On Tuesday Lord Salisbury made a short speech at the
Conference of the National Union of Conservative and Con- stitutional Associations. His chief point, after reminding his audience of the extraordinary change which had made London the haven of Conservatism instead of the hotbed of Radicalism, was to insist that if the Conservatives were to keep their hold on London they must take up the housing question. " They should devote all the power they possess to getting rid of that which is really a scandal to our civilisation,— the sufferings which many of the working classes have to undergo in the most moderate, I might say the most pitiable, accom- modation." They must not be 'frightened away from the remedies for social evils by the fact that they are made a cover or pretence for attacks upon property and other insti- tutions. " You must repel these attacks, but at the same time you must not allow your attention to be diverted from the stern necessities which the vast social changes of our time are imposing upon all who cherish the prosperity of this country." We sincerely trust that this means that Lord Salisbury intends to take up the slum question in earnest. It is a vital problem. Unhappily there are at this moment thousands of children growing up in London and the great towns under conditions which do not allow them to become good citizens, morally and physically. Unless that state of things is stopped, and we cease to produce a slum population, the State is in danger of an invasion of the worst possible kind, —the invasion of an unfit and demoralised population, not from outside but from within. No doubt the destruction of slums is costly, but remember that the essential thing for getting rid of slums is not money, but care and trouble and keeping watch that England is not fouled by recklessness or laziness. The pollution of the air by smoke and of the earth by refuse is not an economic necessity, but largely due to callous indifference to a clear sky and a clean land.
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