Welsh Journals

WE are all agreed that Britain must be made a better place for the men who have risked their lives for her, such as she is. The old, the unfit, and those who have remained at home indispensable, it may be, but at any rate safe and often well paid, are bound, in gratitude to those who have suffered much and risked everything for a bare pittance, to do all that in them lies to effect that amelioration which we know to be desirable and believe to be possible. So far, all men of good will are agreed but beyond this point the differences of opinion are end- less. About the various schemes for improvement I shall utter no word of criticism. My purpose in writing is simply to make the humblest of contributions to the common end the humblest, because I have no ideas of my own to advocate. I merely wish to call attention to the ideas of another man which seem to me to be worthy of more careful consideration than they have received. That other man is Captain Petavel, a retired officer of Engineers and the ideas are expressed in The Coming Triumph of Christian Civilisation," "Administrative Efficiency," and one or two other little books published by George Allen. In the case of such a rapid summary as this must be, it may be worth while for once to begin at the wrong end, and to ask what the England of the future will be, supposing Captain Petavel's schemes to prove feasible and to be actually carried into operation. Those who are not attracted by the picture need read no further while those who think it an ideal worth living and struggling for will perhaps not only have patience to read to the end, but may go to the original sources for more light. The England of the future, then, on this conception, will be a community of industrial workers, every man of whom will have a plot of land. Not all will be farmers, but all will be in contact with the soil, and the garden will play a great part not only in the economics of their lives, but also in humanising and civilising their lives. The industrial day will probably not extend to more than from four to six hours the rest of each man's time will be free, but the conditions will be such that he probably will not elect to spend it all either in idleness or in mere amusements. Our present concentrated and congested cities will have given place to communities drawn out for many miles along lines of railway whose cheap and rapid transport will carry the workers in for their shift in the workshop, out again for their free life in field or garden, and, if they desire it, in once more to the central places of amusement. This seems more Utopian than Utopia. But much water has flowed under the bridges since More wrote, and the question whether Petavel is or is not a mere visionary must be determined by an examination of his fundamental ideas. To begin with he accepts the calculation of the economists that the productive power of labour is now at least four times as great as it was a century ago. That is the most conservative estimate ;"rthere are others who believe that it is five, six, or even more than six times as great. But a century ago a labourer of average competence could maintain himself and his family. Now, therefore, A NEW BRITAIN By Dr. Hugh Walker, St. David's College. Lampeter he ought to be able to do four times as well or, on the same standard, a labourer of far less than average com- petence ought to be self-supporting. But this conclusion seems to be inconsistent with undeniable facts. The unemployable are not supposed to have greatly diminished in numbers and the average labourer is certainly not four times as well off as he was a century ago. Why not ? Many of the labourers would answer, because the rich have intercepted the greater part of the produce. Petavel does not agree. It is true, he says, that the rich are richer than they were they have made their own a portion, but a relatively small portion, of the increased product. The workers also have somewhat improved their position they have made their own another portion of the increased product, and this portion is also relatively small, though it is greater than that which has fallen to the rich. The third and by far the largest portion of the increased power of labour is simply not used at all. What the economists say is, not that every unit of labour does prcduce four times as much as it produced a century ago, but only that it is capable of doing so. The reason why the capacity is not used to the full is that demand lags ruinously behind supply and it does so, not because the people do not want to consume wealth, but because they lack the means to pay for it. Give them the means, and demand will at once be stimulated. Apparently therefore there is some lack of organisation. But is this really the explanation ? Is it not rather that a large percentage of the potential workers are un- employable because they have not strength enough, or intelligence enough, to earn a living? If Petavel were writing now he would probably refer to the experience of the War in answer. Millions of the best were drafted away, and yet production was maintained. It would be difficult to prove that all who were called in to fill the gaps really made their bread and butter but it is reason- ably clear that the majority did so. Writing before the War, what Petavel did was to point to the Swiss labour colony of Witzwyl and the-astonishing facts with regard to it are vouched for by a committee of the Royal Com- mission on the Poor Laws, which visited Witzwyl. It is an establishment for convicts, containing apparently an average of about 160 prisoners. They are of various classes, but the largest class is that of persons sentenced to workhouse detention as being vagrants or work-shy -surely the worst of all classes for production. And yet the astounding fact is that this colony pays its own ex- penses. "The balance sheet for 1907," say the British Commissioners, shows a profit, including the value of improvements, taken on a valuation made by commercial valuers." The colony is located on an estate of originally about 2,000 acres. In 1895, say the Commissioners, it was, except about 150 acres, "in a very poor state indeed the soil was exhausted the buildings were in ruins. To-day this estate is in fine condition the buildings on it, which have been largely added to, are in an excellent state of repair and the area of the farm has been increased, so that it extends now to 2,471 acres."