THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY
greater the chances he would have. Every workman will have something of the professor in him, in his mechanical occupation, as it is called to-day. He would have his chance of rising to the highest grade in the hierarchy of direction, if only he had it in him to rise. Whether this is made possible depends on what we are going to do with the coming generation. I am a strong supporter of Mr. Fisher's Education Bill. I want to see that Bill treated as a beginning. I want to see every child in the country getting such a chance that if the latent talent is there the boy or girl may cross over and go on to the highest schools and universities, and have the same chance as the child of the highest-born person. I want to see the latent talent in our democracy brought to light, brought out of that vast reservoir of talent; I want to see it made actual, not only in the interest of the individual, but in that of the State.
I have taken you a step further in this direction. I have brought you to the point that our ideal for the workman is that he should be neither a labourer nor a capitalist, but a director, receiving the wages of a director, which will vary very much according to his capacity. I am certain that in times to come the haggling over a man's capacity will still go on, but we shall have it under control; and with the principles of a minimum wage, a minimum home, and a minimum education observed, we shall get a good way in the direction of making sure that no one takes advantage of or cuts down or exploits what justly belongs to other people.
This will entail an adjustment of the land laws and other things in our existing system, and it will necessitate our taking in hand the re-casting of the machinery of government to a very considerable extent. I am Chairman, just now, of a Committee which is sitting to inquire into the working of this machinery, and the evidence that has come before us shows that an enormous amount of work has to be
17
