That is one thing which the passage of this Budget will show.  Let not that be overlooked.  But that is not the only thing; the Budget will do more than that.  It will reveal the financial strength of Britain.  At a time when every European country is borrowing merely for the needs of ordinary annual expenditure, when all these disturbing naval programmes, which are injuring the peace of the world and the security and progress of civilisation, are being supported by borrowed money; and when the credit of Germany has fallen below that of Italy, this country, which has necessarily to make the biggest expenditure for naval defence of any country, will be found, under a Free Trade system and by our proposals, able not only to pay its way, but to pay off the debts of the past—­to pay off the debts of our predecessors—­even in the worst of times at the rate of something like L7,000,000 a year.

I have spoken to you of the causes which in the past have led up to this Budget.  I have spoken to you of its present justification.  What of the future?  If I had to sum up the immediate future of democratic politics in a single word I should say “Insurance.”  That is the future—­Insurance against dangers from abroad.  Insurance against dangers scarcely less grave and much more near and constant which threaten us here at home in our own island.  I had the honour and opportunity a few days ago of explaining to the House of Commons our proposals for unemployment insurance.  That is a considerable matter.  It stands by itself.  It is a much simpler question than invalidity insurance; but it is a great matter by itself.  Indeed, I thought while I was explaining it to the House of Commons that I had not made such an important speech since I had the honour of explaining the details of the Transvaal Constitution.

Well, what is the proposal?  The proposal is that you should make a beginning.  We have stood still too long.  We should begin forthwith, taking some of the greatest trades of the country in which unemployment is most serious, in which fluctuations are most severe, in which there are no short-time arrangements to mitigate the severity to the individual; and that a system of compulsory contributory insurance, with a large subvention from the State, should be introduced into those great industries.

But our proposals go farther than that.  The State assistance to unemployment insurance will not be limited to those trades in which it is compulsory.  Side by side with the compulsory system we shall offer facilities to voluntary insurance schemes in other trades, managed by trade unions or by societies or groups of workmen.  Moreover, we contemplate that the State insurance office should undertake, if desired, the insurance against unemployment of any individual workman in any trade outside of those for which compulsory powers are required, and should afford to these individuals an equivalent support to that which is given in the trades which are subject to the compulsory system.