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 THE NEW FLOREAT 
 
1 
 tt-VBE 
 
1894 
 
 FIRST EDITION, October 
 SECOND EDITION, November 
 
 y &/ z -2. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 That the reader may understand the 
 object of this publication, Ip rint first of all 
 an epistle which I received from Dick 
 at the end of his last summer half, in 
 answer to which I penned this tract 
 (for a tract it is, I am afraid I). I 
 have asked DicKs permission to publish 
 his letter, and he has no objection, 
 though he does not see that it can do 
 
 any good. 
 
 J.A. 
 
 DICK'S LETTER. 
 
 REV. JOHN SMILEPE AC&S, 
 
 ETON COLLEGE, July IS/A. 
 DEAR MR. ADDERLEY, 
 
 I thought you would like to know I was 
 in Vassal? s room last week and saw your book 
 " Stephen Remarx " on his table. You know 
 the fellow I mean, an awful sap, but not a 
 
6 Preface 
 
 bad sort, only he talks awful rot in Pop about 
 Socialism and raising the masses. He was 
 the only fellow who voted in favour of those 
 stupid miners last year when we had a debate 
 on the coal strike. As it was beastly wet 
 last Sunday I read your book right through 
 after chapel, and I want to know what you're 
 driving at. You seem to think there's a lot 
 of religion mixed up with this confounded 
 Socialism. Cant say I see that. I believe its 
 a lot of bosh all made up by those agitators, 
 who make a good thing out of it, stirring tip 
 strikes and rows. Faversham says one of those 
 labour leaders you seem to admire so much gets 
 $oo a year, and does nothing all day, and 
 beats his wife. He says its a well-known fact, 
 which his pater, Lord Verrileigh, swears to. 
 Besides, where the religion comes in, I cant 
 see. Why, I always thought parsons were 
 good Tories, but these fellows will smash up 
 your Church if you dont look out ; and you 
 seem to think them all right. Didn't God 
 make all the different classes of society, and 
 mean the poor to be kept in their places ? 
 Of course I think it is all right to give the 
 poor beggars what you can, and Pm sure I 
 spent all Whit Monday afternoon on the river 
 with those Hackney Wick fellows, and the 
 
Preface ? 
 
 girls gave my tutor a lot of flannel and things 
 for the mission; but what have I got to do 
 with social questions? I cant be bothered 
 with all that. I am not a parson, and I shant 
 be one. But still Pd like to know what you 
 mean about all this and do write straight. 
 Your book is all mixed up in a muddle. I 
 dont know whether to laugh or cry, and I 
 am sure some of it isn't true. By the bye, the 
 minor was confirmed yesterday; 180 fellows 
 were all done at the same time. I wish you 
 were here to tell me my Sunday Q's. There 
 is a question about the rich man and Lazarus 
 which I cant answer. I shall have to go 
 and ask my dame. Now, good-bye. Do come 
 to Beaminster in the holidays, or anyhow look 
 me up at the House when you are in Oxford. 
 I am going up in October. Mind you answer 
 
 this Utter. 
 
 Your affectionate 
 
 DICK. 
 
 P.S. Pve written a rippin Vale! all about 
 the "Silver Thames" and "Henry's Holy 
 Shade"; awfully good and original, I think* 
 
THE NEW FLOREAT 
 
 DEAR DICK, 
 
 You say you "can't be 
 bothered " with social questions. You 
 are not the only person who says this. 
 Plenty of people say they can't be 
 bothered. To my mind, everybody 
 who calls himself an Englishman, a 
 patriot, or a Christian ought to allow 
 himself to be very much bothered 
 indeed about these things ! People say 
 that " agitation " is a very bad thing 
 and " agitators " are very wicked 
 people. This is not true. Agitation, 
 conducted on sober, orderly principles, 
 (and there is no reason why it should 
 not be so) is a very necessary thing 
 
io The New F lor eat 
 
 indeed. Experience has, alas ! taught 
 us that unless there is a certain amount 
 of agitation about an evil in our midst, 
 very little is done to remove it. Pos- 
 sibly you think that agitators cannot 
 be in earnest. You think they are 
 paid large sums of money for what 
 they do, and therefore must be hypo- 
 crites. Even if they were paid largely 
 it would not necessarily follow then 
 that what they said was untrue. There 
 are many people who are paid very 
 large sums of money for teaching and 
 preaching, and yet they say many things 
 that are very true indeed. But, as a 
 matter of fact, the "agitators" are 
 not paid large sums; some of them 
 are very poor, and most of them work 
 very hard. I am a personal friend of 
 some of the leading men of this kind. 
 One of them wrote to me the other 
 
The New Floreat n 
 
 day telling me that for three months 
 he had spent, on an average, twelve 
 hours a day away from home on his 
 work ! " I am but an occasional lodger 
 in my own home," he writes. Now, 
 this does not sound like being a hypo- 
 crite and not in earnest, does it ? Then 
 they are supposed to simply pander to 
 the mob and only say to them what 
 they know is popular, regardless of 
 truth. But this again is contrary to 
 fact. I have heard a great labour 
 leader deliver an oration to working 
 men, which could only be properly 
 described as a "Lay Sermon on a 
 Moral Subject." Another leader told me 
 that he had made himself unpopular 
 with his hearers by perpetually insisting 
 on the moral side of labour questions. 
 Another wrote to me a few months ago, 
 saying, "Whatever work I do it will 
 
12 The New F lor eat 
 
 always be done on religious lines." 
 Moreover, if people really think these 
 men are quite in the wrong, it is their 
 bounden duty, at least, to take the 
 trouble to publicly tell them where and 
 why they are wrong. If they are hurry- 
 ing the country down a precipice to 
 ruin, then it is criminal for any one to 
 stand outside, with his superior know- 
 ledge, and say he can't be bothered. 
 
 I am not asking you to take their 
 side, but I am appealing to you to do 
 something, at least, when you grow 
 older. I want you to feel that 
 apathy is a sin in the face of the 
 awfulness of the social problems, and 
 that if you love your country at all 
 you will resolve that in some way or 
 other by prayer, by writing, by con- 
 versation, by public action, by private 
 endeavour, by some means or other 
 
The New Floreat 13 
 
 you will take your part in the move- 
 ment now going on towards what is 
 called the solution of social problems, 
 but which I prefer to call the grand 
 battle between good and evil. 
 
 You reply, perhaps, "Why should 
 I ? What has it got to do with me? " 
 It has everything to do with you. You 
 are an Englishman. Well, then, every- 
 thing that in any way sullies the fair 
 name of England among the nations of 
 the earth calls for the active interference 
 of all patriots. And you are a Christian. 
 You say "Our Father" every day; 
 what does that mean but that all men 
 and women around you are your 
 brothers and sisters ? If then it can 
 be shown that our social system is 
 causing our brethren to suffer unjustly 
 and to live lives which are not such as 
 men and women were meant to live, 
 
14 The New Floreat 
 
 again your active interference as a 
 Christian is demanded. 
 
 Now, perhaps, you are saying, " Let's 
 get to facts. No more of this beating 
 about the bush or this moralising- 
 What is the Social Problem? What 
 are these evils you talk of?" 
 
 First of all, then, we are face to 
 face with a terrible, and apparently 
 increasing, Warfare between employers 
 and employed. In the year 1891 there 
 were 893 strikes and thirteen lock-outs 
 in the United Kingdom. In 676 cases 
 there were no less than 266,885 persons 
 affected in one way or another by the 
 dispute. You will say, " Exactly so ; 
 strikes are the cause of all this dis- 
 turbance ; just leave things alone and 
 all this strife would not be stirred up." 
 Now, my dear friend, that is a silly 
 method of argument and one which 
 
The New Floreat 
 
 you would not dream of employing 
 about any other subject. If you found 
 two dogs fighting, you would not say, 
 " The fight is the cause of the disturb- 
 ance," but you would look nearer and 
 find that there was a bone about which 
 they were fighting. So with employer 
 and employed. If you take the trouble 
 to look into the matter, you will find 
 there is a real " bone of contention " 
 between them that they are not fight- 
 ing for the mere sake of fighting. God 
 knows the men don't want to strike! 
 Would any father in his senses subject 
 his wife and little children to the 
 horrors of a strike for no purpose? 
 Certainly not. I lived in the midst 
 of the Dock Strike in London in 1889, 
 and I know what a strike means. Be- 
 lieve me, dear friend, if you look into 
 the matter you will find that there are 
 
