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Money. ARE YOU requiring a prompt and strictly private advance of £ 10 or upwards? Then I invite you t. write to me, in strict confidence. You can rely on being treated in an honourable and straightforward man- ner, and upon teims, &c., being arranged to your satisfaction.—Apply to F. W. Hughes, "Silverdale," 63, Kingswood-road, Moseley, Birmingham. MONEY LENT AT SHORT NOTICE. Advances of large or small amounts (from Zio upwards) granted without delay on promissory note only. NO BILLS OF SALE TAKEN. MODERATE TERMS. NO APPLICATION FEES. BUSINESS CONDUCTED STRAIGHTFORWARDLY. Full information supplied, either person- ally or by post, free of cost, and all enquir- ies treated with confidence. Repayments arranged to suit borrowers' convenience. Apply to GEORGE PAYNE & SONS, 3, Crescent Road, RHYL. Established 1870. 54 YOUCAN NEVER BEAT THIS. Trt to C C Lent Daily on these Terms 10 for agreed periods. ;£10 repay Lio 10 o. £30 repay 431 10 o. ;6, 5 c 5 1.5 0. £ 50 .652 10 o. ;£20 £ 2* o o. ;£100 ,6105 o o. £ 2S ■> ;£26 5 O. ;£200.. ;£210 o o No Sureties. No Delay. No Publicity. Special attention to Appiicants from this District. Actual Lender: CHARLES PAIKIN, (No Touts.) 119, Brunswick St., Oxford Rd., MANCHESTER. and 6a. Market Street. MANCHESTER. 547a MONEY LENT PRIVATELY From £ io to £1000. On NOTE OF HAND ONLY, at the following rates for agreed periods:— Loan. Repav. Loan. Repay. £ i s. d. I £ s. d. 10 10 5 0 50 51 5 0 20 20 10 0 100 102 10 0 30 30 15 0 1000. 1025 0 0 Small repayments accepted by arrangement or it desired the advance can remain out by paying Interest half-yearly. Distance no object. Can be seen personally daijy in North Wales for interviews by appointment. Existing Loans paid off and larger advances made at much lower Interest. Strict privacy guaranteed, whether business done or not. If inconvenient to call apply by letter, as business can be arranged by post. You will avoid paying extortionate interest and heavy repay- ments above your means, by applying to 16, STATION ROAD, COLWYN BAY. 878. THE NATIONAL ADVANCE AND INVESTMENT SOCIETY, LTD. IS"expressly Established and Registered pursuant to Act of Parliament, to make private advances without Loan Office formalities, to all Classes (Male o Female), FROM £ 10 TO £1000 ON SIMPLE WRITTEN PROMISE TO REPAY, for any immediate need or private use to Start in Business, to Furnish your House, to Buy Stock when the Market is Low, to Pay Rent or Rates. Cash sent by post, if desired. You can get money privately here, as interviews are unnecessary, and references are not re- quired. Genuine Applications never reseJ. The advance can be paid back by monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly- instalments or, if desired, the advance can remain out up to five years by paying interest only. Distance no object. Interest and Repayments lowest in England and Wales. Strict privacy and straitghtforward dealings guaranteed. Borrowers paying extorationate interest elsewhere are requested to apply to us, when existing loans can be paid off, and larger advances made at much lower raates of interest. It will cost nothing to enquire, but my save you pounds, by applying in strict confidence, in English or Welsh, for our free prospectus, to THE NATIONAL ADVANCE AND INVESTMENT SOCIETY, LTD., 41, CORPORATION STREET, Manchester. Estab. 1887 Nat. Telephone, 437oy2 City or to ouJ North Wales District Offices: 10, DEAN-STREET, BANGOR, and t6, Queen Street, Wrexham. NO PRELIMINARY FEES. Money Lent Privately In laige or small sums (not less than jcio), ON BORROWER'S OWN PROMISSORY NOTE. ESTABLISHED NEARLY FORTY YEARS ARE NOW LENDING UPWARDS OF £ 70,000 ANNUALLY. For Prospectus and Terms apply or write to :— GEORGE PAYNE & SONS, 3, Crescent Road, RHYL. N.B. The above firm have received un- solicited letters of thanks from hundreds of borrowers. Extracts (without writer's name) from more than 1,300 of such letters have been printed in pamphlets issued annually ?r *en years- Specimen copies of these may be had, post free, on application. 282 MONEY. THE Old-Established PROVINCIAL ± UNION BANK continues to LEND im- mense sums daily, from £ 10 to £ 5,000, on Note of Hand alone, or other security, at short notice, to all classes in any part of England and Wales, repayable by easy in- stalments. No good application is ever re- fused. All communications strictly -private No office inquiry charges whatever. Moderate interest Special rates for short period. The largest, best-known llioimSJ t°Urab'y conducted business in the Kingdom.' entire re^larcilstomers have expressed their e^re satisfaction in repeated transactions with us. If aesired, one of our officials will attend at your residence THENCe'cTll \ANR CARRY°UT THE ADVANCE THERE AND THEN. Call, or write (in confidence) to the Manager, MR. G. K. HOWE, 54, LONDON ROAD, LEICESTER. [,66a YOUR ATTENTION, Please! I HrwR ^l.0,\° £ IO-°°o to responsible Persons. T T reasonably, and confidentially. I honourab'y and straightforwardly. T 1 fto persons entitled under Wills, etc. I rSvn Wlth°ut formalities or fancy fees. 1 T wit?* t0 su-lt y,our own requirements. 1 r £ £ £ °Ln ?-,mple note of hand alone. 1 the full amount required. I LEND any distance. MR. G. CUMMINGS, 28. HIGH ST. (facing New Street), BIRMINGHAM. CASH ADVANCES £ 10 to 61,000. A LL respectable Persons who are short of money are f*V lnv'ted to write to a Private Gentleman, who will treat your application in the Strictest Privacy. The Cash can be advanced at your own house if desired, or the business transacted by post. Loans completed promptly without Fees, Fuss or Loan orffice formalities. Unfailing courtesy and reasonable cnarges can be relied upon. Repayments arranged to suit your convenience. £ Write tor terms in confidence to D. KERMAN, 20, Corporation-street, Manchester. y\ — — MONEY LENT PRIVATELY, £ i0~t0~~ £ S000. SHORT DATE LOANS-SPECIAL TERMS. £ >• d. x £ s. d. 10 repay 11 5 o 30 repay 33 15 o c30 22 10 o 5° 56 5 o Call or write to the well-known Financier— W. JACKSON, Regent House, Mostyn-street, Llandudno. 