getting greater profits, which our workmen, under the entirely 
 disinterested leadership of Free Trade millionaires, are too 
 wide awake to adopt, assumes that the working classes in all 
 other countries are blind to their own interests. The Free 
 Traders, however, seek to prove too much. If it were the 
 fact that Protection meant low wages and dear food, is it not 
 certain that there would long since have been a wholesale 
 revolt on the part of democrt^cy against Protection, and an 
 irresistible agitation in favour of Free Trade ? But there has 
 occurred no such movement ; no worldwide, indeed it may be 
 said no national, protest against Protection has arisen. Is it 
 then wrong to assume that the workmen in Protected countries 
 are content to live under that system ? They are ready enough 
 at the present day to agitate against anything they deem 
 prejudicial to their interests. 
 
 It may at least be said that if Protection brought about 
 undesirable conditions of life and labour, there would be an 
 appreciably larger emigration of workmen from Protected to 
 Free Trade countries ; and since Great Britain is the only Free 
 Trade country of importance, such emigration would for the 
 most part move towards our shores. The facts, however, tell 
 a different tale. The movement of population is rather from 
 Great Britain to Protected countries. Emigration robs us 
 annually of over a hundred thousand of the best of our popu- 
 lation, and each good emigrant represents a capital loss to 
 the nation. While emigration on this scale continues, it is 
 impossible to admit that everything is for the best under our 
 present fiscal and economic system. 
 
 Free Trade, considered particularly from the workmen's 
 
 * The table on page 275 of Cd. 1761, the first Fiscal Blue-book, shows 
 that since 1881 wages have risen in the United Kingdom, the United 
 States, Germany, France and Italy, but that the rise has been greatest in 
 protected Germany.
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 193 
 
 point of view, reveals itself as the only surviving relic of a 
 political dispensation under which he was denied the right of 
 regulating his wages, the hours of his labour, and the conditions 
 of his employment. Protection is indeed but the natural 
 corollary of that modern social legislation, which interferes at 
 every point, and on every conceivable occasion, with natural, 
 economic, and commercial conditions. 
 
 Who Pays the Duty ? 
 
 The objection taken to the adoption of measures for the 
 prevention of unfair competition in the interest of the worker 
 is that such action would make " everything dearer." Trans- 
 lating this platform phrase into more precise language, the 
 allegation is that Protection would increase the selling price of 
 the home article to an amount equal to the cost of the foreign 
 article, plus the duty which, for the protection of the home 
 manufacturer, woiild be levied. But though this objection is 
 good enough for platform purposes, it has been rejected by 
 Free Trade economists." The argument assumes, moreover, 
 that cheapness is the sole consideration. But modern industrial 
 legislation has artificially increased, and in every Session 
 continues to increase, the cost of production. If cheapness 
 only is desired, such legislation is unjustifiable and should be 
 repealed. No one, however, least of all no Radical Free Trader, 
 urges its repeal. What then is more obviously just than that 
 the imported article should be subject to such a duty as will 
 raise its selling price to the normal selling-price of the home 
 manufactured product. True, the foreign-made article might 
 thus be dearer, but it could no longer be cheaper than the 
 home-made article because it was produced under labour 
 
 * " It is obvious that cases may arise where it is not true that 'the 
 tariff is a tax,' in the sense that the whole burden of an import duty 
 is necessarily borne by the consumer" (Seligman, "Incidence of Taxa- 
 tion," 2nd ed., p. 303). 
 
 "Unless foreign products are completely excluded by import duties, 
 such duties will partly have the effect of levying a tribute on foreign 
 producers, the amount and duration of which may in certain cases be 
 considerable " (Henry Sidgwick, " Principles of Political Economy," p. 493). 
 
 14
 
 194 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 conditions rendering free competition inequitable, if not 
 impossible.* 
 
 "Dumping." 
 
 The same remarks are of equal application to the case of 
 ' dumping." Foreign-made goods are sold in the home 
 market at a price below the cost of production, or, at a 
 rate which fails to show an adequate profit. It cannot, of 
 course, be disputed that the foreign manufacturer finds it to 
 his advantage to sell in this fashion, for, as he is not a philan- 
 thropist, but a man of business, he would otherwise discontinue 
 the practice. A strong trade combination and a protected 
 home market enable his industry to maintain a standard 
 price and to calculate upon a certain output, and his establish- 
 ment and capital charges are calculated upon this basis. To 
 keep works running is often a more advantageous policy than 
 to close down or curtail operations as soon as the home 
 demand is satisfied. The surplus production is accordingly 
 " dumped " in other countries, and our own market being free 
 to all, the foreign manufacturer naturally turns his attention to 
 the United Kingdom, wherein his surplus goods are sold at a 
 price which is lower than that of the home-made article, since 
 they are free in respect of such burdens as establishment and 
 capital charges. The advantage to the consumer here lies in 
 the cheapness of the article, and Free Traders place that in the 
 forefront. The disadvantages are the temporary character of 
 the low price, and the dislocation the illegitimate competition 
 causes the home industry. Because organisation and combina- 
 tion are essential to the successful practice of "dumping," it 
 occurs more particularly in highly organised and costly in- 
 dustries, such as the iron and steel trades for example, which 
 require considerable capital for their development, and employ 
 thousands of hands, many in specialised and skilled labour. 
 
 •Adherence to the doctrine of "free imports" leads Free Traders 
 into opposition to such a measure as a Bill to prohibit the importation of 
 sweated goods (see Parliamentary Debates, May 12, 1911), although they 
 supported the Trades Boards Act, the object of which is to prevent 
 sweating in the United Kingdom.
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 195 
 
 The dislocation of the home industry is all the more serious 
 not only because of the resulting unemployment, but because 
 dismissed hands are driven into the overcrowded unskilled 
 labour market, and capital is also discouraged from investment 
 in industries which are subject to this form of competition. 
 Tariff Reformers are consequently of opinion that the disad- 
 vantages considerably outweigh the advantages resulting from 
 " dumping." '■' 
 
 Free Trade and " Trusts." 
 
 It is, of course, quite beside the point to argue that " dump- 
 ing " is the creation of the "trust" system, which flourishes 
 under Protection, As a matter of fact, " trusts " are not the ex- 
 clusive product of Protection, but coexist also with Free Trade. 
 We are ourselves living under the " trust " system in respect 
 of many industries, and such trusts are often of an inter- 
 national character, so powerful are those who now control 
 our larger trades. f Tariff Reform would at least give the home 
 manufacturer fair play as against foreign " trusts " which 
 indulge in, what is to us, the pernicious practice of " dumping." 
 
 The " Double " Market. 
 
 It may be said without fear of contradiction that every 
 foreign manufacturer, and every agent in the United Kingdom 
 for foreign firms, is enthusiastically in favour of the main- 
 tenance of our present fiscal system, which gives our foreign com- 
 petitors the advantage of the double market. They monopolise 
 
 * See " Speaker's Handbook," issued by the Tariff Reform League. 
 Chapter xiii. contains extracts from the first Fiscal Blue-book (Cd. 1760) 
 relating to " dumping," and extracts from the evidence of witnesses 
 before the Tariff Commission in respect of the various industries in which 
 they are interested. 
 
 t In this country there are the Coats Combination, the Portland Cement 
 Combine, railway and shipping combines, and many others. There is, in 
 fact, a general tendency for industries limited in number, by reason of the 
 immense amount of capital they require, to enter into private arrangements 
 to limit or eliminate competition. Such protection is only effective in the 
 case of industries requiring considerable capital, since that condition pre- 
 vents competitoia springing up outside the combine.
 
 196 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 their own home markets upon favourable terms, and also enjoy 
 the market of the United Kingdom upon terms of perfect 
 equality with our own manufacturers. The German maker 
 of a popular article can command a market of 100,000,000 
 of people, of whom 60,000,000 are Germans and 40,000,000 
 are inhabitants of the United Kingdom. 
 
 On the other hand, the British manufacturer can only calcu- 
 late on serving a market of 40,000,000 in the United Kingdom, 
 and even therein he is subject to competition from both home 
 and foreign rivals. Every one who possesses an elementary 
 knowledge of modern industrial production knows that the cost 
 of an article is reduced in proportion as the standing charges 
 can be spread over a large output. The larger the output the 
 less the proportion of the standing charges which each article 
 has to bear. Consequently the home manufacturer finds him- 
 self, under existing circumstances, severely handicapped by 
 reason of the limited market he possesses in comparison with 
 that which his foreign competitor commands. 
 
 Negotiation. 
 
 Here Tariff Refoi'm provides a remedy. It recognises the 
 value of our market to the foreign manufacturer, but proposes 
 only to allow him to enjoy it in proportion to the freedom he 
 is prepared to concede to British goods in respect of his own 
 market. The proposal involves the adoption of direct negotia- 
 tion with other countries in regard to trade matters, such as 
 are now undertaken by other nations. Commercial treaties of 
 this character are in fact in a small way concluded even by 
 Great Britain. With Japan, for instance, quite recently a fiscal 
 arrangement was made.* 
 
 " MOST-FAVOUBED NaTION " TeEATMENT. 
 
 The argument of Free Traders is that under the " most- 
 favoured nation " clause Great Britain enjoys the advantages 
 
 * Cd. 5556 of 1911. The most interesting provision is that which, in 
 Article 8, provides that certain articles of Japanese manufacture, none of 
 which are at present taxed, shall be admitted into the United Kingdom 
 free of duty. That the clause should have been inserted is evidence that 
 the Japanese Government at least contemplates as probable the ultimate 
 triumph of Tariff Reform.
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 197 
 
 of the concessions made to other nations without the trouble 
 of conducting prolonged, difficult, and delicate negotiations. 
 In theory the arrangement is perfect ; but in practice it does 
 not work. Certain nations do not recognise the ' ' most favoured ' ' 
 clause," and in the case of others the complications of modern 
 tariffs also tend to minimise and often to destroy the advan- 
 tages in theory attained by the provision. Foreign countries 
 directly concerned in negotiations naturally select for conces- 
 sions those articles in which they are inost interested, and 
 sometimes the addition of a proviso limits the concession and 
 effectively excludes Great Britain. An example of this is 
 afforded by the clause in the Russo-German Treaty of 1894 
 by which a reduction was obtained upon imports of coal into 
 Russia, to which was attached a condition that such reduction 
 applied only to coal imported by land, which destroyed its 
 value so far as Great Britain is concerned. Again, while 
 40 per cent, of Swiss, and 50 per cent, of Austrian, goods obtain 
 special rates on import into Germany, only 15 per cent, of 
 British imports benefit by the " most-favoured nation " clause. 
 So while British imports into France, Germany, the United 
 States, Austria, Italy, and Japan amount to £150,000,000, of 
 which £95,000,000 is represented by dutiable goods, lower 
 rates under the "most-favoured nation" clause are only 
 secured on £28,000,000. And, of course, where the foreign 
 tariff especially affects British goods, such as cottons under 
 the new Japanese tariff, no bargaining between other countries 
 can bring relief. It is admitted by Free Traders that foreign 
 tariffs injure our trade ; f but so long as the present fiscal 
 system continues Great Britain cannot hope to obtain the 
 
 * Portugal, Brazil, and Haiti give special x-eductions on certain articles, 
 and limit them to certain countries. The United States gives preferential 
 treatment to Cuba ; and apparently intended to limit the concessions 
 offered to Canada to Canadian imports. See Tariff Commission 
 Memoranda, 43 and 45. 
 
 t "When Mr. Chamberlain first raised the point, in the year 1903, the 
 trade to protected countries had gone dov?n very seriously. It is no use 
 shutting our eyes to the fact that it was due, of course, to the imposition 
 of tariffs against our goods" (Mr. Lloyd George, M.P., Colonial Conference, 
 1907).
 
 198 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 concessions secured by foreign countries. While Tariff 
 Reformers would use a British tariff to secure concessions, 
 Free Traders declare that the adoption of Protection would 
 do more harm to British industries than is, or can be, effected 
 by foreign tariffs. 
 
 The "Evils" of Peotection. 
 
 They warn the country against the snares of Protection. 
 Entirely ignoring the fact that Protectionist countries have 
 altogether failed to show those sorry symptoms which they 
 declare would appear here if the same fiscal system were 
 adopted, they go on preaching the creed of laisser faire, 
 which they have ceased to practise in respect of every other 
 aspect of industrial and public life. They are reformers of 
 everything except that which from the nature of things, and 
 from the yearly increasing stress of competition, stands most 
 in need of reform. 
 
 The port of London under Protection, they say, will be 
 deserted by shipping. But how can they explain the in- 
 creasing tonnage of ports of Protectionist countries? 
 
 Wages, they assert, will be lower ; but there is no attempt to 
 explain the more rapid increase in Protectionist countries of 
 wages already at a higher level than rules among ourselves.* 
 
 Unemployment, they say, will be augmented. But there is 
 an entire absence of statistical material for comparison with 
 unemployment in other countries. What evidence is available 
 is to the effect that Free Trade fails to secure such steadiness 
 of employment as Protectionist countries enjoy, 
 
 " Everything Deaeer," 
 
 But the trump card of the Free Trade orator is " Every- 
 thing will be dearer under Protection." The Manchester 
 School were interested in cheap food, not only on general 
 grounds, but also particularly as manufacturers, and they 
 believed that cheap food meant low wages. Nor did they err 
 in their generation, but the worker of to-day has to face the 
 
 • See Cd. 1761, p. 275, and the Board of Trade Reports on the cost of 
 living in Germany (Cd. 4032) and the United States (Cd, 5069).
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 199 
 
 facts that the price of food and the cost of living have increased 
 out of all proportion to the rise of v^rages experienced in Great 
 Britain tinder Free Trade.* No doubt a decrease in the price 
 of many articles of food in Great Britain followed upon the 
 abandonment of Protection. But it would be hardly main- 
 tained that such decrease was occasioned by the adoption of 
 Free Trade, and subsequently prices have generally risen 
 until they rule, in respect of many articles, considerably 
 above those which obtained before the epoch of Free Trade,! 
 which has indeed completely failed to provide cheap food, and 
 has not enabled industries to show a rate of development equal 
 to that of Protectionist countries. 
 
 Imperial Pbeference. 
 
 While Tariff Reformers urge the adoption of some modified 
 form of Protection as the only method of obtaining fair con- 
 ditions for home manufacturers in home markets, and of 
 mitigating in some degree the injury which foreign tariffs 
 inflict on our export trade, they are convinced that greater 
 benefits will be obtained by the introduction of Imperial 
 Preference. So far as the reduction of foreign tariffs is con- 
 cerned, they believe that the adoption of a settled policy of 
 Protection by foreign countries will render impossible any very 
 wide opening of foreign markets to competing productions of 
 British manufacture, though they hold that access to the 
 British market, when it becomes a matter for arrangement and 
 ceases to be a matter of course, will be a powerful factor in 
 negotiation, and cannot but exercise considerable influence 
 upon the attitude of foreign Powers. 
 
 Their markets, however, are already well provided, and are 
 not to any very considerable extent capable of expansion. 
 
 * " During the last fifteen years, according to the returns of the Board 
 of Trade, wages had increased 13 per cent., while the retail price of food 
 had increased 18 per cent. In other words the working classes were to-day 
 receiving fewer commodities in return for their labour than they received 
 fifteen years ago " (Mr. Ohiozza Money, M.P., House of Commons, April 26, 
 1911). 
 
 f This applies to butter, beef, mutton, and pork.
 
 200 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Just as a tradesman wishing to increase his prosperity must 
 extend the circle of his chents, so nations must ever be on the 
 look out for new customers. These they find in the neutral 
 markets of the world, where industries are as yet undeveloped, 
 and in those fresh fields wherein the population is increasing 
 and is still largely engaged in agricultural pursuits. Such 
 conditions exist in many portions of the British Empire, in 
 which is manifested a natural predisposition to use British 
 manufactures ; and Tariff Reformers argue that Great Britain 
 should find her new customers preferably in these directions 
 by means of mutual agreements to arrange special terms for 
 one another's products. 
 
 Expanding Colonial Markets. 
 
 The ideal arrangement would, no doubt, be that of Cobden, 
 that Great Britain should be the manufacturing centre to 
 which others should supply food and raw material. But no 
 one imagines that this ideal can be attained. Although British 
 Dominions may be predominantly agricultural, they never- 
 theless possess industries which could not reasonably be 
 expected to agree to be placed in a position of inferiority in 
 comparison with that occupied by British manufacturers. 
 But since the markets under consideration are expanding, and 
 the Colonial industries cannot meet the demand, what more 
 common-sense policy can be suggested than that Great Britain 
 should take advantage of a natural disposition to prefer 
 British goods by concluding a mutual preference agreement, 
 one party selling on favourable terms that which the other 
 desires to buy ? But reasonable though this proposition would 
 be allowed to be in respect of individual industrial organisa- 
 tions, it was no sooner suggested as a State policy than it was 
 attacked with the utmost vigour and denounced — not merely as 
 bad from an economic point of view, but impossible and 
 unpardonable, if not unpatriotic in character. 
 
 The "Dear Loaf" Cry. 
 
 The opponents of Imperial Preference concentrate their 
 attack upon the fact, as they hold it to be, that this policy
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 201 
 
 involves the imposition of duties upon articles of food and 
 drink. " Your food will cost j^ou more," " Tariff Reform means 
 the little loaf," " Stick to Free Trade and the big loaf," are 
 examples of election cries of considerable value, which have 
 been used to the utmost extent. It is impossible to exaggerate 
 the influence they necessarily exerted upon the poorer, less 
 educated, and slow-thinking masses of the electorate at the 
 beginning of the light between Free Imports and Tariff Reform. 
 It says much for the intelligence of even the humblest voters 
 that in spite of such strong persuasion and pressure upon a 
 question in which their interest is vital, so many of them 
 should be ready to disregard the warnings of the Free Traders, 
 and to express their adherence to the doctrines of Tariff Reform. 
 Indeed, as the education of the electorate on the question pro- 
 gresses these electioneering cries and catchwords lose their 
 potency. 
 
 The rise which has occurred in late years in the price of 
 food has done much to discredit the cry of " Free Trade and 
 the cheap loaf," and the elementary economic laws which 
 govern supply, demand, and price are being more generally 
 appreciated, to the undoing of the preachers of the Free Trade 
 gospel. Articles of food, moreover, are, as is now becoming 
 known, already taxed, and in such fashion as must necessarily 
 raise the price to the consumer, for the taxed articles are neces- 
 sities, while luxuries for the most part are untaxed. The exist- 
 ing imposts on food are susceptible, however, of readjustment, so 
 that while the total burden of food taxes shall not be increased, 
 the most desirable object of promoting Imperial trade relations 
 shall be attained. The potential connection between food taxes 
 and Tariff Reform obscures the actual food taxes levied under 
 Free Trade, and offers no small obstacle to the success of the 
 former policy. It also affords opponents with a most powerful 
 weapon of misrepresentation. Nevertheless, a dawning sense 
 of perspective may be discerned upon the political horizon. 
 The platform allegation of the Free Traders that " the Tories 
 want to make food dearer ' ' attributes to that party so fatal a 
 policy that electors upon reflection decline to credit even their 
 adversaries with such folly. What public men desiring to
 
 202 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 secure the majority necessary to enable them to give effect to 
 their policy would handicap themselves v^ith a proposal to 
 make food dearer ? And what party, having acquired a 
 majority, would exist for a day, if it attempted to put that 
 policy into effect ? 
 
 The most effective argument against Tariff Reform would be 
 disproof of its advantage to British industry, which, however. 
 Free Traders have not seen their way to supply. Indeed, their 
 leaders have admitted that such preference as British Dominions 
 actually give to Great Britain has been of great advantage to 
 British industries.* 
 
 The Need for Immediate Action. 
 
 Tariff Reformers fear that when Imperial Preference is 
 sanctioned, as they have no doubt it wiU be, such sanction 
 will come too late to allow of its full benefits being reaped 
 by the country. The Reciprocity Agreement between the 
 United States and Canada was in a fair way to become an 
 accomplished fact, an arrangement which must have had an 
 immediate and prejudicial effect upon British imports into 
 Canada, by reason of the reduction in the preference upon 
 British goods which it would have entailed. But upon British 
 trade in general the future effect could only have been dis- 
 astrous of an agreement providing for the greater interchange of 
 goods between the United States and Canada, and diverting to 
 North and South the existing trend of trade from East to West. 
 
 Canada, possessing vast natural resources — timber, ore, and 
 wheat — would have found a ready market in the adjacent 
 States of the Union, and the Tariff Reformers' policy of direct- 
 ing the export of these natural products to Great Britain would 
 have been made more difficult of attainment. Especially was 
 Great Britain likely to suffer in respect of her wheat supply. 
 
 * " As regards the Canadian tariff, I acknowledge that it has been bene- 
 ficial to British trade, and particularly, I think, to our textile industries " 
 (Mr. Asquith, M.P., Colonial Conference, 1907, Cd. 3523, p. 812). 
 
 " The Canadian Preferential TariS has produced a marked effect on our 
 export trade to Canada. It has undoubtedly stimulated trade between the 
 two countries " (Mr. Lloyd George, M.P., Colonial Conference, 1907, 
 Cd. 3523, p. 386).
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 203 
 
 Indeed, it was openly avowed in the press of the United States 
 that the estabHshment of Reciprocity would destroy the pros- 
 pects of British Imperial Preference, and of the commercial 
 union of the British Empire, at least so far as Canada is con- 
 cerned, while some American statesmen have not hesitated to 
 express the belief that the Reciprocity proposals would prove 
 to be but the prelude to political union. 
 
 Gbeat Britain and the Canadian Agreement. 
 
 But Canada first made an offer to Great Britain, and the 
 British Government would have none of it ; and it is certain 
 that she would not have entertained proposals from the United 
 States, if a more favourable reception had been accorded to the 
 policy of Imperial Preference in Great Britain. 
 
 Offers like that of America may some day be made in 
 South Afi'ica, Australia, New Zealand, and India, valuable and 
 growing markets for manufactured goods, which seek outlets 
 for their food products and raw materials. If Great Britain 
 shows no signs of abandoning her present fiscal system, which 
 rigidly excludes Imperial Preference, would surprise be felt if 
 such advances were entertained, however strong might be 
 natural inclination towards Imperial Reciprocity ? 
 
 Arguments For and Against Tariff Reform. 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Iq consequence of the industrial competition of other nations, our 
 present system of free imports fails to secure fair treatment for British 
 trade. 
 
 2. It was adopted in the belief that other nations would follow our 
 example, and that Great Britain would be the manufacturing nation of 
 the world, to which other countries would send their raw materials. 
 
 3. This expectation has not been fulfilled ; other nations manufacture 
 for themselves under the advantage of protective duties, and also invade 
 the British market free of all restriction. Free imports have injured 
 the greatest of all our industries, agriculture, notwithstanding the 
 opinions to the contrary held when the system was adopted. 
 
 4. Foreign nations are given the advantage of the " double market," 
 and are able to " dump " their surplus products here at low rates, to the 
 disadvantage of our manufacturers.
 
 204 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 5. Tariff Reform is therefore necessary to prevent unfair foreign compe- 
 tition in British markets. 
 
 6. It is also necessary to enable Great Britain to obtain reductions in 
 foreign import tariffs upon her own exports. 
 
 7. The "most-favoured nation " clause, while it purports to give British 
 goods the advantages gained by the bargaining of foreign nations, is 
 seldom effectual and quite useless when the concessions obtained by such 
 nations are inapplicable to British manufactures. 
 
 8. The immense volume and comprehensive character of our export 
 trade make it imperative that Great Britain should enter into negotia- 
 tions with foreign nations on her own account, especially as she has a 
 valuable home market in which in return to give concessions. 
 
 9. The Great Powers — Germany and the United States — selling Great 
 Britain more than they buy, would readily grant valuable concessions 
 rather than lose the British market. 
 
 10. A tariff is also necessary for revenue purposes to meet the increasing 
 cost of government. 
 
 11. So long as the duties are low there is no reason to assume that they 
 will artificially increase prices, since the competition between the untaxed 
 and the taxed article will keep down the price. 
 
 12. Tariff Reform does not propose to discourage foreign imports, but 
 only to regulate their character, so that the maximum of employment 
 may be given to British hands in supplying the British nation with its 
 wants. 
 
 13. Tariff Reform is a much wider policy than Protection. The latter 
 is concerned with protecting the home market from foreign competition : 
 the former also seeks to extend our export trade by obtaining for it 
 advantages in new and growing markets. 
 
 14. The most important of these markets are our British Dominions 
 and India, which have vast natural resources, export much food and raw 
 material, and import manufactured goods. 
 
 15. The Dominions have already given practical effect to the policy of 
 Imperial Preference by reducing their tariffs for British goods. 
 
 16. Even Free Traders have admitted that this preference has been 
 greatly to the advantage of British manufacturers. 
 
 17. Tariff Reformers desire to establish the policy of Preference upon 
 a permanent and reciprocal basis, by granting concessions to Colonial and 
 Indian imports in our home market. 
 
 18. This policy is opposed by Free Traders because it involves a tax on 
 food, which may, or will, to a slight degree raise the price of particular 
 articles of consumption. But food is already taxed and made dearer by 
 such taxation, and Tariff Reformers propose only to readjust the present 
 food taxes, so that they may, without increasing the aggregate burden, be 
 enabled to grant Imperial Preference. 
 
 19. Food prices have everywhere risen throughout the world. It is
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 20r) 
 
 necessary for a nation such as ours, which cannot feed itself, to have a 
 call upon food supplies elsewhere, and this desirable end is attained by 
 Imperial Preference. 
 
 20. Free Trade did not bring cheap food, which resulted from the 
 development of wheat-growing areas, and the reduction of the cost of 
 transport. 
 
 21. Free Trade cannot keep food cheap, for it has increased in price in 
 recent years, and some articles of food are even dearer to-day than they 
 were before the policy of free imports was adopted. 
 
 22. Imperial Preference will not bring dear food ; it will, on the 
 contrary, widen, ensure, and so eventually cheapen, our food supply. 
 
 23. It is therefore beside the point to argue from the analogy of other 
 countries, which have adopted a high tarilf policy to protect home-grown 
 food. 
 
 24. Even in those countries, however, there is nothing to show that 
 their tariffs have increased prices, the causes affecting prices being 
 complex, comprehensive, and so far incompletely ascertained. 
 
 25. Though the taxation of food may be unpopular, as all taxation is, 
 it should be accepted when it brings employment, increased wages, and 
 prosperity to a manufacturing nation. 
 
 26. So far as the exports of our manufactured goods are concerned, the 
 high tariffs of other nations will prevent any great expansion in that 
 direction. 
 
 27. Neutral markets are being gradually closed, and are at any rate the 
 scene of severe competition between rival nations. 
 
 28. Growing markets are to be found in our Dominions, and they are 
 willing, if the favour be reciprocated, to give British better terms than 
 foreign goods. 
 
 29. Acceptance of their offers and reciprocation would mean a greater 
 demand for our goods, and consequently an increase in employment and 
 prosperity. 
 
 30. Other nations are well aware of the value of these markets, and are 
 anxious to enter into reciprocal trade relations with our Dominions. 
 
 31. The late Government, of Canada had, in fact, already negotiated to 
 this end with the United States, an agreement which, had the country 
 sanctioned it, would have done great injury to British trade. 
 
 32. Although our Dominions would rather enter into preferential 
 relations with Great Britain, they cannot, notwithstanding the splendid 
 example of Canada, be expected for all time to refrain from entertaining 
 the proposals of other nations, if their own Mother Country rejects their 
 advances. 
 
 33. The protection of home labour — the chief feature of the policy of 
 Protectionist countries — is only one feature of the policy of Tariff Reform. 
 
 34. But it will benefit the working classes, since in Protectionist countries 
 wages have risen more rapidly than here, employment is steadier, hours of
 
 206 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 labour are being reduced, the cost of living, upon the whole, is not 
 greater, and, in the United States at any rate, a considerably higher 
 standard of living obtains. 
 
 35. In spite of Free Trade, some 30 per cent, of our population are 
 estimated by Free Traders to be below the line of poverty and hunger. 
 
 36. Vast numbers of our workers still suffer from very low wages and 
 irregular employment. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Free imports ensure cheap food and raw materials, and have 
 brought about a greatly improved standard of living for the British 
 people ; the improvement which has been effected may fairly be ascribed 
 to this cause. 
 
 2. Though our imports are of greater value than our exports, the 
 excess represents interest on investments and the earnings of our 
 shipping. 
 
 3. If imports are curtailed our shipping trade vnll be injured and our 
 exports reduced. 
 
 4. Particular British industries may have declined under the free 
 imports policy, but others have arisen ; the same change goes on in 
 every country, whether its policy be Free Trade or Protection. 
 
 5. An import duty on woollen goods, for example, if sufficiently high, 
 might keep out the foreigner, but since his products are imported as pay- 
 ment for goods sold to him, a corresponding decrease in our own aggregate 
 sales would result, which could only cause increased unemployment. 
 
 6. Protection of woollen goods would also mean an increase in the 
 home prices, and the people would be clothed less satisfactorily than 
 heretofore. 
 
 7. In the long run imports are goods which we cannot make so well 
 as the foreigner, or being able to use our labour to better advantage, do not 
 care to make. 
 
 8. As a matter of fact the larger a country's imports the greater its 
 prosperity, since their volume shows that the maximum of workers are 
 employed manufacturing goods for export in payment for the imports. 
 "The countries which import more than they export are for the most part 
 those in which the industrial revolution has been carried far, and which 
 have surplus capital to lend." * 
 
 9. Moderate duties would not satisfy the Protectionists, since they 
 would not create higher prices, or keep out foreign goods so as to give 
 more employment. 
 
 10. Nobody has ever succeeded in taxing the foreigner ; in the end it is 
 the consumer who pays. 
 
 " The Economic Transition in India," by Sir Theodore Morison, p. 204.
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 207 
 
 11. TarifE Rsform and Protoction are practically identical, and the 
 latter has been tried in this country and abandoned because it failed to 
 bring progress and prosperity. 
 
 12. Protection days were those of dear food, unemployment, and 
 misery, which TariS Reform would restore. 
 
 13. Under Free Trade our industries have experienced remarkable 
 development, food is cheap, employment is relatively steady, and wages 
 have risen, as well as the standard of living among the working classes. 
 
 14. Investigation into the conditions of the working classes in foreign 
 countries shows that under Protection such are in every way inferior to 
 those of our own workers under Free Trade. 
 
 15. A policy of free imports is best for an industrial country like 
 Great Britain, dependent for its prosperity and for its life upon the 
 importation of raw materials and food supplies. 
 
 16. That policy discourages the establishment of "trusts" for regu- 
 lating prices, which accompany Protection, and are so injurious to the 
 prosperity of the working classes. 
 
 17. It also renders difficult tariS-mongering, and other scandals of 
 Protection which engender corruption in public life. 
 
 18. It gives British trade through the most-favoured nation clause all 
 the advantages attained by Protectionist countries only after pro- 
 longed and delicate negotiations, which sometimes end in their case in 
 disastrous tariff wars. 
 
 19. " Dumping " is not a serious evil in Great Britain, since the 
 " dumper " must make use of a market open to competition from the whole 
 world. 
 
 20. Protection to the extent to which it keeps out foreign goods fails to 
 raise any revenue. 
 
 21. Again, to the extent to which it raises revenue, it fails in its Pro- 
 tective aims, while such revenue as it collects is raised in a wasteful and 
 uneconomic fashion. 
 
 22. Under our present system the Treasury obtains as revenue all the 
 increased price resulting from the duty, but under TarifE Reform, although 
 only the foreign article would be taxed, the price of the home-made article 
 would be increased by the amount of that tax. 
 
 23. The burden on the consumer would therefore be out of aU propor- 
 tion to the gain to the Exchequer from the proceeds of the duty. 
 
 24. Dear food is inevitable if Tariff Reform is carried, and if once it is 
 established that Imperial Preference is dependent upon taxed food, the 
 cause of Imperial unity will suffer the severest of shocks. 
 
 25. To restrict the freedom of our Dominions by trade arrangements 
 with Great Britain will not improve the relations between them and the 
 Mother Country. 
 
 26. The true Imperial policy is to give them perfect freedom to carry 
 out their own wishes in trade matters, recognising that they have chosen 
 once and for all a different fiscal policy from that of Great Britain.
 
 208 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 27. Imperial Preference is unlikely to bring any great benefits to our 
 manufacturers, since the Dominion manufacturers will insist upon their 
 tariff wall being retained sufficiently high to give them a clear advantage 
 in their own markets. 
 
 28. It is impossible to treat each of our Dominions equally and in a 
 manner which will prevent friction and discontent between them. 
 
 29. Our trade with foreign countries is larger than our Imperial trade, 
 and it would be unwise to make the smaller interest the pivot of our 
 commercial policy. 
 
 30. Foreign countries would retaliate if by Imperial Preference 
 advantages denied to them were given to British Dominions. 
 
 31. The duties might be small at first, but they would be gradually 
 increased by the pressure of the manufacturing and agricultural interests 
 until a system of high Protection was established. 
 
 32. A tariff would be a handicap to many of our industries which 
 import wholly or partly manufactured articles, which are finished in the 
 United Kingdom. Examples are found in leather and boots. 
 
 33. It is impossible satisfactorily to distinguish between manufactured 
 articles and raw materials. 
 
 34. Our exports of manufactures per head of population are greater 
 than the exports per head of Germany or the United States ; foreign 
 tariffs cannot, therefore, have done much harm to our trade. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The prominent position occupied by the fiscal controversy is evidenced 
 by the existence of many publications on the subject. The literature 
 issued by the Tariff Reform League (7, Victoria Street, Westminster, 
 S.W.) and the Free Trade Union (25, Victoria Street, S.W.) presents 
 each side of the case. Both organisations publish excellent Handbooks ; 
 and their monthly publications, Monthly Notes on Tariff Reform and The 
 Free Trader bring the controversy up to date. The case for Tariff 
 Reform as disclosed by the condition of British industries should be 
 studied in the Reports and memoranda issued by the Tariff Com- 
 mission. 
 
 Of official publications reference should be made to what are generally 
 known as the Fiscal Blue-books — memoranda, statistical tables, and charts 
 relating to British and foreign trades and industry — Cd. 1761 of 1903, 
 Cd. 2337 of 1904, and Cd. 4954 of 1909. The Board of Trade has also 
 issued a series of reports on the cost of living of the working classes in 
 certain countries — United Kingdom, Cd. 3864 ; Germany, Cd. 4032 ; 
 France, Cd. 4512 ; Belgium, Cd. 5065 ; and the United States, Cd. 5609. 
 The inquiries cover working-class rents, housing, retail prices, and rates of 
 wages in certain occupations and the principal industrial laws in each 
 country. Other useful official publications are the monthly and annual
 
 TRADE RELATIONS 209 
 
 trado returns of imports and exports, and the annual statistical abstracts 
 for the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and British India. Foreign 
 Import Duties and Colonial Import Duties are two Blue-books of foreign 
 and colonial tariffs published at intervals. A valuable book of statistical 
 trade tables is the "British Trado Year Book," by John Holt Schooling. 
 
 Useful publications upon the side of Tariff Reform are " Economic and 
 Fiscal Facts and Fallacies," by Sir Guildford Molosworth ; " Tariff Reform, 
 by Captain G. C. Tryon, M.P. ; " National System of Political Economy," 
 by F. List; " Trade Policy of Great Britain," by C. J. Fuchs ; "Funda- 
 mental Fallacies of Free Trade," by L. S. Amery, M.P. ; " The Tariff 
 Problem," by W. J. Ashley, and "The Case Against Free Trade," by 
 Archdeacon Cunningham. 
 
 Those who desire to study useful abstracts of both sides of the question 
 should read " TariS Reform or Free Trade," by L. S. Amery, M.P., and 
 J. M. Robertson, M.P. 
 
 Of books presenting the case for Free Trade the following can be 
 recommended: Lord Farrer, "Free Trade versus Fair Trade"; J. M. 
 Robertson, M.P., "Trade and Tariffs"; "Mr. Chamberlain's Facts, 
 Figures, and Predictions " ; Dr. T. J. Macnamara, " Tariff Reform and the 
 Working Man " ; L. G. Chiozza Money, M.P. , "Elements of the Fiscal 
 Problem " and " Fiscal Dictionary." 
 
 15
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL change in many countries is only 
 effected after violence and loss of life. In Great Britain 
 a revolution has just been accomplished without disturbance, 
 almost without notice, certainly without any overt demonstra- 
 tions of disapproval, on the part of the people. 
 
 It is doubtful whether in any other country an ancient, and 
 by the world at large highly esteemed, Second Chamber and 
 Estate of the Realm could have been extinguished, and its 
 influence destroyed without an appeal to force. It is difficult 
 to imagine other nations agreeing to an overthrow of the 
 Constitution and the establishment of what is practically, and 
 for the present actually, single-chamber Government, with- 
 out resort to more turbulent methods than parliamentary 
 action and discussion. As matters stand in the United 
 Kingdom a class, whose members for centuries occupied the 
 position of natural leaders, have surrendered their position and 
 influence as the result of a threat on the part of their 
 opponents to have resort to political or, as Lord Morley not 
 obscurely hinted, " social," pressure. 
 
 The Creation of Peers and its Effect. 
 
 It is, of course, argued that continued opposition on the 
 part of the peers would have been futile, but the Second 
 Chamber could only have been coerced by the profuse 
 creation of peerages, and the country would by such an 
 unprecedented act at least have been brought to appreciate 
 the far-reaching character of the Government's proposals. 
 
 In fact, it was called on to witness not only the surrender 
 of the peers, but also the spectacle of support aflbrded to the 
 
 310
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 211 
 
 Parliament Bill by opponents, from which it very naturally 
 drew the conclusion that the speeches delivered against it 
 were only part of the usual Party game, and believed that the 
 hostile opinions expressed were not strongly and sincerely felt, 
 but were no more than the usual partisan utterances, which 
 are expected to be highly coloured over-statements of a case. 
 By their action, whether or not it was unavoidable, the 
 peers have played straight into the hands of the Coalition 
 Government, which has all along maintained that the Parlia- 
 ment Act was no more than a just and reasonable solution of 
 the question, from which no real danger to the Constitution 
 was to be apprehended. After the abandonment of their 
 opposition by the peers themselves, it is not surprising that 
 the country shows an inclination to accept the position of the 
 Coalition Government, and to regard the Parliament Act as a 
 moderate measure of reform. 
 
 The Lesson to be Leabnt. 
 
 No doubt disillusionment will come with experience of the 
 working of the Act, and, so far as the Liberal Party is con- 
 cerned, it would be unfortunate, if it were not intentional and 
 inevitable, that the first great measure to be passed into law 
 under the amended Constitution is a Home Eule Bill. The 
 subject arouses violent passions, was never even mentioned 
 in their addresses by most of the supporters of the Govern- 
 ment at the last election, and owes its foremost position in 
 the legislative programme to the fact that the Government of 
 Mr. Asquith can only retain office by the favour of Mr. John 
 Eedmond and the Irish Nationalist Party. It would certainly 
 have been advantageous to the Government if the Parliament 
 Act first allowed a passage to measures arousing less political 
 hostility, so that the country might gradually and gently 
 accustom itself to single -chamber government. 
 
 Single-chamber Government Established. 
 That this system is established by the Parliament Act is 
 vehemently denied by the Liberals, for the good reason that 
 no country of any importance has ventured to trust its fortunes
 
 212 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 to the care of a single chamber. But the only difference 
 between avowed single-chamber government and the Constitu- 
 tion established by the Parliament Act lies in the delay of two 
 years before a measure, which has once passed the House of 
 Commons, can become law. 
 
 The Two Years' Delay a Sham. 
 
 The Coalition Government laid great stress on the value of 
 this period of delay. Apparently they regarded it as a time 
 during which the opponents of a particular measure would be 
 able to rouse the country by a great campaign for the purpose 
 of convincing the Government of the day that any particular 
 Bill in highly unpopular. Unfortunately for the efficacy of 
 this rough-and-ready method there is no guarantee that a 
 Government, although convinced of the fact of popular opposi- 
 tion, would act upon its convictions. According to the famous 
 dictum of the Lord Chancellor in respect of the Licensing 
 Bill the fact that a measure is unpopular is not a good reason 
 for its rejection. 
 
 The Prime Minister's Admission. 
 
 The period of delay is therefore a snare and a delusion in 
 so far as it obtains for the people opportunities of making 
 their will prevail. So much was indeed admitted by Mr. 
 Asquith, who argued that if a General Election, by reversing 
 the position of parties, showed that the country was opposed 
 to the legislation of the previous Government, it was within 
 the power of its successor in ofi6.ce to repeal any particular 
 measure or measures.* But this is surely at once an insuffi- 
 cient, and a dangerous remedy. No doubt, so far as domestic 
 legislation is concerned, repeal would be feasible, although it 
 would be a deplorable waste of time and energy for succeed- 
 ing Governments to devote their attention to repealing the 
 enactments of their predecessors. But the Prime Minister's 
 solution could afford no possible relief in respect of legislation 
 of other than an unimportant character. Under a Disestablish- 
 
 * House of Commons, February 21, 1911, Parliamentary Debates, 
 p. 17 i5.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 213 
 
 ment and Disendovvment Act, for example, Church property 
 would have been sold or applied to other uses, beyond the 
 possibility of restoration to its original objects. A Home Rule 
 Parliament in Ireland could not be abolished a few years after 
 its establishment except at the risk of open revolt, however 
 much the " predominant partner " might, when an opportunity 
 arose, show itself to be opposed to the policy of Home Rule. 
 So, also, in respect of all legislation there would be unsettle- 
 ment and waste of money and efficiency in making arrange- 
 ments lia,ble to more or less speedy alteration. 
 
 The Parliament Act, then, does not secure that the clearly 
 and definitely ascertained will of the people shall prevail ; but 
 that there shall prevail for the time being the opinion of the 
 majority — however composed — of the House of Commons ; 
 the decision of such majority being liable to be reversed by 
 any majority which may succeed. 
 
 Only a Half-Measure. 
 
 Just as the Bill fails in its national aspect, so it also fails to 
 provide a remedy for the whole Radical grievance against the 
 Second Chamber as at present constituted. It succeeds, 
 indeed, in so far as it relates to the opposition of the House 
 of Lords to the passage of Radical Bills, but it does not touch 
 the other Radical complaint to the effect that the House 
 of Lords offers no obstacle to the passage by a Unionist 
 Government into law of measui-es for which the latter has 
 no popular mandate. It will be remembered that this was the 
 chief objection advanced by the Radicals against the Educa- 
 tion Act, 1902, and the Licensing Act, 1904. 
 
 Not a Settlement. 
 No doubt whilst the Radicals are in power the other side of 
 their case against the House of Lords is the more prominent 
 and pressing, but the fact that one-half of their grievance 
 is wholly unremedied goes far to countervail the optimism of 
 those who regard the Constitutional question as satisfactorily 
 settled. The Coalition Government has in fact stopped short of 
 dealing with this part of their grievance. They profess to intend
 
 214 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 to remedy it by establishing, in substitution for the House of 
 Lords as at present constituted, " a Second Chamber on a 
 popular instead of an hereditary basis." Of the composition of 
 this new Second Chamber, of the date of its establishment, 
 and of the powers it is to enjoy, no authoritative information is 
 vouchsafed. Whenever it may come into being, it will doubt- 
 less be of such a character as will satisfy Radicals of its 
 " impartial " attitude towards Tory legislation. But the 
 Radicals are determined themselves to run no risks, and this 
 reform promised in the preamble of the Bill is at any rate to 
 be postponed until they have passed their own principal 
 measures into law without the interference of any Second 
 Chamber whatsoever, whether "popular" or "hereditary" 
 in character. 
 
 The Refeeendum. 
 
 This determination to subject such measures to no risks 
 is further emphasised by the opposition of Mr. Asquith's 
 Government to the Referendum, a device which more than 
 any other secures that the will of the people shall be ascertained 
 on any particular measure without complication and confusion 
 of issues. The personal factor — often a matter of the utmost 
 importance, especially in rural constituencies — is, by its 
 adoption, eliminated to a very considerable extent, and the 
 verdict can be taken on the Bill and nothing but the Bill. 
 The Referendum is particularly applicable in the case of 
 measures involving constitutional change, where it is advisable 
 to obtain clear and unequivocal support in order to" prevent 
 frequent amendment.* It would, therefore, be suitable for 
 adoption in the case of a measure of Home Rule, which, 
 
 • By the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900, 
 Section 128, the Constitution cannot be altered unless the amending 
 Bill is passed by an absolute majority of each House and is approved 
 after a Referendum, by a majority of the electors voting in a majority of 
 the States and by a majority of all the electors. The Referendum must be 
 taken not less than two nor more than six months after the passage of a 
 Bill through both Houses. In the event of a disagreement between the 
 two Houses, the Bill, after failing to pass on a second occasion, may 
 be submitted directly to the electors for their decision.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 2 If) 
 
 while primarily dealing with an Irish legislature, also inci- 
 dentally introduces an entirely new constitution into Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Eadical " Coquetting." 
 
 Notwithstanding the Unionist proposal to adopt the 
 Referendum, with provisions which would ensure its applica- 
 tion to important measures, should a Eadical minority in the 
 House of Commons so desire, the CoaUtion Government 
 declined to entertain the proposal. 
 
 This refusal was all the more remarkable inasmuch as the 
 Radicals at any rate had, to use the Prime Minister's word, 
 "coquetted" with the Referendum on previous occasions. 
 Indeed, quotations from Mr. Asquith's own speeches would 
 justify the use of a more compromising expression.'" Mr. 
 Asquith's Government, however, would not agi*ee to the in- 
 sertion of a Referendum clause in the Parliament Bill. They 
 declared that it was a system entirely foreign to our method of 
 Government, and that its use would detract from the dignity and 
 power of the House of Commons. These objections, however, 
 assume that the majority in the House of Commons represents 
 a majority of the nation, a supposition, which with the existing 
 distribution of seats is entirely unjustified, and that the House 
 of Commons will never take any action which is not clearly 
 approved by the people, and within the mandate it has received 
 at the General Election. 
 
 Instability of Legislation. 
 
 Neither party would, however, agree that this condition was 
 properly fulfilled in respect of its opponents ; and minorities 
 in the future will certainly be more disposed than in the 
 past to deny the moral binding force of laws which they 
 
 • " I admit that, speaking on Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's 
 Resolution three years ago, I have coquetted with the Referendum, and I 
 say quite distinctly that I reserve the question of the appropriateness and 
 the practicability of what is called the Referendum as possibly the least 
 objectionable means of untying the knot in some extreme and exceptional 
 constitutional entanglements" (Mr. Asquith, House of Commons, 
 March 29, 1910, Parliamentary Debates, p. 1173).
 
 216 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 believe to have been passed without a mandate.' The 
 Referendum would have prevented this development, which 
 must seriously impair the authority alike of legislation and 
 administration. The objection that the Referendum would 
 only be applied to Radical legislation, since the House of 
 Lords always acquiesces in that of the Conservatives, is easily 
 met by empowering a substantial minority of the House 
 of Commons to demand a Referendum in respect of measures 
 of a defined class or character. 
 
 While it is true that the Referendum is so far unknown to 
 our Constitution, it is not an untried or novel device, being 
 used in other countries in Europe, and in so democratic a 
 Commonwealth as Australia. 11 the Australians consider the 
 approval of two chambers and resort to the Referendum to be 
 necessary before changes can be made in their Constitution, 
 surely it requires no proof that the United Kingdom, with its 
 immeasurably larger and voider interests, is running a great 
 and unjustifiable risk in placing it within the power of a 
 temporary majority of the House of Commons — however 
 small or however obtained — to make whatever alterations in 
 the Constitution it may, for more or less creditable reasons, 
 desire to bring about, without first appealing to the country. 
 
 The Reform of the House of Lords. 
 
 It is true that the Government of Mr. Asquith proposes, 
 or professes to propose, to establish a new Second Chamber 
 at some unspecified date. Such Chamber is to rest upon 
 a popular instead of an hereditary basis ; but no one knows 
 whether the term " popular " implies election, or nomina- 
 tion, or a combination of both methods. This much may, 
 however, be freely predicted of the new Second Chamber, 
 that it will enjoy the confidence, support, and respect of no 
 party in the State. Let it be so " impartial " as to reject or 
 hold up Radical legislation, and its authors will, without 
 
 * Just as a section of the Radical Party protested that they were not 
 bound by the Education Act of 1902. The policy of '• passive resistance," if 
 adopted in a sufficiently complete and comprehensive fashion, can avail 
 to make the enforcement of any Act impossible.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 217 
 
 hesitation, demand an amendment of its constitution, since it 
 is but a thing of their own creation. 
 
 It cannot, in any case in its earher years, hope to possess the 
 support of the Unionists, for they will naturally regard it as a 
 committee of the Eadical Party, however much its partisan- 
 ship may be leavened by the admission of an infusion of 
 " impartial " senators. 
 
 Payment of Members. 
 
 Our Constitution then has with the passing of the Parlia- 
 ment Act only entered upon a period of change. The end is 
 far distant; and the ultimate solution defies conjecture. But 
 it is none the less a significant sign of the times that the first 
 important action of the House of Commons after the passing 
 of the Parliament Bill was to vote its Members salaries of 
 £400 a year. 
 
 Not less noteworthy than the fact itself was the method by 
 which it was effected. A change of the most far-reaching and 
 novel character, the appropriation of public money to private 
 advantage, was brought about by a simple retrospective 
 resolution of the House of Commons lest the public conscience 
 should be affronted by the revelations attending the passage of 
 a Bill. 
 
 The payment of members of Parliament introduces an 
 entirely new principle into our system of Government. The 
 tradition of gratuitous public service vanishes, and its place is 
 taken by the new principle of payment. It may be argued 
 that the salary is small in comparison with the services 
 rendered. But unless the British House of Commons displays 
 a self-denial which has not distinguished other legislative 
 assemblies, there seems little reason to believe that the amount 
 our legislators have now voted themselves will not be 
 considerably increased at some subsequent date. 
 
 Eepayment of Expenses. 
 
 Indeed, at its present amount, the salary voted is alleged to 
 represent not payment for services rendered, but merely a 
 grant towards the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by members
 
 218 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of Parliament in their public capacity. This explanation runs 
 somewhat counter to the intention of Mr. Asquith's Govern- 
 ment to make payment of members a substitute for the 
 salaries drawn by Labour Members of Parliament from Trades 
 Unions prior to the date of the Osborne Judgment, which 
 declared such apphcation of Union funds to be illegal. But it 
 tended to minimise the objections of those who were opposed 
 to the payment of a salary, but were in favour of the reim- 
 bursement of expenses. 
 
 The rejection by the Labour Party of the State payment of 
 members by way of an alternative to legislation reversing the 
 law as interpreted by the Osborne Judgment, induced the 
 Radical Party to favour the theory that payment of members 
 is only a recoupment of expenses incurred. But the payment 
 of the same amount to each member effectively disposes of 
 any such argument. To pay a member representing a small 
 and adjacent, the same amount as is received by the 
 representative of a large and remote, constituency is to ignore 
 all the essential factors of the problem. While one member 
 may profit, the expenses of another may considerably exceed 
 the £400 placed to his credit by the State. 
 
 The opinion is indeed widely held that the payment by the 
 State of returning officers' fees at elections, and of the expenses 
 incurred by a member in visiting his constituency is perfectly 
 justifiable. Repayment of the amount actually expended on 
 this account is not open to the same objection as the provision 
 of a fixed salary, since there can be no possibility of gain by 
 a member at the cost of the taxpayer, but only of payment of 
 out-of-pocket expenses. 
 
 The attitude of the Unionist Party in respect of this 
 matter has not been one of unyielding opposition, and sug- 
 gestions were made from their benches for the repayment of 
 actual official election and travelling expenses, while strong 
 opposition was offered to forcing salaries alike on the group 
 of members, in order to placate which the new policy was 
 adopted, and upon others, whose equal pride and pleasure it 
 was, and is, to serve the State to the utmost of their abihty 
 as a privilege and not for payment.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 219 
 
 Unionist Plans op Eeform. 
 
 So in respect of the constitutional crisis the Unionist Party, 
 abandoning its defence of the House of Lords as it was, put 
 forward a plan for the reconstruction of that House, and for 
 an ultimate appeal by Keferendum to the people on exceptional 
 occasions of national importance. Their attitude, no less 
 than that of their adversaries, was revolutionary, since they 
 entirely accepted the principal Radical contention to the 
 effect that a seat in the House of Lords ought not to be a 
 matter of mere hereditary right.* Indeed, the plan put for- 
 ward by the official leaders of the Party introduced novel 
 elements of selection and election from outside, f But this 
 proposal failed to satisfy their opponents, who professed and 
 preferred to see in the reconstructed House of Lords a 
 smaller, but still an, obstacle to the free passage of Liberal 
 legislation. Whether, with the certainty that their scheme 
 would not be accepted by their opponents, the Unionist Party 
 would not have been wiser to boldly defend the existing House 
 of Lords with all its imperfections, is a question which it is 
 now futile to discuss, but it is certainly matter for regret that 
 the Unionist leaders did not during their long tenure of 
 power reform and readjust the balance of parties in that 
 House. The preponderating Unionist element in the 
 Second Chamber, although it has not been brought about as 
 the result of deliberate packing by the Unionist Party but by 
 constant conversions to Conservatism on the part of holders 
 
 * " That a necessary preliminary of such reform and reconstitution is 
 the acceptance of the principle that the possession of a peerage should 
 no longer of itself give the right to site and vote in the House of Lords " 
 (Lord Rosebery's Third Resolution). 
 
 t See Lord Lansdowne's House of Lords Reconstitution Bill, No. 75 
 of 1911. According to the Memorandum attached to the Bill, the House 
 of Lords as reconstituted would contain rather less than 350 members, 
 composed as follows : 100 elected by hereditary Peers from among their 
 number who were qualified ; 120 to be elected for electoral districts by 
 electoral colleges composed of members of the House of Commons for 
 constituencies within each electoral district ; 100 appointed by the King 
 on the advice of the Ministers in proportion to the strength of parties in 
 the House of Commons ; 7 bishops and 16 Judicial Peers.
 
 220 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of peerages created by the Radical Party, undoubtedly, and 
 not unnaturally, gave rise to a feeling on the part of Radicals 
 that their measures could not be expected to receive impartial 
 consideration from the House of Lords as formerly constituted. 
 
 The Lords and Liberal Bills. 
 
 This impression has been entirely confirmed, in their opinion, 
 by the action of the House of Lords in respect of Radical legis- 
 lation. While that House passed w^ithout amendment, or with 
 amendments subsequently accepted by the House of Commons, 
 no less than 269 Bills, and only rejected, or amended beyond 
 agreement, eight measures '■' in the five years ending December, 
 1910, those which failed to pas^ were the principal legislative 
 schemes of the Radical Party.* x\ny peer classed as Unionist, 
 however much his votes might in his own mind be governed 
 by the demerits of the measures in question and not by party 
 considerations, was regarded as having deliberately contributed 
 to the wanton destruction of Radical Bills. 
 
 This attitude of the Upper House was contrasted with the 
 absence of opposition in respect of Unionist measures, and 
 the cry from the Radicals for more equal conditions became 
 insistent and universal. The most statesmanlike course would 
 probably have been to reform the House of Lords by delegating 
 its powers to representatives of the existing hereditary peerage, 
 whose actions would be entirely removed from any suspicion 
 of party considerations. But such a reform would not have 
 given the Radicals any certainty or guarantee that their 
 measures, once they passed the House of Commons, would 
 become law. They did not desire that any other body, how- 
 ever impartially composed, should have the power of rejecting 
 or amending their Bills. Hence they adopted the policy which 
 once and for all placed it beyond the power of the Second 
 Chamber to obstruct. And the I'esult is that Great Britain, 
 alone of Great Powers, is now governed by a single chamber, 
 
 * The Education Bill, 1906 ; Plural Voting Bill, 1906 ; Scottish Small 
 Holdings Bill, 1907 and 1908 ; Scottish Land Values Bill, 1907 and 1908 ; 
 Licensing Bill, 1908; London Elections Bill, 1908; Scottish House Letting 
 Bill, 1909; County Courts Bill, 1909.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 221 
 
 with no immediate prospect, at any rate, of the reconstitution 
 of the House of Lords on a satisfactory basis. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Parliament Act. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. It secures that the will of the people, as expressed by their representa- 
 tives iu the House of Commons, shall prevail. 
 
 2. It gives the House of Commons the last word in respect of general 
 legislation, and properly denies to the House of Lords any word in respect 
 of finance. 
 
 3. It properly removes from the House of Lords — a body representing 
 none but themselves —the absolute veto over legislation. 
 
 4. Since it is an obvious anachronism that an hereditary body should 
 continue to exercise this power in a democratic State the veto had to go, 
 just as the veto of the Crown has already gone, in order that the country 
 should enjoy a free and really democratic system of government. 
 
 5. Such reform has, moreover, been rendered necessary by the par- 
 tisan actions in respect of legislation of the House of Lords, which 
 rejected and mutilated the most important Liberal measures, but never 
 placed obstacles in the way of passing any Tory Bills. 
 
 6. The Act not only abolishes the power of the pennancnt Tory 
 majority in the House of Lords to reject Liberal legislation, but for 
 the first time accords equally favourable conditions to the measures of 
 all parties. 
 
 7. It does not introduce single-chamber government, since measures 
 must pass the House of Commons three times, and in a period of not less 
 than two years, before they can become law without the concurrence of 
 the House of Lords. 
 
 8. This period of delay is sufficient to secure revision of any measure, 
 or even to prevent it from becoming law, if opposition develops to an 
 extent which shows that general public opinion is not in its favour. 
 
 9. The Tories ought to be the last persons to object to single-chamber 
 government, since when they are in office the House of Lords passes all 
 their Bills without question and the country is governed by a single 
 chamber — a Tory House of Commons. 
 
 10. That nothing revolutionary has happened during such periods is 
 evidence that the dangers of single-chamber government are considerably 
 exaggerated. 
 
 11. The Parliament Act leaves to the House of Lords considerable 
 powers of delay, revision, and suggestion of amendment. 
 
 12. In fact, it leaves the House of Lords capable of properly performing 
 the true function of a Second Chamber, that of revision.
 
 222 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 13. The Act is justified by the admission even of Unionists that the 
 House of Lords has been an unfair assembly, out of touch with the 
 people, and having a permanent Tory majority. 
 
 14. Its representation is one-sided, giving too great a preponderance 
 to the land-owning classes, and insufficient weight to the commercial, 
 manufacturing, and industrial interests of the country. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The Act sets up what is practically single-chamber government. 
 
 2. That this is undesirable and dangerous is seen from the fact that 
 every great country, including even the most democratic in the British 
 dominions, has a double-chamber system of government and very strong 
 safeguards against constitutional changes such as have just been forced 
 upon Great Britain by the Coalition Government in 1911. 
 
 3. The advantages of the period of delay provided are illusory, and will 
 in practice prove to be of no value for impartial revision ; the passage of 
 Bills a second and third time in the House of Commons will be mere for- 
 malities ; and since that House denies to the House of Lords any claim to 
 represent the popular will, its wishes, amendments, and suggestions will 
 be treated with contempt. 
 
 4. A majority of the House of Commons may at any time be small and 
 obtained as the result of corrupt or other bargaining, and it ought not 
 to have the uncontrolled power of passing legislation of the gravest 
 consequence, without the express consent of the people. 
 
 5. The House of Lords has indeed never opposed the will of the people 
 when that will has once been clearly and definitely expressed in favour 
 of any measure. The fact is clear from the progressive march of 
 democracy in this country. 
 
 6. When a General Election has shown that the country was in favour 
 of a measure the House of Lords has never opposed its passage into law. 
 
 7. Though the General Election may be an inconclusive method of 
 ascertaining popular opinion on any particular measure as compared 
 with the Referendum, it is at least a better and surer gauge of popular 
 opinion than the judgment of a temporary majority in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 8. The Parliament Act is, in fact, only a device for passing a 
 Home Rule Bill without the necessity of first obtaining that consent of 
 the country, which there are excellent grounds for believing would be 
 withhold. 
 
 9. If the composition of the House of Lords is not perfect the fault lies 
 in part, at any rate, with the Radicals, who have created many more 
 peerages than the Unionists. 
 
 10. That Radical Peers have failed to give a continued support to their 
 Party is only another proof that the general tendencj' of all Second
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 223 
 
 Chambers is to be Conservative in character, as compared with Chambers 
 of first instance. 
 