1 6 The New Floreat 
 
 real evils which need redress, conditions 
 of labour which are not fair nor just, 
 and the only reason why men resort to 
 strikes is because there seems at pre- 
 sent to be no other way of obtaining re- 
 dress. But possibly you think, dear old 
 Dick, that the working men have no right 
 to complain at all, even if their lot is hard. 
 I fear you look upon them more like 
 machines than human beings, machines 
 for turning out money by their labour 
 for their masters. Now, I believe, 
 Dick, it is just because the men have 
 been looked upon like this so much in 
 times past that we are now in the 
 midst of all this disturbance. We have 
 forgotten that men are not machines, 
 but living creatures with feelings that 
 can be hurt, with bodies that can be 
 worn out, with intellects that may be 
 stunted and not allowed to expand and 
 
New F lor eat 17 
 
 grow. We have looked upon a man 
 as a commodity, as equivalent to so 
 much labour to produce us wealth, but 
 as nothing more. Hence, while a poor 
 man is grinding his life out in long 
 weary hours for a handful of shillings a 
 week, the shareholders in the company 
 who employ him go on quite uncon- 
 cernedly pocketing 10 or 15 per cent. 
 Can you wonder, Dick, that men strike 
 when they get an opportunity? The 
 wonder is that they don't do something 
 \vorse, though a strike is bad enough. 
 It is a barbarous method and one which, 
 it is to be hoped, will not be employed 
 much longer, for it does a great deal of 
 harm. The dislocation of trade is the 
 smallest part of the harm that it does; the 
 greatest is that it adds to the sin of the 
 nation in making men on both sides more 
 envious, malicious, hard-hearted and 
 
 B 
 
1 8 The New F lor eat 
 
 cruel than they were before. But I shall 
 have more to say about this when we 
 deal with Trades Unionism. At present 
 we are concerned rather with the evils 
 themselves, and not so much with the 
 remedies proposed or the methods em- 
 ployed, rightly or wrongly, for diminish- 
 ing them. The first social evil is the war- 
 fare between employer and employed. 
 
 The second is the alarming increase 
 of Extreme Poverty. Though statistics 
 may show that, as a whole, people are 
 becoming better off, there seems to be 
 no doubt that a large number of per- 
 sons are becoming poorer. The body 
 of the " unemployed " swells every 
 year. They are now spoken of as a 
 " class/' and are dealt with in Blue 
 Books as a necessary evil, something 
 to be expected year by year, like the 
 November fog. In East London alone 
 
The New F lor eat 19 
 
 there are 100,000 persons who are de- 
 scribed by an absolutely reliable writer 
 as "very poor," that is, "at all times 
 more or less in want: they are ill 
 nourished and poorly clad." The same 
 writer declares that there are 200,000 
 besides who, though not in utter want, 
 yet lead lives which are "an unend- 
 ing struggle." Or, if you look at the 
 whole country, you will find that there 
 are 18 paupers in every 100 persons 
 over 65, and 24 paupers in every 
 IOO persons over 70. And this, mark 
 you, in the richest country of the 
 world. You should go down to the 
 docks, my dear Dick, and see the men 
 wearily waiting to get work day after 
 day. You should hear the Super- 
 intendent of the Docks tell you as he 
 told me the other day, that he had 
 two hundred men on his list who had 
 
2O The New Floreat 
 
 only had ten days' work in six months ; 
 you should come round visiting with 
 me and hear a poor wife tell you how 
 her husband went out at five o'clock to 
 seek for work and has just come back 
 at four in the afternoon, weary and 
 footsore, having walked many miles 
 and still has got no work. Then 
 realise what this means to a family of 
 hungry children or to the man him- 
 self : to the children it means going to 
 school without any breakfast worth 
 speaking of and coming home to a 
 miserable tea; to the man it means 
 such weakness of body and poorness 
 of blood that when he manages to get 
 work he very probably will knock up 
 and not be able to do it. On all sides 
 we see evidences in the East End of 
 underfeeding : men diseased and broken 
 down, children with eyes gummed 
 
The New Floreat 21 
 
 together with blight and mouths break- 
 ing out in sores. Nor is it only 
 a question of food. What about 
 the clothes? A lady writes to me 
 these most suggestive words: "When 
 a working-man buys a pair of boots 
 it means half his week's income." 
 Dear Dick, please never use hard and 
 cruel expressions about poor people. 
 If some of them do seem to you 
 repulsive, just ask 3'ourself, "What 
 should I have been if I had had their 
 disadvantages ? " And consider, too, 
 their wonderful patience and love for 
 one another. It would surprise you 
 to know of the numberless kindnesses 
 they show one another, sending each 
 other food, &c., in times of illness or 
 great slackness of work. And it won't 
 be set right merely by our almsgiving. 
 That no more gets to the root of the 
 
22 The New Floreat 
 
 evil than Nervine does to the bottom 
 of toothache. 
 
 There are various causes for this 
 unemployment, and we must find 
 them out and deal with them. Some 
 fall into the ranks of the unem- 
 ployed through sheer inefficiency. 
 This points to the need for technical 
 education. Others through the fact 
 that there are more men in a particular 
 trade than are needed to do the work. 
 This points to the need for opening 
 out fresh fields of industry by which 
 the pressure can be relieved. Here 
 again you see the evil appears on the 
 surface, but the causes must be sought 
 by patient investigation and study. 
 I need hardly remind you that I am 
 only lightly touching on these matters, 
 and am not attempting to deal exhaus- 
 tively with them. I am only concerned 
 
The New F lor eat 23 
 
 with the first question. Is there a case 
 for inquiry? Ought an Englishman 
 to be bothered by social problems ? 
 
 Now, a third great evil, or class 
 of evils, may be put under the 
 heading of The unfair and cruel Con- 
 ditions of Life and Labour of large 
 numbers of Persons. Always remem- 
 ber who these persons are. They 
 are no foreign race of niggers, though 
 even if they were you would be 
 bound to consider them; but they 
 are your own flesh and blood and, 
 according to our Christian doctrine, 
 your own brothers and sisters. "Cruel 
 conditions of life" are exemplified 
 best by the bad housing of the poor. 
 Certainly, tremendous improvements 
 have taken place of late in this matter, 
 but it is only because the old policy 
 of apathy and indifference which, dear 
 
24 The New Floreat 
 
 friend, I am trying to dissuade you 
 from, has been given up. It was only 
 five years ago that the Report on 
 the housing of the working classes 
 revealed a most appalling state of 
 things going on in our very midst. 
 There was terrible overcrowding. In 
 one place there was a house of six 
 rooms containing six families, eight 
 persons were living in one room. In 
 another case eleven families were living 
 in eleven rooms; in another, twenty- 
 six persons in six rooms ; in another, 
 thirty-eight persons in one house; 
 in another, six persons were living in 
 an underground kitchen; and eleven 
 persons in two rooms where fowls 
 were also kept. Then, there were 
 many houses where the water supply 
 was defective and the drains and sani- 
 tary arrangements very bad. In some 
 
The New Floreat 25 
 
 houses noxious trades were being car- 
 ried on, such as rag picking, rabbit 
 pulling which is very bad for the lungs 
 because of the fluff and sack making. 
 In some cases costermongers kept their 
 stock, vegetables and fresh (!) haddocks, 
 under their beds. There were many 
 cases of damp walls, houses built back 
 to back, with no back yard, and so on. 
 There were cellar dwellings, also, 
 though they are illegal. In one case 
 nine persons were living in a cellar 1 2ft. 
 by I oft. and 6|ft. high. And this 
 sort of thing, dear Dick, was going 
 on not far from your London house. 
 How little do you think of these things 
 as you lounge in that jolly room of yours 
 where you let me rest sometimes. Why, 
 let me see, you have got three rooms 
 to yourself alone, haven't you, at Bea- 
 rninster, and two in Grosvenor Square ? 
 
26 The New Floreat 
 
 And I daresay it will surprise you 
 to learn that there are some cases of 
 very bad housing even in the country. 
 When I was staying at Beaminster last 
 summer with you I made inquiries, and 
 I found no less than six disgraceful 
 cases on your estate. One was 
 Brown's. You remember the family 
 who nearly all died of diphtheria. 
 Well, did you know, Dick, that it all 
 came from the bad water ? Of course, 
 directly I told Mr. Walker, he had it 
 set to rights ; but I want you to know 
 these things yourself, and to grow up 
 as a good landlord who will never 
 have anything of this kind wrong for 
 two days together on his estate. You 
 must remember that in a few years 
 time, when you come of age, you will 
 be directly responsible for everything 
 that is done wrong on your estate, 
 
 
 
<The New Floreat 27 
 
 which you could put right if you chose. 
 So please don't go on talking of all 
 this kind of thing as "rot," but set to 
 work and think about it. 
 
 Well, now, we will take another evil. 
 It is called The Sweating System. 
 This is a system which prevails in 
 many trades, such as tailoring, shirt 
 making, mantle making, furriery, boot 
 making, cabinet making, and chain 
 and nail making. 
 
