THE FIELD
Above all things, order and distribution and singling out of parts is the life of despatch.—FRANCIS BACON.
It has been usual to associate the term "reform" mainly with constitutional changes, and especially with the extension of the franchise. Fortunately, the present Parliament has dealt with that question in a manner which makes great further changes unnecessary, and will leave the new Parliament free to deal with others. Instead of taking up time with the discussion of alterations in the franchise and arrangements for elections, the legislative machinery should be ready for use. But it is not merely to legislation that we have to look. More and more will depend on the action of executive departments of Government. Their field of activity has been extended during the War, and new departments have been established. Some of the new activities should be continued after the War, others should be stopped as soon as possible. It will be necessary to discriminate carefully. The powers of local authorities may be increased, and those authorities may be urged to more energetic use of them. There will probably be strong demands for interference by the State and local authorities, and the advantage of the free action of private individuals is likely to be overlooked, although where it is possible for a reform to be carried out by private effort better results are usually obtained, and at less cost than by action of the State. We are suffering and shall probably continue to suffer from too much regulation. One of the first reforms will be to
get rid of restrictions which the War has for a time rendered necessary, to restore liberty of action, and to stop the expenditure occasioned by State interference wherever such interference is no longer needed.
Using the term "reform" to include all improvements which can be made either by restoring former conditions or by introducing beneficial changes, it will be necessary to look into each question separately and see in what cases and to what extent action by the State is required to accomplish the end desired. The most convenient course will be to draw up a list of subjects which ought to be dealt with, and then see how far (i) legislation, and (ii) executive action by some department are called for in each case, and how far private action will be effective.
The following appear to be the most important and most urgent matters which require to be considered either during the War or immediately after peace is declared. All of them will involve some action on the part of the State, although in many cases that action will be to enable voluntary associations or private individuals to take up the work and to aid them in doing so.
The list, though by no means complete, looks formidable:—
1. Restore constitutional law and liberty.
2. Remove the fetters on trade, commerce and industry.
3. Demobilise the army and decide what naval and military forces will still have to be maintained, and what provision ought to be made in regard to military training in the future.
4. Reform the War Office.[[9]] Reconsider the con
stitution and procedure of courts martial, and provide for really judicial inquiry into grievances. Revive and use the Territorial system.
5. Complete the arrangements for adequate pensions and develop means for giving such technical training and providing such openings for work as will enable partially disabled men to earn comfortable subsistence in addition.
6. Provide permanent homes and sanatoria for those who are more seriously injured, and find suitable light employment for those who can undertake it.
7. Arrange the best places and provide proper training for discharged soldiers and sailors (and others) who may be willing to settle on the land.
8. Consider how to restore the discharged men to their former places or accustomed work, and how to meet the needs of the temporary workers who will be displaced.
9. Curtail the vast expenditure on the departments organised for War work, reducing the staffs and finding other work for those who must be discharged. Dispense altogether with some of the new Ministries. The question of employment for women after the War will be most urgent.
10. Organise and correlate the various departments so as to secure more efficiency, and so assign and arrange the work of each as to avoid circumlocution, friction and waste.
11. Reconstitute the Cabinet on clearer lines, and let competence for the work of each department, instead of recognition of party services, be the guide in appointing the Minister responsible for each.
12. Reform the procedure of the House of Commons to check verbosity and facilitate business.[[10]] Delegate certain powers and duties.
13. Find means for raising additional revenue and making the incidence of taxation fairer. In particular, revise the provisions as to income tax and death duties, so as to increase revenue without adding to the hardships and burdens due to the present conditions. Some definite steps with that object are quite practicable.
14. Examine what industries, if any, are to be specially fostered as "key industries," and whether this can be done without injury to other industries or adding to the heavy cost borne by the consumer.
15. Arrange plans for enabling labour to co-operate fully in settling the conditions under which industry is to be carried on, and make provision for preventing disputes, increasing production, allocating profits fairly, and for reducing hours of work without diminishing output.
16. Provide more and better housing, not only to secure the bare accommodation necessary for health and decency, but also to make attractive homes.
17. Increase the productivity of the land and promote agriculture, not only for financial reasons, but to maintain and induce the growth of a larger rural population. Stimulate education and research bearing on agriculture.
18. Develop industrial villages, and also land settlements and co-operative farming. Multiply allotments, both urban and rural, so far as economic conditions permit and there is a supply of people desirous and capable of working them.
19. Introduce methods enabling persons without ready capital to acquire their cottages or small holdings by paying instalments on reasonable terms. Why not an Ashbourne Act for England?
