nservative Party are inclined too much to repose
their faith for the future security and pre-eminence of this country
upon naval and military preparations, and would sometimes have us
believe that you can make this country secure and respected by the
mere multiplication of ironclad ships. We shall not exclude that
provision, and now indeed ask the Committee to enable us to take the
steps to secure us that expansion of revenue which will place our
financial resources beyond the capacity of any Power that we need to
take into consideration. But we take a broader view. We are not going
to measure the strength of great countries only by their material
resources. We think that the supremacy and predominance of our country
depend upon the maintenance of the vigour and health of its
population, just as its true glory must always be found in the
happiness of its cottage homes. We believe that if Great Britain is to
remain great and famous in the world, we cannot allow the present
social and industrial disorders, with their profound physical and
moral reactions, to continue unchecked. We propose to you a financial
scheme, but we also advance a policy of social organisation. It will
demand sacrifices from all classes; it will give security to all
classes. By its means we shall be able definitely to control some of
the most wasteful processes in our social life, and without it our
country will remain exposed to vital dangers, against which fleets and
armies are of no avail.

FOOTNOTES:

[16] Mr. Wyndham.

[17] Mr. Austen Chamberlain.

THE BUDGET AND NATIONAL INSURANCE

THE FREE TRADE HALL, MANCHESTER, _May 23, 1909_

(From _The Manchester Guardian_, by permission.)

Considering that you have all been ruined by the Budget, I think it
very kind of you to receive me so well. When I remember all the
injuries you have suffered--how South Africa has been lost; how the
gold mines have been thrown away; how all the splendid army which Mr.
Brodrick got together has been reduced to a sham; and how, of course,
we have got no navy of any kind whatever, not even a fishing smack,
for the thirty-five millions a year we give the Admiralty; and when I
remember that in spite of all these evils the taxes are so oppressive
and so cruel that any self-respecting Conservative will tell you he
cannot afford either to live or die, I think it remarkable that you
should be willing to give me such a hearty welcome back to Manchester.
Yes, s