ttees, on the Decline of the
Birth-rate, has been described in an earlier chapter. Mrs. Webb's plan
was to systematise research, to enlist the co-operation of social
enquirers not necessarily committed to the principles of the Society,
and to obtain funds for this special purpose from those who would not
contribute to the political side of the Society's operations.

The "Committees of Inquiry" then formed took up two subjects, the
"Control of Industry" and "Land Problems and Rural Development." The
latter was organised by H.D. Harben and was carried on independently.
After a large amount of information had been collected, partly in
writing and partly from the oral evidence of specialists, a Report was
drafted by Mr. Harben and published first as a Supplement to the "New
Statesman" on August 4th, 1913, and some months later by Messrs.
Constable for the Fabian Society as a half-a-crown volume entitled "The
Rural Problem."

In fact there is a consensus of opinion throughout all parties on this
group of questions. Socialists, Liberals, and a large section of
Conservatives advocate Wages Boards for providing a statutory minimum
wage for farm labourers, State aid for building of cottages and a
resolute speeding up in the provision of land for small holdings. The
Fabian presentment of the case did not substantially differ from that of
the Land Report published a few months later under Liberal auspices, and
our Report, though useful, cannot be said to have been epoch-making.

Meanwhile the Enquiry into the Control of Industry was developing on
wider lines. The Research Department set up its own office and staff,
and began to collect information about all the methods of control of
industry at present existing as alternatives to the normal capitalist
system. Co-operation in all its forms, the resistances of Trade
Unionism, the effects of professional organisations, such as those of
the Teachers and of the Engineers, and all varieties of State and
Municipal enterprise were investigated in turn; several reports have
been published as "New Statesman" Supplements, and a volume or series of
volumes will in due time appear.

The problem of the Control of Industry had become important because of
the rise of a new school of thought amongst Socialists, especially in
France, where the rapid growth of Trade Unionism since 1884, combined
with profound distrust of the group system of party politics, had led to
a revival of old-fashioned a