304 LOANS by POST, £ 5 to £ 500 on OWN PROMISSORY NOTE to all Classes. Transactions arranged by POST. Moderate interest.-R. MORGAN, 53, Old London-road, Hastings. 588i 3 1 Financial. OPPORTUNITY of a lifetime. Advert- 0 iser wants £300 to £800 &t once to increase his contracts for importation of Canary Bananas into England. Will pay £ 120 a year for this advance. Sound and secure. Lady or gentleman.—Write F. R., 27, Noel-road, Acton, London. 627n25 For Best Household and Steam COALS TRY W. J. HARRIS COAL MERCHANT, CONWAY. „
HUMANITY OF LIBERALISM II
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HUMANITY OF LIBERALISM II A CONVERSATION WITH MR. LLOYD GEORGE ON HIS FAITH. REVOLUTIONARY PERIL OF TORYISM. War on the Idle Rich without Menace to Wealth. [ Special "Daily Chronicle" Interview. By HAROLD BEGBIE. (Piepi-iiiied by ol-lhe Proprietors of the "DJIldon Daily Chronicle.") What is Liberalism Have you ever asked yourself this ques- tion—forgetting the personalities of politics dnel the prejudices of your heredity and environment ? What place does Liberalism occupy in the national life ? What is the heart cf it, the brain of it, the soul of it ? Make yourself for a moment a man of science, Look upon the world with the truth-seeking tyeh of an inquirer. Consider human exit, I ence from the standpoint of a dispassionate investigator. What is Liberalism ? What is the reason and the object of this form of thought, this intellectual activity in the sphere of politics ? No man, perhaps, could better help one to answer these questions than the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Providence ordained that his boyhood should be influenced bv the tragedy of a fatherless home, the constant presence of poverty, the interference of an alien ecclesiasticism, and a landlordism which occupied the beautiful surroundings of his native land only to deprive other people of its peaceful enjoyment. And to-day this Welsh boy, who suffered and struggled and questioned and conquered, is the responsible Minister of the finances of the greatest com- mercial empire known to history. Whv is he not a Conservative ? Why is he not a Socialist ? And why is he a Liberal ? Execrated by one-half of England, adored bv the other half, the troubled future of the nations before him, the bitter memorv of his childhood behind him—this man stands for Liberalism, and in him more than in any politician of the present generation the people of England hear the voice of their inarticulate desires and behold visualised the spirit of their dreams. Is it not worth your while to consider what he has to sav, to forget all the vile abuse of him to which you have ever listened, and patiently, seriously, dispassionately to reflect upon his place and his meaning in this great commonwealth of England ? Nothing in Englishmen, Englishmen with their sense of fairness and justice," said to me a French lady who understands Eng- lish politics, Nothing strikes me so much as the bitterness of their intolerance towards :\11'. Lloyd George. The- will not even hear what he has to say. I cannot understand it. It is so unlike Englishmen," I make an appeal to Englishmen, a.n appeal particularly addressed to those honest, moderate, and kind-hearted men who find themselves driven out of the Conservative party by the modern madness of Protection, seriously and tolerantly to consider what it is that the Chancellor of the Exchequer stands for in the destinies of the British people. He is there. No power on earth can dislodge him. ft is wise to obtain a true vision of him. It may be helpful to under- stand him. THE CREFf) OF TORYISM, I am not a Conservative." he said to me, because the attitude of Conservatism to the business of life is one which seems to me impossible of useful service to humanity. Let us, for the sake of the argument, sup- pose that society is divided into fifths, and let us say that two fifths are prosperous, and three-lifths are in varying conditions of poverty. Conservatism admit- the problem Conservatism is anxious to do things Con- servatism has its proposals and visions just as Liberalism has them. But Conservatism regards the problem from the position of the two-fifths. Standing where all is well, surrounded by all that is strong, breathing the air of all that is satisfying and pleasant, Conservatism sayr-. What can we do for these three-fifths ? and every conclusion it reaches is determined, absolutely deter- mined, by its first and fundamental pos- tulate that things, as they exist jor it. are good and wise and not to be disturbed. Liberalism regards the same problem as Con- servatism, but the perspective is different. From the wide misery and ugly destitution, from the bitter suffering and the dangerous injustice of the three-fifths, Liberalism looks upon the conditions of life and seeks to dis- cover where it is they err, where it is they can be safely and radically changed. To the Conservative these conditions of life arc good. To the Liberal thev are bad. Con- -1 ditions of life which provide so much happi- ness and ioy for our two-fifths, regarded from the situation cf those two-fifths, must seem good. But these same conditions which
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REMEMBER That the Liberals keep the loaf untaxed. That the Tories want to tax it. That if it were taxed, the loaf would be dearer.
