THE  HOUSING  QUESTION  67
proposal  that  the  Government  shall  keep  its  promises
to  the  ex-service  men.
Lord  Robert  Cecil  :  ".  .  .  It  is  all  very  well  to  say  that
people  ought  to  pay  for  their  housing.  So  they  ought  to  pay,
perhaps,  in  one  sense,  for  everything,  but  we,  at  any  rate,  in
this  country  have  very  clearly  laid  it  down  that,  for  good  or  ill,
there  are  many  things  in  which  the  State  shall  assist  the  poorer
citizens  of  the  country.  We  have  done  it  with  regard  to  education
and  with  regard  to  disease.  We  have  done  it  with  regard  to
housing  in  various  ways.  .  .
Finally,  the  National  Housing  and  Town  Planning
Council,  in  their  Report  of  August,  1921,  say  :—
"  It  is  all  very  well  for  critics  to  say  that  if  the  carrying  into
effect  of  this  work  had  been  left  to  the  forces  of  enterprise  a  far
larger  number  of  houses  would  have  been  built  at  a  much  lower
cost.
“  This  statement  is  absolutely  out  of  keeping  with  the  recorded
facts  concerning  housing  progress  in  other  countries.
“  In  France  and  America  home  building  for  the  poorer  members
of  the  community  is  at  a  standstill.  In  Belgium  and  Italy  a
certain  measure  of  activity  is  being  shewn  by  the  State  and
Local  Authorities  acting  in  conjunction,  but  the  actual  achievements ­
  are  far  below  those  of  this  country.  Throughout  the  whole
of  Europe  and  America  the  cost  of  building  is  so  high  that  private
enterprise  has  ceased  to  operate,  and  the  pressure  of  demand  for
remedial  action  is  as  great  or  greater  than  it  is  here.”
The  following  quotations  shew  the  brave  words  of
Ministers  in  1919,  when  boasting  of  how  they  would,
as  in  duty  bound,  deal  with  Local  Authorities  who
failed  to  carry  out  their  Housing  obligations,  and  their
dwindling  courage  as  time  went  on  :