132 The Lesson of History 



fluence has arisen, and the motive is not now self- 

 aggrandisement, but the betterment of the condition of 

 those of our fellow-men who are in need of food, of 

 clothing, and better conditions generally. And thus it 

 is that within recent times we have witnessed great 

 amelioration of the lot of the people ; we have only to 

 think of the factory laws, those regulating employment 

 in mines — entailing shorter hours and better conditions 

 — controlling the employment of women and children, 

 enforcement of sanitation, better housing, garden 

 cities, small holdings, fever hospitals, state insurance, 

 the minimum wage, and the prevention of disease, and 

 now we are contemplating an adult franchise, conceding 

 even greater power to the toiling millions. No such 

 measures were ever dreamt of in the civilisations 

 previous to the dawn of Christianity ; then there was 

 only one thought on the part of the " haves," and that 

 was the maintenance of the institution of slavery ; now 

 the " haves " have abolished this mark of degradation 

 in all countries under the sway of the nations to which 

 they belong, and their chief idea is the betterment of 

 the " have-nots." In our Parliaments the opposing 

 parties vie with one another in making further and 

 further concessions to the workers whom they govern. 

 Our Western civilisation has been in existence now for 

 about a thousand years, and its main feature has been 

 the gradual amelioration of the lot of mankind ; at 

 first the efforts in this direction were feeble and slow of 

 accomplishment ; they were mostly concerned with 

 certain rights of man as man, and the assertion by slow 

 stages of the principle of the liberty of the subject. It 

 is only in more recent times, with the rapid progress of 

 our civilisation, that reforms in the direction of im- 

 proving the lot of humanity have progressed by leaps 

 and bounds. We must now endeavour to give some 

 explanation of this new development in Western civili- 



