STUDENTS AND SOCIAL REFORM

Otago Witness, Issue 2913, 12 January 1910, Page 17

STUDENTS AND SOCIAL REFORM

Address delivered by H. D. Bedford, at Marten on the 4th before the annual conference of the University Christian Union. You have given me a heavy task, but one in the discharge of which I take keen delight The relation which students should bear"to social reform is a subject upon which I can speak, at anyrate, with enthusiasm, especially to an audience the constitution of which bespeaks earnestness of purpose and capability of thought. The social problems of the time are urgent, and clamour for solution. They are pressing themselves with greater and greater insistence upon the intelligence of modern cvilised nations. Everywhere there is social unrest. The noise of strikes and rumours of strikes are constantly in our ear. The political atmosphere of Great Britain is just now charged with storm. In Germany militant Socialism grows apace amid not a little din and dust, and uneasiness to crowned heads and privileged orders. America is everlastingly the seat of conflict on issues of social reform. The discordant clangour of it all roars in on one incessantly. No country is exempt. Each has its land problem, each its liquor problem, each its tariff problem, each its labour problem, and so forth. Social forces of immeasurable power are at play. Around us whirl racing floods. And what shall be the attitude of the 6tudent to all this seething activity? Not, I hope, one of aloofness, but one, I trust, of deep sympathetic interest. May I: be permitted to caution against a vice of mind which too often afflicts the educated man ? It is that of a more or less undisguised contempt for the aspirations and efforts at social amelioration of the working man. The latter's conceptions are frequently crude and ill-grounded, and his efforts often clumsy, blundering and ill-directed, but the cure of these excesses docs not he in the • urled lip or the scornful tongue of the intellectually proud. Nothing pains me more than to observe the spirit of intolerance and extravagant undiscriminating denunciation with which certain classes of men meet every form of political agitation by the so-called workers. Faults may be corrected sympathetically, but never superciliously. The word's greatest need to-day is a multitude of trained, educated minds bent sympathetically upon the solution of those social problems which at present seem so distressingly, almost despairingly, difficult. Society, perplexed and baffled by its problems, cries aloud for the service of the well-furnished brain, governed by the warm enthusiastic heart. Earnest men not uncommonly are to be found essaying this task of social betterment with insufficient equipment, and the result, is failure, waste, misdirection of energy. By some strange fatality, it too often happens that those who have the'heart for this, work haven't the head, and these who have the head haven't the heart. Why is it that in so many cases the university cools the heart and dries up its ardour for the masses of humanity whilst it develops the mind? Why is it that conservatism and contentment with social inequaLities so often follow culture? Whatever the reason, it is disastrous in its effects and tends to .erabitter the wage class, which rightly strives for better conditions. The man whose best energies each day are engrossed in the labour of making a living ought to be able to look with confidence to the university and its alumni for guidance in determining the lines upon which reforming activity should go. It must be apparent to a moment's reflection that in all spheres of effort there is a great deal of wasted and misdirected energy, but especially is this characteristic of that sphere in which men are working to ameliorate the conditions of society. °For each of our social ills there are a thousand and one remedies proposed and earnestly supported. Each remedy has its army of followers who throw the strength of their mind and heart into its advancement. Yet these alleged panaceas are in many cases contrary the one to the' other. We all admire the man whose warmth of conviction in any cause leads to a consecration of life to that cause. Yet probably the world suffers as much; firom sincere error as from the perversions of self-interest. A man may be tho sincere unsuspecting servant of error all his days, and Carlyle has told us that error cannot endure, but must ultimately be overtaken by bankruptcy. This earnest pursuit of error finds abundant illustration in our own times. And it arises from the neglect of the informed and educated men to do their duty. There are two classes to bo found in every community—one the wealthy and fortunate, who show a selfish, obdurate hostility to reform, the.other the labouring poor, who exhibit an alarming precipitancy and recklessness in attacking social difficulties. Where ia the correction to come from? Surely from who are unper*«£ted by self-interest and 1 enffghtened by

study. The time calls for men of instructed courageous minds, who will not shrink in. faience from the truth they see, who are bold and fearless in utterance.

