LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE SOCIAL PROBLEM.
[TO TIRE EDITOR OF TRE "SPECTATOR.-]
Srn,—The speech of Mr. Lloyd George on property and class relations which has just reached us, the speaker being a Cabinet Minister, cannot fail to tell. It is likely to have. some effect even on this side of the Atlantic. It points to a policy which would apparently involve confiscation, and might lead to a social conflict. Let us take fair account of the • situation, and see whether the callousness of the property- holding classes to the wants and sufferings of the poor has been such as the speech seems to imply. My eyes opened on the world when it was just becoming calm, and turning its mind to social problems after the absorbing excitement, very anti-philanthropic in its influence, of the long .European war. Am I not right in thinking that the spirit of benevolence has made great and very visible progress since that time? Are there not monuments of it on all aides in the shape of public schools, hospitals, asylums, reformatories, public gardens and parks, public baths and public libraries, to which may certainly be added a great increase of private charities and of interest in all charitable works ? Has not legislation become more just and philanthropic? Has not the franchise been extended to the poorer classes ? Have not laws been passed for the protection of Labour ? Have not the Unions been legalised ? Are we to suppose that the progress of benevolence will cease, or that its speed will be increased by making investment precarious and stirring up antagonism of class ? There is still very much unquestionably to be done. Among other things, you may cease to waste in iniquitous or senseless wars countless millions of the produce of Labour. To this waste, however, the proletariat itself has been in some degree accessory, for the multitude has generally hailed war as a spree, and voted down the advocates of peace. So it was in the case of the Crimean War, of the " Lorcha" War, and of the Boer War. Remember the Mafeking night! Remember also that the suffering class is not entirely composed of the victims of social neglect. It includes also victims of idleness, imprudence, and drink, which ho confiscatory legislation P.S.—In the New York Nation of October 29th there is a long and apparently very sensible letter signed "Independent," arraigning the administration of the Republican Party, and saying that through the exorbitant pension-list it has " con- nived at the dishonesty of tens of thousands 9f unworthy and fraudulent pensioners, and undermined and demoralised hundreds of thousands more who were perfectly able to support themselves." It was astonishing to me that in the discussion of your pension-list so little notice was taken of the tremendous warning given you by the history of the pension-list in the United States.
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