ntributed by Hubert Bland, whilst the conclusion, a
magniloquent eulogy of the moral value of Government service, written,
according to Webb's recollection, by Frank Podmore, is evidently the
work of a civil servant who has not got over the untamed enthusiasms of
youth!

The Report shows immature judgment, but also in parts remarkable
foresight, and a complete realisation of the right scientific method.
With State tobacco farms and the public organisation of a corps of
peripatetic State navvies, the childhood stage of the Fabian Society
may be said to conclude.

My own connection with the Society also changed. In the spring of 1886 I
gave up my business on the Stock Exchange and in the summer went to
Newcastle-on-Tyne, where I lived till the autumn of 1890. My account of
the Society for the next three years is therefore in the main derived
from its records. Sydney Olivier succeeded me as "Acting Secretary," but
for some months I was still nominally the secretary, a fact of much
significance to my future, since it enabled me if I liked to deal with
correspondence, and it was through a letter to the secretary of the
Society, answered by me from Newcastle, that I made the acquaintance of
the lady who three years later became my wife.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] "Misalliance: with a treatise on parents and children," 1914.

[11] Industrial Remuneration Conference. The Report, etc. Cassell, 1885,
p. 400.

[12] William Clarke had attended some early meetings but dropped out and
was actually elected to the Society in February, 1886.

[13] Presumably a "Times" reporter was present; but his report was not
published.

[14] Later M.P. for Tyneside and a member of Mr. Asquith's Government.

[15] Contemporary accounts of the conference can be found in the July
numbers of "To-day" and "The Republican," the former by Mrs. Besant, and
the latter, a descriptive criticism, by the Editor and Printer, George
Standring.

Chapter IV

The Formation of Fabian Policy: 1886-9

The factors of success; priority of date; the men who made it--The
controversy over policy--The Fabian Parliamentary League--"Facts for
Socialists"--The adoption of the Basis--The seven Essayists in
command--Lord Haldane--The "Essays" as lectures--How to train for
Public Life--Fabians on the London School Board--"Facts for
Londoners"--Municipal Socialism--"The Eight Hours Bill"

The Society was now fully constituted, and for the next three