THE LIBERAL MAGAZINE A PERIODICAL FOR THE USE OF LIBERAL SPEAKERS & CANVASSERS PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE Liberal Publication Department VOLUME XIII. FORMING A POLITICAL RECORD FOR THE YEAR 1905. 1906 THE LIBERAL PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT (In connection with the National Liberal Federation and the Liberal Central Association), 42, PARLIAMENT STREET, LONDON, S. W. We regret that pressure on our space prevents our dealing this A new volume (the thirteenth) of the MAGAZINE begins with the current issue. No effort will be spared in the future to maintain and increase the usefulness of the publication, and we are glad to be able to say that the average circulation of the MAGAZINE during 1904 has been upwards of 3,500-a large increase on previous years. so, we are not satisfied that the maximum has been reached, and we The twelfth bound volume of the MAGAZINE is now ready, and may The bound volume of Pamphlets and Leaflets for 1904 can be A record of all the more important Divisions, month by month, THE DIARY OF THE MONTH. (1) Lord Selborne on the Future. "In this matter of Empire we had not only to think of ourselves today, but of our children and our children's children in time to come. Russia, France, and Germany were in the future going to be numbered by hundreds of millions of people, and if we were to remain at forty millions how were we going to compare with these nations of hundreds of millions? We could not be in the same class with them. It was numbers that told; but if the British Empire by a high ideal of Imperial unity were to be made one, then we could hold our heads on the same level." (2) Lord Selborne on "Thinking Imperially." "To think Imperially, as Mr. Chamberlain has suggested, was to think intellectually." (3) Mr. Long on the General Election. "As the Unionists had done in the past, so they would strive to do in the future. It was possible that the electors might temporarily select a Government from the other side. He did not doubt, if that were the case, that a check, though only a passing check, must be given to the development of those great Imperial ideas which he believed now animated the majority of our fellow-countrymen, but he had confidence in the great Imperial instincts of the people. (4) Mr. Arnold-Forster on the General Election. "With regard to the forthcoming General Flection, he said that a hard fight was inevitable, and even then he was not so sure that the Conservatives would win. He did not think that a reverse at the next General Election would do much harm. In fact, he thought it would do some good in the long run, because it would show the amount of faith the present Opposition had in their cause. If they inquired of any of England's enemies they would find that their desire was that the Liberals should reign. That in itself was sufficient for them to make the fight as fierce as possible in order that, if the Opposition went into power, their majority might be small." (5) Lord Stanley on the Bradford Committee. "This Committee was appointed as an advisory body, and was appointed on certain conditions-that is to say, it was to report after having considered certain propositions which the present Chancellor of the Exchequer laid before it, and one of the principal propositions was that the Committee should compare the rate of wages in the Post Office with that of other occupations which it might think to be in any way in similar employment, in duties, and, as far as possible, in hours. The Committee distinctly avoided carrying out any such instruction, and the Government therefore, in considering the report, have to consider whether or not the Committee bas carried out that essential part of its work which gives the comparison on which alone we ought to judge whether or not an increase is necessary, advisable, and right in the Post Office service. With that consideration in view, the Government as a whole have decided that they cannot accept the Bradford Committee's Report as a Report, and they are obliged to brush it aside as a Report." |