 The evils of sweating arise from a 
 "middleman/ 1 as he is called, em- 
 ploying others under him to do the 
 work, which he has undertaken from 
 another man or firm at very low wages, 
 so that he can get the work done 
 quickly and still make a profit. This 
 is called "sweating" them. The 
 Royal Commissioners, who made in- 
 quiries about this system a few years 
 
28 ^he New Floreat 
 
 ago, described it as " Taking advantage 
 of the necessities of the poor and help- 
 less by forcing them to work too hard 
 and too long for starvation wages." 
 "The evils," they say, "can hardly 
 be exaggerated." The earnings are 
 barely sufficient to sustain existence. 
 The lives of the " sweated " are lives 
 of " ceaseless toil, hard, and often un- 
 healthy." Why, my dear Dick, I am 
 surrounded by the evidence of " sweat- 
 ing" down here in East London. 
 Only a few weeks ago I found two 
 poor sisters, not far from the place 
 where I am writing this. One of 
 them had not tasted food for four 
 days, and the other was suffering 
 from a serious illness, made worse by 
 the work she was doing. They were 
 making shirts at lid. a dozen, and 
 had to find their own cotton to do 
 
'The New F lor eat 29 
 
 it with. They worked up till one in 
 the morning often. They were being 
 " sweated " by a man who lived not 
 far off. 
 
 Perhaps you think this is a 
 town question, and does not concern 
 you, who are chiefly in the country. 
 But I must tell you there is " sweat- 
 ing " in the country too. You know 
 that little village, Earlsmere, where you 
 own cottages, just outside Bancaster ? 
 it is a nest of sweating. Next time 
 I come to Beaminster you must take 
 me over there, and I will show you the 
 sweating system in full swing. 
 
 The women there do what is called 
 " finishing " corduroy trousers, which 
 have already been stitched by the 
 machine before their arrival. The 
 best work is paid at the rate of 2d. 
 per pair, and the worst at \\d. per 
 
30 The New Floreat 
 
 pair. They provide their own thread 
 at 2d. per dozen trousers. They can 
 do about ten in a day, sitting hard 
 at it. You would be surprised to see 
 the rush there is and the struggling 
 to get the work when the cart arrives 
 from Bancaster with the "sweater's" 
 orders. And these poor women are so 
 thankful, even for this miserable pay, 
 that they are afraid to let any one bring 
 their case before the public for fear they 
 should lose the little they have. 
 
 While I am on this subject let me 
 tell you more about women's work, 
 and some of the horrors associated with 
 it. When I was in your study the 
 other day, I saw on your table the 
 " Life of Lord Shaftesbury." If you 
 have read it (though, I am afraid, it 
 looked suspiciously as if it had never 
 been cut !) but, if you have read it, you 
 
The New Floreat 31 
 
 will have had your eyes opened to the 
 awful degradation to which women and 
 children were subjected only a few 
 years ago. Children were made to work 
 as long hours as grown-up people, they 
 were kept to their work in factories 
 and mines by being brutally beaten, 
 and treated as badly as the poor negro 
 slaves in the West Indies. Women 
 and girls had to drag heavy trucks 
 of coal along narrow passages under- 
 ground, harnessed to the waggons by 
 straps or wearing a girdle round their 
 waists, to which was attached a chain 
 passing between their legs. This kind 
 of thing was put a stop to by the 
 efforts of Lord Shaftesbury in Parlia- 
 ment, and I hope, dear Dick, if ever 
 you get into Parliament you will work 
 as he did to remedy some of these social 
 evils. Perhaps you will say, "Things 
 
32 The New F lor eat 
 
 are not so bad now, and do not call for 
 reform/' But let me remind you that 
 there are plenty of people who oppose 
 all social reform in just the same spirit 
 as that which prompted those who 
 in Lord Shaftesbury's days opposed 
 him. And I want you to take care not 
 to be amongst such, for I feel quite 
 sure they are just as wrong as Lord 
 Shaftesbury's enemies have turned 
 out to have been. And it is a great 
 question whether the condition of 
 women's labour is not almost as bad 
 now, though its badness may be of a 
 different kind. A lady, who devotes 
 her life to bettering the condition of 
 women's labour, told me a short time 
 ago that the women nowadays were 
 worse off than ever. Certainly their 
 wages are wretched. Three halfpence 
 an hour is the average wage of women 
 
T/ie New Floreat 33 
 
 workers in England! Do you realise 
 what that means, Dick ? 
 
 Now, I am going to treat you to a 
 few details of women's work. Consider 
 for a moment the shop assistants 
 those young ladies, you know, whom 
 you see behind the counter when you 
 accompany your mother on her rounds 
 at the height of the London season. 
 Have you ever thought how long these 
 poor girls have to work, standing up 
 in those close, stuffy shops hour after 
 hour, having to keep good-tempered 
 and polite in spite of the aggravating 
 stupidity of most of their customers ? 
 The hours they work are as high as 
 70 or 75 hours per week. Their meals 
 are eaten in haste, and they are allowed 
 very little rest. Out of thirty-three 
 shops lately inspected only four were 
 found to have provided seats for their 
 
 c 
 
34 fhe New F lor eat 
 
 women assistants. It is very common 
 for girls who work in these shops to 
 fall very ill with anaemia, or bloodless- 
 ness, and sometimes they develop 
 phthisis, which of course means almost 
 certain death. Yet they are very 
 patient and do not complain. More 
 patient than you were, Dick, when you 
 had to stay in for just one long " after 
 four " last summer half, to write out a 
 " Georgic," which you richly deserved. 
 Just remember, next time, that all the 
 long "after fours" and "after twelves," 
 too, right through the summer half and 
 the holidays too, and, in fact, all the 
 year round these poor girls are dragging 
 out their existence in the way I have 
 described above. 
 
 Then there are the laundresses. 
 Their hours of work, too, are very 
 long, running to 72^ hours a week. 
 
The New Floreat 35 
 
 I read of a case of a laundress working 
 37 hours at a stretch, and I am told 
 that 17 hours a day is common. Do 
 you remember, Dick, when you and 
 I stayed at the " Grand " just before 
 we started abroad last year, and you 
 insisted on having all your shirts 
 washed and got up spick and span 
 within a few hours of starting ? That 
 meant long hours for some poor girls 
 that night to suit your convenience, 
 while you were lounging at your ease, 
 first at a stall at the Haymarket, and 
 then at your uncle's club. And do you 
 also remember how that same night 
 when you came back to the hotel a man 
 offered you some matchboxes for sale at 
 the door, and I asked you not to buy 
 the orange boxes with green stripes, and 
 you laughed and said you would, just to 
 spite me? Now, I had a reason for 
 
36 <The New F lor eat 
 
 asking you not to buy them. It was 
 because they are manufactured by a 
 firm who sweat their girls. They are 
 paid very small wages indeed, and out 
 of them a lot is taken for all sorts of 
 absurd fines and expenses, which are 
 exacted in true bullying fashion from 
 the poor girls. Many of the girls 
 who work there live in East London, 
 and they suffer from what is called 
 Necrosis, a disease of the jaw 
 brought on from contact with the 
 phosphorus employed in making the 
 matches. So little care is taken in 
 this factory to make the lot of the girls 
 happier, that I have always dissuaded 
 people from encouraging them in any 
 way by buying the orange and green 
 boxes. 
 
 Lately the girls have struck, because 
 things became intolerable, and now 
 
The New F lor eat 37 
 
 they have some of them been turned 
 adrift altogether and cannot get work. 
 
 But there are worse cases than these. 
 Some of the trades in which women 
 work are terribly dangerous to health. 
 Have you come across white-lead poi- 
 soning ? Girls of about your age are 
 sometimes afflicted with it through con- 
 tact with lead. Their wrists become 
 paralysed, and in bad cases they have 
 convulsions and become unconscious ; 
 they sometimes die in three days after 
 being seized, or if they recover they may 
 be totally blind. In one hospital in the 
 North of England there were 135 cases 
 of lead-poisoning in five years. In one 
 district there were twenty-three deaths 
 in the same time, most of them being 
 women. Before these words of mine 
 are printed the new Factory Act will, 
 I hope, be passed, which will put all 
 
38 The New F lor eat 
 
 these trades under strict supervision 
 and many of these horrors will be 
 mitigated; but I mention them, dear 
 Dick, that you may see and know the 
 direction in which reforms are needed, 
 when you go into Parliament and have 
 a hand in making laws. 
 
 I have said very little about women's 
 wages, and the miserable pittances they 
 earn. In the hosiery and lace trades 
 they earn very little. Wages in slack 
 time may fall to 45. and 75. a week, 
 or a halfpenny an hour. I have read 
 of one poor woman earning 35. a week, 
 working all day and part of the night. 
 