 11. The real remedy for the existing state of affairs is a reform of the 
 House of Lords in the direction of making it an impartial assembly. 
 
 12. It is far from true that other than landed interests are not well 
 represented therein. Most of the new creations are made in favour of the 
 heads of great manufacturing and industrial concerns. 
 
 13. The Unionist Party have shown themselves entirely prepared to 
 reform the House of Lords and to make it more truly representative and 
 popular in character. 
 
 14. A strong Second Chamber of this nature, with the Referendum, 
 would make for stability of government, much more than the system 
 established by the Parliament Act, which, in effect, destroys the Second, 
 and allows no appeal to the people from the chance majorities of the 
 First, Chamber. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Eeferendum. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. It ensures in the clearest possible manner that the will of the people 
 shall prevail, and that measures shall not become law without the support 
 of a majority of the electorate. 
 
 2. It gives the electors the simple choice of an affirmative or negative 
 reply to the question whether they are or are not in favour of a given 
 legislative proposal. 
 
 3. It removes the greatest defects of our existing system under which 
 the Government enjoys all the power in the House of Commons, and 
 becomes the sole interpreter of what it asserts to be the will of the 
 people. 
 
 4. In practice members of Parliament support their Party and follow 
 their leader ; the theory that they possess, or at any rate act upon, 
 independent conviction is untenable. 
 
 5. The results of this rigid form of Party rule can be overcome by the 
 use of the Referendum in cases of great legislative importance. 
 
 6. The verdict of a General Election is taken upon a multitude of 
 conflicting and confused issues, which effectually prevent electors from 
 casting their votes upon any one selected question. 
 
 7. While there may be one issue in respect of which large numbers of 
 electors pre-eminently cast their votes, there is nothing to prevent the 
 Government, under the Parliament Act, from passing into law legislation 
 on any subject which was not before the electorate at the General 
 Election. 
 
 8. Therefore under the new conditions set up by the Parliament Act in 
 order to secure that nothing shall be passed into law which the majority
 
 224 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of the electors have not approved, it is more necessary than ever that 
 the Referendum should be established. 
 
 9. While a General Election by its verdict may show that the country 
 disapproves the old Government and desires that its acts, or some of them, 
 should be reversed, a new Government cannot proceed at once to repeal 
 any obnoxious legislation passed by its predecessor, even if there were no 
 doubts as to the precise measures the electors wished to reverse, which 
 without a Referendum is difficult of ascertainment. 
 
 10. If this were possible, the frequent enactment and repeal of laws is to 
 the last degree undesirable, and the better course is to make sure that 
 a measure is wanted before it is placed on the statute-book. 
 
 11. The Referendum is especially well adapted to decide questions in 
 dispute between the two Houses of Parliament, since it is a reference to 
 the final court of appeal — the electors. 
 
 12. It is also singularly well calculated to secure an unprejudiced 
 verdict on a particular legislative £>roJect without occasioning undue 
 disturbance, because, according to the practice of countries in which its 
 use prevails, an unfavourable verdict on an isolated issue does not 
 necessarily, or usually, result in the resignation of the Government. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The Referendum is an attack upon our present representative system, 
 which is the sure and satisfactory basis of liberty and self-government. 
 
 2. Its adoption would degrade the House of Commons by removing from 
 members the responsibility of interpreting the will of the people. 
 
 3. Complaints of Government control and want of independence on the 
 part of private members are exaggerated. So much is this the case that 
 it has happened within recent years that Governments have been com- 
 pelled to abandon or amend their legislative proposals as the result of 
 a hostile attitude on the part of those by whom they are generally 
 supported. 
 
 4. The ordinary elector cannot be expected to understand the technical 
 and complex provisions of Bills of many clauses, full of disputable and 
 controversial points. 
 
 5. The true theory is, that electors should decide upon the main 
 principles as advocated by political parties, and leave it to those members 
 of the House of Commons in whom they have put their trust to put these 
 principles into operation. 
 
 6. There is no analogy between the position of Great Britain and that 
 of a small country like Switzerland, or new communities like the States 
 of the Australasian Union, and it cannot therefore be fairly argued, from 
 the success of the Referendum in such cases, that it will work well in the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 7. The use of the Referendum will not avoid the turmoil and dislocation 
 of trade resulting from a General Election, because the same political
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 225 
 
 organisations would be at work and the same machinery would be 
 employed. 
 
 8. The Referendum would in fact frequently lead to an immediate second 
 General Election, since the defeat of an important Government Bill would 
 in practice often be followed by the resignation of the Ministry. 
 
 9. The adoption of the Referendum also involves an inconvenient 
 admission of the right of the people to initiate legislation outside the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 10. The Referendum fails to secure the popular verdict on a particular 
 measure because, as the experience of other countries proves, a 
 considerable proportion of the electorate fails to record its vote. 
 
 11. This would especially be the case in Great Britain if a Bill, which 
 in popular belief at any rate applied only to a portion of the country, 
 such as the Welsh Disestablishment Bill, were subjected to the 
 Referendiim. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Payment of 
 
 Members. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The principle has been repeatedly affirmed by the House of Commons 
 by considerable majorities. 
 
 2. In all the great Parliaments of the world — with the exception of 
 those of Spain and Italy — members are paid, and even in these two 
 countries contributions are made towards their expenses. 
 
 3. Payment of members in the British Parliament is only a reversion 
 to an earlier practice, with the difierence that members are now paid out 
 of the taxes, instead of out of the rates. 
 
 4. In recent years Parliament has made greatly increased demands on 
 the time and attention of members, to such an extent, indeed, as to 
 seriously circumscribe the area of choice. 
 
 5. Representation has been placed upon a democratic basis, and men of 
 limited means have been, and now more and more will be, elected to the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 6. Members of this class, however, unless paid when elected, are 
 considerably handicapped in their endeavours to be elected. 
 
 7. The democracy is consequently unable to command a wide field 
 of selection. 
 
 8. Men of limited means with a desire to serve the public were till now 
 debarred from the House of Commons, unless they were supported by some 
 political or industrial organisation. 
 
 9. In that case they incline to become representatives of the section 
 which supports them, and not of the whole body of their constituents. 
 
 10. Such conditions are undesirable, and can only be avoided by 
 payment by the State. 
 
 16
 
 226 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 11. The salary received by members will enable men of limited means 
 to live while attending Parliament without lessening their opportunities 
 of supplementing their incomes by professional work during such times 
 as they are free from their Parliamentary duties. 
 
 12. Payment for public service, which does not degrade a soldier, sailor, 
 or civil servant, should not degrade a member of Parliament. 
 
 13. There is no analogy with the case of local administration, which, 
 save for the exceptional instance of the London County Council, does not, 
 like Parliament, absorb practically the whole of the time of members for 
 at least half the year. 
 
 14. Local administration does not require attendances, as is gene- 
 rally the case wich Parliament, at a centre more or less remote from 
 home and business, but leaves its representatives at home with the greater 
 part of their time available for their private affairs. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Paid members of Parliament become the mere delegates of their 
 constituents rather than free representatives, and thus suffer a loss of 
 moral authority. 
 
 2. Payment provokes the disappearance of members occupied in other 
 walks of life, but possessed of sufficient leisure and inclination for public 
 duty in the House of Commons. 
 
 3. This has proved to be the case in the United States and Canada, 
 where great difficulty is experienced in inducing representative and 
 influential men to enter politics, which have thus become a by no 
 means highly esteemed profession. 
 
 4. The present type of representative vnll be replaced by the professional 
 politician, which will be a great loss to the House of Commons, and to 
 public life. 
 
 5. Payment of members will not necessarily lead to the larger represen 
 tation of the working classes by members of their own class, but by 
 professional agitators. 
 
 6. Such has been the experience of other countries wherein members 
 are paid. 
 
 7. Gratuitous public service is one of the glories of British public life, 
 and has produced the most happy results. 
 
 8. No Parliament in the world possessed a reputation for purity and 
 independence equal to that of the House of Commons before payment of 
 members was introduced. 
 
 9. The rate of pay will be increased, as it has been in other countries, 
 until the salary becomes a more serious burden on the taxpayer, and a 
 larger prize for the professional politician. 
 
 10. Payment induces corrupt bargaining between candidates and political 
 organisations. 
 
 11. There is no analogy between the payment of ministers and the pay-
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 227 
 
 meut of mombors ; the former have to give up thoir whole time to the 
 service of tha State, the latter should bo representatives of the people, 
 engaged in various callings rather than professional politicians, whose 
 good faith is often open to doubt. 
 
 12. Public men whose limited financial resources render a Parlia- 
 mentary candidature difficult in their case, but who.se qualities make 
 their adoption desirable, are few in number, and it would be better 
 in such exceptional cases to make exceptional payment, rather than to 
 waste public money by forcing it upon men whose pride it is to serve 
 unpaid. 
 
 13. Payment of members is not accepted by the Labour Party as 
 an alternative to reversal of the law as interpreted by the Osborne 
 Judgment, since it in no way gives them control for political purposes of 
 the funds of the Trade Unions. The object with which the change is 
 introduced therefore fails of attainment. 
 
 14. Payment will give an undesirable length of life to a Government, 
 since a dissolution will threaten many members with the loss of their 
 livelihood. 
 
 15. The adoption of this novel principle will inevitably lead to claims 
 for payment for the many services now gratuitously rendered in the 
 judicial, administrative, and local departments of public administration, 
 and will further add to the deplorable and unjustifiable increase in paid 
 offices, which the country has witnessed in the past six years. 
 
 Arguments For and Against Manhood Suffrage. 
 FOR. 
 
 1. It gives to every adult citizen, who is not obviously disqualified, 
 the right to vote. 
 
 2. Being based upon a broad and simple qualification it enables the 
 adult citizen without trouble to obtain the franchise. 
 
 3. It removes the absurd and technical qualifications which are re- 
 quired under the present law, and prevent many obviously qualified 
 citizens from getting the vote. 
 
 4. It is the only franchise possible in a truly democratic state, since 
 it alone ignores property as a necessary qualification. 
 
 5. It is the natural sequel to previous Acts extending the franchise to 
 the non-propertied class. 
 
 6. And further, reduces the indefensible influence of wealth and 
 property. 
 
 7. Since earlier extensions of the franchise have not resulted in bad 
 government or the introduction of undesirable elements into the adminis- 
 tration, it cannot be presumed that this further extension will weaken the 
 independence of Members of Parliament or of Ministers.
 
 228 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 8. Rather, by giving more individuals a direct interest in the govern- 
 ment of the country, will stability and good government be increased as 
 responsibility is extended. 
 
 9. Whatever may be the dangers to the State from the rule of 
 democracy, such will not be lessened by denying the franchise to a 
 number of citizens. 
 
 10. On the contrary, an unfranchised class being irresponsible and 
 outside the pale of citizenship is more likely to act violently and 
 dangerously, than a class of responsible voters. 
 
 11. Manhood suffrage will not however enfranchise any particular, or 
 undesirable, class, but will give the vote to many, who have at least as 
 great a stake in the country as some of the present electors. 
 
 12. It will enfranchise a large number of excellent citizens who for 
 technical reasons cannot now qualify. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The existing franchise is wide enough to secure the vote to all 
 responsible citizens. 
 
 2. It is rather necessary to limit the existing franchise, since ex- 
 perience shows that many undesirables at present have the vote. 
 
 3. Extension means cheapening the franchise, and tends to make 
 responsible voters hold their rights in light respect, and to take little 
 trouble to record their vote. 
 
 i. The vote should rather be the prized possession of the good citizen, 
 than the right of all sorts and conditions of men. 
 
 5. With the extension of the franchise to all adults, politicians will be 
 under great temptation to advocate confiscatory and socialistic legislation 
 to secure the votes of the "have nots" who greatly out-number the 
 «• haves." 
 
 6. This tendency is very apparent now, and would be further accentu- 
 ated if the electorate were enlarged by the addition of such as cannot even 
 satisfy the requirements of the existing law. 
 
 7. Such qualifications are so simple that every responsible citizen can 
 qualify for a vote. 
 
 8. Moreover, it would be perfectly easy to remove technical obstacles 
 without touching the principle of qualification for the franchise and, by 
 so doing, save the risk of grave danger to the State. 
 
 9. The proposed extension is moreover wholly contrary to the principle 
 of English franchise law, which is based upon the possession of local 
 interest in the constituency, and confers no right to vote on the individual 
 as such. 
 
 10. It will encourage and facilitate personation and other election 
 offences. 
 
 11. It will increase the cost of elections, and by enfranchising a 
 shifting population will make the results very uncertain.
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 229 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 So far as the Parliament Act and the action of the House of Lords are 
 concerned there are no other publications on the subject than those 
 issued by the Publication Departments of the political parties. The 
 arguments for and against the measure are best stated in the Debates in 
 both Houses of Parliament. Publications of a more permanent character 
 are, against the House of Lords, "The House of Lords: who they are 
 and what they have done," by Harold Spender ; and for the House of 
 Lords, " The Crusade against the Constitution: an Historical Vindication 
 of the House of Lords," by Sir William Charley. The latter volume, 
 although issued in 1895, is a remarkable exposure of the charge against 
 the Second Chamber of obstructing Radical legislation. "Our Old 
 Nobility," by Howard Evans {Morning Leader Office, 6d.), is an attack 
 upon the Peers individually and personally, and the widespread circula- 
 tion of the opinions expressed in the volume is doubtless responsible for 
 much of the ill-feeling excited against members of the House of Lords. 
 The composition of Second Chambers, their powers, and the steps 
 necessary to secure an amendment of the Constitutions in the principal 
 countries are detailed in " Modern Constitutions in Outline," by L. Alston 
 (Longmans, 2s. 6d. net). The Composition and Functions of Second 
 Chambers in other countries are dealt with in Cd. 382i of 1907 (price 7d.), 
 and in British Colonies in House of Commons Paper, No. 81 of 1910 
 (price 2Jd.). 
 
 Publications on the Referendum are "The Referendum in Switzer- 
 land," by S. Deploige ; "Against the Referendum," by Miss Jane 
 Stoddart ; and " An Appeal to the Nation," by Professor Dicey (Murray), 
 being a treatise, by a supporter, on the Referendum in its relation to 
 British politics. The Quarterly Review for April, 1911, contains an article, 
 " The Referendum in Operation." 
 
 Payment of Members has not been dealt with in separate publications. 
 The Party literature supplies the arguments for and against, and the 
 Parliamentary Debates should also be consulted.
 
 CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 
 
 TT is doubtful whether any one, outside the ranks of 
 J- poHtical agents and of the few lawyers who specialise in 
 such matters, really understands the intricacies of our fran- 
 chise laws. And even these experts are subject to surprises, 
 judgment being often given on some disputed point of law, 
 which entirely upsets their calculations. 
 
 Simplification Necessary. 
 
 Irrespective of party, a case can easily be made out for the 
 simplification of the franchise. The right to a vote should be 
 simple of proof, and should not rest on technicalities. That 
 is the ideal. In reality, however, a vote is often hard to 
 obtain. This is partly, no doubt, due to the complicated 
 character of the law ; and since elections are often lost and 
 won in the revision courts, it would be against human nature 
 for political agents either to abstain from getting their own 
 supporters on the register, or from securing the disfranchise- 
 ment of opponents, even on purely technical grounds. 
 
 The counsel of perfection is that the preparation of the 
 register should be the work solely of public officials. In 
 theory that is the case now, and it is doubtful whether the 
 authors of the present registration laws ever contemplated that 
 party agents would occupy the prominent position which they 
 do to-day in the registration courts. Whatever provisions 
 were enacted with the object of making registration an official 
 and not a party matter, it would seem impossible to keep the 
 party agent out of the business. If he were eliminated some 
 kind of provision would have to be made for raising objec- 
 tions to proposed voters, and for dealing with claims to be 
 
 230
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 231 
 
 placed on the register. Although in the former case the 
 objector might be a private elector, and in the latter the man 
 might have to prove his claim himself, there would be no 
 means of preventing all the real work being done in the back- 
 ground by the political agents. Indeed, this is inevitable, 
 since all that the party agents are striving to effect depends on 
 the vote. 
 
 Suggested Reforms. 
 
 While the exclusion of the party factor from the registra- 
 tion courts is probably impossible, there is much room in 
 other respects for the simplification of the law. The present 
 period of qualification is generally regarded as too long, and it 
 operates in an anomalous manner to deprive citizens of the 
 franchise. In the case of the most common — the household — 
 franchise the inhabitant, either as owner or tenant, must have 
 occupied the qualifying premises for twelve months preceding 
 July 15th in any year. The register, which is made up in July 
 of any one year, does not, generally speaking,* come into 
 operation until January of the following year.j As a conse- 
 quence a householder may have to wait thirty months before 
 qualifying as a voter. I He would, however, if already quali- 
 fied, retain his vote in his former constituency for eighteen 
 months. During that period he becomes one of the army of 
 
 • In England and Wales the Parliamentary Register comes into opera- 
 tion on January 1st, in Scotland on November 1st, and in Ireland on 
 January 1st. 
 
 t The revision courts are not over until October 12th, and the new register 
 is not finally settled until they are completed. It is doubtful whether the 
 period between July 15th and the first day for holding the courts — Septem- 
 ber 8th — could be shortened. Some time must necessarily elapse between 
 the first publication of the lists and the sittings of the registration courts 
 to allow of claims and objections being made. The election of December, 
 1910, except in Scotland, was consequently fought upon a register made 
 up in July, 1909, for which a householder's qualification had to begin in 
 some period not later than July, 1908. But the verdict is regarded as an 
 expression of the people's will as it existed in December, 1910 1 
 
 I A tenancy begun on July 16, 1911, would not qualify the householder 
 until July, 1913, and the register would not come into force until 
 January 1, 1014,
 
 232 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 " removals," the tracing of which is an agent's despair during 
 an election on a " stale " register. 
 
 The grievance, which is undoubtedly felt by electors, in 
 respect of the period of qualification is not lightened by the 
 law which enables an elector who moves from one house 
 to another in the same constituency or division of a con- 
 stituency to keep his vote by claiming " successive occu- 
 pation." Curious anomalies arise in the exercise of 
 his privilege. In a large county it is possible for a man 
 to move many miles in one direction and retain his 
 vote, but if he lives on the edge of the constituency he may 
 only have to move a few yards in the other direction into 
 another county to lose it. In London it is often enough to 
 cross the road to be deprived ot the vote.''' This indefensible 
 situation points to the need of extending the principle of 
 "successive occupation" to cover removals from one con- 
 stituency to another. 
 
 The Qualifying Period. 
 
 Another remedy for the removal of the preliminary difficulty 
 in obtaining a vote is a reduction in the qualifying period . 
 Some period, however, is necessary, and opinion in some 
 quarters has favoured three months. A longer time than 
 that, it is declared, would inflict a hardship upon working men 
 who are often compelled to change their residence in the 
 search for employment. Others regard three months as too 
 short a time, which would tend to place the really resident 
 population in a constituency at the mercy of a floating and 
 less responsible section. The adoption of so brief a qualifica- 
 tion would certainly increase the difficulties of registration 
 and possibly encourage personation and fraud. More moderate 
 and acceptable opinion points towards a reduction of the 
 present qualifying period to six months in addition to an 
 an extension of the principle of successive occupation. 
 
 * The London Elections Bill, 1909, would have removed this anomaly 
 by making London a single parliamentary borough. The real object of 
 this measure, however, was to abolish plural voting in London, and it was 
 rejected by the House of Lords.
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 233 
 
 The Lodger Fbanchise. 
 
 In a hardly less degree, however, the law requires amend- 
 ment in respect of the lodger franchise. While the occupier 
 of lodgings of £10 annual value unfurnished is entitled to a 
 vote, he must claim every year.''' Lodger claims, indeed, form 
 the main matter for contention by party agents at revision 
 courts. Under an energetic agent the numbers invariably 
 rise, the voters not being lodgers in the strict sense of the 
 word, but often sons, for instance, living with their parents. 
 This qualification in respect of annual value is usually very 
 loosely interpreted, and the present tendency is to grant the 
 lodger vote except where obvious disqualifications exist. 
 The advantages of the household over the lodger franchise 
 have already been mentioned, and there has consequently 
 arisen a tendency to claim, wherever possible, under the 
 household franchise. The practice of letting houses to more 
 than one family causes considerable confusion, and leaves 
 the decision whether claimants are entitled to the lodger 
 or householder franchise to be settled upon minor considera- 
 tions. 
 
 Not less difficult to defend upon logical grounds is the 
 "service" franchise, especially in relation to conditions of 
 domestic service. This entitles a man who inhabits a dwelling- 
 house by virtue of any office, service, or employment to a 
 vote, so long as the person under whom he serves does not 
 live in the same house. Thus the coachman, gardener, 
 and lodge-keeper obtain a vote which is denied to the butler, 
 footman, and valet. 
 
 The anomalies of the franchise naturally give reformers 
 opportunities of making a good case for amendment. Their 
 demands, however, go far beyond a readjustment of the 
 existing system, for they desire to bring about changes which 
 materially affect the foundations of the franchise. 
 
 * Consequently when a lodger changes his lodgings from one house to 
 another — even in the same constituency — he loses his vote for at least 
 twelve months. When he becomes a householder the same situation 
 arises.
 
 234 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Adult Suffbage. 
 
 Adult suffrage especially is put forward as a cure for all the 
 evils of the franchise system, and not only would its adoption 
 include manhood suffrage, but, as was thought, votes for 
 women also, upon the same terms as for men, 
 
 Mr. Asquith has however announced that his Government 
 will introduce a manhood suffrage bill at an early date, and 
 will leave it to the House of Commons to amend it by the 
 inclusion of women, if so desired. 
 
 Many supporters of manhood suffrage would, however, 
 shrink from admitting the universal application of the prin- 
 ciple that the attainment of a specified age entitles the male 
 citizen to a vote. Otherwise it would be impossible to deny a 
 parliamentary system to India or Egypt, or voting power 
 equal to that enjoyed by white men to natives of South 
 Africa. These instances are merely given to show that the 
 principle of universal manhood suffrage is hardly practical 
 politics. It should always at least be provided that citizens 
 before receiving votes must satisfy some authority ad hoc that 
 they are fit and proper persons to exercise this privilege. 
 While there is general agreement that the franchise should 
 not be conferred upon criminals and lunatics, a distinct diffi- 
 culty is experienced in prescribing such qualifying conditions 
 as shall exclude the citizen whose undesirability is less pro- 
 nounced than that of the criminal or lunatic, but shall at the 
 same time be broad enough to include every average citizen 
 whatever his rank in life, the amount of his possessions, or 
 the extent of his intellectual capacity. 
 
 Our Franchise System. 
 
 The English franchise system has not been the creation of a 
 single autocratic administrator, but has grown up with the 
 passage of centuries. In the beginning the exercise of the 
 franchise was much restricted, but the conditions of education 
 and popular intelligence were not such as commended to the 
 legislators of those days a liberal extension. If the possession 
 of landed property was the chief qualification for a vote, it was
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 235 
 
 because ownership of land was roughly a fair indication of educa- 
 tion and fitness for participation in public affairs. "Where the 
 landed property qualification was low abuses resulted, as in 
 the case of the 40s. freehold franchise in Ireland. No one 
 would assert that the verdict of electors of this class, although 
 the result of a popular vote, was any better indication of the 
 popular will, than a verdict taken upon a more restricted 
 franchise. 
 
 Its Extensions. 
 
 With the spread of education, however, the franchise was 
 extended. Although property qualifications were then excluded , 
 nevertheless so far as the main, the household, franchise is 
 concerned, the position of the voter as a tenant and payer of 
 the current poor rate indicates a certain standing. The com- 
 plications that attend this primarily simple franchise are due 
 to the extension to other than householders proper, who were 
 considered to be justly entitled to a vote. Hence the addition 
 to the "household" franchise of a series of supplementary 
 "lodger" and " service " claims. These may indeed contain 
 the germ of manhood suffrage, and it may be conceded that age 
 plus a simple qualification should under democratic government 
 establish the right to a vote. So long as that right was 
 restricted to the possessors of a certain amount of property, no 
 necessity arose for these supplementary franchises ; but when 
 the "household" franchise obliterated the property quali- 
 fication, the hard cases of men who were fully qualified for a 
 vote, except that in a technical sense they were not " house- 
 holders," required and received special attention and reasonably 
 favourable treatment. 
 
 Generally speaking, however, the franchise of the United 
 Kingdom approximates to manhood suffrage. The new Census 
 figures do not yet allow a comparison to be made between the 
 number of males qualified by age, and the actual number of 
 voters. In any such comparison it should be remembered 
 that, apart from those disqualified as criminals, lunatics, and 
 paupers, there are large numbers who do not trouble to claim 
 the vote. Particularly is this noticeable in the case of lodgers, 
 and further allowance would have to be made for such as have
 
 236 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 failed to qualify owing to the complicated and illogical charac- 
 ter of many of the franchise laws to which reference has already 
 been made. Their simplification could be carried out without 
 arousing violent party strife, if the proposals made were free 
 from any suspicion of party gain, and political gerryman- 
 dering. 
 
 Women's Suffrage. 
 
 The impetus which the coming of a Liberal Government in 
 1906 gave to all desirable, and undesirable, reforms was in no 
 instance more pronounced than in relation to woman suffrage. 
 
 Numerous societies, leagues, and unions were established to 
 press forward this question, which, however, differed on 
 matters of policy, and even on the particular franchise which 
 the women desired. Some adopted "militant" tactics and 
 made demonstrations by waylaying, interrupting, and attacking 
 Cabinet Ministers, and coming into conflict with the police. 
 Others repudiated these tactics, and contented themselves 
 with the more orthodox methods of agitation. Both schools 
 have recently combined to support a measure known as the 
 " Conciliation " Bill. No one will under-rate the energy and 
 enthusiasm which the advocates of women's suffrage have 
 shown in their cause, but they have made little or no 
 impression upon the male elector, who has, however, generally 
 speaking, allowed himself to be interested and amused. The 
 woman speaker in the street-corner was a welcome change 
 from the ordinary open-air orator. These enthusiasts have 
 been treated with kindly tolerance because the male elector has 
 hitherto declined to take them and their demand at all 
 seriously. While they have enlisted the support of many 
 members of Parliament, there is a solid array of sound opinion 
 outside, less vocal than weighty, entirely opposed to women's 
 suffrage. It is well understood that many, perhaps most, of the 
 members who vote for it rely, or once relied, on the House 
 of Lords, or a saving sense of sanity in the public, to undo 
 their deeds. They vote from complaisance, to redeem an 
 election promise, from a desire to escape worry, from a general 
 disposition to yield to anything in the way of pressure, and
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 237 
 
 think little harm will be done. Women helped in their 
 election, they must in tm'n help women. 
 
 The question at Westminster, however, gains its interest 
 from the peculiar way in which it cuts across the ordinary 
 divisions of parties, and this cleavage, is reflected in the country ; 
 and when the real fight upon this issue comes, if it does come, 
 Conservatives may be seen rallying round Mr. Asquith, as 
 Liberals have, in this behalf, round Mr. Balfour. 
 
 Opposition to women's suffrage partakes of two characters. 
 There are out-and-out opponents who stand by the sex bar, 
 and there are those who would not be hostile if they could 
 be persuaded that it was possible to stop at a restricted 
 franchise, and that women would not also demand the right to 
 sit in Parliament. It has been the aim of the more astute 
 suffragists to capture moderate opinion, and their so-called 
 " Conciliation" Bill ■' is put forward as a united demand of a 
 moderate character. 
 
 It is provided by this measure that every woman possessed 
 of a household qualification, as defined by the Representation 
 of the People Act, 1884, shall be entitled to be registered as a 
 voter, and, when registered, to vote for the county or borough in 
 which the qualifying premises are situated. 
 
 The Bill denies women plural votes, a concession to 
 Liberal opinion ; and it seeks to conciliate moderate opinion by 
 restricting the franchise to those who directly or indirectly 
 pay rates. It does not forbid the vote to married women, but 
 prevents a wife exercising the franchise if her husband is 
 registered as a voter in the same parliamentary borough or 
 county division. 
 
 By its supporters it is estimated that the Bill will enfranchise 
 
 • House of Commons Bill, No. 6 of 1911. This measure differs from the 
 " Conciliation " Bill of 1910 (No. 180), inrespectof its title, of the omission 
 of the £10 occupation franchise, and of its treatment of married women. 
 The title of the Bill of 1911 is so altered that amendments can be moved 
 to extend its scope, and it restricts the enfranchisement of married 
 women, in deference to the fear that "faggot " votes would be created, by 
 preventing husband and wife from voting in the same constituency. 
 (See Brailsford, " The Conciliation Bill ; an Explanation and a Defence," 
 Garden City Press, Letchworth.)
 
 238 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 1,000,000 women,* and it is the outcome of a compromise both 
 in respect of the qualification for the franchise, and in its 
 treatment of married woman. Many, probably most, suffragists 
 and their male supporters want adult suffrage, and have only 
 accepted this Bill as a recognition of the claim of women 
 householders to prior treatment. If it became law they would 
 still press forward the adult suffrage solution, which would give 
 between five or six million women the franchise — to which the 
 moderate supporters of the present Conciliation Bill f would 
 by no means agree. 
 
 Opponents of the Bill naturally protest that it was not 
 made an issue at the last General Election, and that the 
 question has never been before the country in any real or 
 effective sense. They object to so revolutionary a measure 
 being passed into law without a definite demand from the 
 people. They point out very properly that though the 
 advocates of the Bill may declare it to be of a most moderate 
 character, it is avowedly supported by many because it sanc- 
 tions the principle of votes for women, and is a mere instalment 
 of reform. 
 
 The case of opponents would be practically lost if this 
 principle were once conceded. They would have to fight 
 extensions of the suffrage not on the principle that " votes for 
 women " were inadmissible, but solely on the demerits of the 
 particular measures of extension before them at the time, and 
 their difficulties would be immensely increased by the fact 
 that these measures would also deal with extensions of the 
 franchise to men. There would in the future be no clear-cut 
 
 * See Sir George Kemp's speech, House of Commons, May 5, 1911. 
 Parliamentary Debates, vol. 25, p. 744. 
 
 f It was read a second time in the House of Commons on May 5, 1911. 
 The Government have promised facilities for the measure during 1912, a 
 day for Second Reading, and a week for the Committee stage, with a fair 
 chance for its promotors to overcome obstruction and make real progress, 
 and a further pledge that the G overnment will not intervene at the end of 
 a week if the House of Commons desires to proceed. (See Sir Edward 
 Grey's speech at the National Liberal Club, June 1, 1911.) The position, 
 however, is completely altered by the recent announcement of a Manhood 
 Suffrage Bill.
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 239 
 
 issue on the question of woman suffrage, and the country 
 might find itself in the position of being governed by a 
 majority of women before it realised the situation in which it 
 stood, or the dangers to which it had become subject. 
 
 Opponents of women suffrage, therefore, regard the " Con- 
 ciliation " Bill as a transparent effort to obtain assent to a 
 revolutionary principle by a thinly disguised pretence of 
 moderation. They oppose it altogether, using in this behalf 
 all the general arguments directed against the enfranchise- 
 ment of women. However restricted the immediate effect of 
 the measure may be, it involves a recognition of the principle 
 of sex equality, which is opposed alike by Conservative and 
 Liberal anti-suffragists as dangerous * and inadmissible. 
 
 Plubal Voting. 
 
 The Liberal Party is, however, united in demanding the 
 abolition of the "plural vote." Residence not being a 
 necessary qualification for the exercise of the ownership 
 franchise, the possession of land of sufl&cient value qualifies 
 the owner for a vote in every constituency in which he has 
 property.! This situation arises from the traditional theory of 
 the franchise that the ownership of land was the test of fitness 
 to vote, which is entirely contrary to the contemporary popular 
 claim that no man shall be denied a vote unless obviously dis- 
 qualified, and that to give undue weight to the holders of a 
 particular kind of property is indefensible. The position of 
 
 * The arguments for and against women suffrage are set out in the 
 summary at the end of this chapter. 
 
 t In counties the ownership franchise may be freehold, copyhold, or 
 leasehold. In no case is residence required. In boroughs the freehold 
 ownership vote qualifies the owner for the county vote, unless the freehold 
 is in his own occupation. In boroughs a copyhold or leasehold does not 
 qualify the owner for the county vote, if it qualifies himself or any other 
 person (i.e., his tenant) for the borough vote. The freeholder, copyholder, 
 and leaseholder in boroughs vote in an adjoining county constituency : 
 Surrey freeholders in the county of London in the Wimbledon division ; 
 Maidstone freeholders in the Medway division ; Manchester freeholders in 
 the Stretford division, and so on. This arrangement is denounced by 
 Liberals, who declare that resident Liberal opinion is swamped by Tory 
 " plural voters."
 
 240 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the plural voter gives rise to certain anomalies, for since no 
 man may cast more than one vote in any one constituency, a 
 large landowner whose property is compact and all situated in 
 such an area, has only one vote, while a smaller landowner 
 whose property is scattered over half a dozen counties has half 
 a dozen votes. Again, a City man may have one vote for his 
 office, another for his West End house, and a third for his 
 week-end cottage, though an entry on the ownership list does 
 not necessarily indicate the possession of a plural vote, since 
 the person whose name is entered may, of course, be resident 
 on the property. Plural voting also obtains in respect of 
 University seats. 
 
 As a class plural voters have earned the bitter hostility of 
 the Liberal Party, principally for the reason that they are 
 suspected of being, and probably for the most part are, Con- 
 servatives.* In 1906, by the Plural Voting Bill, and in 1909, 
 so far as London was concerned, by the London Elections 
 Bill, the Liberal Government tried to reduce the plural voter's 
 qualifications to a single vote. The somewhat devious methods 
 by which the result was to be attained lent colour to their 
 opponents' allegation that they were solely seeking party 
 advantage. Although both measures were rejected by the 
 House of Lords, it is an indication of the trend of public 
 opinion that the Peers did not attempt to defend the principle 
 of plural voting,! but only declined to accept a Bill which 
 merely dealt with one aspect and one branch of a great and 
 complicated subject, and made no attempt to remove the glaring 
 inequalities which exist in the distribution of electoral power. J 
 
 * The Liberal Magazine (January, 1911, p. 665) estimates that " the 
 property outvoter gives the Unionists at least thirty seats." In the same 
 number statistics are given showing the plural vote in certain con- 
 stituencies. See also " The Case for One Man, One Vote," issued by the 
 Liberal Publication Department, 42, Parliament Street, Westminster, S.W. 
 
 t So Mr. Balfour, when advocating the Eeferendum, said there would be 
 "no plural voting," and he added that as a result of its adoption " the 
 gross inequalities due to differences in the size of constituencies will be 
 avoided " (The Times, December 7, 1910). 
 
 I See Lord St. Aldwyn's motion, House of Lords, December 10, 1906, 
 and the debate on that occasion.
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 241 
 
 "One Vote, One Value." 
 
 It would seem, then, that the life of the plural voter will not be 
 prolonged beyond the introduction of a comprehensive scheme 
 of franchise reform and redistribution. To the cry of " one 
 man, one vote " the Unionist Party have very logically added 
 the demand for "one vote, one value." Indeed, unless each 
 vote has the same value the equality so ardently desired by 
 real reformers is not secured. The real reformer, as dis- 
 tinguished from the party gerrymanderer, demands equal 
 electoral districts throughout the country, and would deal with 
 the question of the plural vote as part of a great scheme, of 
 which redistribution should be the chief feature. 
 
 At the present time, in order to secure an indisputable 
 expression of the will of the people, this is the one and only 
 counsel of absolute necessity. It is a peculiarity of our electoral 
 system that the basis of representation is not electors but 
 population ; and as since 1884 there has been no redistribution 
 measure, changes of population have produced most unequal 
 constituencies. Some have increased enormously in size, 
 others have declined, and an unequal distribution of electoral 
 power is the result. One vote, indeed, may have twenty times 
 greater value than another." 
 
 The Need for Redistribution. 
 
 The attitude of the House of Commons towards this question 
 shows the Party system in its most unfavourable light, and 
 the opposition of the smaller constituencies to any scheme 
 involving their extinction as separate entities is a factor with 
 which the House has to reckon. The Unionist Government 
 did introduce a scheme of redistribution in 1905, which was, how- 
 
 Halifax . . . 
 
 
 101,556 inhabitants 
 
 Two members. 
 
 Huddersfield 
 
 
 107,825 
 
 One member. 
 
 Bath 
 
 
 50,729 
 
 Two members. 
 
 West Ham 
 
 
 28<J,192 
 
 Two members. 
 
 Wandsworth 
 
 
 311,402 
 
 One member. 
 
 Montgomery ] 
 
 Dist. 
 
 17,791 
 
 One member. 
 
 Kilmarnock B 
 
 urghs 
 
 105,081 
 
 One member. 
 
 Kilkenny 
 
 
 13,112 
 
 17 
 
 One member.
 
 242 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 ever, dropped.* Indeed, it met with no very general support, 
 and no attempt has since been made to deal v^itb the question, 
 notwithstanding that Mr. Asquith so far back as January, 1902, 
 admitted that the existing state of distribution called "for 
 speedy remedy."! Redistribution must of necessity be one 
 of the last acts of a Parliament ; but the real difficulty, 
 especially in the present situation of affairs, is the Irish 
 Nationalist vote. Mr. Redmond's followers, representatives to 
 a great extent of small constituencies, are naturally intolerant 
 of change which would reduce their numbers and power at 
 Westminster. Their opposition is based on the Act of Union, 
 which they declare cannot be altered without general consent. J 
 They declare that it would be unjust to deprive Ireland of her 
 present representation by reason of her decreasing population, 
 which is due to the absence of Irish Home Rule, and to the 
 unwise administration of an Imperial Parliament ignorant of 
 Irish conditions. 
 
 It may be taken for granted for the immediate present that 
 redistribution is postponed until after the passing of Home 
 Rule, whereby Irish representation in the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment must be largely modified. 
 
 Methods of Representation. 
 
 Meanwhile men's minds have turned towards other pro- 
 posals for securing a more accurate representation of the 
 
 * It was decided to proceed by a resolution which was introduced into 
 the House of Commons on July 13, 1905 ; but on the decision of the 
 Speaker that it ought to be divided into eight or nine separate parts, to be 
 discussed seriatim in Committee, it was withdrawn. The principles upon 
 which the Government then in power proposed to carry out the redistri- 
 bution were detailed in a memorandum by Mr. Gerald Balfour, M.P., the 
 President of the Local Government Board (Cd. 2602 of 1905). 
 
 t On an amendment to the Address on January 26, 1902, Mr. Asquith 
 said : " I think we are all agreed that the existing state of our represen- 
 tation as regards distribution is anomalous and indefensible, and calls for 
 speedy remedy " (Parliamentary Debates, vol. 101, p. 1332). 
 
 + The Act of Union gave Ireland one hundred representatives in' the 
 House of Commons. By the Reform Act of 1832 the number was increased 
 to 105 and by the Reform Act of 1885 reduced to 103.
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 243 
 
 popular will at Westminster.* The breaking up in this 
 country of the " two-party " system has led in many con- 
 stituencies to more than two candidates standing for one seat, 
 and the result produced by existing conditions, which give the 
 voter only one opportunity of expressing a preference, leaves 
 much to be desired. Indeed, it often happens, as a result of 
 three or more candidates standing, that the one at the head 
 of the poll represents only a minority of electors voting, f 
 
 Of the various schemes put forward, two require an absolute 
 majority in single-member constituencies, while others, being 
 particularly designed to ensure the representation of minorities, 
 apply in the case of multi-member constituencies. Of the 
 former type, are the second ballot and the alternative vote ; of 
 the latter, the limited vote, the cumulative vote, the transferable 
 vote (more generally known as proportional representation),! 
 and the list system. 
 
 The Second Ballot. 
 
 Under the Second Ballot system a candidate, to be returned, 
 must obtain an absolute majority of the valid votes cast. If 
 
 • A Royal Commission was appointed in 1908 " to examine the various 
 schemes which have been adopted or proposed in order to secure a fully 
 representative character for popularly elected legislative bodies, and to 
 consider whether and how far they, or any of them, are capable of appli- 
 cation in this country in regard to the existing electorate." It reported 
 in 1910 (Cd. 5163). 
 
 t There have been many cases ; but the anomaly was shown in its most 
 extreme form at a by-election in the Atterclifie Division of Sheffield, 
 when four candidates ran, and the poll resulted as follows : — 
 
 Pointer (Lab.) 3,531 
 
 King-Parlow (C.) 3,380 
 
 Lambert (Lib.) 3,174 
 
 Muir Wilson (I.G.) 2,803 
 
 The first named was declared dvily elected, although he had but a little 
 over a quarter of the votes cast. 
 
 I Strictly speaking, all schemes of the latter type are schemes of 
 proportional representation. The name here has become specially 
 attached to the transferable vote from the fact that that is the plan 
 advocated by the Proportional Representation Society (179, St. Stephen's 
 House, Westminster, S.W.).
 
 244 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the election produces no such definite result, it becomes 
 necessary to hold another election, at which, in the case of 
 a single -member constituency, only the two candidates who 
 were first and second on the first poll compete. '•= This system 
 is in operation in Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, 
 Russia, and in most of the smaller European States. It has, 
 however, great and obvious defects. A second election within 
 a short time is necessary, candidates are put to much extra 
 expense, and the disturbance to business which an election 
 causes is considerably prolonged. There would also be no 
 little diificulty in inducing electors to record their votes for a 
 second time in a short period, and during the interval un- 
 desirable "log-rolling" is likely to take place. t 
 
 The Alternative Vote. 
 
 The Alternative Vote system is designed to avoid the 
 necessity for a second ballot by giving the elector on the first 
 occasion an opportunity of indicating the order of his 
 preference for the candidates by placing them consecutively on 
 his ballot card, 1, 2, 3, and so on. In the example of three 
 candidates for one seat, where one candidate has not secured an 
 absolute majority, the third drops out, and his papers, and of 
 course his only, are examined with the object of ascertaining 
 the second preferences of those who have voted for him. The 
 system is far from perfect in securing the return of the 
 candidate most desired, since the examination of all the papers 
 is not undertaken for ascertaining second preferences. There 
 is too the likelihood that a large percentage of voters will fail 
 to record a second preference. ^ Notwithstanding its im- 
 perfections, the Royal Commission recommends its adoption 
 in single-member constituencies as " the best method of 
 
 * The principle is the sarae where there is more than one seat to be 
 filled. If less than the required number of candidates obtain the 
 necessary majority, two candidates again submit themselves for each 
 seat. 
 
 t Report of Royal Commission on Electoral Systems, Cd. 5163, par. 17. 
 
 J; In Australia the average number of second preferences used is 65 per 
 cent. (Cd. 5163, par. 22).
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 245 
 
 removing the most serious defect which a single-member 
 system can possess — the return of minority candidates." ■■'• 
 
 The Cumulative Vote. 
 
 The other systems for securing more accurate representation 
 involve the reconstruction of our system of single-member 
 constituencies.! Of such systems the Cumulative Vote has 
 already been tried in this country in connection with the 
 School Board elections. The voter is given as many votes 
 as there are candidates, and can spread them over as many 
 candidates as he pleases or plump for one candidate. The 
 Commission state that this system has secured the representa- 
 tion of religious minorities and of women on the School Boards, 
 but they add that it " stands self-condemned " from the fact 
 that " its successful operation requires the implicit obedience 
 of the elector to the directions of the party manager." I 
 
 Propoetional Representation. 
 
 Of systems designed to effect the representation of parties 
 in strict proportion to their strength at the polls, there are 
 said to be some three hundred in existence. Two alone have 
 commanded attention — the system of the Belgian List and 
 that of the Transferable Vote, advocated by the Proportional 
 Representation Society. 
 
 The List System. 
 
 The Belgian system involves the preparation of lists of 
 candidates in an order of preference, which has received sup- 
 port from a body of not less than one hundred electors. The 
 voter supports the whole group in the given order, or chooses 
 some one candidate to head the list, and the seats are appor- 
 tioned to each group in proportion to the number of votes it 
 
 * Cd. 5163, par 26. The " alternative vote " and its defects are 
 treated at length in pars. 18-27 of the Report. 
 
 t Excluding the three two-member Universities, there are only twenty- 
 four two-member constituencies in the boroughs. These, it is said, were 
 retained in 1885 as a result of Mr. Gladstone's "personal sentiments" 
 (Cd. 5163, par. 8). 
 
 J Cd. 5163, par. 43. It is not used anywhere for political elections.
 
 246 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 obtains.* The order of election in each group is regulated by 
 the "straight" vote which supports the order as printed on 
 the list, and by the individual choice which each elector may 
 exercise. The system is open to the obvious objection that it 
 gives immense power to party managers in arranging the order 
 in which the names shall be printed. 
 
 The Transferable Vote. 
 
 The Transferable Vote does not suffer from this serious 
 defect. As originally proposed it would have made the whole 
 of the United Kingdom one constituency. t 
 
 Practical considerations, however, prevented the adoption of 
 this ideal method of securing representatives irrespective of 
 party. Hare's scheme has undergone various changes, | and 
 at the present time the proposals for the adoption of the 
 Transferable Vote as advocated by the Proportional Repre- 
 sentation Society are as follows : — 
 
 The constituencies would be larger than they are, and would 
 return three or more members. § Each elector would have one 
 vote, and he would place the figure 1 opposite the candidate of 
 his first and the figure 2 opposite the candidate of his second 
 choice, and so on. 
 
 A candidate to insure election must poll a certain proportion 
 of the votes cast, which is known as the quota, and is ascer- 
 tained by dividing the total number of votes cast by a number 
 exceeding by one the number of seats to be filled, and adding 
 one unit to the result. 
 
 Candidates who have received the quota are declared elected. 
 All the votes of those candidates who have received more than 
 
 • Special provision has to be made for dealing with fractions involving 
 the odd seat. See Cd. 5163, pars. 49-52, and for the French modification 
 of the Belgian system, par. 55. 
 
 t By Thomas Hare, in his book, " The Machinery of Representation," 
 1859. The transferable vote received the powerful support of John Stuart 
 Mill, in "Representative Government," first published in 1861, and later 
 in the debates on the Reform Bill of 1867. 
 
 I See Cd. 5163, pars. 64-66. 
 
 § The Royal Commission suggest seven, with nine or ten in populous 
 areas (Cd. 5163, par. 79).
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 247 
 
 the quota are then examined for preferences. These are trans- 
 ferred in strict proportion to the surplus votes to the unelected 
 candidates/'' and such of these as have obtained the quota by 
 the transfer of surplus votes are then also declared elected. 
 
 The candidates lowest on the poll are eliminated one after 
 another, and their votes are transferi*ed to the second prefer- 
 ences. This process is continued until the required number 
 of candidates have obtained the quota, or by elimination the 
 number of candidates is reduced to the number of seats still 
 vacant. 
 
 The Proportional Representation Society claim for their 
 system that it reproduces public opinion in its true propor- 
 tions, securing majority rule, and a hearing for considerable 
 minorities. It would give electors a wider freedom of choice 
 and representatives greater independence. Its adoption is 
 retarded because it is wholly alien to our present system of 
 representation through single-member constituencies. 
 
 Where this objection is absent the proportional method of 
 the Single Transferable Vote has commended itself as prac- 
 ticable to our legislators, and has been largely used in Lord 
 Lansdowne's proposals for reconstituting the House of 
 Lords.! 
 
 If our present system is in the main to be retained, the 
 Alternative Vote seems best adapted to prevent a minority 
 man being returned in three-cornered contests with the least 
 disturbance to the existing arrangement of representation. 
 
 From this brief presentment of the subjects treated in this 
 chapter it is obvious that the Franchise and Redistribution 
 Bills, now overdue, are likely to give rise to much political 
 discussion and many heated and prolonged controversies. 
 
 • In the earlier proposals the returning officer took at random from the 
 elected candidates' votes a number equal to the surplus above the quota. 
 This rough-and-ready method introduced an element of chance and opened 
 the door to a possible manipulation of the voting papers chosen for 
 examination for second preferences. It is now proposed to re-sort all the 
 elected candidates' votes according to second preferences, and to give to 
 the remaining candidates not all the votes cast for them, but that number 
 which bears its proper proportion to the number of surplus votes available. 
 
 t See House of Lords Bills, No. 75 of 1911.
 
 248 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Arguments Fob and Against Women's Supfbage. 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The claim to the vote is good because women have a large stake in 
 the country ; they are subject to its laws, and they pay a fair proportion 
 of the taxes. 
 
 2. Women are equally interested in the welfare of the State with men, 
 and should have equal opportunities for making their views known. 
 
 3. While it is true that there are differences between men and women, 
 the very existence of these differences justifies the claim for the vote, 
 since if men and women were alike the representation of men would 
 include that of women. 
 
 4. It is unjust that women should be taxed for public purposes and be 
 denied a voice in public expenditure. 
 
 5. Without the vote women have no voice in making laws, which they 
 have to obey. 
 
 G. So long as this sense of grievance and injustice exists among women 
 they caunot be expected to co-operate loyally in obeying and respecting 
 the law. 
 
 7. Women are intellectually as capable of exercising the vote as men. 
 
 8. The nation suffers a loss by denying to capable women a voice in the 
 election of members of Parliament. 
 
 9. Satisfactory proof that women will rise to the level of their new 
 responsibilities, when they get the vote, is afforded by the fact that they 
 do for the most part, and in no less degree than men, faithfully and 
 conscientiously fulfil the duties now entrusted to them. 
 
 10. Women have shown their ability for the conduct of public affairs by 
 their work on local and municipal councils, which has given satisfaction 
 not only to themselves, but to the public. 
 
 11. Women already take a considerable part in political life as can- 
 vassers and speakers, and their womanly qualities are not in consequence 
 impaired. 
 
 12. If women are unable to form a judgment on political issues, they 
 ought not, as now, to be allowed to persuade other people, but should be 
 kept altogether out of politics. 
 
 13. Their political influence will be no more destroyed by the possession 
 of the vote than has that of the various classes of men who have won the 
 franchise. 
 
 14. The concession of the vote to women on the terms on which it is 
 now enjoyed by men will certainly not be without injustice, since our 
 franchise laws are full of imperfections ; but it will at least be less unjust 
 than the refusal of the vote to all women. 
 
 15. The proposal to enfranchise women householders proceeds on the 
 principle of giving the vote first to those who have the more urgent claim, 
 since women householders have to pay rates and taxes.
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 240 
 
 16. Adult suffrage, it is true, would place the majority of votes in the 
 hands of women, but no greater danger need result than has resulted 
 from the majority of votes being, as is now the case, in the hands of the 
 working classes. 
 
 17. All the women are no more likely to vote on one side against all the 
 men than the working classes are to vote solidly as a class, which event 
 has not yet arrived. 
 
 18. There may be many practical difficulties in the way of the adoption 
 of women's suffrage ; every reform is surrounded by difficulties, which it is 
 the business of statesmen to overcome. 
 
 19. Physical force does not count to-day in the conduct of affairs ; to 
 say that every man may have to fight is playing with the question. 
 Indeed, the possibility that any of us may ever have to fight again is 
 explicitly denied by important sections in Imperial Parliament. 
 
 20. The ordinary elector is only so far concerned with the army and 
 navy that he expresses his agreement with the voting of supplies. 
 Women are equally qualified to take part in this, which is at present 
 allowed to be the only necessary and proper way in which to participate 
 in the defence of the country. 
 
 21. To say that the United Kingdom runs a greater risk by adopting 
 women suffrage than smaller communities have done by taking similar 
 action, is true not only of women suffrage, but of all political reforms, 
 which none the less have come in crowds and whole battalions. 
 
 22. Enfranchisement of women is no more likely ,to blunt their finer 
 qualities than higher education, which has had no such effect. Nature 
 has endowed them with certain qualities of which no Act of Parliament 
 can deprive them. 
 
 23. Queen Victoria, who from girlhood was immersed in political 
 affairs, showed herself in all the public and private relations of life 
 entirely womanlike. 
 
 24. The concession of a vote to the ordinary women elector will not 
 have any greater tendency to lead her to spend laborious days in politics, 
 to the neglect of her home life, than it has had in the case of the ordinary 
 male elector, who does not as a rule neglect his business for politics. 
 
 25. To say that the enfranchisement of women would lead to 
 differences in domestic life is to give undue weight to the axiom that 
 domestic peace can only be purchased by the suppression of opinion. 
 
 2G. Women even now cannot be prevented from expressing their 
 opinions on political subjects in their homes, and peace is less likely to 
 be preserved so long as they have no power to give effect to their views. 
 
 27. Neither in Australia nor in New Zealand has the State experienced 
 any danger from the enfranchisement of women. 
 
 28. In matters of defence and of Imperial import women electors in 
 Australia have shown themselves as far-seeing and as discriminating as 
 men.
 
 250 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 29. The enfranchisement of women there made elections more orderly, 
 and has resulted in greater prominence being given to legislation particu- 
 larly affecting women and children. 
 
 30. The statistics showing the nimibers of electors voting in New 
 Zealand prove that women are not indifferent to the vote, which they 
 use when they have it. 
 
 31. It is intolerable that female workers should have to labour under 
 conditions, which are regulated solely by politicians of the other sex. 
 
 32. When women get the vote they will ensure that their own labour is 
 no longer underpaid, and men will thus gain, since they will not be 
 displaced to make room for cheap female labour. 
 
 33. The enfranchisement of women will prevent the sphere of women's 
 labour being narrowed, as it now is, by Parliament and the Trade Unions. 
 
 34. The wages of women are lowered by their unprotected and voiceless 
 position in the labour market. 
 
 35. In Australia the vote has led to the establishment of a minimum 
 wage for women as well as for men. 
 
 36. The power of the vote is seen in the case of the miners, who have 
 secured an eight-hour day ; women workers, having no vote, are sweated. 
 
 37. Many laws relating to women, being enacted by men, are unjust. 
 
 38. Although the law relating to the property of married women may 
 now be satisfactory, no women can regard the long struggle that was 
 necessary to secure justice with any satisfaction, or believe that if women 
 had possessed votes it would not have been sooner obtained. 
 
 39. Political power is required to amend the divorce laws under which 
 women can be divorced for one kind of offence, while offences of two kinds 
 must be proved against their husbands before divorce is possible. 
 
 40. And to alter the laws which deprive wives of all control over and 
 custody of their children, and make the husband the sole guardian. 
 
 41. Nearly seventy town and city councils have passed resolutions in 
 favour of woman suffrage. 
 
 42. Measures conferring the franchise on women have been approved by 
 the House of Commons on seven occasions. 
 
 43. It is time, therefore, that legal effect was given to the opinion of the 
 representative chamber. That the change is of a bold and fundamental 
 character is no sufficient argument against its adoption. All great 
 reformers have been bold to the point of rashness, from Moses to Mahomet, 
 and from Mahomet to Mrs. Pankhurst. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Activity in political matters will impair the welfare of the nation by 
 diverting the attention of women from their natural spheres of home- 
 keeping and child-bearing. 
 
 2. Women, being entrusted with the great responsibility of per- 
 petuating the race, have but little margin of strength and time for 
 the demands which politics would make upon themselves and upon
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 251 
 
 their nervous systems, strain upon which would show itself iu the 
 degeneracy of the offspring. 
 
 3. Sex difference not only holds good of the bodies of men and women 
 but also of their minds ; equality of essential opposites cannot therefore 
 ever be established. 
 
 4. Since men and women are fundamentally and physiologically 
 different, the one is the complement and not the competitor of the 
 other, and under natural conditions they consequently work in harmony ; 
 but the enfranchisement of women on terms of equality with men would 
 introduce competition upon which conflict and friction would necessarily 
 follow. 
 
 6. The physical nature of women unfits them for competition with men 
 on terms of equality. Such competition would destroy the present 
 chivalrous consideration men show towards women. 
 
 6. It would also weaken the existing, none the less powerful because 
 indirect, influence which women exert in politics. 
 
 7. Queen Victoria, whose opinions on public questions have a value no 
 one will deny, spoke of " woman's rights " as a " mad wicked folly " and 
 expressed the opinion that " women are not made for governing." 
 
 8. The " supreme law," the safety of the State, would be imperilled by 
 the grant of women suffrage. 
 
 9. It is the proper function of females to bear children, not arms, and 
 women not being capable of bearing arms are not qualified for full 
 citizenship, since force is the ultimate basis of all government. 
 
 10. The establishment of women's suffrage would weaken the power 
 of the Empire throughout the world, and especially in India, which 
 at any rate is admittedly held by force of arms. 
 
 11. If our position amongst other nations in trade and politics is to be 
 maintained a virility equal to that of our most formidable competitors 
 must be displayed, and woman suffrage would impair the virility of our 
 national policy. 
 
 12. Questions with which Parliament has to deal — the administration 
 of the Empire, the Army, the Navy, peace and war — lie without the 
 legitimate sphere of women's influence. 
 
 13. There is no such thing as a right to a vote ; it is a privilege given 
 to the citizen, not for his private benefit, but to be exercised for the good 
 of the State. 
 
 14. Once the principle is admitted, women naust be enfranchised upon 
 the same conditions as men, otherwise the desired equality will not be 
 attained. 
 
 16. The approach of adult suffrage in the near future is an insuperable 
 objection to women's suffrage, which would necessarily involve the en- 
 franchisement of all women. 
 
 16. As women outnumber men by 1,-300,000, women under adult 
 suffrage would be in a majority, and the government of the Empire 
 would be placed under the potential, possible, or actual control of women.
 
 252 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 17. Popular govenimcnl. obtains its strength from the belief that 
 existing laws are sanctioned by a majority of the men, who would if 
 necessary fight to enforce them ; but laws made by a majority of women 
 would not have this power behind them, since women could not secure 
 obedience by the exercise of force. 
 
 18. Competency to vote involves competency to sit in Parliament. 
 Women who make, must be competent to act as, members. There 
 can remain no sex disability in public life if the right to vote be granted, 
 and women would have to be placed_on an equality with men in respect of 
 entrance to Parliament, the Cabinet, the Judiciary, and the Civil Service. 
 
 19. The franchise has never yet been extended to persons who are 
 generally indifferent about receiving it, and the majority of women are 
 indifferent, if not actually hostile. Suffragists are not representative 
 women ; on the contrary, in proportion as women desire to assume the 
 functions of men, they are unrepresentative of their own, and approxi- 
 mate to Plato's third or androgynous, sex. There is no one witness who 
 can assert that among the women he knows suffragists are other than a 
 small, generally an infinitesimal, minority. 
 
 20. A large number of women have shown themselves actuall}' opposed 
 to the suffrage, as is shown (1) by the activity of the National League for 
 Opposing Woman Suffrage, which has 110 branches and 15,000 paying 
 members ; (2) by the anti-suffrage petition containing upwards of 320,000 
 women's signatures ; and (3) by the results of the canvass of women 
 municipal voters, carried out by the above organisation. 
 
 21. Enfranchisement of women in a restricted degree would largely 
 exclude those who are the better citizens — wives and mothers — and only 
 give political power to the single women, who are of less value to the 
 State, and less representative of their sex. 
 
 22. Under all proposals for a restricted franchise for women, marriage 
 is, except under certain exceptional circumstances, a disqualification ; but 
 marriage is not a disqualification for men. True equality, therefore, 
 is not established. 
 
 28. Women who enjoy the municipal vote make but little use of their 
 power, showing thereby a want of enthusiasm even in the exercise of the 
 franchise they do possess. 
 
 24. Since women have the municipal vote, they are eligible for seats 
 upon most local bodies, which deal with questions particularly affecting 
 the interests of their sex, such as housing, education, care of children, 
 poor law, and the like problems. 
 
 25. The possession of personal freedom is of much greater value than 
 the possession of a political right such as the vote. 
 
 26. The action of Parliament shows that the interests of women are 
 perfectly safe in the hands of men. Enormous improvements have been 
 made in the status of women during the last thirty years, though women 
 have been without the parliamentary vote.
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 253 
 
 27. The Married Women's Property Acts, 1870 to 1892, have removed 
 almost every grievance in respect of property of which women could 
 complain. 
 
 28. The code of laws regulating employment in factories and worlishops, 
 and dealing with industrial economy, shows that Parliament is fully 
 determined to protect women workers. 
 
 29. The enfranchisement of women will not raise the moral and social 
 standard of the country, which is created and maintained not by laws 
 but by public opinion. 
 
