The lot of the worker steadily progressed from 1800 up till 1900, when, in certain industries, there set in tendencies of retrogression. It has been one continuous record of rise in standard of living, and in wages, both nominal amount and purchasing power, due to improvement in production from the introduction of machinery, development of food production in new countries, and expansion of our export trade. This has been largely the result of the capitalistic organization of industry, and of its ability to meet the demands of the consumer, and of the extraordinary elasticity inherent in the system of adapting itself to varying circumstances. Without the machinery provided by the much-abused capitalist Labour would to-day be “scratching the ground” to extract a penurious livelihood. The capitalistic organization of industry would never have survived, had it not been in the main economically sound, and, on the whole, a system which made for the good of society. This is the system which is to be wholly destroyed by the Labour Party because of certain alleged defects, and replaced by an untried socialistic regime. The Alleged Defects of Capitalism First, it is said that under capitalism the incentive stands ethically condemned in that an employer is actuated wholly by a desire for his own private profit. I fail to see any turpitude in that motive; an employer can only make profit if he succeeds in serving the community. There are, of course, some—I personally have met very few—employers who deliberately try to foist on credulous consumers an adulterated or spurious article. But it is exactly for the same motive, namely, for profit, that the worker serves his employer, or, if that is an unacceptable analogy, that a member of a gang of workers serves his fellow-worker who is head of the gang and employing him. There are just as many workmen, indeed more, who are ready to pass off bad work upon their employer as employers prepared to pass off bad work upon the community.