I honour the man who will sink Half his present repute for the freedom to think, And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, Will sink the other half for the freedom to speak.

[ Where should we turn but to our universities for such men? And from whom should our expectations range so high as . from the Christian students? On them the community should be able to lean for instruction and leadership in tho march of i humanity to higher levels of living. Their ! Christianity should be warranty of their l integrity of purpose and their character ' of students for their equipment with the J.necessary knowledge. "Christian student" j imports to my mind a heart responsive to ! the needs and distresses of men, a spirit ! absolutely dauntless in the advocacy of the | right, and a mind chastened and balanced by that degree of conservatism which a [ study of human history and the first principles of sociology teach. In this age of I political ferment and unrest, we need to lay ■ insistence on the solid value of the prinI ciple of conservatism. What Burke- says is true, "Men are not qualified to look forward to 'posterity who never look backward i to their ancestors." No vision of a. social millenium is trustworthy which is not j opened out by a reforming zeal governed ', by the lessons of experience. The counsels of t experience and economic theory should rbe j sought in all departures from beaten tracks ! —in all proposals for innovation. This is j necessary to avoid the pursuit of falsa lights, I the taking of false steps, and the waste of energy and time. The words of Bacon want writing large, " A cripple in the right ] way will beat a racer in the wrong one." Having considered the urgency of the call to the Christian student, let me plunge into the nature of the problems which con- '; front us. To begin with, never lose hold ! of the truth that the economic conditions 1 of society to-day are not defensible. Let j there be no slipperiness of grasp here. ■ Something is wrong. Those who toil are too poor, those who toil not are too rich. . In olden lands, especially, the steep contrasts of condition are alarming. I notice that the members of the recent Press Conference in London agreed almost unanimously that the great danger to the Empire was the evei--widening gulf that yawned between rich and poor. That the industrious should be so often poor and the idle so often rich is m unmixed evil, and may God's richest hleef*in<r, I say, descend on such measures as Lloyd George's Budget, which would lighten the burdens of the former and lessen the privileges of the latter. This jostling of indigent labour with wealthy indolence has its causes. Those causes must be discoverabl* and capable of counter action. Here then is our duty, and a duty very urgent in this young country where the foundations of a nation are being laid. ■ It becomes increasingly manifest that as newly settled countries advance in prosperity they tend to develop those appalling social conditions which are to be found throughout Europe. Thev are seen in . America ?.nd Australia. Their beginnings are seen in New Zealand. And the utmost vigilance and wisdom will be required to checkmate their development here. Our great desire is to prevent the emergence in this Dominion of the extremes of foetal position, the degrading poverty, and the vicious luxury we find elsewhere, and the only way to do so is to study social evils abroad as well 9,9 at home, penetrate to their causes, and adapt our legislation to I meet them. Now. in dealing with social and economic problems I would lay down a few guiding .principles which cannot be disregarded without mischief. 1. Production is the Basis of Wealth.— There is no royal road to plenty. _ All attempts on the part of a community to get rich without "industry must fail. Remember this when agitators are asking you to believe ia the magic of paper monev to 1 make a country wealthy without labour. Our railways, we a.re told, can be built j without cost. Pay the workmen in pieces ' of stamped paper, which cosl- nothing-, and I the construction of your railways need be no burden on the taxpayer. But the workers, while thev are building, will be I eating and drinking and wearing out, j clothes, and these will have to be provided by extra industry somewhere. A country ! does not make wealth when it makes } money. Spain in the half-century succeed-- , ing the discovery of the gold mines of ! America was the richest country in the ; world in money, but the poorest in the world in things* which satisfy man's needs. If the stock of the world's money were doubled to-morrow the world would not be a bit richer; but if half its money were lost and its commodities were doubled it '■■ would be- twice as rich. Were- the Govern- ! ment printing machine to go full epeed for a week turning cut bank notes there wouldn't be an ounce more bread to eat or any increased, accommodation to the

