There always seems to be this defect in Labour Party
Conferences, that Presidential addresses bear very little relation to facts. This is true in a much greater degree than of the Conferences of any other Party. It is a pity ; and we have often wondered whether it would not pay the Labour Party to cultivate a little more realism. The resolution of the Independent Labour Party which demanded a drastic increase of taxation of the rich in order to provide new social services and children's allow- ances was " side-tracked," and this was a speedy realistic comment on the Presidential address. The truth is that most trade unionists who have thought about children's allowances dread the probable effect •upon the level of wages. Therefore they insist upon- caution, though the caution may not be a token of a moderate mind so much as of a certain self-interest.
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