There have, it is true, been splendid men and women of the wealthy classes who, seeing the misery and degradation of the people, have set to work to collect facts and figures in order that all the world may know “how the poor live.” One such was the Rt. Hon. Charles Booth; Mr. Seebohm Rowntree is another; and their works on life and labour tell their own story, and in a very real way show conditions as they are. But no one has yet thought it worth while to suggest a social investigation into the life and labour of the business and possessing classes. I wish the labour movement would appoint a special commission, consisting of their best men and women, thoroughly to investigate the conditions of life prevailing in Belgravia and Mayfair and tell the world “how the rich live”--whence come their means of life, and what they do to fill up each day, whether with useful or useless work. I am sure we should discover from such an inquiry that the rich people are no more contented or happy than the rest of us, that riches not earned by actual productive labour are Dead Sea fruit, and that life for the rich is one long weary search for happiness which never comes their way for any length of time. We should discover, too, that more and more people are becoming dissatisfied with their lives, that scrambling for “wealth” (which is not _wealth_ in any good sense of the word) is a kind of existence which takes the joy out of life. The reason such a condition of things is tolerated is, I believe, simply that we all fear each other. We are afraid of the consequences of “burning our boats,” and we dare not cast ourselves on the mercy of our fellow men and women, for we have no faith either in them or in ourselves, or in our religion which tells us to “Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.” We are surrounded by conventions and customs which few of us dare to break, and which fewer still dare publicly to call in question. Until we have faith and hope and confidence in each other, we shall continue our business methods of buying cheap and selling dear, nursing all the time the vain delusion that if once we determine to do right, evil will immediately prosper, instead of understanding that righteousness, whether exercised by an individual or by a nation, is always more powerful than evil.