The Plan and the Spirit

Benign, witty Sir William Henry Beveridge by last week was second only to Winston Churchill as Britain's most popular man. Britons had bought more than 200,000 full texts of his plan for post-war social security. The Ministry of Information was bringing out a threepenny Beveridge Report in Brief and every Army officer was to be supplied with this brief for the instruction of rankers. Sir William's Plan had become so popular with the people that the political parties were falling over each other proclaiming its principles their own:

> Chairman of the Conservative Party Major Thomas Lionel Dugdale: "A bold and imaginative conception. . . . We are only too ready to extend a welcome to the principle."

> Chairman of the Liberal Party Council H. Seebohm Rowntree: "The Liberal Party gives unqualified approval to the objectives and the three guiding principles. . . . In full accord with the Liberal tradition. . . . A brilliant piece of constructive work."

> The National Council of Labor ". . . believes that an essential part of the reconstruction of the new Britain must be the adoption of a charter of security . . . therefore calls upon the Government to introduce the necessary legislation at an early date."

> Communist Party: "It corresponds to the deep desires of the soldiers, the workers in industry, the housewives, of all who fear want and insecurity after the war. . . . The broad principles will be universally welcomed by all progressive opinion."

Though public acclaim made it expedient for the parties thus to go on record, it was by no means certain that the sweeping proposals of the plan would become law. Britain was still leftish-talking, solid-acting Britain. Parliament was still committee-loving, compromise-loving Parliament. Conservatives and the business community still wanted to know where the money was coming from. Labor officials thought "the detailed proposals must necessarily be subject to further scrutiny." And the powerful National Association of Insurance Committees dug in and said that the general situation regarding Beveridge "will be vigilantly watched."

Sir William, 63, punch-pleased with the way things were going, broke off his lectures explaining the plan long enough to marry his former secretary, Mrs. Jessy ("Janet") Philip Mair, grandmother and economist in her own right. The marriage, performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Caxton Hall, was Sir William's first. Chirped he: "Though I have known the lady . . . for many years, yet marriage must always be an adventure. Yet my critics say that social security kills that spirit."

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