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Were the people of this country better off under Protection than they are to-day under Free Trade ? What about the Hungry Forties ?
---.-.. Colwyn Resident's…
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Colwyn Resident's Politeness. GENTLEMANLY ALLUSION TO MR. LLOYD GEORGE. From Monday's "Manchester Guardian :— Mr. James Parkinson writes from Baycliff, Old Colwyn, complaining of the immodera- tion of Mr. Lloyd George's language, particularly in the Mile End speech. He calls Mr. Lloyd George that spawn of Hell and evomition of putridity." It would appear that Air. Parkinson is a promising pupil of Mr. F. E. Smith.
- Birmingham Cattle Show.
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Birmingham Cattle Show. NORTH WALES SUCCESSES. The Sixty-second Annual Show of fat cattle, sheep, pigs, corn, &c., organised by the Birmingham Agricultural Exhibition Society, was opened on Saturday at Bingiey Hall, and will be closed to-day (Thursday). The following are amongst the awards :— HEREFORDS. Class 2.—Steer not exceeding two years old: (,;Cio) the Hon. F. G. Wynn, Bodvean, Pwllheli. Class 3.—Cow or heifer 3 (LS), the Hon. Hon. F. G. Wynn. WELSH. Class 16,-Steer exceeding 2 and not ex- ceeding 3 years old 1, (Lio and extra prize of -C20, for the best Welsh), the Hon. F. G. Wynn, Bodvean Hall, Pwllheli; 2 (LS), Lord Harlech, Brogyntyn, Oswestry reserved, Mr W. Jones, Llanrwst; highly commended, the Coed Coch Trustees, Abergele, the Hon. F. G. Wynn commended, the Coed Coch Trustees. Class 17.—Steer not exceeding two years old: (Lio and 2 £ 5), Mr Robert Hughes, Llanfairfechan reserved, the Hon. F. G. Wynn, Bodvean Hall, Pwllheli highly com- mended and commended, Mr R. M. Greaves, Portmadoc. Class 18.—Cow or heifer: i (Lio), Mr Robert Hughes, Llanfairfechan 2 the Coed Coch Trustees, Abergele reserved, Mr R. M. Greaves, Portmadoc highly com- mended, Mr R. J. Gardner, Kirkland, Valley, Anglesey; commended, Mr W. Jones, Llanrwst. | Conway Liberals Ready for the Fray. ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING. The annual meeting of the Conway Dis- trict Liberal Association was held in the Conway Liberal Club on Friday night, the President, Mr. T. C. Lewis, occupying the chair. There was a good attendance od members. It was'stated that the Association were in a sound financial position, and that they would be able to commence the coming year with a favourable balance. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. Councillor J. W. Hughes proposed, and Alderman A. Netherwood seconded, the re- election of Mr. T. C. Lewis as President of the Association. Mr. Lewis asked to be relieved of the office. Mr. J. P. Griffiths, in supporting, asked the members to show their appreciation of Mr. Lewis's valuable services in the past by asking him to continue as their presi- dent. In the course of a few days they would probably be in the throes of one of the most fierce struggles the country had ever witnessed. He was almost certain that there would be an election in the Boroughs. Mr. Lloyd George was too big game to be allowed a walk over. In Mr. Lewis they would have a man of experience at the head of affairs, and on behalf of the Association he asked him to re-consider his decision. Mr. Lewis, however, asked to be excused. On the motion of Mr. J. W. Hughes, seconded by Mr. Thos. Abram, Mr. J. P. Griffiths was unanimously elected to the position. Mr. T. C. Lewis said he was personally delighted that they had elected such an experienced electioneering gentleman at the head of affairs for the coming election. Mr. J. P Griffiths expressed his thanks for the honour conferred upon him, and he promised to do his best. This was a very ,i(mpoiTtant constituency. They in Conway were part of one of the most important con- stituencies in the whole of Great Britain. They had been instrumental in sending to Parliament a man who had made his mark, not only in Great Britain, but in the whole of the civilised world. (Applause.) And those of them who had stood by the right hon. gentleman in years gone by had good ground to be proud of their discovery of Mr. Lloyd George. It remained to show their unabated confidence in him as their great leader. He now had the greatest pleasure in proposing a most hearty vote of thanks to Mr. T. C. Lewis for the valuable services he had rendered to the Association during the last five years, and he sincerely trusted that the Association would not in future be deprived of his valuable assistance. Mr. Lewis was one of those men who could not retire. He was too active a man to retire. Councillor J. W. Hughes fully endorsed the remarks of the President, and seconded the proposition. The Rev. B. Menai Francis supported, adding that Mr. Ivewis was the soul of the Association. The proposition was carried, and Mr. Lewis in response thanked the Association and said that ever since his youth he had always tried to be an earnest Liberal. During his five years in the chair, he could say that Liberalism in Conway had not taken a backward step. It had gone on ad- vancing, as was to be seen from the present constitution of the Town Council, and they also knew that Conway never did better than at the last General Election. He