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CHAPTER XXIII 



County Councils and Small Holdings — Miscar- 

 riage OF Public Duty 



THE power of the British tax-payer has, hitherto, 

 been potential rather than actual, but the power is 

 there, nevertheless. Given the opportunity, it will 

 develop into an active living force, before which even 

 Governments might be swept away. Combination, cohe- 

 sion and organisation are all that are required to convert 

 an easy-going passivity into strong energetic action, and 

 those who are responsible for the present uncompromising 

 attitude towards the entire body of British tax-payers, 

 and towards that which is good and noble in the British 

 people, should beware lest this thing happen. 



The triumph of right over wrong in the recent Lon- 

 don County Council Elections and the defeat of Socialism 

 in the last Municipal Elections are but exemplifications of 

 what can be done by even a little combination, but if the 

 great body of the tax-payers of the Empire be once con- 

 vinced that organised combination in defence of their 

 rights be necessary, then it is not a Government nor a 

 succession of Governments, nor a fervid band of social 

 Ishmaelites, that will bar the way to reform. 



Government and those concerned might hsten to this 

 doctrine with advantage ! 



Let us beware of that pernicious type of so-called 

 Socialism that teaches violence and unrest, for it is cer- 



