Mr. Lloyd George's speech : explanations and warnings.

  • Lloyd George, David, 1863-1945.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mr. Lloyd George's speech : explanations and warnings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    THE STATE’S CONTRIBUTION. Ju3fc think what it means. When the Act comes to full maturity—the amount expended in those benefits grows from year to year—in fire or six years it 'trill be in full working order, and the funds raised will bo 27 millions a year. That includes ill-health and unemployment. Out of that the workmen find 12J millions; the rest will be found by the State and the employers. That is 12 J millions found by the workmen, 14 J millions found from other j sources. When the Act finally comes into operation, when you have disposed of the preliminary liability which is cast upon tho schcmo through the fact that it takes in men of all ages—and I shall have a word to say on that later on—it will be enormously in- creased. The contribution of the workmen won’t be increased, the contribution of the employers won’t be increased, but the contribution of the State will. Contrast that with what happens in Germany. The German schemo up to tho present has been the 1 most perfect scheme of all. You have got a scheme in Germany, a scheme in Austria, a scheme in Belgium, and a scheme in France : three out of the four being compulsory, and tho German scheme being the [ largest and best—up to the present. The German ' scheme includes ola-age pensions, it is part of tho i contributory scheme in Germany. I think it costs [something between 30 millions and 4 0 millions, for | sickness, invalidity, and pensions. The State c.on- , tribues out of that for all those purposes something i like three millions. In five years’ time we in this country will be spending for old-age pensions, for sickness, for invalidity, and unemployment 42 millions. (Cheers.) Out of that sum the State will contribute 20 J millions (cheers), the employers nine millions, and the work- men 12J millions. It is infinitely the most liberal scheme for improving the condition of the working classes of this country that has ever been formulated in any country up to the present. (Cheers.) I am therefore not at all surprised that the enlightened leaders of opinion among the working classes of the country have declined to listen to the extremists on either side, but have decided to come in and work this great boon for their clients. The Rural Labourer. There is another feature of the movement which has become more and more manifest, which I rejoice in, and that is the fact that the rural labourers are forming separate organizations. And do not mis- take me ; I do not mean separate from the great friendly societies, but separate whether inside them or outside them—that they are federating together. They can do that within a great friendly society, or they can do it outside. But I am frankly delighted that they are organizing their own societies, and I form very great hopes of this. No class stands more iu ne<,<^ an organized consideration of its position than tho rural workmen of this country. (Cheers.) And my own opinion is that, once you begin it, there is no limit to its possibilities. I believe it will lead direct to the emancipation of this class. The rural workman will be a different being with a powerful organization at his back. He will no longer lolerate some of the wTctehed conditions under which he now lives—too often dark and dank cottages, held on pre- carious tenures ; too often, in many counties, miser- able wages for long li- urs ; tricked out of his commons (cheers) by the'ancestors or persons who send him to gaol because he traps a bare which may scamper across the commons that belonged to his fathers ; land, which was formerly his own, let out to him reluctantly by the pennyweight as if every grain of it glinted with radium. (Laughter.) The first message of real hope that he received vras the old-age pension. (Cheers.) That made him a free man—after 70. (Laughter.) The organizations which he will form unde.r this Act will help to free him for the rest of his life. The labourers of ancient Rome were only allowed to organize themselves for burial purposes ; their only societies were societies for dispensing funeral benefits. They used those organizations to discuss other matters, including the greatest matter of all. And my own opinion is that these societies formed in rural areas for provi- dent purposes will help eventually to win for the agricultural labourer a treasure more valu- able than any you can put in tho schedule of an Act of Parliament—his independence. Mr. Bonar Law said, the other day, that what the agricultural labourer and other workmen wanted was not insurance but wages. Why not both ? (Cheers.) They arc not mutually exclusive, higher wages and a better provision for sickness. On the contrary, I believe a better provision for sickness will make him a better workman and better worth, higher wages. But when Mr. Bonar Law said the workman wanted higher wages I wonder whether he realized what he was doing ? He was dropping a match into a prairie scorched by a long drought ready to catch fire, and if there is a conflagration let those who sustain damage-— landlords, farmers, employers of labour—send in the bill to their leader. (Cheers.) These are things which indicate that although the Insurance Act is not yet in operation it is getting on and getting on well. (Cheers.) The Duty op Liberal Lecturers. But until the benefits begin to flow we have got our work cut out to tell the people all about it, and that is what our lecturers will do. All they have got to do is to tell the people what the Act really is ; the con- tribution—what the workman pays, what the cm ployer pays, and what the State contributes ; show them how much more both workmen and employers contribute in Germany, and how much more of the burden the State shoulders here. Especially call their attention to the provisions of the Act in regard to arrears during sickness and unemploy- ment. When a man is ill in a friendly society—I am not blaming the friendly societies, they have no State subvention and they have got to make both ends meet —the contributions still go on. They are deducted , from the benefits. Under this Act there will be no [ deduction. The man gets his benefits in full, and when he recovers there will be no arrears to pay up. In a friendly society when a man is out of work he still has got to pay his contributions, and the result is that when he has been a long time, out of work and has run up bills at the grocer’s and other tradesmen and for rent, he can- not face the arrears of the friendly society as well. Every year 250,000 men drop out of friendly societies, not all because of unemployment; let us be quite frank—no doubt sometimes because of drink. But they are largely because of inability to keep up the contributions. Every year 250,000; in 20 years 6,000,000 of workmen pass through friendly societies and pass out of friendly societies, realizing the need but unable to keep up the strain owing to sickness, owing to unemployment, and owing to the other cause to which I referred. Just point out how this Act deals with the matter. Unemployment comes as a rule every five years in this country. Those are the cycles of unemployment. In five