The house of Industry : a new estate of the realm

80 THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY

bine—call it what you will. And by the same token, these combines can squeeze the inventor, the chemist, the technician; they can depress wages. Personal liberty! ”’

“ Well, frankly, I don’t like it. Perhaps, after all, your House of Industry is the lesser of two evils.”’

“Tf you like to put it that way. Maybe you regard all life as an evil. But remember this: the House of Industry must develop a new and better loyalty ; must evolve new motives and new canons of industrial conduct. It may even discover that the inventor, the chemist, and the technician are, economically and socially, more valuable than your old-time millionaires.”’

THE OTHER WAY ROUND

THe Labour Veteran’s words were slow and measured (a trick he had learned in the House of Commons and at many Labour conferences), © his tired eyes and heavily lined face lent emphasis and dignity to all he said. ‘“‘ No, my dear old friend, I can’t swallow that.”’

““ Swallow what? ”’ I asked.

“Your House of Industry would undermine the sovereignty of the House of Commons—that great institution that has stood for the liberties of

the people.’’ “ Thadn’t particularly noticed it,”’ I remarked. ““Yes,’’ he said, in solemn tones, “‘it has

been the bulwark of Freedom, the palladium of