 But in addition to the low wages, 
 many women in factories have to put 
 up with coarse jests and brutal bully- 
 ing by men, with disgusting sanitary 
 arrangements and unfair and vexatious 
 fines, such as none of you schoolboys 
 
New F lor eat 39 
 
 would stand for a moment without 
 rebelling. And yet I remember, Dick, 
 when you heard of the Bancaster Rope 
 Factory Girls' Strike last year, your 
 only remark was, " Why don't they send 
 the police to run those brutes of girls 
 in for kicking up all this row !" Don't 
 you think that instead of talking like 
 that about what you are very ignorant 
 of, it would be better to consider the 
 matter and find out what is wrong 
 and see if you cannot help towards a 
 reformation? And especially do you 
 consider what an awful temptation 
 is put in the way of a young girl 
 by the offer of low wages and hard 
 work ? She has the alternative of 
 working long for these starvation 
 wages, or of getting an easy living 
 in that other and terrible way, which 
 is, alas ! too common. It has been 
 
40 The New Floreat 
 
 said that if people would work hard 
 for the reform of the conditions of 
 women's labour there would be much 
 less need for rescue work, and this 
 is, probably, sadly true. In old days 
 young men thought it a noble and 
 chivalrous thing to rescue women from 
 danger and death. Chivalry is defined 
 as "The reverence of strength for 
 weakness wherever found." Believe 
 me, dear Dick, the chivalry which we 
 ought to revive in these days is the 
 chivalry which will make our young 
 men band themselves together to fight 
 on the side of righteousness against 
 the selfishness and cruelty which is 
 causing so many of our women to 
 suffer and perish. Just think of this. 
 It is a well-known fact that the girls 
 of the working classes are growing 
 up stunted and unhealthy and feeble, 
 
The New F lor eat 41 
 
 simply owing to the awful conditions 
 under which they slave. This is not 
 only awful for them, but awful for the 
 future of England, because they are 
 the mothers of the coming generation. 
 Now for a word about the long 
 hours during which men and women 
 have to work. I have already referred 
 to some. Here are others. Hotel ser- 
 vants, barmaids, and public-house ser- 
 vants work as long as from seventy to 
 one hundred hours a week. 'Bus and 
 tram men work fifteen and sixteen 
 hours a day, but the three chief occu- 
 pations in which the long hours of the 
 workers have attracted public atten- 
 tion are those of the shop assistants, 
 the miners, and the railway workers. 
 Parliament is dealing with this matter, 
 but I want you to remember that in 
 all questions Parliament will not and 
 
42 The New Floreat 
 
 cannot do anything unless it is backed 
 up by the approval of the public. It 
 is of great importance, therefore, that 
 we should, all of us, form right and 
 sound judgments about such things ; 
 and then, through us Parliament will 
 be encouraged and supported in doing 
 what is right. 
 
 There is a great craving throughout 
 the world on the part of working-people 
 for shorter hours of labour, and it is a 
 very natural craving. You, perhaps, do 
 not sympathise with it, because you 
 have never tried really hard work yet. 
 What a difference there is between 
 your lot, Dick, and that of a boy of 
 the working class, as it is called a 
 "cad,"* as you at Eton call him. 
 
 * Eton boys use the word "cad" quite in- 
 offensively to mean " one of the lower orders " 
 (so called) from cado t to fall (!). 
 
New Floreat 43 
 
 You went to school when you were 
 thirteen ; he leaves school when he is 
 thirteen. He enters upon a life of real 
 hard work just when you are entering 
 upon the jolliest time of your existence. 
 Eton and Oxford for you; a stuffy 
 factory or a gas-lit office for him. 
 Cricket, football, bathing, and a hun- 
 dred amusements at all times for you ; 
 close grinding at machines or letter- 
 writing or book-keeping for him, with 
 an occasional ride on his bicycle or a 
 Saturday afternoon's game in the park. 
 Sixteen weeks holidays when at school 
 and six months when at college for 
 you ; a possible week in the summer 
 and the four Bank Holidays for him. 
 A jolly home with heaps of room and 
 plenty of comforts and luxuries for 
 you ; an uncomfortable cottage, possi- 
 bly a cruel father (though by no means 
 
44 ^he New Floreat 
 
 always), a herd of squalling little 
 brothers and sisters, and one room 
 only, to do duty as dining-room, draw- 
 ing-room, study and smoking-room all 
 in one for him. Plenty of good meat 
 and a succession of " square meals" 
 for you ; an occasional plate of meat 
 and an eternity of weak tea and bread- 
 and-butter for him. Or (and in this I 
 am afraid you do not appreciate your 
 superior advantages) think of the 
 splendid opportunities you have of 
 reading the best books ever written, 
 and looking at and possessing the 
 beauties of art and nature. Just 
 think, my dear Dick, of Beaminster 
 Abbey with its library of ten thousand 
 volumes, its pictures by almost every 
 great artist that the world has ever 
 known ; think of the park of seventy 
 acres with the bracken and the gorse 
 
The New Floreat 45 
 
 and the lakes and the terraces. What 
 a cultivated, wise, refined being you 
 ought to be compared with, say, Jack 
 Green, my choir boy, who is appren- 
 ticed to an engineer; and yet, Dick, 
 you can't think what a lot that boy 
 knows, and what a " gentleman " he 
 is in the truest sense. What would 
 he not give to have your advantages ? 
 As it is, he has to be content with 
 attending classes in his spare time, 
 running in and out of our free library, 
 and reading and seeing what he can of 
 the great and the beautiful whenever 
 he has the opportunity ; but he works 
 twelve hours a day, and it is very 
 difficult for him. 
 
 Perhaps you would say to all 
 this, "Of course, those boys belong 
 to a lower class, and they cannot 
 have the same advantages as we have ; 
 
46 The New Floreat 
 
 we cannot all be equal." Well, Dick, 
 what do you mean by equality? If 
 you mean that everybody cannot have 
 the same amount of money or the 
 same talents, I quite agree with you; 
 but I do not see why there cannot 
 be much more of what I should call 
 equality of opportunity. The difference 
 between you and Jack Green is not a 
 difference of nature. God made you 
 both, and God has never said that you 
 are to have certain opportunities for 
 developing your nature and that Jack 
 is not to have them. The difference 
 between you is a difference of oppor- 
 tunity. You have had everything 
 made easy for you ; everything has, so 
 to speak, been put in your way for 
 you to use and to enjoy, and I am 
 afraid, Dick, you have not made half 
 so good a use of it all, as Jack 
 
The New Floreat 47 
 
 would have done if he had had the op- 
 portunity. Fancy Jack let loose for a 
 whole day in your library ! Why, we 
 should never get him away, but (now 
 don't be angry, Dick) you have never, 
 I believe, opened a single book in that 
 library; I think you told me so last 
 summer. And how Jack would feast 
 his eyes on your pictures, and how he 
 would revel in the beauties of the 
 landscape; and his little consumptive 
 sister would get quite strong again if 
 she could spend a year at Beaminster; 
 and his father would never have been 
 ill as he is, if he had been fed from his 
 childhood with a quarter of the food 
 that you have. 
 
 You think, perhaps, that I have 
 forgotten the question of " shorter 
 hours/' with which I am supposed to 
 be dealing. This is not so. I wished 
 
48 The New Floreat 
 
 to give you an idea of the origin of 
 this demand for shorter hours on the 
 part of working people. It is that 
 they have at present so little oppor- 
 tunity for developing the powers and 
 hopes which they feel, as it were, boil- 
 ing within them. They are crying 
 out for more time to themselves, for 
 more leisure, and it is a very natural 
 desire. They want to read, to amuse 
 themselves, to study, to enjoy as 
 they have a perfect right to do the 
 good things which God has provided 
 for all, and not only for a few. This 
 was most pathetically put by the 'Bus- 
 men who struck for a shorter working 
 day a few years ago. "We want 
 time," they said, " to get to know our 
 children " ! 
 