felt gratified to think that he was the Chairman of ithe Carnarvonshire Association when they adopted Mr. Lloyd George as their candidate in the first instance. (Hear, hear.) They had certainly done their share in the Boroughs towards the advancement of the kingdom generally by the selection of Mr. Lloyd George as their member. (Applause.) Councillor J. E. Conway Jones and Mr. Robert Davies, Deganwy, were unanimous- ly elected vice-presidents. Mr. William Edwards, Boderw, was re- elected treasurer, and Messrs. R. T. Hughes and R. Chas. Roberts, secretary and assistant secretary respectively, and these were also thanked for their past services. THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. When the appointment of the Executive Committee was suggested, Mr. T. C. Lewis "id that some months ago he received a request that Deganwy. should form a sub- sidiary Association of their own, and he saw no objection to that. Alderman Netherwood said that at De- ganwy they had an election committee, and they had worked harmoniously with Con- way, and every Liberal on the other side was staunch and willing to work. In fact, they in Deganwy prided themselves in the fact that Conway were far behind in that direction. (Laughter, and hear, heax.) He, however, did not think it would be wise to form a different Association in such a small borough. They did not want the dividing of Conway and Deganwy. (Hear, hear.) There had been too much of that in the past. They wanted improvements all round, and the sooner they forgot the river divided them the better. He would endeavour to convene a meeting of Liberals on the other side to get them in harness. It was decided to allow Deganwy to nominate their own members of the Execu- tive. The following were elected to repre- sent Conway:—Messrs. J. W. Hughes, T. C. Lewis, John .Roberts (Emu), Thomas Abram, J. R. Hughes, O. Evans, Dr. M. J. Morgan and the Rev. B. Menai Francis. OTHER CCnnIITTEES. The following were elected on the Elec- toral Committee:—Mess rs. J. P. Griffiths, T. C. Lewis, John Lloyd Jones, John Cross- field, Thomas Jones (Old Road), Thomas Abram, Owen Evans and the Rev. B. Menai Francis. The Registration Committee will be com- posed of Messrs. J. P. Griffiths, Thomas Abram, Councillor Robert Jones, R. Chas. Roberts and J. Lloyd Jones. A MEMBER'S ILLNESS Councillor John Jones moved a vote of condolence with Councillor A. J. Oldman in his very serious illness, adding that they were glad to learn of the turn for the better, and wished him a speedy recovery. The resolution was carried. CONFIDENCE IN THE GOVERNMENT. The President then proposed the follow- ing resolution: — That this meeting of the Conway Liber- al Association expresses its confidence in the Government and its pleasure that it has placed the plain issue before the country with the view of abolishing the present iniquitous ascendancy of the House of Lords over the People's representative Assembly, and further expresses its confi. dence in and satisfaction with their mem- ber, the Right Hon. D. Lloyd George, and in the event of a contest taking place in the Boroughs they would do their best to see cure for him once again a triumphant re- turn." The next election, said Mr. Griffiths, would be an election of one issue alone, and they would have an opportunity of ex- pressing their opinion once again, and he trusted this would be the final blow. (Hear, hear.) Alderman A Netherwood in seconding, said this fight was a fight in the interests of the people. Unless they gained the upper hand and mastered the House of Lords, it was no use the Liberals making any effort to send a majority to the House of Com- mons, because whatever measures of im. portance came before the House of Lords during the last few years, backed by the masses of the people, they were directly thrown out. Many of them were not even discussed. They were all disappointed as Liberals after the last election that the matter was not final, and that the Liberal Government did not come properly to grips with the House of Lords. Many of them understood from Mr. Asquith's memorable speech that he would not take office unless he had a guarantee that the power of the House of Lords would be done away with. The question would again rise amongst Liberals. Were they again going to be thwarted. (" No ".) Undoubtedly Mr. Asquith had the guarantees. He did not think for a moment that the Member for the Carnarvon Boroughs and the other members of the Cabinet would face an elec- tion unless they had the guarantees. They had every indication from the speeches of the Cabinet Ministers that this was the final blow to the House of Lords. (Hear, hear.) This was one of the great strides of democracy. It would be the first time that the British people were truly represented. They had a Member whom they were proud of. (Hear, hear.) Every constitu- ency in England, whether represented by a Liberal or a Tory, was proud of Mr. Lloyd George. (Applause.) They must not judge by some of the Conservatives who resided in Conway. OIl his travels, he met a very prominent Conservative who declared Mr. Lloyd George to be a fine business man, and added that they had a Cabinet of business men. (Applause.) The resolution was carried with acclama- tion.
