viii INTRODUCTION 



With this conviction should come a realisation of the 

 serious injury inflicted on the British people by the 

 party spirit which is dominant in Parliament, and of the 

 utter hopelessness of getting any real measure of national 

 usefulness passed through the two Houses until this 

 insane and destructive party spirit be kept in check by 

 the common sense of the people and the mandate of the 

 body-electorate. Then should follow a recognition of the 

 absolute necessity of curbing the spread of Socialism by 

 creating an atmosphere of peace and prosperity among 

 the people, instead of the foul miasma arising from the 

 poverty and discontent in which millions of our fellow 

 countrymen live to-day. 



The monstrous injustice of forcing upon the people a 

 mass of pauperism, widespread unemployment, and a 

 lower standard of comfort than is necessary, because of 

 the weakness of Governments and the trickery of politi- 

 cal parties, has been fully illustrated in these pages. 

 These, and kindred vital questions, including that of 

 calling for such an amendment of the fiscal laws of the 

 country as would afford the same protection to our own 

 industries, land or otherwise, as is accorded to them in 

 every civilised state in the world, plead earnestly for 

 early solution. 



Those, therefore, who will come over the border I'.ne of 

 apathy, indifference, prejudice and ignorance, to help in 

 the crusade against the hydra-headed evils and injus- 

 tices described in detail in the following chapters, will do 

 more to assist in the progress of their own country and 

 in the well-being of their own people, than those who 

 gave to the world the railroad and the telegraph. 



