Mr. Asquith was presented with the freedom of the city
of Glasgow on Monday, and delivered an interesting speech. He expressed his strong approval of town planning. Two sights depressed him when he visited a great town,— the sight of children idling in the streets in play-hours, loafing and often learning their first lessons in beggary and crime, while the schools and playgrounds lay empty and unused; and the sight of a boy of fifteen or sixteen sitting at the tail of a van reading sporting papers or trashy novelettes and preparing to graduate, when too old for his present casual work, amongst the unemployables. Personally, he was not a pessimist in these matters, and he would rather see doubtful, and even perilous, experiments tried than the cynical and timorous lethargy which preferred to let things alone. In conclusion, he said that the readjustment on a sound basis of the relations between local and Imperial finance was long overdue. We recommend universal military training to Mr. Asquith as a remedy for the evils of which he spoke with so much eloquence and feeling.
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