The Pillars of Security and Other War-time Essays and Addresses.
'By Sir William H. Beveridge. (Allen and Unwin. 6s.)
Beveridge
THE various papers which are brought together in this volume were written between the beginning of February, 1942, and the end of March, 1943. The first four were produced before Sir William Beveridge had become absorbed in the inquiry which was to lead to the Social Security report; presenting his reflections on total war and the kind of Government needed for its conduct, they were useful by-products of an active, trained mind not at the moment stretched as much as its owner would have liked by any piece of responsible war-work. His under-employment at that time turns out to have been fortunate, for it gave him the leisure to accept a job whose full importance was scarcely realised. In fact, it was he who gave it the importance it has assumed—he discerned, in the course of examining the machinery of social insurance, the opportunity of making a frontal attack on the "giant evil of Want," and setting the problem in a framework which clearly revealed four other giants, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.
Sir William produced his Report, and in doing so not only made his far-reaching proposals, but was careful to present them in graphic language which would." get over" to the public. It_might be thought that nothing more was needed. But he is not the kind of person to leave anything in doubt if he can possibly clear it up. There -have been many misunderstandings about his plan—he answers them in these papers. There are questions as to how far the Government has gone in accepting his recommendations—here he points out where it falls short in principle as well as in detail. But that is not all. He does not claim to have solved the problems presented by the other giants, least of all that of Idleness, or recur- rent mass unemployment, whose solution is essential to the Security scheme. Therefore he hammers, again and again on the urgent topic of facing the wider issue of which his Report presents only a part, and insists that just as it is necessary to prepare for war during peace, so it is essential to prepare for peace during war. Indeed, such preparation is an important element in the Govern- ment's war actiyy, since victory depends on the staying power of the people, vnich will be increased if they are convinced that the Government is planning a good peace.
One of the most impressive facts about Sir William's Report— and he is impressed by it himself—is the reception it has had from the nation. He recalls certain inquiries made during the last war, and the complete lack of interest excited by them, and reflects that people then wanted merely to get back to the conditions of the old peace, while now they passionately desire to go forward to some- thing different and better. Sir William has a dual role. His is the authority of the disinterested scientific inquirer, who presents the facts. But he is also the advocate ardently espousing a cause and bent on persuasion. In this book we see him mainly as the advocate, cogently, plausibly, repetitively pointing the way to reform. but resting on the objective findings of his other self, the scientific inquirer.
R. A. SCOTT,JAMES
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