 30. The rate of wages in no way depends upon the parliamentary 
 vote, but upon the law of supply and demand, the power of Trade 
 Unions, and the capacity of the individual worker. 
 
 31. The lower rate of wages ruling in respect of female labour is due 
 to woman's comparative physical weakness, physical unfitness for certain 
 kinds of labour, numerical preponderance, and to the possibility which 
 is ever present of her exchanging, at any moment, work for marriage. 
 
 32. Agricultural wages between 1850 and 1878 increased by 48 per 
 cent., but agricultural labourers had no votes until 1884 ; and during 
 the last thirty years, when they had the vote, their wages have increased 
 by only 9 per cent. 
 
 33. The average advance in wages in the textile trades between 1886 
 and 1906 was about 16 per cent, for men and 18 per cent, for women. 
 
 34. The United Kingdom being the centre of a vast Empire, with 
 world-wide responsibilities, the admission of women to the franchise 
 therein allows of no comparison with the like concession in other 
 countries, in which the problems of Government are of a more domestic 
 and less complicated character. 
 
 35. The four States of the United States of America which alone, 
 till Washington recently joined them, have adopted women's suffrage are 
 amongst the most backward in the Union — one of them being Utah. 
 
 .36. In another, Colorado, some of the most prominent women suffra- 
 gists have, after actual experience of its working, become opponents of 
 the suffrage, which has by no means resulted in the acquisition by women 
 of any advantages in respect of social and domestic conditions over those 
 possessed by their sisters in non-suffrage States. 
 
 37. The Eight Hours Bill which the miners got by their parliamentary 
 power has proved a fatal gift, and is likely to be their own undoing. 
 Witness the resulting strife, strikes, distress, and disturbance in South 
 Wales, directly due to this unfortunate Act. 
 
 38. The votes of the House of Commons in favour of women's suffrage 
 have represented not the opinions, but the fears, weakness, and com- 
 plaisance of members of Parliament, and their readiness to surrender 
 to agitation, which is the prevailing principle of government, or at any 
 rate of governors, in our own time.
 
 254 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Arguments For and Against Plural Voting. 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The principle of " one man, one vote" has no place in our system, 
 which is based on the representation of localities. 
 
 2. If a man has an interest in two or more localities, he has conse- 
 quently the right to a vote in each one of such localities. 
 
 3. University representation enables eminent men — scholars and 
 scientists — to get into the House of Commons, who are unfit for, and 
 would not succeed in, the rough-and-tumble of an ordinary electoral 
 contest. 
 
 4. Abolition of the plural voter is merely a party plank in Liberal 
 policy, because Liberals believe that he is usually a political opponent. 
 
 5. The machinery of Liberal Bills dealing with the question was 
 unworkable, and would only have caused endless confusion. 
 
 6. In practice it is found that franchise reform must be dealt with 
 as a whole, and not piecemeal. 
 
 7. The principle " one man, one vote " does, or should, also involve 
 the complementary principle of " one vote, one value." 
 
 8. Equal electoral districts must be established if the latter principle 
 is to be adopted. Consequently no measure to abolish plural voting 
 could produce perfect equality unless it were accompanied by a Redis- 
 tribution Bill. 
 
 9. Constitutional practice also requires that alterations in the franchise 
 should synchronise with redistribution of seats. 
 
 10. Landed property necessarily and inevitably gives occupation to 
 folks residing in the locality in which it is situated ; it cannot, like 
 capital in money and shares, be transferred elsewhere ; it cannot be 
 concealed and cannot evade payment of rates and taxes. It is therefore 
 peculiarly and exceptionally fair that its possession should qualify the 
 owner for a vote. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. A citizen should have one vote, and only one vote. 
 
 2. That he should have more than one vote is inconsistent with 
 democratic and popular government. 
 
 3. The plural vote gives undue power to the owners of landed property. 
 
 4. It is illogical since it gives a man with his property scattered over 
 many constituencies more votes than an owner whose land is in one 
 constituency, although the latter may own many more acres. 
 
 5. If property is to have special privileges, votes should be allowed in 
 proportion to income. 
 
 6. The franchise should be attached to the man as a citizen and not 
 to his house or land.
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 255 
 
 7. The practice of giving the borough freeholder a vote in a neighbour- 
 ing county constituency swamps local residential opinion, and prevents 
 public opinion from obtaining acceptance. 
 
 8. The true voice of the nation is obscured by persons voting two, 
 three, or more times in different constituencies. 
 
 9. The principle of " one man, one vote " having been already adopted 
 in local government elections, plural voting should be abolished in 
 parliamentary elections. 
 
 10. Opposition to such abolition on the part of Conservatives and 
 Unionists is mainly based on the fact that the plural vote is of consider- 
 able political advantage to them, and secures them seats which they 
 could not hope to hold if the real local opinion of such constituencies 
 was allowed to prevail. 
 
 Arguments For and Against Proportional 
 Representation. * 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. If the House of Commons is to be truly representative of the 
 popular will, it must contain representatives of all sections of opinion in 
 proportion to their strength in the country. 
 
 2. This is not secured by the present system, under which a majority 
 of members in the House of Commons does not necessarily represent the 
 majority of the votes cast in the collective constituencies.! 
 
 3. Under the present system there are often sweeping changes in the 
 composition of the House of Commons, and its efficiency is lessened by 
 the rejection of experienced members. 
 
 4. These undesirable and exaggerated changes would be reduced to 
 smaller proportions by the adoption of the Transferable Vote. 
 
 5. The minority, which is to-day entirely unrepresented in a con- 
 stituency, though it may only poll a few votes less than the majority, 
 would receive fair representation, and its supporters would have more 
 effectual interest in politics. 
 
 6. The adoption of this method would give independent candidates an 
 opportunity of entering the House of Commons, and their presence would 
 be a distinct gain to the cause of good government since they would be 
 prepared to support or oppose measures on the merits and not for party 
 reasons. 
 
 7. Such adoption would widen the freedom of choice for an elector, 
 whose selection is now usually confined to one of two candidates. 
 
 • The Transferable Vote — the proposal of the Proportional Representa- 
 tion Society. 
 
 t In 1874 and 1886. See Cd. 5163, par. 89.
 
 256 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 8. And would abolish the existing and undesirable power of a small 
 well-organised body in a constituency to control an election. 
 
 9. Proportional representation would place it beyond the reach of a 
 candidate to secure a victory by sedulously "nursing" a constituency, 
 
 10. And would facilitate redistribution by reducing the number of 
 constituencies. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. There is little in the argument that a minority of votes may produce 
 a majority in the House of Commons, since calculations of voting strength 
 must be inaccurate owing to the existence at every election of uncontested 
 seats. 
 
 2. A small difference in the number of votes polled may consequently 
 indicate a considerable change of feeling in the country. 
 
 3. Since proportional representation would tend to reduce party 
 majorities its adoption would give independent sections too great power, 
 by placing the existence of a Government entirely in their hands, when 
 the difference between the two large parties was small. 
 
 4. This would make for instability of government, and encourage 
 undesirable bargaining and intriguing between parties. 
 
 5. Excessive majorities are not necessarily an evil since they produce 
 strength and independence. They are better than insufificient majorities 
 which must lead to weak government. 
 
 G. By the adoption of proportional representation the pressure of small 
 sections would only be removed from the constituencies to the House of 
 Commons, where their influence would be more effective and more 
 injurious. 
 
 7. Parliamentary government as at present practised would be 
 impossible, and there would be either a frequent change of administrations 
 or a separation of Parliament from the executive. 
 
 8. Sectional interests are fully represented at present by men who own 
 allegiance to one or other of the large parties. 
 
 9. While proportional representation might secure the election of a few 
 men of distinction, who would not or could not accept the general discipline 
 of a party, it would also promote the election of cranks and faddists, 
 whose presence by no means increases the efficiency of Parliament. 
 
 10. Confusion would result from a list of ten to twenty names being 
 submitted to the electors for their choice. 
 
 11. Greater power would accrue to party managers, since the majority 
 of the electors would vote as they were instructed. 
 
 12. By the consequent adoption of larger constituencies the cost of 
 elections for small parties and independent candidates would be so much 
 increased that such parties and candidates would find it more diiiicult 
 than they do at present to contest seats. The system would introduce 
 undesirable rivalry between men of the same party, since considerable
 
 FRANCHISE AND REPRESENTATION 257 
 
 personal advantage would result from the order in which the party 
 managers indicated their opinion of the eligibility of the candidates. 
 
 13. The sense of exclusive responsibility for the affairs of his constitu- 
 ency on the part of the member would be removed, and constituents would 
 not have, as they now have, a feeling of personal possession in their 
 member. 
 
 14. The elector would lose his personal interest in the contest if it 
 extended over a wide area and concerned candidates of whom he had no 
 personal knowledge ; his interest in politics in general would also 
 diminish. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Adult Suffrage. 
 
 Information respecting the subjects treated in this chapter is for the 
 most part to be found in the publications of various leagues and associ- 
 ations. Adult suffrage is advocated by the Adult Suffrage Society (122, 
 Gower-street, W.C.), from which information may be obtained. 
 
 Women's Sufpbige. 
 
 The number of women's suffrage associations is legion. Some are only 
 organisations representing a special section of women suffragists : others 
 are of a more general character. Of these the longest established is the 
 National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (Parliament Chambers, 
 Great Smith Street, Westminster, S.W.). It uses moderate methods. 
 The militant organisations are the National Women's Social and Political 
 Union (4, Clement's Inn, W.C.) and the Women's Freedom League 
 (1, Robert Street, Adelphi, W.C). Literature on the question can be 
 obtained from all these bodies. They publish also weekly papers — the 
 N.U.W.S.S. The Common Cause, the W.S.P.U. Votes for Women, 
 and the Women's Freedom League The Vote. Of more lasting contri- 
 butions in favour of the suffrage mention may be made of Laurence 
 Housman's "Articles of Faith in the Freedom of Women" and Miss 
 Sylvia Pankhurst's history of the movement, "The Suffragette." A 
 pamphlet in defence of the Conciliation Bill is published by H. N. 
 Brailsford (The Garden City Press, Ltd., Letchworth). Reference should 
 also be made to the debates on the question in the House of Commons, 
 the latest being on May 5, 1911. The publications of the Conservative 
 and Unionist Women's Franchise Association (48, Dover Street, W.) 
 should be consulted by those who want a Conservative view of the question. 
 Literature generally can be obtained from The Women's Press, the 
 literature department of the Women's Social and Political Union (156, 
 Charing Cross Road, W.C). Opposition to the grant of the vote to women 
 comes from the National League for Opposing Women Suffrage (Caxton 
 
 18
 
 258 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 House, Westminster, S.W.). It publishes a monthly periodical, the 
 Anti-Suffrage Review, and numerous leaflets and pamphlets. Among 
 the more detailed publications against woman suffrage are " The Woman 
 M.P. " by A. C. Grouno, and " Letters to a Friend on Votes for Women " 
 by Prof. A. V. Dicey. 
 
 Plural Voting. 
 
 Information respecting plural voting is best obtained from the debates 
 in the House of Commons and House of Lords on the Plural Voting Bill, 
 1906. The Liberal Publication Department (42, Parliament Street, S.W.) 
 and the publication department of the Unionist Party (St. Stephen's 
 Chambers, Westminster, S.W.) also supply material. 
 
 Electoral Reform. 
 
 The Second Ballot, the Alternative Vote, and other schemes which 
 have been suggested for the reform of our system of representation, are 
 examined in detail in the Report of the Electoral Reform Commission 
 (Cd. 5163). The Report also explains and examines the arguments for 
 and against the various schemes of proportional representation. The 
 system of the Single Transferable Vote is that advocated by the Pro- 
 portional Representation Society (179, St. Stephen's House, Westminster, 
 S.W.) Literature on the subject may be obtained upon application to 
 the Secretary. The Honorary Secretary, Mr. J. H. Humphreys, has 
 vrritten the authoritative explanation of the system — " Proportional 
 Representation: a Study in Methods of Election" — which should be 
 consulted.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 
 
 THE inconvenience attaching to the use of party labels is 
 conspicuously illustrated in dealing with the Home Rule 
 question. Ask what is meant by the term " Home Rule," 
 and the definitions will vary from " a subordinate legislature 
 in Dublin as part of a general scheme of devolution " to 
 " an independent Irish Parliament such as our self-governing 
 Dominions enjoy." Ask again why Home Rule is necessary, 
 and the reasons given will range from "the necessity of 
 relieving the congestion of business in the Imperial Parlia- 
 ment" to "the just recognition of Ireland's right to be a 
 nation." 
 
 The Liberal Argument for British Electors. 
 
 The Liberal Party hold out to the British elector as the 
 greatest inducement to agree to Home Rule that it will mean 
 removing discontented Irishmen from the Imperial Parliament 
 and allowing it to conduct its own business after its own 
 fashion, without the disturbance which the presence of a 
 solid vote of eighty Irish Nationalists occasions. Home Rule 
 would, in fact, make the British people masters in their own 
 Parliament, and make it impossible for a British Government 
 to be subject, as it now is, to the dictation of an Irish party. 
 
 Half-measure Useless for this Purpose. 
 
 Agreeing that this is almost desirable end, the question is : 
 How can it be attained ? Clearly enough if it is to be brought 
 about by the grant of Home Rule, such Home Rule must be of 
 a character that will once and for all satisfy the Irish Nationa- 
 list demand. A half-measure which failed in this behalf would 
 
 869
 
 260 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 be useless, for although it might reduce, or even abolish, Irish 
 Nationalist representation at Westminster, the Irish Nationa- 
 list party possessed of the power and authority of a Parliament 
 at Dublin could exercise an undesirable and dangerous in- 
 fluence over British and Imperial affairs during a period of 
 national crisis." Since, then, the form of Home Rule granted 
 must be acceptable to Irish Nationalists if the question is to be 
 settled— and if it is not settled the only argument in favour of 
 Home Rule which appeals to the British people disappears— an 
 attempt must be made to discover the kind of Home Rule which 
 would once and for all time satisfy the Nationalist demand. 
 When the investigation is complete, and a solution has been 
 reached, there arises for British electors the duty of answering 
 the not less difficult question. Is it a solution which is compa- 
 tible with Imperial interests ? Even peace between the two 
 islands, which is so eminently desirable, may be purchased 
 at too high a price. 
 
 What is Meant by Home Rule? 
 
 Liberals, then, may prepare and propose Home Rule Bills, 
 but it is the Irish Nationalist Party which has to be satisfied. 
 What would they regard as a full, final, and satisfactory settle- 
 ment of the question ? It is impossible to give a straight, simple, 
 and unqualified answer. Prolific though the Nationalists ai'e 
 of projects of legislation, they have never cast into legislative 
 shape a Home Rule scheme that would satisfy their own 
 demands. This unusual reluctance is significant of difficulty 
 which others experience in still greater degree, and the only 
 way of solution is to proceed by elimination. The Irish Council 
 
 * The action of the Home Tale Parliament if Great Britain were in- 
 volved in war would be of serious import. So far Irish HomeEulers have 
 always opposed Great Britain and her allies. The Mahdi, the Boers, the 
 Indian and Egyptian Nationalists have all at one time or another received 
 the patronage and assistance of the Irish Nationalist Party. If they were 
 in a majority in the Home Rule Parliament their action might cause con- 
 siderable harm. They could refuse supplies, pass resolutions in support 
 of the cause of Britain's enemies, and even ofEer co-operation and assist- 
 ance. Having regard to their past conduct it is diflELcult to believe that 
 they would act differently in futur«.
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 261 
 
 Bill was rejected, and Lord Dunraven's scheme of Devolution 
 was not accepted. What, then, of the two Home Bills? Mr. 
 Redmond has quoted Parneli's description of the former as " an 
 instalment of our rights,"* and of the latter he has him- 
 self said, " No man in his senses would regard it as a full, 
 a final, or a satisfactory settlement of the Irish Nationalist 
 question."! The word " provisional," he added, had been 
 stamped in red ink across every page. It might be urged 
 that Mr. Redmond's views had recently undergone a change, 
 and that he and his party are now prepared to accept what 
 they previously rejected ; but he denies that Irish Nationalist 
 opinion has undergone any change. :! The chief argument 
 in favour of the two former Home Rule Bills disappears, 
 for on Mr. Redmond's own showing they will result in no 
 settlement. The Gladstonian plan does not go far enough, 
 and there is need of a greater surrender. But from a greater 
 surrender the Coalition Ministry may perhaps shrink. 
 
 The Doctrine of Nationality. 
 
 The reason the Gladstonian plan failed to be regarded as 
 a settlement is not far to seek. It lies in the fact that 
 the Irish Nationalist demand is based upon nationality. 
 "Ireland a nation once again" is the hope of the future, and 
 all Liberal plans fail as a full settlement, because they set up 
 in Dublin a legislature which is subordinate to, and the creation 
 
 * " I remember when Parnell was asked whether he would, on behalf of 
 the United Nationalist nation that he represented, accept as a final settle- 
 ment the Home Rule compromise proposed by Gladstone. I remember 
 his answer. He said, ' I believe in the policy of taking from England any- 
 thing we can wring from her which will strengthen our arms to go on for 
 more. I will accept the Home Rule compromise of Gladstone as an instal- 
 ment of our rights, but I refuse to say that it is a final settlement of the 
 national question, and I declare that no man shall set a boundary on the 
 onward march of the nation.' That is our motto " (Mr. John Redmond, 
 M.P., at Newry, June 16, 1897). 
 
 t House of Commons, August 30, 1893. 
 
 J " I stand on the question of Home Rule precisely where Parnell stood. 
 I have not receded, and never will recede an inch, from the position 
 he took up " (interview in Chicago, Cork Examiner, October 19, 1910).
 
 262 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of, the Iiuperial Parliament at Westminster. This is only a 
 step towards the recognition of Irish " nationality." Full 
 recognition would be accompanied by a definite act of renunci- 
 ation on the part of the Imperial Parliament of any right 
 of control over, or interference with, internal and external Irish 
 affairs. 
 
 A Qualified Acceptance. 
 
 Since no Irish Nationalist supposes that Great Britain would 
 consent to so complete a surrender a smaller concession is 
 suggested. The proposed Home Rule Parliament would at 
 any rate be a recognition of the principle, though in a restricted 
 form, and it would afford the Irish Nationalists a firm base for 
 future operations. Although Irish Nationalists under Liberal 
 influence are other than frank and open in their speeches be- 
 fore British audiences, even posing as Imperialists,* they have 
 to be, and are, refreshingly outspoken in the United States. 
 The feeling of hatred against Great Britain is strong among 
 Irish-Americans, who are somewhat contemptuous of the 
 " constitutional movement," the efficacy of which they doubt. 
 Hence Irish Nationalists on tour in the United States boast of 
 what they have made the Imperial Parliament do for Ireland, 
 and complain in Great Britain that Ireland cannot obtain the 
 reforms so necessary for her prosperity until Home Rule is 
 granted.! Proofs of the work they have accomplished are very 
 necessary in the United States, for without the financial assist- 
 ance of the Irish-Americans the party would be bankrupt. | 
 
 * " VvhosG Empire is this ? Yours ? No ; it is ours as well as yours. 
 . . . We, as Irishmen, are not prepared to surrender our share in the 
 heritage which our fathers created " ( Mr. John Redmond, M.P., at 
 Woodford, May 27, 1911). 
 
 t Cf. Mr. John Redmond's speech at Detroit (Irish World, Novembers, 
 1910), putting before his audience " in plain, business-like language what 
 the last ten years has accomplished for Ireland," with the terms of 
 the Home Rule resolution in the House of Commons on March 30, 1908, 
 that the present system of Irish Government "is incapable of satisfactorily 
 promoting the material and intellectual progress of the people." 
 
 X " The Irish National Party would have been bankrupt in this election 
 were it not for the success of hvi [Mr. T. P. O'Connor's] mission" 
 (Mr. John Redmond, M.P., in Dublin, February 10, 1910.)
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QrESTIOK 263 
 
 But such aid is not given to make Ireland a loyal constituent 
 of the British Empire, but a " nation," for, although the way be 
 long, that is the ultimate goal. Members of the Irish Nationa- 
 list Party have time and again explained their tactics, and assured 
 their Irish-American audiences that the final object to be 
 attained is "separation."* 
 
 It is well understood by Irish- Americans that references to 
 the glories of the British Empire, apparent acceptance of a 
 restricted Home Rule Bill, promises of future loyalty and con- 
 tentment, are part of the game of deluding the " Saxon swine," 
 as the Irish Nationalist song has it, into granting Home Rule. 
 
 If Irish- Americans thought otherwise there would be no 
 subscriptions, and the present leaders of the Nationalist Party 
 would be swept away, to be replaced by men who would act 
 up to the old ideal of Separation. 
 
 The calculating British mind rejects Separation as imprac- 
 ticable, and assumes that Irish Nationalists will never be so 
 foolish as to reject the material advantages of the connection 
 with Great Britain for the sake of the ideal of Irish nationality. 
 So far as many of the rank and file are concerned there may 
 be ground for this feeling, for Home Rule never gained popular 
 strength until it was linked with agrarian agitation. The land 
 question having been settled in more than one-half of Ireland, 
 and being in a fair way toward settlement over the rest of the 
 country, one great argument for Home Rule has disappeared.! 
 
 * "When equipped with comparative freedom then would be the time 
 for those who think we should destroy the last link that binds us to 
 England to operate by whatever means they think best to achieve 
 that great and desirable end. I am quite sure I speak for the United Irish 
 League on this matter " (Mr. Joe Devlin, M.P., New York, June, 1902). 
 
 ' ' The message we bear is from the illustrious leader of our party, John 
 Redmond. If there is any man who says to us as representing that 
 parliamentary movement, 'I don't believe in your parliamentary ideas, I 
 don't accept Home Rule, I go beyond it. I believe in an independent 
 nation,' if any man says this, I say that we don't disbelieve in it. These 
 are our tactics ; and if you are to take a fortress first take the outer works " 
 (Frof. Kettle, New York, November, 1906). 
 
 t Other remedial legislation and administration is removing many 
 legitimate grievances, and lessening the force of former arguments for 
 Home Rule.
 
 264 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 But although it may be assumed that the desire for Home 
 Rule is weakened as a result, the question has not been put 
 to the proof, and the Irish Nationalist leaders do not admit 
 that any change has occurred in the opinions of their followers. 
 Material improvement they agree has been made in Irish 
 conditions ; but they deny that any lasting settlement can be 
 effected until Home Rule has been granted.* They declare 
 the spirit of nationality to be so strong that Irishmen would 
 abandon all the material advantages which the present 
 connection with Great Britain brings for a measure of national 
 independence.! 
 
 These may be platform heroics, but they are the declara- 
 tions of the accepted leader of the Irish Home Rule Party. 
 Their accuracy may be doubted ; but so long as Mr. Redmond 
 is regarded as the spokesman of Irish Home Rule they must 
 be accepted. Since he advances the doctrine of nationality 
 as the real argument for Home Rule, J the ultimate aim must 
 be separation and independence ; nothing less can satisfy 
 the ideal, " Ireland a nation once again." 
 
 * " Without freedom, all these great concessions are practically value- 
 less, or, at any rate, such value as they possess is to be found in the fact 
 that they strengthen the arm of the Irish people, and push on to the great 
 goal of national independence" (Mr. John Redmond, M.P., at the Buffalo 
 Convention, Freeman's Journal, October 13, 1910). 
 
 t ''But the soul of this Irish movement has been the spirit of 
 nationality. Ireland would prefer rags and poverty rather than to 
 surrender her national spirit" (Mr. John Redmond, M.P., at Buffalo, 
 Freeman's Journal, October 13, 1910). 
 
 I All other arguments for Home Rule are subordinate to the argument 
 of nationality. This was recognised by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 
 who said, " Good government could never be a substitute for government 
 by the people themselves " (Stirling, November 23, 1905). His words are 
 constantly quoted with approval by Irish Nationalists. Liberals assume 
 that this policy applies only to domestic affairs, such as education, land, 
 &c. ; but no country possesses real self-government unless it is at liberty 
 to conduct its own foreign policy, make its own treaties, provide its own 
 means of defence, and control its own customs. Not to grant these 
 powers is to deny nationality. A claim for self-government based upon 
 nationality cannot be satisfied with less than independence in all matters, 
 internal and external. 

 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 265 
 
 False Analogies. 
 
 All schemes of Home Rule which involve the maintenance 
 of connection with, or control, by Great Britain consequently 
 fail to satisfy the Nationalist demand. To describe Home 
 Rule as an extension to Ireland of our system of Colonial 
 self-government is entirely without justification. No British 
 dominion ever received self-government on the ground that it 
 had the right to be regarded as a separate nation. The grant 
 in such cases was dictated by geographical reasons, distance 
 from Westminster making representation in Parliament from 
 the Colonies an impossibility. But this condition does not 
 apply to Ireland. To advocate Irish, from the analogy of 
 Imperial, Home Rule is no more than a specious attempt to 
 gain support for an unpopular policy by ascribing to it 
 attributes, which it does not possess. 
 
 It is in the same way altogether absurd to compare Irish 
 Home Rule with the federation of our self-governing 
 dominions. The legislatures of these federal systems have 
 no national attributes, but are subordinate to the central 
 Parliament, and subject to its control. The object of their 
 establishment is good government and not self-government.* 
 
 Irish Home Rule cannot be compared with the federal 
 systems of the British Empire, since the latter imply no 
 recognition of the principle of nationality. But it is perfectly 
 possible to have a federal system consisting of a number of 
 nationalities, who mutually agree among themselves to estab- 
 lish a central Parliament for the whole group, with local 
 legislatures for the different constituent parts. In this case 
 
 * Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P., is the only prominent Nationalist who has 
 identified the Nationalist demand with provincial Home Rule. In Canada 
 he expressed approval " of a federal scheme of government for the British 
 Isles, such as the Provinces of Canada enjoy under a central Government" 
 (Ottawa, October 4, 1910). A year before he was talking advanced 
 Nationalism in the United States, and his sudden conversion is unex- 
 plained. That his speeches cannot be regarded as authoritative may be 
 gathered from the fact that no Nationalist leader has ever thought it 
 necessary to support or repudiate them, and the mere report that Mr. 
 Redmond was expressing the same views led to specific denials from his 
 colleagues and himself.
 
 266 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the negotiations are conducted by the various nationalities on 
 terms of equality, and no one surrenders its own individuality 
 but merely agrees for good and sufficient reasons to merge its 
 separate existence into a joint system. By an express pro- 
 vision in the Constitution or by the demand of its own 
 nationals it could resume its existence as a separate and 
 independent nation. 
 
 Separation must be Faced. 
 
 The very fact that Irish Home Eulers insist upon the recog- 
 nition of Irish nationality shows that they have this situation 
 in their minds. They must negotiate with the Imperial Par- 
 liament upon terms of equality, though conditions may exist 
 at any particular juncture, which make it unwise for them to 
 insist at once upon a complete recognition of their rights. 
 They may accept a Liberal Home Rule Bill as an instalment 
 of their claim, but they would expressly or mentally reserve to 
 themselves the right to dissolve the partnership whenever 
 renunciation appeared to be advantageous to their cause. 
 Consequently no Home Rule Bill on Gladstonian lines could 
 be regarded as a final settlement of the question, unless it 
 were accompanied by a solemn renunciation of nationality on 
 the part of the Irish Home Rulers.* 
 
 Without such renunciation the right to claim nationality 
 could be exercised at any time, and the Home Rule question 
 would on such occasions be reopened in a critical form. The 
 danger is not imaginary. On the contrary, the Irish Home 
 Rulers have openly declared that they intend at some future 
 date to claim independence.! 
 
 Since, however, the only argument for Home Rule which 
 
 * Mr. Redmond, it is true, would give the Imperial Parliament an 
 "over-riding authority." But this is not, as might be supposed, a 
 renunciation of nationality, for the Irish Nationalists would still be 
 represented at Westminster. Besides, Mr. Redmond in 1892 required in 
 the Home Rule Bill " a clause specifically undertaking that while the 
 Irish Parliament continued in existence the powers of the Imperial Par- 
 liament to legislate for Ireland should never be used " (House of Commons, 
 August 8, 1892). 
 
 t See footnote, p. 263.
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 267 
 
 can appeal to Great Britain is that a settlement is desirable, 
 and since a final settlement cannot be obtained with less than 
 the grant of independence, Great Britain has to face the ques- 
 tion of acceding to separation, if not immediately, at any rate 
 in the future, as a logical development of the grant of Home 
 Rule. But separation is declared even by Home Rulers, 
 whether or not upon a deliberate judgment on the issues, to 
 be "unthinkable";* and, indeed, no one can deny that an 
 independent Ireland would most prejudicially affect our 
 standing in world-politics, and enormously increase the burden 
 of our defensive armaments. So little should we be in a 
 position to allow separation, that we should be compelled, 
 for the sake of our national existence, to regain control of 
 Ireland by force of arms. In short, the belief of Unionists 
 in Great Britain in respect of Home Rule is, that the grant of 
 even aiuoderate measure of self-government would only be a 
 first step towards a demand for separation, to which they 
 not only could not accede, but which they must resist, if 
 necessary by force. 
 
 Unionist Policy not Negative. 
 
 This attitude does not preclude the recognition by Unionists 
 of Irish grievances, and the adoption of the measures 
 necessary for their removal, and the passing of such measures 
 implies no admission of the justice of the demand for Home 
 Rule, but only the recognition of the position of Ireland as a 
 partner in the great British firm. If the right of Ireland to 
 govern herself were recognised, Unionists might let her work 
 out her own salvation. As, however, they regard the sister 
 island only as an integral part of the United Kingdom, they 
 are willing to take steps to improve her economic condition, 
 just as they would in such circumstances that of England, 
 Wales, and Scotland. Although Unionism offers an uncom- 
 promising negative to any recognition of the justice of the 
 demand for Home Rule, Unionist policy has produced an 
 improvement in Irish conditions, to participation in which 
 Nationalism and Liberalism have no claim. The reason is no 
 • Mr. Lloyd George, M.P., at Belfast, February 8, 1907.
 
 268 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 far to seek. It is the declared policy of the Nationalists that 
 Home Rule alone can bring prosperity to Ireland ; while 
 Liberalism has placed Home Rule in the forefront of its Irish 
 policy, and necessarily devotes all the attention it can give to 
 Irish affairs to effecting this constitutional change. Unionism 
 being without this all-absorbing preoccupation is free to devote 
 its energies to economic legislation and administration. It is 
 therefore by no means matter for astonishment that such 
 amelioration as has been effected in Irish economic and 
 administrative conditions is due to Unionist action. 
 
 Land Refobm and Development. 
 
 This is conspicuously the case with the settlement of the 
 question of questions, that of the land. The Liberal Acts 
 were failures so far as a settlement was concerned. Attempt- 
 ing as a main principle to alter the relations between landlord 
 and tenant, while preserving the existing system, they have 
 been productive chiefly of litigation and bad husbandry. As 
 they put forward land purchase only as a subsidiary policy, 
 their proposals were naturally attended by little success. On 
 the other hand, the Unionist Party, realising that the discon- 
 tent would only be ended by an entire change of proprietor- 
 ship, boldly adopted this policy, '^' with the result that the old 
 quarrel between landlord and tenant is practically dead.f 
 
 Concurrently with the development of land purchase the 
 Unionists have carried out a programme of economic develop- 
 ment. In some parts of the country the latter policy has 
 been enforced by wholly State agency, but the activities of 
 private individuals, never wholly absent, have in recent years 
 assumed greater prominence. The doctrine of " self-help " 
 which teaches Irishmen to work out their own economic 
 
 • The Ashbourne Acts, 1885 and 1888, the Land Act of 1896, and the 
 Wyndham Act of 1903, were all Unionist measures devoted to land 
 purchase. 
 
 t Where agrarian disorder now exists it is not generally a dispute 
 between the large landowner and his tenants, but between the farmer 
 and men who want his land. The farmers, no doubt, are often owners, 
 but of a different class from those against whom the agrarian agitation 
 was originally directed.
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 269 
 
 salvation is being learned by degrees, to the disgust of the 
 Home Rulers, who would make everything dependent upon 
 the adoption of their own panacea. 
 
 The earliest incident in the programme of economic develop- 
 ment was the establishment of the Congested Districts Board 
 in 1891, which was followed by the creation, in 1899, of the 
 Department of Agriculture, and both Board and Department 
 have triumphantly emerged from official inquiries into their 
 administrative record/'^ 
 
 The Irish congested district presented a picture of hopeless 
 poverty, agricultural ignorance, and individual apathy, before 
 which any administrator might despair. At the beginning it 
 was necessary to exercise a paternal supervision over those 
 whose condition the Board sought to improve. " Spoon- 
 feeding" was essential; and although that phase has not 
 entirely passed away, the Board has now been able to divert 
 its energies towards the establishment of a gigantic scheme of 
 land settlement in the West of Ireland.! Later came the 
 Department of Agriculture, designed to teach Irishmen the 
 principles of that industry,! which has succeeded in effecting 
 a revolution in many rural districts, and in making the new land- 
 owners appreciate the responsibilities of their novel position. 
 
 Outside the direct action of the State other organisations 
 have been established to teach Irishmen the doctrine of 
 " self-help," the best known of which is the Irish Agricul- 
 tural Organisation Society, possessed, with its kindred associa- 
 tions, of over 91,000 members and boasting an annual turnover 
 of nearly £2,400,000. § This society teaches the value of 
 
 * The Dudley Commission was appointed in 1906 to report upon the 
 operations of the Congested Districts Board, and its relations with the 
 Department of Agriculture, &c. Its final report was issued in 1908 
 (Cd. 4097). A Departmental Committee inquired into the working of the 
 Department of Agriculture, and reported in 1907 (Cd. 3572). 
 
 t By the Land Act, 1909. See also Report of Dudley Commission 
 (Cd. 4097). 
 
 I The Department was established as the result of a conference of all 
 parties known as the "Recess" Committee, which met in the parlia- 
 mentary " Recess " of 1895. 
 
 § Annual Report, 1910. Appendix Q. xi.
 
 270 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 co-operation among farmers and agriculturists. A later 
 movement, more particularly affecting Irish manufacturers, is 
 that of the Industrial Development Associations, which have 
 been established in order to interest the Irish people, by- 
 means of exhibitions and other methods of advertisement, in 
 articles of Irish manufacture, and to persuade them to buy 
 Irish, in preference to foreign-made, goods. So successful 
 have these movements been, that they have gained the support 
 of all parties, irrespective of politics. They are chiefly remark- 
 able, however, as pi'actical and unequivocal evidence of a 
 repudiation of the Nationalist theory that Home Rule comes 
 first, and that there can be no real progress in Ireland until it 
 is secured. 
 
 Nationalist Attitude Towards " Self-help." 
 
 So far as the Irish Parliamentary Party is concerned the 
 new spirit of self-reHance, developed by Unionist administra- 
 tion, has had an unfortunate effect upon its condition. Living 
 as it does upon agitation, and flourishing only when Ireland 
 is discontented, its influence has sensibly diminished with 
 the increase of prosperity and contentment, and the Irish 
 farmer, now the owner of his land, ceases to contribute 
 towards agitation. He has gained his heart's desire; he is 
 satisfied; and appeals for financial aid to keep the Irish 
 Nationalists at Westminster fall on deaf ears. Rather 
 does growing appreciation of the root facts of industrial 
 economics make him doubt whether Home Rule is after all 
 going to be a good thing for his country. It would be an 
 exaggeration to say that he is openly hostile, but he is 
 apathetic ; and his novel attitude shows itself in his refusal to 
 support the Nationalist Party, as he did in the past. 
 
 The Danger of Exteemer Measures. 
 
 The result has been to force the Irish Nationalists into a 
 position of financial dependence upon the Irish- Americans in 
 the United States, and this is in a sense a possible source of 
 danger to the United Kingdom, to which the Irish-Americans 
 have always shown hostility. The constitutional move-
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 271 
 
 ment for Home Rule has never satisfied them, and at the 
 most they have only agreed to give it a trial, reserving to 
 themselves perfect freedom to advocate and support a more 
 forcible and strenuous policy, whenever conditions arose which 
 made such action possible. Now that the Tery^existence^of 
 the Irish Nationalist Party depends upon their pecuniary aid, 
 is it at all improbable that they will seek to influence or even 
 direct its policy? A revival of the policy of violence and 
 outrage and the promotion of discontent in Ireland are the 
 obvious lines they would follov/, but whether the now more 
 enlightened Irish people would tolerate another "plan of 
 campaign," with its notorious methods, can only be a matter 
 for speculation. Nothing more contrary to the real interests 
 of Ireland could occur than a renewal of the devastating agita- 
 tion of the " eighties." It is said by Liberal Home Rulers 
 that the Ireland of our time is a very different country from 
 the Ireland of those days, and that is so in a large measure, 
 though it would be ignoring facts not to recognise that there 
 is in existence to-day in Ireland a considerable body * of 
 "extremist" opinion, which would only delight to find that 
 the constitutional movement had been abandoned in favour 
 of the old methods of outrage and violence. Meanwhile the 
 Irish Nationalist Party deal gently with the extremists. They 
 never rebuke them f ; and indeed sometimes they receive from 
 them a reluctant meed of perfunctory approval. 
 
 It must not be imagined that the restricted and limited 
 
 * The Ancient Order of Hibernians, Sinn Fein, and a multitude of 
 smaller societies are frankly supporters of separation. They are all, some 
 more openly than others, disloyal and hostile to everything British. The 
 existence of this body of opinion is brought to public notice by the acts 
 of hostility which it instigates against persona suspected of loyalty, and 
 the protests it inspires against movements, which are in any way open to 
 what it regards as the like objection. Proposals for presenting addresses 
 to the King, or for decorating the streets, have been the object of strenuous 
 opposition. These "extremer" bodies hold the Irish Parliamentary 
 Party in hearty contempt for, what they hold to be, their Laodicean 
 attitude. 
 
 t "If there are men who are more extreme than we are, my prayer for 
 them is success to all their ideals and all their hopes" (Mr. John 
 Eedmond, M.P., in Dublin, September 1, 1908).
 
 272 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Home Rule which would presumably be establifshed by the 
 Liberals would allay the " extremist " movement, which, on 
 the contrary, it would be more likely to encourage. Indeed, 
 the resulting relationship between the Irish legislature and 
 Imperial Parliament would be of such a kind as naturally to 
 promote ill-feeling. If the splendid promises of the Home 
 Rulers remained unfulfilled and the prosperity of Ireland failed, 
 as it would, to reach the anticipated eminence, what more 
 obvious excuse would the Irish Nationalist have than a 
 reference to the still existing connection with Great Britain as 
 the cause of all the trouble, trial, and disappointment ? 
 
 Even the best of Constitutions under the most favourable 
 circumstances fails to give universal satisfaction. But the 
 most that can be said of the Liberal Home Rule Constitution 
 from an Irish Nationalist's point of view is, that it amounts 
 to an imperfect and unsatisfactory step on the path to 
 independence, while in the eyes of the Irish Unionists it is 
 a galling proof of the triumph of their foes, and of their 
 own abandonment to oppression and injustice. 
 
 The Unionist Minority. 
 
 It is the existence of the Irish Unionist minority which 
 chiefly complicates the question. If there were a united and 
 universal demand for Home Eule from the whole of Ireland 
 Great Britain would be in a very different position from that 
 which she now occupies in this behalf. But the Unionist 
 minority is in numbers, wealth, public position, and com- 
 mercial and economic enterprise too imposing to be wholly 
 ignored. Representing, as the Unionists do, the most pro- 
 gressive section of the inhabitants of the island, their existence 
 is a living contradiction of the Nationalist assertion that 
 Ireland cannot be commercially and industrially prosperous 
 until she gains Home Rule. It is only reasonable to suppose 
 that what Unionists have done in Ulster under the Union can 
 be accomplished elsewhere in Ireland under the same system 
 of government. 
 
 The Irish Unionists, knowing their portion of Ireland to be 
 beyond all measure the most prosperous, are, of course, aware
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 273 
 
 that they would be called upon to contribute the largest share 
 of the revenue of Home Rule Ireland,* but they also know 
 that political conditions in that body politic would never allow 
 them to have a controlling voice in the disposal of such revenue. 
 There would be no periodical changes of Government such as 
 have hitherto at any rate occurred in Great Britain, for they 
 would be condemned under Home Rule to be a perpetual and 
 powerless minority. 
 
 The Religious Aspect. 
 
 Such conditions, unfortunate in any country, would in 
 Ireland be doubly disastrous, for not only do the majority 
 differ from the Unionists in politics, but there is also a violent 
 incompatibility in respect of religion. Great Britain being an 
 overwhelmingly Protestant country, no one therein really 
 fears, or need fear, Roman Catholic domination. In 
 Ireland, however, the effect of Home Rule would be the 
 establishment of a Parliament in which Roman Catholics 
 would be an immense majority. If such an event were 
 possible in Great Britain all Protestants, and above all 
 Nonconformist Liberal Home Rulers, would move heaven and 
 earth in loud and incessant protest. Is it therefore surprising 
 that the religious question looms large in Irish Unionist 
 opposition to Home Rule ? It is very easy to describe this 
 feeling as bigotry; but the Protestant in Great Britain may 
 fairly feel his withers are unwrung. It is not that individual 
 Roman Catholics are feared or distrusted, but that a natural 
 apprehension exists as to the influence the Roman Catholic 
 Church would exercise in the administration, and over the 
 legislation of a Parliament wherein the majority of repre- 
 sentatives belong to her communion. Without arguing the 
 question from the experience of Protestants in Roman Catholic 
 countries, or travelling beyond the limits of the Irish problem, 
 the Protestant in Ireland believes that a Nationalist and 
 Roman Catholic majority would be intolerant and would 
 deprive him of, or would at least curtail and impair, his civil 
 
 * Of the Irish contribution to the Customs revenue, for example, Belfast 
 provided £2,206,535 in 1910, out of a total Customs revenue of £3,271,351. 
 
 19
 
 274 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 and religious liberty. Irish Nationalists may talk of 
 toleration to English audiences, and may even agree to the 
 insertion in a Home Rule Bill of such safeguards as the Irish 
 Protestant may demand, but these professions leave the latter 
 still entrenched in his attitude of opposition and distrust, for 
 to put the matter bluntly, he does not believe in their 
 sincerity, but regards them as tactical moves designed to 
 influence British opinion. He is convinced that a Nationalist 
 majority would never scrupulously respect the rights and 
 liberties of a minority. 
 
 The Fear of Intolerance. 
 
 What grounds has he for this belief? While historical 
 examples of intolerance seem to the British people merely 
 characteristic of a past which can never repeat itself, they 
 are not without effect upon the attitude of Irish Protestants 
 towards Irish Roman Catholics. Sentiment and tradition 
 play a large part in Irish political life, and often explain 
 situations which otherwise seem incomprehensible. 
 
 Apart, however, from historical evidence, in recent times 
 events have occurred which fully justify the fears of Irish 
 Protestants. It may be that such are not directly traceable to 
 the influence or action of the Roman Catholic Church, but 
 to Irish Protestants " Roman Catholic " and " Nationalist " 
 are synonymous terms, and they cannot discover where 
 political influences end and religious influences begin. 
 
 While Mr. Redmond now promises them toleration under 
 Home Rule, Irish Unionists lay greater stress upon their 
 actual experiences under local government. Before the 
 passing of the Act of 1898 Mr. Redmond was, as now, talking 
 expansively of toleration. * But the majority of Irish 
 Nationalists were not of this opinion, and through the United 
 Irish League they claimed to control the local government 
 
 * We desire toleration in the public life of Ireland. We think that to 
 adopt the policy of excluding from these public bodies every man who 
 difiered from us politically or religiously would be an absolutely suicidal 
 policy for Irish Nationalists to adopt " (Mr. John Bedmoud, M.P., at 
 Dublin, Irish Independent, September 14, 1898).
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 275 
 
 of the country, with the result that outside Ulster the Unionist 
 county councillor is almost non-existent.* Can Irish Unionists 
 be blamed for thinking they would be "as the simple that 
 believeth every word" if they doubted that the same policy of 
 proscription would be applied in respect of representation in 
 the Home Rule Parliament? 
 
 It must too be recognised that the Nationalist majority has 
 ever shown itself intolerant of a minority, even of their own 
 party, and in respect of merely temporary differences of 
 opinion. They intimidated, boycotted and persecuted the 
 Parnellite minority in the past, and to-day their hostility 
 towards the O'Brienites is of the bitterest and most violent 
 character. In their agrarian disputes the majority make the 
 life of the minority a long torment even now, when there 
 is no longer a struggle with big landlords, but with farmers, 
 who are of the same class and often of the same religious and 
 political creed as themselves. All those cases of boycotting, 
 intimidation, and violence which are reported in the Irish Press 
 sink deep into the minds of the Irish Unionists, who believe 
 that the coercive policy of their opponents will be turned 
 against them in full strength when the protecting arm of 
 the Imperial authority is removed. 
 
 The Question of Safeguards. 
 
 Irish Unionists put no faith in the guarantees and safe- 
 guards of a Home Rule Bill, knowing that the Nationalist 
 majority would easily override any inconvenient provisions of 
 the law. They have little confidence in the power of the 
 Imperial Parliament to enforce its laws, and none in the will 
 or power of a Home Rule Parliament to oppose the wishes of 
 the majority for the sake of a Unionist minority. 
 
 Incidents have not been wanting of quite recent date well 
 calculated to keep alive their fears. Without dwelling upon 
 a notorious case which occm'red last year in Belfast, the 
 growth of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a strictly Roman 
 
 • These are 2 in Munster, 12 in Leinster, and 1 in Connaught. The 
 nuiabers of Nationalist county councillors are 225 in Munster, 317 in 
 Leinster, and 142 in Connaught.
 
 276 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Catholic organisation,* believed to largely control the policy 
 of the Nationalist Party, has not conduced to the growth of 
 a conciliatory attitude between Unionists and Nationalists, 
 while the acknowledged leaders of the Roman Catholic Church 
 often put forward claims and express intentions which have 
 the effect of confirming Unionist hostility to Home Rule. 
 What, for instance, is less likely to inspire belief in the 
 good faith of the majority than the remark of Cardinal 
 Logue, the head of the Irish Roman Catholic Church, at 
 Dundalk, to the effect that " no matter what obstacles the 
 Nonconformists of England may have inserted in the constitu- 
 tion of the (National) University to keep it from being made 
 Catholic, we will make it Catholic in spite of them " ? t Irish 
 Unionists may be excused if they foresee the adoption of a 
 similar attitude after the establishment of Home Rule in 
 respect of any provision of the law relating to religious 
 establishments or endowments, or prohibiting interference 
 with the free exercise of religious freedom, or dealing with 
 any safeguards providing for the protection of the minority. 
 
 Home Rule Inopportune. 
 
 It is impossible for the Liberal Home Rulers to ignore 
 this minority, which is convinced that its civil and religious 
 liberties are in danger, and is determined to fight to a finish 
 not only for its own sake, but also for that for Ireland. 
 Progress and prosperity are now apparent throughout the 
 country, and the condition of even the poorest districts has 
 improved, though much remains to be done. Home Rule 
 would check this progress, and fatally impair this growing 
 prosperity, to further advance which sufficient money would 
 
 * The Ancient Order of Hibernians is also a Separatist body. Its 
 official organ, TJie Hibernian Journal (March, 1908), describes the 
 " national ideal " of the Order as " a free and independent Ireland, subject 
 to no outside control or influence." The fact that the Secretary of the 
 United Irish League is President of the Order tends to increase Irish 
 Unionist fears that the relationship of the latter to the official 
 Nationalist organisation — the United Irish League — is of a most intimate 
 character. This body profits to the extent of £16,000 a year by Mr. 
 George's Insurance Act. 
 
 \ Dundalk Democrat, June 10, 1911.
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 277 
 
 no more be expected from the meagre revenues of a Dublin 
 Parliament, than just and impartial legislation and adminis- 
 tration. The transition epoch, in which Irish thought is 
 turning from the old policy of constitutional change to the 
 new policy of economic progress, seems of all to be the least 
 opportune for the establishment of Home Rule upon the old 
 lines, the demand for which, far from being universally 
 supported by the Irish people, is strenuously opposed by 
 a large minority, and regarded with apathy and indifference 
 by masses, to whom the doctrine of " self-help " has at 
 length made a successful appeal. 
 
 Arguments For and Against Home Rule. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Ireland possesses a distinct nationality and consequently has an 
 indefeasible right to govern herself. 
 
 2. But she does not now, nor for the immediate future, demand separa- 
 tion from Great Britain. 
 
 3. She only seeks the legislative and executive control of all purely Irish 
 affairs. 
 
 4. She wants a Constitution after the manner of the self-government of 
 British Dominions. 
 
 5. She would leave to the Imperial Parliament, wherein she would be 
 represented, complete control of Imperial questions. 
 
 6. A grant of self-government of this character would make Ireland 
 contented and the Irish loyal citizens of the British Empire. 
 
 7. The happy results of granting self-government to Canada and the 
 Transvaal would be reproduced in Ireland. 
 
 8. But the Irish people will never be loyal or cease from agitation until 
 the present Act of Union is replaced by self-government. 
 
 9. That Act was never accepted by the Irish people, and was only 
 passed by methods of corruption. 
 
 10. It established a system of government which does not enjoy the 
 confidence of any section of the population. 
 
 11. It deprived Ireland of control over the management of her own 
 affairs. 
 
 12. The present system is inefficient and extravagant ; the cost of Irish 
 administration being, per head of population, far in excess of that of 
 Scotland, England, and other countries, which niay in this behalf 
 properly be compared with Ireland,
 
 278 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 13. Its huge cost is a heavy drain on a poor country like Ireland, and 
 is an obstacle to progress and prosperity. 
 
 14. Such cost can never be reduced until the Irish people are given 
 control over their own expenditure. 
 
 15. The present system of Irish government is productive of universa 
 discontent and unrest, manifested at times and in fashions most incon- 
 venient to Great Britain, so as to make Ireland a source of weakness 
 rather than of strength to the Empire. 
 
 16. It is, moreover, incapable of satisfactorily promoting the materia 
 and intellectual progress of the people. 
 
 17. The Irish educational system, though a scandal and a reproach, 
 cannot be properly reformed until Ireland has Home Rule. 
 
 18. Poverty in many parts of Ireland is of a hopeless character which 
 cannot be relieved until Home Rule leaves the Irish people free to develop 
 their own resources. 
 
 19. Indeed, so hopeless is the outlook, that the young men and women 
 — the real strength of the nation — emigrate in thousands every year to 
 other countries. 
 
 20. This drain of population has gone on unceasingly since the 
 economic results of the Act of Union began to be felt, and it cannot be 
 stopped until Home Rule restores confidence in Ireland's future. 
 
 21. Under the Union Irish industries have decayed, and they cannot 
 be revived until that policy is reversed. 
 
 22. The demand for Home Rule is the national demand of the Irish 
 people, who have made great sacrifices in order to return a solid party to 
 vote for it at Westminster. 
 
 23. Home Rule is opposed only by a small minority, and for selfish 
 personal reasons. 
 
 24. Their opposition ought not to be allowed to stand in the way of the 
 just demand of the Irish people. 
 
 25. They exaggerate their own importance since they do not even repre- 
 sent a majority in Ulster — the only part of the country wherein they are 
 a power. 
 
 26. The Unionist minority have nothing to fear from their Nationalist 
 opponents. 
 
 27. As in local government, so in the Irish Parliament, they will receive 
 fair and just treatment. 
 
 28. Their liberties will be respected and their views held in toleration 
 but they must frankly enter into the national life of the country. 
 
 29. To allay their fears the majority will agree to all reasonable safe- 
 guards being provided in the Home Rule Bill, although such precautions 
 are unnecessary. 
 
 30. Moreover, the Imperial Parliament, which will possess an over- 
 ridiug autihority, will be able to interfere should any isolated cases of 
 injustice occur.
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 279 
 
 31. Sines Ireland is impoverished owing to the actiou of Imperial Par- 
 liament, she must in financial matters be treated by Great Britain with 
 generosity. 
 
 32. Irish expenditure being based on English standards, time must be 
 allowed to the Irish Parliament in which to effect economies, and Great 
 Britain must meanwhile be prepared to give financial assistance. 
 
 33. It would be mean not to give Ireland a fair financial chance, and to 
 grant Home Rule upon terms which could only lead to national 
 bankruptcy could never promote a fair and final settlement. 
 
 34. The Childers Commission found that Ireland in 1894 was 
 annually over-taxed to the extent of £2,225,000, and since that date 
 over-taxation has increased. 
 
 35. In strict justice a sum of over £400,000,000 is due from Great 
 Britain to Ireland. This fact must be borne in mind when the financial 
 conditions of Home Rule are specified, and should induce Great Britain to 
 atone for past exactions by present generosity. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Ireland has never been a nation and her claim to nationality cannot 
 be recognised. 
 
 2. Since, however, it is maintained, no Home Rule Bill drawn on 
 Gladstonian lines could possibly provide a settlement of the Home 
 Rule question. 
 
 3. The Gladstonian Bills did not recognise Irish nationality, but only 
 established a subordinate Irish legislature, subject to the supreme 
 authority of the Imperial Parliament. 
 
 4. No people who considered themselves a nation could accept a limited 
 scheme of this character as a full settlement of their claims. 
 
 6. The demand for independence as the only just recognition of nation- 
 ality would be pressed, notwithstanding the passing of a Gladstonian 
 BUI. 
 
 6. Irish Nationalist leaders have never accepted the Liberal Bills as 
 more than an instalment of their rights. 
 
 7. They have frequently declared that when they have obtained a 
 moderate Home Rule Bill, they will insist upon complete independence 
 when time and opportunity are ripe. 
 
 8. Although Irish Nationalists deny that they want separation now, 
 the Home Rule Bill would only be accepted as a step towards this 
 ultimate aim. 
 
 9. It is therefore indisputable that Home Rule must raise the question 
 of separation. 
 
 10. Many Irish Nationalist bodies openly avow that separation is their 
 object, and that a Home Rule Bill only concedes a part of their full 
 demand. 
 
 11. Separation, however, could never be tolerated siace it would
 
 280 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 establish on our flank a hostile country which could be used by an enemy 
 as a base for operations against our commerce and for the invasion of our 
 country. 
 
 12. If Ireland were independent the cost of the Navy and of national 
 defence would be enormously increased. 
 
 13. There is no analogy between Home Rule for Ireland and self- 
 government for our Dominions. 
 
 14. No British Dominion was granted Home Rule because it asserted 
 its right to be a nation. 
 
 15. They were given self-government for geographical reasons, which do 
 not apply to Ireland ; their distance from the centre of the Imperial 
 Government making administration from, and representation at, 
 Westminster an impossibility. 
 
 16. Irish Nationalists have always made common cause with the 
 enemies of the British Empire ; have always boasted of their disloyalty ; 
 and all the authority and power of a Home Rule Parliament would be 
 used against Great Britain in time of war and of national danger, 
 
 17. It is untrue to speak of Home Rule as a national demand, since it 
 was never popular until it was linked with the agrarian agitation. 
 
 18. The Irish people being assured that they could not get the land until 
 they had Home Rule, for that reason supported Home Rule. 
 
 19. The land question being now settled, little or no enthusiasm for 
 Home Rule survives. 
 
 20. A proof of this is afforded by the decreasing financial support 
 afforded to the Irish Nationalist Party, which finds itself in funds not 
 owing to the enthusiastic support of the Irish people, so much as to 
 the donations of Irish-Americans, whose support of the Irish 
 Nationalists is due chiefly to the fact that they share that party's 
 hostility to Great Britain. 
 
 21. The presence in Parliament of the Irish Nationalists would not 
 be avoided by a Liberal Home Rule Bill, which has in the past provided, 
 and probably will in the future provide, that Irish Nationalists shall 
 still sit in the Imperial Parliament. The Irish-Americans would there- 
 fore be able to operate through their agency in addition to having the 
 Home Rule Parliament as a second string to their bow in opposing 
 British interests. 
 
 22. While a large proportion of the Irish people is apathetic in respect 
 of Home Rule, considerable numbers actually oppose it. 
 
 23. Although they are a minority such opponents are too numerous to 
 be ignored ; especially as they represent the most prosperous, enterprising, 
 and energetic sections of the population. 
 
 24. It is this minority which has built up great industries and com- 
 mercial undertakings ; and it would be intolerable to place them under 
 the control of representatives of the most backward parts of Ireland. 
 
 25. This minority, because it is prosperous, would have to contribute
 
 THE IRISH HOME RULE QUESTION 281 
 
 the greater part of the revenue of the Home Rule Parliament ; while, 
 because it is a minority, it would have no control over the expenditure. 
 
 26. The history of Irish Nationalism shows that it never respects the 
 opinions of a minority or even tolerates its existence. 
 
 27. The Irish minority consequently fears with reason that it would be 
 crushed and ruined by a Home Rule Parliament. 
 
 28. The minority believes that safeguards inserted in the Home Rule 
 Bill would be ignored, as often as it appeared advantageous to the 
 majority to disregard them. 
 
 29. Ireland is passing through a period of change ; and a new feeling is 
 growing up that Irishmen can and should work out their own economic 
 salvation, instead of waiting upon Home Rule as an universal panacea 
 for all ills. 
 
 30. This new spirit ought for Ireland's benefit to be encouraged, 
 whereas Home Rule would thrust it into the background. 
 
 31. Ireland is becoming more prosperous and contented, and in 
 recent years progress has been particularly marked. Home Rule would 
 check these excellent features. 
 
 32. While Irish administration is undoubtedly costly the high rate of 
 expenditure has been caused by the special attention the Imperial 
 Parliament has given to improving Irish conditions, with results which 
 justify the expenditure involved. 
 
 83. A Home Rule Parliament pledged to economy could not hope to 
 continue this expenditure on the same scale, and Ireland would 
 consequently suffer in proportion as it was curtailed. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Lecky's " History of Ireland," vol. v.; Dr. Dunbar Ingram's "History 
 of the Legislative Union" ; and J. R. Fisher's " End of the Irish Parlia- 
 ment" should ba read for the period of the Act of Union. F. Hugh 
 O'Donnell's " History of the Irish Parliamentary Party" gives an inde- 
 pendent account of the growth of the Home Rule movement, Parnellism, 
 and the internal affairs of the party. For an official account of the 
 Parnell movement reference should be made to the "Report of the 
 Parn ell Commission." " The Annual Register" for 1886 and 1893 gives 
 an excellent summary of the discussions on the Home Rule Bills of those 
 years. In their constitutional aspects these measures are dealt with by 
 Professor Dicey in two books — " England's Case against Home Rule " 
 (1886) and " A Leap in the Dark " (1893), a new edition of which has now 
 been issued. Coming to present times the Nationalist case is concisely 
 stated by M. McDonnell in " Ireland and the Home Rule Movement," 
 and by Stephen Gwynn, M.P., in " The Case for Home Rule." Barry 
 O'Brien's " Dublin Castle " is a review of the present system of Irish 
 government from a Nationalist standpoint. A useful French view oi
 
 282 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Irish affairs — hostile to the Union, but not without criticism of 
 Nationalists — is Paul Dubois' *' L'Irlande Contemporaine," of which 
 there is an English translation by Professor Kettle. Liberal Home Rule 
 opinion is reflected in " Home Rule Problems," edited by Basil 
 Williams, and, " The Framework of Home Rule " by Erskine Childers. 
 A collection of Mr. John Redmond's " Speeches on Home Rule," 
 edited by Barry O'Brien, includes the more moderate utterances of the 
 Irish Nationalist leader. Mr. W. O'Brien's statement of Irish 
 Nationalist Party history and his version of the present differences 
 between himself and Mr. Redmond is given in " An Olive Branch in 
 Ireland." The case against Home Rule is stated by P. G. Cambray 
 in "Irish Affairs and the Home Rule Question " The financial side of 
 Home Rule from a Nationalist point of view is put by Professor 
 Kettle in " Home Rule Finance : an Experiment in Justice." For the 
 "new"' Ireland of economic thought reference should be ma,de to Sir 
 Horace Plunkett's "Ireland in the New Century" and to the publica- 
 tions of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (Plunkett House, 
 Dublin). 
 
