§ 26

Scholars, every form of research in the arts, science, literature and education are suffering from want of means to do justice to their studies and to keep up the level of intellectual attainment to a point of excellence necessary to the welfare and progress of England. The so-called idle rich (a term of obloquy justifiable to a small section) came out well during the war; they sacrificed their wealth and energies for the public good. How could the huge sums of money have been collected and dispensed without capital? It was capital which came to the rescue in those dark hours. Had capital been less, how could the huge wages have been paid to war workers? Increase of wages necessitates larger not smaller capital. Breaking up capital and distributing it in sections, giving it to a class which has had no experience of its value and uses, would be to commit social suicide! Upon the whole, Labour behaved well in the war. It was not unnatural that the rise in prices of the necessities of life (leaving out luxuries which can easily be dispensed with) raised discontent sometimes, but by no means justifiable. That certain foodstuffs became expensive was inevitable. The war, unprepared for by short-sighted politicians, took the majority by surprise, although a more thoughtful minority had seen it approaching for years. The stores of food were small. Insistence upon the prominent pre-eminence of the Juggernaut of Industrialism had caused agriculture to fall away, or so to decrease as to form a secondary (whereas it should be the first) consideration of an island that should be (as far as possible) self-supporting, save for such luxuries which our climate is unable to produce. But that the prices of food necessary to life—meat, bread, and milk—went up to excess has been the fault of grasping, selfish, unpatriotic tradesmen, who, seeing the opportunity of their neighbours’ distress, the moment to put money in their purses, did so, utterly regardless of the suffering such action must entail. Not all, but the majority of tradesmen, behaved ill while their country was on the road to starvation, so ill as to command a decision that, as a class, tradesmen, unchecked, are not fit for prominent posts in the Government, national or municipal. They proved that they are egoistic and selfish, a character suspected, and not without reason, but perhaps never brought so prominently into the light before.

It would be tedious did we give a list (it would be a long one) of necessary foodstuffs refused to applicants excepting at a price they could ill afford or could not afford to pay at all. It was a system of blackmailing wholly discreditable to a class which, having power, exercised it with a cold-blooded arbitrariness that was, to say the least, unmanly; the worst, cowardly and criminal. To hit a man when he is down and unable to protect himself is the act of a coward; to cause, for selfish reasons, suffering to the neighbour is criminal. We cannot refrain from the hope that the dark side of tradesmen’s morality, so distinctly pronounced during the late war, will result in an abstention in granting them powers, national or municipal, which will offer them chances for extended jobbery in the future. That, having become aware of their disposition, tradesmen will never again be allowed a free hand in any form of Government. That to them is largely due the rise in wages which is straining the capital of England is unquestionable, therefore they belong to a class which needs careful watching in the future. If, instead of striking at the whole nation, trades unions had struck against the prices demanded by tradesmen, they would have had right on their side in that they struck against an initial cause. It has been said just now that money is well spent when dedicated to causes that are permanent, not ephemeral. Wealth is a necessity for a nation, and wealth without capital is out of the question.