326 
SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. 
justifiable and commendable means of putting workmen more 
on an equality with their employers in the matter of contracts, 
and trade disputes are more often referred to Boards of Con 
ciliation or to arbitration than formerly. The well-to-do 
classes, including even the “ marauders ” and “ slave-drivers ” 
in Parliament, are beginning to look upon the labour question 
with far more sympathy for the labourer than either they or 
their fathers used to do. This is shown, amongst other ways, 
by the change which is stealing over the old Political Economy, 
by the growing interest taken in the proceedings of all con 
gresses and societies which occupy themselves with the dis 
cussion of social problems, by the increasing space devoted to 
social subjects in contemporary literature, and by the greater 
attention given by the Legislature to questions affecting the 
good of the working classes. As I write, I come across an 
account in the Pall Mall Gazette (September 8th) by Mr. 
Frederic Harrison, of a new industrial inquiry set on foot by an 
anonymous gentleman of Edinburgh, who has given jQiooo 
“ to make some provision for keeping before the public mind 
this vital question, namely :—What are the best means, con 
sistent with equity and justice, for bringing about a more equal 
division of the accumulated wealth of the country, and a more 
equal division of the daily products of industry between Capital 
and Labour, so that it may become possible for all to enjoy a 
fair share of material comfort and intellectual culture, possible 
for all to lead a dignified life, and less difficult for all to lead 
a good life." A conference of a large number of representative 
men is to be held next January for the discussion of this 
question, and meantime statistics bearing upon it are being 
carefully collected. 
Many Social Reformers go one step further with Socialists. 
Not only do they admit much of the Socialist indictment against 
the present industrial system, but they agree with the Socialists 
in thinking that the only ultimate solution of the question will 
be found in the union of Capital and Labour in the same hands. 
It is in the method of bringing about this solution, and in the 
form of its realization, that Social Reformers definitively part 
company with Socialists. The latter say that nothing short of