CHAPTER XII 
DEMOCRATIC INFLUENCES ON INDUSTRIAL LIFE, 1906-1920 
105. National Affairs from 1906 to 1920. — By the end of 
1905 the Conservative or Unionist party, which had so long 
held control of the government, had lost the confidence of the 
people, and at the elections held in January, 1906, a combina 
tion of parties opposed to it, the Liberals, Irish Nationalists, 
and Labor party, obtained a large majority in Parliament and 
formed a new ministry. It was this combined party that 
carried through the series of economic and social reforms to 
which so much of this chapter is devoted. 
In addition a number of changes of a more political nature 
were made. In 1911 a bill known as the Parliament Act was 
passed giving to the House of Commons much greater power. 
In case of a dispute between the House of Commons and the 
House of Lords on any proposed bill, it would become law 
when the House of Commons passed it, if it were a bill con 
cerned with taxation or appropriations, immediately, whether 
the House of Lords approved it or not. Any other bill, if 
passed by the House of Commons three times in successive 
sessions would become law, even if the House of Lords de 
feated it each time. At the same time it was provided that 
Parliament should not sit longer than five years without a new 
election. Members of Parliament, who had before served 
without salary, were now to be paid, so that a more democratic 
element might serve as representatives of the people. 
The occurrence of this period of the most overwhelming im 
portance was, of course, the Great War, begun August 4, 1914, 
and closed by the armistice of November 11, 1918, followed by 
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