The file concerns the commissioning of articles on various subjects written by WSC and includes agreement terms, details of fees due to WSC, his progress with the articles, sale of serial rights.Includes WSC's notes for an article about unemployment and the dole.

Correspondents include: representatives of Collier's Magazine including the editor, William Chenery (5) on the subjects to be covered in WSC's articles and the reception of articles; Paul Reynolds on the sale of serial rights; representatives of Curtis Brown Limited including Raymond Everitt (18) on payments due to WSC; Shane Leslie; Donald Fergusson on tea and sugar imports into the United Kingdom; and Sir Francis Floud on unemployment (2).

Subjects include: lack of confidence in the Government's economic policy; social security; the sale of council housing; charging foreign visitors for National Health Service treatment; Uganda and Soviet influence in Africa; defence, particularly relating to the Soviet Union, cuts to naval power and building up European defence; rail transport policy; immigration and race relations; unemployment.

Includes: notes on the disquieting unemployment figures by WSC, and his comments on the memoranda; memoranda on the state of employment and trade, from 1908 to early 1910, including employment, wages, disputes and prices, the state of trade, and trade in France, Germany and the United States; a report on unemployment (September 1908), including trades affected, districts affected, and skilled and unskilled workers.

Includes: unemployment graphs from the trades unions, 1899-1909; a memorandum on Unemployment Insurance and the benefits in the principal unions; a memorandum on the growth of the trades unions, with particular reference to unemployment benefit; a memorandum on the influence of the unions on labour exchanges and unemployment insurance.

German papers and booklets on unemployment insurance, including health insurance and employment offices.

Printed German application forms for unemployment insurance, including forms for: medical treatment; old age and invalidity insurance; the return of contributions on marriage or death.

Includes: a note by WSC on the need to rearrange the Board of Trade's Labour Department; "Unemployment: A Problem of Industry" by William Beveridge (lectures delivered at Oxford, October - November 1908); "Notes on a Scheme for Unemployed Insurance" by Sidney Webb [later 1st Lord Passfield]; "Labour Exchanges and Compulsory Insurance" by Sir Charles McLaren and Harold Cox.

Includes minutes of Cabinet meetings recording decisions on various subjects including: foreign affairs in the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, China, Sudan and India; currency in the Irish Free State [later Ireland]; the naval construction programme; reparations and affairs in Germany; unemployment; estimates for the fighting services; the Washington Hours convention; safeguarding industries; colonial affairs; Anglo American relations and arbitration treaties with the United States.

Includes minutes of Cabinet meetings recording decisions on various subjects including: unemployment and unemployment insurance; immigration from Ireland; petrol prices; foreign affairs in China, Germany, India; the United States and the prohibition treaty; the reduction and limitation of armaments; the proposed Baghdad [Iraq] to Haifa [Israel] railway and pipeline; radium research; the Channel Tunnel; the report of the Commission on East Africa; and the budget.

Includes minutes of Cabinet meetings recording decisions on various subjects including: measures to combat unemployment including emigration; a multi-lateral treaty with the United States; foreign affairs in Iraq, India, the Soviet Union, China, Egypt and Germany; the reduction and limitation of armaments; issues in Scotland including the slaughter of animals and the influx of emigrants from Ireland and issues in the Irish Free State [later Ireland]; and speeches by King George V.