A. —7

" That is the joy. It is not pensions—it is the joy of being wanted, in being able to use hands when the originals have been shot away, in being able to see and to feel and to do things without eyes. It is that which we have to do —to help the men and women who have been marred and scarred by this terrible conflict to come back and live a full and useful life again. " One other point. For some time I have been studying statistics, particularly with regard to the expectation of life, and —whilst statistics do not always prove the case that they are supposed to prove —they are often very revealing. The expectation of sixty-seven years of life in one little country in the South Pacific alongside an expectation of less than twenty-seven years in a thickly populated country in Asia cannot be permanently maintained. If that goes on for long, the seeds of another war have been sown. I say there is no need for it. The responsibility of the countries where the resources are is to see not only that their standards of living are raised—or that they are at least maintained to ensure full health but that what can be brought into being in excess of what was previously necessary shall go to other countries to enable them to lift their standards too. There is 110.other way of avoiding war and bringing peace with prosperity. " Then, again, the idea of a superior people in the sense of their being inherently superior is wrong. There are 110 inherently superior people. There are superior peoples, collectively and individually, but not inherently so. Give any human being created by the same God the same conditions and opportunity which you and I may have enjoyed, then whatever their status may have been through the ages, it is probable that in due course he or she will achieve the same level of material and cultural advancement. "We have set out objectives so far as social security is concerned. The objective you passed to-day in connection with social security reminds me of another conference —a conference in Geneva in 1920. It was called the Second International—not the International Labour Organization Conference—but the Second International Conference. There, delegates from most of the countries of the world immediately after the last war, were debating this resolution. I place it before you because I affirm it has to be given effect to if we are to have permanent peace. The resolution was that the first charge on all the wealth created shall be the care of the aged, the care of the young, the care of the ailing, and those engaged in the production of essential utilities. The aged —why ? Because that which we enjoy to-day we could not so enjoy had it not/been for that which they had done. The young —because if they are not looked after now, there is no future for us. The ailing—because unless we do that simple, ordinary, Christian duty, then we won't have the soul to justify our living in the better world that may come later. But more than that: if you don't look after the ailing, the diseases and the troubles they have, they will come to you. So there is a lot of sense also in doing that right thing. "We have set all this out in our Declaration. I have never attended a Conference where representatives of three groups, employers, employees, and Governments, have been so united in the objectives towards which they desire to travel. Our differences have come only when wo have been reasoning out how—how is it to be done —and whether it is practicable to bring about the conditions we desire. " I believe the goal that we have set ourselves is an objective which can be reached, I believe that poverty anywhere, as is stated in the Declaration, endangers prosperity everywhere. I don't want to get rid of poverty just to ensure that prosperity is maintained ; 1 want to get rid of poverty because it is bad, it is wrong, it is immoral, it is unethical, it is un-Christian, it is unfair, and it is unjust, and it is everything that is bad. I mean involuntary poverty- where a man is told that his hands are not wanted, and that his wife and his youngsters will be deprived of the necessary things for health. " I believe we were meant in this world to live a long time, and I believe the contribution made by this Conference has been great towards that end. But that contribution will not have been complete unless we go from here determined that each in our own country we will work and strive and fight to bring into being the conditions that we have talked of here, to help to write the legislation, and to see that it is properly administered, so that what we have talked of will be given effect to. " I am hoping that when the next Conference comes around we will not find ourselves engaged in discussions 011 how, but will be considering reports 011 what has been done, and on what are to bo the next steps in our march to freedom. "So much I have to say with regard to the general principles. One special thing in connection with this Conference calls forth the admiration of every delegate, and that is the way in which the Secretariat, with some help that should be recorded from outside, led by Mr. Phelan, have performed a task under extraordinary difficulties. " Perhaps I know as well as any other person the load that has been carried by Mr. Phelan both prior to and during this Conference. Inside my own memory, I know of no person who has carried that load in a more even and serene way than it has been carried by our Secretary-General. There have been at times voluble and strong representations of certain delegates and even officials and even officers of the Conference, who feel that things ought to be done in a certain way. But this has been met by a quietude unexampled. Mr. Phelan has made a contribution that far exceeds that which could have been made by a normal man. We owe a lot to Mr. Phelan. It will be a long time before the world can fully pay to him the debt due. " What 1 have said about Mr. Phelan applies also to the members of his staff: Mr. Lindsay Rogers, Mr. Waelbroeck, Mr. Jenks, the legal adviser, with Mr. Lafrance, and particularly my personal assistant, Mr. Little. It applies also to other members of the staff. May I specially mention the interpreters and translators. I know not how they perform their task, but they have done it well. All the staff have done fine work to enable the delegates to carry on the work for which they came to Philadelphia. " The delegates in the Hall never know what an extraordinary amount of detailed work has to bo accomplished to enable them to do the work that they have to do. We owe a lot to the Secretariat of this Conference for the work that they have done,

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