 Literature of all kinds, pamphlets, and leaflets, of course of a frankly 
 partisan character, can be obtained from the Union Defence League 
 (25, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.), the Irish Unionist Alliance (109, 
 Grafton Street, Dublin), and the Ulster Unionist Council (Mayfair, 
 Arthur Square, Belfast). All the above are anti-Home Rule organisations. 
 Home Rule literature can be obtained from the United Irish League of 
 Great Britain, and the Home Rule Council, both of Great Smith Street, 
 Westmiuster, S.W.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 
 
 THE most striking feature of the education controversy is 
 that it is practically entirely unconcerned with education. 
 Ordinary men differ upon purely educational subjects — how 
 the children shall be taught, what they shall be taught, and 
 when instruction shall begin and cease, but these controversies 
 rarely trouble politicians, unless a question of expenditure is 
 involved. Discussion primarily proceeds upon other than 
 party lines, and the disputes which stir political circles are 
 almost entirely concerned with religious teaching. Over the 
 heads of inoffensive children the battle rages, and all the 
 while the actual work of teaching and conducting the schools 
 goes on without let or hindrance, and, thanks to the tact of the 
 teachers, the troubles of which so much is made upon the 
 platform are almost entirely absent from the schools. The 
 fact is that the question of religious instruction derives its 
 prominence from being a phase in the conflict between the 
 Established Church and Nonconformity. In the schools 
 there is no religious difficulty, and there would be none 
 outside, if Nonconformity were not seeking to overthrow 
 the Established Church. 
 
 It would seem that no statesman can deal with the educa- 
 tional system of this country, with a sincere desire to improve 
 it, without becoming involved in a religious dispute. The 
 controversy goes back many years, and though at times 
 quiescent, periodically breaks out into heat and strife. 
 
 The Dual System and the Act of 1870. 
 
 State aid for education began in grants for building ele- 
 meatarv schooh. These were shared between two societies.
 
 2«4 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 one denominational — the National Society ; the other un- 
 denominational — the British and Foreign School Society. 
 The foundations of the dual system were thus laid, and from 
 it much of the continued strife has sprung. 
 
 With the growth of population, and the extension of State 
 interference in education, a third factor intervened. The 
 Act of 1870 established School Boards, and made it the duty 
 of these bodies to provide sufficient school accommodation for 
 the children of the district. The further provision of denomi- 
 national schools was not forbidden ; but such had to be 
 erected entirely by voluntary contributions. The Act, indeed, 
 was not intended to rival but " to complete the voluntary 
 system."* In practice, however, it fell far short of this 
 ideal, and it created grievances on both sides. Where 
 accommodation was sufficiently provided by denominational 
 schools the undenominational board school could not be erected. 
 This occurred especially in the villages, and the Noncon- 
 formist parent was angered at having to send his children to a 
 Church school.! The Act also placed the voluntary schools 
 at a disadvantage, inasmuch as they were denied the assist- 
 ance of public funds for their erection, while the board schools 
 were built out of the rates, and in addition to rate aid 
 enjoyed also the parliamentary grant. The income of the 
 voluntary schools from pubhc money was limited to the 
 parliamentary grant, and the balance of expenditure had 
 to be provided by voluntary contributions. Denominationa- 
 lists were, moreover, prejudiced by the fact that school boards 
 provided in new districts schools, into which they had 
 no right of entry for the purpose of teaching their children the 
 principles of their faith. J 
 
 * Mr. Forster, Hansard, February 17, 1870. 
 
 t The children were, of course, protected by the Conscience Clause 
 [Clause 7 (1) of the Act of 1870] from having to receive religious instruc- 
 tion to which their parents objected, from which they could be with- 
 drawn. But Nonconformists alleged that they became by such with- 
 drawal marked children ; and cases of clerical tyranny were brought for- 
 ward to prove the Conscience Clause to be no safeguard for conscientious 
 objectors to denominational teaching. 
 
 I By section 14 (2) of the Act of 1870 — the Cowper-Temple Clause — it
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 285 
 
 The Need for Legislation. 
 
 Notwithstanding its imperfections, the Act of 1870 existed 
 for over thirty years, though the increasing cost of education 
 was subjecting the voluntary schools to an intolerable financial 
 strain. Bereft as they were of rate aid, their equipment and 
 scale of salaries failed to keep pace with the more fortunately 
 placed board schools. Other circumstances, moreover, made 
 legislation necessary. The County and Borough Councils were 
 the education authorities in respect of technical instruction, 
 but inadequate provision was made for secondary education. 
 Besides this, under the decision in the " Cockerton Case " the 
 School Boards, in undertaking evening continuation and 
 technical classes, were held to have acted beyond their legal 
 powers. 
 
 The Act of 1902. 
 
 The Unionist Government accordingly in 1902 carried out 
 sweeping changes. The School Boards disappeared, and 
 their place was taken by a new authority — the Education 
 Committee of the County or Borough Council. That body 
 controlled every kind of education in its area — elementary, 
 secondary, and technical — and the number of authorities was 
 reduced from over 3,000 to 328. In so far as the Act related 
 to educational administration it was welcomed on all sides, 
 but as it affected the denominational schools it opened the 
 flood-gates of a controversy which has continued to the 
 present time. 
 
 This brief survey of the earlier history of the educational 
 system of the country will have made it clear that the strife 
 between the Church and Nonconformity is deep-seated and of 
 
 was enacted that " no religious catechism or religious formulary distinc- 
 tive of any particular denomination " could be taught in the board 
 schools. This provision was not in the Bill, as originally introduced, but 
 was placed on the order paper by Mr. Cowper-Temple, a Liberal M. P. and 
 a Churchman, and was accepted by the Government. Its phraseology 
 practically followed that adopted by the British and Foreign School Society 
 in respect of schools established under their auspices before 1870. See 
 Mr. Gladstone's speeches in the House of Commons, June 16 and 
 30, 1870.
 
 286 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 long standing, and although it waned after 1870, it was never- 
 theless kept alive by local disputes and in controversies over 
 minor legislation till the Act of 1902 fanned the flame into 
 a fierce blaze. 
 
 The Position of Voluntaky Schools. 
 
 The State having encouraged the establishment of a dual 
 system of denominational and undenominational schools, could 
 not, as it seemed to the Government of the day, go back upon 
 its engagements to the supporters of the voluntary system. 
 To have placed an undenominational school within the reach 
 of every child would have icost millions ; to have bought out 
 the interests of the owners and trustees of the voluntary 
 schools would have also involved a prohibitive expenditure. 
 Besides which any advance in the direction of a general un- 
 denominational system would have been entirely contrary to 
 the wishes of a large part of the population. 
 
 The authors of the Act accordingly proceeded to relieve the 
 financial strain on the voluntary schools by incorporating them 
 in the general scheme, and placing them, so far as secular 
 education was concerned, under the control of the new educa- 
 tion authority, whereby they received rate aid like the unde- 
 nominational schools. This provision contravened the prin- 
 ciple of the Act of 1870, which denied rate aid to other than 
 undenominational schools. The details of the arrangement were 
 also provocative of Nonconformist opposition. In return for 
 rate aid the voluntary schools, now called "non-provided" 
 because they were not provided by the local education 
 authority, surrendered their exclusive clerical management, 
 as two out of the six managers were to be appointed by the 
 local authority. The trustees had to provide the school-house 
 free of charge for secular education, to keep it in good repair, 
 and to make such alterations and improvements as might be 
 required. The local authority had to pay for "wear and 
 tear,"* and possessed the right to inspect the schools and to 
 
 * By Clause 7, sub-section 1 (d) it was provided " that such damage as 
 the local authority consider to be due to fair wear and tear in the use of 
 any room in the school-house for the purpose of a public elementary
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 287 
 
 appoint and dismiss teachers on educational grounds. The 
 managers retained the right to give religious instruction in 
 accordance with the trust-deeds,* subject, of course, to the 
 Conscience Clause, and to control the appointment and dis- 
 missal of the head teacher on religious grounds. 
 
 NONCONFOBMIST OPPOSITION. 
 
 The Act then proceeded on the principle of give and take. 
 While the Church gave up its " atmosphere " in the voluntary 
 schools, it gained for them rate aid. The local authority, on the 
 other hand, obtained free of charge the use of the school- 
 houses. The Act, however, gave the voluntary schools a settled 
 position in the educational system, and Nonconformists were 
 espeeially angered at this recognition. They had watched the 
 financial struggles of the voluntary schools with a certain 
 amount of satisfaction, and hoped that such institutions 
 would be " squeezed out " of the educational system. It 
 was then naturally galling to find that they were going 
 to be made more secure than ever, and the Act at once 
 aroused bitter opposition in Nonconformist circles. Charges 
 were brought against it which were not always logical, and 
 were sometimes exaggerated. The "passive resistance " move- 
 ment against paying that portion of the education rate which 
 was believed to represent the amount to be expended on 
 denominational instruction in the voluntary schools and the 
 
 school shall be made good by the local education authority," but the 
 clause was not in the Bill when it left the House of Commons. It 
 was inserted in the House of Lords by the Bishop of Manchester, 
 who carried it on a division against the Unionist Government I And to 
 allow of its being discussed in the Commons without raising the question 
 of privilege a proviso was added that the obligation should not throw 
 any additional charge on a public fund. This addition having served its 
 purpose, was struck out when the amendment was accepted by the 
 Commons. 
 
 * Clause 7 (6) enacted that religious instruction in non-provided schools 
 was to be given in accordance with the provisions of the trust-deed, and 
 should be under the control of the managers. It was inserted on the 
 motion of Colonel Kenyon-Slaney, M.P. Hence the name, " the Kenyon- 
 Slaney Clause."
 
 288 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Welsh revolt policy were indications of deep feeling against 
 the Act. 
 
 But it would be idle to deny that the measure was to some 
 extent used as an excuse for an attack upon the Church of 
 England. The demands of the Nonconformists went beyond 
 a mere amendment of the objectionable clauses, and in the 
 later legislative attempts of the Liberal Government the 
 Church schools were prejudiced to an extent that laid the 
 Nonconformists open to charges of vindictive retaliation and 
 confiscation. 
 
 The charges brought against the Act were that it denied 
 popular control over schools maintained by the State ; that it 
 forced persons to pay for sectarian teaching to which they were 
 opposed ; that it endowed sectarian teaching in State-supported 
 schools ; and that it imposed religious tests upon teachers. 
 
 For the most part these accusations could stand but little 
 logical examination, and a cool reasoner would demolish them, 
 or at any rate dismiss them as exaggerated. The Non- 
 conformist unfortunately was not in a condition to listen to 
 pure reason, for he believed, conscientiously in most cases, 
 that he had a grievance against a powerful and aggressive 
 Church. 
 
 Popular Control. 
 
 So far as popular control went, if by the term is meant 
 control by the local education authority, it is difficult to 
 maintain that the Act " denied" it. The local authority had 
 in fact complete control over secular education and over the 
 appointment and dismissal of teachers on educational grounds. 
 To assert that the schools were under the control of the 
 "priest" was to ignore the facts. The "priest " could only 
 be one out of six managers, and the powers of the managers 
 were restricted to carrying out the orders of the local educa- 
 tion authority, and to conducting religious instruction in 
 accordance with the trust-deed. 
 
 Endowment of Sectarian Teaching. 
 
 In the picturesque language of its opponents the Act was 
 said to have endowed sectarian teaching out of the rates. It
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 289 
 
 would seem that the objection was to any rate aid being 
 granted to schools wherein other than Cowper-Temple teaching 
 was given. Conscientious objection to public money, in the 
 shape of rate aid, being spent upon the voluntary schools, 
 implies a distinction drawn between rate aid and State aid by 
 parliamentary grants. For years the voluntary schools had 
 been receiving parliamentary grants of public money. There 
 had been no outcry against the system ; and it was difficult to 
 understand how consciences could be violated by the grant of 
 rate aid and remain unaffected by the receipt of State aid. 
 Actual sectarian teaching in voluntary schools was confined to 
 a very small portion of the school hours, and was not by any 
 means given as a matter of course every day. 
 
 When it was given no doubt the heating and lighting of 
 the room and the teachers' salaries were provided out of 
 public funds.'' Those who denounced these payments as 
 State support of sectarian teaching ignored the other side of 
 the agreement, under which the trustees of the voluntary 
 schools placed at the disposal of the local authority, free of 
 rent, satisfactory premises for secular education on five days 
 of the week. 
 
 The gain might very reasonably be held to have neutralised 
 the loss. Even if this were not so, and the balance of advan- 
 tages remained on the side of the voluntary schools, it should 
 not have been forgotten that at least one-half the nation would 
 not disapprove of their contributions to the rates going towards 
 the support of denominational teaching ; and although this 
 half regarded Cowper-Temple teaching as falling far short 
 of their denominational standards, yet they had acquiesced in 
 the grant of rate-aid for the schools in which instruction of this 
 character was given. The opposition to the Act was, however, 
 too bitter to recognise these facts, and the extremists on 
 both sides rejected all compromise. 
 
 * Mr. McKenna in 1907 tried to effect a settlement by providing that 
 the managers should pay one-fifteenth of the teachers' salary, that being 
 in his judgment the proportion represented by the time given to de- 
 nominational instruction. His Bill, however, did not proceed to a 
 second reading. 
 
 20
 
 290 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Tests fob Teachebs. 
 
 The dispute also included a grievance of a personal 
 character in respect of certain teachers. In the Council 
 schools no question of religious convictions arose, for as the 
 teaching therein is purely undenominational in character it is 
 assumed that any one can give it v^ithout conscientious 
 scruples. In denominational schools, however, the reUgious 
 instruction had to be in accord with the terms in this behalf of 
 the trust-deed. The managers were given a voice in the 
 selection of the head teacher so far as the religious education 
 of the school was concerned ; and they naturally selected one 
 whose religious beliefs were in agreement with those of the 
 children he had to teach. In practice, too, although there 
 was no such expressed limitation in the case of assistant 
 teachers,* the rest of the staff were generally appointed from 
 teachers of the same creed as their chief. 
 
 It was felt to be a grievance that teachers fully qualified, so 
 far as secular education was concerned, should be prevented 
 from obtaining posts in voluntary schools maintained out 
 of public funds. There was, however, considerable exaggera- 
 tion in respect of this grievance on the part of the Noncon- 
 formists.! There were no " tests " exacted in the strict sense 
 of the word, but only an assurance was required that the 
 teacher could properly give religious instruction in schools in 
 which such instruction was a legal necessity. To ignore the 
 qualification of the teacher to give such instruction was found 
 to be impossible without setting up an universal secular 
 
 * Education Act, 1902, section 7 (5) : "In public elementary schools 
 maintained but not provided by the local education authority, assistant 
 teachers and pupil teachers may be appointed, if it is thought fit, without 
 reference to religious creed and denomination. ..." 
 
 t A leaflet issued by the British Weekly declared that the Act " shuts 
 out the sons and daughters of Free Churchmen from the best educatioTial 
 posts on the sole ground of their religious convictions." A moment's 
 examination of educational statistics would have shown this statement 
 to be erroneous. The largest schools are the Council schools, and in them 
 teacherships naturally carry the highest salaries, and are "the best 
 educational posts," but such are open to all teachers without reference to 
 their religious convictions.
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 291 
 
 system. Indeed, it was argued with considerable force that 
 there would be effectual interference with a teacher's freedom 
 if he were forbidden to give denominational instruction, which 
 he was anxious and willing to impart to children whose parents 
 wished them to be so instructed. In the discussions which 
 arose on the various Education Bills introduced by the Liberal 
 Government there was, it might be said, an almost general 
 indication that a strict interpretation of the principle of " no 
 tests for teachers " was impossible. 
 
 The return in 1906 of a Liberal Government, supported by a 
 strong Nonconformist majority, naturally gave the education 
 controversy one of the foremost places in the legislative 
 programme. 
 
 The Birrell Bill, 1906. 
 
 Their first Bill, however, that of Mr. Birrell, proved to 
 be ill-considered and over-loaded with unnecessary matter. 
 As printed it differed from Mr. Birrell's introductory explana- 
 tion — a sure proof of Cabinet revision at the last moment. 
 Besides dealing with purely educational matters,* it devised 
 remedies for general Nonconformist grievances, and delivered 
 a bold attack on the voluntary system. In fact, it established 
 a purely secular system by providing that all religious instruc- 
 tion should be given outside the hours of compulsory 
 attendance, and did not make even Cowper-Temple teaching 
 obligatory. It kept the door of the Council school shut against 
 the supporters of denominational teaching, and it placed the 
 denominational schools wholly at the mercy of the local 
 authority, which might indeed afford facilities for religious 
 instruction. But such facilities were little more than a 
 mockery in the rural schools,! and although they were 
 
 • The portion relating to educational endowments was dropped. Part 
 III., which dealt with various miscellaneous educational questions, 
 including vacation schools and the medical inspection of children, 
 substantially became law in 1907 as the Education (Administrative 
 Provisions) Act. 
 
 t If it were made a condition, when the school was transferred to 
 the local education authority, religious instruction could be given on not 
 more than two mornings a week. But the instruction had to be given
 
 292 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 somewhat extended in the case of urban schools,''' they were 
 fenced around with onerous and undesirable conditions which 
 would have made smooth working impossible. 
 
 The Facilities Clause conceded superficially, and to the eye, 
 the denominational demand for religious instruction, and at 
 the same time recognised the Nonconformist grievance relat- 
 ing to the single- school area, in which the village school, 
 denominational in character, and the only one available, was 
 necessarily attended by all children, irrespective of their 
 parents' religious beliefs. It was not, of course, that such 
 children were taught creeds to which their parents objected, 
 for they were safeguarded by the Conscience Clause. The 
 grievance was in respect of the denominational " atmosphere " 
 of the school. 
 
 The Special Facilities Clause was a concession to the 
 Roman Catholic and Jewish, though the necessary conditions 
 could be fulfilled in a few cases by Church of England, 
 schools. 
 
 Although the death of this Bill was ostensibly due to 
 amendments introduced by the House of Lords, which Sir 
 Henry Campbell-Bannerman's Government declined to accept, 
 the measure was really killed by public opinion. The 
 denominationalists regarded the " facilities " as illusory ; and 
 though Mr. Birrell delivered reassuring speeches, he steadily 
 declined to translate his assurances into legislative form. The 
 extremists among the Nonconformists, on the other hand, 
 thought conciliation had been carried to excess, and the 
 Minister in charge protested that his Bill was "packed with 
 concessions," while there was no body of moderate public 
 opinion in favour of it, as introduced, or as from time to 
 time amended. 
 
 outside school hours, was not to be paid for by the local authority, nor 
 given by the teachers (Facilities Clause). 
 
 * In urban districts where there was an alternative undenominational 
 school, the local authority might permit religious instruction to be given 
 without restriction on two mornings a week, provided that the parents of 
 four-fifths of the children desired to have it, and the teacher was allowed, 
 if willing, to impart such instruction (Special Facilities Clause).
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 293 
 
 Otheb Attempts. 
 
 The Bill was in fact a failure, but the Government was not 
 deterred from making another attempt. Mr. McKenna, who 
 succeeded Mr. Birrell at the Board of Education, promised 
 that his measure should be not an olive branch but a sword, "^^ 
 and so it proved to be. The Bill of 1907 made one effort 
 in the direction of compromise and settlement. The scruples 
 of the passive resisters were to be removed by making the 
 managers of denominational schools liable for one-fifteenth of 
 the teachers' salary, representing payment for that portion 
 of the teachers* time which was devoted to denominational 
 instruction. The measure, which met with little or no support, 
 was speedily dropped. 
 
 Mr. McKenna's more ambitious effort was made in the 
 following year. In single-school areas his second Bill frankly 
 confiscated denominational schools. The trustees could only 
 give denominational teaching outside school hours by other 
 agency than that of the teaching staff, and denominational 
 schools in other than single- school areas if transferred to the 
 local authority lost their special character. As an alternative, 
 at the discretion of the Education Minister, they might be 
 allowed to contract out, receiving parliamentary grants but no 
 rate aid. This return to the discredited dual system earned 
 the condemnation of every educationist, and would have 
 destroyed the efficient local administration which the Act 
 of 1902 had established. 
 
 Mk. Eunciman's Bill. 
 
 Mr. McKenna was no more fortunate with his second than 
 with his first measure, and it never reached the Committee 
 stage. He was shortly replaced by Mr. Eunciman, who made 
 the fourth and so far the last, and the most successful attempt. 
 For the first time the Government took into consultation the 
 leaders of the Church as well as the leaders of Noncon- 
 formity,! and though the Eunciman Bill suffered from hasty 
 
 * At Pontypool, July 1, 1907. 
 
 t The Roman Catholics were uot asseating parties to the negotiations. 
 See Prime Minister's Speech, House of Commons, November 19, 1908.
 
 294 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 preparation, it marked a coasiderable advance upon the 
 previous proposals. 
 
 It established a general system of rate-aided schools, pro- 
 vided for the transfer of voluntary schools, subject to the 
 payment of rent for the use of the school-house, and com- 
 mended itself to the denominationalists by acceding to their 
 hitherto stoutly opposed claim to a right of entry into the 
 schools, where only Cowper-Temple teaching had hitherto been 
 permitted.* It met the Nonconformist grievances by pro- 
 viding that denominational teaching must not be given at 
 the cost of the local authority, and by forbidding the exaction 
 of any conditions in respect of religious instruction in the 
 appointment of teachers. Other than head teachers f might 
 volunteer to give denominational instruction, and for other than 
 single-school parishes there was a Contracting-out Clause 
 permitting schools to maintain their denominational character, 
 on condition of giving up rate aid. 
 
 Moderate opinion largely favoured a settlement on the lines 
 suggested, but unfortunately much was left to be desired in the 
 details of the measure. The Contracting-out Clause, which was 
 especially intended to meet the case of the Roman Catholic 
 schools, left them with a wholly insufficient parliamentary grant. | 
 The terms of the transfer of the voluntary schools proved upon 
 examination to allow a wholly inadequate return for the money 
 expended from private funds upon their erection. By recognis- 
 ing the special case of the Roman Catholic schools, limiting the 
 application of the Contracting-out Clause, and improving 
 the terms of the transfer, a settlement might have been 
 effected. But delay gave extreme opinion an opportunity of 
 
 * On two mornings a week, from 9 o'clock to 9.45 a.m. 
 
 t Head teachers in transferred voluntary schools could volunteer to give 
 denominational instruction, and were permitted to do so for a period of five 
 years after the passing of the Act. 
 
 J Mr. John Redmond, M.P. : " The total maintenance and salaries now 
 was £98,000, or 69s. 4d. per child, in the Catholic schools. The grant 
 according to the schedule for salaries and maintenance would be £70,705, 
 or 49s. 8d. per child per annum, which left a deficit of £28,085 per annum, 
 or 193. 8d. per head " (House of Commons, December 2, 1908, Parlia- 
 mentary Debate.s, p. 1552},
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 295 
 
 making itself felt. "Eight of entry" was regarded with the 
 utmost hostility by the Nonconformists, while on the other 
 hand it encouraged the desires of certain Churchmen for perfect 
 equality of treatment between denominational and undenomi- 
 national instruction. 
 
 The Bill failing to overcome these difficulties was, like its 
 predecessors, dropped, and since that time the Coalition 
 Government has brought forward no more legislative schemes. 
 They are biding their time, but past failures would seem to 
 have taught them nothing. Mr. Eunciman has declared that 
 the first duty of an Education Minister " will be to see that 
 the Education Act of 1902 is wiped out." * Whatever the 
 future plan may be it must proceed upon entirely new lines. 
 There is, so far as can be judged from what has happened, no 
 majority in the House of Commons for the Birrell Bill, and 
 the other three Government measures failed to commend 
 themselves to a House much more inclined to listen 
 sympathetically to Nonconformist grievances than the present 
 assembly. 
 
 The Need for a Settlement. 
 
 Following upon the failure of Parliament to reach a settle- 
 ment, well-meaning persons have been endeavouring to 
 produce a scheme such as should meet with general accept- 
 ance. Proposals of all kinds abound, but none have so far 
 achieved general popularity.! The public are indifferent, and 
 there is so little difficulty in the schools that they are 
 inclined to look upon the whole matter as a sectarian squabble. 
 
 * Northampton, April 23, 1911. Acknowledging a resolution passed by 
 the Nonconformist Parliamentary Committee, urging the Government to 
 reintroduce proposals dealing with the education question, Mr. Asquith 
 wrote," You may rest assured that it will receive most careful and sympa- 
 thetic consideration, which, I trust, will assume the form of legislation 
 before this Parliament comes to an end" {The Times, April 4, 1911). This 
 assurance has been repeated as lately as November, 1911. 
 
 t See article by Prof. Sadler in The Times, May 30, 1910, on Settlement 
 Committee's Scheme ; correspondence between the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury and Lord Salisbury in TJie Times, October 25, 1910 ; and "Parents' 
 Rights " Bill, in The Morning Post, January 24, 1911,
 
 296 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 It is impossible, however, to emphasise the harm that is being 
 done to the cause of reHgious instruction by this controversy 
 being kept open. Everything points to the necessity for a 
 compromise between the Church and Nonconformity. "With- 
 out it before long the country will demand, as a measure of 
 despair, a purely secular solution, and no religious community 
 could regard the adoption of that solution with approval. 
 
 Parents' Rights. 
 
 The controversy has brought to the front a principle of 
 which but little was heard at the beginning. Then it was 
 generally assumed that the question was one for the decision 
 of the leaders of the Church and of Nonconformity, whereas 
 it is now regarded as a question for the decision of the parents 
 of the children. They, it is said, have the right to choose the 
 nature of the religious instruction their children shall receive. 
 This solution has been received more favourably by the Church 
 than by Nonconformists. The hostility of the latter is due to 
 the fact that its acceptance must open the undenominational 
 schools to denominational teaching. At the same time, how- 
 ever, the Church school in a single-school parish must lose its 
 distinctive denominational character.* The reUgious bodies 
 might well withdraw their claims to decide the question, and 
 the parents, as individual members of religious denominations, 
 should be allowed to decide that with which they are chiefly 
 concerned. 
 
 State and Religious Instruction. 
 
 A really difiQcult question to settle is the correct relation of 
 the State to religious instruction. Should such be given within 
 the schools ? Should it be imparted by the teachers ? And 
 should the cost be met out of public funds ? 
 
 * It should not be forgotten that the " single-school parish " is not 
 always a grievance of Nonconformists as against Church schools. In 
 many cases the single school in the parish is of an undenominational 
 character. Parents who desire their children to receive instruction in 
 their own religious beliefs find that they are denied this advantage, 
 although they themselves are called upon to pay rates for maintaining the 
 school in such cases.
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 297 
 
 If a settlement is to be reached, the replies must, it would 
 seem, be in the affirmative, unhesitatingly, to the first, with 
 qualifications, to the second, and in relation with certain con- 
 tingencies, to the third, of these questions. 
 
 Eeligious instruction should be given in school hours, for a 
 child whose parent has indicated a desire that he should receive 
 religious instruction of a specified character should be at least 
 as much bound to attend at that time -as during the hours 
 devoted to geography, arithmetic, or any other secular subject. 
 Otherwise religious instruction is bound to occupy a lower 
 place in the child's estimation than instruction in other 
 subjects. 
 
 In the interests of discipline the teachers should, if they are 
 competent and willing, be permitted to give religious instruction. 
 It might be desirable to exclude the head master, except where 
 an overwhelming majority of the children are of one religion, 
 as otherwise the school would present the appearance of being 
 under specific denominational guidance, but to go beyond that 
 would seem to be unnecessary. If it is a denial of liberty only 
 to appoint a teacher on the condition that he gives a certain 
 kind of denominational instruction, it is equally a denial of 
 liberty to forbid him to give instruction in his own religious 
 belief to children of the same creed. 
 
 Whether denominational teaching should be paid for out 
 of public funds depends entirely on the attitude of the State. 
 Nonconformists object to the present system, alleging that 
 under it the State pays for religious instruction. The logical 
 remedy would be that the State should not concern itself 
 in any way with religious teaching, but Nonconformists, or 
 at any rate a large majority of them, do not accept this 
 doctrine in its entirety. They limit it by holding that the 
 State should not concern itself with the religious instruction 
 of any particular denomination. The cost of religious but 
 undenominational teaching, such as conforms to the Cowper- 
 Temple Clause, they regard as properly payable out of public 
 funds. Because such instruction is concerned with the 
 doctrines of no religious sect they consider equality of treat- 
 ment and perfect justice is obtained, ignoring the fact that
 
 298 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 if the State satisfies them with Cowper-Temple teaching, it 
 does not in the like manner, and on the same terms, satisfy the 
 denominationalists. The latter do not regard Cowper-Temple 
 teaching as meeting their case. To endow such with rate aid, 
 and to call upon them to pay their share, while denying their 
 religious beliefs the same advantages, seems to denomina- 
 tionalists the rankest injustice, and they see no reason 
 whatever why Cowper-Templeism should be endowed and 
 the Church of England tabooed. 
 
 Lines of Compromise. 
 
 Nonconformists may regard teaching under the Cowper- 
 Temple clause as favouring no one, at the expense of another, 
 religion, but denominationalists are by no means of the same 
 opinion : and until they are converted to the Nonconformist 
 view settlement on the basis of general acceptance of Cowper- 
 Temple instruction is impossible. As neither party, therefore, 
 wants the purely secular solution both should agree to a 
 reasonable compromise. 
 
 State aid and rate aid should be given to all schools alike — 
 just as they all received State aid before, and State aid and 
 rate aid since 1902, All schools, however, should be open for 
 religious instruction at the choice of the parents of the children. 
 There should be no contracting out, since strong objections exist 
 to such among the Free Churches, but a school in other than a 
 single-school area should be permitted to retain a more dis- 
 tinctive denominational character, if an overwhelming majority 
 of the children are of one creed. The managers of the school 
 or a parents' committee should be entrusted with the arrange- 
 ments for giving religious education in accordance with the 
 desires of the parents, and the teachers should be permitted to 
 volunteer to give such definite denominational instruction as is 
 required. Failing a teacher, an outsider might be appointed for 
 the purpose with the sanction of the managers. To meet 
 conscientious objection to public money being applied even 
 to a small extent to the cost of denominational instruction, 
 permission might be given to such as desire it, to allocate their 
 education rate to undenominational purposes. Very few would 
 move in this direction.
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 299 
 
 The country is weary of the controversy, and desires a settle- 
 ment, and the degrading strife between contending sects with 
 no real doctrinal differences is a scandal that is having an evil 
 effect upon the religious life of the nation. 
 
 Uneven Administration. 
 
 Unfortunately the Liberal Government have by their ad- 
 ministration only added fuel to the flames. They openly boast 
 of having achieved by administration the ends that were 
 denied them by legislation.* They are suspect of every de- 
 nominationalist in the country. In the Swansea School case 
 the Board of Education deliberately threw over their own 
 special commissioner who reported against the local authority 
 and for the Church school, and the highest court in the 
 country, to which they appealed from the High Court, has now 
 decided that the authority was acting illegally in discriminating 
 against the teachers in the school.! In other less notorious 
 cases the Board of Education has proved to be in the wrong. 
 
 Confidence in the administration of the Board has also been 
 seriously weakened by the manner in which it has discharged 
 its judicial functions in respect of educational endowments of a 
 denominational character. | Mr. McKenna's action in over- 
 riding an Act of Parliament by means of the Appropriation Bill, 
 and allocating £100,000 of public money for the erection of 
 undenominational schools, showed the unprecedented steps the 
 Government were prepared to take to carry into effect their 
 
 * " I may remind you of the relief which the Government has been 
 able to afford the Nonconformists by their administrative action " (Mr. 
 Asquith's letter to the Secretary of the Nonconformist Parliamentary 
 Committee. Tlie Times, April 4, 1911). 
 
 t See Judgments of the Lord Chancellor and Lord Halsbury in the House 
 of Lords, TJie Times, April 7, 1911. 
 
 + Many such cases have been discussed in Parliament. A recent and 
 bad attempt to convert a denominational into an undenominational trust 
 was the case of the Wheelwright Schools at Dewsbury. When the subject 
 was discussed in the House of Lords on April 5, 1911, the Government 
 offered a feeble apology for their action, and did not even trouble to oppose 
 a motion to negative their scheme. The facts of the case were set out 
 in a letter by Lord Dartmouth to the Morning Post on April 8, 1911.
 
 300 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 anti-Church policy.'' Their Regulations were made to serve 
 the same purpose, grants for secular education being only 
 given to denominational secondary schools and training colleges 
 on condition that they largely abandoned their distinctive 
 religious character.! It is perhaps best that these acts should 
 be forgotten, and many Liberals wish that they had never 
 occurred. Their effect has been unfortunate in lessening the 
 chances of settlement ; and they have destroyed the confidence 
 of the public in the position hitherto fairly maintained that 
 though Ministers are party politicians in respect of legislation, 
 they are just and impartial administrators of the law. 
 
 Summary. 
 
 The main arguments put forward in the controversy may be 
 summarised as follows : — 
 
 Undenominational . 
 
 1. There should be complete popular control over all schools maintained 
 and supported out of rates and taxes. 
 
 2. In such schools no religious teaching should be given vi^hioh is dis- 
 tinctive of any religious belief. 
 
 3. Otherwise a particular religion is endowed out of the public purse ; 
 and taxpayers and ratepayers have to contribute towards the propagation 
 of religious beliefs to which they may be opposed. 
 
 4. Teachers are shut out from educational posts for which they are fitted 
 owing to their conscientious objections to giving the kind of religious 
 instruction required, or they are practically compelled to give religious 
 instruction in which they may not believe. 
 
 5. This exclusion is unjust to the teachers and unfair to the State, which 
 is unable to make the best use of the teachers' knowledge and training, the 
 cost of which it has largely provided. 
 
 6. The Education Act of 1902 must be amended since it denied popular 
 control over schools maintained out of public money, left them their 
 
 * See Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, March 20, July 11, 
 and August 15, 1907 ; and House of Lords, July 25 and August 21, 1907, 
 and March 23, 1908. The clause over-ridden by the Appropriation Bill 
 was Section 96 of the Education Act, 1870, which provided that " no par- 
 liamentary grant shall be made in aid of building, enlarging, or improving 
 or fitting up any elementary school." 
 
 t See Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, July 11, 1907, and 
 House of Lords, July 25, 1907
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 301 
 
 denominational character, and imposed religious testa upon teachers 
 seeking employment in them. 
 
 7. The Liberal Education Bills have been intended to ensure that 
 elementary schools maintained out of public funds shall be under popular 
 control, and that teachers shall not have to submit to religious tests. 
 They recognised the interests of denominations in certain schools by 
 offering them a fair price for such interests or its equivalent in concessions 
 in favour of denominational teaching. 
 
 8. But proper regard for the conscientious convictions of thousands of 
 citizens made it impossible to provide that the cost of denominational 
 teaching, virhere provided for children at the desire of their parents, should 
 be met out of the rates. 
 
 9. In special circumstances, however, these Bills permitted de- 
 nominational schools under certain conditions to preserve this wholly 
 denominational character on agreeing to forego rate aid. 
 
 10. They offered the only fair and just alternative to the purely secular 
 solution, and were the inevitable outcome of the General Election of 1906. 
 
 11. They were acceptable to the majority of the electors in the country, 
 which is satisfied with Cowper-Temple teaching, and only desires to 
 permit the existence of denominational schools as exceptions to the 
 general rule. 
 
 12. Since the dual system established by the Act of 1870 had broken 
 down, and the voluntary schools had shown themselves unable to maintain 
 their efficiency under the conditions then established, the Liberal Bills 
 offered the only solution that would be accepted by the country as a 
 proper settlement. 
 
 13. The principles of these Bills have been accepted as entirely just and 
 indeed inevitable by a large number of Churchmen of moderate opinions. 
 
 14. The Conscience Clause has proved to be no safeguard to Non- 
 conformist children, especially in the villages, where clerical intolerance 
 has often placed them in an ignominious position. 
 
 15. As parents are compelled to send their children to school, where no 
 alternative institution exists such school of compulsion must be of such a 
 character that the children will not be subjected to religious influences to 
 which their parents have conscientious objections. 
 
 16. This necessary condition can only be obtained in a single-school 
 parish by making the school wholly undenominational in character. 
 
 DenomiTiational. 
 
 1. The Cowper-Temple teaching, while it suffices in some cases, does not 
 satisfy multitudes of parents who wish their children to receive definite 
 instruction in their own religious beliefs. 
 
 2. These parents being ratepayers and taxpayers have an equal right 
 with undenominationalists to say what religious instruction shall be given 
 in the schools which they help to maintain, and their children have to 
 attend.
 
 302 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 3. The State has always recognised the vohintary schools and encouraged 
 the supporters of such schools to expend money on their erection and 
 maintenance. 
 
 4. Accepting this responsibility, the Church of England alone has spent 
 more than £47,000,000 upon elementary education, of which nearly 
 £30,000,000 has been found since 1870 for denominational schools. 
 
 5. It would be an act of injustice and a gross breach of faith now to 
 disallow the continuance of such schools on a denominational basis, or only 
 to permit them to continue on such a footing, bereft of assistance from 
 the public purse. 
 
 6. Teachers who are willing and qualified should be allowed to give 
 definite religious instruction to the children whose parents want it. To 
 forbid them is a denial of liberty. 
 
 7. If denominational religious instruction is allowed at all, it should be 
 given by teachers rather than by outsiders, in the interests of efl&ciency 
 and of the discipline of the school. 
 
 8. To allow of the provision of religious instruction only outside school 
 hours would be to degrade it to the position of an extra and optional subject, 
 and to encourage the children to regard it as of less worth than secular 
 themes such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
 
 9. The consciences of minorities are fully protected by the Conscience 
 Clause, which safeguards any child from receiving religious instruction 
 against its parents' wishes. 
 
 10. There is no real difficulty or trouble in the schools themselves, and 
 the controversy is mainly the work of Nonconformist agitators, who, 
 being opponents of the Established Church, desire to undermine her 
 position. 
 
 11. The Education Act of 1902 gave the voluntary schools no more than 
 bare justice, since it raised the standard of efficiency of secular education 
 by bringing all local school administration under one controlling authority. 
 
 12. That Act did not endow denominational instruction out of the rates, 
 since the teachers' time and the use of the school-houses for denomina- 
 tional instruction were more than balanced by the use of the school-houses 
 free of rent for the purposes of secular education. 
 
 13. The rate aid supplements the State grant and provides the money to 
 meet the cost of secular instruction in all schools and of religious instruc- 
 tion only in undenominational schools. 
 
 14. The Act of 1902 did not place the rate-aided voluntary schools under 
 clerical control, but placed them under the control of the local authority 
 for secular education, and under the control of the managers, of whom 
 only one could be a clergyman, in respect of religious instruction. 
 
 15. The Act reduced the number of posts reserved for teachers of a 
 particular denomination by permitting assistant and pupil teachers to be 
 appointed to denominational schools, irrespective of their religious beliefs. 
 
 16. The Act made it easier for new undenominational schools to be
 
 THE EDUCATION QUESTION 303 
 
 erected by removing the existing limitation to the effect that now schools 
 could only be built where the number of places in the existing schools 
 was insufficient. 
 
 17. Liberal Bills to amend the Education Act of 1902 have been 
 dictated by the desire of Nonconformists to wipe out denominational 
 schools as far as possible. 
 
 18. Such Bills ignored the great work done and the money spent by the 
 Church of England and other religious bodies on the provision of education, 
 and offered only such terms as amounted to confiscation or starvation. 
 
 19. The}' attempted to set up an universal undenominational system 
 against the wishes of, at the very lowest computation, half of the inhabi- 
 tants of the country, who did and do desire that their children should and 
 shall receive definite religious instruction according to their own beliefs. 
 
 20. Regardless of the conscientious convictions of their opponents, the 
 Liberals would have forced them to pay for religious instruction which 
 failed to satisfy their needs, and would have denied them equal oppor- 
 tunities of having their own children taught the principles of their own 
 creed. 
 
 21. The provision of an universal undenominational system would irre- 
 parably impair the religious life of the nation, and would end in no long 
 time in a purely secular solution. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 For the most part the literature of the education controversy is only to 
 be found in the ephemeral pamphlets and leaflets of the various political 
 and religious associations, which took part in the dispute. Graham 
 Balfour's " Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland " gives a valu- 
 able and impartial survey of the history of our educational systems, and a 
 summary of the present system. A history of the efforts of the Church of 
 England is given in two pamphlets issued by the Church Defence Com- 
 mittee (Church House, Westminster, S.W.) — " The Church and Education 
 prior to and since 1870." The Nonconformist case is stated in the various 
 issues of the "Free Church Year Book," published by the National Free 
 Church Council (Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street. E.C.). From these 
 organisations and from the National Society (19, Great Peter Street, 
 Westminster, S.W.) literature can be obtained dealing with the question. 
 The debates in Parliament on the various Education Bills should also 
 be consulted. Full statistics relating to education are to be found in 
 the Annual Report of the Board of Education, which is presented to 
 Parliament.
 
 CHAPTEE XI 
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT is one of the questions which 
 for many years has figured in the Liberal programme, 
 and is generally advocated upon the abstract principles of 
 equality and justice. In concrete arguments, however, the 
 appeal to these virtues is accompanied by motives of a less 
 exalted character, which are at least to some extent based upon 
 envy, covetousness, and self-interest. 
 
 No one who has studied the attitude of the rank and file of 
 Nonconformists towards the Established Church can deny that 
 they are in no small degree jealous of its position, and are not 
 unwilling to see its pride humbled, its revenues diminished, 
 and its dignity impaired. Although it is asserted by members 
 of the Free Churches that disestablishment would be advan- 
 tageous to the Church, inasmuch as it would thus be free from 
 State influences, and informed by a spirit of sanctity alone, it is 
 somewhat difficult to believe that they would advocate this 
 reform if they really believed that it would be to the Church's 
 benefit; for if it were the Church would be stronger and 
 Nonconformity weaker in equal degree. 
 
 Assumed Anxiety for the Church. 
 
 This argument is not likely to deceive any Churchman, 
 especially as proposals for disestablishment are always accom- 
 panied by proposals for disendowment.* Under Mr. Asquith's 
 Welsh Disestablishment Bill of 1909, of the existingendowments 
 
 * "Every practical politician knows that Disestablishment and 
 Disendowment are inseparable" ("The Case for Disestablishment in 
 Wales," by Howard Evans). See also leaflet of Liberation Society, 
 " Disestablishment and Disendowment Inseparable," by Dr. J. Massie. 
 
 304
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 305 
 
 of the Welsh Church, there would remain only Is. 5^d. in the 
 pound,* and to argue that the spoliation of so much of the 
 income of the Church would make it more efficient borders on 
 the absurd. Indeed, if Nonconformists really believed that a 
 religious body enjoying endowments is for that reason less 
 likely to do its duty than one which exists only upon the con- 
 tributions made from day to day by its supporters, their obvious 
 and logical duty is to surrender without delay their own 
 endowments. Needless to say they suggest no such surrender, 
 and their refusal affords reason to doubt their belief in the 
 soundness of their own argument. 
 
 Hostility to the Church. 
 
 There would probably be a greater disposition to accept the 
 argument if those who support disestablishment made less 
 display of their hostility to the Church. But no one can read 
 the writings, or listen to the advocates, of disestablishment 
 without becoming aware how keen and deep seated is this feeling. 
 The Bishops are attacked for their actions in the House of Lords. 
 They are asserted to be opponents of measures designed to 
 improve the social and moral conditions of the people, and 
 they are accused of being shamefully rich. The Cathedral 
 system is denounced, and the parochial system, and the con- 
 ditions under which, and the manner in which, patronage is 
 exercised, are all subjected to hostile criticism. The clergy 
 as a class are condemned, and references are made to much 
 that Churchmen hold dear in such a spirit as can only leave 
 the impression that not only the estabHshment, but the doc- 
 trines also of the Church are the subject of attack. 
 
 The "Breeches Pocket" Argument. 
 
 Such, however, as may not be enamoured of disestablish- 
 ment in the abstract may be moved by the prospect of concrete 
 gain arising out of the division of the Church's property. 
 "In disendowment," according to the Liberation Society, 
 " the ruling principle shall be, not generosity to the Church, 
 * See Central Church Committee leaflet, No. 207. 
 
 21
 
 306 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 but justice to the nation." * The funds at disposal as the 
 result of disendowment are to be applied to the provision of 
 higher and technical education, hospitals, dispensaries, nurses, 
 libraries, parish halls, and to other purposes of local or general 
 utility. The prospect of personal advantage is more crudely 
 apparent in the proposal that disendowment shall supply funds 
 v?herewith to reduce the qualifying age for State pensions from 
 70 to 65, or even 60 years of age.f 
 
 Bearing these facts in mind, it is necessary to discount very 
 considerably the arguments that an Established Church in- 
 volves injustice to citizenship, a wrong to the nation, and that 
 it is a hindrance to religion : in short, that disestablishment is 
 demanded in the highest interests of the individual, the 
 nation, and the Church. These high principles would carry 
 more weight if they were free from any taint of self-interest. 
 Such as they are, they are put forward as of general appli- 
 cation; and advocates of disestablishment desire to see the 
 Established Churches — of Scotland as well as of England and 
 Wales — liberatedfrom State control, and the " national property " 
 now held by them applied to other, and strictly national, 
 purposes. So far as practical politics are concerned, however, 
 the Established Church in Wales alone is in immediate danger. 
 In Scotland there is no movement for disestablishment worth 
 taking into account. Disestablishment of the Church in 
 England — though Liberal candidates think it worth while 
 sometimes to express a pious opinion in its favour — cannot be 
 regarded at present as in sight. Wales has been chosen for 
 the scene of the first conflict, because the Principality appears 
 to the party of disestablishment to offer the most favourable 
 ground upon which to fight. But from their arguments 
 against the Established Church in Wales, which is only a part 
 of the Established Church in England, it is clear that success 
 in Wales would not satisfy them, and would indeed only be an 
 encouragement to proceed against the Church in England. 
 
 * " The Case for Disestablishment," p. 170. 
 
 t Made by Mr. Ellis Griffith, M.P., Chairman of the Welsh Parlia- 
 mentary party. See Parliamentary Debates, April 21, 1909, pp. 
 1552-3.
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 307 
 
 In their minds any Established Church, wherever it may be, 
 is a wrong, since it violates the cardinal principles of justice 
 and equality. 
 
 The Secular Solution. 
 
 Carried to its logical conclusion, this argument denies to the 
 State any right to have anything to do with religion, and 
 confines it to the secular sphere. It confounds ecclesiastical 
 with individual equality, though to-day no obstacle exists to the 
 profession by any individual of any religion. No doubt there 
 were such obstacles in the past, and whether they were or were 
 not necessary and justifiable when they existed is a matter 
 of academic interest for the historian. They have all been 
 removed, and no question of individual inequality is involved. 
 It is purely a question of the relation of religious bodies to the 
 State ; and while it is true that in some countries, such as the 
 United States and British Dominions overseas, there is no 
 Established Church, the long historical connection between the 
 Church and the State in England has resulted in strong and 
 almost ineradicable growths going deep down into the essen- 
 tial bases of our national life. In some countries, as in France, 
 there has occurred in recent times a disruption of the relations 
 between the Church and the State, but he would be a bold 
 man who would maintain that where there has never been an 
 Established Church, or where the connection between such a 
 Church and the State has been severed, religion has an equal 
 hold upon the nation, or that national standards and ideals are 
 of equal worth. The results of the divorce between Church and 
 State have hardly resulted in universal harmony, in economic 
 peace, in an accession of patriotic effort in France, but it is main- 
 tained that disestablishment would have some, at any rate, of 
 these happy results in England and in Wales ! 
 
 The Complaint of Inequality. 
 
 If, however, the attitude of Nonconformists towards the 
 Established Church is examined with special reference to 
 their complaints of inequality, it will be found that the out- 
 ward and visible emblems of establishment, rather than its
 
 308 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 essential attributes, in an especial degree give occasion for 
 complaint. The Sovereign is a member of the Established 
 Church of England ; but that he should be so is not essential 
 to establishment.* The Bishops have seats in the House of 
 Lords, but the possession by them of this privilege is not 
 essential to establishment. Proposals have indeed been made 
 for reducing the number of, and even for abolishing, their seats 
 in the Second Chamber ; and, on the other hand, it has been 
 urged that the leaders of the Nonconformist and Roman 
 Catholic, Churches should sit in the House of Lords. Estab- 
 lishment does, however, involve the acceptance of the offices 
 of the Church on State occasions, such as the Coronation. But 
 Nonconformists do not see why they should not be allowed 
 to participate in that ceremony,! to which there is probably 
 no legal or other objection. Their admission would not produce 
 equality, but a demand for participation by other religious 
 bodies, in which the Roman Catholic Church could not be 
 included. The only logical solution would be a purely secular 
 Coronation ceremony, which might satisfy some, but would be 
 by no means acceptable to the majority of the inhabitants 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 The Obligations op Establishment. 
 
 Although Establishment confers certain privileges of this 
 character,! it imposes upon the Church certain restrictions 
 and obligations. The State exercises, for instance, a con- 
 siderable amount of patronage in the Church — such as the 
 nomination of bishops, and in certain cases, of deans, canons, 
 rectors, and vicars. It is true that those who act for the 
 State may abuse their privileges in this behalf, and no doubt 
 political considerations have often weighed with Ministers in 
 making these appointments. The exercise of patronage at the 
 
 * The Presbyterian, is the Established, Church of Scotland, but the 
 Sovereign is not a member thereof. 
 
 t In the investiture of the Prince of Wales Nonconformist ministers 
 took part. 
 
 J The Established Church can call upon the State to enforce the 
 decisions of the Ecclesiastical Courts.
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 3011 
 
 present day is, however, very jealously scrutinised, and those 
 who are charged with the duty of making or recommending 
 appointments conform, as a result of high principle, or a fear 
 of criticism, to a higher standard than obtained in the past. 
 But if they do fail in the execution of their trust theirs is the 
 blame, and it is they who should be removed, not the Church 
 which should be blamed. 
 
 The so-called "Free" Chukches. 
 
 The State places restrictions upon the introduction of 
 changes into the doctrine and liturgy of the Church, which 
 cannot be made without its consent ; * but it is inaccurate to 
 assert that disestablishment would relieve the Church from 
 all control by the State. Indeed, the very act of disestablish- 
 ment by an Act of Parliament would be a crucial and monu- 
 mental instance of such interference, and the State would 
 again necessarily be called in, if it were sought to change or 
 amend the conditions and position of the disestablished Church. 
 The " Free " Churches, too, are as a matter of fact subjected 
 to State control, for the intervention of Parliament has been 
 required in two recent instances in the affairs of Nonconformist 
 bodies. In 1905 an Act of Parliament was found necessary in 
 order to readjust the distribution of property between the Free 
 Church and the United Free Church of Scotland, and in 1907 
 parliamentary sanction had to be obtained to enable three 
 Nonconformist bodies to unite under one name.+ The 
 "Free" Church, which holds property under a trust-deed 
 
 * Other restrictions to which Establishment is subject, are the neces- 
 sity of a writ for permission to Convocation to sit, the issue of Royal 
 Letters of License before Convocation can consider legislation for the 
 Church, and the denial to the clergy of the Church of England of freedom 
 to sit in the House of Commons. There also rests an obligation on the 
 clergy to be at the service of every citizen. It is arguable whether these 
 restrictions are a necessary part of establishment. So far as doctrine and 
 ritual are concerned, for example, the Established Church of Scotland 
 enjoys large powers of self-government. 
 
 t 7 Edw. VII. c. 75. The Act authorised the union of the Methodist 
 New Connexion, the Bible Christians, and the United Methodist Free 
 Churches under the name of the United Methodist Church.
 
 310 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 requiring certain doctrines to be taught, is subject to State 
 control, inasmuch as the law enforces the teaching of the 
 prescribed doctrines in order to the proper performance of 
 the trust ; and no legal relief can be obtained, however obso- 
 lete the doctrines may seem to-day, without application to 
 Parliament.* 
 
 Even after disestablishment is attained the Church of 
 England would not be entirely free, but would still in some 
 respects be liable to regulation by the State. It follows that 
 the reunion of the Church and Nonconformity cannot result. 
 Nor is there any reason to assume that better relations would 
 be established ; for the fact that disestablishment could only 
 be achieved in direct opposition to the wishes of Churchmen 
 would certainly not promote good feeling between them and 
 Nonconformists. 
 
 DiSENDOWMENT THE EeAL QUESTION. 
 
 But the chief question is disendowment. Disestablishment 
 alone would not give satisfaction ; the revenues of the Estab- 
 lished Church must to a great extent be confiscated, and to 
 justify this demand, it is alleged that she enjoys an annual 
 income of nearly six millions from public property, which 
 should be set free for national purposes.! The argument 
 is that the possessions of a National Established Church 
 are of necessity national in character, and should therefore 
 be enjoyed by the whole nation ; but they are not and cannot 
 be so enjoyed under existing circumstances, because the nation, 
 in fact, does not belong to the Established Church. Failing 
 then to be of national benefit as at present used, they must 
 be applied to other purposes which clearly answer this 
 description. Without, for the moment, questioning the pro- 
 priety of applying the term " national " to the possessions 
 of the Established Church, the claim for their redistribution 
 
 • For other remarkable examples of the necessity under which " Free " 
 Churches lie of resorting to Parliament see Sir Edward Clarke's speech 
 in the House of Commons, February 3, 1892. 
 
 t Liberation Society leaflet, "What Good will it do?" Another 
 leaflet, "The Revenue of the Established Church," places it at 
 
 ies.ooo.ooo.
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 311 
 
 fails, since it incorrectly assumes that the enjoyment of the 
 benefits of Church property is denied to persons desirous of 
 participating. The fact is that any exclusion therefrom is 
 a purely voluntaiy act, resulting from conscientious or other 
 convictions, scruples, or reasons. To Churchmen who do not 
 regard the property of the Church as national, but as held 
 in trust to carry out the desires of pious donors and founders, 
 there appears to be no right of enjoyment by those who cannot 
 fulfil the terms of the trust, or subscribe to the conditions 
 of participation. Churchmen do not consider it an injustice 
 to be excluded from sharing in the endowments of Non- 
 conformity. 
 
 The Claim of " National " Property. 
 
 But the whole question turns on the accuracy of the term 
 " national " as applied to the property of the Church, and even 
 Nonconformists concede that more recent endowments are 
 entirely "private" in character. The "national" endow- 
 ments, they allege, are those of more ancient date, principally 
 tithes and glebe-lands. Around the origin of tithes controversy 
 has raged. The Disestablishment Party seem indeed to have 
 recognised that in the first instance they were a voluntary gift, 
 but they assert that later tithes acquired the character of a 
 compulsory levy ; and since their payment was enforced by the 
 State they became in effect a State tax.* The compulsion 
 exercised by the State, however, was no more than that of 
 ensuring that the legal conditions attached to the ownership 
 or tenancy of certain land were satisfied. The original 
 owner, in fact, voluntarily gave away a portion of the value 
 of his land, not in a capital sum, but in the shape of an annual 
 
 * " It was an arguable position to take up that although tithes became 
 a compulsory tax after a certain date, they were originally a voluntary 
 obligation, and were given by private persons out of their own resources " 
 (Mr. Asquith, House of Commons, June 17, 1895). The Report of the 
 Welsh Church Commission, signed by seven out of the nine Com- 
 missioners, states: "We think it is not our duty to attempt to perform 
 the almost impossible and very controversial task of ascertaining the 
 historic legal origin of Church property which includes property of such 
 ancient origin as glebe-land and tithes " (Cd. 5432, i. p. 7).
 
 312 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 grant, and it was a necessary obligation upon his successors 
 to fulfil the terms of the gift. That is the nature of the tithe, 
 and it is erroneous to represent it as a charge imposed by the 
 State for the upkeep of the Established Church. And even 
 if the Church failed in any measure to fulfil the conditions 
 of the grant, far greater would such failure be under any 
 possible arrangement succeeding disestablishment. Not the 
 strongest opponent of establishment will at any rate deny 
 that the proceeds of the tithes were to be devoted to religious 
 purposes. But under a Disestablishment Act they would be 
 applied to purely secular needs. If indeed the Established 
 Church's claim be disallowed, the intentions of the original 
 tithe-payers would be better niterpreted by the dedication of 
 their endowments to the subsidiary educational and quasi- 
 religious requirements of the Church. This, however, would 
 involve " concurrent endowment," a system which is entirely 
 obnoxious to Nonconformists and at variance with the secular 
 solution of the educational question, which they favour. 
 
 The Particular Case of Wales. 
 
 The arguments of the Disestablishment Party, which have 
 been so far examined, are of general application to any Estab- 
 lished Church, but as has been already stated, the dis- 
 establishers have chosen to deliver their first attack against 
 the Church in Wales, because they believe that there are 
 secondary reasons, which make the prospects of success 
 brighter in the Principality. The principal arguments ad- 
 vanced for Welsh Disestablishment, apart from those of 
 general application, are : That the Welsh people, by an 
 enormous majority, demand it ; that the Church in Wales 
 is an " alien " Church, the Church of a minority, out of 
 touch with the people, and an obstacle to the development 
 of the spirit of true religion. 
 
 The " Majority " Argument. 
 
 The assertion that the majority of Welsh people demand 
 disestablishment is usually based upon the ground that Wales 
 returns a majority of Liberal members to Parliament. This
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 313 
 
 evidence is, however, valueless if it can be shown that 
 disestabHshment occupied little or no place in the programme 
 of these politicians. An examination of the election addresses 
 issued by supporters of the Government in Wales shows 
 that only eight out of twenty-one referred at the last 
 General Election to disestablishment. Since candidates 
 generally are by no means reluctant to refer with approval 
 to public questions, which are likely to gain votes, there is 
 little proof here that the question of disestablishment was 
 in their eyes one of surpassing interest, and exceptional 
 urgency. But even if Wales were almost, or even quite, 
 unanimously in favour of disestablishment, opponents of 
 this policy could not admit that the fact in any way justified 
 the act. They maintain that the establishment in Wales 
 cannot be singled out for attack and made the subject of 
 separate legislation, but that the Established Church forms 
 one inseparable whole, and must be so regarded in all matters 
 affecting its endowments, and its relations with the State. 
 Nor, taking into account the opinion of the whole country, 
 can they allow that there is any general movement in favour 
 of disestablishment."- 
 
 The "Alien" Church. 
 
 To the Disestablishment Party the Church in Wales is an 
 "alien" Church — " the Church of England in Wales." To 
 Churchmen it is " the Church " in Wales, whose history can 
 be traced back to a period before there was an England or a 
 Church of England. They maintain with considerable force 
 that the Established Church in Wales is neither a Welsh nor 
 an English Church, but that it existed long before there were 
 such nationalities as English and Welsh. 
 
 It is unfortunate for the disestablishment case that the 
 borderline between England and Wales which they seek to set 
 up in respect of the Established Church has no existence either 
 in that behalf, or in the case of the Free Churches. In the 
 
 * Of 210 Government candidates in England, who were returned to the 
 1911 Parliament, only four referred to disestablishment, and six in a vague 
 and meaningless manner to " religious liberty."
 
 314 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Established Church there are three dioceses whose centres are 
 in England with eleven parishes entirely in Wales, and thirteen 
 parishes partly in England and partly in the Principality. On 
 the other hand, fourteen parishes in the diocese of St. Asaph 
 are entirely, and four partly, in England. Moreover, Welsh 
 Nonconformity is represented on the National Free Church 
 Council of England and Wales, and neither possesses nor 
 desires a separate organisation for Wales." 
 
 The Church in Wales is not a separate Church ; the confident 
 assertion that it is that of a small minority has been shaken 
 by the results of the Welsh Church Commission, and although 
 the Nonconformists have declined for their part to conform 
 to a religious census, from sach figures as were given before 
 the Royal Commission the deduction can safely be made 
 that the Established Church is by far the largest religious 
 body in Wales. + 
 
 Thk Irish Analogy. 
 
