carried through rapidly.

CHAPTER XXIII

PURIFICATION OF POLITICAL LIFE

_Find us men skilled, make a new Downing Street fit for
the new era._--THOMAS CARLYLE.

No one will imagine that the long list of questions that have been
mentioned covers the whole field of reconstruction, still less that the
answers suggested are complete. Some of the suggestions made may be
fruitful, others not. Enough has been said to show how huge that task
is, and how it will need for its accomplishment all the knowledge and
wisdom, and all the energy available. It is, therefore, clear that every
proposal which may be made must be examined on its merits, not as it
affects any party or personal interests, and that those who are elected
to decide or appointed to deal with any matter shall in each case be
chosen because of their fitness for the work assigned, not because their
influence or support may be useful to any party or coterie.

Political life from bottom to top must be purified if reform is to be
carried out on just and sound lines. On this question plain speaking is
essential. For some time elements of corruption have been growing up in
English politics, which it will be one of the first duties of the
electorate and of a new and reformed Parliament to get rid of. The very
word "politician" has become a term of contempt. The country is alive to
the evil and ought to insist that it shall be promptly dealt with. The
task is not an agreeable one. Those who have anything personally to gain
or to lose in political life will naturally shrink from it. At the same
time, nothing is worse than to overstate the case, and nothing easier
than to create an atmosphere of suspicion without definite evidence.
Directly the word "purity" is mentioned in any sense, there is a
tendency to put forward something startling, "to pander to the lust for
the lurid." It would be an excellent thing to put a tax on the use of
adjectives, at all events in the discussion of any question of politics
or morals, as fines are sometimes imposed for the unnecessary or
offensive expletives employed as a common form of emphasis.

One or two definite changes could be made which would go far to promote
political purity. (1) No "honour" should be conferred on any Member of
Parliament while he retains his seat there. It ought to be considered
sufficient honour to belong to that assembly. Gratitude to a Government
for personal favours of this kind, either a