life of our people. The toil of its people alone brings prosperity to a nation. 2. Obstructed or hindered production cannot bring redress of- evil. The poverty of the poor is not to be relieved by lessening the wealth produced. They must necessarily be upon a wrong track who urge us to reduce the working day four or five hours in the interests of the poor end the unemployed. The real wages, of a community do not consist in the •noney it gets, but in the consumable things which Labour makes. Any proposed remedy, tt.eiefore, which lessens the amount of -roods rroduced lessens the product of labour, ar d this is the only fund out of which wages come. What is distributed in ci.d income every year is not really money, but the goodi, etc., which have l»een produced by the labour of the \oar. It is futile to attempt to improve the distribution of "wealth by checking its production.

3. It is not work that a community wants, but the fruits of it. The aim, Merefore, should be he maximisation of the produce and the minimisation of the effort. Success lies in giving to labour the utmost productiveness. Machinery, labour-sating devices, and freetrade aa-e rot a eir.v-e but a rich blessing in providing La.bour with short-cuts to its end. Yet in this country you find men urging we should make all our own boots, clothes, matches, etc. The easiest way for a New Zealander to procure a pair of boots is not to make the boots himself, but to make some' butter and send it to England to fetch his boots. It is not labour he wants, but the boots. England for a long time refused to allow corn from abroad to enter her ports without rcaying a heavy duty. The result was that" she grew it herself, but at heavy expenditure of labour, and corn was dear. During the first half of last century better counsels prevailed, and Labour devoted itself largely to making cottons and' woollens with which to purchase corn abroad. It was then found that the labour formerly required to grow a given quantity of corn if applied to the making of cotton would prodj.ee nearly twice as much corn. England saw that the factory operative in Manchester produced twice as much wheat as the farm labourer. Any interference with the free course of trade lessens productiveness. Except under abnormal conditions, every trade transaction is profitable to both parties to it. It is not a good thing to export and an avil thing to import. All trade is an exchange of. goods. The only way of paykig for exports is by imports. To subsidise ships, therefore, to take our goods away and to erect tariff barriers against foreign goods coming back in payment is colloesal folly. Remember, then, that trade is a means of securing the maximum productiveness of a nation's industry. The greater the trade the greater the wealth. Commerce has been a mighty agency in augmenting the fruitfulness of the earth. You will, therefore, sse the futility of helping the labouring class byitariffs or other embarrassments of trajle. The working man wants more of tfiis world's goods. It is hard to see the wisdom of meeting this need by imposing restrictions which will lessen the amount of commodities produced. The evil under which we suffer is not that too much wealth is produced, nor that it its too easily produced, but' that it is badly distributed; and you cannot improve distribution by making production more difficult.

4. The burdens upon the industries are' too heavy. The heaviest burden on the producing class is the. maintenance of the idle ooor and the idle rich. It is this which keeps wages low all the world over. Those who do work have to produce not only for themselves and their families but for the vast army of consumers in any country who cannot, will not, or, at any rate, do not work. Carlyle was nor far wrong when he divided men kito tltfee classes —those who live by working, those who live by charity, .and those who live by stealing. The greater the number of the last two classes the greater the load upon the other. Whilst all men are not producers, unfortunately they are all consumers. This is only just beginning to be appreciated in Great Britain. The burden of the indigent is heavy. It cost England and Wales last year £14,000,000 in hard cash. If we include the indirect cost arising from loss of producing power of the idle poor, it is estimated the loss ia £40,000,000" a year. This represents the cost of what may be l termed, "the permanently unemployed." What support this-, class gets is drawn from the produce of those who labour. The labourer would be richer by what £40,000,000 a year rcfpresents if this class could be made Jto sustain itself. And surely this reform can be effected. Dr and General Booth have shown us a way, and an effective way. The vast majority of the thousands whom Booth has drawn from those hotbeds of human wastrels—our city slums—and settled in Canada have been transformed into industrious citizens. It is possible

