he whole community
would profit. The one solution is individualist. The other, as far as it
goes, is nearer to the Socialist ideal.

But, though British agriculture may have a great future before it, it
will never regain its dominant position in our economic life, nor are
small holdings ever likely to be the prevalent form of agriculture. The
bulk of industry is, and probably will be, more and more in the hands
of large undertakings with which the individual workman could not
compete whatever instruments of production were placed in his hands. For
the mass of the people, therefore, to be assured of the means of a
decent livelihood must mean to be assured of continuous employment at a
living wage, or, as an alternative, of public assistance. Now, as has
been remarked, experience goes to show that the wage of the average
worker, as fixed by competition, is not and is not likely to become
sufficient to cover all the fortunes and misfortunes of life, to provide
for sickness, accident, unemployment and old age, in addition to the
regular needs of an average family. In the case of accident the State
has put the burden of making provision on the employer. In the case of
old age it has, acting, as I think, upon a sounder principle, taken the
burden upon itself. It is very important to realize precisely what the
new departure involved in the Old Age Pensions Act amounted to in point
of principle. The Poor Law already guaranteed the aged person and the
poor in general against actual starvation. But the Poor Law came into
operation only at the point of sheer destitution. It failed to help
those who had helped themselves. Indeed, to many it held out little
inducement to help themselves if they could not hope to lay by so much
as would enable them to live more comfortably on their means than they
would live in the workhouse. The pension system throws over the test of
destitution. It provides a certain minimum, a basis to go upon, a
foundation upon which independent thrift may hope to build up a
sufficiency. It is not a narcotic but a stimulus to self help and to
friendly aid or filial support, and it is, up to a limit, available for
all alike. It is precisely one of the conditions of independence of
which voluntary effort can make use, but requiring voluntary effort to
make it fully available.

The suggestion underlying the movement for the break up of the Poor Law
is just the general application of this principle. It is that, inst