That we had rather face a Civil War than such another century of
suffering as the present one has been.

It would be easy in the light of thirty years' experience to write at
much length on these propositions. They are, of course, unqualified
"Shaw." The minutes state that each was discussed and separately
adopted. Three propositions, the nature of which is not recorded, were
at a second meeting rejected, while the proposition on heredity was
drafted and inserted by order of the meeting. I recollect demurring to
the last proposition, and being assured by the author that it was all
right since in fact no such alternative would ever be offered!

The persistency of Mr. Shaw's social philosophy is remarkable. His
latest volume[10] deals with parents and children, the theme he touched
on in 1884; his social ideal is still a birthright life interest in
national wealth, and "an equal share in national industry," the latter a
phrase more suggestive than lucid. On the other hand, he, like the rest
of us, was then by no means clear as to the distinction between
Anarchism and Socialism. The old Radical prejudice in favour of direct
taxation, so that the State may never handle a penny not wrung from the
reluctant and acutely conscious taxpayer, the doctrinaire objection to
State monopolies, and the modern view that municipal enterprises had
better be carried on at cost price, are somewhat inconsistently
commingled with the advocacy of universal State competition in industry.
It may further be noticed that we were as yet unconscious of the claims
and aims of the working people. Our Manifesto covered a wide field, but
it nowhere touches Co-operation or Trade Unionism, wages or hours of
labour. We were still playing with abstractions, Land and Capital,
Industry and Competition, the Individual and the State.

In connection with the first tracts another point may be mentioned. The
Society has stuck to the format adopted in these early days, and with a
few special exceptions all its publications have been issued in the same
style, and with numbers running on consecutively. For all sorts of
purposes the advantage of this continuity has been great.

* * * * *

On January 2nd, 1885, Bernard Shaw was elected to the Executive
Committee, and about the same time references to the Industrial
Remuneration Conference appear in the minutes. This remarkable
gathering, made possible by a gift of L1000 from