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HUMANITY OF LIBERALISM II
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produce so vast a sea of wretchedness, misery, and most atrocious deprivation, regarded from the situation of the three-fifths seem wholly bad. Conservatism is a policy of distrust and suspicion. It distrusts demo- cracy, it suspects foreign nations. it is always in a condition of alarm. Nothing is safe for it nothing is secure. It trembles at every reform, fearing where it will lead. It has no goal. It has no vision. It is ham- pered bv the dread of what it has to lose. I am not a Conservative, because mv soul rcbels against leaving things as they are, because my reason tells me it is dangerous to leave them as they are, and because every- thing I have learned from life persuades me that you cannot see the whole problem of existence as it truly is from the vantage of the happy mmority. You must not think ot what you have to lose but 01 what vou mean to gain." STERILE SOCIALISM. And why, I asked, are vou not a Socialist ? I am not a Socialist," he replied, be- cause I have never yet seen a scheme ot things formulated by Socialism which comes within the four corners of practicability. 1 want things done. I want dreams, but dreams which are realisable. 1 want aspiration and discontent, but they must be aspiration and discontent leading to a real Paradise on a real earth, in which men can live here and now and fulfil the destiny of the human race. I do not sav that Socialism is a madness 1 should distrust myself if I found the door of my mind closing against new ideas but I say honestly and firmly that never yet have I seen a scheme of things propounded by Socialists which a practical man of affairs could adopt and bring into actual existence. That is why J am not a Socialist. I want to make life better and kinder and safer now, now at this moment suffering is too close to me, misery is too near and insistent, iajustice is too obvious and glaring, danger is too present-I cannot wait, ] cannot work for the twenty-fifth century no, I must work here and now 1 must alter and adjust things as they are for the safety, honour, and welfare of the century in which 1 live." And you think." I asked, tliatlthey can be altered without violence and iLi- heaval i P, Of course, of course," he answered smiling with the security of a man who is master ol his ideas. That brings us to a third question- Why are you a Liberal ? most interesting question of the three." As easy to answer ? Yes." WHY 1 AM A LIBER VL." He paused for a moment, and then, sitting forward in his chair, he said with slow em- phasis: The place of Liberalism in the world, the meaning of it, is moving in Eng- land more surely and certainly to the appre- hension of reasonable men than in any other country. This is because British liberalism is alive. And it is a good omen. As soon as a man is intellectually capable of standing outside the prejudices and traditions of a particidar caste, as soon as he is able to stand superior to the pitiful snobbishness and miser able class ignorance which do so much to disfigure our national life, he perceives, he must perceive, that Liberalism is the true force of evolution in politics. 1 am speaking of a live Liberalism. The old, sleepy, and half-Conservative Liberalism is dead. Liberalism to-day is young, wide- awake, alert, and conscious of an ideal. It is capturing the imagination or the people. What is this school of human thought which we call Liberalism ? It is a conviction that life can be better, stronger, and worthier of ¡ humanity than it is at present it is a con- viction that great and mu t beneficent change., can be effected without revolution it is a conviction that unless there is growth, steady and health-giving growth, you can have only one ot two things in England— eithr paralysis cr death. Anarchy thrcatems civilisation with paralysis Conservatism threatens it with death. But between these two extremes goes the sane and moderate man, the man who says boldly that things must move, and as boldly declares that a plunge over a precipice is not humanity's best route to the millennium. That is my definition—Liberalism is natural growth. It is humanity growing up. It i- evolution. Do you know, I sometimes think that the millennium hangs very largely on the appre- hension, by the whole nation, of the true nature and the real ideal of Liberalism ? Anatole France, and men of science like Sir Oliver Ledge, think that humanity has not yet perceived the real Christ—think that we are moving to a truer and profounder apprehen- sion of Christianity. After all these cen turics 1 Well, I sometimes think that pol- itical life is a slow and gradual awakening to reality, that we arc all held, as it were, in a sleep, and that it is only through eyes half open that we perceive the truth of cur exist- ence. Let it be seen by all sane and, upright men wdiat Liberalism stands for, let it be grasped by the consciousness of the whole nation that Liberalism is the evolutionary principle of politics, and how peacefully, how easily, how uninterruptedly we shall pass from the present base and hideous condition of things to a destiny which, at any rate, will less offend the taste of the refined, less wound the conscience of the just, and less heavily and hopelessly degrade the poor After all, the earth is very beautiful life can be very good there are thousands, millions of people who feel the joy of existence, and desire to live for ever and ever. Why should, it not be possible for all men to feel some- thing of this joy, to feel at least that life is not a curse, to feel that thev do not want to tear up the documents of humanity and begin again > It is possible. Liberalism affirms it; and the sprit of Liberalism is optimism. By the optimism of a Liberal you may judge of his grip on Liberalism. Yes, we say it is posisbJc- so to alter and ad- just