It behoves all men of good-will in every country to ponder the extreme gravity of the situation which is being established throughout the civilised world. Are we to face a confused struggle of the old sort between those who have and those who have not, or are we to see the blessed and beneficent action of a great transforming principle? Is it to be a contest for the possession of political power, carried on with violence, and pregnant with incalculable disaster to all concerned? Or may we expect to watch the peaceful progress of a new type of industry gradually but effectually realised, under the guidance of men inspired by high economic and ethical ideals? In England we have good ground to hope for a peaceful solution. Among our working classes there is a notable absence of rancour, and even of bitterness. But it would be very unwise to count upon the continuance of this spirit, and most unfair to make it an occasion or excuse for further neglect. It should rather be a stimulus to a truer appreciation of the position and needs of the working class. If we survey English history to the beginning of the nineteenth century, our main difficulty is to determine whether our sins of omission or commission have been the greater. Both have been heinous and enormous. In the village community as it existed long ago we see comprehended all that we now call land, labour, and capital. For the worker it performed the services that are now rendered by the trade union, the co-operative society, the friendly and benefit society, and the insurance society. It stood also for local government, and even to a large degree for what now is national government, defence, justice, and for education so far as was possible long ago. The economic, social, and political life of the men of those earliest times was summed up in the village community. On the rise of feudalism this village community was transformed into the manor, and on the downfall of feudalism the manor was changed to the modern parish, definable as ‘a distinct area, in which a separate poor-rate is, or can be, levied.’ For a long period after the Black Death in 1349 labour was scarce and had a great opportunity. Through the conversion of small holdings into sheep-runs and the dissolution of the monasteries, labour was made superfluous and helpless. It was a tragic reversal of the situation which has had serious consequences during all the centuries that have followed. The opportunities and advantages which were offered to the worker in ancient times by the village community were at the close of the reign of Elizabeth reduced to the miserable privilege of poor relief! The worker could not be regarded as included within the body politic or social. He was no longer a citizen or member of the community. He was a landless serf, the subject of the landed class, and his position was determined by class legislation and class administration.