 And so we find an agitation going 
 on for what is called an " eight-hours' 
 
The New Floreat 49 
 
 day." I recollect walking with you in 
 the park last May, Dick, and talking this 
 matter over with you ; it was a Sunday 
 afternoon, and there was a Demon- 
 stration going on. I think you used 
 a bad word about the crowd which 
 got in your way and kicked up a dust 
 around your patent leather boots. 
 Well, I want you to believe, as I tried 
 to impress on you then, that the 
 demand for the "eight hours" does 
 represent the earnest desire on behalf 
 of hard-worked people for more 
 leisure, for more opportunity to live 
 as God meant them to live. You told 
 me then that Mr. Walker had once 
 remarked that if the "eight-hours'" 
 day were established by law England 
 would be ruined, and I daresay many 
 people will tell you that and put you 
 against it. But just bear this in 
 
 p 
 
SO The New F lor eat 
 
 mind. Even if the " eight-hours' " day 
 is an unjust demand, the general 
 desire for shorter hours remains a 
 perfectly fair and reasonable desire; 
 nine hours or ten hours would be a 
 much shorter working day for some 
 people than what they have now. Then, 
 again, when it was proposed some 
 years ago to have a " ten-hours' " day 
 in the factories in the north, a very 
 clever man said the result would be 
 that ' ' every engine in England would 
 be stopped." What he meant by 
 that was that by working the shorter 
 time so little would be produced that 
 other countries would be able to make 
 cloth, &c., more easily and cheaply than 
 England could, and so we should be 
 ruined and have to stop our machines. 
 But in spite of his warning the " ten- 
 hours' " day was given, and the result 
 
'The New Floreat 51 
 
 has not been what he prophesied. 
 So nowadays, when Mr. Walker 
 tells you that the " eight-hours' " day 
 means the ruin of England, you can 
 believe that possibly Mr. Walker may 
 be wrong. It has been found by 
 experiment that in some works men 
 can produce quite as much and some- 
 times more in eight hours than in 
 nine and ten hours. This is because 
 they are able to keep up their atten- 
 tion and strength at full pitch for the 
 shorter time more easily than for the 
 longer, so they produce as much in 
 eight hours as in more. Of course, 
 this would not be the case in all trades. 
 Many students of this subject agree 
 that an " eight-hours'" day could 
 safely be tried in a large number of 
 trades and occupations, though not in 
 all. Where there is little or no foreign 
 
52 The New Floreat 
 
 competition, for example, it could 
 probably be easily effected. The 
 following is a list of occupations in 
 which it has been said by a competent 
 student that the eight hours might be 
 adopted: engineering, mining, chemi- 
 cal works, breweries, government and 
 municipal works, such as gas works, 
 tramways, &c. It has also been sug- 
 gested that there might be with very 
 little trouble an universal eight-hours' 
 day for shopping that is to say, all 
 shopping could be done within the 
 " eight-hours' " day if all agreed or 
 were compelled by law to do it. 
 
 Anyhow, dear Dick, whichever way 
 you look at it, this "movement" for 
 a shorter working day is one that 
 demands our serious attention, and 
 must not be lightly put aside. To 
 give you an instance of how selfish 
 
The New F lor eat 53 
 
 the public is in this matter, I would 
 point out that while the shop assistants 
 have been asking for relief for about 
 forty years or more and the railway 
 workers for a much less space of time, 
 the appeal of the latter has been re- 
 sponded to with much greater alacrity 
 than the former. This is almost certainly 
 because in the case of shop assistants 
 shorter hours are to the disadvantage 
 of the public, whereas in the other 
 case their safety is more likely to be 
 insured by granting the request of the 
 railway workers. 
 
 It is no surprising thing, then, to 
 find this almost universal demand for 
 shorter hours of work. The wonder 
 is that people have been content to 
 go on so long without a murmur. No 
 doubt it has been greatly due to the 
 fact that until quite lately they were 
 
54 The New F lor eat 
 
 not educated enough to realise their 
 position. But during the last twenty- 
 four years we have educated people 
 up to a pitch at which they require 
 leisure in order to develop themselves, 
 as they know now that they must do. 
 They have learnt their powers and 
 possibilities, and they want to have 
 space and time in which to realise them. 
 You must not grudge them this, Dick. 
 You should never say again, what you 
 have said more than once in my 
 presence, that "Education has done 
 a lot of harm because it has taken 
 the poor out of their place." It has 
 done exactly the contrary. It has 
 put them in their place. They have 
 now found a place where before they 
 had none. Their place is side by side 
 with their brothers and sisters in the 
 common life, with every bit as much 
 
The New F lor eat 55 
 
 natural right as any one else has to be 
 what God made them for. So do not 
 be displeased, Dick, but rather feel 
 rejoiced that they can now appreciate 
 the value of leisure. You have been 
 used to so much leisure that you do 
 not really appreciate it, and you can 
 hardly understand what this desire of 
 the poor means. If you had been 
 tied up like the working-people have, 
 unable to call any time but sleeping- 
 time your own, you would chafe as 
 much as they do to get free. Educa- 
 tion, then, is good, because it draws 
 out of a man what is there to be 
 drawn out and used. Let us encourage 
 it as much as possible and rejoice that 
 so many share it now with us, and 
 let us learn to appreciate it more our- 
 selves. 
 
 Before I leave this subject, let me 
 
56 The New F lor eat 
 
 call your attention to another matter 
 partly connected with it. It is notorious 
 that the country districts are becoming 
 gradually depopulated. Country people 
 are going into the towns. In ten years 
 the town population of this country 
 increased 15*3 per cent., while the 
 country population only increased at 
 the rate of 3*4 per cent. One of the 
 
 reasons usually given for this (though 
 it is certainly not the only reason) is 
 that country life is very dull, and men 
 are seeking the excitement which they 
 hope to find in towns. Have you ever 
 thought what a great amount of truth 
 there is in this ? Think of your village 
 at Beaminster. There is very little 
 excitement there. Things go on in 
 the same sort of way year after year. 
 Supposing your life was as monotonous 
 as the life of Tom Graves, your lodge- 
 
The New Floreat 57 
 
 keeper's son. Do you think you would 
 like it ? I expect you would very soon 
 get out of it and go somewhere else. 
 
 But not only are the villages dull, 
 but they are backward in many ways 
 in industries, for example. That 
 little village of Earlsmere, which I 
 have already mentioned, used to be 
 the centre of a most important straw- 
 hat making industry, but the people 
 have not learnt the newest ways of 
 making hats and the new patterns 
 which people require nowadays. Con- 
 sequently the trade has gone to Italy 
 and China, and the women are relapsing 
 into idleness, or taking to the slop 
 tailoring which I have described. But 
 this is a case, Dick, in which even now 
 an industry might be saved, and the 
 poor women reinstated in their work 
 if only they could be taught. The 
 
5 8 The New F lor eat 
 
 County Council want to start technical 
 classes, but there has been much 
 opposition from selfish people. Now 
 I expect, Dick, you will find some day 
 all sorts of opportunities of making it 
 easy for boys and girls to learn trades 
 in their native villages, and so help 
 to keep them from crowding into the 
 towns. For this "depopulation" of 
 the villages, as it is called, is a very 
 serious thing for the country. It over- 
 crowds the towns with countrymen, 
 who oust the townsman from his 
 work and drive him into the ranks of 
 the unemployed, and it deprives the 
 country of those who would be the 
 best labourers and workers of all 
 kinds on the soil. Agriculture is, as 
 you know, in a bad way. Your rents 
 are not coming in as they used to do. 
 But I want you to think of it not 
 
The New Floreat 59 
 
 simply as a question of rent, I want 
 you to look upon it as a matter of vital 
 importance to the country's welfare, 
 that the life of our villages should be 
 maintained, that men should be en- 
 couraged in every way to stay and 
 work in the place, unless, of course, 
 they happen to be men who would 
 clearly do better in the towns. You 
 have heard, of course, of the Parish 
 Councils Act. Now, one of the avowed 
 objects of the Parish Councils Act is to 
 make village life a brighter, happier, 
 and more interesting thing. When 
 you are a little older you will, I most 
 sincerely hope, be elected on to the 
 Parish Council, and take your part as 
 a villager* in working for all that is 
 
 * Dick objected to being called a " villager," 
 but I stuck to it. He will be angry when he 
 sees it in print ! J. A. 
 
60 The New Floreat 
 
 for the common benefit of the village. 
 You ought at least to wish that the 
 people in the village should have as 
 good means of recreation as you have 
 yourself a good cricket-ground, clubs, 
 library, etc. The new Act offers 
 means of providing these in every 
 village, and in many ways opportuni- 
 ties will now be opened to people which 
 you, as a Christian gentleman and 
 their brother, should rejoice to learn. 
 
 There is a great deal more that might 
 be written on these subjects, but per- 
 haps what I have said will have shown 
 you at least this, that social problems 
 are matters of extreme importance and 
 seriousness, and should not be airily 
 dismissed with an " I can't be bothered." 
 