 On the ground that the Church in Wales is that of a 
 minority, the Disestablishment Party justify their policy on 
 the analogy of the Irish Church. That the two cases are 
 analogous was vigorously denied by Mr. Gladstone, who 
 declared that it was impossible to compare the severance 
 between the Established Church and the Nonconformists of 
 "Wales with the severance between the members of the Irish 
 Establishment and the Roman Catholics of that country .... 
 There was a strong and sharp antagonism between the Estab- 
 lished Church and the Roman Catholic Church running 
 through Ii-eland, and that ecclesiastical antagonism was 
 complicated and embittered by inter-mixture with political 
 questions even graver than the ecclesiastical controversies of 
 
 * For details of specific Nonconformist denominations see the 
 Memorandum of Archdeacon Evans and Lord Hugh Cecil (Report of 
 Welsh Church Commission, Cd. 5432, i. pp. 88-89). They point out 
 that the dividing line is linguistic rather than geographical. 
 
 t Cd. 5432 i. p. 20. The figures of communicants given by the 
 different denominations are the subject of considerable criticism, and are 
 not generally accepted by the combatants. For the Church's case, see 
 leaflet 202 of the Central Church Committee.
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT :U5 
 
 the country. ... It would be a gross exaggeration to say that 
 anything Hke a resemblance of the general position exists 
 between Wales and Ireland or in the attitude of the members 
 of the Church in Wales, on the one, and the members of the 
 Nonconforming bodies, on the other hand. It would puzzle 
 a theologian to define the doctrinal differences between the 
 Established Church and Nonconformity, and the clergy of 
 the Church in the country districts are the trusted friends, 
 and indeed not seldom the spiritual advisers, of dissenters, 
 with no chapel at hand. There is little that is doctrinal in 
 the dispute and little that is religious. It is with equal 
 difficulty that the inquirer in Wales can discover in what 
 articles one, differs from another, Free Church, and wherein 
 either or all of the Free Churches differ from the Established 
 Church. Again, the religious differences of Ireland had their 
 root in the ancient history of the country, while such as 
 exist in Wales are of modern growth." " It would," Mr. 
 Gladstone declared, "be a most precipitate and erroneous 
 conclusion to assume that there was a substantial identity 
 or similarity " between the cases of the Irish Church and 
 the Church in Wales.''- 
 
 An Advancing Church. 
 
 The remaining special arguments for Welsh Disestablish- 
 ment are that the Church in Wales is out of touch with the 
 people and an obstacle to religious progress, but whatever 
 grounds there may have been in the past for these charges, 
 they have now disappeared. Indeed, Mr. Asquith himself has 
 said that " everybody knows that during the last seventy 
 years, at any rate in the Church of England and Wales, there 
 has been opened a new chapter — a new, beneficent, and fruitful 
 chapter — in their history." f The evidence given before the 
 Welsh Church Commission fully bears out this view, \ and 
 shows that the Established Church, faithfully discharging 
 
 • House of Commons, May 24, 1870 (Hansard, vol. 201, pp. 1291-9). 
 t House of Commons, April 21, 1909 (Parliamentary Debates, p. 1528). 
 I See Report, Cd. 5432, i., especially pp. 17, 20-22, 43-44, 51-52, and 
 the memorandum of Archdeacon Evans and Lord Hugh Cecil.
 
 :n& CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 its duties, is admittedly growing and extending in influence, 
 but that it is comparatively poor, notwithstanding the 
 possession of endowments and of voluntary contributions. 
 Where then can be found adequate justification for impairing 
 its position and confiscating a large part of its income ? Such 
 proposals, if put forward on purely secular grounds, would at 
 least be intelligible, but when advanced in the name of religion, 
 and in respect of an area wherein it is admitted that the 
 utmost endeavours of all religious communities are necessary 
 to combat a growing indifference, and to carry out a true 
 Christian programme, they appear so little adapted to effect 
 these ends as to render them suspect on the score of sectarian 
 prejudice, worldly jealousy, or religious odium. Neverthe- 
 less there are multitudes of honest men and women in "Wales 
 and elsewhere, who accept the case against the Church as an 
 article of faith, which needs no proof. Impartial inquiry and 
 accurate statistics have till the present time been wholly 
 wanting, and the report of the Welsh Church Commission, 
 while throwing a flood of light upon an obscure subject, con- 
 clusively proves that further investigation is needed before 
 religious reformers can ride forth, in that character at any rate, 
 to destroy an ancient but newly invigorated and now virile 
 and efficient Church. 
 
 Arguments For and Against Disestablishment and 
 
 DiSENDOWMENT. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. An Established Church occupies a position of privilege, which is 
 unjust to other religious communities. 
 
 2. Its endowments are rightly national property, which should not be 
 used for the benefit of one denomination, but ought to be enjoyed by the 
 whole nation. 
 
 3. The Bishops of the Established Church, alone of all the leaders 
 of religious thought, have seats in the House of Lords, and can take part 
 in the legislative functions of that Chamber. 
 
 4. The clergy of the Established Church have a practical monopoly 
 of public ecclesiastical appointments. 
 
 5. Those who hold office, rank, and emolument in the Established
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 317 
 
 Church are placed by law in a favoured position in comparison with that 
 occupied by the members of other religious communities. 
 
 6. It is neither reasonable nor right to inflict disabilities upon some, 
 and confer privileges upon others, in respect of their religious beliefs. 
 
 7. Disestablishment and disendowment would remove these injustices 
 and give to the nation what was intended for the national benefit. 
 Establishment is an artificial barrier, dividing the nation into two 
 camps, and is therefore prejudicial to national unity. 
 
 8. Disestablishment will remove an obstacle to the cordial co-operation 
 of religious bodies in the interests of moral, social, and national progress. 
 
 9. Establishment maintains in existence a class which, being itself 
 privileged, is the natural ally of privilege and monopoly, and a hindrance 
 to social and political reform. 
 
 10. Disestablishment, by producing religious equality, will give freer 
 play to the religious, and intellectual strength of the nation. 
 
 11. Establishment prevents the Church from managing her own 
 aSairs ; the appointment of Archbishops, Bishops, and many of the 
 clergy is in the hands of the State ; Parliament controls the doctrine, 
 discipline, and ritual of the Church. 
 
 12. Disestablishment will set the Church free from the bondage of 
 the secular power ; by so doing it will immensely encourage the growth 
 of her spiritual life, and enable her to terminate internal troubles which 
 at present retard her spiritual growth. 
 
 13. Disestablishment has been tried in Ireland, the British Dominions 
 overseas, and the United States, and has proved, in each case, to be a 
 great blessing. 
 
 14. It is, therefore, demanded in the highest interests of the individual, 
 the nation, and the Church itself. 
 
 15. It is, moreover, especially urgent in Wales, where the majority of 
 the inhabitants have repeatedly declared themselves in favour of it through 
 their elected representatives. 
 
 16. The injustices of establishment are especially pronounced in 
 Wales, since the Church is not only "alien" in its character, but 
 represents a mere minority of the inhabitants, and has shown itself to be 
 incapable of appreciation of, and of association with, national feeling 
 and sentiment. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. That the State should have nothing to do with religion is a purely 
 secular argument, which should not be advanced by any professing 
 Christian, whatever his creed. 
 
 2. It has yet to be proved that where there is no Established Church 
 the religious and spiritual life of the nation is stronger. There is 
 evidence, on the contrary, to the opposite effect. 
 
 3. Establishment does not involve religious inequality ; it prevents 
 no man from following his own religious line.
 
 318 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 4. Many of the outward signs of Establishment — for instance, the 
 presence of the Bishops in the House of Lords — are not essential to the 
 existence of an Established Church. 
 
 5. Disestablishment would not abolish the power of the State and 
 Parliament over the Church ; the Free Churches have to go to 
 Parliament whenever they desire to obtain legal sanction for changes in 
 their constitution. 
 
 6. There is no reason to think that disestablishment would be a step 
 towards reunion ; and, as it would be bitterly opposed by Churchmen, 
 its adoption would leave behind a feeling of injury, which would prevent 
 their future co-operation with Free Churches. 
 
 7. The real object of the movement is not so much disestablishment 
 as disendowment. 
 
 8. Disendowment, by depriving the Church of a large portion of her 
 income, would impose limitations upon her activity and enterprise, to 
 the great detriment of the religious life of the nation. 
 
 9. Disendowment is pure confiscation, since the property of the Church 
 is not national property and was not given to her by the State. 
 
 10. The old endowments from tithes were of a voluntary and local 
 character ; they were never part of the general public revenue. 
 
 11. They were given for religious purposes ; and under a disendowment 
 policy they would be misappropriated, in a manner wholly foreign to the 
 original intention of the founders, for secular uses. 
 
 12. Confiscation of property by the State, always dishonourable when 
 effected in the name of religion, would have a superlatively demoralising 
 effect on the whole religious life of the nation. 
 
 13. The possessions of the Church are trust property, and while she is 
 faithfully discharging the conditions of the trust she should not be 
 deprived of them. 
 
 14. The arguments directed against a policy of disestablishment and 
 disendowment apply with equal force to the Church in England, and 
 there is no difference of any kind between Church property in Wales 
 and Church property in England. 
 
 15. The Church in Wales is a vigorous and growing organisation, 
 the most progressive and numerically the largest of the religious de- 
 nominations in the Principality. 
 
 16. It is not an "alien" Church, but can show a continuous history 
 dating from an early period before there was an England or a Church 
 of England. 
 
 17. There is no justification for separating the Church in Wales from the 
 Church in England. Nonconformist denominations do not recognise the 
 division between England and Wales, but form one body for England 
 and Wales. 
 
 18. The Church in Wales is a poor Church, but her endowments enable 
 her to do much needed work which Nonconformist bodies are unable to 
 undertake.
 
 DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT 319 
 
 19. In many country parishes the Church alono maintains a resident 
 minister of religion. Disendowment would so impoverish the Church 
 that many of these parishes would be deprived entirely of a resident 
 minister of any religious belief. 
 
 20. This would be a great setback to religion, and would be deplorable at 
 a time when there is a general tendency towards indifference in religious 
 matters, which it requires all the efforts of all Churches to overcome. 
 
 21. The failure of Nonconformists to provide adequate maintenance 
 for their ministers proves that endowments are necessary for the proper 
 conduct of religious bodies. 
 
 22. The Church in Wales does not rely exclusively on endowments, but 
 raises every year large voluntary contributions. 
 
 23. There is no evidence of an active general demand from Wales for 
 Disestablishment and Disendowment other than such as is, on insufficient 
 grounds, deduced from the fact that the large majority of her parlia- 
 mentary representatives are in favour of this policy. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Literature and information relating to disestablishment and disendow- 
 ment generally, and to the question as applied to Wales can be obtained 
 from the Liberation Society (Caxton House, Tothill Street, Westminster, 
 S.W.) and the Central Church Committee for Defence (Church House, 
 Westminster, S.W.). The former body is in favour of, and the latter 
 opposed to, disestablishment and disendowment. The case for and 
 against is stated in the memoranda of individual Commissioners 
 which are attached to the Report of the Welsh Church Commission 
 (Cd. 5432, i., of 1900), the main report of which is a colourless document, 
 while the supplementary memoranda are full of vigorous criticism and 
 refutation of opponents' statements, and illustrate the impossibility of 
 arriving at any agreement. The Liberation Society have issued an official 
 handbook, " The Case for Disestablishment," which presents their policy 
 in a convenient form. The classic work against Disestablishment is still 
 Lord Selborne's "Defence of the Church of England against Disestablish- 
 ment." Professor Freeman's " Disestablishment and Disendowment " is 
 also valuable. So far as Welsh Disestablishment alone is concerned, the case 
 for its support is presented in Howard Evans's " Case for Disestablishment 
 in Wales," published by the Liberation Society. The case against is given 
 in " The Churchman's Shield," by L. J. James and W. E. Evans, 
 published by TJie Western Mail, Cardiff, which also issues a reprint of two 
 speeches by the Bishop of St. David's on " The Principles of the Welsh 
 Disestablishment Bill." The Central Church Committee issued an edition 
 of "The Welsh Disestablishment Bill, 1909, with Explanatory Notes," 
 by R. W. Fowell and L. G. Dibdin.
 
 CHAPTEK XII 
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 
 
 WHILE the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Minister 
 who has to raise the revenue required for carrying on 
 the administration of national and Imperial affairs, and is 
 bound to see that the two principles of economy and efficiency 
 are observed, each Minister is, of course, primarily responsible 
 for the proper expenditure of his own department. The 
 Chancellor chiefly comes before the public as the Minister 
 whose duty it is to obtain the nation's revenue. The schemes 
 of taxation he may propose should be just and fair, and must 
 not unduly burden any one class or industry. He should 
 raise the revenue in a manner which is economical and certain 
 of producing favourable financial results ; and so long as Great 
 Britain adheres to its policy of free imports, he must not 
 place on imported articles any burden, which is not also placed 
 on home-manufactured articles of the like nature. 
 
 The Eevenue Tariff. 
 
 With the single exception of the last condition, these are 
 principles which ought to govern all proposals for taxation in 
 every country. But no Power of the first class other than 
 Great Britain restricts its Finance Ministers in respect of the 
 taxation of foreign goods. Tariff Eeformers think that with 
 expenditure increasing by leaps and bounds, and without 
 regard to income, it is time that foreign-manufactured articles 
 were taxed on their importation into Great Britain, and such 
 taxation may partake of a double character. If a high tariff 
 be imposed upon imported foreign goods the intention is not to 
 raise revenue, but to shut out the foreign article. If the 
 imposition of the duty is successful in this behalf the fact 
 
 320
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 321 
 
 should not be overlooked that the home manufacturer, being 
 in consequence secure in the possession of the home market, 
 is more prosperous and better able to pay whatever taxes 
 may be imposed upon him. Tariif Eeformers, however, do not 
 advocate a policy of Prohibition, but the imposition upon 
 foreign imports of a tariff which, while it protects home manu- 
 factures from unfair foreign competition, also provides for 
 raising revenue. They believe that with an annual impor- 
 tation of foreign-manufactured goods worth from £130,000,000 
 to £150,000,000, an average tariif of 10 per cent., while it 
 might have some little protective character, would bring into 
 the Treasury several millions of revenue. Other countries 
 supplement their resources in this manner, and but for our 
 allegiance to the policy of free imports nothing stands in 
 the way of the levy of similar duties in Great Britain. The 
 objection that the cost of collection of such duties is high 
 out of all proportion to the revenue realised, is refuted by 
 statistics, which prove that in Canada, Australia, and the 
 United States the cost per cent, of collection of Customs 
 duties is no higher than in this country, ^= 
 
 The ** Higher Prices " Objection. 
 A more weighty criticism is that the price of an article 
 produced at home is invariably and necessarily raised to a 
 figure equal to the price of the foreign article plus the amount 
 of the tariff. In other words, the consumer pays out of all 
 proportion to the amount received by the Treasury. But if 
 the tariff be low, this is not the case, as was conclusively 
 proved when the shilling duty was levied on foreign wheat 
 in 1902. f Indeed, Tariff Reformers assert that a revenue 
 
 • United Kingdom, 3-3 per cent, of the revenue; U.S.A., 3'3 per cent. ; 
 Canada, 3*2 per cent. ; Australia, 2-7 per cent. ("Speaker's Handbook," 
 Tariff Reform League, p. 231). 
 
 f Speaking in the House of Commons on the Finance Bill on June 9, 
 1903, Lord St. Aldwyn, then Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, said, "Has the 
 tax increased the price of bread ? If it had increased the price of bread, 
 one thing is certain, that a rise in the price of bread would have been, I 
 might say, universal, or at any rate very general. All that has happened 
 is that in some places the bakers took advantage of the tax to do what 
 
 22
 
 322 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 tariff would be a boon to the consumer, because to a great 
 extent the tax would fall on the importer, and not as now 
 wholly upon himself. In the case of tea, for instance, the 
 whole supply is taxed, and the cost is accordingly raised to 
 the consumer by the whole amount of the duty. But if only 
 foreign tea, or any other foreign article were taxed, and the 
 import was moderate in amount, competition with the untaxed 
 home or Empire-produced article of the like nature would 
 prevent an increase of price, and would even result in the tax 
 being borne by the foreign importer out of his profits. These 
 contentions of the Tariff Reformers are supported both by 
 economists* and by practical experience.! "When, more- 
 over, opponents of Tariff Reform assert that import duties 
 would impose a heavy burden on the poor, they ignore the 
 importation of manufactured luxuries such as silks, motor-cars, 
 hats, artificial flowers, fancy Parisian goods, clocks, watches, 
 musical instruments, and jewellery, which find purchasers 
 only among the wealthy classes. 
 
 Taxation of Necessities. 
 
 Contrasted with these possible sources of taxation how 
 circumscribed is our present system, which, in the words of 
 the Prime Minister, forces every single one of the necessaries 
 and simple comforts of life, with the exception of bread, to 
 
 they had long been meditating for other reasons, namely, to increase the 
 price of the loaf for a temporary period, while in other places there was 
 no rise at all." The average price of wheat during the two years 1902-3 
 was 28s. lOJd. per quarter. In the five previous years it averaged 30s. 6d. ; 
 in the five succeeding years 32s. When the duty was levied the price was 
 less than in the five years before and the five years after its collection. 
 
 • See Chapter VI. " Trade Relations," p. 193, footnote. 
 
 t The Ironmonger (October 2, 1909) gives the current prices of 
 finished iron and steel in N.E. district of England : Iron angles, home 
 trade, £7 ; export, £6 ; tees, home trade, £7 15s. ; export, £6 10s. ; steel 
 bars, home trade, £6 2s. 6d. ; export £5 10s ; angles, home trade, 
 £5 7s. 6d. ; export, £5 5s ; rails, home trade, £5 5s. ; export, £5 2s. 6d. 
 The existence of two scales of prices shows that to get into foreign 
 markets the British manufacturer has to reduce his price ; in other 
 words, to pay the whole or a proportion of the duty.
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 323 
 
 contribute its quota to the national revenue."* Tea, sugar, 
 tobacco, and alcoholic drinks of all kinds are taxed, the con- 
 sumer pays the whole amount and under this system a man 
 or woman escapes taxation not because of poverty, and con- 
 tributes to the revenue not because of riches, but because his 
 or her personal predilections lead to abstention from or 
 indulgence in alcohol or tobacco. This injustice would not 
 be 80 much felt if so large a proportion of the revenue were 
 not obtained from these sources. 
 
 Basis of Taxation too Narrow. 
 
 The necessity for broadening the basis of taxation, always 
 asserted by Tariff Reformers, is now being proved by the 
 results of Mr. Lloyd George's Budget of 1909. It is an 
 established principle of general application that excessive 
 duties on particular articles discourage consumption and 
 promote evasion, whereby in both cases the revenue suffers. 
 The ideal principle of national taxation is found in moderate 
 duties spread over a considerable area, rather than in excessive 
 duties confined to a limited sphere. 
 
 But so far as British finance is concerned, considerably over 
 three-quarters of the tax revenue of £151,955,000 is raised 
 from no more than four sources : 
 
 Alcohol and liquor licence taxes £35,162,000 
 
 Tobacco taxes 17,350,000 
 
 Estate duties 25,150,000 
 
 Income tax 44,300,000 
 
 £121,962,000 
 
 While every tax is objectionable in its degree these four 
 heads of taxation are open to particular objection. 
 
 The duties on alcoholic liquors and tobacco are taxes 
 
 • " We do tax tea. We do tax sugar. We do tax beer. By this Budget 
 [of 1909] we are proposing additional taxes on tobacco and spirits, and, 
 with the exception of bread, there can hardly be said to be a single one 
 of the necessaries or simple comforts of life which is not made to 
 contribute its quota to the national revenue " (Mr. Asquith, M.P.^ 
 House of Commons, June 10, 1909).
 
 324 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 depending upon an individual's habits, and they leave 
 another person, whose tastes lie in other directions, entirely 
 untaxed. Nor do they fall upon those taxed in proportion, 
 to their ability to pay. Indeed, their incidence is actually 
 heavier upon the less wealthy than upon the rich." A further 
 and most serious objection is that the tax is out of all 
 proportion to the cost of the article. 1 
 
 Liquor Licences. 
 
 But the principles of just taxation are particularly outraged 
 by the duties on liquor licences. No tax should so unduly 
 burden the payer that he is in consequence prevented from 
 following his calling or profession, but the licence duties 
 on public-houses are imposed with the object of making it 
 unprofitable, if not impossible, for the licence-holder to con- 
 tinue to trade. The Licensing Bill of 1908 was introduced 
 as a measure of temperance and social reform. It proposed 
 to effect its purpose by reducing the number of public-houses 
 upon terms which were little short of confiscation, and when 
 the Bill was lost in the House of Lords the Government, 
 angered at its loss, determined to effect by taxation what 
 they could not obtain by legislation. 
 
 Revenge, not Revenue. 
 
 With that intention what the Lord Advocate of Mr. 
 Asquith's Government described as "swingeing" duties were 
 placed upon licensed premises. Incidentally revenue was 
 obtained ; but the real reason was to reduce the number of 
 licences by making many of them unprofitable to hold. Fierce 
 protest was made against this system of spoliation, but with- 
 out effect. The principle of confiscation by taxation has now 
 been introduced into our finances, and another Government 
 
 • Of £1 spent on whisky 9s. 3d. is represented by the tax, on 
 champagne 9Jd., on tobacco lis., on cigars Is. 8d. 
 
 t Whisky costs about Is. 3d. a gallon at the distillery, and the duty 
 amounts to 14s. 9d. a gallon. There is a similar disproportion between 
 the original cost of tobacco and the amount of the duty, especially 
 in respect of the less expensive varieties of the leaf.
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 325 
 
 more Socialistic than that of Mx*. Asquith's may easily extend 
 its application to other kinds of property, the holding of which 
 it believes to be harmful to the State or to the Eadical party, 
 as the case may be, and the title to which it may represent 
 as being no more unassailable than that of the publicans 
 to their licences. Meanwhile the spectacle is presented of 
 a Government raising a large revenue from a trade which, 
 to use a Cabinet Minister's expression, " had damned many a 
 human soul " ! * Arguing from this analogy every Indian 
 peasant who ever cultivated a poppy is a son of Belial, and 
 indeed he, like the seller of a glass of beer, is being taught 
 to wonder whether it is self-" righteousness which exalteth a 
 nation." 
 
 Taxation of Capital. 
 
 To criticise these duties, however, is to incur the con- 
 demnation of Eadicals as the publican's friend, and to 
 criticise the death duties is to suffer the suspicion of being 
 a friend of dukes and an enemy of the people. To the 
 principle of the latter duties little objection is now offered, and 
 when, upon the occurrence of a death the whole estate of 
 the deceased is being valued, a convenient opportunity occurs 
 for assessing and for collecting taxation. Unionists as well 
 as Liberals have alike made use of this method of raising 
 revenue. But, admitting the convenience and the justice of 
 this kind of taxation, it is impossible to accept the many 
 absurd exaggerations connected with it which are current 
 in certain circles, wherein it is defended as a tax upon the 
 rich. Though the rich may pay the tax it is not they alone 
 who feel its incidence, for whatever amount a rich man pays 
 in taxation he has that much the less to spend upon objects 
 which, while they add to his own comfort, at least give 
 employment to many others, and promote the circulation of 
 wealth. The effect of such taxation is thus felt by other 
 classes, but opposition to-day to the death duties arises from 
 the fact that the rate is so high as to induce the export of 
 capital from England to other countries. Death duties must 
 
 • Right Hon. W. Runciman, M.P., Southampton, August 31, 1909.
 
 326 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 be considered together with the income tax, which much the 
 same classes are called upon to pay, and, of all countries, Great 
 Britain alone levies a high income tax and high death duties. 
 In France there are moderate death duties and no income tax ; 
 in Germany an income tax but no death duties ; and in Italy 
 a high income tax in theory only and moderate death duties ; 
 while in Great Britain there are income tax, death duties, and 
 super-tax.* 
 
 Its Effects on Industby. 
 
 The effects of these heavy burdens on capital are viewed 
 with profound distrust by men of business and by financiers, 
 but inasmuch as the death duties are not annual imposts, but 
 fall at uncertain intervals, their economic effect cannot 
 immediately be appreciated. It is regarded, however, as certain 
 that taxes of this class will not be paid out of income, but out of 
 capital, and if this should prove to be the case the nation is in 
 respect of them in the position of a spendthrift who is wasting 
 his patrimony. High income tax and super-taxes, again, 
 are annual charges paid out of capital. Excessive taxation of 
 capital must in due course conclude with disaster and bank- 
 ruptcy, and the withdrawal of money invested in industry to 
 pay death duties reduces the employment fund of the 
 nation, and pro tanto increases unemployment. 
 
 Income Tax. 
 
 Death duties are a tax on industry of uncertain, and income 
 tax is a tax on industry of certain, incidence. The latter 
 impost has become part of the ordinary taxation of the country f 
 in time of peace, and is collected at a rate per pound which 
 would have horrified the inventors of what was originally 
 imposed as a war tax, and the strongest advocates of which 
 would only have supported a low rate at other times. Many, 
 
 * See on this subject a letter by Sir Alexander Henderson, Bart., to 
 The Daily Graphic, Oct. 19, 1911 ; and an article by Sir Felix Schuster, 
 Bart., in The Nineteenth Century, July, 1909. 
 
 t "It must now be regarded as an integral and permanent part of 
 our financial system " (Mr. Asquith, House of Commons, April 18, 1907.
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 327 
 
 indeed, would have entirely abolished the tax when no war 
 bills had to be paid. Mr. Gladstone on three occasions 
 endeavoured to bring about its abolition, considering that 
 " so long as it was part of the ordinary revenue it was 
 impossible to think of effective and extensive economy."* 
 Even so late as 1887, he wrote of it as direct taxation " of a 
 kind most vexatious to trade and industry,"! at a time when 
 the rate was no more than sevenpence in the pound. To-day 
 the normal rate is Is. 2d., which with certain abatements may 
 be reduced to ninepence, and by super-tax increased to Is. 8d. 
 The most disquieting feature of the case is that this tax, which 
 was regarded as a reserve for times of war, now stands in time 
 of peace at a rate as high as it formerly attained during war- 
 fare.]: The old days, when sixpence was the normal rate, and 
 lower figures, down even to twopence, were not unknown, will 
 never recur. In any future war Great Britain will probably 
 have to regard with such equanimity as she may be able to 
 exhibit a tax of 2s. 6d. in the pound. 
 
 As a provision for war the income tax has the advantage of 
 supplying considerable sums of money within a short time 
 without much difficulty. But as it is an impost which requires 
 personal assessment, it is difficult to ensure that declara- 
 tions of income are not understated, or that many who ought 
 to pay do not escape. The returns, however, show that the net 
 amount produced per penny of tax has risen considerably in 
 recent years, and the inference is that more stringency is 
 being shown on the part of the collectors. 
 
 One fault in the tax has been removed in part by the 
 differentiation between earned and unearned incomes, which, 
 however, stops at £3,000, and fails to distinguish between 
 unearned income acquired by inheritance and unearned income 
 resulting from savings for old age. Further differentiation 
 may be possible, but the present system, with its abatements, 
 allowances, differentiation, and graduation, is already sufficiently 
 
 * "Twenty Years of Financial Policy," by Sydney Buxton, M.P., 
 p. 345. 
 
 t The Nineteenth Century, 1887, p. 395, 
 
 ♦ 1856, Is. 4d, ; 1903, l8. 3d.
 
 328 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 complicated to puzzle most people. With a high tax provision 
 has to be made for inequalities, which can be ignored when the 
 rate is low. Hence arise complications which contravene one 
 of the basic laws of taxation — that an impost should be easy 
 and* simple of application. 
 
 The Land Taxes. 
 
 Notwithstanding the considerable draft which was made 
 upon the income tax, Mr. Asquith's Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, Mr. Lloyd George, bound by Cobdenite chains, 
 found himself unable to provide from the existing sources 
 of taxation for the present and future expenses of various 
 schemes to which his Government was committed. Being one 
 of the leaders of a party distinctly hostile to the land-owning 
 class, he not unnaturally looked to the land to provide for his 
 future wants. In so doing he started with the initial advantage 
 that the land is commonly believed to be in the hands of a few 
 rich, greedy, and grasping landlords, who extort ever increasing 
 rents from property, which only became more valuable through 
 the exertions of their fellow-citizens. His proposals gained 
 further support from the representation by Radical orators of 
 the House of Lords as a house of landlords, eager to construct 
 Dreadnoughts for the protection of their own property, but 
 determined for their own part not to contribute towards 
 the cost. 
 
 These representations, however crude and ill founded, met 
 with general acceptance, notwithstanding the fact that no 
 sooner was a concrete case of oppression or rack-renting 
 advanced, than it was met and demolished. 
 
 When due allowance is made for the perfervid temperament, 
 it is passing the bounds even of political licence to describe a 
 well-known landlord as pursuing a system of "blackmail" 
 when even a cursory examination of the circumstances disclosed 
 the fact that the increased rent which the agitator denounced 
 was enjoyed wholly by a middleman. The levy of fine on 
 I'enewal of leases, and the exaction of ground rents, were 
 denounced without regard to the fact that the Government as 
 landlords were themselves following the same policy in respect
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 329 
 
 of the Crown lands under their administration, and were only 
 too ready to have their pound of flesh. Indeed, it is by no 
 means the case that the Crown is the most lenient landlord. 
 
 Unearned Incbement. 
 
 The land taxes were based on the assumption, for which 
 there is no foundation, that the land of the country is con- 
 tinuously and progressively increasing in value through the 
 action of the community, and that it is right that the nation 
 should share in the added value. The doctrine if carried to its 
 proper conclusion would involve the confiscation of the whole, 
 and not of part, of the increment value. That they refrained 
 from pressing their doctrine to this length was offered by the 
 Government as evidence of the moderate character of their 
 demand ; but the modesty and moderation of the adminis- 
 tration did not prevent the more logical Socialists from point- 
 ing out that the State ought to take the whole increment, and 
 that a similar course should be pursued in respect of many 
 other kinds of property besides land. 
 
 While opponents of the land taxes did not deny that a 
 community might by public expenditure increase the value of 
 landed property, which was indeed already admitted by the 
 acceptance of the principle of betterment, they protested that 
 the particular community whose action brought it about ought 
 alone to enjoy the increase, and that the proceeds of the tax 
 ought not to be taken by the State to be shared equally with 
 unconcerned, and possibly backward and unenterprising, com- 
 munities. They asserted, too, with considerable force that 
 where land had decreased in value through the action of the 
 State or the community, provision ought to be made for com- 
 pensation for decrement. They protested strongly against a 
 tax under the operation of which a man is charged one-fifth of 
 an increased value of any particular property while he is not 
 allowed to set off such increase against a decrease in respect 
 of another property. This, however, the Government declined 
 to do, recognising as practical financiers that their platform 
 rhetoric respecting the everlasting and omnipresent appreciation
 
 330 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of land values, was only relevant to particularly favoured 
 districts, and could not be generally applied. 
 
 " Site Value." 
 
 A general objection to the principle of the land taxes is that 
 they are levied not as in the case of income tax upon a definite 
 and ascertainable basis, but upon a wholly imaginary " site 
 value," or value of the land reduced to the condition of a piece 
 of bare ground. To this is given the value which it is pre- 
 sumed to have possessed on April 30, 1909, and any increase 
 accruing over the amount of the original valuation, as compared 
 with that of the occasion upon which the tax falls due is 
 regarded as increment, and as such subject to duty. The 
 obvious objection is taken that the land was never in the con- 
 dition necessary for arriving at the valuation of April 30, 1909, 
 and that that valuation was wholly imaginary, and a mere fig- 
 ment of the mind of the valuer. Indeed, since valuers are no 
 more than human, their valuations show the most extra- 
 ordinary differences. One man may place one, and another 
 quite a different, value upon the same property. This may 
 happen even in respect of so comparatively easy a problem as 
 the determination of market value ; and far more when so 
 elusive and intangible a quantity has to be determined as the 
 site value. Taxation ought not to be levied upon such uncer- 
 tain and indeterminate bases, and it is already apparent that 
 cases of gross injustice and rank absurdity are of common 
 occurrence.* 
 
 Undeveloped Land Duty. 
 
 But the land taxes are not to be regarded only as a means 
 of raising revenue. Their authors and supporters look upon 
 them as instruments of social reform, though it is not easy to 
 see why the confiscation of a portion of the added value of his 
 land should induce the owner to lower his rents to his tenants, 
 
 •See letter from Mr. Pretyman, M.P., to The Times (July 15, 1911), in 
 which he cites a case where the site value of a small house in Richmond, 
 Yorkshire, sold for £500, was alleged to have increased from £58 5s. to 
 £178 53. between April 30, 1909, and September, 1910,
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 331 
 
 or interest himself in a higher degree in their comfort and 
 prosperity. Sometimes, however, these secondary purposes 
 are only half avowed, as, for instance, in respect of the influ- 
 ence of the new land taxes on land nationalisation. In the 
 case of the undeveloped land duty, however, it is openly stated 
 that the raising of revenue has less to do with the tax than 
 the desire to force land into the building market by making it 
 unprofitable for the owner to withhold it from the builder. Un- 
 developed land, therefore, which, in the opinion of Commis- 
 sioners appointed ad hoc, has a building value, is to be taxed on 
 that value to the extent of an annual halfpenny in the pound. 
 The supporters of this impost allege that land is unreasonably 
 held up, and that as a consequence rents are high and housing 
 accommodation bad, though no one who has observed the 
 enormous numbers of empty houses in our large towns can 
 think that the demand exceeds the supply ; and the existence 
 of a multitude of land development companies is evidence that 
 speculators are fully prepared to develop land wherever the 
 process is likely to prove profitable. There are no doubt many 
 cases in villages where the number of cottages could with 
 advantage be increased. But rural housing, so low are the 
 wages of agricultural labourers under Free Trade, gives no 
 possibility of a return for the capital which must be expended 
 on the erection of really satisfactory cottages. The problem, 
 therefore, can only be solved in Great Britain as it was in 
 Ireland, where the State lends the local authority money at a 
 low rate of interest for the erection of labourers' cottages. 
 
 Effect on Housing and Building. 
 
 An attempt was made when the Finance Bill of 1909 was 
 going through the House of Commons to limit the demand for 
 undeveloped land duty to land "unreasonably" held up, but 
 the Government would not listen to the suggestion, and 
 decided to treat all land having a value above £50 an acre as 
 building land, and the owner as a fitting subject for penal 
 taxation. The latter may not have the capital with which to 
 develop, but he must none the less pay the tax. Years might 
 have to elapse before the normal growth of a neighbouring
 
 332 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 town would justify expenditure on the erection of houses, but 
 if the Government valuer considered the value of the land to 
 be above the limit, the owner must pay the tax ; there might 
 be no possibility of obtaining a proper return, for instance, in 
 rural districts for the capital expended on the erection of 
 cottages, but the owner must build or be fined. 
 
 To the ordinary man without political bias the imposition of 
 such burdens upon the raw material of the building industry 
 would seem to be the worst possible way of encouraging the 
 provision of more and of better houses at lower rents. But 
 to the supporters of these taxes they were but part of a 
 larger policy. 
 
 Nationalisation the Objective. 
 
 They hold private property in land to be unjustifiable, and 
 that complete justice will not be done until the land is 
 nationalised ; until in the place of many owners there is but 
 one owner, the State. But they realise that the value of all 
 the land in the United Kingdom is so great that the State 
 cannot hope, on the present basis of value, to buy out the 
 existing owners. 
 
 What more obvious plan, then, can present itself than that 
 of reducing land values by the introduction of taxation, which 
 can be gradually increased until land becomes an unprofitable 
 investment, when the State can itself purchase at the valua- 
 tion recorded in the books of its own valuers. The scheme 
 has the merit, at any rate, of simplicity, though novelty is 
 lacking, for it was long ago put forward by the prototype and 
 namesake of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Henry 
 Geoi'ge, who pointed out that there was no necessity for the 
 land nationalisers to confiscate the land ; it was sufficient to 
 confiscate rent. Already some of the rent was taken in taxa- 
 tion, and if certain changes were introduced into the system 
 of land taxation, the State could in no long time take it all.''' 
 This easy way with landowners was expressly approved by the 
 Socialistic wing of Mr. Asquith's Coalition Government. Mr. 
 Lloyd George assured the land nationalisers that nationalisa- 
 • " Progress and Poverty," book viii. ohap. ii.
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 333 
 
 tion must come, but by easy stages,* and the Lord Advocate, 
 Mr. Ure, pointed out that the " modest-looking taxes " in the 
 Budget "involved a principle capable of far-reaching applica- 
 tion, and that the land of the country belonged to the 
 nation,"! a principle which stops short, apparently, at 
 Ministers' salaries. 
 
 Bearing in mind these speeches, and many others from the 
 same quarter, and the temper of the majority in the House of 
 Commons v^hich passed the Finance Bill of 1909, the student 
 of contemporary politics would altogether fail to appreciate the 
 designs of the framers of the Lloyd George Budget, if he 
 regarded the land taxes solely or even primarily as a means 
 of raising revenue. Whether these revolutionary schemes will 
 ever become law, time and the temper of the nation alone 
 can show. 
 
 The Failure of the Taxes. 
 
 The land taxes have not justified the assertions of their 
 supporters. The staff engaged in collection has proved very 
 costly — the amount of the annual salaries of the Land Valuation 
 Staff in Great Britain alone being £323,380. | The amount 
 collected in respect of increment duty and undeveloped land 
 duty from the passing of the Act to November 7, 1911, was 
 £1,950 and £13,900 respectively,! the reversion duty also 
 producing an unexpectedly disappointing yield. The greatest 
 blow, however, was the judgment declaring Forms IV. and 
 VIII. illegal, and no better than waster-paper. Some one had 
 blundered. Many millions of copies of the forms had been 
 circulated at great cost, and many private individuals had 
 incurred considerable expense in obtaining professional advice 
 for the purpose of filling in the forms, and all was in vain. 
 
 The Problem of Local Finance. 
 
 But the more immediate effect of the land taxes, since they 
 will at any rate produce some return, is to deprive the local 
 
 * Llanelly Mercury, October 4, 1906. 
 
 t Linlithgowshire Gazette, June 4, 1909. 
 
 I Parliamentary Debates, November 9, 1911, p. 1956. 
 
 § Ibid., November 14, 1911, p. 191.
 
 334 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 authorities of a possible source of future revenue.* Rates 
 have a tendency to rise as local government becomes more 
 efficient, and particularly as Parliament imposes new duties 
 upon, and grants new powers to, local authorities. The local 
 councils protest that while Parliament passes legislation enor- 
 mously increasing their responsibilities, it provides no financial 
 assistance towards meeting the additional expenses incurred, 
 and that the cost of services which are really national is now 
 met from local sources. That a grievance exists is generally 
 recognised, and it is understood that the financial relations 
 between the State and the local authorities must in no long 
 time be subjected to revision and amendment. Indeed, so 
 long ago as 1896 a Royal Commission was appointed on local 
 taxation, which after thorough investigation sent in its final 
 report in 1901. f The Commission found that the basis of local 
 taxation was too narrow, and that personality did not suffi- 
 ciently contribute to local purposes. Land contributes towards 
 the maintenance of the poor, education, and other local pur- 
 poses, while other forms of property escape. The rates are a 
 heavy charge upon land used for industrial and agricultural 
 purposes. J Indeed, there is evidence of a movement on the 
 part of manufacturers towards the less highly rated districts, 
 which, if it matures, must leave the forsaken localities bur- 
 dened by empty buildings and bereft of employment. 
 
 A fairer division of local taxation between reality and 
 personality is obtained in the case of certain foreign muni- 
 cipalities by the imposition of a municipal income tax and of 
 
 • The Government recognised this grievance by agreeing to allocate one- 
 half of the proceeds of the land taxes to the local authorities. Later, 
 however, they excused themselves from carrying out their pledge. 
 
 t Cd. 638. A separate minority report, signed by four out of fifteen 
 Commissioners, recommended the creation of a special site value for the 
 relief of local, not Imperial, taxation. 
 
 I Relief was given to agricultural districts in 1896 by relieving agricul- 
 tural land of one-half of the rates which are payable in respect of build- 
 ings and other hereditaments, and the deficiency was made up to the local 
 authorities out of the proceeds of the estate duty derived from personal 
 property. Although fiercely opposed by the Liberal Party at the time, 
 the Act of 1896 has been renewed by the Liberal Government.
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 335 
 
 municipal death duties ; but the prior appropriation by the 
 State of these sources of revenue in the United Kingdom 
 deprives our local authorities of this resource. 
 
 National Services paid for Locally. 
 
 The Eoyal Commission recommended as the only method 
 by which fair play could be secured " consistent adherence to 
 a principle which has often been put forward in discussion 
 but to which insufficient regard has frequently been paid in 
 practice." "That principle," the Commissioners say, "is the 
 distinction between services which are preponderantly national 
 in character and generally onerous to the ratepayers, and 
 services which are preponderantly local in character and 
 confer upon ratepayers a direct and peculiar benefit more or 
 less commensurate with the burden. ... A service may be 
 called properly local when a preponderant share of the benefit 
 can be directly traced to persons interested in the locality. 
 On the other hand, universality and uniformity of administra- 
 tion is generally a mark of national service, because such 
 administration does not confer special benefit on special places. 
 Again, the presumption is that a service is national when the 
 State insists on its being carried out and on a certain standard 
 of efficiency being reached." * 
 
 " Assigned Kevenues." 
 
 The services which may be considered as coming within 
 the definition of " national " are poor relief, police, and criminal 
 prosecutions, education, and the maintenance of main roads. 
 The transfer to the State of the administration of these services 
 is nevertheless out of the question. On the other hand, local 
 authorities already receive financial assistance from the State 
 in respect of many duties they undertake. Such assistance 
 takes two forms — grants in aid from the Consolidated Fund, 
 and the assignment of certain State revenues, for the per- 
 formance of a specific duty, to the local authorities. The 
 objection to grants in aid is that they encourage extravagant 
 
 * Cd. 638, p. 11.
 
 336 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 administration, the local authorities regarding them as a little 
 relief derived from an inexhaustible source. The late Lord 
 Goschen, when Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1890, com- 
 menced the practice of assigning certain revenues, when he 
 made over that derived from the additional beer and spirit 
 duties, to the local authorities for a particular purpose — 
 technical education — and the Eoyal Commission on Local 
 Taxation recommended an extension of this system of 
 assigned revenues as affording a broad and sound principle 
 for relieving local authorities of payment for national services. 
 
 Recent Developments. 
 
 Since 1901, when the Commission reported, changes have 
 taken place in the relations between the local authorities and 
 the State. It is asserted that the cost of the poor law will in 
 due course be lessened by the operation of the Old Age 
 Pensions Act, and is immediately affected by the inclusion in 
 the benefits of that Act of the paupers who were disqualified 
 until January 1, 1911.* The Road Board, too, it is main- 
 tained, will by its grants for the purposes of road improvement 
 materially relieve the local authorities of capital expenditure, 
 which otherwise they would have to incur. On the other 
 hand the recent crushing taxation imposed on the sale of 
 intoxicating liquors has reduced consumption, and with it the 
 revenue assigned, as above stated, to technical education. 
 The assessable value of licensed premises has, moreover, been 
 so much reduced by the operation of the Lloyd George Budget 
 that the rates are adversely affected. It was estimated by the 
 Government that since 1891 the annual cost to the London 
 County Council alone resulting from various legislative enact- 
 ments is over £500,000. f 
 
 • The Government estimate of the relief thus afforded to the rates is 
 £1,500,000. See House of Commons Questions and Answers, February 27, 
 1911. 
 
 t See on this subject generally the Debates in the House of Commons 
 on February 13 and 20, 1911. A small Committee has been appointed to 
 consider developments of later date than that of the report of the Royal 
 Commission.
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 337 
 
 The Pbessuee op Efficiency. 
 
 Apart from increased expenditure directly caused by new 
 legislation, there has been a general demand on the part of the 
 State for increased efficiency, and for reforms on the part of 
 the local authorities. The movement has been particularly 
 apparent in regard to education, in respect of which equip- 
 ments, buildings, and salaries are all rising in cost, and 
 increasing the already very heavy burden on the ratepayer. 
 Public opinion, expert advice, and the pressure of the officials 
 at Whitehall all make for higher expenditure. Local adminis- 
 trators feel it to be a grievance that State officials can insist 
 upon expensive reforms without a thought for the cost, while 
 they, who have no voice in framing such reforms, have to 
 provide for the whole of the increased expenditure. The 
 grievance is the more acutely felt because State assistance has 
 steadily decreased in the last twenty years, not only in respect 
 of education, but of local government services in general. 
 
 The net result may be gathered from the increase in the 
 annual rates in England and "Wales in the ten years between 
 1897-8 and 1907-8 from £37,605,000 to £59,623,000; while 
 the total which local authorities have had to provide by 
 rates, loans, and other methods has risen from £83,627,000 
 to £140,107,000. 
 
 An increase of £60,000,000 in ten years in the cost of local 
 government proves that the question, especially in its relation 
 to the State, is one of extreme gravity. It is no party matter ; 
 indeed. Governments representing both the great parties are 
 equally responsible. The dispute is between the State and the 
 local authorities ; with the people, perhaps, on the side of the 
 latter, since the burden of the rates is more directly and 
 personally felt than the weight of Imperial taxation. 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Finance of the 
 Budget of 1909, 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. The present financial system is particularly fair, since it places 
 the biggest burden on the broadest back. 
 
 23
 
 338 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 2. It is neither socialistic nor revolutionary since, with the exception 
 of the land taxes, recent Budgets have only provided for the natural 
 development of existing taxes. 
 
 3. Recent Budgets have only removed the unfairness from which all 
 other taxpayers suffered so long as rich monopolies, such as the land 
 and liquor interests, did not contribute their fair share to the revenue. 
 
 4. These monopolists are only now asked to pay as tax a share of the 
 value of such part of their property as has been created by the action 
 of the State. Although there has been increased national expenditure 
 to meet the cost of social reform and defence no further taxes have been 
 placed on food or on the necessaries of the people. 
 
 5. The alternative is a tariff, with more taxes on food and dearer 
 living, which would mean terrible hardships for the poor. 
 
 6. Such a tariff would spare the well-to-do and rich monopolists at 
 the expense of the hard-working wage-earners. 
 
 7. The growth of national wealth in recent years has been so great 
 that the chief owners thereof are well able to pay extra taxation. 
 
 8. At the same time all classes, including the lowest, have been made 
 to contribute towards the increased expenditure by the taxes upon spirits 
 and tobacco. 
 
 9. The allegation that capital is being frightened out of the country 
 is a fairy tale, since no country in the world offers better security for 
 capital. 
 
 10. The higher taxation of liquor licences is fully justified by the fact 
 that the value of the licence is solely the creation of the State, and due 
 to the limitation it imposes upon the number of such licences. 
 
 11. The licensed dealer's monopoly is one the value of which is not 
 due to the industry of the holder but to the action of the State, which 
 is therefore at liberty to extinguish the licence whenever it thinks fit. 
 
 12. There can be no question of confiscation when the State merely 
 resumes possession of part of the property it has created and temporarily 
 granted to licencees for expressly limited periods. 
 
 13. By reducing the number of licences and thus making it unprofitable 
 for the less desirable houses to continue to exist, temperance is en- 
 couraged in proportion as the opportunities for drinking are decreased. 
 
 14. The scale of duties which previously to the Budget of 1909 existed 
 was utterly indefensible, the smaller houses having to pay licence duty 
 out of all proportion to that paid by the larger licensed premises. 
 
 15. The changes introduced in 1909 have abolished these inequalities, 
 the proportion of licence duty to annual value being more nearly equalised 
 for all licensed premises. 
 
 16. The present financial system has shown itself to be capable of 
 great development and expansion without unduly burdening any class or 
 interest or inflicting hardship upon the wage-earners by the taxation of 
 necessities. 
 
 17. The result is a conclusive vindication of " Free Trade " finance,
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 339 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The restrictions imposed upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer by 
 the policy of "free imports" should be removed. 
 
 2. The present basis of taxation must be broadened, since revenue is 
 at present derived only from limited and narrow sources. 
 
 3. Taxation is, in consequence, unduly high on a few articles, which 
 is unjust, and in the cas3 of articles of consumption, bad for the revenue, 
 since it limits consumption and ]pro tanto fails to provide the State with 
 the revenue it requires. 
 
 4. The best method of broadening the present basis of taxation and 
 raising additional revenue is the adoption of a tariff upon foreign imports 
 of manufactured goods. 
 
 5. Other countries derive very large revenues from taxation of this 
 character without expending an undue proportion of the receipts upon 
 the cost of collection. 
 
 6. Whereas under the existing system the English consumer pays 
 every penny of the taxation imposed, there is good reason to believe that 
 under a revenue tariff the foreign importer would contribute no incon- 
 siderable portion thereof. 
 
 7. This burden is a great hardship to the poorer classes, whose tea, 
 sugar, and tobacco are, as the result of taxation, immensely enhanced 
 in price. 
 
 8. The increased taxes on alcoholic liquors and licences, levied under 
 the Finance Act of 1909, are out of all proportion to the ability of the 
 licensed trade to pay. 
 
 9. They are unjust burdens imposed upon a particular industry 
 because it is notoriously opposed in politics to the Radical Party. 
 
 10. The object of these taxes is to drive numbers of licence holders out 
 of an industry in which their capital has been invested by making their 
 business unprofitable. 
 
 11. This reduction in the number of public-houses will, it is urged, 
 encourage temperance ; but, if that object be attained, which is doubtful, 
 the abolished licence-owners ought to be compensated for loss incurred 
 by the extinction of the licence which represents their livelihood. 
 
 12. The excessive death duties are objectionable inasmuch as they are 
 taxes on capital and not on income. 
 
 13. They occasion a steady diminution of capital which must 
 inevitably disturb trade, impoverish the country, and cause unemploy- 
 ment. 
 
 14. The death duties are unsound and deceptive, since their effect 
 is to conceal the amount of the revenue which should properly be 
 raised out of the national income to meet current expenditure. 
 
 15. The fear of taxation of this character leads to the wholesale 
 exportation of capital and to the encouragement of foreign investments 
 at the expense of British securities.
 
 340 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 16. The excessive increase in income tax, and the additional imposition 
 of the super-tax, have the same effect. 
 
 17. An unduly high income tax is a burden on the trade and industry 
 of the country, which, in the long run affects not only profits but 
 wages. 
 
 18. Such ought only to be levied in times of great national emergency ; 
 to maintain a very high income tax in days of peace is to deprive the 
 nation in war-time of a reserve of taxation, which is especially efficacious 
 in providing large sums quickly and without undue disturbance, and 
 without the creation of now machinery. 
 
 Akguments For and Against Land Taxes. 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Land being a necessity of human existence, the original source of 
 all wealth, limited in extent, and fixed in geographical position, is the 
 greatest of all monopolies. There is nothing revolutionary or novel in 
 the taxation of land values. 
 
 2. For a quarter of a century such a tax has been discussed by 
 Parliament and by the municipalities. 
 
 3. The principle has twice been approved by a Tory House of Commons 
 and has been accepted by 550 rating authorities. 
 
 4. The tax is actually in operation in Australia and New Zealand, and 
 in many important cities of Germany. 
 
 5. It has proved a good source of revenue, not costly of collection, 
 and has stimulated the outlay of capital and use of labour. 
 
 6. It is founded upon the just principle that the increased value of 
 land, due entirely to the action of the community, should accrue to the 
 community and not go into the pocket of the private owner. 
 
 7. In large cities land values reach fabulous figures without any outlay 
 on the part of the owners, but as a consequence of the enterprise and 
 industry of the community and of the expenditure of public money upon 
 improvements. Such land values are clearly an unearned increment 
 and a very proper object of taxation, which in that case takes nothing 
 from the private individual resulting from his own expenditure, or his 
 own exertions, but only appropriates for State purposes wealth created by 
 the State. 
 
 8. The value of buildings and of improvements of all kinds due to the 
 expenditure of the owner is carefully excluded from taxation. 
 
 9. The increase in the bare site value of the land alone is the subject 
 of taxation. 
 
 10. Generous provision is made to obviate all possible hardship ; only 
 '20 per cent, of the increment is taken ; the first 10 per cent, on each
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 341 
 
 occasion of the levy of the tax goes free ; the duty may, in certain cases, 
 be paid in instalments ; small house-owners and small-holders arc 
 exempted. 
 
 11. Decrement is allowed for, and protection is given to the owner 
 whose land has fallen in value during the last twenty years, inasmuch 
 as he is permitted to value at higher rates than the market value. 
 
 12. Agricultural land, being the raw material of the farmer, is specially 
 safeguarded from taxation. 
 
 13. The taxation of undeveloped land, which has a building value and 
 is withheld from the building market, is a just burden on the owner 
 who holds it up for a rise in price. 
 
 14. Any increase in value is due entirely to the action of the com- 
 munity, and it is therefore only right that the owner should pay the 
 State, i.e., the community, a portion of the increasing value, which, for 
 private reasons, he omits to realise. 
 
 15. His conduct is detrimental to the community, which he should 
 therefore recompense for an omission which is generally induced by hope 
 of greater future gains. 
 
 16. Taxation of land values only places the holder-up of land on a level, 
 in respect of taxation, with the enterprising owner, who develops his 
 estate and is taxed accordingly. 
 
 17. Owners of valuable unused land will thus be unable to escape from 
 paying some share of the public burdens, and their taxation, by reducing 
 the revenue which has to be made up by their industrious and enterprising 
 neighbours, will remove a grievance and injustice. 
 
 18. Since the levy of these taxes will make it no longer profitable for 
 owners to obstruct industry and restrict employment by refusing to 
 allow development of their land or by demanding prohibitive prices and 
 rents, building operations must receive a considerable impetus.* 
 
 19. Owners will now either have to pay the tax or ofEer their land for 
 development at reasonable prices. Thus land will be forced into the 
 market. 
 
 20. And thus competition will bring down the price; houses and 
 factories will consequently be cheaper ; the housing question will be 
 nearer solution, and industries will be relieved to a great extent of the 
 dead weight of ground rents and high land prices by which they are now 
 burdened. 
 
 21. The valuation of all land, which is a condition of the imposition 
 of these taxes, will also be a useful and necessary step towards the 
 reform of the rating system. 
 
 22. The register of valuation will become the normal basis for pur- 
 chase by local authorities, and v/ill render impossible the demand of 
 unfairly high prices for land required for public improvements. 
 
 * Experience has already proved this expectation to have been ill» 
 founded.
 
 343 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The taxation of increment in land is unfair, unless increment in 
 other forms of property is also taxed. If land is limited in amount so 
 is every other kind of property, nor does it differ from gold, silver, and 
 other things in being other than the creation of human industry. 
 
 2. It is unjust to single out one form of property for taxation. 
 
 3. The taxation of land values is the first item in the Socialist scheme 
 for confiscating the value of all forms of private property by taxation. 
 
 4. It is only a preliminary to land nationalisation, vs^hich it seeks to 
 attain not by paying a fair price for the land but by reducing its value 
 by taxation until it is either not worth keeping or obtainable by the 
 State for a very low price. 
 
 5. The individual under State, would be in a far worse position than 
 under private, ownership ; the land would be managed by officials who 
 would be bound by bureaucratic methods and only interested in procuring 
 money for the State ; no indulgence such as they now obtain from private 
 landlords would be shown when tenants were in difficulties. 
 
 6. The capital value of the land has already been reduced by the 
 amount of the capitalised value of the tax, and in consequence the 
 security of mortgagees, who are the small investors in building societies, 
 has been very much reduced. 
 
 7. Such assets of friendly and insurance societies as are represented by 
 ground rents — and they are a very considerable proportion — have been 
 much depreciated in value as a result of the imposition of these taxes. 
 
 8. The land taxes produce now, and will always produce, but little 
 revenue, since the value of land is not generally and continuously 
 increasing. 
 
 9. In specially favoured localities it may increase in value, by no means 
 always in consequence of the action of the community but by the con- 
 struction of railways, or by the enterprise of private individuals in 
 establishing new industries. 
 
 10. If increment is taxed, allowance should be made for decrement 
 caused by the State or the community, and no such allowance is really 
 made. 
 
 11. It is unjust to take away part of the increased value of one, and to 
 leave the owner to bear the whole of the decreased value of another, 
 piece of land. 
 
 12. Land is not the monopoly of a few owners, but is directly, and 
 indirectly through investment in friendly and building societies and 
 insurance companies, in the ownership of millions, the vast majority of 
 whom are by no means wealthy. 
 
 13. The small savings of thrifty people who have invested in such 
 companies and societies will be therefore subject to increased taxation. 
 
 14. The leasehold system, which is denounced by landtaxers, enables 
 
 i
 
 FINANCE AND TAXATION 343 
 
 houses to be erected at a lower capital cost than would be possible if the 
 land had to be bought outright. 
 
 15. There is no more reason for taxing a man on his profits when 
 ground rents fall in than there is for taxing the profits of any other 
 legal investment upon their receipt. 
 
 16. Land is not unreasonably held up from building ; on the contrary, 
 as is shown by the many empty houses in our large cities, the tendency 
 is to over-build. 
 
 17. It is unfair to tax land, not actually ripe for building purposes, 
 which cannot be profitably developed. 
 
 18. The undeveloped land duty is a penal tax which landowners will 
 have to pay, if they will not embark upon speculative schemes of building 
 for which there is no real demand. 
 
 19. Site value being no real value, but being only fictitious and de- 
 pendent entirely upon the valuer's personal opinion, is no proper basis 
 for taxation. 
 
 20. Agricultural land is only nominally, and not really, exempted from 
 the new taxes, to which it is subject as soon as its value rises above £50 
 an acre. 
 
 Arguments for and Against Taxing Mining Eoyalties. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Mining royalties are a very proper subject of taxation, since they are 
 entirely unearned by the recipient. 
 
 2. The royalty owner does nothing to develop the minerals. He 
 merely receives the fruits of the industry of others. 
 
 3. When the miner suffers by the receipt of lower wages the owner still 
 receives his royalty in full. 
 
 4. Royalties are a tax on industry, which no private individual should 
 be allowed to exact. 
 
 5. This toll of the monopolist often exceeds the amount received as 
 wages per ton by the miner, and it is therefore a better subject for taxa- 
 tion than incomes earned by labour. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Minerals are a form of property, and the owner ought not to be 
 called upon to pay, upon the royalty he receives, an additional tax, which 
 rents and profits from other forms of property escape. 
 
 2. Minerals are moreover a wasting property, and are for that reason 
 the worst subject for special and extra taxation. 
 
 3. Royalties do not escape taxation, but are subject to income tax like 
 rent derived from other forms of property.
 
 344 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 4. Royalties are not excessive in this country, and have not prevented 
 the most extensive mineral development or interfered in any vray with 
 industrial expansion. 
 
 5. The tax on mining royalties is a burden imposed on a particular 
 class qud class, which is not shared by other classes, and as such violates. 
 the governing principle, that ability to pay, and not the source of receipt, 
 creates liability to taxation. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 The growth of national expenditure is treated and deprecated, perhaps 
 not altogether without savour of partisanship, in " The National Expendi- 
 ture of the United Kingdom, with a preface by F. W. Hirst " — a pamphlet 
 published by The Economist. Artother useful publication explaining our 
 financial system is " The King's Revenue : a Handbook to the Taxes and 
 the Public Revenue," by W. M. J. Williams. 
 
 The Budget of 1909 was productive of many publications and much 
 political literature of an ephemeral character. Its principal features are 
 amply discussed and explained in the publications of the political parties. 
 Among other pamphlets may be mentioned : " The Budget, the Land and 
 the People," with a preface by D. Lloyd George, M.P., and "The Case 
 against the Budget," by P. G. Cambray. Publications relating to the 
 licensed trade are dealt with in the Bibliography attached to Chapter XIV. — 
 Social Reform. The taxation of land values is supported in the publica- 
 tions of The United Committee for the Taxation of Land Values 
 (Broad Sanctuary Chambers, 20, Tothill Street, S.W.), and opposed in 
 the publications of The Land Union (St. Stephen's House, Westminster, 
 S.W.). An excellent summary of the evidence given before the Royal 
 Commission on Local Taxation is found in Wilson Fox's "Rating of 
 Land Values." 
 
 For the relations between the State and local authorities in respect of 
 finance the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Local Taxation, 
 Cd. 638 of 1895, should be consulted. Reference should also be made 
 to " National and Local Finance," by J. Watson Grice.
 
 CHAPTEK XIII 
 SOCIALISM 
 
 ONLY a few years ago the popular conception of the 
 Socialist was that of a fanatic, ill-dressed, long-haired, and 
 red-tied, preaching revolution and republicanism, mouthing 
 strange doctrines respecting " equality of opportunity," 
 " increasing misery," " surplus value," " class consciousness," 
 and so on, and holding peculiar views on marriage and family 
 life. The picture was not entirely an effort of the imagination, 
 and this type exists even to-day. But public opinion regards 
 those who conform to it as an almost negligible quantity, and 
 treats them therefore with good-humoured toleration. 
 Opponents of Socialism look upon the evolutionary Socialist 
 as the more dangerous character, and direct their attack 
 against his plan of campaign. 
 
