[22] WILLIAM MORRIS, _Signs of Change_, p. 4. [23] Speech delivered in St. James' Hall, March 21, 1894. [24] Speech delivered at Newcastle, May 21, 1894. [25] In the British House of Commons the ministry and the opposition leaders sit in the front benches on opposite sides of the House facing each other. A "front bencher" always commands a hearing, owing to his high position in the party. The members of the party sit behind their leaders and are called "back benchers." The minor groups, the Labor Party and the Irish Party, sit in the cross benches at the lower end of the chamber and are called "cross benchers." [26] See _Annual Report Board of Education_, 1909-1910. [27] Keir Hardie, the dean of the Socialist group in Parliament, fathered this law. Sidney Webb, the distinguished Fabian, was made a member of the commission. [28] See First Annual Report of the Commission. [29] See _Annual Report Home Office_, 1909-1910. [30] _Ibid._ [31] The money for these things he proposed to raise by taxes, and especially by a tax on land values. [32] CHIOZZA MONEY, _Riches and Poverty_, p. 82. No. of Owners Class of Owners Acres owned 400 Peers and peeresses 5,729,927 1,288 Great landowners 8,497,699 2,529 Squires{1} 4,319,271 9,589 Greater yeomen{1} 4,782,627 24,412 Lesser yeomen{1} 4,144,272 217,049 Small proprietors 3,931,806 703,289 Cottagers 151,148 14,459 Public bodies 1,443,548 Waste lands 1,524,624 ------- --------- 973,015 34,524,922 {1} This classification is purely arbitrary. [33] _Op. cit._, p. 91. [34] The leaseholder is burdened with "rack-rent" and "premiums"; when the lease expires the improvements revert to the landlord. There has been, for years, a well-organized Single-Tax movement in England that points to the evils of this land system as conclusive proof of the validity of Henry George's theory. [35] One of the choruses popular with the great throngs that paraded the streets in that eager campaign is full of significance. It was sung to the tune of "Marching through Georgia." "The land, the land, 'twas God who gave the land; The land, the land, the ground on which we stand; Why should we be beggars, with the ballot in our hand? God gave the land to the people." [36] During the debate on the second reading in the House of Commons, the writer one day counted twenty members on the benches, and a labor member called the attention of the Speaker to the fact that "in this hour of constitutional crisis only twenty brave men are found willing to defend the prerogatives of the realm!"