to change this burden upon the national life into a support of it. The great mass of the poor only requires improved environment and the opportunity to earn its daily bread to become sources of .enrichment instead of causes of impoverishment to its oountry. But the burden ot the rich is heavier still upon industry. Tho idle of this class are huge feeders. The fortunate owners of the land of London alone exact about £30,000,000 as annual toll for allowing tihe Londoners to work and live upon it. Before the workers of London get any part of t'hfe fruit of their labour £30,000,000 of it is taken from them. The landowners make no contribution to the city's industry for this sum. Without producing anything they consume thus enormously. Never forget that the man who never works, Who lives 6umptuously, dresses elegantly, and shoots partridges, is living upon the man who do°s work and who lives sparely, dresses ooarselv, and fills his days with toik not sport. ' The toilsomeness and poverty of the latter's life is due to the inordinate appetite of the former for the products of the latter's industry.. It is a fiction to suppose that the idle rich live upon their own wealth. The wealth of tno world in large part is created year by year. All that the rich possess are titledeeds to a certain quantity of the produce of each year's industry. Poor old Britain is heavily laden with these indolent and colossal consumers, whose strong-boxes are filled with title-deeds. They manage to draw to themselves the best and most of the commodities which the labour of man's hands and the cunning of his intelligence produce. A few years ago :t was said the income of Great Britain was about £1,800,000,000 a year, that 30 million pecole (mostlv workers) who produced it consumed £690,000,000 of it, that eight million people (mostly idlers) who didn't produce anv of it consumed £1,100,000,000 of it. In the United States it has been recently calculated that productive labour receives 23.74 per cent, of its product and the exploiters of productive, labour 76.25 per cent. This estimate, however, is surely exaggerated. But it is no wonder the producers are poor. Lloyd-George's Budget is, I trust, the first instalment of reform which will check the voracity of the appetite of the idlers for the fruit of other men's industry. Great Britain is cursed with parasites—the parasitic poor and the parasitic rich. I believe the day is dawning when we shall look with contempt on the man of health and e<n>egy who is content 0 to live on so-called inherited wealth. The laws of the State ought to be so framed as to compel every man who can to contribute to the strength of his nation by assisting in its industry. 5. Thera is too much wasteful consumption. This is almost as prolific a source of eocial distress as the waste of producing power just dealt with. Marshall, in his "Principles of Economics," savs: —"Perhaps £100,000,000 are spent by the working classes and £400,000,000 by the rest of the population of England in ways that do little towards making life nobler or truly happier." Here again the rich are the greatest sinners. There are 6000 women in New York who spend among them £8,000,000 a-year in dress. In England there are poodles innumerable who have gold-filled teeth, who are sent yachting for fresh air. and taken to the ojjera accompanied by liveried servants. Poodles are consuming the produce of British industry instead of Brit : sh workmen. Of tha whole purchasing power of the British people one-third is spent wastefully. To take an instance, Great Britain and her English-speaking colonies spend over £200,000,000 a-year on aloohol. They allow the brewers and publicans to confume the food, clothes, luxuries, etc., to the value of £200,000,000, which the labour of their artisans have produced, in exchange for tho beer which deteriorates the power of those artisans. As a people we part with 200 million pounds worth of the yearly fruit of our industry in return for that which weakens and degrades us. By this wasteful expenditure the measure of our losj is indeed incalculable. Here again we see a great burden upon the back of wholesome industry. The vast army of those who make and vend alcohol cannot live on what they produce, since it is not merely a waste but a harmful product. Like the idle rich and the idle poor, the brewers and publicans live on the industry of those who make things which sustain and accommodate life. They get the right to exaofc every year for their consumption these good things'to the valu-i of £200,000,000, .and- this in return for making a commodity which neither sustains themselves nor anyone else. If only those who produce wholesome things could retain for their own consumption the full fruits of their labour they would be rich indeed. But they are despoiled by the pauper, the landlord*, the publican, the bookmaker, and a multitude of other parasites, who do not produce anything that ia

