Science in Public Affairs 



thousands of men are giving every day to their 

 private concerns ? Of good business men we have 

 many, but good citizens how rare they are ! And 

 yet things are better than they were, and the re- 

 former must possess his soul in patience and plead 

 in season and out of season for men rather than 

 measures. 



Unfortunately it is not only Local Authorities who 

 are lax. The Committee call attention to the great 

 devolution of power in recent years to local bodies, 

 but nominally these bodies are subject to the con- 

 trol of the Central Government, whose duty is to 

 keep them up to the mark, to level up backward 

 districts, and to restrict wasteful expenditure. But, 

 alas, we read that "the mass of routine work in 

 which the Local Government Board is immersed, 

 affords it little time for the consideration of ques- 

 tions of public policy in the sphere of health." By 

 all means let us have the suggested "Advisory 

 Council " 1 if that will cure the Local Government 

 Board of its love of " mint and anise and cummin," 

 while "the weightier matters of the law" are 

 omitted. 



It seems agreed that the conditions of life in 

 factories have greatly improved in our time, and 

 while no doubt the Factory Acts need strengthen- 

 ing in some respects, care must be taken not to 

 introduce further reforms too suddenly, lest we kill 

 the goose which lays the golden eggs of national 

 wealth. On the other hand, it is necessary to en- 

 deavour to level up small workshops by bringing 

 1 Report, pp. 24, 25. 



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