Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



191 



MR. I.r.OYD GE0R(;E'S sr)JTARE 

 DEAL. 



l!< the Otillook for June 22nd appears an authorised 

 interview with .Mr. Lloyd George by .Mr. Robert 

 Donald, of the Daily Chronicle. It is accompanied by 

 an impression, or character sketch, by .Mr. Donald, in 

 which, amongst other things, he says ilr. Lloyd George 

 holds the first place in Britain to-day as pul)li(' speaker. 

 He is a first-rate fighting man ; his chief characteristic 

 in all his doings is courage. He contrasts him with .Mr. 

 Roosevelt, who is one of the greatest letter-writers of 

 his time, by sa\ing that Mr. Lloyd George never writes 

 letters if he can help it. 



HIS EXPLANATION OF LABOUR UNREST. 



The Chancellor, in his interview, says that the 

 miners' strike was but a sign of the times, and he was 

 prepared for it. Its cause was purely social and 

 economic. We are dealing with a much better educated 

 democracy than existed, say, thirty or forty years 

 ago:— 



One thing everybo<ly seems to overlook who talks of our 

 political or socl.tl principles, and th.1l is the English Educ.ition 

 .A.ct of 1870. Since the passing of that Act you have had a 

 great system of national education, constantly improving and 

 broadening. The working classes not only read nowadays, they 

 think. 



Wider knowlc<lgc is creating in the mind of the workman 

 growing dissatisfaction with the conditions under which he is 

 forced to live. I speak of my own knowledge. Take .South 

 Wales, which I know intimately. That was the breeding 

 ground of the unrest which led to the coal strike. Mousing 

 conditions in South Wales are indescribably bad. The con- 

 ditions under which the miners in some districts exist render 

 decency impo-silile. There you have a country rich in natural 

 blessings ; exquisitely formed valleys which olVer the most 

 beautiful sites in the world for the buildin'^ of well-designed 

 townships, and fur a mode of lile which would elevate and not 

 abase. Instead you find the houses unfit for human habitation. 

 One cannot wonder that the cducatetl democracy will stand that 

 sort of Ihin^; no long'-r. 



Working men are realising that they contribute to the 

 wealth of the community without getting a fafr share of the good 

 things which result, and that is one rea-son why they strike, 

 ostensibly for a niiniinnm wage. 



The disturbance of industry, the widespread but reni'iliiMe 

 IKivcrty of the peoples .as a whole, cm be cured, and it is the 

 aim of the Liberal i'.irly to provide the cure. 



W.VSTE IN ARMAMENTS AND LAND. 



ir. Lloyd George insists that wasteful and cxlrav.:- 

 gant expenditure must be checked. The civiii e.J 

 countri<;.T of the world are spcn<ling nearly £500,000,000 

 a year on weapon; of war. Great Britain is spending 

 something like £70.000.000 — that is, about £s for every 

 household in the kingdom. " Were this burden 

 removed Great liritain could afford to pay every 

 mcmlx-r of the wagceaming classe; an additional 

 dollar a we-k without interfering in the slightest degree 

 with the profits of capital." Another source of waste. 



Mr. Lloyd George points out, is the way the land of 

 this country is administered : — 



It is not producing more than a half of what it is capable of 

 yielding. « An enormous area is practically given over to sport. 

 You have millions of acres exclusively devoted to game. A 

 good deal of it is well adapted for agriculture and afforestation. 



When you come to the land around the towns, here the 

 grievance is of a different character. You may have a greater 

 waste in parsimony than in prodigality. That is the way the 

 land around our towns is wasted ; land which mij;ht be giving 

 plenty of air and recreation and renewed health and vigour to 

 the workman is running to waste, .as the millions in our cities 

 are crowded into unsightly homes which would soon fill with 

 gloom the brightest and stoutest heart. 



The greatest asset of a country is a virile and contented 

 population. This you will never get until the land in the 

 neighbourhood of our great towns is measured out on a more 

 generous scale for the homes of our people. 



TWO MILLION WEALTHY IDLERS. 



Another source of waste, Mr. Lloyd George mentions, 

 is unemployment of the idle rich : — 



These people account for something like two millions of our 

 population ; their sole business is to enjoy themselves, often at 

 the expense of others of our great multitudes who live lives of 

 arduous toil without earning suflkient for food or raiment or 

 repose. 



In these direc'.ions the time has come for a thorough over- 

 h.iuling of our conditions. That time comes in every enterprise 

 — commercial, national, and religious ; and woe be to the 

 generation that lacks the courage to undertake the task. 



WHAT THE CHURCH SHOULD DO. 



Asked what part the Church should take in the 

 matter, Mr. Lloyd George replied : — 



The function of the Church is not to urge or advocate any 

 specific measure in regard to social reform. Iler <luly is to create 

 an atmosphere in which the leaders of this country in the legis- 

 lature and in the municipalities may find encour.-igement to 

 engage in reforming the dire evils which exist. First, the 

 Church must rouse the national conscience to the existence of 

 these evils, and afterwards to a sense cf the nation's responsi- 

 bilities for dealing with them. Second, the Church must 

 inculcate the necessary spirit of sclf-s.acrifice without which it 

 is impossible for a gigantic problem of this kind to be dealt 

 with. Third, the Church must insist on the truth being told 

 aliout these social wrongs. The Church ought to be like a 

 limelight turned on the slumlands, to shame those in authority 

 into doing somelhing. In cottages reeking with tuberculosis, 

 ilark, damp, wretched, dismal abodes, are men anil women 

 who neglect their Church because she neglects them. No 

 specHicr w.ay of reviving the wavering faith of the masses could 

 be founil than for the religious Imilics to show that they are 

 alive to the social evils which surround us. 



Speaking of the Insurance .Act and its lieanng on 

 consumption, Mr. Lloyd George said that that was one 

 of the mo.it terrible disea.ses in the land. In London 

 alone four millions of wages arc lo .t every year through 

 consumption. Speaking of the housing question, he 

 said : — " I regard the slum child a.s a great national 

 asset, and we must carve out for him a brighter future 

 if he is to be worthy material out of whicli we shail 

 weave the fabric of this great Commonwealth." 