 Now, Dick, I shall proceed to deal 
 with some of the social reforming move- 
 ments which are going on in our midst, 
 
The New Floreat 61 
 
 or, in other words, with some of the 
 remedies proposed to meet our various 
 social evils. Now I am going to begin 
 with Socialism, because we must get 
 clear ideas about this before we talk 
 of anything else. I notice, Dick, that 
 whenever I talk about any of these 
 matters to you, you always say : " Oh, 
 that's Socialism ; that's all rot ! " or 
 perhaps you say, "Why, you don't 
 want me to be a Socialist and blow 
 everybody up, do you ? " This makes 
 me suspect, dear Dick, that you have 
 very vague ideas of what Socialism is. 
 In the first place, Socialism has no 
 connection with the sort of Anarchism 
 which leads men to try to blow up 
 Houses of Parliament. Mr. John 
 Burns, M.P., who is an advanced 
 Socialist, talks of Anarchism as " mad- 
 ness." He says it is "a movement 
 
62 The Nezv Floreat 
 
 that has but very little foundation in 
 this country." He calls the Anarchists 
 " rogues, criminals and idiots." Social- 
 ism, then, is not an Anarchic move- 
 ment to blow up or murder anybody or 
 anything. Nor, again, dear Dick, is it 
 what you describe by that most ex- 
 pressive and elegant word of three 
 letters, " rot." I can assure you 
 Socialists are perfectly in earnest, and 
 that their schemes, however impracti- 
 cable they may seem to some people, 
 are put forward in perfectly good 
 faith, and therefore ought at least to be 
 respected. As a formulated system, 
 Socialism is comparatively in its in- 
 fancy. Its most enthusiastic adherents 
 would hardly claim that they have a 
 complete answer to every objection, or 
 that they see their way through all 
 difficulties. We must not therefore 
 
The New Floreat 63 
 
 judge of Socialism exactly as we should 
 of some old and well-tried system. 
 But to ignore it altogether is a sign of 
 foolishness and ignorance. Now, what 
 is Socialism ? In the strictest sense, 
 Socialism is a new, political, and in- 
 dustrial system, which some say should 
 be substituted as soon as possible for 
 our present system. The leading 
 feature of it would be the substitution 
 of State property for private property, 
 of collective capital for private capital. 
 All the means of production would 
 belong to and be worked by the State. 
 "The State" would be the whole 
 body of the nation acting through 
 some form of executive, but on a tho- 
 roughly democratic basis. Socialists 
 claim to be able to substitute a sys- 
 tem of brotherhood in place of what 
 they call the cut-throat competition of 
 
64 fhe New Floreat 
 
 our present industrial system. Instead 
 of each one beggaring his neighbour, 
 and each desiring to get rich at 
 the expense of his brother, they say 
 that we should have men all equally 
 desirous of one another's welfare, and 
 willing that all should have equal oppor- 
 tunities for developing their natural 
 talents and gifts. Instead of a certain 
 number of idle persons living on the 
 labours of the rest of the community, all 
 would have to do some share of the 
 work, except, of course, the aged and 
 incapacitated. Each worker, too, would 
 be set to do, as far as possible, that 
 work to which he was suited. 
 
 Perhaps you will laugh at all this, 
 Dick, and say that it is an impossible 
 plan. I agree with you so far that 
 Socialists do not seem to have con- 
 sidered the tremendous difficulties that 
 
The New Floreat 6$ 
 
 lie in the way of realising their ideal, 
 men and women being what they are, 
 rather selfish and lazy by nature. But 
 for all that Socialists mean what they 
 say, and say a great deal that is true 
 and very difficult to answer, especially 
 if you are a Christian. And they do 
 believe in their plan, passionately and 
 earnestly, and really trust that it will 
 bring about what we should like to see, 
 a state of love and brotherhood. They 
 are probably very greatly mistaken, 
 but so are many other people who 
 have not got half their eagerness and 
 enthusiasm for mankind. 
 
 Especially I should like you to learn 
 from them the importance of hard 
 work being done by all for the sake of 
 the community. 
 
 Don't you think, seriously, Dick, 
 that a life of good, honest, hard work 
 
 
 
66 The New Floreat 
 
 for your country and your fellow-men 
 and women would be much more satis- 
 factory than, say, the life of your cousin, 
 Ned Travers, who lives in Piccadilly, 
 gets up at twelve, smokes and reads 
 his letters, walks down to the club, 
 lunches, reads the Society papers till 
 four, strolls in the park, has tea with 
 some friends, dresses, goes to the 
 theatre, sups at the club, plays 
 whist and goes to bed at three A.M. 
 nearly every day of his life, and will 
 finally die of gout. I do not want to 
 say anything offensive ; but I must 
 confess that your cousin Ned, in my 
 opinion, is a most useless and worse 
 than useless member of society. 
 
 Nor is an idle life bad for men only, 
 but for women also. Why, Dick, did 
 you do your best to thwart your sisters 
 last year, when they proposed to do 
 
The New Floreat 67 
 
 some useful work in the East-end of 
 London ? You got quite angry when 
 you heard that Lily had undertaken to 
 teach the boys at Poplar wood-carving, 
 and you made Violet cry because you 
 showed no signs of interest when she 
 told you about the factory girls' club 
 she had been to see and wanted to help 
 in. And yet, if you give it a moment's 
 thought, is it not much more sensible, 
 to say the least of it, for two young girls 
 to do some such really useful work for 
 society than to be spending day after 
 day and night after night in a ceaseless 
 round of parties, theatres and balls ? 
 
 There are, then, beautiful ideas of 
 hard work, self-sacrifice, brotherhood 
 and such like, underlying these pro- 
 posals of modern reformers, and I 
 want to impress on you that Socialism 
 is a more or less definite and an entirely 
 
68 The New Floreat 
 
 serious proposal to solve the social 
 problem. I daresay you are saying to 
 yourself, "Such a state of things as 
 you describe will never be brought 
 about in our day." Well, it is true to 
 say that Socialism, pure and simple, is 
 not within the range of practical politics. 
 But though probably you and I, Dick, 
 shall not live to see a complete system 
 of Socialism established, yet we shall 
 undoubtedly see, and, in fact, are now 
 in the midst of many changes in our 
 industrial and political system of a 
 distinctly socialistic character. The 
 great mark of Socialism is what is 
 called " State interference." The State 
 interferes with individual members of 
 the nation, compelling them to do or to 
 submit to certain things which, without 
 such interference, they might be dis- 
 inclined to do. Any laws which 
 
The New Floreat 69 
 
 "interfere" in this kind of way are 
 socialistic ; and we have had a great 
 many such laws placed on our statute 
 book of late years, and shall ste a great 
 many more. Do not think, Dick, that 
 it is only the Liberal party who pass 
 Socialistic Acts of Parliament. I know 
 that might make you suspicious of 
 them. No; the Tory party have passed 
 and will pass such Acts also. It is not 
 a question of party politics at all, at 
 least, not at present. It may become 
 so. Some think there will soon be a 
 political party deliberately calling itself 
 socialistic. Well, instances of this 
 socialistic legislation are the Education 
 Act (1870), which compelled every 
 parent to educate his children whether 
 he liked it or not; the Free Educa- 
 tion Act (1892), which compelled the 
 public to pay for the education of all 
 
70 2* he Neiv Floreat 
 
 children out of the rates ; the Factory 
 Acts, which have regulated labour in 
 factories, forbidding employers to em- 
 ploy women and children beyond a 
 limited number of hours, or children 
 below a certain age, or compelling them 
 to submit their workshops and factories 
 to inspection, regulating the manner in 
 which they pay their wages, &c. I 
 might give you many more instances of 
 the socialistic tendency of modern law- 
 making ; but what I have written will 
 suffice to show you that the existence 
 of it cannot be denied. 
 
 And, moreover, dear Dick, may we not 
 be very thankful that it is so ? Does it 
 not show that different classes of society 
 are coming together more, and that we 
 are all beginning to concern ourselves 
 more about each other's welfare than we 
 used to do, that we are, in fact, beginning 
 
The New Floreat 71 
 
 to live as brothers and sisters of one 
 another ? Do not, then, grumble when 
 you have, as you will have, to pay high 
 rates, but rejoice that you are allowed 
 to take your part in helping your fellow- 
 creatures to share in the good things of 
 this earth, which God means for them 
 as well as for you. 
 
 Now for a word about Trades Unions. 
 They are societies of men in any one 
 particular trade who combine to protect 
 one another against any injustice being 
 done to them as workmen, and to help 
 one another in times of slackness of 
 trade or in sickness or old age. In the 
 earlier part of this century workmen 
 were almost entirely in the hands of 
 their employers, who very often treated 
 them most unjustly. They were forced 
 to combine to protect themselves. But 
 at first it was illegal to combine in this 
 
72 fhe New Floreat 
 
 way ; it was a criminal offence to refuse 
 to work in order to obtain higher wages. 
 Gradually these " Combination Laws " 
 have been repealed, and now " nothing 
 is illegal if done by a workman or 
 union of workmen which would not be 
 illegal if done by any one else or any 
 other union." The chief aims of unions 
 are to increase wages, to reduce hours 
 of work, to secure safe conditions of 
 work for their members, and to defend 
 individual members against unfair treat- 
 ment. Do these aims seem to you, 
 Dick, unfair in themselves ? Of course, 
 unions may make unfair demands, and 
 may prosecute their aims in unfair ways, 
 but then all societies of men make mis- 
 takes sometimes, and, on the whole, 
 Trades Unions have worked very well, 
 and have done a tremendous amount 
 of good. And you must always rcmem- 
 
The New F lor eat 73 
 
 ber that the Trades Union movement 
 has been almost entirely in the hands 
 of uneducated men who have had to 
 teach themselves everything. Men of 
 power and learning, instead of helping 
 them, have held aloof or opposed them. 
 The wonder is that they have not made 
 more mistakes. 
 
