It is obviously impossible to discuss all these questions in a volume, still less to propound in detail the steps to be taken in dealing with them. Most of the more pressing ones will be touched upon and some suggestions made with regard to them; a few worked out rather more fully as examples. In some cases the remedies are obvious, and could be applied without difficulty, in others they require great special knowledge and careful thought, and their application will involve serious risks unless very great care and skill are used. To appear dogmatic in speaking of these subjects is inevitable if one would be definite; mistakes may be made, but "truth emerges from error more readily than from confusion." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 9: The last report of the Select Committee on Expenditure shows some of the grounds why this is urgent, and that very strong resolution will be needed to effect reform. The Prime Minister's determined action in insisting on unity of command for the Allied forces has already saved the country from enormous losses and done more than any other action of the Government to bring victory nearer. Any layman of average intelligence could see that the step was necessary; where did the opposition come from? There are politicians who would use their country's troubles to secure a party triumph.] [Footnote 10: The abuse of the power of asking questions in Parliament has become a scandal. There are a few persistent persons whose desire to embarrass a Government they dislike, in carrying on the War, makes them indifferent to the injury they may do to the national cause. Some check is necessary. The right to question Ministers is one of the most important safeguards against improper action by the executive, but the House of Commons is discredited by the manner in which that right has often been exercised of late. A report of proceedings in question-time constantly brings to mind a scene in "Alice in Wonderland," and the retort made to the arch-interrogator, "Why do you waste time asking questions to which there is no answer?"] CHAPTER XVII RESTORATION OF LAW AND LIBERTY _What is long suspended is in danger of being totally abrogated._--EDMUND BURKE.