2 
They must take upon themselves the responsibility, not 
merely of sending members to the House of Commons, but of 
sending members to local governing authorities who would 
give a maximum chance to any legislation that the House of 
Commons should see fit to pass. This was particularly the 
case regarding those semi-representative, semi-nominated 
bodies like the Care Committees, and those Sub-Committees 
formed by Education Authorities. It was of the greatest im 
portance that labour in all its aspects should be directly and 
adequately represented on all those nominated sub-committees 
of elected authorities. Unless they faced their responsibili 
ties in that respect the legislation passed could never be so 
effective as it otherwise would be. 
There were one or two general principles which he would 
like to bring before them for their careful consideration. 
In dealing with the problem of Poor Law administration, his 
first proposition was that treatment must not be palliative 
only, but it must be reconstructive, and it must contain in 
itself the germs of a wider and more far-reaching scheme of 
social co-operation. Unless it did that it was bound to fail. 
He thought they could divide the poverty problem into three 
aspects. 
THE MACHINERY QUESTION. 
First of all they had the men and women who had become 
stranded, wrecks on the present industrial sea. One great 
reason why this happened was the substitution of machinery 
for hand work, and of new forms of machinery for old forms of 
machine work. That sort of thing had happened in Leicester. 
People tallvld about the industrial revolution as having been 
accomplished one hundred years ago. That was a mistake. 
The industrial revolution was still going on to-day. In 
Leicester during the last twenty years there had been an enor 
mous development of machinery. Machines of the most 
delicate construction and the most complicated movement 
had been applied to the making of boots and shoes and hosiery. 
The result had been a very considerable displacement of 
labour. Men were discharged from factories, not because 
trade was bad, for it was good, but because by the application 
of machinery human labour had become more productive, and 
under the present system of industry a large percentage of 
human labour that used to be necessary had therefore come 
to be necessary no longer. These men had to go upon the 
street, and they were never going to be invited inside a factory 
gate again. 
There was also the displacement of labour on account of 
age. “Too old at forty” was only too true. He himself was 
already over forty, and he had no doubt as to his working 
efficiency, whatever might be thought of him as a Member of