 It is a common mistake to sup- 
 pose that Trades Unions exist in 
 order to make "strikes." You might 
 as well say that a standing army 
 exists to encourage war. An army is 
 kept up in order to prevent war ; so a 
 union aims at preventing strikes. The 
 more organised and orderly a union is, 
 the less likely is it that there will be a 
 strike; strikes are never resorted to 
 by the best unions except as a last 
 resource. But there are cases when a 
 strike is necessary and when the money 
 
74 *The New Floreat 
 
 which it costs is well spent. So, dear 
 Dick, when you hear of a strike, instead 
 of condemning it at once, find out what 
 the causes of the strike are ; get infor- 
 mation from both sides as to the points 
 at issue between employers and men ; 
 consider whether the demands are just 
 or unjust, and then form your opinion. 
 Each strike must be discussed on its 
 own merits and pronounced right or 
 wrong accordingly. Sometimes a strike 
 is condemned because it inflicts suffer- 
 ing on innocent persons. Women and 
 children have to starve. Of course, 
 that is very sad, and it is to be hoped 
 that we shall soon find better ways of 
 settling our differences, just as it is to 
 be hoped that in time nations will cease 
 to go to war any more, and will make 
 up their quarrels by peaceful arbitra- 
 tion. But, meantime, do remember that 
 
The Nezv F lor eat 75 
 
 even starvation may be rightly and 
 nobly faced for a good cause. There 
 are some beautiful points in people's 
 character which sometimes appear in 
 a strike. During the Dock Strike in 
 1 889 there was wonderful self-sacrifice 
 displayed. One working man, whom I 
 know (just to take one instance), pawned 
 his watch and went hungry in order to 
 feed his starving brothers and sisters. 
 One word more, Dick. I remember at 
 the time of the Bancaster Strike, you 
 were reading in the paper about the 
 girls who wanted to go in and work 
 for twopence an hour, and were not 
 allowed to by the Union, and were 
 called "blacklegs" for wishing to do 
 it, and you said that it was a great 
 shame not to allow them to work for 
 as low wages as they chose. But you 
 were wrong, Dick. Does it not strike 
 
'The New Floreat 
 
 you that there was something really 
 noble in the girls all sticking together 
 for what was a perfectly fair and just 
 demand (as their master afterwards 
 allowed) ? And don't you see that these 
 " blacklegs/' as they were called, were 
 simply spoiling the whole thing by their 
 willingness to work for starvation 
 wages? You know how you dislike a 
 boy who won't play football. You bully 
 him and tease him till he comes in with 
 the rest. As long as you don't hurt him, 
 I think you are probably doing what is 
 quite legitimate. He ought not to be 
 allowed to stand outside and spoil the 
 united action of the rest of the boys. 
 How much worse, then, were the 
 " blacklegs " who by their action tried 
 to spoil the work of their sisters in 
 obtaining for the whole body of girls 
 fairer conditions for their labour. 
 
The New Floreat 77 
 
 You will understand, Dick, that I 
 only approve of such methods, provided 
 the original demand of the strike is a 
 fair and just one. For an unjust strike 
 of course no excuses ever can be made 
 at all. But we all dislike strikes, and 
 we should like to do without them. 
 Attempts have been made with some 
 success to form what are called Conci- 
 liation Boards, that is to say, meetings 
 of the masters and the union men 
 which are regularly called together to 
 discuss all matters connected with their 
 particular trade. By coming together 
 in this way in times of peace, very often 
 disputes are warded off altogether. 
 There are other methods of business 
 which are calculated to lessen the like- 
 lihood of conflicts in trade. One is 
 called Co-operation, a system by which 
 employers and employed are ioined in 
 
78 The New F lor eat 
 
 one set of persons. Co-operation is 
 "the effort on the part of a group 
 of workmen with capital, which has 
 either been saved by themselves or 
 voluntarily lent to them, to engage 
 in industrial enterprise in a corpo- 
 rate capacity." The workmen start 
 a business on their own account, and, 
 after deducting a certain amount for 
 working expenses, share the profits. 
 Those who started Co-operation fifty 
 years ago thought it would supersede 
 all other methods of employment, but 
 it has not done so, partly because the 
 manager of the concern is frequently 
 lacking in business knowledge and 
 skill, and partly because, when a co- 
 operative business succeeds, the ori- 
 ginal members instead of going on 
 working at it, take their share of the 
 profits and go off to other trades thus 
 
The New Fkreat 79 
 
 becoming mere shareholders in a com- 
 pany and not real co-operators. I have 
 mentioned Co-operation, Dick, because 
 I think it may interest you. The idea 
 of Co-operation is a beautiful one and 
 seems to some people more feasible 
 than Socialism, and one cannot but 
 hope that as a system it may yet be 
 adopted more extensively. 
 
 Besides those I have mentioned 
 there are many other plans for solv- 
 ing social problems. It might open 
 your eyes, Dick, a little to read of some 
 of them, Read, for example, General 
 Booth's " In Darkest England," or the 
 reports of the Church Army to see 
 what plans are proposed for dealing 
 with the " unemployed " in labour 
 homes, farms, and colonies. Or you 
 might read books on the rural question, 
 and see what various proposals are 
 
8o The New Floreat 
 
 being made and plans attempted for 
 improving the condition of the agricul- 
 tural population. A list of such will 
 alone give you an idea of the vastness 
 of the question : there are proposals for 
 allotments, small holdings, peasant 
 proprietorship, fruit farms, co-operative 
 farms, &c. 
 
 For you, as a future landlord, there 
 is a special reason for studying these 
 questions. You should find out which 
 of these particular remedies is likely to 
 be most effectual in your particular 
 district. For example, small holdings 
 might succeed in one part of the country 
 where there was much pasture land 
 for dairy farming, while fruit farming 
 or market gardening might be the 
 occupations to encourage in another 
 district. 
 
 It would be well too for you to 
 
The New Floreat 81 
 
 make yourself acquainted with the 
 subject of Emigration. Many consider 
 emigration the great way out of our 
 troubles, because it relieves the over- 
 population and opens up fresh fields 
 for our trade. Possibly a good deal 
 more might be done than is being 
 done in our own country to provide 
 work and to develop industry. There 
 are said to be tracts of land in England 
 uncultivated which might be put into 
 cultivation at once and made to pro- 
 duce. But anyhow emigration is a 
 very important remedy for social dis- 
 tress, even if it is not the most impor- 
 tant, There are, undoubtedly, countries 
 abroad, the value of, and opportunities 
 offered by, which are as yet not known. 
 Why should not you travel, Dick, with 
 a definite and useful object in view to 
 find out where and in what way emigra- 
 
82 The New Floreat 
 
 tion from England can best be carried 
 out: Then, too, you can assist men and 
 women to go abroad, you can find out 
 likely young fellows for emigration 
 (because it is of no use to send old or 
 idle people), you can even transfer 
 whole families with advantage some- 
 times. 
 
 And then, of course, there are pro- 
 posals to meet all our difficulties by 
 Legislation. Certainly Parliament can 
 do a great deal, as it has already done 
 in such matters as the Housing of the 
 Poor and the Factory Acts. But as I 
 have already hinted, Parliament cannot 
 do all ; much more may be looked for 
 from the growth of brotherly feeling 
 and unselfishness in all classes of the 
 nation. And this, dear Dick, is what you 
 must concern yourself with, now that 
 you are young. You boys at school are 
 
The New Floreat 83 
 
 having your characters formed. That 
 old saying, " The boy makes the man," 
 is very true. It depends on what you 
 boys are made now what you will be 
 when you grow up. And what a 
 glorious thing it will be for England if 
 there grows up a race of unselfish 
 men, men who will to their dying day 
 devote themselves to brotherliness 
 and love for their fellow-men, men who 
 will be honestly indignant at injustice 
 and unrighteousness and will work hard 
 to make this world a better place ! 
 
 I don't want to preach you a sermon, 
 Dick, but I must say that I do not 
 believe this better state of things will 
 ever come to pass, except by the power 
 of religion, or, as I should prefer to say, 
 by the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus 
 Christ's life was a life of unselfishness, 
 and He told us to be like Himself. 
 
84 *?he New Floreat 
 
 But more than that, He offers to help 
 us to be like Himself. He changes 
 our nature, and though left to ourselves 
 we should be very selfish and un- 
 brotherly, by His Power we can become 
 just the reverse. Do believe, dear 
 Dick, that this is what your religion is 
 meant to do for you. Don't think that 
 religion has got nothing to do with 
 these things. Religion is meant to 
 enter into every part of our life, and, 
 therefore, into our politics, our trade, 
 and everything else. Jesus Christ will 
 make you a good citizen and a good 
 landlord, as well as a good private 
 individual. I hope now, Dick, I have 
 shown you why you should be bothered 
 by social problems, and I hope you will 
 make up your mind at any rate to 
 look closely into all these matters and 
 resolve to take some part, however 
 
The New Floreat 85 
 
 small, in removing the evils which dis- 
 grace our country. 
 
