Review of Reviews, 20J2/06. 



Topics of the Month. 



M5 



LXX.— THE HOPES OF LABOUR. 

 MR. GEORGE BARNES. 



" Well. Mr. Barnes, what do you hope and expect What would be your own programme supposing the 



impossible happened and the new Parliament con- 



the new Parliament will do for Labi air?" 



" Between my hopes and expectations there is a 

 vast difference." 



" What do you expect?'" 



" Very little." 



•'Very little?" 

 Well, perhaps that is too broad a statement. It 



tained a solid phalanx of ninety Labour representa- 

 tives ?" 



"I would ask Parliament lo get out of our way. 

 Up to the present I have always been opposed to 

 the formulation of a definite programme. But now 

 I believe the time is at hand when it may be wise lo 



will probably do something for Trade Unions, re- endeavour to concentrate united action upon a few 



storing them to almost though not quite the same 

 position they occupied before the Taff Vale deci- 

 sion. Then they will no doubt do something about 

 Education, but that will not benefit Labour at all. 

 It seems to me that they wish to go back to the 

 compromise that existed before the Education Act 

 was passed. That is not the education reform we 

 want. I should prefer if they left the Act un- 



specific points. Before everything else, it is neces- 

 sary to find new sources of revenue, not for the pur- 

 pose of meeting the general expenditure of the coun- 

 try, but in order to provide funds with which to 

 ameliorate the conditions of the working class. I 

 would, therefore, tax land values and swollen in- 

 comes, both being social in origin, and which ought 

 therefore to be social in their application. 



touched for several years. Tt has some good points. wealth that has been heaped up by Free Trade 



Tinkering at it will only be so much labour wasted 

 from our point of view. Then there is the licens- 

 ing question. I expect they will attempt something 

 in that direction also. If they give a freer hand to 

 local authorities to try experiments on their own 

 account I shall be glad, for it will be a step in the 

 right direction. I was surprised — pleasurablv sur- 

 prised — to read what Campbell-Bannerman said at 

 the Albert Hall about obtaining an increased revenue 

 from licenses." 



'And that is the extent of your expectations?'" 

 " Yes. Remember the Government enters office 

 unpledged. What I hope is that the new Parlia- 

 ment may do something to ameliorate the condition 



needs to be better distributed. Free Trade has 

 been a wonderful machine for producing wealth ; 

 there is no denying that. But it has done nothing 

 to bring about a jusler distribution of the accumu- 

 lated riches."' 



"• How. then, would you expend this increased re 

 venue ?" 



" First of all in providing old age pensions. That 

 measure I would place in the forefront, because 

 once the money has been found, it is much easier of 

 accomplishment than almost any other reform. I 

 would spend more on education. Xot the present 

 system, which favours the individual at the expense 

 of the communitv. but an education which would 



of those who are unable to help themselves — the benefit the people as a whole, while still providing 

 children, the aged, and the unemployed. But I do special opportunities for the exceptional scholars. 



not expect it will, except under compulsion from 

 outside." 



'• Will not Mr. Burns be able to help the cause 

 from his position in the Cabinet?' 



''The entrance of Mr. Hums into the Cabinet was 

 not all gain to Labour. It raav strengthen the posi- 

 tion of the Lib-Labs at the exp< nse of the out-and- 

 out Labour candidates. Time alone will show. But 

 from the point of view of Labour I have no faith 

 in an alliance with any political party. I do not 

 object to working with Liberals, Tories, Noncon- 

 formists, or Churchmen to gain a specific object. 

 That is an entirely different matt) r. But 1 have 

 found some Tories quite as sympathetic to our de- 

 mands as Liberals, and Churchmen in much closer 

 touch with our needs than Xon conformists. In 

 spite of Mr. Biirns' presence in the Cabinet the 

 central authority is composed of men who have no 

 personal knowledge of the evils they are expected 

 to remedy, and whose sympathies, conscious or un- 

 conscious, are always on the side of those whoso in- 

 fo rests are opposed to those of labour." 



I would raise the school age to fifteen, sixteen, or 

 as high as it was possible to make it. That is i 

 reform of the utmost importance. Then there is 

 housing. It is a difficult and complicated problem. 

 1 would give wide powers to the local authorities 

 both for the condemnation of slum property and for 

 building. A landlord whose property was proved 

 to be unfit for habitation should be dealt with 

 severely. His propert) should be taken over with- 

 out compensation, and the present system of reward- 

 ing him for disregarding his duties to the com- 

 munitv should be dune awa\ with. 1 would also 

 give much wider powers to local authorities than 

 they now possess. If we are to achieve anything 

 there must be devolution." 



"You expect, as well as hope. I suppose, that 

 Labour will be better represented in the new Par- 

 liament ?" 



" Yes. that is so ; but the Labour members will 

 be divided between what you call the Lib-Labs and 

 the Independents. The general desire that is mani- 

 fest in the country to give tin- new Government a 



"But if you expect little, you may hope for more. fair chance will tell against the Independents. 



