ent section of the Middle Class. It is a quotation
from the _Magazine of Commerce_ for September 1907, and leads to an
explanation by the present writer.

"The recent return of Mr. Grayson, a Socialist, as member of
Parliament for the Colne Valley, has brought prominently
before the public mind the question of Socialism. Mr. Pete
Curran's success at Jarrow a month or so ago, and the large
number of Labour members returned at the last General
Election, caused more or less desultory comment on Socialism
as a possible feature of practical politics in the remote
future; but Mr. Grayson can certainly claim that his
achievement at Colne Valley brought the question of Socialism
in to the very forefront at one bound. It is difficult to
ignore Socialism, to dismiss it as a mere fad and fancy of a
few hare-brained enthusiasts, after Mr. Grayson's success. The
verdict of Colne Valley may be the verdict of many another
constituency where the so-called working-class electors are
numerically predominant. When we consider that the manual
worker represents the majority of the electorate of the
country, this contingency does not appear to be so very
remote, provided that the leaders of Socialism can organize
their resources and canvass the working-men on a wide and
carefully-planned scale. In this respect the Colne Valley
result may very well give them the lead and stimulus they have
been waiting for. It must be borne in mind, too, that the
forward section of the Labour Party is avowedly Socialist in
its sympathies, and a definite start may therefore be said to
have been made towards capturing the machinery of Government
in the Cause of Socialism.

"How will Socialism affect the business world? This is a
question which many thoughtful business men must have already
put to themselves. For reply we must go to the leaders of
Socialism, and discover what their policy actually is. The
common impression that Socialism spells barefaced confiscation
is too superficial to be seriously adduced as an argument
against Socialism. The leaders of the Cause include some of
the cleverest men of the day--men who have a more rational
basis for their policy than that of simply robbing Peter to
pay Paul. The suggestion that Socialism means a compulsory
'share out' may be rightly dismissed as an idle scare. T