 Let me make a few suggestions in 
 conclusion. 
 
 1. Always respect the poor. Do not 
 patronise them or affect a superiority 
 over them which you do not possess. 
 Learn to look on them as your own 
 brothers and sisters, human beings with 
 just as sensitive feelings as you have 
 yourself. Never say or do things to 
 them which you would not say or do 
 to those who are called " of your own 
 class." 
 
 2. If you believe them to be your 
 brothers and sisters, you will feel just 
 as anxious to rescue them from evil 
 surroundings and cruel conditions of 
 life, as you would if they were of your 
 actual family. Realising Brotherhood 
 will make you determined to fight 
 
86 The New Floreat 
 
 against "sweating" and unjust treat- 
 ment of the poor, especially of women 
 and children. 
 
 3. You will, therefore, not in any 
 way encourage those who are respon- 
 sible for such evils. For example, you 
 will as far as possible avoid dealing 
 with those who by paying unfair wages, 
 or by neglecting the welfare of those 
 they employ, are offending against the 
 law of brotherhood, and are making the 
 condition of the poor worse. It will 
 be difficult for you to do this while you 
 are quite young, but bear it in mind to 
 think about when you are a little older. 
 You might begin by avoiding very 
 cheap clothing (not that you get much 
 of that at Eton). Cheap clothing means 
 that some one (probably a woman) has 
 been " sweated " in order to make it. 
 Ordering clothes at the last moment, 
 
New Floreat 87 
 
 and so leaving no time for the workers 
 to make them, also leads to " sweating," 
 and you can avoid that easily. You will 
 also make inquiries as to where your 
 money comes from. Much of your in- 
 come comes and will come from shares 
 in various business concerns. It is 
 your duty to find out if the business is 
 conducted properly and is not doing 
 harm to any one. 
 
 4. Believe in everybody's right to 
 equality of opportunity. I have al- 
 ready said something about this, but 
 I repeat it. Everybody has certain 
 natural powers given him by God, 
 which he is meant to use and enjoy. 
 You have no right to deprive your 
 fellow-man, without reason, of what 
 God has given him. Under our pre- 
 sent fashions, numbers of persons have 
 very little opportunity. It is your 
 
88 The New Floreat 
 
 business to lessen this evil as much 
 as possible. You should make it as 
 easy as possible for people to enjoy 
 the fresh air and beautiful scenery at 
 Beaminster ; you should allow as many 
 people as possible to see your pictures 
 and all the beautiful things you pos- 
 sess. Lend them to public Art gal- 
 leries and museums. So, too, you 
 should support all movements for ex- 
 tending education to those who have at 
 present little opportunity of getting it. 
 5. Look upon all you possess as a 
 trust given you by God, to use for 
 others. Take care that all your money 
 is spent on good objects. Take care 
 that no one on your estate is suffering 
 through your carelessness and negli- 
 gence. There is a saying which runs 
 " Property has its duties as well as its 
 right s." This is most true. Do not 
 
The New Floreat 89 
 
 be content with saying, "What am I 
 obliged to do ? " but " What ought I to 
 do?" " What is my duty? " " What 
 does God want me to do ? " 
 
 I have spoken to you chiefly as a 
 country landlord, but you must always 
 remember that the Montmorency 
 London estate will almost certainly 
 become yours some day. This will 
 involve a still greater responsibility. 
 There are " slums " on that estate 
 which are a disgrace to any civilised 
 nation. These will have to be seen to. 
 There is another great evil, too, there. 
 About every fourth house in one of 
 the streets which will belong to you is 
 a " public-house " or " beershop." Now 
 you, remember, will be responsible 
 as the leases fall in for their continu- 
 ance. I hope you will reflect on this, 
 because this curse is killing your 
 
90 tfhe New Floreat 
 
 brothers and sisters, both body and 
 soul, and it is a terrible thing to have 
 any hand in that. 
 
 6. Never think that because you 
 are rich that, therefore, you are not 
 bound to work hard. An eldest son 
 is just as much bound to work as a 
 younger son. Every Christian man 
 must " labour truly," as the Catechism 
 says. It has been said that "a rich 
 man has his wages paid in advance." 
 This means that his money is given 
 him by God on the understanding that 
 he is to do the equivalent amount of 
 work. Of course, this does not neces- 
 sarily mean manual work, or even pro- 
 fessional work. But each man should 
 do some honest, hard work for the 
 benefit of his fellow-man. He should 
 be a " producer " of something for the 
 world's good. Do not fall into the 
 
The New Floreat 91 
 
 mistake of thinking that you are help- 
 ing your fellow-creatures by being 
 luxurious and idle. An idle man, who 
 spends his money on luxuries, is not 
 producing anything or making the 
 world a bit better. He is, in fact, keep- 
 ing the progress of the world back, 
 and he is, therefore, a pest to society. 
 There is plenty of honest work for you 
 to do if it is only in looking after your 
 property. You will be a large employer 
 of labour, and you will be responsible 
 for many things. The question is, 
 "Are you going to leave it all to be 
 done by agents and stewards, and just 
 pocket the proceeds, or are you going 
 to enter into it all yourself, and learn 
 how to guide and direct it ? " Dear 
 Dick, I sincerely hope it will be the 
 latter. You have a grand opportunity 
 of being a useful member of society. 
 
92 The Neiv Floreat 
 
 You can lead men if you wish, you 
 can inspire them with glorious hopes, 
 if you will only show them you are in 
 earnest and intend to give up time and 
 pleasure for their interests as well as 
 your own. 
 
 7. Do not look on money as the 
 be-all and end-all of life. Only look on 
 it as useful for doing good to your- 
 self and society. Look upon goodness 
 and justice as the noblest aim of all. 
 " As to position in life, the position I 
 wish to attain, is that of a man, con- 
 sumed with the thirst for righteous- 
 ness," wrote Arnold Toynbee, when 
 he was quite young. He became one 
 of the most thoughtful of modern 
 social reformers. Of course this may 
 cause you to be thought peculiar, but 
 you must not mind that. You must 
 dare to be different to other young 
 
The New Floreat 93 
 
 fellows. You call Vassall a "sap," 
 but probably Vassall will do much 
 more good in the world than your 
 friend Castlemarsh, who has begun by 
 getting ploughed for his matriculation. 
 8. Determine to study social ques- 
 tions. You have the prospect of a 
 good deal of leisure, and it will be a 
 grand thing if you resolve to use it in 
 studying these matters. We want 
 more thinkers and students. Many 
 men who would willingly help in 
 solving social questions, simply have 
 not the time to study them deeply 
 enough to do much good. But such 
 young men as you, Dick, have plenty 
 of time, and you owe it as a debt to 
 your country to spend it in thinking 
 and reading, and when you have 
 thought and read, in acting upon what 
 you have learnt. Do make a good 
 
94 *he New Floreat 
 
 start, Dick, when you go up to Oxford 
 next term. Don't fritter away your 
 time in idleness, nor your money in 
 useless extravagance. I want to at- 
 tract you to these social questions, 
 because I firmly believe that it is in 
 them that you will find that which 
 will make your life an interesting thing, 
 and will give you a purpose for your 
 existence. 
 
 9. Lastly, do bring your religion into 
 all this. Be an upright follower of 
 Jesus Christ and believe that He is the 
 only One who can really help us to 
 solve our social problems. If we are to 
 become unselfish, it is only He who 
 can make us so. Let us follow Him 
 loyally, even if He calls upon us to 
 make some great sacrifice of money or 
 time for His sake. 
 
 Perhaps, Dick, He wants you to go 
 
New F lor eat 95 
 
 down when you are older to one of the 
 missions or settlements in East London, 
 where many young Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge men live and work amongst the 
 poor. Perhaps He wants you to do 
 something even more than this, like 
 the rich young man to whom the Bible 
 tells us He said "Sell all thou hast and 
 give to the poor." Or He may wish you 
 to stay exactly where He has placed 
 you, but to work much more vigorously 
 in that position for your own sake, and 
 for your fellow-men. As I have tried 
 to show you, there is plenty for you 
 to do where you are. 
 
 But whatever He wants you to do 
 or to be, you must obey Him and show 
 yourself a good, honest Christian. 
 
 Now, I have given you a sermon 
 after all, but you must forgive me! 
 What a beautiful England this 
 
96 'The New Floreat 
 
 might be once again if only we 
 could learn to live as brothers! And 
 this is what I want you to learn to 
 believe, and no more to say, / can't be 
 bothered. 
 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 JAMES G. ADDERLEY. 
 
 
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