INTRODUCTION. 



At the end of January, I think it was on the 29th, 

 Mr. Bonar Law, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, dis- 

 cussed in the House of Commons the constantly recurring 

 demand from a non-wealth-owning class of political econo- 

 mists for a conscription of the nation's wealth. To this 

 I would reply that wealth, like a national army, is always 

 at the disposal of those who enjoy the confidence of its 

 possessors, and who have demonstrated their ability to 

 control and make good use of it if the wealth or the army 

 is placed in their care. Merchant Princes, like the bulk 

 of the officers of the Navy and Army of to-day, have 

 come from every step in the (so-called) social ladder, and 

 even as things are at the present time when considerable 

 improvements could be introduced, such as those outlined 

 on p. 113, there is still an equal chance for all of us to 

 handle, and finally to secure, a portion of this nation's 

 wealth if we are willing to allow our energies and our time 

 to be conscripted to help make use of that wealth for the 

 good of the owners as well as ourselves. Officers of the 

 Navy or Army only enjoy the confidence of their fellow 

 officers and men when by unceasing efforts and constant 

 application to their work they have proved themselves 

 worthy in every way of the trust reposed in them. It is 

 true that an element of chance as well as of great personal 

 risk is introduced into the lottery which brings some men 

 up to the top, leaves others where they are and sends a 

 third section fiying down to the bottom ; but as it is with 



