have grown from being simply the providers of an iron road into engine and other rolling stock builders and owners, hotel keepers, bakers and confectioners, printers, electric apparatus makers, and the direct employers in many trades which would seem at first to have no relation whatever with carrying persons and goods from one place to another. Every development of this kind on the part of a private undertaking means the strengthening of its hold upon industry. On the other hand, similar developments on the part of public authority lead to the extension of the power of society over its own economic life. Method of Election. The increased responsibility and work which will be thrown upon local government by the creation of the new boards bring up the question of the type of representative and official required for successful administration, and how they are to be harnessed to the public service. The discussion of this highly important matter does not fall within the scope of this pamphlet, but it will be dealt with in another upon the whole question of the reform of the local government official service. Suffice it to say that the idea of direct election to ad hoc authorities (which the new boards would be) as the best way to secure the best representatives for that authority, is no longer held by those who appreciate the complexities of modern local government. Direct election for the new boards would mean the multiplication of electoral contests in which the public already display too little interest. Provided that the citizens of the enlarged municipalities and of the county councils and other authorities responsible for the selection and election of the members of the boards took sufficient interest in municipal affairs to elect efficient persons in the first instance, indirect election would not fail to give satisfactory results. Flexibility and Expansiveness in Administration. The reforms and changes here sketched out, revolutionary though they may appear, will probably receive attention sooner than may be expected. The unjust incidence of some forms of local taxationarising from the segregation of the community into cities of the wellto-do and warrens of the poor-is sure to bring the subject of the extension of municipal boundaries to the front. The discussion of this question is bound to lead to the consideration of other aspects of the working of local government machinery. If the community is wise enough, when that time comes, to insist that its organized life should be made as flexible and expansive as that of private enterprise, then the rate of speed in the direction of collective control of industry will be increased. If it remains tied to rigid and cramping forms of social organization, experiments in collectivism are liable to be incomplete and the results unconvincing to the average citizen, who will always be prone to overlook the difficulties which * No. 2 of the New Heptarchy Series. hamper the work of local authorities and to magnify the small mistakes they may commit. The first necessity of a publicly controlled industry or service is that of every infant, namely room to grow. The needed space can be given by the adoption of the Heptarchic idea of local government in place of that which is associated with the parish pump. The New Heptarchy Series. No. 1. Municipalization by Provinces. Fabian Tract No. 125. On the Reform of Municipal Service. In preparation. No. 2. No. 3. Public Control of Electric Power and Transit. Fabian No. 4. The Revival of Agriculture: a National Policy for Great No. 5. On the Reform of the Machinery of the Poor Law. preparation. Others to follow. Secretary, at the Fabian Office, 3 Clement's Inn, London, W.C. Tracts, each 16 to 52 pp., price 1d., or 9d. per doz., unless otherwise stated. Leaflets, 4 pp. each, price 1d. for six copies, 1s. per 100, or 8/6 per 1000. The Set of 88, 3s.; post free 3/5. Bound in Buckram, 4/6; post free for 55. 1.-General Socialism in its various aspects. TRACTS.-121. Public Service versus Private Expenditure. By Sir OLIVER LODGE. 113. Communism. By WM. MORRIS. 