214 The Ideal State 



this tradition, and, as in France a little over a century 

 ago, we shall be called upon to suffer the horrors of 

 revolution. This is by no means an extravagant 

 view. We have pointed out already that Mr. Asquith 

 by his wise action and sane methods saved the 

 country and the Crown from a revolution by placing 

 upon the Statute Book the Act securing a minimum 

 wage to miners, for the reason that the masses accept 

 this as an acknowledgment by the State of the principle 

 of this concession to all, whether employed by the State 

 or privately. 



In order to soothe the minds of all who dread this 

 break with the tradition of the past, we may point out 

 that the granting of this principle is only a further 

 stage in the evolutionary process at work in our midst, 

 and is as certain to come as that to-morrow's sun shall 

 rise. All students of the past who were imbued with 

 the altruism of Christianity knew that ere long it 

 could not fail of accomplishment, and were able to 

 predict its coming from the study of observed pheno- 

 mena. The lesson of history conveys a wholesome 

 lesson to all classes of the body politic at the present 

 time — to the " haves," to act as far as possible, under 

 present conditions, in the spirit of the teachings of 

 Jesus, to be wilhng to sacrifice some of their possessions 

 in order to improve the lot of those who have none, but 

 who are entitled just as much as they are to all neces- 

 sary housing, clothing, food, pure air and water, 

 perfect sanitation, and a natural environment, with 

 leisure sufficient to give opportunity for the acquisition 

 of the culture of the ages, as far as in them lies, of the 

 best thoughts of the best men, and chief among these 

 the Founder of our religion ; and to the " have nots," 

 to be content with the gradual social amelioration now 

 in progress, knowing full well that too precipitate 

 methods, a too sudden breaking of the tradition of the 