good, but who consume the cream of what good things are produced. 6. The revenue required for State affairs should be obtained not from the producers of our food and clothes and comforts, and those who labour to minister to the social well-being, but from those distinguished for extravagant consumption and exemption from productive toil and those whose labour only produces mischief. Rightly adjusted taxation is a powerful weapon for encouraging honest industry and saving it from the deprivations of the parasite. So long as any class of parasites exists in a community no part of the burden of taxation should fall on the toiler engaged in legitimate production. Whilst the fornix has a penny he should pay. Such a policy would be twice blest. It would bless the producer with a larger measure of the fruits of hi* pelling him to work. The dukes of England may not be sensible of this blessing falling upon them in the shape of the famous Budget, but it is none the less a real one. If in our Empire all the income of mere landlords, publicans, gamblers, eto., were drawn into the public purse by, taxation, it would be a means of giving back to the public what has been withdrawn from legitimate industry, and would reduce to poverty, not the workers, but the idlers. And. alter all, tb<» destitution of such would reflect honour on our national lite. A word of explanation is probably necessary respecting the landlord. It may be objected that he should not be classed with brewers and gamblers. The only ground for so treating him is that he is the recipient of an unearned income. In New Zealand the unimproved value of landl increases at the rate of about £4,000,000 a year. In 1891 the unimproved value of tho land of the Dominion was £75,000,000. In 1908 it was £l6l,ooo,ooo—an increase of £96,000,000. This is due wholly to the general progress of the community. It is entirely unearned by those who receive it. This value grows apace, making larger and larger drafts upon the products of industry. When one looks critically at our economic system and observes what the landlord, the pauper, the publican, tho gambler, the stock exchange jobber take, the wonder is not that honest labour get eo little, but .that it gets so much as it does. All these assert prior claims, and labour get the residue. No reform can do any good which does not diminish the revenues of the "non-producing large-consum-ing, claes. The most serious indictment of our present system is that the chief producers consume so little and the chief consumers produce so little. A golden da? dawns for labour when it can get rid ol its parasites. It is enough to make one'i heart bleed to read that the Duke of Westminster d.raws an income of £500.000 a year for doing nothing, and with the money can go on the world's market and command* the products of the year's industry to that value, while Hodge draws an income of 15s a week, or less than £4O a year, for driving the plough and harvesting the wheat. It is a national crime that one who lenders no service should be so rich and one who renders the greatest of services should be so poor. The greatest of all problems for labour is not to lessen or hamper its production, but to throw off its impedimenta. It is feeding and clothing \ too large a. body of non-workers. Now, I ' have indicated a vast problem; opened out a vast field for enterprising zeal. Who is to enter upon it? Who are to vindicate the rights of labour and dethrone our national vices? Not the politicians. They have an incurable bias to evade a step aside from a difficulty. Theirs is an unregenerafce fondness for delusive short-cuts and fallacious facilities. Their close dependence on the popular will makes unswerving adherence to principle difficult except in men of rare strength. One must look to other light of guidance than that afforded by the man pressed at all points to accommodate his opinions to those of the majority. The only trustworthy leadership is to be found in the sanctified and instructed intelligence. Let me briefly summarise the pergonal qualifications needed for effective and enduring work in the betterment of society. 1. A broad sympathy. By this alone can a man put himself in fellowship with crowds. He must be apprised of everv grottnd-swell, ho must share the throb of the mass of humanity. He must have large relations and remain sensitive' as the heart of Christ to the needs of men. From the time of our Saviour, the regenerators of the earth have always been distinguished by the multitude of "their affinities; their lives have been intertwined with the whole eJtgin of human interests'. 2. A competent knowledge. Society ia only irritated and disordered by the earnest efforts of ignorant men. The reformer must bring to hie task a knowledge of the principles of industry and commerce. A mere elementary knowledge oj the function and operation of money, if general, would save the world from an infinite deal of misconception and foolish legislation. It. ia the lack of the knowledge of fundamental