 Revolutionary Socialism. 
 
 Revolutionary Socialism in Great Britain possesses organisa- 
 tions representing various degrees of extreme opinion, the 
 largest, but not perhaps the most virulent, being the Social 
 Democratic Party,* the programme of which is sufficiently 
 thorough to satisfy all except those holding the most violent 
 views. So far as its economic doctrines are concerned, it 
 gives a loyal adherence to Karl Marx, and among its imme- 
 diate reforms are the abolition of the Monarchy, the repudiation 
 
 * Others are the Socialist Party of Great Britain, and the Socialist 
 Labour Party. The Social Democratic Party is to become the British 
 Socialist Party in the near future ; but the present and better known 
 name has been retained in this chapter. Justice is the weekly, and 
 the Social Democrat the monthly, organ of the Social Democratic Party, 
 which also issues an annual publication. The Twentieth Century Press, 
 37a, Clerkenwell Green, E.G., is its printer and publisher, 
 
 349
 
 346 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of the National Debt, the institution of a cumulative tax on 
 all annual incomes over £300, and a minimum wage of 30s. a 
 week. It preaches the " class war," and intends, if it can, to 
 promote actual conflict.* It renounces the conventional views 
 and observances of family life, marriage, and religion, is 
 international, not national, and holds no communication with 
 the evolutionary Socialists, upon whom it expends as much 
 virulent invective as it discharges upon the devoted head of 
 the capitalist. 
 
 The Evolutionaky Socialist. 
 
 In fact, between the Social Democratic Party and the chief 
 evolutionist organisation, the Labour Party, a great gulf is 
 fixed. The latest dispensation indeed in the latter organisation 
 repudiates much that the Social Democrats hold to be essential. 
 The new school denies the necessity for a Socialist Party at 
 all, and contemplates with equanimity the continued existence 
 of the Empire as an organic whole ; does not altogether exclude 
 the continued existence of kings, and tolerates the survival of 
 the family, and even of the Church, as a voluntary organisation 
 in the Socialist State. t Evolutionary Socialism,! indeed, is 
 presented in such guise as to disarm opposition, and renounces 
 many of the crudities and extremes of thought and doctrine 
 which make the preparation of a counterblast against Socialism 
 a child's holiday task. It does not aim at the creation of a 
 new world by giving battle once and for all, and overthrowing 
 the existing state of things, but is willing patiently to take 
 advantage of such opportunities as present themselves, and 
 does not hesitate to support legislation, which only in a small 
 degree recognises or follows Socialist principles. It relies on 
 the insertion of the thin end of the wedge, wherever a big 
 breach cannot be made, and its leaders believe that when once 
 
 • H. M. Hyndman, " Will Socialism Benefit the English People? " 
 t See *' Socialism and Government," by J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P., 
 vol. ii. pp. 12, 104-8, 131, 137. 
 
 I The evolutionary Socialist groups are the Fabian Society, the Inde- 
 pendent Labour Party, the Clarion organisations, and the Labour 
 Party.
 
 SOCIALISM 347 
 
 the principle is conceded and none of the dread results pre- 
 dicted follow, there will be little difficulty in future in extending 
 its application, and in obtaining legislative sanction for the full 
 programme of the party, 
 
 MoDEKN Tendencies Towards Socialism. 
 
 These tactics are considerably assisted by the tendencies of 
 modern political thought, in which social reform occupies a 
 very prominent place. The evil things of this life are to be 
 legislated out of existence, the rough places are to be made 
 smooth, dark lives brightened, bad conditions of living re- 
 moved, and all the hardships of the poor relieved. Measures 
 to achieve such ends are welcomed, though the method 
 adopted may be, and often is, impracticable and Socialistic. 
 But if opposition is offered loud cries are raised to heaven 
 against the objectors, accusing them of want of sympathy 
 with others less happily circumstanced than themselves, and 
 thus sound criticism of Socialistic extravagances is misrepre- 
 sented and ignored. Hence measures become law the objects 
 of which are excellent, but the provisions of which may be 
 open to every possible economic and legislative objection. In 
 such instances opposition can always be called selfish and 
 attributed to the worst motives, and it is thus often terrorised 
 into silence — especially in the case of party politicians, to 
 whom votes are of importance, and who know how easily 
 their actions can be misrepresented for electoral purposes.* 
 Afterwards when it is charged against a measure that it is 
 a piece of impracticable Socialism, the absence of opposition 
 
 * Perhaps the most prominent example of this kind of misrepresen- 
 tation occurred in respect of an amendment to the Old Age Pension Bill. 
 Lord Cromer, a Free Trade Unionist, if of any party label, moved to 
 limit the duration of the Act to December 31, 1915, with the object of 
 then revising the system in the light of the knowledge gained by 
 experience. This is misrepresented on every Radical and Socialist plat- 
 form as a deliberate attempt to bring Old Age Pensions to an end — the 
 more reprehensible because Lord Cromer himself enjoys a State 
 pension — and because his action was supported by the Unionist peers, 
 there is hardly an election in which it is not alleged that the Unionist 
 Party tried to take away from the old people their five shillings a week.
 
 348 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 on the part of convinced an ti- Socialists is cited as a proof 
 of agreement. Thus the Socialists compel silence and call it 
 acquiescence. 
 
 The Weapon of Class Prejudice, 
 
 Appeals to class prejudices are the favourite weapon of the 
 Socialist. The outbreak of feeling against the Budget of 
 1909 was met not only by a defence of the proposed taxation 
 as sound finance, but on popular platforms at any rate, by 
 accusations of selfishness against the propertied classes, who 
 were represented as unwilling to contribute towards the many 
 valuable and humanitarian schemes for the amelioration of the 
 conditions of the poor, which depended for their success upon 
 the proceeds of the new taxes. 
 
 This weapon of class prejudice was also freely used by 
 Radical orators and even by Cabinet Ministers, which not only 
 amounted to a recognition of its great value in electioneering, 
 but contributed in no small degree to bi-eaking down the slight 
 barrier which still existed between the Radical and the 
 Socialist. It is not suggested that the Radical Party accepts 
 all the doctrines of the Socialists ; but it cannot be denied that 
 there is a considerable quantity of gi-ound common to both 
 parties, that to a great extent they are working on the same 
 lines, and though the Radical may not for the present be pre- 
 pared to go so far as the Socialist, it is the Socialistic wing 
 which dominates the Coalition Government of Mr. Asquith, 
 in regard to matters in respect of which the Irish supremacy 
 is not asserted. 
 
 Radicals and Socialism. 
 
 The time has passed when Mr. Asquith declined " to go wool- 
 gathering With the Socialists,"'' and his Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer found no difi&culty in recommending the electors to 
 vote for Mr. Lansbury, a Socialist of a pronounced type.f 
 A further proof that there is little or no objection in principle 
 to co-operation between the two parties is seen in the 
 
 • Ladybank, October 13, 1906. 
 
 t Mr. Lloyd George, M.P., at Mile End, Novembsr 21, 1910. 
 
 i
 
 SOCIALISM 349 
 
 readiness with which the miners' representatives in the House 
 of Commons, with but few exceptions, transferred their 
 allegiance from the Liberal to the Labour Party, the latter 
 body being avowedly a Socialist organisation." 
 
 The Triumph of Fabianism. 
 
 This changed attitude of the Eadical Party towards Socialism 
 is a triumph for the Fabian Society, a body small in numbers, 
 which nevertheless exercises tremendous influence, possessing, 
 as it does, members of. considerable intellectual ability, and 
 exacting no political allegiance from its adherents, who 
 style themselves Liberal, Labour, or Progressive as their fancy 
 dictates.! This Society is opposed to revolutionary tactics, 
 its policy being one of " permeation," the meaning of 
 which has been disclosed by Bernard Shaw in Fabian Tract 
 No. 41. "We urged our members," he writes, "to join the 
 Liberal and Eadical Associations. We told them to become 
 members of the nearest Eadical Club and Co-operative Store, 
 and to get delegated to the Metropolitan Eadical Federation, 
 and the Liberal and Eadical Union if possible. On these 
 bodies we made speeches and moved resolutions, or, better 
 still, got the parliamentary candidate for the constituency to 
 move them, and secured reports and encouraging little articles 
 for him in the Star. We permeated the party organisations 
 and pulled all the wires we could lay our hands on with our 
 utmost adroitness and energy. . . . Our mission is to Socialise 
 the Press as we hope to Socialise Parliament and the other 
 Estates of the realm, not to run the Press ourselves." | The 
 
 • " For all practical purposes the British Labour Party was a Socialist 
 party " (Mr. Philip Snowden, M.P., Smethwick Telephone, March 4, 1911). 
 
 t Fabian members of the Labour Party are Messrs. Keir Hardie, Lans- 
 bury, Crooks, Snowden, Hudson, O'Grady, Pointer, and Goldstone. The 
 following Radical members of Parliament are Fabians : L. G. Chiozza 
 Money, Percy Alden, H. G. Chancellor, A. RendaU. Other Liberal 
 Fabians are Messrs. Edward Cadbury, Joseph Fels, Rev. John Clifford, 
 and Rev. R. J. Campbell. Prominent Fabians are Messrs. Bernard Shaw, 
 Sidney Webb, Mrs. Webb, and Sir Sydney Olivier. 
 
 I The whole of this Tract is worth careful study as an illustration of 
 the tactics of the most dangerous of the Socialist organisations.
 
 350 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 first victory of Fabianism was gained in the London County 
 Council, whose policy was for years dictated by the Fabian 
 Society wholly without the knowledge of the electors. 
 
 The Lloyd Geoege Budget. 
 
 The policy of "permeation" has now so far extended 
 through the Radical Party that it occupies common ground 
 with the Socialists, and all its legislation has a definitely 
 Socialistic flavour. This was particularly marked in the 
 case of the Lloyd George Budget, which was hailed with 
 delight by every evolutionary Socialist as giving them a 
 " chunk " of Socialism,* and as being altogether " splendid." t 
 The Chancellor of the Exchequer was patronisingly praised by 
 the Socialists as " a great and apt pupil." I They welcomed 
 his Budget not only for the super-tax, and the increased death 
 and licensing duties, but particularly for the duties on incre- 
 ment of land values. Their only regret was that Mr. Lloyd 
 George did not see his way to take more than 20 per cent., 
 and they wanted the other 80 per cent, as well.§ But they 
 recognised that the Budget was as good as could have been 
 expected from a Socialist Chancellor of the Exchequer in his 
 first year of office. || 
 
 Socialism and Social Refobm. 
 
 Taxation is everywhere recognised by the Socialists as a 
 powerful method of gaining their ends. They look beyond its 
 simpler function of providing revenue, and regard it as a 
 weapon in the fight against private ownership whereby 
 property can be transferred to the State without the for- 
 
 * Mr. G. N. Barnes, M.P., at Scarborough. Standard, November 1, 
 1909. 
 
 t Neiv Age, May 6, 1909. 
 
 I llv. Philip Snowden, M.P., House of Commons, May 6, 1909. Par- 
 liamentary Debates, p. 1071. 
 
 § " Mr. Lloyd George wanted 20 per cent, of unearned increment ; he 
 wanted the other 80. That was the only difierence between Mr. Lloyd 
 George and himself " (Mr. T. F. Richards, M,P., Sutton Coldfield, The 
 Times, August 3, 1909). 
 
 II New Age, August 12, 1909.
 
 SOCIALISM 351 
 
 mality of purchase or payment. But while taxation can avail 
 to confiscate, it cannot construct. Constructive social I'eform 
 is not, however, the monopoly of the Socialist Party, though 
 they would like it to be so believed. As will be shown in 
 the next chapter, social reform can stand apart from 
 Socialism. The Socialist in his measures of social reform 
 makes the State predominant ; the social reformer who is not 
 a Socialist endeavours to lend the assistance of the State to 
 those who show themselves worthy in their own individual 
 aspect. The difference is admirably illustrated by the rival 
 schemes of Old Age Pensions. The Socialist supports the 
 non-contributory scheme under which the State pays all alike 
 regardless of the position of the individual. The non- Socialist, 
 encouraging the individual, assists him in proportion to his 
 own contributions to the Old Age Pension fund. So in con- 
 nection with the National Insurance Bill it will be found that 
 Socialist opposition is particularly directed against those 
 clauses which throw partial responsibility on the individual. 
 Their amendments are directed towards the exclusion of 
 individual responsibility, the exaltation of the State, and the 
 exaction of all benefits from the pockets of the taxpayer. 
 Their hostility is entirely due to the fact that the Government 
 did not make the scheme non-contributory, as they did in the 
 case of Old Age Pensions, but have placed it upon a con- 
 tributory basis. For the most part, however, the Liberal 
 Government have proceeded along the lines of evolutionary 
 Socialism, as in their Old Age Pension scheme, the provision 
 of meals for school children, and the Small Holdings Act, and 
 though Socialistic principles are not quite so apparent in 
 measures such as Town Planning, Labour Exchanges, and so on, 
 they concede two principles which every Socialist regards with 
 approbation. These are the extension of State activity into 
 quarters hitherto left to individual enterprise, and the increase 
 of the number of State officials. The wider the extension and 
 the larger the number the better pleased are the Socialists with 
 such marked advances towards the realisation of their ideals, 
 and in both these aspects Socialistic thought has had great 
 influence upon the poUcy of the Government of Mr. Asquith 
 and his predecessor.
 
 352 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 "Economic Liberalism." 
 
 There are, indeed, but few thoughtful Liberals who do not 
 now believe that this absorption of Socialistic thought will be 
 considerably accelerated in the future. Attempts may be made 
 to describe the new policy as " economic Liberalism "or by 
 some such name for the benefit of those members of the party 
 who would shrink from a definite Socialist label. A few such 
 may still exist, but their influence is a negligible quantity. 
 Evolutionary Socialism will exercise increasing influence over 
 Liberal policy in proportion as " permeation " proceeds.* 
 
 Although many Liberal " intellectuals " are Socialists in the 
 Fabian way, and can therefore be depended upon to infuse 
 into Liberal measures the Socialistic spirit, evolutionary 
 Socialism has scored its greatest triumph by the capture 
 of the Trade Unions. 
 
 The Labour Party. 
 
 The Labour Party in the House of Commons includes 
 declared Socialists, such as representatives of the Independent 
 Labour Party and Trade Unionists, who may or may not be 
 Socialists in the full sense of the word, but who are not, at 
 any rate, opposed to Socialism, and approve of the immediate 
 parliamentary policy of the Labour Party, which has declared 
 its approval of the doctrine of the socialisation of the means of 
 production, distribution, and exchange, but does not for the 
 present profess anything more definite in the way of a poUcy. 
 Nevertheless the leaders and 'office bearers of the party are 
 declared Socialists, and they are admirably backed by the 
 Trade Union leaders in the country, who are for the most part 
 of the same political belief. There is, of course, nothing 
 unusual in organisations officially non-political and non- 
 Socialist coming under the influence of the Socialist Party. 
 It is the fate of organisations to come under the control of 
 their most active members, and such in the Trade Union 
 movement are generally Socialists. The vast majority of 
 Trade Unionists are content to make use of the Trade Unions 
 
 * See " Liberalism," by Professor L. T. Hobhouse, especially chaps, viii. 
 and is.
 
 SOCIALISM 353 
 
 for their primary purposes of regulating wages and hours of 
 labour, providing sick, superannuation, and unemployment 
 benefits, and acting as employment agencies. Beyond this 
 their interest ceased ; but the Trade Unions as political 
 organisations, although with few exceptions non-Socialistic, 
 have now become part of the Socialist machine. 
 
 The Capture op the Trade Unions. 
 
 There is no place here to tell the history of Trade Unionism 
 or to trace its growth from a purely labour organisation into a 
 political association. Even now the transformation is not 
 complete in law, whatever it may be in fact. Trade Unionists 
 when their interests were threatened were of one mind, and 
 acted as one harmonious whole. Witness the agitation which 
 followed upon the judgment in the Taff Vale Case. But on 
 general public questions they may, and do, hold different 
 opinions one from another. Socialists, Conservatives, and 
 Liberals all join Trade Unions for protection and assistance as 
 workers in certain industries. For the better carrying out of 
 that purpose Trade Unionists have for many years been 
 returned to the House of Commons. They went there 
 primarily as Trade Unionist representatives, and were under 
 no obligation to act or vote with any political party. No 
 doubt the Conservative Trade Unionist had to contribute 
 towards the salary of a Trade Unionist M.P. who usually 
 associated himself with the Liberal Party and supported 
 Liberal legislation. But he did so recognising that the pay- 
 ment was for Trade Union services in Parliament, and that 
 when the member entered the Trade Union lodge he left his 
 political convictions outside, and was not a Liberal, but 
 enth'ely a Trade Unionist, representative. Otherwise he was 
 perfectly free to follow the dictates of his conscience in respect 
 of political matters. 
 
 In 1900, however, the Labour Eepresentation Committee 
 was formed, and upon it were representatives of the Inde- 
 pendent Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation,* 
 
 * The Social Democratic Federation retired at the end of the first 
 year. 
 
 24
 
 354 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 and the Trade Unions. The Labour Representation Com- 
 mittee was materially assisted at the General Election of 
 1906 by the Taff Vale Judgment, which, threatening the 
 liberties of all Trade Unionists, led them to support Labour 
 candidates, who at that time were not necessarily Socialists, 
 but in very many instances retained their old character of 
 Trade Union representatives.* 
 
 After the General Election of 1906 the Socialist section, 
 which had been striving to oust the Liberal-Labour tj'pe, took 
 definite action.! The Liberal-Labour men who declined to 
 adopt a Socialist attitude were harried out of public life, and 
 the adhesion of the Miners' Federation to the Labour Party 
 largely added to its parliamentary strength. 
 
 " The Osboene Judgment." 
 
 But these additions were in practice to prove a source of 
 weakness, and not of strength, to the movement. To the 
 funds of the Labour Party, Trade Unions are by far the largest 
 contributors. The levy is in practice always compulsory, though 
 sometimes voluntary in theory : every Trade Unionist, what- 
 ever his political convictions, must pay or cease to be a 
 member and lose his benefits, and his contributions go towards 
 the support of the Labour Party, an avowedly Socialistic 
 organisation, however much he may oppose their policy. 
 The last straw was that the contributions from the Trade 
 Unions, which are far larger than those of the Socialist 
 bodies, who made up the Labour Party went in part in 
 
 ♦ " There was no definite dividing line at the election between Socialism 
 and Labour, on the one hand, or between Labour and Liberalism on the 
 other " (T. Kirkup, " History of Socialism," 1906 edition, p. 333). 
 
 t They had from the beginning secured predominance on the Labour 
 Representation Committee. " The Socialists attained a power from the 
 very first out of all proportion to their numerical strength ; for notwith- 
 standing that 545,316 Trade Unionists were represented and only 22,861 
 Socialists, yet the rules provided that the Executive Committee should 
 consist of seven from the Trade Unions and five from the Socialists. . . . 
 Whereas those selected from the Socialist body would aU be Socialists, 
 some chosen by the Trade Unions would also be Socialists " (W. V. 
 Osborne, " My Case," p. 11).
 
 SOCIALISM 355 
 
 support of candidates who might not be Trade Unionists, but 
 were certainly Sociahsts.''- 
 
 The compulsory levy was obnoxious to both Conservative 
 and Liberal Trade Unionists. There was no predominance 
 of Trade Unionism in the equipment of the new type of Labour 
 Member, who was not necessarily a Trade Unionist at all. 
 He might be a Socialist, and he was bound to follow the 
 Labour Party. Trade Unionists felt this injustice so strongly 
 that they began to take legal action, and the suit brought 
 by Mr. Walter Osborne was regarded as the test case. He, 
 a member of the Amalgamated Society of Kailway Servants, 
 and a Liberal, sought to restrain his Trade Union from 
 making a compulsory levy for parliamentary representation, 
 and won his case. The Socialists carried the matter to 
 the House of Lords, but without success. Mr. Osborne won, 
 and injunction after injunction subsequently issued restrain- 
 ing the Trade Unions from supporting Socialist candidates for 
 Parliament.! The Socialist Party, who were so eager to 
 make Mr. Osborne observe what they conceived to be the 
 law, resolved to defy it when defined by the Courts of 
 Justice. J They have declared their intention of accepting 
 nothing less than the complete reversal of the Osborne 
 Judgment. § They who are all for liberty and against 
 tyranny are determined to make their political opponents 
 contribute towards their support in Parliament, for the 
 levy is in practice compulsory. Trade Unionists must con- 
 
 • The Independent Labour Party, for instance, contributed £233 in 
 1910-11 to the funds of the Labour Party, but received £1,800. 
 
 f An incident of the fight was the expulsion of Mr. Osborne from the 
 A.S.R.S., and the dissolution of the Walthamstow branch, of which he 
 was a member. 
 
 I "Not one single Trade Unionist candidate ought to have spent one 
 single brass farthing of Trade Union money last December, but scores of 
 them did " (Mr. J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P., Leicester Daily Post, 
 February 3, 1911). "At the recent election forty members received 
 financial aid contrary to the Judgment, and at a Conference in Leicester 
 the other day practically every one of the 460 who attended it, did so 
 contrary to the decision of the judges " (Mr. J. Ramsay MacDonald, 
 M.P., House of Commons, February 6, 1911). 
 
 § House of Commons Bill, No. 89 of 1911.
 
 356 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 tribute or cease to be members, losing their contributions of 
 years and the benefits they have earned. No one, it is true, 
 is bound to become a Trade Unionist. But these very 
 men would be the first to compel all v^orkers to do so, 
 either by physical force, or by the not less effective means of 
 insisting on the door to employment being otherwise closed 
 against them. 
 
 The Libeeal Solution. 
 
 The Bill introduced in 1911 * by the Coalition Government 
 affords the harassed unpolitical Trade Unionist little relief. 
 It permits Trade Unions to become political associations and 
 allows their funds to be used for political objects f if a 
 majority of the members voting by ballot approve such use. 
 It exempts members from the obligation to contribute towards 
 the political fund, providing they give notice of their unwilling- 
 ness to contribute. Such notice has to be given in statutory 
 form, a provision which, while it nominally leaves the con- 
 tribution voluntary, in fact makes the objector a marked man. 
 No one who has any knowledge of the treatment accorded to 
 the minority by Trade Unions can have any doubt as to the 
 fate of the member who holds out against the active agitators in 
 his Union. Any ordinary member, whatever his wishes, will 
 acquiesce and pay his contributions rather than run the risk 
 of worse evils. 
 
 The exemption is a sham. If the Government were really 
 bent on relieving the conscientious objector they would make 
 the payment of contributions to the political fund a purely 
 voluntary act, and not require a Trade Unionist to make a 
 statutory declaration of his political opinions, which are, or 
 ought to be, his own private possession. But such a 
 provision would not suit the Socialists, who know that the 
 majority of Trade Unionists are hostile or indifferent and 
 could not be relied upon of their own free will to finance the 
 
 • House of Commons Bill, No. 225 of 1911. 
 
 •f The political objects are payment of candidates' expenses for parlia- 
 mentary or local government elections, their maintenance after election, 
 political meetings, and political literature.
 
 SOCIALISM 357 
 
 Labour Party in the House of Commons. Hence there must 
 be compulsion, if of a veiled and indirect character. 
 
 A Question of Public Policy. 
 
 There is, however, an aspect of this matter which touches 
 the public life of the country. It is not merely a domestic 
 question as between Trade Unionists. Under the Trade Disputes 
 Act of 1906 Trade Unions have been granted immunity from 
 liability for their civil wrongs. When they are recognised 
 as having the right to become, as they will become, 
 political associations, can they also be allowed immunity 
 from liability for civil wrongs inflicted upon opponents in 
 the pursuit of their political ends ? And if the answer be in 
 the affirmative will the like immunity be extended to other 
 political associations, such as the Tariff Eeform and the 
 Primrose Leagues ? No one would listen to such a proposal. 
 But no distinction can be drawn in principle, and the public 
 can hardly afford to allow Trade Unions acting as political 
 associations to occupy such an exceptional position as puts 
 them beyond the reach of responsibility for their political 
 activities. To accord so privileged a position to these power- 
 ful political organisations would be a potential menace to the 
 liberties of every subject of the State. * 
 
 No settlement of this vexed question has been reached 
 though the future of Trade Unions is involved, and though 
 identification with Socialism is already discrediting the Trade 
 Unions by giving rise to suspicions of their single-minded pur- 
 
 * See on this point Mr. Frederic Harrison's letters to The Times of 
 June 6, 1911. The resolution in favour of paying members of Parliament 
 £400 a year, which was passed on August 10, 1911, on the motion of the 
 guardian of the public purse, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, without 
 any mandate from the electorate, was put forward to conciliate the 
 Labour Party, which expressed dissatisfaction with the Government 
 Bill. Though the party readily accepted the £400, which is, of course, 
 forced on all members that a few may be gratified, their spokesman said 
 that " payment of members must be justified or condemned on a totally 
 different ground from the Osborne Bill. " The pull at the public purse 
 which has been unremitting during the Chancellorship of Mr. George is 
 evidently not going to be relaxed.
 
 358 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 pose and good faith. Trade Unionism cannot, without losing 
 much of its proper and legitimate influence, be identified with 
 party politics. Socialists, however, may be trusted not to relax 
 their grip upon associations which present them with a ready- 
 made organisation, and with far-reaching branches. The 
 political and parliamentary power thus gained enables 
 them to exert Socialistic influence upon Liberal legislation. 
 Pure revolutionary Socialism has but little hold in the 
 country, and by itself stands very small chance of acceptance. 
 But shorn of its crudities and violence, supported by 
 Liberalism and Labour, it stands a far better chance of 
 making progress. The evolutionary Socialist knows this, 
 and for the sake of immediate advancement, be it but a 
 short step, he is ready to adapt his Socialist creed to the 
 opportunities of the moment. If he approximates more or less 
 towards Liberalism in his views, the Liberal on his part 
 makes spirited advances towards Socialism. Condemned as 
 a traitor to the cause though the evolutionary Socialist may 
 be by his revolutionary colleague, he has at least, by confusing 
 the issue, made it easier to obtain the co-operation of the 
 Liberal Party, and harder for such Liberal opponents as 
 remain, and for the new Conservatives, to oppose the whole 
 system of Socialism root and branch, lock, stock, and barrel. 
 
 Summary of Arguments For and Against The Osborne 
 
 Judgment 
 
 FOR 
 
 1. Provision for the expenses of parliamentary representation is wholly 
 distinct from, and is not included in, the objects of a Trade Union, as 
 contained in the Trade Union Acts. 
 
 2. Since the Trade Unions include members of every shade of political 
 opinion, it is not just that a majority should compel a minority to 
 support by subscriptions political opinions which are obnoxious to them. 
 
 3. The injustice is the more pronounced since the minority by refusing 
 to subscribe to the parliamentary levy, which is always compulsory in 
 practice, lose benefits for which they have subscribed, perhaps, for many 
 years. 
 
 4. The penalty of refusal is expulsion, which may lead to unemploy-
 
 SOCIALISM 359 
 
 ment, since not infrequently Trade Unionist! decline to work with 
 non-Union members. 
 
 5. Trade Unions are, by law, placed in an exceptional position, and 
 have a statutory immunity from the ordinary consequences of certain 
 actions. 
 
 6. This immunity was conferred on the understanding that Trade 
 Unions confined their activities to the relations between masters and 
 workmen, and to other important and well-defined objects, such as 
 benefits to members, insurances, and so on, which fairly come within 
 the ambit of a Trade Union's functions. 
 
 7. The fact that Trade Unions were given this immunity is proof that 
 it was not contemplated that their activities should extend to political 
 propagandism and parliamentary representation. 
 
 8. It cannot be argued that a political body should be granted such 
 immunity from the consequences of their actions as Trade Unions enjoy 
 in respect of acts done in pursuance of their proper functions. 
 
 9. It is against public policy to procure members of Parliament who are 
 bound to vote in a prescribed manner, and in consideration of that 
 condition secure financial assistance towards their election expenses, and 
 their maintenance, if returned to Parliament. 
 
 10. Such conditions are inconsistent with the position of a person who 
 accepts a public trust by becoming a member of Parliament, since they 
 lead him to execute that trust subject to actual or potential duress and 
 deprive him of his freedom to act on each occasion as he conscientiously 
 feels to be best in the public interest. 
 
 11. The system in reality disfranchises certain constituencies since 
 therein it substitutes for a member representing all classes and interests 
 .a paid delegate bound to put the claims of those who pay him before all 
 other considerations. 
 
 12. Parliament being summoned by the Sovereign to advise His Majesty 
 freely, this money payment destroys or imperils that function of freedom 
 of advice which is inherent in the very constitution of Parliament. 
 
 13. There can be no complete freedom for Trade Unionists unless the 
 principles of the Osborne Judgment are maintained. 
 
 14. If Trade Unionists want parliamentary representation let them 
 subscribe voluntarily towards the expenses of election and maintenance. 
 
 15. Unless the system is purely voluntary, and is worked apart from 
 the official organisation of the Trade Union, it will in practice be 
 compulsory. 
 
 16. There should be no provision for identifying the member who 
 declines to subscribe to the parliamentary levy. 
 
 17. The provision in the Bill of the Liberal Government requiring the 
 dissentient member to declare and sign his intention not to contribute 
 will at once make him a marked man. 
 
 18. Such exemption is consequently of an illusory character, and in no 
 way maintains freedom of political action for the minority man.
 
 360 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 19. It would, in fact, annul the law as interpreted by the Osborne 
 Judgment, since few Trade Unionists will venture to make a public 
 declaration of their political attitude. 
 
 20. The onus of a public declaration should fall, if at all, on the man 
 who is willing to contribute voluntarily towards the political activities 
 of the Trade Unions. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. Representation by, and payment of, Trade Union members of Par- 
 liament has been in operation since 1874, so the situation is one of long 
 standing and of general acceptance. 
 
 2. The conduct of these representatives has not shown that their pay- 
 ment and the conditions of their election have degraded public life. 
 
 3. On the contrary the Trade Union members have been among the 
 most highly respected in Parliament. 
 
 4. The amount in dispute is really very small, so far as the individual 
 Trade Unionist is concerned, the levy amounting to no more than one 
 shilling a year, of which tenpence is kept by the Trade Union itself, and 
 only twopence goes to the funds of the Labour Party. 
 
 5. The Trade Union leaders took every precaution to ascertain whether 
 the levies could be properly made, obtaining the best legal advice, which 
 was favourable to their action. 
 
 6. Without the existing system of Trade Union representation there 
 will be no real working-class representation in the House of Commons. 
 
 7. Payment of members is no remedy, for while it enables the less 
 wealthy to go to Westminster, it does not necessarily mean that they 
 will be working-class representatives. 
 
 8. The only way to secure Trade Union representation is to make the 
 members, if the majority so decide, pay for political action ; the majority 
 in Trade Unions, as elsewhere, must govern. 
 
 9. It is impossible for a Trade Union to carry on its legitimate work 
 unless it engages in political action. 
 
 10. The concentration of capital, the use which it makes of political 
 power, and the interference of the State in industrial affairs make labour 
 representation absolutely necessary. 
 
 11. So much are the interests of labour concerned with legislation, that 
 they cannot be properly satisfied by deputations to Ministers. 
 
 12. These increased activities are of recent growth, and the old narrow 
 conception of a Trade Union's functions consequently requires revision 
 and extension. 
 
 13. The minority, who object to the political opinions of the 
 representative in the House of Commons, enjoy, nevertheless, all the 
 benefits which his presence brings in respect of Trade Unions and labour 
 questions. 
 
 14. It is unjust that the minority should escape paying the levies,
 
 SOCIALISM 361 
 
 while it enjoys all the benefits which Trade Union representation brings 
 to the workers as a whole in the industry concerned. 
 
 15. The Bill of the Liberal Government, inasmuch as it falls short of 
 establishing the principle of majority rule, and gives the minority man 
 permission to contract out of the obligation imposed upon the Trade 
 Union by the majority, fails to afford a complete and satisfactory 
 solution of the question. 
 
 16. The recognition of the minority is in reality entirely one-sided ; 
 the Bill grants the minority man all he wants in respect of contracting 
 out, but when it is the minority who want representation, against the 
 decision of the majority, and are willing to pay for it, no provision is 
 made for giving effect to their wishes. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Of the making of books for and against Socialism there would seem 
 to be no end, and the student may well be aghast at the formidable 
 list of volumes on the subject. Those mentioned in the following 
 paragraphs are but the most useful for a preliminary study of the 
 question ; but they abound in references to other volumes which may 
 afterwards be read. 
 
 Pamphlets, leaflets, and publications of the like character are issued on 
 the Socialist side by The Labour Party (28, Victoria Street, S.W.) ; The 
 Independent Labour Party (23, Bride Lane, Fleet Street, E.G.) ; and The 
 Fabian Society (3, Clement's Inn, E.G.). Revolutionary Socialism is 
 explained in the publications of the Social Democratic Party (Twentieth 
 Gentury Press, 31a, Glerkenwell Green, E.G.). 
 
 Periodical publications are : Justice, weekly, and the Social Democrat, 
 monthly, issued by the Social Democratic Party. The Labour Leader, 
 weekly, and the Socialist Review, monthly, are the organs of the Independent 
 Labour Party. The New Age maintains an independent position, as 
 does TJie Clarion, both weekly papers. 
 
 Anti-Socialist literature may be obtained from The Anti-Socialist 
 Union (58 & 60, Victoria Street, S.W.) and The London Municipal 
 Society, Department of Anti-Socialist Economics (Tothill Street, 
 Westminster, S.W.). 
 
 The Anti-Socialist Union publish an excellent " Speakers' Handbook " 
 against Socialism ; and the London Municipal Society a comprehensive 
 "Case Against Socialism." A volume criticising Socialism, more from 
 its theoretical aspect, is W. H. Mallock's " Critical Examination of 
 Socialism." F. Ireson's " People's Progress " : a study of facts in relation 
 to national wealth, with some answers to Socialists, should be read by 
 all students. 
 
 Other valuable Anti-Socialist publications are: "British Socialism," 
 by J. Ellis Barker; "Present Day Socialism and the Problem of the
 
 362 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Unemployed" by G. E. Raine; "Socialism in Local Government," by 
 W. G. Towler. 
 
 Thomas Kirkup's " History of Socialism" is written from the Socialist 
 standpoint. 
 
 Popular manuals of Socialism which enjoy an extraordinarily wide 
 circulation are Robert Blatchford's " Britain for the British " and 
 " Merrie England." " The Socialist Movement," by J. Ramsay Mac- 
 Donald, M.P., in The Home University Library, is a useful little 
 handbook. 
 
 More serious contributions to Socialist literature are the volumes of 
 the " Socialist Library," which is issued by the Independent Labour 
 Party; the two which should certainly be studied are "Socialism and 
 Society " and " Socialism and Government," both by J. Ramsay 
 MacDonald, M.P. Small Socialist manuals which are worth reading 
 are "The Woman Socialist," by Ethel Snowden ; "Prom Serfdom to 
 Socialism," by J. Keir Hardie, M.P. ; "The Socialist's Budget," by 
 Philip Snowden, M.P. ; "The Socialist's Church," by Stewart D. 
 Headlam; " Labour and the Empire," by J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P. ; 
 "The Socialist's City," by P. W. Jowett, M.P. 
 
 "The Economics of Socialism," by H. M. Hyndman, the leader of 
 the Social Democratic Party, should certainly be read; while for 
 statistical purposes "Riches and Poverty," by L. G. Chiozza Money, M.P., 
 a Fabian, is constantly used by Socialists. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb's "History of Trade Unionism," and 
 "Industrial Democracy," should be consulted for information respecting 
 the growth of the Trade Union Movement.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 SOCIAL REFORM 
 
 MEASURES of social reform are to-day rarely treated on 
 party lines. They partake for the most part of the 
 nature of extensions and developments of principles of State 
 regulation of industrial and social conditions, which have 
 been accepted, more or less completely, by all parties. 
 This consensus of opinion is apparent in the treatment 
 in Parliament of the detailed and technical clauses of 
 factory, mines, and housing Bills. Discussions of the 
 provisions of such measures is properly conducted in 
 the less formal and more private atmosphere of the 
 committee-room rather than in the formal pubHcity of 
 the House of Commons itself. Thus opportunities are 
 afforded to the interests affected by any specific measure to 
 explain their case undisturbed by electoral and political 
 considerations. It therefore constantly happens that pro- 
 visions become law which may appreciably affect the lives 
 and conditions of a large industrial element in the population 
 without the general public becoming aware of their existence 
 and without political capital being made out of their adoption. 
 Such conditions favour the passage of measures of social 
 reform which otherwise might be prejudiced by the ease with 
 which any opposition or amendment is misrepresented. 
 
 What are Measures of Social Reform ? 
 
 It is around those measures which are on the border-line 
 between social reform and politics that battles are waged. 
 Supporters of any such proposal naturally desire to attach 
 to it whatever advantage may be obtained from the label 
 " social reform," while its opponents look upon its objects 
 
 363
 
 364 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 as purely political, and are indisposed to treat it as a genuine 
 measure deserving of that name. Of this character was the 
 Licensing Bill of 1908. Advocated by its supporters as a 
 good temperance measure, it was denounced by opponents 
 as a pui'ely political Bill for the confiscation of the property 
 of opponents. 
 
 It is impossible, however, to deny that the Coalition Govern- 
 ment of Mr. Asquith has a thorough appreciation of the electoral 
 advantages of a policy of social reform. The Old Age Pen- 
 sions scheme, boldly passed first and financed afterwards, 
 gained for them tens and hundreds of thousands of votes. 
 What greater contrast could be drawn than that which loomed 
 large between the Liberals, who gave the pensions, and the 
 Unionists, who discussed the question at great length for 
 many years, but did nothing ? Every Opposition, indeed, is 
 placed in a very awkward position in respect of measures 
 of social reform introduced by the party in power, which 
 are sufficiently attractive to command general support. If 
 the Opposition opposes it is represented as being indifferent 
 to the sufferings the measure purports or pretends to relieve ; 
 if it co-operates with the party in power in passing the 
 measure its assistance is placed to the credit of the 
 Government. 
 
 The latter, indeed, may be praised with some show of reason 
 for promising to develop a policy of social reform but the 
 Opposition, when it co-operates with its adversaries to this 
 end, is regarded as wanting in sincerity, and merely animated 
 by a desire to outbid the party in power. 
 
 Unionists and Social Reform. 
 
 In view of this handicap, of the brevity of political memories, 
 and the non-existence of political gratitude, it is not matter 
 for surprise that acceptance is being found for the creed 
 industriously propagated by the Radical Party, of which the 
 chief tenet is the allegation that they are particularly and 
 conspicuously the party of social reform, and that their 
 opponents, the Unionists, are the party of privilege and 
 wanting in the qualities of humanity and sympathy with the
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 365 
 
 poorer classes of the community. As a matter of history the 
 Conservative Party can show a record of social legislation 
 of which any party might well be proud, and which is in 
 respect of Acts passed far ahead of the Liberal record in the 
 same behalf. It has indeed to its credit a long series of 
 measures for ameliorating the conditions of labour in 
 factories, mines, and workshops ; for protecting the workers 
 from accidents, and for compensating those who have 
 had the misfortune to be injured ; for improving the 
 homes and conditions of living of the w^orking classes, and 
 for securing to their children opportunities of education and 
 development ; for according the right of combination to 
 workers, and for facilitating the working of Trade Unions and 
 the like societies. These Acts, and especially the earlier in 
 date, were passed in the face of much Radical opposition 
 resulting from a whole-hearted adherence to the doctrines 
 of the Manchester school, which dreaded the interference 
 of the State in industrial and economic spheres. 
 
 FuTUEE Unionist Policy. 
 
 No party, however, can hope to live on its past record. 
 With the Unionists there was undoubtedly a slackening of 
 effort during the later years of their last term of office. The 
 energies of the party were, it is true, concentrated upon 
 bringing the South African War to a successful termination, 
 and upon dealing with the issues which arose out of the 
 settlement. The movement which has been inaugurated by 
 the Unionist Social Reform Committee should be welcomed, 
 inasmuch as it indicates a definite return to social reform 
 as the poHcy of the Unionist Party. 
 
 Many of their schemes must of necessity be of the nature 
 of useful and unsensational development on previously 
 settled lines. For instance, in so far as factory and housing 
 legislation is concerned, the main principles have already 
 been laid down and accepted. 
 
 The problems with which the Unionist Party will have to 
 deal include some of which the most earnest advocates are 
 Socialists, a fact which undoubtedly damps the reforming
 
 366 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 ardour of moderate and practical men. Nevertheless, when 
 the need for reform is admitted the solution need not 
 necessarily take Socialist lines, nor is a solution necessarily 
 Socialism because it is advocated by Socialists. 
 
 The Influence of Socialism. 
 
 While, however, it is the fact that the Socialist programme 
 naturally fails to find much support in the country, a purely 
 negative attitude on the part of non-Socialist parties may tend 
 to encourage the adoption of Socialistic solutions in preference 
 to leaving unreformed that at which the public conscience 
 revolts. The Liberal Party are little disposed to allow a social 
 question to remain unsolved from fear of being accused of 
 association with Socialism, and the Unionist Party for its own 
 sake cannot decline to take its fair share in the solution of 
 social problems. By adopting a purely negative attitude the 
 latter Party may indeed merely increase the influence of 
 Socialists in the State. The function of the Unionists — as an 
 anti-Socialist Party — is to influence public opinion in the 
 favour of a pi'actical non-Socialist, as opposed to a predatory, 
 unpractical, and Socialistic, solution. The prospects of success 
 in this respect are the more probable because the country 
 will reluctantly accept a Socialistic scheme only in default 
 of an alternative plan of a statesmanlike and practical 
 character. 
 
 Old Age Pensions. 
 
 It is improbable that any Unionist looks back with feelings 
 of satisfaction upon the record of the Unionist Party in respect 
 of Old Age Pensions. There is, however, the future to be con- 
 sidered. Already suggestions are being made for an increase 
 in the amount, and a decrease of the qualifying age. Is the 
 Unionist attitude towards these proposals to be purely nega- 
 tive? If an Unionist Government had introduced the Old Age 
 Pension scheme it would probably have been drawn upon 
 different lines to those which were actually adopted. The pre- 
 sent law is admittedly imperfect ; Unionists have already by 
 their efforts secured the removal of some of its most glaring
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 367 
 
 anomalies, and they were able to introduce a modification of 
 the provision of a fixed sum applicable in all cases, in favour 
 of a sliding scale, whereby old people with small incomes 
 above the original limit were not entirely excluded from the 
 benefits of the Act, but were granted a diminished pension. 
 
 Any large extension of the non-contributory scheme effected 
 by lowering the age, or increasing the amount of the pension, 
 would appear to be barred for some years at any rate by 
 reason of its costliness. Such an extension, unless carefully 
 safeguarded, would also stimulate that undesirable discourage- 
 ment of thrift, which Unionists believe to be the greatest blot 
 on the existing system. Unionist policy then would appear to 
 lie in the direction of grafting a contributory, upon the present 
 non-contributory, scheme, and supplementing the five-shilling 
 pension at seventy by earlier pensions increased in proportion 
 to the contributions of the recipient. The scheme would be 
 worked so far as possible through existing societies which pay 
 old age and superannuation benefits, and would have the 
 advantage of at once encouraging thrift, and relieving the 
 burdens of the deserving and superannuated poor. 
 
 Poor Law Eefoem. 
 
 Linked to some extent with Old Age Pensions is the wider 
 question of Poor Law Reform. While the Pensions have 
 kept many old people out of the workhouse by making it 
 possible for those upon whom they are dependent more easily 
 to support them, there are still cases where helplessness and 
 sickness render treatment in the workhouse infirmary 
 necessary, while poverty and the absence of responsible 
 relatives deprive the sufferers of any other resource. While 
 it is often best that such unfortunates should become inmates 
 of the workhouse, there attaches to that solution the stigma 
 of pauperism which often keeps them away. To the purely 
 logical there is something incomprehensible in the attitude 
 which freely accepts assistance from the State in money, 
 but regards relief in board and lodging as a degradation. 
 Nevertheless, the feehng exists, and should be respected, 
 although by its existence the problem under consideration
 
 368 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 is largely complicated. It forms, however, only one 
 aspect of Poor Law Reform, which includes other questions 
 such as out-door relief, the able-bodied pauper, sickness, 
 maternity, workhouse children, and the mentally defective, 
 and raises many cognate problems, such as the causes of 
 pauperism, distress arising from want of employment, boy- 
 labour, and the administration of charities. Into the many 
 controversies which arise from the examination of these 
 questions there is no space in this chapter to enter. They 
 are receiving adequate treatment in numerous volumes from 
 writers who are experts in poor law administration. The 
 present Coalition Government has shown little disposition to 
 grapple with the question as a whole, and the length of the 
 Report of the Poor Law Commission, able and conclusive as it 
 is, rather discourages attempts to master the subject.* It is, 
 however, very necessary that the Unionist Party should have 
 a definite policy on the question. 
 
 The Minoeity Report. 
 
 The Minority Report of the Socialist section of the Commis- 
 sion has been popularised, and forms the subject of a Socialist 
 campaign, of which the attractive warcry is " Break up the 
 Poor Law." This Report is a frankly Socialist text-book, and as 
 such it is being used. While, like the Majority Report, it con- 
 demns the present system of administration, it goes far beyond 
 the reference to the Commission, and advocates State 
 regulation and responsibility throughout the daily life of the 
 citizen. 
 
 The compulsory use of Labour Exchanges, restrictions on 
 boy labour, shorter hours of work on tramways and rail- 
 ways, maintenance of working mothers. State relief works for, 
 and maintenance and training of, the unemployed, grants in aid 
 of Trade Union funds, and a Ministry of Labour, are among the 
 proposals of the Minority Report for the reform of the poor 
 law. 
 
 Such measures aim, of course, at securing what must be the 
 
 • Cd. 4499 of 1909, containing 1,238 folio pages. The Report is pub- 
 lished in a more handy form in three octavo volumes.
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 369 
 
 object of all who desire to improve economic conditions, viz., 
 the prevention of destitution, in comparison v^ith which its 
 relief is of secondary importance. Labour Exchanges may 
 relieve the distress arising from unemployment by making it 
 easier for the supply of, to get into touch with the demand for, 
 labour. But they do not in the slightest degree increase the 
 demand for labour by stimulating trade, and thus rendering 
 employment less liable to disastrous fluctuations. 
 
 Labour Conditions. 
 
 Unionists believe from the experience of other countries 
 that Tariff Reform will increase the need for labour by 
 stimulaing the demand for manufactm-ed goods. The Liberal 
 Party have no policy calculated to increase the demand for 
 labour, and can only suggest costly devices for lessening the 
 distress arising from unemployment by the establishment of 
 Labour Exchanges, and by establishing an incomplete and 
 unacceptable scheme for dealing, subject to conditions likely to 
 defeat the end in view, with unemployment in the two indus- 
 tries of building and engineering. 
 
 The Socialist Party, on the other hand, while not increasing 
 the output, would increase the demand for labour by the 
 limitation of hours, by restrictions imposed on all, and 
 especially on boy labour, and by the establishment of a standard 
 output for each man, which in their opinion would represent 
 an average day's work, but would in practice be no more than 
 the output of the slowest and least efficient workman in every 
 trade. 
 
 An Eight Hours Day. 
 
 Hence arises the Socialist advocacy of an universal eight 
 hours day — a principle which is already in operation in the 
 mining industry, but which was in that case particularly 
 advocated on considerations of health. The general applica- 
 tion of the argument rests, however, upon the effect that a 
 general all-round limitation of hours is supposed to have in 
 absorbing the unemployed. But the advanced reformers' 
 solution of the unemployed problem does not end with the 
 
 25
 
 370. CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 establishment of an eight hours day. He seeks to throw 
 upon the State the duty in the last resort of finding work 
 for every man, and of maintaining him and his dependents. 
 That the purse of the State is the pocket of the industrious 
 worker is a practical consideration to which he never con- 
 descends. 
 
 Although State provision of labour is suggested as a last 
 resort, those who advocate such measures would not allow the 
 State to pay lower rates of wages than those ordinarily given 
 by private employers. There would consequently be no reason 
 why workers should seek private employment. The obligation 
 which ex hypothesi rests on the State to provide work or give 
 maintenance, and the absence of any inducement on the part 
 of the workmen to seek employment elsewhere, would lead to 
 constant and increasing resort to the State works on the part of 
 men, who had been discharged from, or had abandoned, private 
 employment. The Socialist ideal of universal State control 
 would be brought about either directly through the discharge 
 of its obligation to provide work, or indirectly through the com- 
 pulsion the State would bring to bear on applicants to accept 
 employment provided by the agency of Labour Exchanges. 
 The principle of the right to work is too advanced at present 
 for the Liberal Party, and measures introduced into the House 
 of Commons for establishing it have failed to meet with any 
 serious support. 
 
 The Minimum Wage. 
 
 However economically impossible, a minimum wage is never- 
 theless an integral part of a vague and grandiose whole, which 
 Socialists are seeking to-day to estabhsh, a system in which 
 individuals will not be permitted by the State to sink below a 
 certain standard of living. Recent labour unrest and strikes are 
 justified by many on the ground that the wages of the strikers 
 were insuflicient to maintain them and their families according 
 to the minimum standard of comfort. What strikers hope to 
 achieve by violent action, other sections of reformers would 
 attain by legislation. Trade Unions have already fixed the 
 rates of pay of certain industries, and as voluntary associations
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 371 
 
 it is within their power to achieve by arrangement that which 
 the State cannot accomplish by force. 
 
 Where the organisation of labour has failed owing to the 
 exceptional helplessness of the workers —as in the case of 
 sweated industries — the State has already intervened in the 
 endeavour to secure for them a fair rate of pay. The Trade 
 Boards Act of 1909 established committees, acting under the 
 supervision of the Board of Trade, to regulate the rates of 
 wages in certain home industries in which the remuneration is 
 often notoriously insufficient. The universal application of the 
 principle is advocated by Socialists, who would fix a general 
 minimum wage for all industries. Some suggest 30s., others, 
 more ambitious, £2 a week for adult labour. Local govern- 
 ment bodies in some districts are subjected to extreme pressure 
 to induce them to pay their employees in no case less than 
 thirty shillings. If the policy of the minimum wage were 
 introduced by legal enactment, the burden on the general tax- 
 payer, and particularly on the working man, who is the chief 
 constituent of the State, would be enormously increased and 
 multiplied. It would, moreover, prove impossible to fix a 
 minimum wage much in advance of the lowest at present 
 being earned in any industry. An agricultural labourer's 
 wages, which now average somewhere about 15s. a week, could 
 not be doubled at a stroke without ruining every farmer in the 
 country, and giving a final blow to our greatest industry. On 
 the other hand, agriculturists could not be excluded, whilst the 
 wages of town workers were brought up to the minimum, 
 without creating feelings of deep resentment and increasing 
 the already alarming exodus from the country to the towns. 
 An attempt to fix a general minimum wage by law could only 
 result in failure and in widespread industrial distress. 
 
 Some Difficulties. 
 
 Another difficulty would certainly present itself in the 
 inability of the State to insist upon the employer providing 
 for the same number of employees as before the introduction of 
 the minimum wage. Any increase in wages which the enact- 
 ment of the minimum rate might secure would for the most
 
 372 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 part be inapplicable in the case of skilled workers, who are the 
 more necessary to the employer, but would operate in the case 
 of the unskilled labourers. An increase in their remuneration, on 
 the other hand, would be balanced by a corresponding reduction 
 in their number, and by the introduction of mechanical devices 
 to obviate the need for unskilled labour. These men, deprived 
 of work as the result of State action, would naturally demand 
 that the State should find them employment, and the inevit- 
 able result would be the establishment of some system of 
 National Workshops, the folly of which has been proved 
 beyond the possibility of doubt. 
 
 To be effective the minimum wage must be international, or 
 countries wherein it prevails must be protected from com- 
 petition in their home markets on the part of products 
 manufactured where the principle does not apply. Even this 
 condition would only be a partial remedy since it would not 
 secure equality of competition in foreign markets between the 
 products of countries in which the old, and those of countries 
 in which the new, systems obtained. 
 
 It is also difficult to avoid the conclusion that the establish- 
 ment of a minimum wage would confer little real benefit on the 
 workers. If it resulted in no very considerable increase for a 
 large number it would fail to satisfy them. If it did, although 
 the money wage would have risen, the real wage as repre- 
 sented by its purchasing power would have experienced little 
 or no improvement, because the higher cost of production 
 would have resulted in proportionately higher prices. 
 
 Distress from Want of Employment. 
 
 But the minimum wage is of no value to the man without 
 work, and distress chiefly arises from want of employment. 
 While such devices as the shortening of hours of labour, 
 the better regulation of industry, and the limitation of output 
 may provide work for more men, they occasion no increase 
 in the amount of work to be done. The extent of unemploy- 
 ment depends entirely on the economic condition of the 
 country, and Tariff Reformers believe that their policy, by 
 creating a greater demand for home-manufactured goods, will
 
 SOCIAL REFORM a?.*] 
 
 materially diminish this great evil. But it would^ seem that 
 whatever may be the demand for labour and however carefully 
 it may be organised to meet the calls upon it, there will always 
 exist in the vicissitudes and changes of the industrial system 
 a number of men who are temporarily out of work. To relieve 
 the distress which results to them and their families on such 
 occasions, the more highly organised Trade Unions have 
 established a system of unemployed benefits. 
 
 Not more than 1,500,000 Trade Unionists are entitled to 
 unemployed benefit; and there are probably 8,000,000 adult 
 males of working age in the United Kingdom. The provision 
 is therefore very limited in its application, and, moreover, 
 affects rather the skilled workman than the unskilled 
 labourer.* 
 
 Unemployment Insurance. 
 
 The question is one which most Governments have failed 
 to treat as its immense importance requires. Experiments 
 have been conducted in certain quarters, but without much 
 success.! The Coalition Government of Mr. Asquith has, 
 however, dealt with unemployment in respect of the building, 
 ship-building, and engineering trades, covering some 2,400,000 
 workers at the outset. The industries concerned have been 
 selected as those in which the fluctuations of employment 
 are greatest; and the principle of compulsion is applied, 
 contrary to the advice of both the Majority and Minority 
 Reports of the Poor Law Commission. Imposture and 
 malingering are the greatest difficulties the State has to face 
 in the distribution of unemployment benefits. In respect of 
 unemployment it will be a difficult task for the insurance 
 officer to ascertain whether the unemployed applicant for 
 benefit has made a serious effort to obtain suitable employment, 
 has declined an offer of work without adequate reasons, or 
 left his last job through misconduct or without sufficient cause. 
 It is doubtful whether these and the other necessary inquiries 
 can be thoroughly made and the results carefully considered 
 
 * See Poor Law Commission, Majority Report, 8vo edition, vol. i. 
 par. 572. 
 
 t Outlines of the schemes are given in the above Report, par. 573. 
 
 k
 
 374 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 in normal times, and the system is even more likely to break 
 down in periods of distress. 
 
 Obstacles to Insueance. 
 
 Even to ensure that the unemployed workman is really 
 unable to obtain work, it will be necessary to ordain compulsory 
 resort to Labour Exchanges, to which all available vacancies 
 must be reported, and at which all insured workmen must apply 
 for situations. Otherwise " industrial malingering" will prove 
 impossible of detection. Even Trade Unions, which at 
 least must, unlike State agencies, endeavour to be economical 
 in the expenditure of their own funds, find it impossible to 
 avoid considerable loss by improper drafts upon their unem- 
 ployed benefit funds.* 
 
 While this danger is proportionately lessened, so long 
 as unemployment insurance is limited to a small number of 
 industries, such limitation deprives the Government's scheme 
 of the character of a settlement of a most difficult and debat- 
 able problem. Workmen in trades outside the scheme will 
 naturally press for inclusion, and it will no doubt in due 
 course be extended to other industries. But directly it is 
 applied to unskilled and casual labourers the question of 
 imposture becomes even more urgent, and the difficulties of 
 the insurance officer increase in proportion to the area of 
 operation of the insurance system. 
 
 An examination of this question induces the belief that the 
 Coahtion Government was ill-advised in rejecting the voluntary 
 principle. 
 
 Better results, it is anticipated, would be attained by means 
 of subsidies to voluntary associations. Trade Unions would 
 thus be encouraged to establish or extend their system of 
 unemployed benefits, while other voluntary associations could 
 be formed to cover those workmen, who desired to insure 
 without becoming members of Trade Unions, of the political 
 activities of which they might entertain some suspicion. 
 
 Direct participation in the administration of the benefits, the 
 preservation of the voluntary principle, and the knowledge that 
 • Poor Law Commission, Minority Beport, 8vo ed., pp. 64-5.
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 375 
 
 the fund to be drawn from consisted in part of their own con- 
 tributions, would be likely to make for economy on the part of 
 managers and to promote the detection of imposture far better 
 than a compulsory system under State direction. 
 
 The compulsory system, — and this applies both to unemploy- 
 ment and sick insurance, — conspicuously fails to encourage, 
 rather does it actively discourage, individuality, independence, 
 and thrift, and the contributions directly and compulsorily 
 exacted are naturally regarded as a tax. 
 
 Under a voluntary system, supplemented by subsidies from 
 the State, there is a direct encouragement to the contributors 
 to exercise thrift, to subordinate immediate gain to future 
 advantage, to exercise foresight, and to take an interest in the 
 economical administration of the funds. 
 
 Sick and Invalidity Insurance. 
 
 While the ground, however, is, so far as competition is con- 
 cerned, comparatively clear for the establishment of a system 
 of unemployment insurance, it is otherwise in respect of 
 insurance against sickness and invalidity. In that field 
 powerful Friendly and Benefit Societies have been successful^ 
 labouring for years, and it has till now always been the desire 
 of statesmen to encourage their operations. The principle of 
 compulsory national insurance against sickness has, however, 
 long been famihar, and is actually in operation in Germany. 
 
 The Feiendly Societies. 
 
 Mr. Lloyd George's initial mistake lay in endeavouring to 
 transplant the German scheme without due and proper regard 
 for existing agencies in this country. The Friendly Societies are 
 vast organisations, managed by their members, entirely self- 
 governed, and any system of national insurance had to supple- 
 ment, rather than supplant, them. The National Insurance 
 Act leaves the branches of the great Friendly Societies out- 
 wardly intact, but in actual administration the effect of State 
 intervention will immensely impair their powers of self- 
 government, and will tend to make them mere agents of the 
 State in the administration of its compulsory scheme. The
 
 37fi CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Friendly Societies as monuments of the principle of voluntary 
 thrift will no longer exist, and the smaller societies, often in 
 the rural districts, possessing a long and beneficent history, 
 and a marked individuality of their own, must sink their in- 
 dependence, or remain outside the scheme. 
 
 So far as the member of the approved Friendly Society is 
 concerned the case as presented to him resolves itself into the 
 question whether he will receive under the Act greater or 
 smaller benefits for the same premium than he now gets from 
 his society. It will rarely be the case that he will or can 
 continue to pay the society premium in addition to the com- 
 pulsory payment under the Act, and even regarded from this 
 purely individual standpoint it is doubtful whether the latter 
 will confer increased benefits. '= The contributor pays, of 
 course, his share of the State contribution, and as a consumer 
 his share of the employer's contribution, which is either 
 deducted from wages or added to the cost of living. 
 
 Defects of the Lloyd George Scheme. 
 
 Apart from many minor faults and from provisions which 
 yet require considerable explanation in oi'der to secure their 
 justification, but may be amended or omitted as the result of 
 experience, the cardinal defects of the Act would appear to 
 be its failure to make proper provision for invalidity and its 
 devotion in the main to relieving temporary sickness ; the 
 unnecessary inclusion of many classes otherwise provided for ; 
 the competition which the scheme induces, under which the 
 stronger will gain at the expense of the weaker, societies ; the 
 treatment accorded to those who cannot gain admittance to 
 any approved society, either through inability to satisfy the 
 statutory conditions or to pass the medical examination ; and 
 the absence of any proper provision for grading contributions 
 according to the means of the contributor. 
 