the conditions of existence, without re- volution. that life will be felt as a blessing and not as a curse by the majority of our people—and we are proving it. LIBERALISM IN EARNEST. How simply, and with what impercep- tible disturbance of the social order have we introduced old-age pensions By this act of justice we have sweetened the bitterest thoughts of the poor and lightened the dark- est hours of their existence. That which they most dreaded—old age -is now an anticipa- tion of honourable ease. The workhouse has become the chimney corner. The spectre has become an angel. We shall soon rob of its terror another spectre in the path of the poor. In the life of every workman is the constant apprehension that over-production or depression in some foreign country may temporarily arrest his employment. He is never.,ure of his bread. He can never be certain of his existence. Well, without violence or upheaval, we shall remedy this evil. The frightful injustice of enforced idleness will no longer be punished with the menace of starvation. A man. willing to work and anxious to work, will never more have to sell up his home a man stricken down by illness will never more have to endure the torture of knowing that his wife and children starve while he wrestles with death. Liberalism says that it can provide a remedy. Without violence, with- out ruin, without cataclysm. Is it not wise, as well as righteous, to do these things which ensure stability and cut the ground away from a mad anarchy ? Can you ex- pect a patient democracy, a loyal and peace- ful democracy, if these things are left 1111 done Believ e me, no community is safe where Liberalism is a deal thing, where the un- happy multitudes have to choose between a temporising Conservatism and a heaven- promising Socialism. L'nless Liberalism is definitely improving the lot of those who feel themselves unhappy and hindered, unless Liberalism gives them the sense of actual movement towards betterment, unless in Liberalism they feel that they have some- thing to which, witlu-ut the fear of bring fooled and dragged nowhither, they can hitch the wagon of their hopes—in other words, unless Liberalism is an active and real force in the national life, you can look for nothing in the people but impatient disgust and a most dangerous inclination to rebellion. NO MENACE TO WEALTH. There are foolish people who truly and verilv believe that this modern, earnest, and triumphant Liberalism is a crusade against wealth. How can they come to such an opinion when they know that our reforms depend upon the prosperity of British wealth, and when they reflect that Liberalism is the faith of some of the very richest men in the kingdom ? Into the small hours of the morning employers of labour and men of vast capital, wasted in the House of Com- mons during the passing of the Budget and followed me into the lobby to vote for the super-tax. 1 do not think that there are more devoted Liberals in the House of Com- mons than its very richest Members. No Liberalism is not a crusade against wealth. Personally, I regard with admiration and gratitude the man who, by the exercise of his ability, sets up a great industry, gives worthy employment to his fellow country- men, and uses his just profits to the advantage of the whole community. Active and bene- ficent wealth is a blessing to society. Who can doubt it ? But there is a wealth got by grinding the faces of the poor, a cruel and most devilish wealth which is wrung from the blood and tears of those in the community least able to defend themselves- --the wealth of the sweater Against that wealth, with all the angels of God on our side, Liberalism makes war, and will continue to make war till the loathsome stain of it is washed awav from the records of humanity. Then there is wealth which is neither so beneficent as industrial capital nor so iniqui- tous as the gains of the sweater. Hereditary wealth is something by itself, something which requires a more careful handling. Plainly no- man can assert that an individual who enjoys great welath for which he has never toiled, who receives a mighty income rtom so many various and different sources that he has to keep a man of business to hold the threads of it—plainly no one can assert that such a person is so groat a benefactor to the State as the man who earns his wealth by a labour-employing industry. The death duties are helping to correct something of this dimculty, the super-tax is useful and bv no means hard on these lucky one- and re- member the State would have no quarrel with them if they used their money or the general advance of humanity. Our miarrel is with the idle rich. My opponents em- phasise the word rich it is the acliective that I would put in italic- \Vit!¡ the rich I have no (Itiarr el; with the useful rich democracy can have no quarrel hut with the idle rich we have at least a grievance. It is their idleness, we arraign. J want to stimulate these men into doing something. 1 want to make them co-operators with humanity. If I use strong language abo:;t them it is to sting them into dissatisfaction with their part in the body politic—-the part of para- sites. How can they be content with that ? There is so much to do patriotism calis them, humanity plead- to them, religion warn? them. Think of their responsibility What they might do In this country where so much offends our sense of decency, our sense of justice, our sense of righteousness — how much there is that a rich and idle man miht accomplish if only for the good name of civilisation THE OWNER OF LAND. Consider the case of the landlord. In many cases you will find excellent men in possession of estates, men who may be said to earn their incomes, and certainly to spend them honourably and well. But can any man say that the landlords of this country, as a whole, have really done their duty?—that they earn their incomes?— that they are working for the good of the English race?