principles of economics which limits the influence of so many ministers of religion. There can be no doubt, I think, that the Church can only keep its grip of the world by taking an intelligent interest in the eociaJ relations of men. The salvation of the individual is indissolubly connected with the salvation of society. What colossal hindrances to the Gospel do we find in pauperism, drunkenness, indigent labour and luxurious indolence ! It is notorious that it is the middle classes that fill the pews. Before the world can be conquered for Christ we shall have to let loos© regenerative forces for society. I know one young minister in Otago who is so impressed with this need' of touching men intelligently in their industrial life that he is devoting two years to close study of social and economic questions. The Church wants a multitude of men like Dr Clifford, of London, and Dr Waddeil, of Dunedin, who can address a body of working men on Labour problems, and show an understanding of them which commands respect. Both these men have an acquaintance with economics and sociology, which would do credit to a professor on the subject. Our Christianity must have a> social edge. It must have flood enough to effect a. washout of the whole social system. To save a man we must understand him not onlv in his relations to his God, but also in all the multitude of his relations to his fellows—and industrial relations fill a large part of his life. The minister of religion must cover the whole range of human philosophy. Let the educated Christian men manifest zeal in the re generation of the communal and industrial life; let them come with rips knowledge to adjust inequalities and redress wrongs, and they will Boon f'-d channels to the hearts and souls

•filitani Spirit.—The reformer must man capable of wrath, of a puni-

tive indignation against wrongdoers. He needs somewhat of the temper of the sword r.nci flame. He must not shrink at plaving fcho iconoclast, because a few will suffer. The obligation lay upon Abraham Lincoln io ride upon the chariot of war through slaughter and ravage to the emancipation of the slaves, and he discharged it. We cannot allow the pro- ; vers of temperance, for instance, to be r '.eked by consideration of the distresses i I the publicans. We must not expect that :' i stepping in to change any old inveter- - custom the end can be accomplished " uheufc jarring something and hurting f Jn attacking ?■ source of corj lotion in society, which is deep-seated and ! rigorous measures are often • •■-• : -d. r fhe only remedy for the cancer ■ i'ie knife. Remember and do that. '. ""* nric© is too great to pay for national ■ ''-htcoivwiess. God poured a delude over ■> world <o cleanse it from wickednesr; • i preserve the remnant of righteousvf:'. Lastly. He allowed His own Son ■ i he crucified like n. felon for the fame tvjrnose. Once and for all He proclaimed " ■-> the world that righteousness is so pref.ious that its purchase is not too dear at iny cost. Better that England should have been drenched in blood than that Englishmen should have cravenly yielded to the yoke of the Stuart Kings. Better that we should submit to the most alarming embarrassment of our national exchequer ; better that we should forever contend with the most perplexing and bewildering difficulties in the enforcement of the righteous law than that terrified by the magnitude of the task we should abandon the struggle against the drunkenness of our nation. We are not permitted without dishonour to lay down the burden of regeneratine society. I "am convinced' we too timidly look to probable consequences of proposed reforms. When in doubt as to the ultimate issue, stand for abstract right, and 1 b.a,ve faith that what is just shall prove expedient. And when the stand 's made fear not to fight with a daring abandon. We want peace on earth, but only wdien the foes of man's welfare have been soundly and finallv thrashed. The peace of God' is war SMrainst wrong. Christ came to bring a sword into the world. Abhor the peace arisine from splitting the difference with the adversary. Spurn the ease and infamy of the lesser of two evils. Christ is still the grand example. He preached to the blind with clay and spittle, to the sick with healing, but He was magnificent- in his militant wrath as He preached to the money-changers with the ecourge. The labourer wants nreaching to with honest wages, the indolent consumer with compulsory toil, the- evil institution with battle-axe and batteringram.