 * " What it does promise for the contribution of 4d. a week, increased to 
 9d. by the employers and the State, is an insurance following very closely 
 upon the existing lines, and covering about half the benefits which 9d. 
 a week will now procure in one of the best societies" (Tiynes article, 
 August 3, 1911).
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 377 
 
 The main principle of the Bill is the relief of temporary 
 sickness ; but it is just this for which sufferers can now most 
 easily make adequate provision by means of voluntary in- 
 surance. It is also the ground best covered at present by the 
 Friendly Societies. The Act provides a system of relief for 
 temporary sickness, but fails to relieve the distress which 
 arises from widowhood and partial invalidity, and only inade- 
 quately deals with permanent invalidity, especially such as 
 arises from old age. It is just this ground which the volun- 
 tary system has failed to cover, and it is consequently that 
 which would seem to offer the most appropriate field for 
 the operations of the State, if its intervention be once allowed 
 to be desirable and necessary. 
 
 Small Provision for Invalidity. 
 
 In respect, moreover, of invalidity the measure only allows 
 some 14-5 per cent, of its benefits to be devoted to this pur- 
 pose, leaving the remainder (85'5 per cent.) to be used in relief 
 of temporary sickness.''' It is probable that the most attrac- 
 tive benefit in the Act is that which gives a pension of five 
 shillings a week in respect of permanent disablement before the 
 age of seventy. The official memorandum indeed pointed out 
 the extra advantages of this grant over the German system ; 
 but inquiry disclosed the fact that a blunder had been made, 
 and that the estimates on which the Bill were based made 
 provision only for total, while the German law relieved also 
 partial, disablement.! Nevertheless, while Mr. Lloyd George 
 entirely failed at the beginning to grasp the limitation of the 
 disablement benefit, he lightly brushed aside an amendment I 
 which would have assimilated his Bill in this behalf to the 
 German Act on which it is based. 
 
 Even in respect of permanent disablement the pension of 
 
 * Times article, August 3, 1911. 
 
 t See The Times, June 15, 1911, and Parliamentary Debates, July 3, 
 1911, p. 798. 
 
 I To grant disablement benefit, when the insured person is unable to 
 earn one-third of the usual wage. See Parliamentary Debates, July 17, 
 1911.
 
 378 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 five shillings is wholly inadequate, especially as it is limited 
 to total incapacity. This provision, moreover, applies only 
 until the age of seventy, when it is assumed that poverty 
 will enable the old and helpless worker to come under the 
 operation of the Old Age Pension Act, and so to continue 
 to receive the five shillings a week. 
 
 Better results would have been secured if State assistance 
 had been provided to a greater extent for the relief of 
 permanent disablement, whether total or partial in character. 
 
 Unnecessary Insurance. 
 
 The Bill further fails in that it forces many classes to 
 insure and receive the State grant which are already well 
 provided for, or are in a position, and desire, to provide for 
 themselves. 
 
 Many manual labourers, especially skilled Trade Unionists, 
 are in the receipt of wages which should make them 
 independent of all State assistance in respect of the cost of 
 sickness. Ample provision in this behalf is also usually made 
 for employees of railway and other large companies. Custom 
 applies the same conditions to domestic servants and estate 
 workmen. Curates, bank clerks, and (other than elementary) 
 schoolmasters may reasonably be regarded as not in need 
 of State assistance, either by reason of custom under which 
 their salaries are paid during sickness, or by their inclusion in 
 the scheme being only in respect of the temporary character 
 of their low salaries during their earlier years, or in many cases 
 by the possession of more or less private income. 
 
 Some Omissions. 
 
 While such classes are, in the main unnecessarily, included 
 in, those manual labourers who work on their own account — 
 the jobbing gardener, the chimney-sweep, the cobbler, and the 
 village joiner, to give only a few examples — are excluded from, 
 the compulsory provisions of the Act. 
 
 A measure which makes the average bank clerk compulsorily 
 insure himself against sickness, and assists him by a State
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 379 
 
 subsidy, and excludes the jobbing gardener can hardly be 
 defended by logical argument. A large number of the 
 "employed" population, within the definition of the Act, do 
 not, but many who are excluded should, come under the 
 measure, if once its necessity be conceded. But many who 
 can make adequate provision for temporary sickness, or are 
 provided for, would welcome opportunities of insuring them- 
 selves against partial disablement through sickness, infirmity, 
 or old age, for which, however, the Bill makes no adequate 
 provision. 
 
 Competitive Insurance. 
 
 One of the many objectionable provisions is that which 
 introduces the principle of competition by permitting societies 
 to dispose of any surplus shown upon valuation in respect of 
 contributions by, or in respect of, members, and by making 
 the State contribution a subsidy to benefits actually paid. 
 Since the surplus is to be devoted to paying additional 
 benefits, societies that can secure the best lives are thus 
 placed in a privileged position. They will be able to pick 
 and choose among their applicants for membership. The 
 best list of benefits will secure the best members for the 
 society, and they can insist upon an exceedingly high medical 
 standard. The competition will be such that the best lives 
 only will be accepted, and the less desirable will be rejected. 
 All the best will obtain entrance into the privileged societies, 
 and the less desirable will drift into those which ofi"er 
 smaller advantages. The strong societies will become 
 stronger ; the weak societies, left with the less desirable 
 lives, will grow still weaker. Their careers, if indeed they 
 may avoid insolvency, will be checked and retarded, and 
 they can never aspire to be more than agencies through 
 which the State scheme is administered. The existence of 
 these two sharply contrasted classes will not make for the 
 stability of the national scheme ; and below them both ai'e 
 the despised Post Office contributors, rejected by all, and 
 only permitted to enjoy benefits until their personal credit 
 is exhausted.
 
 380 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The Cost of Social Reform. 
 
 The Act has so far been considered solely in respect of its 
 detailed provisions, and without any discussion as to the 
 advisability of a compulsory scheme of National Insurance. 
 When so costly a system is proposed, under which every 
 individual in the State in one way or another has to pay, 
 either directly as an insured person or employer, or indirectly 
 as a consumer affected by high prices following increased cost 
 of production, or as a taxpayer responsible for a portion of the 
 State grant, careful consideration, examination, and criticism 
 are necessary, and no scheme should be accepted because it 
 has been in operation in Germany, where as a fact that which 
 Mr. George has adopted proved a failure, if contemporary 
 writings on the subject may be believed. 
 
 Social reform after Mr. George's fashion is likely to prove a 
 heavy burden on our industries and on our taxpayers, and it is 
 not by the reduction of expenditure on defence, that the cost 
 can be met at a time when European Powers are openly 
 reverting to the doctrine that might is right and there is no 
 other. Nor are Mr. George's estimates of the cost likely to 
 be less inaccurate than they proved in the case of Old Age 
 Pensions, and land taxes. 
 
 Expenditure on national defence never was more obviously 
 necessary than at the present moment, and it is indeed only 
 insurance against losing our lives, liberties, goods and national 
 existence, without the preservation of which social reform 
 would be indefinitely postponed, while, in the event of defeat, 
 all our available resources would be devoted towards paying 
 the victors a war indemnity of hitherto unimagined magnitude. 
 And if indeed a bold policy of social reform is to be adopted, 
 with its inevitably heavy resulting burdens upon our indus- 
 tries, should not the products of the home labourer and 
 workman receive some measure of that protection, which is 
 indiscriminately forced upon the producer himself ? That 
 further burdens can be borne without some abatement of 
 unchecked foreign competition will not be readily believed 
 by any who are conversant with our contemporary economic 
 and industrial conditions.
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 381 
 
 Arguments For and Against the Right to Work Bill. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. UnGmployment being a permanent feature of our industrial system 
 it is right that the State should remedy the evil by directly providing 
 employment or maintenance for the unemployed. 
 
 2. Under present conditions there is always a surplusage of labour 
 which is exposed to undeserved hardships. 
 
 3. Provision for relieving the victims of this system can only be 
 undertaken by the State. 
 
 4. Since labour creates its wealth, the State should come to the relief 
 of labourers in time of distress. 
 
 5. The unemployed have, as a matter of fact, to be maintained at 
 present by private charity, in the workhouse, or by outdoor relief. 
 
 6. It would therefore be no great innovation to give them unemployed 
 maintenance, or better still to provide them with useful work. 
 
 7. Permanent unemployment is a great waste of national wealth and 
 impairs the national character. 
 
 8. Any cost to which the State would be put by passing the Eight to 
 Work Bill would be amply repaid in improved economic conditions. 
 
 9. While the " right to work " principle runs counter to formerly 
 accepted economic doctrine, such doctrine has long since been under- 
 mined by such legislation as the Wages Boards and the Eight Hours 
 Acts. 
 
 10. The acceptance of the "right to work" would be better than 
 National Insurance, which provides payment for a man while he is out 
 of work, since national funds are, under the former system, expended in 
 providing work and so increasing national wealth. 
 
 11. If labour cannot be employed because of the failure of the private 
 employer to find work, that is no good reason for keeping labour un- 
 employed. 
 
 12. The State, in such circumstances, must supplement the efforts of 
 private employers and provide against their failure. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. The Bill does not give an unrestricted right to work, but only 
 permission to work upon such terms in respect of wages and hours of 
 labour as Socialists approve. 
 
 2. If State labour was not made less attractive, and was not less well paid 
 than private labour, the State, instead of giving work to the otherwise 
 unemployed in times of distress, would have to provide work at all times 
 for all comers. 
 
 3. It would have to compete with private employers, and apart from
 
 382 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the injustice done to such, the system would gradually and inevitably 
 lead to the complete nationalisation of all industries. 
 
 4. Otherwise the State could not find sufficient useful labour for the 
 many for whom it would be called upon to provide work. 
 
 5. The State would have to find work for all slackers, or maintain them 
 and their families from the rates, and would thus directly encourage 
 labour conflicts. 
 
 6. This would materially increase the rates, and by removing difficulties 
 which now deter workers from striking would largely increase the number 
 of strikes. 
 
 7. Employment would, unless the State assumed control of industries, 
 be entirely artificial and would not be directed, as now, to the satisfaction 
 of any legitimate demand. 
 
 8. The amount of normal and useful employment would, moreover, 
 be largely decreased by reason of the distress that would arise from 
 increased rates and taxes. 
 
 9. The principle has been tried before in England by the Act of 1601, 
 and in France in 1848 by the National Workshops. 
 
 10. In both cases failure resulted, and it was shown that the system 
 is economically wasteful and inefficient and that the results cannot be 
 compared with those of private labour. 
 
 11. Experience of the system in England resulted in the provision of 
 maintenance as being less troublesome than the provision of work, and 
 in the creation of large numbers of disorderly dependents of the State, 
 who practically lived on the labour of the industrious, independent 
 workmen. 
 
 Akguments For and Against an Eight Houes Day. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Proposals for the limitation of the hours of labour have received the 
 almost unanimous approval of the organised workers of the country. 
 
 2. Manual workers, unlike those engaged in the higher branches o£^ 
 labour, have no variety of occupation, and little or no holiday. Hence it i 
 is very necessary that they should secure time for recreation by a limita- 
 tion of hours. 
 
 3. Prophecies of disasters to follow upon the adoption of an eight hours j 
 day have been falsified by the fact that many firms, in the face of keen^ 
 competition, have adopted the system with complete success. 
 
 4. Proper and reasonable regulations would be made in respect of j 
 seasonal trades. 
 
 5. The State has, in respect of some 40,000 of its own workers, 
 established an eight hours system. Private employers should follow j 
 suit.
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 383 
 
 6. The limitatiou has produced greater regularity of attendance, im- 
 proved physical conditions, and consequently increased efficiency and 
 power of production without extra cost. 
 
 7. The experience which has resulted from the adoption of the system 
 by the State, and by certain private employers, has been so successful 
 that it affords the most substantial argument in favour of an eight hours 
 day throughout all industries in the country. 
 
 8. In the case of many factory workers it is recognised that, as in the 
 case of miners, eight hours' labour under dangerous, strenuous, and 
 unpleasant conditions is sufficient. 
 
 9. New machinery has so increased the output of work that an hour 
 of labour to-day means much more than it did twelve or fifteen years 
 ago. 
 
 10. The reform could be applied in the case of many workers — tram- 
 waymen, railwaymen, municipal employees, builders, and others — with- 
 out in any way raising the question of facing foreign competition. 
 
 11. In any case the claims of humanity must stand above those of 
 commerce or trade, because in considering the hours of labour we are 
 considering the lives of human beings. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. So drastic and comprehensive an interference with industrial con- 
 ditions as an universal eight hours day is impracticable and undesirable. 
 
 2. The hours of labour cannot be suddenly and largely restricted with- 
 out regard to varying conditions of different trades and industries. The 
 results of interference have proved disastrous. 
 
 3. The principle could not in any case be applied to the workers in 
 many important industries, such as agricultural labourers, sailors, and 
 domestic servants, and others, where employment is not continuous, but 
 intermittent. 
 
 4. There are no grounds for believing that a general reduction of the 
 hours of labour would solve the problem of unemployment. 
 
 5. Although reduction may lead to the employment of additional men 
 in certain trades, the expenditure on extra wages in one, occasions a 
 lessened demand for labour in another, industry. 
 
 6. There would consequently be no increase in the total amount of 
 employment, and this reform would prove impossible in practice since it 
 would require innvmaerable and expensive inspectors to check the length 
 of each man's daily work. 
 
 7. So far from shorter hours lessening the risk to men employed in 
 dangerous trades, the haste to produce as much in less time would 
 necessarily result in a diminution of precautions taken, and an increase 
 in risks run. 
 
 8. By a policy of friendly arrangement between employers and work- 
 men the hours of labour are now being reduced, with more lasting and
 
 384 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 more satisfactory results than are likely to be achieved by empirical and 
 compulsory legislation. 
 
 Arguments for and against a Minimum Wage. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. Since every family has the right to an income sufficient to enable 
 it to maintain its members in decency and comfort, the State should 
 establish a minimum wage for adult v^orkers. 
 
 2. Low wages result in low standards, bad living, an unhealthy people, 
 and national degeneration. 
 
 3. The only method of prevention is by the enactment of a minimum 
 wage sufficient to secure decent comfort, and the necessities of life. 
 
 4. The need is becoming more urgent, since the price of food and the 
 cost of living are rising out of all proportion to increases in wages. 
 
 5. In many industries such as railways and mining, where no foreign 
 competition enters, conditions would easily allow an increase up to a 
 statutory minimum of reasonable amount. 
 
 6. Any general increase of wages would be amply repaid by the in- 
 creased efficiency of the worker. 
 
 7. The statutory wage could be adjusted to meet the varying cost 
 of living in different towns, as has been done already in the case of 
 the Post Office servants. 
 
 8. The principle has already been established in the case of sweated 
 industries, and could easily be extended in the first place to those 
 industries in which wages are notoriously low. 
 
 9. If the wages of men and women were equalised the work women, 
 now perform at cheaper rates would naturally go to the men. 
 
 10. Women would thus to their advantage be removed from many 
 spheres of unsuitable employment wherein they are now, to their own 
 hurt, sweated and underpaid. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. No advocate of the minimum wage has yet indicated the basis upon 
 which that wage should be calculated. No one sum can represent the 
 minimum level of decent subsistence for the whole country. 
 
 2. If a general minimum wage of the same amount is contemplated, 
 such would represent a very unequal reward for labour in different cases, 
 owing to the varying cost of living and of other conditions in different 
 districts and industries. 
 
 3. When the wages of the lowest paid are raised to the minimum rate, 
 other workers will demand increases of the like character, to keep the 
 reward of skilled, higher than that of unskilled, labour.
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 385 
 
 4. Many industries could not stand an increase of wages of adult labour 
 to thirty shillings a week, the sum generally indicated by Socialists as 
 a suitable minimum. 
 
 5. If the minimum wage is to be decided by the cost of living, it should 
 be increased when the cost of living rises and decreased when that cost 
 declines. 
 
 6. Arbitration courts would be necessary to settle these questions. 
 They would be costly, and their decisions could hardly be enforced without 
 resort to violence. 
 
 7. The same minimum rate could not be applied to the single woman, 
 and to the married man with a family. 
 
 8. So with boys' labour ; but if a different rate were conceded a 
 tendency would arise to replace adult male labour by female and boy 
 labour. 
 
 9. If the slow, is to be paid the same minimiun wage as the fast, 
 worker, the former will lose his employment. 
 
 10. An increase in wages involves an increased cost of production, and 
 consequently higher prices, and thus no real gain to the wage-earning 
 classes will result. 
 
 11. The increased cost of production will give our rivals increased 
 advantages over those they already enjoy in international competition, 
 and in our home markets. 
 
 12. The evil of low wages should be diminished, not by the legal enact- 
 ment of a minimum, but by removing such causes as irregular labour 
 and the competition of boys and women. 
 
 13. As between the two parties — employers and workmen — the best 
 settlement is that made between them without the interference of the 
 State, which never succeeds in its efforts to regulate industrial conditions. 
 
 14. The adoption of the minimum wage would deprive women of the 
 employment they now get because they will take lower wages than men. 
 
 Aeguments For and Against Steikes. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. No legislative or other limitation should be imposed upon the right 
 of a workman to strike, for he has no other weapon. 
 
 2. The damage done by strikes is habitually exaggerated by the public, 
 by masters and by the Press, but the resulting damage to others is no 
 reason why labour should not exercise its rights. 
 
 3. It is generally assumed that the men are in the wrong, which 
 aggravates the gravity of labour disputes. It should not be assumed that 
 the men have no right to interrupt trade.* 
 
 Mr. Lloyd George, House of Commons, August 16, 1911. 
 
 2Q
 
 386 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 4. The poverty occasioned by strikes is more than made up by result- 
 ing subsequent prosperity. 
 
 5. The Conciliation Boards did not work satisfactorily, and some 
 machinery must be created to enable men, who claim higher wages and 
 shorter hours, to get an impartial judgment. 
 
 6. The Conciliation Boards were not accepted by, but forced on, the 
 rades Unions. Their awards had been ambiguous, and the Railway 
 
 Companies had insisted on their own interpretation.* 
 
 7. The police had no right to baton citizens in the streets upon any 
 provocation. Strikes are perfectly legal proceedings.* 
 
 8. The police molest "pickets" and protect "blacklegs," and thus 
 side against labour in its legitimate effort to improve its position. The 
 authorities are responsible, and approve. 
 
 9. The men are thus convinced they can get no justice without 
 resort to force, and that their case attracts no attention, unless they 
 strike. 
 
 10. Rents and cost of living have increased, but wages have increased 
 in no like ratio, or have decreased or remained stationary. But no 
 remedy oSers save and except a strike. 
 
 11. No body of men would strike unless they were honestly convinced 
 that they had grievances, because of the sufferings entailed. The working 
 classes want to improve the conditions of labour, and have increased 
 their wages by a succession of struggles conducted with great sufferings 
 to themselves, of which strikes were the chief features. t 
 
 12. Trade Unionists have a natural grievance against non-unionists, 
 who take advantage of improvements resulting from struggles they try 
 to thwart, f 
 
 13. Stubborn and obstinate employers are generally responsible for 
 prolongation of labour struggles. f 
 
 14. The employers should, but do not, meet their men or their official 
 representatives, t 
 
 15. It is the duty of the Government not only to protect railways, but 
 also workmen.! 
 
 16. Railway Companies have recently made higher profits than ever, 
 and can afford to pay, but will not, unless the men strike, pay, higher 
 wages. 
 
 17. "Strikes can only be cured by granting a juster reward for 
 labour," i.e., by conceding higher pay when demanded by means of 
 a strike. J 
 
 18. As responsible Ministers hold these opinions, there can be no doubt 
 that workers are justified in acting upon them. 
 
 • Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, House of Commons, August 16, 1911. 
 t Mr. Lloyd George, House of Commons, August 16, 1911. 
 J Mr. Chiozza Money, House of Commons, August 17, 1911.
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 387 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. A strike injures others besides those who strike, and their own 
 families and dependents. 
 
 2. There should be legislative provision for compulsory investigation 
 of disputes, and strikes should be made illegal before investigation has 
 been held by an authority ad Iwc. Such legislation exists in Canada 
 in the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, 1907, while compulsory 
 arbitration is in force in Australia and New Zealand. It is, however, 
 impossible to enforce awards in Great Britain, where no tariff exists 
 which can be worked so as to enable an industry to meet an award of 
 higher wages.* 
 
 3. The Trades Unions are now practically political, and are not entitled 
 to the sympathy they claim as industrial, organisations. 
 
 4. They oppress men who will not join, and prevent them from exercis- 
 ing their own right to work, when they can get work. 
 
 5. It is cruel and unjust that the whole commerce and comfort of the 
 country should be at the mercy of a trade dispute. 
 
 6. The Conciliation Boards set up in 1907 failed only because the 
 men renounced the agreements made under the arbitration of the Board 
 of Trade. 
 
 7. The Government as guarantors are bound to enforce such agree- 
 ments. 
 
 8. Poverty is largely increased by strikes. 
 
 9. The weakness of the Government and their unwillingness to preserve 
 order, lest thereby they offend Trades Unions, Labour Members, and 
 voters, is a factor leading directly to the occurrence and prolongation of 
 strikes. Government departments actually worked on permits from 
 Strike Committees in 1911, and strikers openly and unchecked stopped 
 transport work in the streets of London. 
 
 10. The profuse promises made, and the class hatred preached by, 
 certain Ministers are most powerful incentives to strikes, which are not 
 now primarily of an industrial character. 
 
 11. Strikes make the men's cause unpopular with the public, and 
 prejudice their just claims. 
 
 12. The average return on railway stock is under 4 per cent., and 
 such stock is for the most part held in small parcels, the dividends on 
 which will not stand further reduction. 
 
 13. The Railway Companies did not ask for Conciliation Boards, but 
 having, with one exception, accepted them in 1907 for six years, were 
 justified in holding that they should remain in force on the agreed 
 footing for that period. 
 
 14. The object of the organisers of the 1911 railway strike was to substi- 
 
 Mr. Bonar Law at Leeds, November 16, 1911.
 
 388 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 tute Trades Unions for Conciliation Boards. It is for the right of being 
 represented by their Unions, which represent less than a fourth of the 
 men, that this strike was organised. The representation of the men on 
 Conciliation Boards had been found not to conduce to the growth of 
 the power of the Unions. Hence the agitation in the interest not of the 
 men, but of the agitators, to compel three-quarters to join societies 
 representing only one-quarter of the men. 
 
 15. No actual grievances of any weight were even alleged in August, 
 1911, only a vague charge of " failure to observe the spirit and letter of 
 the Conciliation Board Agreement of 1911, and the utter impossibility of 
 men's representatives to obtain redress of many grievances." 
 
 16. The Conciliation Boards contained freely elected representatives of 
 the men. The Companies never objected to receive representatives 
 of their own men, but only representatives of Unions, which did not 
 represent their men. 
 
 17. The results of a strike are more disastrous to the men than to the 
 public. Half the holders of railway stock in England own £500 and less, 
 and receive as dividend less than the sum which disqualifies for receipt 
 of an Old Age Pension. In Scotland on some lines the figure is £200. 
 Strikes are far more disastrous to the poor than the rich, and the 
 distress reaches all classes, and chiefly those of small means. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 It is impossible here to give a complete bibliography of publications on 
 social questions. Much valuable material is contained in the Parliamentary 
 Debates and the various Parliamentary Papers, the indexes to which 
 should always be consulted. The Fabian Society (3, Clement's Inn, 
 Strand, W.C.) have issued a useful bibliography, "What to Read on 
 Social and Economic Subjects." The Bibliography of Social Science 
 is issued monthly by the International Institute of Social Bibliography 
 (P. S. King & Son, Great Smith Street, Westminster, S.W.). 
 
 In respect of many social problems — the right to work, minimum wage, 
 an eight hours' day, and so on — for which an extreme Socialist solution 
 is put forward, the publications of the various Socialist organisations 
 should be consulted. Their names and addresses are given in the biblio- 
 graphical note to Chapter XIII. 
 
 On the questions which have been more particularly treated in this 
 chapter further reference should be made to the following publications. 
 
 Poor Law. — Both the Majority and Minority Reports of the Poor Law 
 Commission have been issued officially in a handy octavo form (" The 
 Majority Report," 2 vols., price 2s. 3d.; " The Minority Report," price 
 Is. 9d.). An edition of the Minority Report, with introductions by S. and 
 B. Webb, is published by Messrs. Longmans (vol i., " The Break-up of the 
 Poor Law ;" vol. ii., " The Public Organisation of the Labour Market.")
 
 SOCIAL REFORM 389 
 
 The Majority Report is treated by Mrs. Bosanquet in " The Poor Law 
 Report of 1909." 
 
 The Commission have issued special reports on Scotland (price 2s. 8d.) 
 and Ireland (price 9d.), and have also issued over twenty volumes of evidence, 
 appendices, memoranda, and supplementary reports bearing upon various 
 phases of the question. The Report of the Poor Law Commission of 1834 
 has been reprinted as a Parliamentary Paper. 
 
 It should be remembered that the reports cover more ground than is 
 usually associated with the term " Poor Law," and actually deal with 
 such questions as distress due to unemployment, woman and boy labour, 
 labour exchanges, unemployment insurance, and many other phases of 
 the unemployment problem. 
 
 The same problem is dealt with by W. H. Beveridge in " Unemploy- 
 ment : a Problem of Industry " and " Unemployment and Trade Unions," 
 by Cyril Jackson. A bibliography of the question is published by Messrs. 
 P. S. King & Son for the London School of Economics. 
 
 Unemployment insurance is dealt with by D. P. Schloss in " Insurance 
 against Unemployment " and J. G. Gibbon in " Unemployment Insur- 
 ance." 
 
 The National Insurance Act has produced a number of publications 
 from the Publication Departments of the political parties, and Messrs. 
 Hodder and Stoughton publish " The People's Insurance : Explained by 
 the Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd George, M.P.," and Messrs. Charles Knight & Co. 
 publish " Everybody's Guide to the National Insurance Act, 1911," by 
 Thomas Smith. The report of the Royal Commission on the Railway 
 Strike (Cd. 5922) and a valuable volume, in the light of the recent strikes, 
 Sir Arthur Clay's " Syndicalism and Labour," should be consulted.
 
 CHAPTEE XV 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 
 
 THAT it is desirable to get the people back to the land, and 
 that the promotion of small holdings is the best method of 
 attaining this end, are not matters in dispute. The tragedy of 
 our greatest and oldest industry, agriculture, lies in the terrible 
 loss which has occurred in the population of the rural counties. 
 While the general population of England and Wales has more 
 than doubled since 1841, the agricultural portion has shrunk 
 from 2,300,000''= to 988,000. t Seventy years ago agriculture 
 gave employment to one inhabitant in eight ; to-day in England 
 and Wales only one in thirty-two finds work on the land. 
 
 This fact alone is disquieting ; but the migration from the 
 country districts is recognised as an even greater national loss, 
 when it is remembered that it represents a decline in the 
 physique of the country, physical deterioration being the hall- 
 mark of urban life. 
 
 EuBAL Depopulation. 
 
 Opinions differ as to the causes of the rural depopulation. 
 It is attributed to the superior attractions of town life ; to 
 the defects of the land system ; to the decline in prices ; and 
 to our present fiscal policy. Whether it arises from one or 
 another of, or from a combination of, these causes is doubtful, 
 but in any case the practical reformer finds a consensus of 
 opinion directing his energies towards the creation of small 
 holdings as the most likely solution of the problem. And 
 naturally his firsc inquiry relates to a market for the produce 
 of the small holding. 
 
 * McCuUoch's estimate, 
 t Census Returns for 1901. 
 390
 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 391 
 
 OuB FoBBiGN Food Supply. 
 
 Without customers there is no possibility of success, and 
 markets exist at the small-holder's very doors to supply which 
 organisation alone is required. England's growing population 
 requires feeding, and is fed to-day, but chiefly from foreign 
 sources. Chinese pork, Danish butter, American hams, Russian 
 fowls, and so forth are among the commonest of imports 
 which might be produced from small holdings. The increase 
 in imported foodstuffs is something like six times greater than 
 the increase in our population since 1885. Not only are we 
 not feeding the increase in our population, but we are actually 
 becoming more dependent on imported foodstuffs for our 
 population as a whole. The average annual value of imported 
 bacon, hams, eggs, poultry, vegetables, butter and cheese in 
 1885-9 was £27,325,000 ; in 1904-8 £59,385,000. We are in 
 fact more industrialised than any other European nation with 
 which comparison is possible, our agricultural production 
 per head being but £4 14s.,* while the percentage of persons 
 employed in agriculture in the United Kingdom, no more 
 than 5-58.+ 
 
 The demands of our growing population afford a market for 
 the small-holder's produce, only requiring organisation for its 
 capture. The agriculturist, whether he be of the type for 
 which urban life has attractions compared with present 
 rural conditions, or whether, though wedded to agriculture, he 
 sees better opportunities in the Dominions or the United 
 States, must be kept on the home land in the interests of 
 national welfare. He must have a career opened out for him 
 by the establishment of small holdings. 
 
 Tenancy v. Owneeship. 
 
 The advocates of small holdings differ, however, on the 
 question of tenancy or ownership. Which offers the greater 
 
 • In France it is £13 ; Germany, £7 10s. ; Belgium, £11 ; Denmark, £16. 
 See Tumor's " Land Problems and National Welfare," p. 66. 
 
 t In Prance, 21-24; Germany, 15-98 ; Belgium, 10-09 ; United States, 
 13-68 (Abstract of Foreign Labour Statistics, Cd. 5415 of 1911, p. xxiii).
 
 392 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 attraction ? So far as those who favour tenancy are concerned, 
 their decision is not given entirely on the merits of the ques- 
 tion. While they do maintain that the small-holder prefers 
 tenancy, they vs^ould not encourage or facilitate ownership 
 even if their opinion tended in that direction,* for the reason 
 that their ultimate end is land nationalisation.! This division 
 of opinion follows in the main the division of the two parties. 
 Liberals advocate tenancy ; Unionists, ownership. The Liberal 
 Government accordingly in their Small Holdings Act of 1908 
 limited the measure to the establishment of occupying cultivat- 
 ing tenants under a public authority — the County Councils. 
 Although they did not interfere with the purchase clause of the 
 Act of 1892, which was practically a dead letter, they declined 
 to extend the system of purchase and opposed all attempts 
 to remove the obstacle to the operation of the clause, the 
 necessity under which the would-be purchaser lies of finding 
 20 per cent, of the purchase money. I It is unnecessary to say 
 that in their determination to prevent any increase in the 
 number of owners of land the Liberal Government had the 
 full support of the Socialist Party, which condemns the 
 multiplication of small owners as increasing the number 
 of persons enjoying economic rents, and therefore aug- 
 menting " the difficulties of the State in securing that rent, 
 if the class interested in exploitation by rent becomes 
 larger." § 
 
 * "If I thought that under the Act of 1892 there was likely to be a 
 large amount of purchase by tenants in the future I should be inclined to 
 limit rather than to extend the facilities for that purpose " (Mr. L. 
 Harcourt, M.P., House of Commons, June 12, 1907, Parliamentary Debates, 
 p. 1465). 
 
 t " The most hopeful form of occupancy for a small-holder is not that 
 of a proprietor, but that of an occupying tenant " (Mr. Asquith, Earlston, 
 October 3, 1908). " They could not settle this question by any system 
 of creating small proprietors. ... It was upon some Socialistic lines 
 that this question would have to be settled" (Lord Crewe, Doncaster, 
 March 1, 1907). 
 
 I See letter to TJie Times (March 28, 1908) from Mr. Jesse CoUinga, 
 M.P. 
 
 § J. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P., " The Socialist Movement," p. 160.
 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 393 
 
 The Advantages of Tenancy. 
 
 The supporters of tenancy assert that there is no desire for 
 ownership on the part of small-holders, who prefer to be 
 tenants. As a fact in England small ownership has never been 
 given a fair trial. It was offered in the Small Holdings Act, 
 1892, but the terms which required a deposit of 20 per cent, of 
 the purchase price were prohibitive, except to men with a fair 
 amount of capital. The assertion, however, that there is no 
 desire for ownership ignores the lessons of the Irish Land 
 Purchase Movement, and implies the acceptance of the 
 position that English small-holders entertain entirely different 
 opinions from those of the agriculturists of the Continent, 
 where the proportion of land cultivated by owners ranges from 
 over 30 to nearly 90 per cent.* 
 
 " The Magic op Property." 
 
 The principal argument, however, against State ownership is 
 that it is an artificial system and therefore bound to produce 
 less than the best obtainable results. Human nature covets 
 possession whether of land or any other thing. " There 
 can be no doubt," Lord Onslow's Committee on Small 
 Holdings reported, " that in some parts of the country the ' magic 
 of property ' is entirely appreciated. It was pointed out that 
 a man who can give a year's notice to his landlord is much 
 more likely to be attracted to the towns than one whose all is 
 invested in the piece of land which he cultivates."! 
 
 The movement towards ownership is particularly marked in 
 
 • The proportion of land cultivated by owners is 12 per cent, in Great 
 Britain, 35 per cent, in Belgium, 47'50 per cent, in France, 86 per cent, in 
 Germany, and 88 per cent, in Denmark. 
 
 t Cd. 3277, par. 123. The following passage in the Report is worth 
 quoting, viz. : " The Committee think it hardly necessary to demonstrate 
 that in the general interest of the community, it is desirable that as large 
 a number as possible of persons should have a direct interest in the land 
 of the country, and that in the interests of agriculture and the productive- 
 ness of the soil, it is expedient that the numbers of those who not only 
 occupy, but also have a permanent stake in, the land should be materially 
 increased " (par. 119).
 
 394 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 New Zealand, where nationalisation has failed to give satis- 
 faction, and proposals are now under consideration for the 
 establishment of the freehold system. 
 
 The Objections to Tenancy. 
 
 Tenancy under the State or under a public authority is 
 indeed a less advantageous system than private tenancy, for 
 the reason that the former owners have no power to show the 
 generosity of the private landowner. If a public authority 
 erects buildings or carries out repairs it must in justice to the 
 general taxpayer lay the full charge on the tenant. If there 
 are bad seasons it can allow no abatement, and must exact 
 every penny of rent. The costs of collection and management 
 are, moreover, higher in its case, than in that of the private 
 owner. Properties under public management have to be made 
 to pay, and the rent charged to the small-holder has to bear, 
 besides all ordinary charges, a sinking fund charge, to enable 
 the County Council, or other authority, to repay the loan for 
 the purchase of the land within the prescribed period. This 
 burden is particularly unjust to the small-holder, who in effect 
 purchases the land for the County Council, and in the end is 
 in no better position himself than when he entered into the 
 transaction. It is indeed recognised that the small-holders 
 " will have, as a rule, to pay more rent per acre than is 
 commonly charged for large farms."* Perhaps the severest 
 indirect condemnation of public ownership is supplied by the 
 Small Holdings Commissioners, who report : " There have been 
 several cases of particularly good purchases where the Council 
 could have afforded to let the land in small holdings at rents 
 
 • See Report of Small Holdings Commissioners, Cd. 5180 of 1910. The 
 following examples are taken from the above Report : Broomhill Farm, 
 Notts. : leased by County Council for 26s. an acre, sub-let at 363. an acre ; 
 West Stobswood Farm, Northumberland : leased by Council at £116 a year, 
 sublet at £231. The Council has expended £1,857, which at 4 per cent, 
 would mean £75 legitimate addition to the £116 : Sealyham Estate, Pem- 
 brokeshire : rents of sitting tenants immediately raised from 5 to 10 per 
 cent. The Council gets 4J per cent, on its outlay ; Digby, Lanes. : the 
 Council gets 5 per cent ; Nordan Farm, Herefordshire : the CoimcU gets 5J 
 per cent, on its outlay.
 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 395 
 
 considerably less than the former occupiers were paying. The 
 Board (of Agriculture) have taken the view, however, that in 
 such cases the rents charged should be based on the fair rental 
 value, and that the land should not be underlet."'" Under State 
 landlordism the public authority, and not the individual 
 tenants, get the advantage of good bargains and low prices. 
 Not what has been paid for the land, but what can be got out 
 of the tenant, is the principle upon which State-landlordism is 
 worked. 
 
 The Burdens of Owneeship. 
 
 As against this the tenant is freed from certain worries 
 which afflict owners, and might tend to impair the success of 
 the system. His capital is within his own power, and, instead 
 of being sunk in purchase, can be devoted to the development 
 of the farm. This argument, of course, does not apply, if it 
 is proposed to advance the whole of the value of the land, 
 and to allow the purchasing tenant to pay off by instalments, 
 the objection to this course being the long period necessary 
 to give the purchaser " real " ownership. Even in this case, 
 however, considerable sums would have to be expended by 
 the purchaser on the equipment of the holding with buildings, 
 fences and so on, charges from which a tenant would be 
 exempt. 
 
 It is urged, too, that bad seasons or domestic troubles can 
 be better faced by a tenant than by an owner. The former 
 may get abatements or permission to postpone payment of 
 rent until better times, and in the last resort he can throw 
 up his holding without loss of much capital, though if this 
 course were generally followed the public authority would 
 find that its expenditure on small holdings had resulted in 
 considerable loss of the ratepayers' money. But the small 
 owner, it is argued, having to rely on his own resources for 
 meeting hard times, would lose all his capital if he abandoned 
 his holding, and rather than do this would have recourse to 
 money-lenders and would mortgage his farm. 
 
 • Report of Small Holdings Commissioners, Cd. 5615 of 1911, pp. 
 12 13.
 
 396 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Where the mortgage was foreclosed it would be impossible 
 to ensure that the holding was retained as a small holding, 
 and not attached to a larger farm, in this way defeating the 
 object of the movement. Unless restrictions were placed 
 on the power of disposition by the owner, he might be 
 tempted to sell his land for purposes other than that of a 
 small holding, and at his death it might be subdivided into 
 uneconomic patches, as so often happened in Ireland,* and 
 now occurs in Holland and parts of France. In any case pro- 
 vision would have to be made against subdivision, sale for 
 purposes other than small holdings, and mortgaging. How 
 far these restrictions would impair the "magic of property" 
 cannot well be determined. 
 
 "While, therefore, it cannot be argued that ownership is free 
 from drawbacks or is necessarily going to solve the land 
 problem, there are good reasons for holding that it is prefer- 
 able to State tenancy, and that, subject to suitable and proper 
 restrictions, and in selected cases, facilities for acquiring 
 ownership should be provided for agriculturists. 
 
 Assistance foe Pubchasers. 
 
 While Unionists unanimously advocate ownership, they 
 differ as to the method by which the small-holder should be 
 assisted to purchase his holding. Two plans are advocated. 
 Under one scheme the State, as in Ireland, would advance 
 the whole of the purchase money, the purchaser repaying by 
 instalments of interest and sinking fund. Under the other 
 advances would be made by a National Land Bank, which, 
 
 • " The farm of one tenant often consists not of one or two or even three 
 separate portions of land, but of many detached plots within fenced fields, 
 scattered amongst similar fragments of other holdings. A field of one 
 acre may belong to a dozen persons, each of whom has a plot of his own 
 while the land is under cultivation " (Royal Commission on Congestion 
 in Ireland, Cd. 4097, par. 10). See also E. A. Pratt's " Transition in Agri- 
 culture," Appendix, reproducing a plan of the commune of Vledder 
 (Dreuthe), Holland, showing subdivision carried to such lengths that 
 the average dimensions of one group are no more than 380 yards by 
 14 ; and of another 1,275 yards by 14, while one cultivator has twenty- 
 three of these holdings in the same village.
 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 397 
 
 accepting the investments of the private shareholder, would 
 also have behind it a Government guarantee. 
 
 Security fob Advances. 
 
 So far as both these proposals are concerned the question 
 arises as to the security possessed by the State for the money 
 it has advanced. For the purchase of houses on the instal- 
 ment system the advances made by building societies do 
 not, unless under exceptional circumstances, cover more than 
 three-quarters of the value, a condition which amply protects 
 such societies against possible loss. The analogy with Irish 
 land purchase is not complete, since there the State advance is 
 limited to the purchase of the landlord's interest only, and 
 under the peculiar conditions of Irish land law the tenant's 
 interest is sufficiently valuable to afford the State ample 
 security for its money. 
 
 In Ireland, at any rate, it is almost unprecedented for the 
 State to have to resume holdings through the failure of the 
 purchasers to keep up the payment of the instalments of 
 their annuities ; and there is little reason to presume that 
 the English purchaser, especially as he would be more care- 
 fully selected, would be less prompt in paying his instalments. 
 
 The Objection to State Credit. 
 
 The difficulty of those who advocate State advances is 
 similar to that which has availed so much to retard Irish 
 land purchase. To buy out the existing landowners payment 
 in cash is necessary. The State would have to raise the 
 money by the issue of stock. So long as that stock stood 
 at a premium, or even at par, the plan would work well. But 
 with Government stocks at present much below par, it is 
 difficult to imagine that the market price of Land Stock 
 would not sink below its face value. Under these circum- 
 stances, to raise £100 cash means the issue of more than 
 £100 stock. To charge the excess stock, and the interest upon 
 it, against the State is unthinkable, while to make the tenant 
 responsible places upon him an unfair burden and causes him 
 to pay more for his land than its market price in cash.
 
 398 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 National Land Banks. 
 
 A more promising method of financing land purchase would 
 seem to be the estabUshment of a National Land Bank, 
 borrowing money privately but possessed of a Government 
 guarantee. Such banks exist on the Continent, and provide 
 money for land purchase at reasonable rates of interest.* 
 Some advance the whole, others a part only, of the purchase 
 money. In the latter case the purchaser finds the remainder, 
 which more generally represents but a small part of the pur- 
 chase price. Lest, however, the provision of this portion 
 should prove an obstacle to the establishment of small owner- 
 ship, various proposals have been made for obviating the 
 necessity for making such a demand. The balance, it is 
 suggested, might be advanced by the County Councils in the 
 shape of a second mortgage, or the amount might be left on 
 mortgage with the vendor. Another proposed method of 
 assistance is the suspension of the operation of the sinking 
 fund for a number of years, t 
 
 A comparatively modest proposal, and one which, moreover, 
 possesses the advantage of being capable of being grafted on 
 the existing small holding system, has been suggested by 
 Lord Camperdown.j Under the Small Holdings Act the 
 County Councils charge their tenants an annual sum which 
 in eighty years will recoup the Councils for their expenditure 
 in purchasing land. Lord Camperdown proposed that a 
 separate account of this item of rent should be kept, and that 
 the tenant, on giving six months' notice, should have the 
 right of purchasing his holding on payment of the difference 
 between the recoupment payments credited to him and the 
 amount necessary to completely recoup the Council for the 
 purchase of the land. It is not matter for surprise, however, 
 
 ♦ See letter of Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P., Times, May 11, 1911. 
 
 t The rival schemes are set out in legislative form in the SmaU Owner- 
 ship and National Land Bank Bill (House of Lords), No. 36 of 1911, and 
 the Purchase of Land Bill (House of Lords), No. 38 of 1911. See House 
 of Lords Debates, May 2 and 3, 1911. 
 
 I See House of Lords Debates, May 9, 1911. SmaU Holdings (Tenants 
 Acquisition) Bill, House of Lords Bill, No. 142 of 1911.
 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 399 
 
 that a Government in sympathy with land nationalisation 
 should have opposed this unambitious plan for encouraging 
 small ownership. 
 
 By itself a small holdings system cannot hope to stand, 
 whether the principle of tenancy or ownership be adopted. 
 Assistance is required in the direction of credit and co- 
 operation. Something, although little, has already been done 
 in England, and much more has been effected in Ireland. 
 On the Continent credit banks have reached a remarkable 
 degree of development,* and the supporters here of the 
 National Land Bank system very properly urge in sup- 
 port of their proposals that its secondary function would 
 be the encouragement of co-operative credit for small- 
 holders. 
 
 Capital is essential to the small holder, and his need of 
 it often compels him to borrow at usurious rates, or to run 
 into debt with dealers, who frequently get possession of the 
 farm by purchasing its produce. The latest advocates of 
 small-holdings endeavour to avoid these dangers by advanc- 
 ing loans for short periods at cheap rates, in order to 
 establish a system of co-operative credit. 
 
 In Germany action has proceeded chiefly upon the lines 
 of the Raiffeisen Banks, the object of which is to afford the 
 small man financial credit for development purposes.! In 
 Ireland Sir Horace Plunkett has established numerous banks 
 on this principle, to the anger of the "gombeen" man, but 
 to the advantage of the small-holder. J In England but little 
 
 • See H. W. Wolff, " People's Banks." 
 
 t The Schulze-Delitzsch Banks follow another system of co-operative 
 credit, but their dominant feature is the encouragement of thrift. An 
 exhaustive account of these banks and of similar institutions in other 
 countries has been written by H. W. Wolff in " People's Banks." 
 
 I On December 31, 1909, there were 234 credit societies under the control 
 of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, with a membership of 
 18,422, a loan capital of £56,469, and an annual turnover of £57,641 
 (Annual report of I.A.O.S. for the year ending Jime 30, 1910, Appendix Q, 
 Statistical Abstract X). For an excellent summary of the objects and con- 
 stitution of these banks in Ireland see Memorandum by the Secretary of 
 the I.A.O.S. on pp. 76-82 of the above Eeport.
 
 400 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 has been done.* There is, however, before Parliament a Bill 
 promoted by Lord Shaftesbury, which was read a second time 
 in the House of Lords on July 27, 1911, f and another, a 
 Government measure, empowering the Board of Agriculture 
 to promote, extend, and assist agricultural credit and insurance 
 societies, was read a second time on August 1, 1911. I The 
 former measure applies generally to the United Kingdom but 
 the Government Bill applies only to England. The latter 
 gives the State power to assist and promote credit banks, 
 whereas Lord Shaftesbury's Bill provides for banks acting 
 upon their own responsibility, and relying upon their own 
 endeavours. 
 
 Go-operative credit forms, however, but a part of the small- 
 holdings policy, for the principle of co-operation is extended 
 to the actual buying and selling of the various needs of 
 agriculture and of the agriculturist, and to the marketing of the 
 produce of the small-holders. This system is in operation in 
 Germany, France, and Denmark, § and in Ireland it has 
 attained remarkable proportions through the activities of the 
 Irish Agricultural Organisation Society. || In England and 
 Scotland the movement is making headway, and in England 
 is officially encouraged, the Agricultural Organisation Society 
 being in receipt of a subsidy from the State. It is late in the 
 day to urge the advantages of co-operation ; but it would be 
 untrue to assert that agriculturists of the smaller class as yet 
 universally appreciate its benefits. So far as production is 
 concerned, purchase of seeds, manures, feeding-stuffs, and 
 implements in small quantities means higher prices, higher 
 rates for transport, and often articles of inferior quality. Co- 
 operative purchase removes or alleviates these unfavourable 
 
 • In June, 1910, there were but 32 agricultural credit societies, with 
 465 members, and deposits amounting to £1,177 (House of Conamons 
 Paper, No. 166 of 1910). 
 
 t House of Lords Bill, No, 86 of 1911. 
 
 J House of Lords Bill, No. 140 of 1911. 
 
 § See C. R. Fay, " Co-operation at Home and Abroad." 
 
 II See Sir Horace Plunkett's "Ireland in the New Century " and the 
 Annual Reports of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (Plunkett 
 House, Dublin).
 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 401 
 
 conditions, and in the same way in relation to distribution 
 promotes eflSciency and economy in packing, grading, and 
 marketing goods, and consequently the realisation of better 
 prices, while by means of organisation and combination it 
 reduces the cost of transport and of middlemen's commission 
 charges. 
 
 As to the necessity for credit banks and co-operation as 
 adjuncts to the system of small holdings there is no dispute, 
 and it is matter for congratulation that however much difference 
 of opinion there may be between the advocates of tenancy 
 and ownership, there is entire agreement as to the need for 
 encouraging co-operation in respect of credit, production, and 
 distribution among small-holders. 
 
 Summary of Arguments Fob and Against an Ownership 
 System of Small Holdings. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. A successful small-holdings system is more likely to result from 
 a basis of ownership, which gives every small-holder a stake in the 
 land. 
 
 2. Ownership acts as an incentive to hard work and steady application, 
 and encourages the small-holder, since he has something to lose in the 
 event of failure, to take a personal interest in his holding 
 
 3. The tenant, having little or nothing to lose, is more easily discouraged, 
 and can, and will, throw up his holding if he gets into difficulties. 
 
 4. The loss in that case wiU fall upon the local authorities, and 
 ultimately upon the ratepayers, whose money ought not to be employed 
 upon schemes in which there is any risk. 
 
 5. The "magic of property," while it is largely a matter of sentiment, 
 is a powerful factor in the success of a small holding, or of any other, 
 system. 
 
 6. The absence at the present time of a demand for ownership is no proof 
 that ownership in practice would not prove popular. 
 
 7. No opportunity of proving the ownership system has yet occurred, 
 the necessity which lies on the small-holder of flading 20 per cent, of the 
 purchase money acting as an unsurmountable obstacle to purchase, 
 
 8. On the Continent, where the small-holder has been granted facilities 
 for purchase, every advantage of them has been taken. 
 
 9. The superiority of ownership over tenancy is shown by the statistics 
 of those countries where the majority of small-holders are owners. 
 
 10. There is no need for the small-owner to sink much, or even any, 
 capital on the laud at the outset ; nearly all, if not all, the purchase 
 
 27
 
 402 CURRENT POLITICAL PROBLEMS 
 
 money can be advanced to him, and the repayment of the loan can be 
 suspended during the first few years of the occupancy. 
 
 11. Co-operative credit enables the small-holder who buys to borrow 
 on easy terms, without having recourse to money-lenders, such money 
 as he needs to develop his holding or tide over bad times. 
 
 12. In any case the annual charge for paying ofiE the loan for the 
 purchase of the holding will not, or should not, be more than the small- 
 holder pays by way of rent to the public authority. 
 
 13. On the other hand, the rent charged by the public authority to a 
 tenancy small-holder includes a sum which enables the County Council 
 in a given number of years to completely recoup the loan raised for 
 purchasing the land. 
 
 14. The tenancy small-holder, in fact, buys the land for the County 
 Council, but always remains a tenant. 
 
 15. Under the ownership scheme the small-holder's payments would 
 result in his buying his holding for himself. 
 
 16. It is true, that in order to preserve small holdings as such, proper 
 restrictions have to be placed upon the use of the land, and the owner 
 prevented from disposing of it for any purpose other than that of a small 
 holding. 
 
 17. Such restrictions are, however, in operation on the Continent, 
 where they are not found to impair or destroy the popularity of the policy 
 of ownership. 
 
 18. An extensive system of small ownership is a valuable bulwark 
 against Socialism. 
 
 19. Ownership by public authorities of land occupied by small-holders 
 as tenants is a condition favouring further progress towards the realisa- 
 tion of the Socialist scheme of land nationalisation. 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 1. As a business proposition ownership has no advantages over tenancy. 
 
 2. The tenant under a public authority enjoys perfect security of tenure, 
 but is free from the bonds which bind an owner to his land. 
 
 3. He receives full compensation for his improvements at the expiration 
 of his tenancy. 
 
 4. The idea of ownership is largely a matter of sentiment, and does not 
 weigh with small-holders. 
 
 5. Tenancy enables a small-holder to put his capital into the land for 
 cultivation instead of hoarding it in order to purchase. 
 
 *6. Under any system of instalment purchase the small-holder is no 
 more than a nominal owner, until he has paid off the purchase price of the 
 holding after many years. 
 
 7. All this time he is bound to the land, having sunk his capital therein. 
 
 8. This condition of dependence compels him to mortgage the land, 
 or to have recourse to money-lenders in bad times.
 
 RURAL LAND REFORM 403 
 
 9. The want of free capital to meet bad seasons leads to straitened cir- 
 cumstances, laborious toil, and deprivation of all but the barest necessities, 
 in order to the satisfaction of the demands of creditors. 
 
 10. The owner has himself to provide for buildings, repairs, upkeep, and 
 other charges, from which the tenant is relieved. 
 
 11. These dangers threaten the success of any small-holding system 
 based on ownership. 
 
 12. The tenant small-holder, on the other hand, is free from these 
 financial responsibilities, and in bad seasons may be assisted by the owning 
 public authority, which may agree to take a lower rent for the time on the 
 tenant agreeing to make up the deficiency when the crisis is passed. 
 
 13. Under the ownership system small holdings are subjected to 
 restrictions in respect of sale, mortgage and subdivision, which more 
 than counterbalance the sentimental attractions of possession. 
 
 14. The tenant small-holder is free to give up his holding without losing 
 all his capital if he finds that agriculture does not suit him, or if he 
 desires to embark upon farming upon a more extensive scale on a larger 
 farm. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Literature on the Small Holding movement can be obtained from the 
 Small Ownership Committee (i. Regent Street, W.) and from the Rural 
 League (110 Strand, W.C.). Both organisations advocate ownership — the 
 former through a National Land Bank, and the latter by State credit. 
 
 Sir Gilbert Parker's " The Land, the People, and the State " puts 
 forward the claims of the National Land Bank, and also deals with the 
 cognate questions of credit and co-operation. " Land Reform," by the Rt. 
 Hon. Jesse Gollings, M.P., deals with the question of small holdings, and 
 advocates the claims of State credit. " Small Holders," by Edwin Pratt, 
 sums up against ownership, but in favour of co-operation and organisation. 
 Other books by the same author are " The Organisation of Agriculture" and 
 "The Transition of Agriculture." The standard book on agricultural 
 credit is "People's Banks," by H. W. Wolff, and on agricultural co- 
 operation " Co-operation at Home and Abroad," by C. R. Fay. 
 
 For Ireland Sir Horace Plunkett's " Ireland in the New Century," 
 supplemented by the annual reports of the Irish Agricultural Organisation 
 Society, gives a full account of the movement. The arguments for co- 
 operation and the development of small holdings in England may also be 
 studied in the publications of the Agricultural Organisation Society 
 (Queen Anne's Chambers, Tothill Street, Westminster, S.W.). 
 
 Miss Jebb's " Small Holdings " gives an excellent account of a tour 
 through the various small-holding colonies in England before the Act of 
 1908. There is much, too, to be learned from " Land and Labour Lessons 
 from Belgium," by H. Seebohm Rowntree. 
 