107. Socialism for Millionaires. By BERNARD SHAW. 79. A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich. By JOHN WOOLMAN. 78. Socialism and the Teaching of Christ. By Dr. JOHN CLIFFORD. 87. The same in Welsh. 42. Christian Socialism. By Rev. S. D. HEADLAM. 75. Labor in the Longest Reign. By SIDNEY WEBB. 72. The Moral Aspects of Socialism. By SIDNEY BALL. 69. Difficulties of Individualism. By SIDNEY WEBB. 51. Socialism: True and False. By S. WEBB. 45. The Impossibilities of Anarchism. By BERNARD SHAW (price 2d.). 15. English Progress towards Social Democracy. By S. WEBB. 7. Capital and Land (6th edn. revised 1904) 5. Facts for Socialists (9th edn., revised 1904). LEAFLETS-13. What Socialism Is. 1. Why are the Many Poor? 38. The same in Welsh. [I.-Applications of Socialism to Particular Problems. TRACTS.-122. Municipal Milk and Public Health. By Dr. F. LAWSON Dodd. I20. "After Bread, Education." 125. Municipalization by Provinces. 119. Public Control of Electrical Power and Transit. 123. The Revival of Agriculture. 118. The Secret of Rural Depopulation. 115. State Aid to Agriculture: an Example. 112. Life in the Laundry. 110. Problems of Indian Poverty. 98 State Railways for Ireland. 124. State Control of Trusts. 88. The Growth of Monopoly in English Industry. 86. Municipal Drink Traffic. 85. Liquor Licensing at Home and Abroad. 84. Economics of Direct Employment. 83. State Arbitration and the Living Wage. 73. Case for State Pensions in Old Age. 67. Women and the Factory Acts. 50. Sweating: its Cause and Remedy 48. Eight Hours by Law. 23. Case for an Eight Hours Bill. 47. The Unemployed. By JOHN BURNS, M.P. LEAFLETS.-89. Old Age Pensions at Work. 19. What the Farm Laborer Wants. 104. How Trade Unions benefit Workmen. III.-Local Government Powers: How to use them. TRACTS.-117. The London Education Act, 1903: how to make the best of it. 114. The Education Act, 1902. 111. Reform of Reformatories and Industrial Schools. By H. T. HOLMES. 109. Cottage Plans and Common Sense. By RAYMOND UNWIN. 105. Five Years' Fruits of the Parish Councils Act. 103. Overcrowding in London and its Remedy. By W. C. STEADMAN, L.C.C. 101. The House Famine and How to Relieve it. 52 pp. 76. Houses for the People. 100. Metropolitan Borough Councils. 99. Local Government in Ireland 82. Workmen's Compensation Act. 62. Parish and District Councils. 61. The London County Council. 54. The Humanizing of the Poor Law. By J. F. OAKESHOTT. LEAFLETS.— 81. Municipal Water. 68 The Tenant's Sanitary Catechism. 71. Same for London. 63. Parish Council Cottages and how to get them. 58. Allotments and how to get them. FABIAN MUNICIPAL PROGRAM, FIRST SERIES (Nos. 31, 32, 36, 37). London's Heritage in the City Guilds. Municipalization of the Gas Supply The Scandal of London's Markets. A Labor Policy for Public Authorities. SECOND SERIES (Nos. go to 97). Municipalization of Milk Supply. Municipal Pawnshops. Municipal Slaughterhouses. Women as Councillors. Municipal Bakeries. Municipal Hospitals. Municipal Fire Insurance. Municipal Steamboats Second Series in a red cover for 1d. (9d. per doz.); separate leaflets, 1/- per 100. IV. Books. 29. What to Read on social and economic subjects. 6d. net. V.-General Politics and Fabian Policy. 116. Fabianism and the Fiscal Question: an alternative policy. 108. Twentieth Century Politics. By SIDNEY WEBB. 70. Report on Fabian Policy. 41. The Fabian Society: its Early History. By BERNARD SHAW. VI.-Question Leaflets. Questions for Candidates: 20, Poor Law Guard ians. 24, Parliament. 27, Town Councils. 28, County Councils, Rural. 56, Parish Councils. 57, Rural District Councils. 102, Metropol. Borough Councils. BOOK BOXES lent to Societies, Clubs, Trade Unions, for 6s. a year, or 2 6 a quarter Printed by G. Standring, 7 Finsbury St., London, E.C., and published by the Fabian Society, 3 Clement's Inn, Strand, London, W.C. THE ABOLITION OF POOR LAW GUARDIANS. The New Heptarchy Series, No. 5. PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY THE FABIAN SOCIETY. PRICE ONE PENNY. LONDON: THE FABIAN SOCIETY, 3 CLEMENT'S INN, STRAND, W.C. |
