A manifesto marked by deep earnestness and deep religious feeling
dealing with the principle of the living wage was last week put forth by the Council for Christian Witness on Social Questions. It is signed by the Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop of Birmingham, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Lincoln, Lord Henry Bentinck, M.P., Dr. Clifford, Dr. Horton, Dr. Scott Lidgett, and a large number of laymen and clergy- men of the Church of England and the Free Churches. We would like to ask the excellent men and women who sign the petition not to assume, as they appear to assume, that those who do not see their way to adopt the principle of the minimum wage or living wage are either bound by some pedantic adhesion to political economy or else are stonily indifferent to the cry of the poor. We can say from the heart that we would gladly see all the laws of political economy perish if we could save one poor man, woman, or child in a. thousand from destitution and wretchedness. We would ask the signatories in their splendid self-confidence and enthusiasm to remember not only that it is conceivable they may be mistaken, but also that their opponents, though mistaken, may be as sincere and have as mach lovingkindness to the poor.
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