The present war may prove a blessing in disguise to England if it leads
to social reorganization on a more rational and effective basis. The
weakness of England, as developed during the past year, has been in lack
of unity and organization. There has been not only too much political,
but too much class division. The remark has frequently been made, “Why
doesn’t England wake up?” There has not been the same effective
coöperation among all classes that has been apparent in Germany and in
France. The English government has been in times past careless or
neglectful in allowing the developement of slums and of a “submerged
tenth,” while what are called the upper classes have been too intent on
the pursuit of pleasure to give due heed to the privation and suffering
of those occupying a lower social scale. This is measurably true of
society in all countries, but it is notorious that the “upper classes”
in England have been zealously devoted to sports, week-end holidays,
social functions and the pursuit of gain, while the operative classes
have antagonized them in labor organizations, and the lower working
classes have been neglected and thrown upon the poor rates. This has
bred social divisions which even the pressure of war finds difficult to
heal. If this war is fought through to success by the working people of
England, as it must be if England is successful, because the working
people furnish the bulk of the army and navy and the toilers in the
factories, they will undoubtedly demand a rearrangement of social forces
which will give them a more equitable participation in the prosperity of
the country. German efficiency teaches the world that no nation can
permit the growth within its boundaries of a proletariat that feels
itself disinherited.