The house of Industry : a new estate of the realm

14 THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY

of particularism, which might retard rather than advance social legislation. Winston Churchill comes nearer the mark. But his conception is to detach members of Parliament for strictly economic service. The sub-Parliament would presumably report to Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister would speak highly of its services, thank them warmly for their skill and literary composition, promise the Government’s close attention to their report and the House would proceed to the next business. Winston Churchill knows that the economic safety of his friends can safely be left to the powerful trusts and combines.

The key to this problem is primarily the power and authority with which the House of Industry would be invested. Better not begin unless we are prepared to give it the control and co-ordination of the whole of our industrial organisation ; better not begin unless we recognise the essential wisdom of separating politics from economics. But the supremacy of citizenship and all that that implies must definitely rest with the House of Commons. For after all, the only purpose of economic organisation is to enable our citizens to think truly and act nobly.

FORMAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN POLITICS AND ECONOMICS

THERE now emerges the picture of a House of Commons no longer doomed to frustration by extraneous economic influences and at long last