MR. SIDNEY WEBB AND THE MINORITY REPORT.
LTO THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPRCTATOR.1
SIR,—The letter with which Mr. Sidney Webb in last Sunday's issue concludes the recent correspondence in the Observer on the subject of the Minority Report of the Royal Commission deserves the widest publicity as an instructive illustration of the political methods by which it is hoped to secure the adoption of that preposterous scheme by the nation. Mr. Webb therein admonishes candidates for Parliament that they will jeopardise their prospects of success if they support the democratic system of the direct election of Boards of Guardians, or the proposals of the great majority of the members of the Royal Commission, and hints, not obscurely, that the popular " ticket " will be a bold acceptance of the revolutionary proposals of the Minority Report for " scrap- ping " the whole Poor Law machinery, a project which he appears to think has the support of Mr. Balfour ! Thus the displeasure of the working classes, for whom Mr. Webb seems to consider he is entitled to speak, is held in terroreny over the head of any candidate who may dis- agree with the scheme propounded by the leader of the Fabian Society for the State relief of the poor. It is clear that the "feudal screw," of which we hear so much, is not the only method of applying political pressure ! I think Mr. Webb will find that he has taken too low a view both of the independence of candidates for Parliament and of the intelligence of the working classes. Englishmen are not, as a rule, to be influenced by threats, and although for the moment the Minority Report may be popular with a section of the working classes—since it would give practical effect to their "Right to Work" Bill—it will not be long before they appreciate the fact that the right to claim work or maintenance from the State involves the reciprocal right of the State to enforce labour. They will see how carefully the minority provide for the subjection of all who receive assist- ance to bureaucratic surveillance and direction, and they will not be anxious to reassume the status of serfdom, even when a bureaucracy is substituted for a feudal superior.—I am, Sir, &c., ARTHUR CLAY. 19 Hyde Park Gate, S. W.
[We have dealt in our leading columns with Mr. Sidney Webb's letter and the proposals of those who desire to " rush " the Minority Report on the country.—ED. Spectator.]
Previous page
