Review of Revieics, 20J3/06. 



Character Sketches, 



267 



But all of them were crowded. All of them were 

 enthusiastic, and they supported John Burns to a 

 man, Mr. Chamberlain indeed is said to have re- 

 marked that he owed his defeat more to John Burns 

 than to any other of his assailants. 



Eight years ago Mr. Burns told me the main heads 

 of his political creed. As he has not changed since 

 then, I may reproduce his confession of faith to- 

 day: — 



If Industrialism is not to be paralysed, Militar- 

 ism must be throttled. My political faith is demo- 

 cratic. I am for manhood suffrage and for woman- 

 hood suffrage. Woman must no longer be the Cin- 

 derella of the Industrial family. 



Friends of Woman Suffrage may note that in this 

 point John Burns is supported by the Prime Minis- 

 ter, when, on beginning the campaign in Scotland, 

 he publicly confessed his conviction that women 

 ought to have equal right with men in choosing 

 Parliamentan,- representatives. 



Parliamentary Government needs to be reformed 

 on the County Council lines, and decentralised by 

 the aid of the County Councils. 



First and foremost abolish the House of Lx>rds 

 as an unnecessary duplication of machinery — un- 

 necessary, therefore dangerous. Secondly, reform 

 the House of Commons. Reduce the number of 

 members to four hundred. Place a time limit of 

 fifteen minutes on speeches. Throw more work on 

 the Councillors. Relieve the congestion of West- 

 minster by devolving as much as possible on the 

 County Councils. 



As for the rest, keep on pegging away. We shall 

 win the next election, and then we shall resume the 

 work of the glorious years when the County Coun- 

 cil concentrates its energies upon making London 

 a city worthy of the millions who inhabit the capital 

 of the Empire. 



In the present election, Mr. Burns, speaking with 

 the responsibility of a Minister of the Crown, ab- 

 stained from proposing such drastic reforms as the 

 re\'olution of Parliamentary procedure, 'and the 

 abolition of the House of Lords. His first adminis- 

 trative act was to appoint a Committee with instruc- 

 tions to secure that ratepayers and taxpayers should 

 have the public accounts so published and simpli- 

 fied that everyone would know exactly what was 

 done with money he had to pay to the local and na- 

 tional authorities. He told his constituents that he 

 had but one object in view, and that was to use 

 Parliament as a means of removing political un- 

 ■equality, social injustice, and industrial disorder. 



His social ideal was fcAver workhouses and more 

 homes, smaller charities but larger wa<res, more 



pleasures, less drink, smaller cities, larger villages. 

 Industrially what he wanted was less overwork and 

 more regular employment. He would proceed by 

 wise exixrriment and" bold legislation. He deplores 

 the une<qual distribution of wealth. " It was distri- 

 buted mainly in heaps," and he hinted that in a fur- 

 ther extension of the death and succession duties 

 something might be done to secure a more equal 

 diffusion of riches. 



In foreign affairs he is a declared foe of the Jingo 

 Imperialism which devoured the substance of the 

 people who were conquered and ended in the bank- 

 ruptcy of the conquerors. He is all for peace, con- 

 ciliation and arbitration, and, if possible, for a re- 

 duction of armaments. Taxation must be reduced 

 if employment is to increase. 



That is the policy of John Burns. He is but one 

 man in a Cabinet of nineteen, but he is in all social 

 questions the right hand of the Prime Minister, and 

 in his own right, by sheer force of character, in- 

 domitable energy and an infinite confidence in him- 

 self and his ideas, more influential than almost any 

 of his colleagues. He has won his way to the top 

 by no demagogic art. Wealth he had not. The ad- 

 vantages of social position and of L^niversity edu- 

 cation were denied him. No Church gave him a 

 helping hand. The powers that be thrust him into 

 the cell of a con\dct prison. Angry mobs damk 

 with blood and beer clamoured against him as a 

 traitor because he loved the honour of his country 

 more than the wealth of plundered Republics. He 

 fawned upon no man, least of all upon those of his 

 own class. He excited against himself the sa\age 

 animosity of the saloons, the most highly organised 

 and the most powerful of all the vested interests in 

 Britain. He had no Party at his back, not e\'en, 

 like Mr. Lloyd Garrison, a printing press. 



;^^en of a tliousnnd shifts and wiles, look here! 



See one straightforward conscience put in pawn 

 To win a world ; see the obedient spherp 



By bravery's simple gravitation drawn 

 Shall we not heed the lesson taught of old. 



And by the Present as lips repeated still 

 In our own single manhood to be bold 



Fortressed in conscience and impregnable will. 



Burns told the men of Battersea that he is as he 

 has ever been — the repository of their social hopes, 

 their industrial aims, and their political ideals. To 

 his own duties he brings kindly sympathy nnd prac- 

 tical strength. He hoped to bring to their discharge 

 some knowledge born of kinship with the poor. ■ He 

 would hope and work for practical change begotten 

 of experience, and. as hitherto, he would pander to 

 no section, but would do his duty fairly and fear- 

 lessly for the l«enefit of the whole community. 

 \\nien you read these words on the other side of the 

 world, they will help you to understand whv all 

 Britons feel p rc-'cl rif John Burns of Battersea. 



