melioration of society shall come, as
it now seems to him it must come, by slow and orderly stages and without
violence. The very return of so many Labour members to Parliament and to
local councils has damped down the fires of Socialism, by placing in
positions of authority and responsibility, and thereby withdrawing them
from the army of disaffection, the ablest leaders of the working-class
movement. The Labour member who cannot settle down to legislative or
administrative work, but attempts to play the agitator's part in the House
of Commons or the council chamber, is generally doomed to banishment from
official public life, and is allowed to remain an agitator.

Mr. John Burns may be denounced as a renegade by Socialist critics, but a
working-class electorate returns him to Parliament. Mr. Cunninghame Graham
and Mr. Victor Grayson may be applauded for their consistency by Socialist
audiences, but working-class constituencies are loth to return such
representatives to the House of Commons.

As Socialism quietly passes out of the vision of the political world, and
from a definite inspiration to democracy becomes a dim and remote
possibility of the future, Social Reform takes its place. Not only in Great
Britain, but throughout Europe, the social reformers or "revisionists" are
gaining the mastery over the scientific Marxian Socialists in democratic
politics. In Great Britain where "practical," or experimental, politics
have always prevailed over political theory, the passing of positive
Socialist dogma is naturally more obvious. Social Reform is now the cry of
Liberals and Conservatives alike. The old Liberal doctrines of _laissez
faire_, unrestricted competition, and the personal liberty of the subject
are as dead as the Stuart doctrine of the divine right of kings. The old
Liberal hostility to State interference in trade or commerce, and to
compulsory social legislation has melted away at the awakened social
conscience. It still has its adherents--Lord Cromer and Mr. Harold Cox
repeat the ancient watch-words of Victorian Liberalism, and they are
regarded with a respect mingled with curiosity, as strange survivals of a
far-off age--but no popular echo follows their utterances. Pensions for the
aged, better provision for the sick and the infirm, a more careful
attention to the well-being of children, national health, some cure for
destitution, and some remedy for unemployment--these are the matters that a
Liberal Gove