The function of government is to define the rights of the individual in terms of the common good and to think of the common good in terms of the welfare of the individual. In the case of Liberalism the emphasis has usually been on the “common good.” In the case of Conservatism the emphasis is usually on the “individual.” Historically the particular “individuals” have belonged to the authoritative or vested interest classes. That motto has been “what we have we hold.” Liberalism has found its main support in the masses. The natural result has been that legislation with each party, has been mainly for the classes their leaders represent. Liberalism recognizes that the teaching of history shows that progress is more continuous and secure when men are content to deal with great reforms piecemeal than when they seek to destroy root and branch in order to erect a complete new system which has captured the idealistic imagination. But its grappling with reforms is continuous. Conservatism, while believing in “the good of things as they are,” has usually grappled with reforms under the stimulus of an increasingly feared and potent democracy. Liberalism has had to wrench from Conservatism responsible government by the people, manhood suffrage, equal taxation, the right of like opportunity for all classes of the community. Conservatism has clung to precedent, the established order, the old authoritarian basis of government, and has yielded but slowly and as a rule only on compulsion. Liberalism is ordained of the common people and sprang from a common resistance to the oppression of arbitrary and self-centred rule. Conservatism had its birth in the doctrine of the divine right of kings. The “governing classes” were ordained of God because they themselves arranged the ordination. Liberalism has its principles embodied in the human heart. Conservatism finds its well-springs in its own pockets. The main battlements of privilege and vested authority have been won by Liberalism through centuries of struggle. The fight of democracy for freedom, for equality of opportunity and for substantial justice, to all individuals of the commonwealth still goes on. There are still inequalities of taxation to be righted, the oppression of vested interests in trade and industry to be overcome, monopolies and trusts to be regulated, the rights of society as a whole to be asserted to the wealth that depends on its own collective enterprise. The increase of the well-being of the masses does not appear to be by any means proportionate to the general growth of wealth. In the sphere of economic legislation, Liberalism still has perhaps its greatest work to do. The welfare of the common man at the common task is its first consideration. Government of the people, for the people, and by the people is the essence of Liberalism.