exertions, it
will march forward conquering and to conquer.

I said a few minutes ago that this session had been marked by a
measure of great and cardinal importance. Surely no one will deny the
magnitude and significance of the step which has been taken in the
establishment of a system of old-age pensions. It marks the assertion
in our social system of an entirely new principle in regard to
poverty, and that principle, once asserted, cannot possibly be
confined within its existing limits. Old-age pensions will carry us
all a very long way. They have opened a door which will not soon or
easily be closed. The members of both Houses of Parliament have been
led to the verge of the cruel abyss of poverty, and have been in
solemn session assembled to contemplate its depths and its gloom. All
alike have come to gaze; none have remained unmoved. There are some
distinguished and eminent men, men whose power and experience I cannot
impugn, who have started back appalled by what they have seen, and
whose only idea is to slam the door on the grim and painful prospect
which has been revealed to their eyes.

But that is not the only spirit which has been awakened in our
country; there are others, not less powerful, and a greater number,
who will never allow that door to be closed; they have got their feet
in it, they are resolved that it shall be kept open. Nay, more, they
are prepared to descend into the abyss, and grapple with its evils--as
sometimes you see after an explosion at a coal mine a rescue party
advancing undaunted into the smoke and steam. Now there is the issue
on which the future of this Parliament hangs--"Forward or back?"
Voices sound loud and conflicting in our ears; the issue, the sharpest
and simplest, the most tremendous that can be put to a generation of
men--"Forward or backward?"--is the issue which confronts us at the
present time, and on it the future of the Government is staked. There
are faint-hearted friends behind; there are loud-voiced foes in front.
The brewer's dray has been pulled across the road, and behind it are
embattled a formidable confederation of vested interests. A
mountainous obstacle of indifference and apathy bars our advance. What
is your counsel? Forward or Back?

Let it be remembered that aged poverty is not the only evil with
which, so far as our means allow, we have to grapple. What is the
problem of the hour? It can be comprised in one word--Unemployment.
After two years of un