The loyalest of colleagues, he had always
defended their policy, whether or not it was exactly of his own choice;
but in his capacity of private member his unrivalled influence is
occasionally something of a difficulty. If he does not happen to approve
of what the Executive proposes he can generally persuade a Business
Meeting to vote for something else!
* * * * *
At this same period, the spring of 1911, the National Insurance Bill was
introduced. This was a subject to which the Society had given but little
attention and on which it had not formulated a policy. It had opposed
the contributory system as proposed to be applied to Old Age Pensions,
and a paper on "Paupers and Old Age Pensions," published by Sidney Webb
in the "Albany Review" in August, 1907, and reprinted by the Society as
Tract No. 135, had probably much influence in deciding the Government
to abandon its original plan of excluding paupers permanently from the
scheme by showing what difficulties and anomalies would follow from any
such course. The National Insurance Bill when first introduced was
severely criticised by Sidney Webb in documents circulated amongst Trade
Unionists and published in various forms; but a few weeks later he
started on his tour round the world and could take no further part in
the affair. At the Annual Conference of Fabian Societies in July, 1911,
an amendment proposed by H.
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