spectacles
of confusion and misery which they cannot reconcile with any
conception of humanity or justice. They see that there are in the
modern state a score of misfortunes that can happen to a man without
his being in fault in any way, and without his being able to guard
against them in any way. They see, on the other hand, the mighty power
of science, backed by wealth and power, to introduce order, to provide
safeguards, to prevent accidents, or at least to mitigate their
consequences. They know that this country is the richest in the world;
and in my sincere judgment the British democracy will not give their
hearts to any Party that is not able and willing to set up that
larger, fuller, more elaborate, more thorough social organisation,
without which our country and its people will inevitably sink through
sorrow to disaster and our name and fame fade upon the pages of
history.

We have done some of that work, and we are going to do more. In moving
forward to this great struggle which is approaching, we are going to
carry our social policy along with us. We are not going to fight alone
upon the political and constitutional issue, nor alone upon the
defence of free trade. We are going, fearless of the consequences,
confident of our faith, to place before the nation a wide,
comprehensive, interdependent scheme of social organisation--to place
it before the people not merely in the speeches or placards of a Party
programme, but by a massive series of legislative proposals and
administrative acts. If we are interrupted or impeded in our march,
the nation will know how to deal with those who stand in the path of
vital and necessary reforms. And I am confident that in the day of
battle the victory will be to the earnest and to the persevering; and
then again will be heard the doleful wail of Tory rout and ruin, and
the loud and resounding acclamations with which the triumphant armies
of democracy will march once again into the central place of power.

THE SECOND READING OF THE ANTI-SWEATING BILL[14]

HOUSE OF COMMONS, _April 28, 1909_

It is a serious national evil that any class of his Majesty's subjects
should receive in return for their utmost exertions less than a living
wage.

It was formerly supposed that the workings of the laws of supply and
demand would in the regular and natural course of events, and by a
steady progression, eliminate that evil, and achieve adequate minimum
standards. Modern opi