CHURCHILL, Sir Winston (1874-1965). Statesman.
Letter Signed ("Yours sincerely Winston S. Churchill"), as President of the Board of Trade in Asquith's Liberal Government, to Herr Dominicus, the Burgomaster of Strasburg, thanking him "for the papers which ou have been so good as to send me about the Strassburg Labour Exchange."
3 pages 8vo marked "Private" with the original stamped and postmarked envelope which has Churchill's facsimile signature and the Board of Trade stamp at the lower left. Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens, 24 September n.y. [envelope postmarked 1909].
Churchill's ambitious projects as President of the Board of Trade entitle him to be considered one of the founding fathers of the welfare state. He fixed minimum pay and conditions in various 'sweated' trades, helped Lloyd George in the establishment of compulsory unemployment insurance, and set up a chain of public labour exchanges which helped men to find work without 'tramping' in search of it. At the beginning of the 20th century Germany had the most developed social welfare system in Europe, and in September 1909 Churchill went there both to observe the manoevres of the German army and to visit the well-established labour exchanges. He was impressed with what he saw, saying that "the honour of introducing them into England would be in itself a rich reward." In this letter he warmly thanks a German official who had been helpful
"I am much obliged to you for your very kind letter and for the papers which you have been so good as to send me about the Strassburg Labour Exchange. I am having the latter translated and I feel sure that the information contained in them will be of considerable use.l Your offer to come over here and givde us the benefit of your experience is a most generous one and I shall bear it in mind. Meantime let me thank you most warmly for the kindly way in which you received me at Strassburg . . ."
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