administration. We have had many lessons in the past, and the question has engaged the attention of our best thinkers since the passing of the Act of Elizabeth. It is said now that the conditions have changed, and it is quite true that industry is far more complex than it was a hundred years ago. But the underlying problem is one of human nature, which remains the same as it has always been, and the magnitude and complexity of modern industrialism render the position far more dangerous than it has ever been before.
December 1912.
POSTSCRIPT (1914).
A good deal of water has passed under the bridges since the foregoing article was written. The National Insurance Act has come into force, and the benefits paid under it, whether in respect of sickness or of unemployment, have now to be added to the resources available for poor people in times of distress. Let us recapitulate these resources:—
(1) First there is the Poor Law (1601), with its workhouses, infirmaries, residential schools, and outdoor relief. In London we have in addition the numerous institutions of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.
(2) Next in order of time comes the Unemployed Workmen Act (1905), with its network of Distress Committees throughout the country, its Labour Colony at Hollesley Bay, and its system of allowances to the families of the men for whom it provides work.
(3) The Provision of Meals Act (1906) and the (Education) Administrative Provisions Act (1907) provide food and medical treatment for school children through the Education Authorities.
(4) The Old Age Pensions Act (1908) provides old age pensions for people over 70.
(5) The National Insurance Act provides benefits for
