The Presidential address was delivered by Mr. II. Morrison, the
Minister of Transport. He asked his audience to remember that he was speaking as President of the Conference and not as a Minister. We need 'not follow hini in detail, for he covered most of the ground already covered in Mr. MacDonald's message ; but we cannot help remarking that a good deal of his rhetoric about the spirit of Socialism and the obliquities of Capitalism did not consort very well with the present temper of most of the members of the Labour Party, who are wisely concentrating upon such industrial and social reform as they can carry through with Unionist and Liberal help. That may or may not be a prepara- tion for Socialism. Mr. Morrison is entitled to assume that it is, and we are entitled to assume that it is not. But we think that he would have done better to acknow- ledge the need of help in the intervening period and not to bluster at those without whose help, as he knows perfectly well, many desirable improvements are impossible.
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