—that their occupation of land is a success? Many of them keep agents to do their business, they cannot be troubled with the matter, land is so little to them that they find it a bore even to study its balance-sheet. Now Liberalism warns this type of man. Liberalism regards land as it regards industry—it is something to be worked, developed, and made contributory to the social welfare. liberalism will not let men use land as a toy. Liberalism demands an account of such stewardship. You see, land is so tremendously precious to a great and numerous nation inhabiting a small island. There is no room for waste. Political economy, eugenics, common-sense, the simple instinct of any man who really thinks about the matter at all, tells us that we must do everything in our power to increase our rural population. Instead of this ceaseless tide of emigration to the towns, we want an ever-increasing yeo- manry, a vast rural population of home- steaders. And we hold that if a landlord
HUMANITY OF LIBERALISM II
Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu
regarded his estate as a manufacturer regards his business, if he laboured with all his might to develop his land to the very utmost, the country-side would not be de- serted. Liberalism stands for access to the land for those who will work it. Call it if you will a crusade against wealth, stigma- tise it if you like as a mere hatred of land- lordism—but is there a single dispassionate man who will not say that a tilled England is better than a preserved England, and that peasants are not of greater value to the State than pheasants? I call it patriotism —this crusade of Liberalism for a peopled England. Real patriotism. Sound busi- ness. ,PROTECTION WILL NOURISH SOCIALISM. It is difficult, I suppose, to make stupid people realise the difference between a cru- sade against wealth and a crusade against unprofitable wealth; it has always been difficult to make people reflect. But there surely ought to be no difficulty in making people with the smallest grain of intelli- gence differentiate between the enormous danger of Protection and the staring secu- rity of Free Trade. It is a commonplace of scaremongers that at every general elec- tion the nation stands at a parting of the ways. I do not like scares. I have confi- dence in the common-sense of the British people. But I cannot help feeling that we do verily and dangerously stand at a part- ing of the ways in the present crisis. At present we have no Socialism to speak of in England. What with us is something of a foible, at any rate something quite negli- gible, is with Continental nations, under Protection, at least a serious menace. Are we going to dig the ground of England to plant that foreign root? Is it, by the irony of destiny, to be the hand of Conservatism that imports and plants that dangerous red flower? I am confident that Tariff Reform means Socialism. I am absolutely sure of it. Not the Christian Socialism of a few enthusiastic Englishmen, but the godless Socialism of Continental materialsm. That is the Socialism which is alive in all other countries, where Liberalism is dying and Protection is the overlord. We have no real question of Socialism in England—only the possibility. I wonder if the dames of the Primrose League—amiable and well-meaning women, I am sure—realise what they are doing in working for Tariff Reform. I wonder if they know anything of democracy in pro- tected countries. A man like Lord Devon- port, a great and masterly organiser, who is literally transfiguring East London with the new docks—and a most devoted Liberal in spite of the super-tax!—could tell them something which would perhaps make them reflect, make them consider, before they go on with their crusade for Protection. FREE TRADE IN A TEACUP. The other day, watching the revenue, I observed a fall in sugar and tea, I was amazed. Trade was prospering, pauperism had declined, every wind was favourable. I chanced to meet Lord Devonport, and men- tioned this fall. He told me that sugar had gone up and tea had gone up—the smallest matter of farthings. Then I understood. A fractional rise in such things as sugar and tea instantlycausesit is really as remark- able as a barometer—a sensible decline in consumption—a decline, mark you, of hun- dreds of thousands of pounds': There is Free Trade for you in a teacup Let the cost of a thing go up by a farthing, and millions of people do without it, or take less of it -and the revenue suffers by hundreds of thousands of pounds. What are we to think, then, of a proposition which makes for dearer food all round, which must tend to heighten prices, which must tend to diminish consumption, and which at once impoverishes the workman and depletes the exchequer? It is a mastenpiece of madness. The Torie3 are sowing the seed of anarchy. Here, in a more vivid manner than any- where else, you may see the difference be- tween Liberalism and Conservatism. Libe. ralism, credited with revolutionary ideas, makes for security. Conservatism, credited with stagnation, makes for revolution. Liberalism says to the community, We can improve the condition of things, make life happier, more prosperous, and more secure without violence of change.' Con- servatism can only say, We want a revolu. tion we cannot do anything while we have Free Trade; we must try the experiment of Protection even if half the nation main- tains that it will increase the cost of living and make it harder for the poor to live.' That is the position of Conservatism. And Conservatism is a power in England. I call this a parting of the ways. I think the nation will be wise to take thought with itself, serious thought, and to practise pro- found reflection. A mistake would be fatal. SNOBBISM. Remember there is always one great danger for Liberalism. It is a small thing, the most contemptible of things, but un- fortunately in this country it constitutes a great