F.— ECONOMICS. 1 23 



resources of tlie provident had not been thus ai)plied. It requires tlio 

 Riibdety of a Pigou to devise transferences froiu tlie lich to the poor 

 wliicli shall not have the effect ol ciu-tailing the national dividend 

 (cp. 'Economics of Welfare,' j)t. v., ch. ix., ss. 7, 8). But there 

 is reason to appreliend that no such subtlety would be exercised in the 

 case before us. The Endowment Conimitteo touch lightly the question 

 of finance. They mention as an alternative to income-tax a levy of 

 so much per cent, on all incomes, including tliose of the class not 

 ]>ayin.g income-tax. But is it likely that this method will be employed? 

 Mrs. Sidney Webb thinks it better that the children's fund should 

 be ' provided from the Exchequer (that is to say, by taxation, like any 

 other obligation of the community) ' (loc cil., p. 309). No doubt a 

 graduated income-tax would play a great part in the fo-miation of the 

 fund. Much of the popularity which the scheme enjoys in labour 

 circles is probably due to the prospect of transfemng hundreds of 

 millions from the income-tax-jjaying classes to the families of working- 

 people. The imposition of an enormous additional burden on the 

 former class would surely tend to check saving. 



iii. The scheme would resemble the quality of mercy in having an 

 effect both on him that gives and him that takes. But the resemblance 

 would end there. The effect on the contributor will be depressing, 

 but the effect on the recipient is likely to be more seriously deleterious. 

 It does not require much knowledge of human nature to justify the 

 apprehension that in I'elieving the average house-father from the 

 necessity of providing necessaries for his family you would remove a 

 great part of his incentive to work. There is doubtless much exaggera- 

 tion in evidence which has been given to tlie effect that when wives 

 earn husbands idle. Yet there is probably an element of truth in 

 the saying which is thus reported by one of our most experienced 

 lady-inspectors, ' I almost agi'ee with the social worker who said that 

 if the husband got out of work the only thing that the wife should do 

 is to sit down and cry, because if she did anything else he would remain 

 out of work ' (Report on Home- Work, 46, Question 1027, cp. 1024-5). 

 A gratuitous allowance to the mother would have an effect in this 

 direction at least as great as her earnings have. A homely truth is 

 expressed by Eudyard Kipling with his usual vigour when he describes 

 how the workmen, at the Congi^ess convened by ' Imperial Hescript,' 

 received tlie invitation to^ adopt Socialistic motives : 



' To ease the strong of their burden, and help the weak at theii' need. ' 

 The English delegate replies, ' I work for the kids and the missus ' ; and 

 the workers of all countries join in declaring, 



' We will work for ourselves and a woman for ever and ever. Amen. ' 

 I owe this quotation to Mrs. Fawcett, who has used it with effect in 

 the coui'se of a powerful protest against a scheme similar tO' that now 

 under consideration, proposed by a member of the Endowment Com- 

 mittee {Economic Journal, 1907, pp. 377-8). 



It may be urged that similar objections were made to Old Age 

 Pensions, which yet have proved a success. But the motives affected 

 by pensions given to parents were not exactly the same as those now 

 considered; the very mainspring of industry was not equally touched. 