 Christopher Tumor's " Land Problems and National Welfare" describes 
 agricultural conditions as they exist to-day.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Adult Suffrage, 234 
 
 Bibliography, 257 
 Afghanistan, importance to India 
 
 diminished, 71 
 Agriculture — 
 
 Co-operation, 400 
 
 Organisation, 400 
 
 Population engaged in, 390 
 Agriculture, Department of, 269 
 Albania, 81, 82, 101 
 Algeciras, Treaty of, 102 
 " All Red " Route, 172 
 Alternative Vote, 2^4, 247 
 Appellate Jurisdiction Bill, 175 
 Arbitration, see Peace movement 
 Arbitration awards, enforcement 
 
 of, 176 
 Armaments, expenditure on, an 
 insurance, 57 
 
 Employment to labour, 55 
 
 German opinion, 57 
 
 Not excessive, 55 
 Army, 30-64 
 
 Arguments for and against a 
 smaU army, 59-63 
 
 Bibliography, 64 
 
 Compulsory Service, 33 
 Sir Ian Hamilton on, 42 
 
 Compulsory training, 40 
 
 Defence problem, 35 
 
 Effect of Germany on policy, 81 
 
 Elgin Commission Report on 
 
 Army system, 47 
 Expeditionary force, 33 
 French Socialist opposition to, 54 
 Function of, 30 
 Haldane, Lord, policy of, 37 
 Home defence. National Service 
 
 League policy, 44 
 Land frontier, defence of, 34 
 Length of service, 33 
 Norfolk Commission Report on 
 compulsory training, 47, 63 
 Opposition of certain politicians, 
 
 30 
 Recruiting, compulsory service 
 
 no obstacle to, 44 
 Roberts, Lord, military policy, 41 
 Territorial, 37-40 
 Deficiency in numbers, 40 
 Efficiency of, 33, 39 
 Triple entente, effectiveness of, 32 
 Ashley, Wilfrid, M.P., on navy, 7 
 Asiatic Law Amendment Act (1907), 
 
 165, 167 
 
 Asiatic Registration Amendment 
 
 Law (1908), 165, 167, 169 
 
 Asquith, Right Hon. H. H., M.P.— 
 
 Activity of Church in England 
 
 and Wales, 315 
 Education administration, 299 
 Legislation, 295 
 
 405
 
 406 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Imperial Preference, benefits of, 
 202 
 
 Income tax, permanent, 326 
 
 Land purchase, opposition to, 
 392 
 
 Necessities, present taxation of, 
 323 
 
 Parliament Act, instability of 
 legislation under, 212 
 
 Eedistribution, need for, 242 
 
 Referendum, 215 
 " Assigned revenues," 335 
 Atherley-Jones, L., M.P., Declara- 
 tion of London, 2i 
 Australia — 
 
 Cadet system, 179 
 
 Defence proposals, 178, 179 
 
 Naval defence, 178, 179 
 Austria — 
 
 Albania, intervention in, 82 
 
 Balkan policy, 82 
 
 German alliance, effect on British 
 navy, 15 
 
 Baghdad Railway, 92-100 
 
 British interests in, importance 
 
 of, 93 
 British participation in, argu- 
 ments for and against. 111 
 Capital needed, 93 
 Conditions changed since 1903,92 
 Construction guarantee, terms of, 
 
 94,95 
 Conventions of 1911, 98, 99 
 British interests threatened 
 
 by, 99 
 Value to Germany, 99 
 Extensions, 96-98, 99 
 
 British interests in, 97 
 Financial arrangements, 94 
 Fitzmaurice Lord, on, 93 
 German interests in, 93, 95, 96 
 Koweit, British Protectorate, 95 
 Terminus on Persian Gulf, 95 
 
 Morley,Lord, on British interests, 
 
 93 
 Persian Gulf section, control 
 essential to Great Britain, 
 96, 101 
 Turkish customs duties, increase 
 in, 94 
 
 Balfour, Rt. Hon. A., M.P,, Declara- 
 tion of London, 28 
 
 Balkan question, 81 
 
 Barnes, G. N., M.P., navy, 12 
 
 Belfast, customs revenue collected 
 at, 273 
 
 Belgium — 
 
 Congo, armexation of, arguments 
 for and against, 109 
 Belgian policy, 90-92 
 List system of proportional re- 
 presentation, 245 
 
 Beresford, Admiral Lord Charles, 
 M.P., navy, 8 
 
 Birrell Education BiU (1906), 291 
 
 Blockades, difficulty of, 48 
 
 Borden, Rt. Hon. R. L., Canadian 
 navy, 14 
 
 Botha, General, Indian immigra- 
 tion, 170 
 
 British and Foreign School Society, 
 284 
 
 British Empire, naval contribu- 
 tions, 13 
 
 Cables—" All Red " Route, 171 
 
 Rates, 172 
 Cadet system, 179 
 Campbell-Baimerman, Sir Henry, 
 
 self-government, 264 
 Canada — 
 Indian immigration, 163 
 Japanese immigration, 164 
 Naval proposals, 13 
 Capital — 
 
 Taxation of, 325 
 
 Effect on industry, 326
 
 INDEX 
 
 407 
 
 Chailley, M.— 
 Indian National Congress, 120 
 Indian police question, 117 
 Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. J., M.P., 
 
 Imperial relations, 152 
 Ch^radame, M., Baghdad Railway, 
 
 99 
 China — 
 Activity on Indian frontier, 70 
 Opium question, see Opium 
 Question 
 Chirol, Sir Valentine, Pan-Islam- 
 
 ism, 89 
 ChurchiU,Rt. Hon. Winston, M.P., 
 
 navy, 25 
 Civil Servants, interchange with 
 
 Dominions, 158 
 Class prejudice, weapon of, 348 
 Cocker ton Judgment, 285 
 Collen, Sir Edwin, Indian Army, 
 
 reduction of, 124 
 Colonial Office, Elgin secretariat, 
 
 159 
 Colonial problems, 152-186 
 Colonies, bibliography, 186 
 Commercial treaties, liberty of 
 withdrawal for British 
 Dominions, 173 
 Compulsory service, 33, 179 
 Australia, 178 
 Hamilton, Sir Ian, on, 42 
 Compulsory training, 40, 178 
 Arguments for and against, 63, 
 
 64 
 Fallacies of opponents, 46, 47 
 No obstacle to recruiting, 44 
 Norfolk Commission Report, 47 
 " Conciliation " Bill, 237-239 
 Concurrent endowment, 312 
 Congested Districts Board, 269 
 Congo, the, 89-92 
 
 Belgian annexation, arguments 
 
 for and against, 109 
 Belgian policy, 90-92 
 
 Ignorance of critics, 89, 91 
 Radical policy inconsistent, 89 
 Radicals demand British inter- 
 vention, 89 
 
 Conscience Clause, 284 
 
 Constitutional questions, 210-229 
 Bibliography, 229 
 
 Co-operation, agricultural, 400 
 
 Cowper-Temple Clause, 284, 297, 
 298 
 
 Credit Banks, 399-401 
 
 Crete — 
 British policy in, 82-84 
 Turkish Supremacy in, 83 
 
 Crewe, Lord — 
 Opposition to land purchase, 392 
 Possibility of invasion of Great 
 Britain, 17 
 
 Cromer, Earl of, Egypt, 85 
 
 Crosthwaite, Sir Charles, Indian 
 Army, reduction of, 124 
 
 Cumulative Vote, 245 
 
 "Dear Loaf" Cry, 192, 200-202 
 
 Death Duties, 325 
 
 Declaration of London, 21-25 
 Arguments for and against, 24, 
 
 27-29 
 Atherley- Jones, L., M.P., on, 24 
 German support of, 23 
 Grey, Sir E., M.P., on, 22, 23 
 Hamburger Nachrichten on, 23 
 Imperial Conference, views of, 22, 
 
 157 
 Mahan, Capt., on, 18 
 Opposition to, 22, 24 
 
 Denominational system, see Educa- 
 tion Question 
 
 Devlin, J.,M.P., Separation, 263 
 
 Dinizulu, 182 
 
 Disarmament, see Peace Movement 
 
 Disendowment, see Disestablish- 
 ment
 
 408 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Disestablisliment and Disendow- 
 ment, 304-309 
 
 Alleged inequalities removed by, 
 307 
 
 Arguments for and against, 316- 
 319 
 
 Asquith, Rt. Hon. H. H., M.P., 
 activity of Church in Eng- 
 land and Wales, 315 
 
 Assumed anxiety for the Church, 
 304 
 
 Bibliography, 319 
 
 Church Funds to be applied to 
 secular purposes, 306 
 
 Concurrent endowment, 312 
 
 Disendowment the real question, 
 310-312 
 
 Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., on 
 differences between Welsh 
 and Irish Churches, 314 
 
 Hostility to the Church, 305 
 
 Inseparable from disendowment, 
 304 
 
 Irish, Welsh Church not analo- 
 gous to, 314 
 
 Logical conclusion of, 307 
 
 National property argument, 310- 
 311 
 
 Nonconformist attitude, 304 
 
 Obligations of Establishment, 308, 
 309 
 
 Old Age Pensions to be increased 
 by disendowment, 306 
 
 Parliamentary candidates, atti- 
 tude of, 313 
 
 Promise of material gain, 306 
 
 Relations of Church and State, 
 307-310 
 
 Results of, 307 
 
 Ruling principle of disendow- 
 ment, 305 
 
 Tithes, question of, 311 
 
 Welsh, " Alien " Church argu- 
 ment, 313 
 
 Church advancing, 315 
 Disendowment proposals, 305 
 Majority argument, 312 
 Only practical politics, 306 
 No analogy with Ireland, 314 
 No justification for, 316 
 Parliamentary candidates, atti- 
 tude of, 313 
 Preliminary to English Church, 
 
 306 
 Religious census question, 314 
 Special argument for, 312 
 
 "Double" market, advantages of, 
 195 
 
 Dreadnought class, 5 
 
 Dudley Commission, 269 
 
 Dumping, 194 
 
 East Africa, Masai question, 184 
 Education Act (1870), 284, 285 
 Conscience Clause, 284 
 Cowper-Temple Clause, 284, 297, 
 
 298 
 Section 96, overridden by Mr. 
 
 McKenna, 300 
 Education Act (1902), 285-291 
 Effect on religious controversy, 
 
 285 
 " Fair wear and tear " Clause, 286 
 Kenyon-Slaney Clause, 287 
 Nonconformist opposition, 287 
 " Passive resistance " movement, 
 
 287, 293 
 Popular control, 288 
 Rate-aid, 286 
 Nonconformist opposition to, 
 
 288 
 Runciman, Rt. Hon. W., M.P., 
 
 hostility to, 295 
 Teachers' position under, 290 
 Voluntary Schools under, 286 
 Education Bill (1906), 291 
 Facilities Clause, 292 
 Public opinion against, 292
 
 INDEX 
 
 409 
 
 Special Facilities Clause, 292 
 Education Bill (1907), 289, 293 
 "A sword," Mr. McKenna's 
 
 statement, 293 
 Education (McKenna) Bill (1908), 
 
 293 
 Education (Runciman) Bill (1908), 
 
 293 
 "Right of entry" under, 294, 
 
 295, 298 
 Roman Catholic schools, position 
 
 under, 294 
 Education Question, 283-303 
 
 Arguments for and against, 300- 
 
 303 
 Asquith, Rt. Hon. H. H., M.P., 
 
 on legislation, 295 
 Bibliography, 303 
 Cockerton Judgment, 285 
 Contracting-out, 294 
 Dual system, 283, 286, 293 
 Early history, 284 
 Liberal administration unjust, 
 
 299 
 Little connection with education, 
 
 283 
 Need for legislation in 1902, 285 
 Need for settlement, 295 
 " Parents' rights," 296, 298 
 School Boards, 284 
 Single school areas, 292, 293, 
 
 294, 296 
 State and religious instruction, 
 
 296-298 
 Suggestions for settlement, 
 
 290-299 
 Swansea school case, 299 
 "Tests for teachers," 290, 293, 
 
 294, 297, 298 
 Voluntary system, 284 
 Wheelwright schools case, 299 
 Egypt- 
 Association of Egyptians with 
 
 administration, 86 
 
 British education policy a failure, 
 
 88 
 Evacuation impossible, 84 
 German attacks on British 
 
 policy, 87 
 German influence increasing, 87 
 Gorst, Sir Eldon, policy of, 86 
 National Assembly reject Suez 
 
 Canal agreement, 87 
 Nationalist Party responsible for 
 murder of Prime Minister, 
 86 
 Nationalist Press, dangerous 
 
 character of, 86 
 Occupation of, Sir Eldon Gorst 
 
 on time limit, 86 
 Representative Institutions, 
 
 arguments for and against, 
 108 
 Roosevelt, T., speech on British 
 policy, 85 
 Effect of, 86 
 Self-government impossible, 88 
 Unrest analogous to Indian, 84 
 Produces financial difficulty, 87 
 Stronger measures adopted, 86 
 Sympathy of certain British 
 Parties, 84 
 Egyptian Questions, 84-88 
 Eight Hours Day, 369 
 
 Argument for and against, 382- 
 384 
 Electoral systems, Royal Commis- 
 sion on, 243-247 
 Elgin Commission Report, need of 
 
 military system, 47 
 Emigration — 
 
 Effect of Tariff Reform on, 192 
 From United Kingdom to British 
 Dominions, 161 
 England, Church of, see Disestab- 
 lishment and Disendow- 
 ment 
 Expeditionary Force, 33
 
 410 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fabianism — 
 Shaw, Bernard, on, 349 
 Success of, 349 
 Supporters of, 349 
 " Fair wear and tear " Clause, 286 
 Finance and Taxation, 320-344 
 Basis of taxation too narrow, 323 
 Bibliography, 344 
 Budget of 1909, arguments for 
 and against, 337-340 
 Socialist support for, 350 
 Capital, taxation of, 325 
 Effect on industry, 326 
 Death Duties, 325 
 Food, taxation of, 322 
 Incidence of taxation on alco- 
 holic liquors and tobacco, 
 323, 324 
 Income Tax, 326-328 
 Advantages of, 327 
 Complications of, 327 
 Gladstone, Mr. W. E., on, 327 
 Growth of, 327 
 Imperial regulation, 174 
 Permanence of, Mr. Asquith on, 
 326 
 Land, taxation of, see Land Taxes 
 Liquor licences, 324 
 
 "Swingeing" duties, 324 
 Local finance, 333-337 
 Luxuries untaxed, 322 
 Necessities taxed, 322 
 
 Asquith, Mr. H. H., on, 323 
 Principles of, 320 
 Revenue tariff, 320-322 
 Cost of collection, 321 
 Effect on prices, 321 
 Estimated yield, 321 
 Finland — 
 Russian Policy, 74-77 
 Arguments for and against, 107 
 Fiscal question, 187-209 
 
 Arguments for and against Tariff 
 Reform, 203-208 
 
 Bibliography, 208 
 Fisher, Lord, Defence policy, 58 
 Fitzmaurice, Lord, Baghdad Rail- 
 way, 93 
 Food Prices — 
 
 Under Free Trade, 198, 201 
 Under Tariff Reform, 192, 200- 
 202 
 Food supplies, foreign, 391 
 Foreign Affaira, 65-112 
 Bibliography, 112 
 Parliamentary treatment, 65-67 
 France — 
 
 Morocco, intervention in, 102 
 Position in, recognised by 
 Great Britain, 103 
 Franchise, 230-258 
 Adult suffrage, 234 
 Bibliography, 257 
 Anomalies of, 231-233 
 Bibliography, 257 -258 
 " Conciliation " Bill, 237-239 
 Growth of, 234-236 
 Lodger franchise, 233 
 London Elections Bill, 232 
 Manhood Suffrage, 234, 235 
 Argument for and against, 
 227-228 
 " One Man, one Vote," see Plural 
 
 Voting 
 Ownership Franchise, 239 
 Plural Voting, 232, 239-240 
 Alleged advantage to Unionists, 
 
 240 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 254-255 
 Bibliography, 258 
 House of Lords' attitude, 240 
 Qualifjnng period, 232 
 Reforms suggested, 231-233 
 Removals, 231 
 " Service " Franchise, 233 
 Simplification necessary, 230 
 " Successive occupation," 232
 
 INDEX 
 
 411 
 
 Women's Suffrage, 236-239 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 248-253 
 Bibliography, 257 
 " Conciliation" Bill, 237-239 
 Praser, Sir A., Indian Police, 142 
 Free Trade — 
 
 Contrary to modern industrial 
 
 legislation, 188, 192, 193 
 Doctrine of " Cheapness," 193 
 " Double market," advantages of, 
 
 denied by, 195 
 " Dumping," encouraged under, 
 
 194 
 Failure of, 190 
 
 Mr. Lloyd George on, 197 
 Food, prices under, 198, 201 
 Most - favoured - nation clause 
 
 under, 196-198 
 Policy of "Manchester School," 
 
 188 
 Prophecies falsified, 191 
 Friendly Societies under National 
 Insurance Act, 375, 379 
 
 Geobge, Rt.Hon. D. Lloyd, M.P. — 
 Imperial Preference, benefits of, 
 
 202 
 Infamy of war, 51 
 Injury from foreign tariffs, 197 
 Land Nationalisation, 332 
 Separation " unthinkable," 267 
 Socialist support for Budget, 350 
 George, Henry, support for land 
 
 taxes, 332 
 Germany — 
 Anglo - Japanese agreement, 
 
 opinion of, 106 
 Antagonism to Great Britain, 
 
 104 
 Austrian Alliance, effect on British 
 
 navy, 15 
 Baghdad Railway, influence in, 
 93, 95, 96 
 
 Declaration of London, support 
 
 for, 23 
 Effect on British Army policy, 
 
 31 
 Egypt, influence increasing, 87 
 Policy of Great Britain at- 
 tacked, 87 
 Hostility to Great Britain denied 
 
 by Labour Party, 11 
 Invasion of Great Britain, 14 
 Morocco, action indefensible, 102 
 Naval and military policy, 31 
 Navy, British superiority re- 
 duced, 7 
 Comparison with Great Britain, 
 
 2, 4, 7 
 Construction, comparison with 
 
 Great Britain, 7 
 Dock accommodation for 
 
 Dreadnoughts, 8 
 Limitation of opinions on, 50 
 Personnel, comparison with 
 
 Britain, 7, 9 
 Reasons for increase of, 12 
 Strength in Home waters, 7 
 War with Great Britain, 3, 17 
 Cost of, 17 
 Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E.— 
 Disestablishment, differences be- 
 tween Welsh and Irish 
 Churches, 314 
 Income Tax, 327 
 Gorst, Sir Eldon— 
 British occupation of Egypt, time 
 
 limit to, 86 
 Egyptian policy, 86 
 Goschen, Lord, possibility of in- 
 vasion of Great Britain, 17 
 Great Britain — 
 Invasion of, 14, 16, 17, 37, 47, 48 
 War with Germany, 3, 17 
 Cost of, 17 
 Grey, Sir E., M.P., Declaration of 
 London, 22, 23
 
 412 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Guinness, Hon. W., M.P., Imperial 
 Conference and Interna- 
 tional politics, motion on, 
 156 
 
 Haldane, Lord, military policy, 
 
 37 
 Hamburger Nachrichten, Declara- 
 tion of London, 23 
 Hamilton, Sir Ian, compulsory 
 service, opposition to, 42 
 Harcourt, Rt. Hon. L., M.P., 
 opposition to land pur- 
 chase, 392 
 Harrison, Frederic, necessity of 
 
 security against war, 4 
 Henderson, Sir Alexander, taxation, 
 
 326 
 Hibernian Journal, 276 
 Hibernians, Ancient Order of, 271, 
 276 
 Connection with United Irish 
 League, 276 
 Home Rule, 259-282 
 
 Arguments for and against, 277- 
 
 281 
 Bibliography, 281-282 
 Bill, 1886, Parnell's acceptance 
 
 of as instalment, 261 
 Bill, 1893, not accepted as final 
 settlement by Mr. John 
 Redmond, 261 
 Colonial analogy, alleged, 265 
 Difficulty of definition, 259 
 Extremists' opinion, danger of, 
 
 270-272 
 First measure under Parliament 
 
 Act, 211 
 Half measure, its danger, 260 
 
 No settlement, 259, 267 
 Inopportune, 276 
 Irish-American opinion, 262-264, 
 
 270-272 
 Liberal argument for, 259 
 
 Liberal plan, no settlement, 261, 
 
 266, 272 
 Liberal plan only an instalment, 
 
 261, 262-264, 266 
 Nationalist meaning of, 260, 266 
 Nationality, doctrine of, 261, 266 
 
 Its importance, 264, 266 
 Religious aspect, 273-276 
 Roman Catholic intolerance, fear 
 
 of, 273-275 
 Safeguards for minorities, 275 
 " Separation," 262-264, 266, 267 
 Mr. Lloyd George, M.P., on, 267 
 Supremacy of Imperial Parlia- 
 ment, 266 
 Ulster under, 270-276 
 Unionist alternative policy, 267 
 Unionist minority under, 270- 
 276 
 Safeguards for, 275 
 
 Illicit arms traffic, 80 
 Imperial Conference, 152 
 Declaration of London, 22 
 Public opinion in Dominions, 
 
 180 
 Results of, 179-181, 184 
 Standing Committee proposed, 
 156 
 Imperial Coimcil of State, 155, 159 
 
 Necessity for, 176 
 Imperial Court of Appeal, 175 
 Imperial Defence, 153-155, 176-179 
 Action of British Dominions, 58, 
 
 178 
 Consultation with Colonial Prime 
 
 Ministers, 156, 157 
 Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, on partici- 
 pation of colonies, 154, 178 
 Imperial Naturalisation Laws, 160 
 Imperial Preference, 173-174, 199- 
 203 
 
 Asquith, Rt. Hon. H. H., M.P., 
 on its benefits, 202
 
 INDEX 
 
 413 
 
 George, Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd, M.P., 
 
 on its benefits, 202 
 " Most-favoured-nation " clause 
 
 an obstacle, 173, 174 
 Need for immediate action, 202 
 Imperial relations- 
 Chamberlain, Rt, Hon. J., M.P., 
 
 on, 152 
 Suggested developments, 159 
 Income Tax, 326-328 
 Advantages of, 827 
 Complication of, 327 
 Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., on 
 
 327 
 Growth of, 327 
 Imperial regulation, 174 
 Permanence of, Mr. Asquith on, 
 326 
 Indian Affaira, 113-151 
 Activity of China on frontier, 
 
 70 
 Army — 
 Reasons urged for economy, 
 
 121, 122 
 Reduction of, 36, 121-126 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 142 
 Policy of British Govern- 
 ment, 124, 125 
 Views of experts, 124 
 Strength of, 122 
 Bengal, partition of, 115 
 Bibliography, 150 
 Census, 140 
 
 Coronation concessions, 139 
 Cotton — 
 Countervailing duties, 128, 131 
 Due to England's policy of 
 free trade, 129 
 Defence problem, 35 
 District magistrates, attacks on, 
 119 
 Position of, 119 
 Education question, 131-133 
 
 Compulsory Education Bill, 132 
 Free Compulsory, arguments 
 for and against, 145 
 Free Trade, the policy of British 
 
 Government, 131 
 High Courts, failure of, 118 
 Hostile attitude of certain 
 British parties towards 
 officials, 114 
 Liquor question, 183 
 National Congress, 120 
 Chailley, M., on, 120 
 Not representative of the 
 people, 120 
 Officials, hostility to, 114, 116, 
 
 117, 119 
 Opium question, see Opium 
 
 Question 
 Parliamentary discussion of 
 
 questions, 113 
 Police question, 116-118 
 Allegation of cruelty and 
 
 corruption, 117, 118 
 An Indian force, 116 
 Chailley, M., on, 117 
 Efficiency, arguments for and 
 against, 140-142 
 Population of, 140 
 Preferential tariff, 190 
 Arguments for and against, 
 143-145 
 Publicity of official acts, 114 
 Railway development towards, 
 
 100-102 
 Representative government, ex- 
 tension of, arguments for 
 and against, 147-150 
 Revenue, loss from opium traffic, 
 
 134, 136 
 Roosevelt, T. , Egyptian speech 
 
 applicable to India, 85 
 Russian advance, apprehensions 
 relieved by Anglo-Russian 
 Convention, 70
 
 414 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Russian invasion of, 35 
 
 Tariff Reform necessary, Lord 
 
 Minto's view, 129 
 Tea, labour question, 130 
 
 Preference for, 130 
 Wealth of, British drain alleged, 
 126 
 Sir Theodore Morison on, 126 
 Indian Emigration (Canada) Act 
 
 (1883), 163 
 Indian immigration, 162-165, 166- 
 170 
 To Crown Colonies and Pro- 
 tectorate, 165, 182 
 Indian indentured labour, 181 
 Insurance Act, see National Insur- 
 ance Act 
 Invalidity, insurance against, see 
 
 National Insurance Act 
 Ireland — 
 Agriculture, Department of, 269 
 Ancient Order of Hibernians, 271, 
 
 276 
 Connection with United Irish 
 
 League, 276 
 Bibliography, 281-282 
 Congested Districts Board, 269 
 Dudley Commission, 269 
 Home Rule, see Home Rule 
 Industrial development, 270 
 Irish Agricultural Organisation 
 
 Society, 269 
 Land Purchase, 268 
 Local Government, Nationalist 
 promises of toleration, 274 
 Unionist representation, 275 
 National University, Cardinal 
 
 Logue on, 276 
 " Recess " Committee, 269 
 Representation at Westminster 
 
 under Act of Union, 242 
 "Self-help" movement, 268-270 
 Sinn Fein movement, 271 
 Ulster question, 270-276 
 
 Unionist development policy, 
 268-270 
 
 Unionist minority, position of, 
 270-276 
 Local Government, 275 
 Safeguards for, 275 
 Irish Agricultural Organisation 
 
 Society, 269 
 Irish Industrial Development 
 
 Association, 270 
 Irish Nationalist Party — 
 
 Attitude in time of war, 260 
 
 " Bankrupt," 262 
 
 Deny Irish prosperity an alterna- 
 tive to Home Rule, 264 
 
 Extremist opinion, attitude 
 towards, 270-272 
 
 Imperialist views, 262 
 
 Intolerance of minorities, 275 
 
 Promises of toleration, 274 
 
 Redistribution, 242 
 
 "Self-help" movement, opposi- 
 tion to, 268-270 
 
 Speeches in U.S.A., 262-264 
 
 Ultimate aim, 263, 267 
 
 Japan — 
 Agreement with Great Britain, 
 104 
 Opinion of British Empire, 105 
 Opinion of Germany, 106 
 Renewed 1911, 105 
 Immigration to Canada, 164 
 
 Kenyon-Slaney Clause, 287 
 Kettle, Prof. T. M., separation, 263 
 Koweit — 
 
 Baghdad Railway terminus on 
 Persian Gulf, 95, 101 
 
 British Protectorate, 95 
 
 Laboue — 
 
 Conditions of, 369-379
 
 INDEX 
 
 415 
 
 Hours of, 367 
 Eight hours day, arguments for 
 and against, 382-384 
 Protection for, against Eastern 
 competition, 190 
 Labour Exchanges, 368, 374 
 
 Extension on Imperial basis pro- 
 posed, 158 
 Labour Party — 
 
 A Socialist Party, 349, 352, 354 
 Attitude towards Indian Immi- 
 gration to South Africa, 
 170 
 Contributions to, 854, 355 
 Czar of Russia, opposition to, 
 
 71-73 
 Deny German hostility, 11 
 Growth of, 353, 354 
 Hostile attitude towards Indian 
 
 officials, 114 
 Moroccan Question, opposition to 
 BritishGovernment policy, 
 103 
 Navy, attitude on, 11 
 Views not supported by Con- 
 tinental colleagues, 12 
 Osborne Judgment, 354-358 
 Arguments for and against, 358- 
 
 361 
 MacDonald, J. Ramsay, M.P., 
 
 on defiance of, 355 
 Payment of Members no alter- 
 native, 218, 357 
 Proposals for alteration, 356 
 Reversal of, suggested, 355 
 Payment of Members, 218, 357 
 Support of Masai Tribe, inconsis- 
 tency of, 184 
 Labour Representation Committee, 
 353, 354 
 Socialist representation on, 354 
 Land, Agricultural — relief afforded 
 to, 334 
 Burden of rates on, 334 
 
 Land Nationalisation — 
 George, Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd, M.P., 
 
 on, 332 
 George, Henry, on attainment 
 
 through taxation, 332 
 Objective of land taxes, 332 
 Ure, Rt. Hon. A., M.P., on objec- 
 tive of land taxes, 333 
 Land Purchase proposals, 396-401 
 Land Reform, 390-403 
 Land taxes, 328-333 
 Argument for and against, 340- 
 
 343 
 Bibliography, 344 
 Effect on local finance, 333 
 Failure of, 333 
 George, Henry, support for land 
 
 taxes, 332 
 Nationalisation, the objective of, 
 
 332 
 Political advantage of, 328 
 " Site value," 330 
 Undeveloped land duty, 330- 
 332 
 Effect on housing and building, 
 331 
 Unearned increment, 329 
 Ure, Rt. Hon. A., M.P., on nation- 
 alisation principle of, 333 
 Lansdowne, Lord, Reform of House 
 
 of Lords BiU, 219 
 Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, participation 
 of Colonies in Imperial 
 Defence, 154, 178 
 Law, Rt. Hon. A. Bonar — 
 Foreign affairs, 104 
 Socialism, 387 
 Liquor question — 
 Effect of new duties on local 
 
 finance, 336 
 Runciman, Rt. Hon. W., M.P., 
 
 on, 325 
 »' Swingeing" duties on licences, 
 324
 
 416 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Taxation, 324 
 List system, 245 
 Local finance, 333-337 
 " Assigned revenues," 335 
 Bibliography, 344 
 Cost of new legislation, 334, 336 
 Increased expenditure, result of 
 demand for efficiency, 337 
 Land taxes, effect of, 333 
 Liquor duties, effect of, 336 
 Local taxation for national 
 
 services, 335 
 Need for revision, 334-337 
 Old Age Pensions, effect of, 336 
 Rates, increase in, 337 
 Road Board, effect of, 336 
 Local government, increased cost 
 
 of, see Local Finance 
 Local taxation. Royal Commission 
 
 on, 334-336 
 Lodger franchise, 233 
 Logue, Cardinal, National Univer- 
 sity to be made Catholic, 
 276 
 London Elections Bill, 232, 240 
 Lords, House of — 
 Attitude towards Plural Voting 
 
 Bill, 240 
 Bibliography, 229 
 Creation of Peers threatened, 
 
 210 
 Education Bill (1906), 292 
 Liberal measures rejected, 220 
 Peaceful coercion of, 210 
 Reform, 214, 216, 219-221 
 Hereditary right abandoned, 
 
 219 
 Unionist plans, 219-221 
 Surrender, effect of, 210 
 Lucas, Lord, army, 62 
 Lynch, H. F. B., Baghdad Railway, 
 
 100 
 Lytton, Lord, publicity of Indian 
 officials, 115 
 
 MacDonald, J. Ramsay, M.P., 
 Osborne Judgment defied, 
 355 
 McKenna, Rt. Hon. R., M.P.— 
 Education Bill " a sword," 293 
 Unjust educational administra- 
 tion, 299 
 Mahan, Capt., Declaration of Lon- 
 don, 18 
 Manchester School, Free Traders, 
 
 188 
 Manhood suffrage, 234, 235 
 Arguments for and against, 227- 
 228 
 Manning, General Sir William, 
 
 Somaliland, 79 
 Masai tribe, 184 
 Members of Parliament — 
 Payment of, 217 
 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 225-227 
 No alternative to reversal of 
 Osborne judgment, 218, 357 
 Repayment of expenses, 218 
 Migration within the Empire, 161 
 Milner, Viscount, army, 63 
 Miners Federation join Labour 
 
 Party, 349, 354 
 Minimum wage, 370-372 
 
 Arguments for and against, 384 
 Mining royalties, taxation of, argu- 
 ments for and against, 343 
 Minorities, representation of, 243- 
 
 247 
 Minto, Lord, Tariff Reform neces- 
 sary for India, 129 
 Money, Chiozza, M.P. — 
 Cost of living, 199 
 Navy, 6 
 Mollis, M., navy, 12 
 Montagu, Hon. E. S., M.P.— 
 Free Trade for India, 131 
 Indian Army, reduction of, policy 
 of British Governmant, 125
 
 INDEX 
 
 417 
 
 Morison, Sir Theodore, wealth of 
 
 India, 126 
 Morley, Lord — 
 
 Attitude towards criticism of 
 
 Indian officials, 114 
 Baghdad Railway, British inter- 
 ests in, 93 
 Moroccan Question, 102-104 
 British Government policy, 103 
 
 Labour opposition to, 103 
 Franco-German Agreement, Brit- 
 ish support of, 104 
 Terms of, 104 
 French intervention, 102 
 French position recognised by 
 
 Great Britain, 103 
 German action indefensible, 102 
 Most-favoured-nation Clause — 
 An illusory benefit, 196-198 
 Obstacle to Imperial preference, 
 173, 174 
 
 National Insurance Act, 373-379 
 Bibliography, 389 
 Classes unnecessarily insured, 
 
 378 
 Competition under, 379 
 Defects of, 376 
 
 Friendly Societies, treatment of, 
 375, 379 
 Invalidity — 
 
 German system, 377 
 Omissions in, 378 
 Small provision for, 377 
 Unemployment Insurance, 373- 
 375 
 National Land Banks, 398-401 
 National Service League, Homo 
 
 Defence policy, 44 
 National Society, 284 
 Naturalisation within the Empire, 
 
 160 
 Navy, 1-29 
 Additions to, 6 
 
 Arbitration treaties without influ- 
 ence on, 19 
 Arguments for and against a 
 
 redvxccd navy, 25-27 
 Australian, 178-179 
 Austro-Germau alliance, effect of, 
 
 15 
 Bibliography, 29 
 Blockades, difficulty of, 48 
 Canadian proposals, 13 
 Comparison with Germany, 2, 4, 7 
 Comparison with other countrie8,4 
 Construction, comparison with 
 
 Germany, 7 
 Cost of, and social reform, 21 
 
 A small insurance, 20 
 Dock accommodation for Dread- 
 noughts, 9 
 Dominion navies, 154, 177, 178, 
 179 
 Co-operation with British, 177 
 Dreadnought Class, 5 
 Estimates (1911-12), 2 
 Financial reforms needed, 19 
 Guarantee against invasion, 14- 
 
 16 
 Imperial contributions, 13 
 Labour Party attitude, 11 
 Lessons of Russo-Japanese War, 
 
 18 
 Liberal Government attitude, 9, 
 
 11, 55, 58 
 Liberal Party, divergent opinions 
 
 of, 11 
 Limitation of, German opinion,50 
 Necessity for, 13, 14 
 Personnel, comparison with other 
 
 countries, 7, 9 
 Strength, 4-5 
 
 In Home waters, 7 
 Superiority over Germany re- 
 duced, 7 
 Supremacy endangered, 3, 6-8, 15 
 Two-Power standard, 1, 3, 5 
 
 28
 
 418 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Near-Eastern questions, 82-84 
 Negotiation encouraged by Tariff 
 
 Reform, 196 
 Nigeria, South, liquor question, 183 
 Nonconformist " Free " Churches — 
 Inaccuracy of name, 309 
 No separate Welsh organisation, 
 
 314 
 Parliamentary regulation of, 
 
 309-310 
 State control of, 309, 310 
 *' Non-provided " schools, 286 
 Norfolk Commission Report on 
 compulsory training, 47 
 
 O'Connor, T. P., M.P., Home Rule, 
 
 definitions of, 265 
 Old Age Pensions, 366 
 
 Cromer Amendment, misrepre- 
 sentation of, 347 
 Effect on local finance, 336 
 Future extensions, 367 
 Increased by disendowment, 306 
 ^' One Man, one Vote," see Fran- 
 chise, Plural Voting 
 *' One Vote, one Value," see Redis- 
 tribution 
 Opium question, 133-39 
 China — 
 
 Agreement with, 133, 134 
 Cultivation, 137, 138 
 Extinction of traffic, arguments 
 for and against, 146 
 Effect on Indian revenue, 134, 
 136 
 Future cultivation, 138, 139 
 Position of native States, 135, 
 
 138, 139 
 Substitutes for, use increasing, 
 
 137 
 Use necessary, 135 
 Osborne Judgment, 354-358 
 
 Arguments for and against, 358- 
 361 
 
 MacDonald, J. Ramsay, M.P., on 
 defiance of, 355 
 
 Payment of Members no alter- 
 native, 218, 357 
 
 Proposals for alteration, 356 
 
 Reversal of, suggested, 355 
 Ownership franchise, 239 
 
 Pan Islamism, 84, 88 
 Parliament Act — 
 
 Arguments for and against, 221- 
 
 223 
 Bibliography, 229 
 Encourages alteration of laws, 
 
 212 
 Home Rule first measure under, 
 
 211 
 Legislation under, instability of, 
 
 212, 215 
 No obstacle to Unionist measures, 
 
 213 
 Not a complete settlement, 213 
 Single-chamber government es- 
 tablished by, 211 
 Two years' delay a sham, 212 
 Parents' rights, 296, 298 
 Parnell, C. S., Home Rule Bill, 
 
 1886, an instalment, 261 
 "Passive resistance" movement, 
 
 287, 293 
 Payment of Members, 217 
 
 Arguments for and against, 225- 
 
 227 
 No alternative to reversal of Os- 
 borne Judgment, 218, 357 
 Peace movement — 
 
 Arguments for and against, 59-63 
 Continental opinion of, 50, 53 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, on, 51 
 Taft, President, on arbitration, 
 
 52 
 Weakness of, 49, 51 
 Persia — 
 Anglo-Russian Convention, 67-71
 
 INDEX 
 
 4ia 
 
 Failure of Parliamentary govern- 
 ment, 69 
 Illicit arms traffic in Persian 
 
 Gulf, 80 
 Railway development in, see 
 Baghdad Railway 
 Pitt, William, possibility of inva- 
 sion of Great Britain, 16 
 Plunkett, Sir Horace — 
 Irish Agricultural Organisation 
 
 Society, 268-270 
 Self-help movement, 268-270 
 Plural voting, 232, 239-2i0 
 
 Alleged advantage to Unionists, 
 
 240 
 Arguments for and against, 254- 
 
 255 
 Bibliography, 258 
 House of Lords attitude, 240 
 None under Referendum, 240 
 Poor Law Commission, 368 
 
 Minority Report, 368 
 Poor Law reform, 367 
 
 Bibliography, 388 
 Popular control in education, 288 
 Pretyman, E. G., M.P., land values, 
 
 330 
 Privy Council Judicial Committee, 
 weakness of, as Imperial 
 Court of Appeal, 175 
 Proportional representation, see 
 Representation, Propor- 
 tional 
 Protection, see Tariff Reform 
 " Provided" schools, 286 
 
 Raiffeisen Banks, 399 
 " Recess " Committee, 269 
 Reciprocity, see Imperial Preference 
 Redistribution — 
 
 Asquith, Right Hon. H. H., M.P., 
 on need for, 242 
 
 Irish Nationalist attitude, 242 
 
 Need for, 241 
 
 " One vote, one value," 211 
 Unionist proposals, 242 
 Redmond, John, M.P. — 
 Attitude towards Irish remedial 
 
 legislation, 264 
 Education (Runciman) Bill, 1908, 
 
 Roman Catholic Schools 
 
 under, 294 
 "Extremists," attitude towards, 
 
 271 
 Home Rule Bill, 1893, not a final 
 
 settlement, 261 
 Imperialist opinions, 262 
 Inconsistencies, 262 
 Irish Nationalist Party bankrupt, 
 
 262 
 National independence, 264 
 Promises toleration in Irish local 
 
 govermnent, 274 
 Stands where Parnell stood, 261 
 Supremacy of Imperial Parlia- 
 ment, 266 
 Ultimate aim, 263 
 Rees, Sir J. D., Indian questions, 
 
 113 
 Referendum, 214-216 
 
 Arguments for and against, 223- 
 
 225 
 Asquith, Right Hon. H. H., M.P., 
 
 on, 215 
 Australia, 214, 216 
 Bibliography, 229 
 Inequalities of representation 
 
 avoided, 240 
 No plural voting under, 240 
 Radical opinion, 215 
 Representation, 230-258 
 Alternative vote, 244, 247 
 Bibliography, 257-258 
 Cumulative vote, 245 
 Inequalities, see Redistribution 
 Inequalities avoided under refe- 
 rendum, 240 
 Ireland under Act of Union, 242
 
 420 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Need for other methods, 242 
 Proportional, 243, 245-247 
 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 255-257 
 Bibliography, 258 
 List system, 245 
 Transferable vote, 246 
 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 255-257 
 Bibliography, 258 
 Eoyal Commission on, 243-247 
 Second Ballot, 243 
 Revenue tariff, see Tariff Reform 
 Right of capture at sea, see Declara- 
 tion of London 
 Right of entry, 294, 295, 298 
 "Right to Work," 370 
 
 Arguments for and against, 381 
 Road Board, effect on local finance, 
 
 336 
 Roberts, Lord, army training, 41 
 Ronaldshay, Earl of, India, 131, 143 
 Roosevelt, Theodore — 
 
 British policy in Egypt, speech 
 on, 85 
 Applicable to India, 85 
 Effect of, 86 
 Peace movement, 51 
 Rosebery, Lord, Lords Reform re- 
 solution, 219 
 Runciman, Right Hon. W., M.P. — 
 Education Act, 1902, to be "wiped 
 
 out," 295 
 Liquor question, 325 
 Rural depopulation, 390 
 Rural land reform, 390-403 
 
 Bibliography, 403 
 Ruskin, John, on peace and war, 49 
 Russia — 
 
 Advance towards India, effect of 
 Anglo-Russian Convention, 
 70 
 Convention with Great Britain 
 respecting Persia, 67-71 
 
 Finnish policy, 74-77 
 
 Arguments for and against, 107 
 Friendly relations with, argu- 
 ment for and against, 106 
 Invasion of India by, 35 
 Labour Party, opposition to Czar, 
 71-73 
 Russo-Japanese War, naval lessons 
 of, 18 
 
 St. Aldwyn, Lobd, effect of bread 
 
 duty on price, 321 
 Sanderson Committee, on Indian 
 emigration to Crown colo- 
 nies, &c., 165, 182 
 School Boards, 284, 285 
 Schulze-Delitzsch banks, 399 
 Schuster, Sir Felix, taxation, 326 
 Second ballot, 243 
 Second chamber, see Lords, House 
 
 of 
 Seely, Col., M.P., Indian Army, 
 
 reduction of, 124 
 " Service " franchise, 233 
 Shaw, Bernard, Fabianism, 349 
 Shipping combinations, 175 
 Sickuess, insurance against, se6 
 
 National Insurance Act 
 Single-Chamber government, 211 
 Single school areas, 292, 293, 294, 
 
 296 
 Single transferable vote, 246 
 Arguments for and against, 255- 
 
 257 
 Bibliography, 258 
 Sinn Fein, 271 
 " Site value," 330 
 Small Holdings — 
 Act of 1908, 892 
 
 Increased rents under, 394, 395 
 Bibliography, 403 
 Co-operation, 400 
 Credit banks, 399-401 
 " Magic of property," 293
 
 INDEX 
 
 421 
 
 Market for produce, 391 
 Onslow Committee on ownership, 
 
 393 
 Ownership, 393 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 401-403 
 Burdens of, 395 
 Camperdown proposal, 398 
 Continental conditions, 393 
 Labour opposition, 392 
 National land banks, 398-401 
 Proposals for purchase, 396-401 
 Restrictions on subdivision, 
 
 396 
 Socialist opposition, 392 
 State credit for, 397 
 Tenancy, advantages of, 393 
 Objections to, 394 
 V. ownership, 391-397 
 Snowden, Philip, M.P., Labour 
 Party and Socialism, 249 
 Socialism, 345-362 
 Bibliography, 361 
 Budget of 1909 and, 350 
 Capture of Trade Unions for, 
 
 352-354 
 Class prejudice, 348 
 Difference from social reform, 350 
 Evolutionary, 346 
 Fabianism, success of, 349 
 Labour Party support for, 349, 
 
 352, 354 
 Labour Representation Com- 
 mittee and, 354 
 Modern tendencies towards, 347, 
 
 351 
 Opposition to, misrepresentation 
 
 of, 347 
 Parties in Great Britain, 345- 
 
 347 
 Poor Law Commission, Minority 
 
 Report, 368 
 Radical Party, relations with, 
 348, 352, 354 
 
 Revolutionary, 315 
 Social reform, influence on, 366 
 Types of, 345-347 
 Socialists, Continental — 
 
 Anti-military policy in France, 54 
 Support strong navy, 12 
 Social Reform, 362-389 
 Bibliography, 388 
 Cost of, 380 
 Definition of, 363 
 Electoral advantages of, 364 
 Helps Tariff Reform, 188 
 Naval expenditure, influence on, 
 
 21 
 Rarely party question, 363 
 Socialism, influence of, 366 
 Unionist Party and, 3G4 
 Unionist policy, future, 365 
 Somaliland — 
 Abandonment of hinterland, 
 arguments for and against 
 108 
 British policy in, 77-80 
 Illicit arms traffic, 80 
 South Africa — 
 
 Compulsory training, 178 
 Indian immigration, 162, 165, 
 166-170 
 Attitude of British Labour 
 
 Party, 170 
 Terms of provisional settle- 
 ment, 170 
 State interference, 188 
 Strikes — 
 Arguments for and against, 384- 
 388 
 " Successive occupation," 232 
 Swansea school case, 299 
 
 Tapt, President, on arbitration, 
 
 52 
 Tariff Reform, 187-209 
 Arguments for and against, 203- 
 
 208
 
 422 
 
 INDEX 
 
 "Double" market, advantages 
 of, obtained by, 195 
 
 Dumping prevented under, 194 
 
 Eastern competition renders 
 necessary, 189, 190 
 
 Emigration under, 192 
 
 Food, prices under, 192, 200-202 
 
 Growth of opinion in favour of, 
 187 
 
 Helped by social reform, 188 
 
 Imperial Preference, 199-203 
 Benefits of, Asquith, Rt. Hon. 
 H. H., M.P., on, 202 
 George, Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd, 
 M.P., on, 202 
 Need for immediate action, 202 
 
 India, Lord Minto on its neces- 
 sity, 129 
 
 Indian preference, arguments for 
 and against, 143-145 
 
 Japanese competition, its influ- 
 ence on, 189 
 
 Negotiation, power of, encouraged, 
 
 196 
 Opponents' arguments falsified, 
 
 198 
 Part of modern industrial legisla- 
 tion, 188, 192, 193 
 Prices under, 193 
 Revenue tariff, 320-822 
 Cost of collection, 321 
 Ef!ect on prices, 321 
 Estimated yield, 321 
 Wages under, 192 
 Who pays the duty? 193, 321, 
 322 
 Taxation, see Finance and taxation 
 Teachers — 
 
 Position in elementary schools, 
 290, 293, 294, 297, 298 
 Territorial Army, see Army 
 " Tests for teachers," 290, 293,294, 
 
 297, 298 
 Tithes, 311 
 
 Trade Disputes Act, 357 
 Trade relations, 187-209 
 
 Bibliography, 208 
 Trade Unions — 
 
 Captured for Socialism, 352-354 
 Osborne Judgment, 354-358 
 Arguments for and against, 
 
 358-361 
 MacDonald, J. Ramsay, M.P., 
 
 on defiance of, 355 
 Payment of Members no alter- 
 native, 218, 357 
 Proposals for alteration, 356 
 Reversal of, suggested, 355 
 Privileged position as political 
 associations, 357 
 Transferable vote, 246 
 Arguments for and against, 255- 
 
 257 
 Bibliography, 258 
 Transvaal, Indian emigration, 165, 
 
 166-170 
 Triple entente, effectiveness of, 32 
 Trusts, existence under Free Trade, 
 
 195 
 Turkey — 
 
 Albania, 81, 82, 101 
 
 Army, effect on European 
 
 politics, 34 
 Baghdad Railway, conditions of 
 
 construction, 94-95 
 British attitude towards, 80-82 
 Customs duties, increase in, to 
 finance Baghdad Railway, 
 94 
 Expulsion from Europe, the 
 solution of Balkan ques- 
 tion, 82 
 Future in European politics, 
 
 83 
 Pan-Islamic policy abandoned, 
 
 84, 88 
 Supremacy preserved in Crete, 
 83
 
 INDEX 
 
 423 
 
 Young Turks Party, policy of, 
 81 
 Two-Power standard, 1, 3, 5 
 
 Undenominational Schools, public 
 money voted for building, 
 299 
 Undenominational system, see 
 
 Education Question 
 Undeveloped Land Duty, 330-332 
 Effect on housing and building, 
 331 
 Unearned increment, 329 
 Unemployment — 
 Bibliography, 389 
 Distress from, 372 
 See also " Right to Work "' 
 Unemployment insurance, 373-375 
 Compulsion, difficulties of, 374 
 Limitations of, 374 
 Ure, Rt. Hon. A., M.P.— 
 
 Land taxes and nationalisation, 
 333 
 
 " Swingeing" duties on licences, 
 324 
 
 Voluntary Schools, 286, 292, 294 
 Rate-aid for, 286, 288, 297, 298 
 Unjust Liberal administration, 
 299 
 
 Wages — 
 
 Minimum wage, 370-372 
 
 Arguments for and against, 384 
 Under Tariff Reform, 192 
 Welsh Disestablishment, see Dis- 
 establishment 
 Wheelwright Schools Case, 299 
 Wolseley, Viscount, army, 62 
 Women's Suffrage, 236-239 
 Arguments for and against, 248- 
 
 253 
 Bibliography, 257 
 " Conciliation " Bill, 237-239 
 
 Yate, Colonel, Baghdad Railway, 
 100
 
 UirffTN BBOTHERS, LrMITED, 
 WOKING AND LONDON.
 
 SELECTIONS FROM 
 
 MR. EDWARD ARNOLD'S LIST 
 OF NEW AND RECENT BOOKS. 
 
 SERVICE MEMORIES IN FOUR 
 CONTINENTS. 
 
 By Surgeon-General Sir A. D. HOME, K.C.B., V.C. 
 
 Demy 8vo. With Portrait. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 These interesting reminiscences of an Army Surgeon on active service 
 cover a wide field of work. Beginning with early years of service in the 
 West Indies, the author soon proceeded to the Crimea, where he re- 
 mained until peace was declared. A year or two afterwards he joined 
 the expeditionary force destined for China, which was deflected to India 
 by the news of the Mutiny. He was present at the Relief of Lucknow, 
 and won the Victoria Cross for his " persevering bravery and admirable 
 conduct" on that occasion. In 1860 we find him in the East again 
 during the China War, advancing with the Allied Forces to Pekin. At 
 the close of 1861, when the Civil War in America seemed likely to em- 
 broil Great Britain, Surgeon Home was sent out to Canada, in readiness 
 for anythmg that might occur. Fortunately the clouds lifted, and before 
 his return to England the author was able to visit Baltimore and 
 Washington, where he gained many interesting impressions of the war 
 then in progress. The volume concludes with an episode in the Maori 
 War in New Zealand in 1864. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43, xMADDOX STREET, W.
 
 2 MB. EDWARD ARNOLD'S NEW AND RECENT BOOKS. 
 
 NEW FICTION. 
 
 XANTE. 
 
 By ANNE DOUGLAS SEDGWICK 
 (Mrs. Basil de Si^lincourt), 
 
 Author of 'Franklin Kane,' 'Valerie Uptok,' etc. 
 
 Croivn Qvo. 6s. Fourth Impression. 
 
 " I stand amazed by the qualities of the author's genius. She really can create characters, 
 quite original, and, as it were, not fanciful, not fantastic, but solid samples of human nature. 
 When one lights on something really good in contemporary fiction one has pleasure in saying 
 how excellent one finds the rarity." — Mr. Andrew Lang in the llluHrated London News. 
 
 " 'Tante ' is a fine piece of work, well thought out, well constructed, and full of human 
 nature. There is no possible doubt that it will stand out among the most distinguished 
 novels of the year." — Doily Telegraph. 
 
 " There can be but one opinion as to the merits of this entirely fascinating and able novel, 
 which marks a fresh stage in the development of one of the most remarkable writers of the 
 present day." — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 " One does not know of any woman writing novels in England to-day who is capable of 
 anything so imposing in invention and so refined in execution as ' Tante.' ' Taute ' is a 
 remarkable novel, full of brilliant things and of beautiful things — the strongest work of a 
 very distinguished writer." — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 THE BRACKNELS. 
 
 By FORREST REID. 
 One Voluine. Cro%on Svo. 6s. 
 
 " A work of rare distinction. ' The Bracknels ' is more than brilliant ; it is actual ; it 
 is true ; it is an accurate reproduction of an experience."— Z>aiii/ News. 
 
 "An admirable novel, from which one has had no ordinary amount of pleasure." — 
 Manchester Guardian. 
 
 "A remarkable novel and a novel of character. It is as fine a piece of work as we have 
 come upon for a long time." — Dailt/ Chronicle. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43, MADDOX STREET, W.
 
 MB. EDWABD ARNOLD'S NEW AND RECENT BOOKS. 3 
 
 W EW^ FICTION 
 
 MORE GHOST STORIES. 
 
 By Dr. M. R. JAMES, 
 
 Provost of Kino's Collegk, Cambridge. 
 Author of "Ghost Stories of an Antiquary," etc. 
 
 Medium &vo. 6s. Second Impression. 
 
 " I wish to place myself ou record as unreservedly recommending ' More Ghost Stories. 
 It is Dr. James's method that makes his tales so fascinating. As he puts it in his preface, a 
 ghost story ought to be told in such a way that the reader shall say to himself : ' If I am not 
 very careful something of this kind may happen to me.' "—Punch. 
 
 " What makes these stories impressive is not only the artistic skill shown in the applica- 
 tion of supernatural elements, but the air of vraisemblance that distinguishes each narrative. 
 Dr. James is a master of the art of ' true relation.' " — Westminster Gazette. 
 
 THE MOTTO OF MRS. McLANE. The 
 
 story of an American Farm. By Shirley Carson. 3s. 6d. 
 
 " Here is a story about which, given space and time, we should like to pour out our souls 
 in rapturous eulogies. It is absolutely fascinating."— /ciift Times. 
 
 A ROMANCE OF THE SIMPLE. By Mary 
 
 J. H. Skrine, Author of "A Stepson of the Soil." 6s. 
 
 "In 'A Stepson of the Soil ' Mrs. Skrine touched her highest point so far. In ' A Romance 
 of the Simple ' she goes beyond it. It is the best thing she has done."— Country Life. 
 
 " To those who read it it must for its truth and originality remain one of the most re- 
 markable books of the year." — Standard. 
 
 LOVE IN BLACK. By Sir H. Hesketh Bell, 
 K.C.M.G., Governor of Northern Nigeria. 6s. 
 
 "The last volume in our list also concerns West Africa. Sir Hesketh Bell's 'Love in 
 Black ' is a delightful and successful experiment in a very difficult form of art. His seven 
 short stories are almost wholly concerned with native life, but out of his far-away material 
 he constructs very living dramas. The grim irony of the 'Yam Custom' and 'A Woman of 
 Ashanti,' the broad comedy of 'His Highness Prince Kwakoo,' and the pathos of 'On Her 
 Majesty's Service ' are relieved by such charming idylls as the title-story and ' Tlie Talc of a 
 Tail-Girl.' A curious tenderness, especially when dealing with children, and a very real im- 
 aginative sympathy are the keynotes of the book." — Spectator. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 k 43, MADDOX STREET, W.
 
 4 ME. EDWARD ARNOLD'S NEW AND RECENT BOOKS 
 
 XRAVEl- A)MO SI^ORX. 
 
 FROM PILLARTOPOST. ByLt.-Col.H.C.LowTHER, 
 
 D.S.O., Scots Guards. Illustrated. 15s.net. [Third Impression. 
 
 "His chapters are so full of good things that ' From Pillar to Post ' should prove one of the 
 reminiscence-books most in demand this season." — Daili/ Telegraph. 
 
 "Colonel Lowther has written a very delightful book which, from its very unpreten- 
 tiousness, impresses the mind with a sense of actuality. His careless yarns about the war 
 have more of the real ring about them than acres of florid and bombastic description. We 
 can only urge everyone to beg, borrow, or steal the book and read it."— Evenini/ Standard. 
 
 MY LIFE STORY, By Emily, Shareefa of Wazan. 
 Fully Illustrated. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 "This is a veiy remarkable book, and one that should interest alike those who are 
 fascinated by the romance of reality and those who are always glad to learn about other races 
 from those possessed of intimate knowledge." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 MY ADVENTURES IN TME CONGO. By 
 
 Marguerite Eoby. "With Illustrations and Map. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 "A brilliant exposure of humanitarian humbug. After reading the book I have taken 
 every means in my power to test the good faith of the writer. She is a woman whom I 
 cannot describe otherwise than as a born leader. Read the book and you will know some 
 of the qualities required for leadership." — Vance in the Riferee. 
 
 THE KING'S CARAVAN. Across Australia 
 
 in a V/aggon. By E. J. Brady. With Illustrations and Map. 
 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 " Mr. Brady's account conveys one of the strongest and clearest impressions of life in New 
 South Wales and Queensland that we have read." —Standard. 
 
 THE GREAT PLATEAU OF NORTHERN 
 
 HHODESIA. By Cdllen Gouldsbury and Herbert Sheane. 
 With 40 pages of Illustrations and a Map. 16s. net. 
 
 "The most minute, thorough, and interesting description that has yet been written of 
 Northern Rhodesia. We thoroughly recommend this hook.."— Standard. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, W.
 
 Mn. EDWARD ARNOLD'S NEW AND RECENT BOOKS 5 
 
 XRAVEl- ANO SF^ORT. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE YUKON. By 
 
 the Hon. Stratford Tollemache. With Ilhistrations. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA. By 
 
 Mrs. M. A. Handley. Illustrated. 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 "The scope of Mrs. Handloy's book is quite iiiadequitely indicated by the title ; it really 
 forms a welcome addition to our knowledge of the vast and complex subject of India in that 
 it contains the impressions of a keen and shrewd observer on nuiuy Indian races, their 
 manners, customs, religions, virtues, vices, and idiosyncrasies, as well as admirable de- 
 scriptions of sceiiery, vivid accounts of hunting incidents and travel episodes, and instructive 
 littl-; asides on the political and economical, social and racial problems of the great peninsula. 
 We recommend the book thoroughly ; it is well written in a style that is as attractive as it is 
 sound, and the matter is worthy of all con6idera.tion."— Standard. 
 
 THE WILDS OF PATAGONIA. A Narrative 
 
 of the Swedish Expedition to Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and 
 the Falkland Islands in 1907-1909. By Carl Skottsberg, D.Sc, 
 etc. "With Illustrations and Maps. 15s. net. 
 
 ' ' Few books of the kind that 1 have read in recent years arc half as interesting. Instead 
 of bloody records of the butchering of defenceless beasts (for it should never be forgotten 
 that even tigers and rhinoceroses are practically without defence against quick-firing guns) 
 ■we have an interesting account of plants, stones, natural history, and scientific problems, all 
 set down by a young, well-educated and adventurous man. The book reads like what 
 Captain Cook's adventures might have been had they been written by Sir Joseph Banks, and 
 still preserved Cook's charm." — Mr. R. B. Cunnini^hame Graoam in the Salv.rdayj Jiiviejc. 
 
 THE SPORT OF SHOOTING. By Owen Jones. 
 With Illustrations. lOs. 6d. net. 
 
 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE=BOOK. By Owen 
 
 Jones and Marcus Woodward. With Photogravure Illustrations. 
 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 TEN YEARS OF GAME=KEEPING. By Owen 
 
 Jones. With numerous Illustrations. lOs. 6d. net. 
 
 THE HORSE : Its Origin and Development. 
 
 combined with Stable Practice. By Colonel E. F. Meysey- 
 Thompson. With Illustrations. 15s. net. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 A HUNTING CATECHISM. 
 A FISHING CATECHISM. 
 A SHOOTING CATECHISM. 
 
 Fcap. 8yo., 3s. 6d. net each vol. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43. MADDOX STREET, W
 
 6 MB. EDWAED ARNOLD'S NEW AND RECENT BOOKS. 
 
 ACROSS THE BRIDGES. A Study of Social 
 
 Life in South London. By Alexandee Paterson. With Preface 
 by the Bishop of Southwaek. New and Cheaper Edition. Cloth, 
 2s. net ; Paper, Is. net. 
 
 "An extraordinary valuable book on the life of the children of the poor in South London. 
 In its way it is the most remarkable work seen for years." — Evening Sews. 
 
 " It is a book that every M.P., every country and town councillor, everyone who plays, or 
 aspires to play, any part in public life, ought to be compelled to read several times over."— 
 Daily Mail. 
 
 " It has the interest of the most thrilling story. No one can read the book unmoved or 
 uninterested."— Westminster Ga.zette. 
 
 Miss Loane's Books on the Lives 
 of the Poor. 
 
 Miss Loane was a district nurse ; she lived among the poor and for 
 the poor ; she knows the society of the poor from the inside, yet she comes 
 in from the outside, consequently she sees closely enough to descry details 
 accurately. There are no volumes of statistics, however precise, and no 
 books about poor relief, however true to history, which can teach us what 
 Miss Loane has learned. 
 
 THE COMMON GROWTH. By M. Loane. 6s. 
 AN ENGLISHMAN'S CASTLE. By M. Loane. 6s. 
 
 NEIGHBOURS AND FRIENDS. 
 
 By M. Loane. 6s. 
 THE QUEEN'S POOR. By M. Loane. 3s 6d. 
 
 A BOOK THAT IS BEING WIDELY DISCUSSED. 
 
 MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 A Study of Evidence. By the Rev. J. M. Thompson, Fellow of 
 
 Magdalen College, Oxford. 3s. 6d. net. 
 The importance of this work may be gauged from the fact that Dr. 
 Sanday has thought it worth while to devote a recent sermon, preached 
 in the University Church at Cambridge, to meeting its arguments. 
 
 THE FAITH OF AN AVERAGE MAN. By 
 
 the Rev. C. H. Matthews, M.A., Author of "A Parson in the 
 Australian Bush," etc. 3s. 6d- net. 
 
 THE GRAVEN PALM. A Manual of the 
 
 Science of Palmistry. By Mrs. Robinson. "With about 250 original 
 Illustrations. 10s. 6d. net. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43, MADDOX STREET, W.
 
 MB. EDWARD ARNOLD'S NEW AND RECENT BOOKS. 7 
 A SUMPTUOUS EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 HANDLEY CROSS; or, Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt. 
 
 By R. S. SuRTEES. With 24 Plates in Colour and 100 Black-and- 
 White Illustrations by Cecil Aldin. Edition de Luxe, £3 3s. net. 
 General Edition, £1 Is. net. 
 
 This is a complete edition of Surtees' glorious work, illustrated by the 
 one artist of the day who is pre-eminently fitted to do justice to it. The 
 tale of the immortal Jorrocks and his Hunt is to-day the most popular 
 classic work on fox-hunting, and Mr. Cecil Aldin is unquestionably the 
 most popular sporting artist. He has entered heart and soul into the 
 spirit of the work, and the excellence of his pictures proves that they were 
 inspired by enthusiasm for his subject. 
 
 NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION. 
 
 SCOTTISH GARDENS, By the Right Hon. Sir 
 Herbert Maxwell, Bart. With 32 Coloured Plates from Pastel 
 Drawings by Miss M. G. W. Wilson, Member of the Pastel Society 
 and of the Scottish Society of Artists. New Edition. Medium 8vo. 
 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 A NEW EDITION REVISED. 
 
 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. By the late Very Rev. 
 S. Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester. With Coloured Plates. 
 Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 This edition contains the Dean's latest corrections of his famous book, 
 and a new chapter on " Progress " up to the present time by Dr. Alfred 
 Williams, Member of Committee of the National Rose Society. 
 
 THE COTTAGE HOMES OF ENGLAND. 
 
 Drawn by Helen Allingham and Described by Stewart Dick. 
 Containing 64 Coloured Plates from Drawings never before re- 
 produced. 8vo. (9^ in. by 7 in.), 21s. net. Also a limited Edition 
 de Luxe, 42s. net. 
 
 " Mra. Allingham is without a rival in the winning portrayal of simple British scenery."— 
 Daily Telegraph. 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43, MADDOX STREET, W
 
 8 MR. EDWARD ARNOLD'S NEW AND RECENT BOOKS. 
 
 THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN. A Guide to 
 
 Social Aspirants. Compiled from the Occasional Papers of Reginald 
 Drake Biffen. By Harry Graham, Author of " Lord Bellinger," 
 " The Bolster Book," etc. Illustrated by Lewis Baumer. 6s. 
 
 In this volume the author of "Lord Bellinger" and "The Bolster 
 Book " provides his readers with much excellent, if somewhat frivolous, 
 advice upon a variety of interesting social topics, ranging from Art to 
 Table- Manners, from Social Intercourse to Foreign Travel, from Dancing 
 to Country-House Visiting. The author's lively style should recommend 
 the work, not only to aspirants after social success, but also to every 
 lover of humour. The value of these amusing essays is enhanced by the 
 presence of some sixty clever drawings by Mr. Lewis Baumer, the famous 
 Puncli artist. 
 
 A 'Book for Every Home, 
 RUTHLESS RHYMES FOR HEARTLESS 
 
 HOMES. By Captain Harry Graham. With Illustrations by G. 
 Gathorne Hardy. Paper boards, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 THE BOOK OF WINTER SPORTS. With an 
 
 Introduction by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Lytton, and contributions 
 from experts in various branches of sport. Edited by Edgar Syers. 
 Fully Illustrated. Demy 8vo. 15s. net. 
 
 THE DUDLEY BOOK OF COOKERY AND 
 
 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES. By Georgiana, Countess of 
 Dudley. Handsomely bound. 7s. 6d. net. [Fourth Impression, 
 
 COMMON=SENSE COOKERY. Based on Modern 
 English and Continental Principles worked out in Detail. By Colonel 
 A. Kenney-Herbert. Over 500 pages. Illustrated. 6s. net. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOB. 
 FIFTY BREAKFASTS. 2s. 6d. 
 FIFTY LUNCHEONS. 2s. 6d. 
 FIFTY DINNERS. 2s. 6d 
 
 LONDON : EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43, MADDOX STREET, W.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9 — 15m-10,'48 (B1039)444 
 
 AT 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 LIBRARY
 
 <JJ:J Rees - 
 
 254 Current politidd 
 
 1912 problems 
 
 JN234 1912 .R25 
 
 yr 
 
 R25 
 
 L 009 586 433 6 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 001 277 215 8 
 
 JN 
 234 
 1912 
 R25
 
 ,1 
 
 'it 
 
 :i 
 
 I 
 
 ■4