THE SOCIAL ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNMENT 115

of Capitalism by the introduction of a series of "social services"
which now absorb a large part of the energies of Government,
and have' served as an example to many other countries. These
services oblige the Government to spend a great deal of money,
and for this reason are sometimes represented as a burden on
the country's industry. But there are several ways in which they
help to increase the production of wealth. By raising the standard
of life of the poorest people, they improve health, and thus make
the workers of the country more efficient; by providing better
houses, and looking after sanitation, they reduce the wastage of
life and resources caused by disease; through universal education,
they release for the service of the community, a stream of talent
which would otherwise be undiscovered. Even those measures,
such as Old Age Pensions, which do not appear to be directly
productive, have at least the advantage that they make the
worker more willing to co-operate in a system of society which
otherwise would not appear to have much justice in it for him.
There is no need, however, to justify the social services solely
on the grounds that they increase the total of wealth; the well-
being of a country should be measured, not simply by this total,
but by the standard of life which the mass of citizens are able to
enjoy: and it is certain that the social services have contributed
materially both to the comfort and the security of the worker.
The function of these services may be summarised as
follows:—to provide for those, who by reason of old age, sick-
ness or unemployment^ are unable to provi.de for themselves,
and to prevent the inequality of wealth from becoming so great
as to endanger the whole social system. The work is shared
among three departments, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry
t>f Health and die Board of Education.

THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR,

This Department lies on the border line between economic

ifrd social activities. Its first object was economic; by preserving

%ood relations between employers and employed, and by helping