There is no comparison in the life conditions which prevail amongst the wives and dependents of soldiers and sailors and those which prevail amongst the commercial and landed classes. The soldier’s wife has been plundered and robbed by high prices, and some of the very people who have obtained their money because of these high prices have been good enough to establish Tipperary and other clubs in order to provide some recreation and amenities of life for the soldier’s and sailor’s folk. All the talk about the unity of the nation comes not so much from actual life as from the desire, which all decent people must share, that the unity of life which is expressed in the words “comradeship of the trenches” may find expression in our own lives at home. This attitude of mind is, however, quite oblivious of the fact that under present industrial and commercial conditions such comradeship is impossible of realisation. The giving of doles, subscription to charity, cannot make up to the workers the robbery and exploitation from which they suffer. In saying this I do not forget that many well-to-do women and men have gone out with the Red Cross, that others are serving in hospitals at home, and some devoting their leisure time to providing joy-rides in motor-cars for the wounded soldiers and sailors, whilst others are working in munition factories, Y.M.C.A. canteens, and so on. Undoubtedly there is a good spirit abroad amongst all classes, but the bedrock fact is that even in war time wealth and poverty remain contrasted throughout the land. Even the women and girls who work in munition factories, if they belong to the comfortable classes, never dream of sharing the same kind of life as the ordinary working-class women, and actually living on the wages they earn. For these well-to-do women the work is but a change; to some it is recreation which may be taken up or dropped at any time when some other rest or recreation is needed. The story that is told of the lady who entertained her co-workers from a munition factory at a dinner party is typical of what I mean. This lady means well, but how can she possibly be a workmate in the full sense unless she is actually living on the same wages as those who work by her side, and who have no other means of support? If she is ill she has only to go home and receive all the care, all the rest and change of air she needs. Different indeed is the life of the working-class girl who has no other income but her earnings, and often lives in one or two rooms on a beggarly wage of 12s. to 20s. per week.