20. Control the liquor traffic, not with a view to injure the publican, but to promote temperance, re
membering that the business of the licensed victualler should be to provide wholesome food as well as drink, not to act merely as manager of a licensed house for extending the trade, and enhancing the profits of a brewery or distillery.
21. Simplify the Land Laws and make transfer easier and less costly.
22. Amend the law relating to marriage, and also on some points affecting personal status and devolution of property on death.
23. Consolidate the Statute Law and amend and codify the Criminal Law. Carry out the amendment of the Patent Law.
24. Aid the development of Education without destroying the liberty of teacher or scholar or the variety of methods by too much control, rigid system, or over-elaborate organisation.
25. Combat disease, encourage research in preventive medicine, and extend the application of its results. In particular carry on the campaign against infectious and contagious diseases, and especially against venereal disease.
26. Make better provision for playing-fields and open spaces, preserve places of historic interest and natural beauty, and make them accessible for the enjoyment of those who really care for them.
27. Develop fisheries.
28. Undertake afforestation systematically.
29. Improve and cheapen internal transport, especially by reviving waterways.
A fairly long programme, but it might be added to. Some of it is essential, all of it useful; some of it wants carefully guarding; none of it is beyond the sphere of practical politics. We cannot afford to neglect any of the items. All the activities of the Government, of the Legislature, and of private effort will be needed. It is worth notice that there is not a single question in the whole list that need divide Parliament or the country on party lines.
This list deals only with strictly home matters.
Concurrently it will be necessary to deal with international questions, such as the formation of the League for securing peace, the constitution and regulation of tribunals for settling disputes, the resuscitation of International Law and reconsideration of its rules. An attempt should be made towards assimilating, by arrangement, the laws of the mother country and the colonies and also of different nations, affecting commerce, and also as regards personal status—nationality, naturalisation, and the validity of marriages.
The whole subject of co-operation between different parts of the Empire in determining its policy and dealing with matters affecting the whole demands earnest and immediate attention. The totally different question of the devolution of powers to any parts of the United Kingdom has yet to be settled. The claims of national sentiment have to be recognised while the welfare and safety of the whole are secured. What are the units to be on which powers can be conferred, and what should be their extent? Who exactly are those whose national claims are being asserted, and how far are they at unity among themselves? All these questions must be treated as matters for constructive statesmanship, not as pawns in party contests. They must be dealt with as practical problems having regard to the special circumstances of each case, not as opportunities for embodying some general political theory. There is a commendable opportunism which knows how to take "occasion by the hand," to do the wisest thing under the conditions subsisting at the time, as well as a blameworthy one, which looks out how to use them for personal advantage. There will be need, too, for the "trimmer on principle"—the man who, when the boat is going over on one side, deliberately and quickly transfers his weight to the other, or the steers-man who tacks when the wind is contrary in order to bring his ship to the port where his passengers desire to land. Such a man, as was said of Lord Halifax in the time of Charles II, "must not be confounded with the vulgar crowd of renegades, for though like
them he passed from side to side, his transition was always in the direction opposite to theirs. The party to which he belonged was the party which at that moment he liked least, because it was the party of which he had the nearest view. He was, therefore, always severe upon his violent associates, and was always in friendly relation with his moderate opponents."
It is obviously impossible to discuss all these questions in a volume, still less to propound in detail the steps to be taken in dealing with them. Most of the more pressing ones will be touched upon and some suggestions made with regard to them; a few worked out rather more fully as examples. In some cases the remedies are obvious, and could be applied without difficulty, in others they require great special knowledge and careful thought, and their application will involve serious risks unless very great care and skill are used. To appear dogmatic in speaking of these subjects is inevitable if one would be definite; mistakes may be made, but "truth emerges from error more readily than from confusion."
FOOTNOTES:
The last report of the Select Committee on Expenditure shows some of the grounds why this is urgent, and that very strong resolution will be needed to effect reform. The Prime Minister's determined action in insisting on unity of command for the Allied forces has already saved the country from enormous losses and done more than any other action of the Government to bring victory nearer. Any layman of average intelligence could see that the step was necessary; where did the opposition come from? There are politicians who would use their country's troubles to secure a party triumph.
The abuse of the power of asking questions in Parliament has become a scandal. There are a few persistent persons whose desire to embarrass a Government they dislike, in carrying on the War, makes them indifferent to the injury they may do to the national cause. Some check is necessary. The right to question Ministers is one of the most important safeguards against improper action by the executive, but the House of Commons is discredited by the manner in which that right has often been exercised of late. A report of proceedings in question-time constantly brings to mind a scene in "Alice in Wonderland," and the retort made to the arch-interrogator, "Why do you waste time asking questions to which there is no answer?"