286 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



" But Mr. Lloyd George gives his reasons, and states 

 facts which can be brought to the test of experience. 



" He attacks the House of Lords, because he says 

 that Peers . . . ' are not in touch with the reahties of life.* 

 • . . The earning of bread by the sweat of their brow 

 is unknown to them. . . . They know nothing of the 

 responsibility and the anxiety of conducting a business, 

 great or small. They know nothing of the daily worries 

 of the trader's existence — the care and thought spent, 

 the knowledge and the experience gathered in a million 

 ways in earning a living. 



" These statements, even if true, have nothing to 

 do with the issue now before the country, since the 

 House of Lords has intimated its readiness to consider 

 any wise, even if drastic, proposals for reconstruction. 



" Great Business Men 



" But are Mr. Lloyd George's statements true ? 

 Has he correctly stated the facts ? Certainly not. 

 The present House of Lords comprises the heads of 

 the Church and the Law ; of the Army and Navy, and 

 of those who have fulfilled the following offices : 



Cabinet Minister or Head of a Government 



Department ...... 94 



Lord-Lieutenant, Viceroy or Governor-General . 20 



High Commissioner or Governor of a Colony . 24 



Privy Councillor . . . . , . 112 



and others who have held offices of great importance 

 and responsibility. Coming to men of business, the 

 House of Lords numbers among its members four 

 Presidents or ex-Presidents of the Associated Chambers 

 of Commerce, three of the London Chamber of Com- 

 merce, the Chairman of the London Bankers, the Chair- 

 man of the Country Bankers, the President of the 

 Association of English Bankers, the Chairmen of several 

 of our great railway companies, of the London and 

 North-Western, the Great Western Railway, the Great 

 Northern, etc., the heads of our greatest shipping and 

 shipbuilding companies — Messrs. Harland & Wolff's, 

 Cunard's, Furness, Wilson, etc. ; amongst banks and 

 financial houses, the heads of the London County and 

 Westminster, of the London Joint-Stock, of Rothschilds, 

 Barings, Glyns, Robarts, Gibbs, Hubbards, etc. 