4. A Passion for the Ideal. —The disease which paralyses the human mind and withers its heart is want of faith in the noble, true, and grand. Our politics sadly need the- influx of a< nassionate idealism. .We are cursed with the practical man. Get a lofty regenerative purpose ind inundate the cvnicism of modern iivilisation with it. It can be done. The Ideal when pursued with ardour has a wav bf treading a math for itself. It will cut fta own channel. It has a wonderful aptitude for making for itself room and draw-

ing to itself allies. Let us not forget that tho speculations of one age are the history of the next. Tell it out —and without hesitancy—that God made man to be a sober, industrious, cultured, soulful creature, and that Gods purpose shall be accomplished. Let the ears of men ring with your proclamation that the highest righteousness shall write the law of our land.

5. An Utter Fearlessness in Drawing Conclusions and Uttering them.—The words of Lecky are apt: "We must be prepared to follow the light of evidence even to tho most unwelcome conclusions, to labour earnestly to emancipate the mind from early prejudices, to resist the current of the desires and the refractory influence of selfinterest, to proportion conviction to evidence and not to introduce the bias of affection into the inquiries of reason." Above everything be honest thinkers and honest speakers. Don't scruple to brave the anger and. persecution of wickedness in high places. Don't hesitate to denounce the innumerable fopperies and follies in which opulence sports away tho too great load of its untoiled-for superfluities. Don't shrink from telling the publican that his trade is the spawning ground of murderers, profligates, and blasphemers. On the other hand, don't flatter the prejudices and vices of the working class. Relentlessly expose all demagogues, anarchists, and all trumpeters to stir the populace to plunder! Permit none to tempt ".Tf'ch impunity the cupidity of indigent power! Speak the truth if even with some asperity! Fear not to break the monotony of a tod-decorous ago with wholesome audacities! "Men in. earnest have no time to patch fig-leaves for the naked truth."

6. A -True Regard for the Dignity of Man as Man.—The cheapness of man in our industrial system is every day's tragedy. We use up too much human material to maintain our commercial position. The motherhood of our natron should he free from toil in the factory. Tens of thousands of women in the cities of Great Britain leave their babies in the dark winter mornings to spend the day in making cloth at the loom. A nation of strong men is not so nourished and built? Too much it seems as though the end of our national existence were- the making of wealth instead of the making and culture of men. There are no ships in the world: that can surpass those built unon the Clyde; no cottons can equal those of Manchester; no cutlery can rival that of Sheffield. But what of the men and women produced in towr* ? The same care and attention is not devoted to makinsr them of' the best quality. These cities of fabrics overflow with poverty, cl'untonrQf'', luxury, and vice. Our Empire needs to go in whole-heartedly for the manufacture of men-; Good, strong inen "re a better asset than good strong_ships. The juggernaut of modern industrialism. with its panting oassion for profits, has crushed out enough lives. Let its progress be arrested. Sacrifice wealth to making men rat'"n- thin men to making wealth. !' En'dan' 1 cannot run her alkali and other kindred manufactories under bettor conditions for the operatives let hev close, them down. A nation cannot continue to thrive whose industries eat up its neople. Hold up a new ideal for the Emmire, not wealth, not. commerce, but a healthy, vierorous, moral peoole. We honour nronertv too much and regard human wellbeing too little. In conclusion, let, me urge upon you to bewaire against the insidious approach of undue conservatism with advancing years and nrosperitv. Only those who are constantly renewing their youth, who keen the mind and soul in the freshness of its springtide, whose life is even- being charged with new hop", new zeal, new faith can do the work of amelioration which society needs. Our nation is too much under the foot of ease-loving, change-hating, old and nrcsr-arous men. "Wnth is the svmbol of the flowing ebb of life, age st?nd= for its ebb. Remember the words of Emerson, "Men arc conservatives when they are '•est vis-crou= or wbp" they -are n~o<t luxurious. Thev are Conservatives after dinner or before taking- their rest-when they a vp s V.k nv aged : in the morning, when. their intellect or their conscience has been aroused, when the-"- hear mus-c or -wVcn thev rca-d poetr-". ?rc Radical*." Decadence is pot far when the watchword is conservatism rather than extension.