state of things against which our instincts of humanity and charity
revolt. And that is perfectly true, but I do not propose to approach
the question from that point of view to-day. I want to approach it
from the economic and political standpoint. But when I say political I
do not mean it in any party sense. This is not a party question; may
it never become one. The organisers of this exhibition have done what
lay in their power to prevent the blighting and corrosive influence of
party from being extended to it. The fact that the position which I
occupy at this moment will be occupied to-morrow by the wife of a
distinguished member of the present Government (Mrs. Herbert
Gladstone), and on Saturday by a leading member of the Labour Party
(Mr. G.N. Barnes, M.P.), shows that this is a cause in which people of
all parties can co-operate. The more we deal with sweating on these
lines, the more we deal with it on its merits or demerits without
ulterior motive, the more likely we shall be to make a beginning in
the removal of those evils against which our crusade is directed.

My view is, that the sweating system impoverishes and weakens the
whole community, because it saps the stamina and diminishes the
productive power of thousands of workers, and these in their turn drag
others down with them. "Unduly low rates of wages, excessive hours of
labour, insanitary condition of workplaces"--what does all that mean?
It means an industry essentially rotten and unsound. To say that the
labourer is worthy of his hire is not only the expression of a natural
instinct of justice, but it embodies an economic truth. One does not
need to be a Socialist, not, at least, a Socialist in the sense in
which the word is ordinarily used, as designating a man who desires
that all instruments of production should become common property--one
does not need to be a Socialist in that sense in order to realise that
an industry, which does not provide those engaged in it with