328 OPENING OF THE ESSEX MUSEUM, ETC.
going forth adequately equipped for the battle of life ? (Loud applause.) I
feel sure that in this district you will make the "scholarship ladder" become
a reality to the poor, and a strong step in this direction should be possible.
There is a powerful Co-operative Society in West Ham, and if they have
surplus money, why not spend it in scholarships for the children of Co-
operators to enable them to pass through the Technical Institute ? What a
splendid example they would be giving to the community. What Lord
Rosebery so aptly termed "The state within the state" should set the pace
for the greater state. The question should not, however, be left wholly even
to Co-operators (wealthy as these may be), but should be faced by the com-
munity as a whole ; and if it is to be well with England in the future we must
not neglect the cry of the child bread winners who go into the streets and
workshops with imperfectly developed bodies and minds, and who a few
years later are called upon to have a voice in controlling the destiny of the
Empire. Is it too much to hope that in the next few years the "leaving age"
shall be at least fifteen ? And that maintenance scholarships without com-
petition, say perhaps of £10 a year for two years, shall be given to all children
who have passed through the standards in the elementary schools, and
who have reached a certain standard of efficiency ? This will be costly
you will say, but all good things are worth paying for. And out of
our immense wealth an adequate educational expenditure will surely evolve,
when people realise as they do more and more that an ignorant democracy is
our worst heritage to posterity. (Loud applause.) Being myself truly in
earnest in these questions, I have come to West Ham because I feel that
down here there are many who feel on the questions as deeply as I do ; and
try to throw light on many questions that are puzzling other districts. I read
some of your local papers, and I know how feeling runs high in West Ham.
I know that there are some who have the courage to give expression to
what they feel. I am here to help in the work of the great education
question, which means so much to the men and women of this country in the
future, and I am sure you are determined to place this class upon a more
serious basis, and that we shall no more have to consider other countries
ahead of us on this question. The educational question is the most serious
one of the social programme. I wish prosperity to the opening of this
Institute and Museum, and hope it might indeed prove most beneficial to the
district of West Ham and Stratford. (Loud applause.)
At the conclusion of her address the Countess was presented with a
bouquet by Mrs. Page on behalf of the students at the Institute.
Prof. Meldola said that by virtue of his antiquity as first President of
the Essex Field Club he had been asked to propose a vote of thanks to the
Countess of Warwick. As the resolution was of the nature of a self-evident
proposition he thought that no particular arguments were necessary to com-
mend it to their notice and that he might therefore afford to be a little
discursive. In the first place as a representative of the Essex Field Club he
took the opportunity of Saying how deeply concerned they all were last
autumn to hear of the sad disaster which had befallen the Technical Institute,
and how rejoiced they were now to be present at this ceremony in celebration
of its restoration. He thought that such Institutes had a great future before