danger. I speak of snobbishness. There is a vast body of people who do not bring to politics anything like the thought which they employ in buying a suit of clothes, choosing a motor car, or engaging a servant; without the exercise of any rea. soning power at all, they place themselves on the side of what they call the gentle- manly party. These people are the back- bone of Conservatism—unreasoning people, whose caste prejudices make them haters of Liberalism, and the blindest followers of any policy, however hare-brained, howevei dangerous, however revolutionary, so long as it figures in the addresses of the gentle- manly party. I wish we could get these people to think. They are the real menace to the social order. They are the revolu- tionaries.. After all, the mechanic thinks out his politics be he Liberal or Conserva- tive he reflects and he decides by the light of his reason how he shall vote at each recurrent election but these others have decided for their lives to be one thing and one thing alone—members of the gentle- manly party. While the Conservative party stood for inertia the danger was not so great but now Conservatism is revolu- tion, and the immense army of snobs is therefore a national peril. I should like to create a crusade against snobbishness! It would purge the nation. One sees the pernicious effects of this snobbishness most clearly in the attitude of clericalism towards Liberal ideas. The clericals are on the side of privilege speak- ing generally, they are against the people. This is a most amazing attitude for the apostles of Christianity. But mark, it is not an intelligent and a wicked hostility to the poor it is not a godless preference for Mammon no, it is the natural disposition and tendency of snobbishness. The Cleri- cals do not decide that the philosophy of Liberalism is wrong; they do not decide that the philosophy of Conservatism is right; they are only instinctively convinced that Conservatism is socially good. form, and Liberalism socially disreputable. And these people have great influence in England It is really a deplorable and a dangerous state of things. An immense power in England, this great England, is snobbishness! LIBERALISM AND THE MIDDLE- CLASSES. "My hope is that Liberalism will more and more attract the serious consideration of those among the Conservatively-inclined who feel the menace of Protection. Protec- tion is a terrible cog. Once get caught by it, once be dragged round by it, and you cannot say where you will be landed, what will become of you, or when you will ever get out of that murdering machinery. If people who realise this, but who dread radical reform, will only study Liberalism impartially, they will find it is a principle of action definitely assuring the social order and definitely promising national salvation. A rightful understanding of Liberalism will save the middle-class from the corruption of snobbishness. It will give them ideas. It will enlarge their vision. It will make for sweetness and light. And my faith is that Liberalism, becoming more and more the greatest force in English politics, may yet influence the decaying Liberalism in other countries and everywhere save Europe from the muttering and revengeful Socialism which thrives under Protection. I look to Liberalism for the salvation of civilisation. It makes for wise progress, it makes for rational friendship between nations, it makes for conscience in politics, it makes for an ideal worthy of the human race. But it must be alive. What is Liberalism?—it is surely the drawing together of all the best elements in a nation for the moral and physical well- being of the whoe State; it is the enemy cf all that makes for unrest and degradation, the enemy of the profitless parasite, whether he be rich or poor, the enemy of every man who is not doing something for the good of the commonwealth and the enemy of every- thing that is cruel, tyrannical and unworthy of civilisation. And it is also a drawing together of the nations, a spirit making for peace and brotherhood, an ideal which the capitalist can follow as well as the mechanic in all the countries of the world- in a word, it is rational growth and natural development, the evolution of man from the selfish savage to the considerate citizen." This, in the brevity of conversation, is the Chancellor of the Exchequer's exposi- tion of T,i-beralism, -He does not think that Liberalism can save a man; he confesses that the spiritual nature must be awakened by other forces he is heart and soul with men like Professor Alfred Russel Wallace in a desire for reform of our ridiculous system of education: but he is convinced that the political safety of England lies with Liberalism. It is in an England permeated by Liberal ideas that morality can best achieve its purpose, and religion perfect what politics can after all only prepare. Liberalism to Mr. Lloyd George is not only advance, it is security; it is not only expedient, it is essential; it is not only wise, it is righteous. He has the temperament of a poet and the comprehensive grasp of a great admini- strator. He perceives with the inspiration of the one and the shrewdness of the other. that the safest State is that which numbers the fewest miserables. The work of a statesman for him is to make all men useful citizens, rich and poor alike, the various classes united in a sane patriotism and a wise internationalism, not divided, not separated, not contemptuous and hostile. He is for unity, not for dis-union. No man has been more misrepresented. no man more scandalously vilified. But a kinder-hearted, simpler-mannered, nobler inspired, and more honourable man neve? rose from poverty to power. He is hated bv the unimaginative dullard, the incorri- gible snob, the timorous, and the definitely wicked. But he is a safe man, a wise man, and a good man and at his back is much that makes in England for enlightenment and righteousness.