re,
voted for the Baths and Washhouses."

"Who's to pay for all this?" asked Mr. Fissure, pertinently.

"The State, which means society, the whole of which is directly
interested. I tell you a million of children are crying to us to set
them free from the despotism of a crime and ignorance protected by law."

"That is striking; but you are treading on delicate ground. The liberty
of the subject----"

"Exactly what I expected you to say. These words can be used in defence
of almost any injustice and tyranny. Such terms as 'political economy,'
'communism,' 'socialism,' are bandied about in the same way. Yet
propositions coming fairly within these terms are often mentioned with
approval by the very persons who cast them at you. In a report of a
recent Royal Commission I find that one of the Commissioners is quite
as revolutionary as I am. He says it is right by law to secure that no
child shall be cruelly treated or mentally neglected, over-worked or
under-educated. Some people would call that communism, I fancy. But
I think him to be correct as a political economist in that broad
proposition. Why? Because a child's relation to the State is wider, more
permanent, and more important than his relation to his parents. If he
is in danger of being depreciated and damned for good citizenship, the
State must rescue him."

"A paternal and maternal government together!" cries Lord Namby--"a
government of nurses. You know I should like to stop the production of
children among the lower orders. Your propositions are far in advance
of my radicalism. The State must sometimes interfere between parent and
child; for instance, in education or protection from cruelty. But, if
I understand you, you actually contemplate a general refining and
elevation of the working class by legislative means."

"Assuredly: I should aim to cultivate their morals, refine their tastes,
manners, habits. I wish to lift from them that ever-depressing sense of
hopelessness which keeps them in the dust."

"So do most men; but you must do that by personal and private
influences, not by State enactments. How would you do it?"

"How? I think I could draw up a programme. For instance: Expatriate a
million to reduce the competition that keeps poor devils on half-rations
or sends them to the poorhouse; Take all the sick, maimed, old, and
incapable poor into workhouses managed by humane men and not by ghouls;
Forbid such people to marry and propagate weakness; L