21 MARCH 1908, Page 26

The British Constitution Association. By Lord Balfour of Burleigh. (B.C.A.,

23 Charing Cross. 3d.)—This address is full from end to end of powerful reasoning, cogent arguments put in a way which makes them easy of apprehension. Lord Balfour's main object is to champion Liberty against Socialism, and he confronts his antagonists with not a few dilemmas. Here is one of them. How is the working man to be free when there is only one employer? Here is another. There is to be no difference between the scavenger and the Premier. Each is to have what he wants and nothing more. How about their wives ? Are they to be dressed alike? Can we imagine a world with all the women clad in uniform? An American community broke up on the question of flowers in the garden. No man, said the purists, was to grow them for himself. How about the flowers in the women's hats? We take it that it will be at least as difficult to settle this question satisfactorily as it will be to raise loans when the precedent of repudiating the National Debt has been established. One thing is tolerably clear,—the Socialist com- munity would be the paradise of the professional politician and the official. The host of workers would be at least equalled by the host of those who had to look after their work.