VII DIM VISTAS NEW

It must occur to you that what the world requires to find is a new conception of commerce among nations—one that shall be free of the predatory impulse, above the exploiting motive, competitive in some nobler sense. It need not be magnanimous or unselfish—not yet; but only enlightened enough to comprehend the latter meaning of events.

For a superseding principle the perfect pattern is represented in nature, where you see dissimilar organisms existing together in a state of symbiosis, one sustaining the other, vitally interdependent, yet neither exploiting the other.

There is no accrual of advantage to one side, no gain, no favourable balance of trade. One gives exactly as much as it receives and two wants are equally satisfied, with nothing to boot either way.

This is very different from parasitism, which is one-sided, for gain only. And there is a very curious suggestion that organisms now existing together in a state of permanent symbiotic union were once parasitic and learned better.

It cannot be supposed that nations will ever deliberately substitute a principle of mutualism for the principle of gain in trade. They could not if they would. Those that have the advantage must fight for it to the end. Commerce itself, if you look to it, is a complex structure of growth for which there is nowhere any original accountability. It cannot change its philosophy, any more than a tree, for it has none. It has instead a vital instinct for opportunity and a flexible way with necessity and circumstance. There is no hope of its being reformed ideally by mass intelligence. The conglomerate mind is irresponsibly, impersonally selfish; it cannot act without experience. There is no experience of peoples sustaining one another on a sympathetic plan, each willing to give as much as it takes, with no balance favourable or unfavourable to be settled in gold or debt. This has never happened. It is an idea only.

But if now we move our point of view from the centre to the circumference, we shall see already taking place, with the force of natural events, momentous alterations in the scheme of economic life—one of decay and one of revaluation.

We witness almost unawares the ruin of that classic enterprise of empire which is founded upon the theory of a balance of trade and a division of labour whereby the colonies, the dominions, the subject and mandated peoples are hewers, drawers, and food-bringers, serving those who live in cities, practise machine-craft, and think themselves wholly benevolent.

The machine has betrayed it. Nothing more unexpected has occurred since the discovery of a simple chemical reaction that was to destroy the privileged warrior-caste among mankind. When a splendid knight in armour was powerless against the peasant with a musket and a knight with a musket no better than a peasant, the romantic profession of arms was doomed. Gunpowder ended the age of chivalry. Ultimate military power passed to the people.

And now for hundreds of millions of people hitherto inferior in status the machine is a symbol of liberation, freedom, independence, recognition, racial power. Japan is the thrilling example in Asia. Did it not deliver her from a thraldom imposed by the Western Powers in the interest of their own trade? Did it not make her in one generation their equal, a nation to be feared? Certainly for these reasons use and possession of the machine will increase in the world beyond any natural economic ratio, and both the power and profit of empire will cease.

The other alteration, already beginning to be visible though not yet adequately understood, is a change in the value of food. Three causes henceforth will be operating together to make food dear. First, as cities continue to grow and the industrial population of the earth continues to augment faster than the agricultural population, the need to import food will be always greater; second, the exportable surplus of food will be always less because as the agricultural and low-craft nations progress toward their ideal of industrial independence they will consume more and more of their own food products; and third, the supply of those industrial commodities that are exchanged for food will enormously increase.

In the language of the economist, the agricultural index will rise and the industrial index will fall. It will require a greater quantity of manufactures to buy a bushel of wheat; fewer bushels of wheat to buy a manufactured article. This will not be for one year or two. It will be lasting. It will affect the status of great groups and classes of people. In the cities and industrial centres the cost of living will move in a vertical manner.

The difficulties of food-importing countries may, almost certainly will, become desperate. The people of Great Britain, for example, will pay dearly for the wealth they have amassed by industry in the last seventy-five years. If the value of food, priced in British machine-wares, should double, then for the same quantity of food as before they would have to give twice the quantity of manufactured goods, which would mean twice as much labour and no more to eat. The same difficulties will beset all countries not self-contained in food. They will exhort their people to return to the fields, which the people will be loth to do, having tasted cities. They will expect their governments to make food cheaper by edict, or to buy it out of taxation and distribute it gratis. Moreover, in some countries, taking again the case of Great Britain as notable, there may not be enough land. The people perhaps could not feed themselves no matter how intensively they worked their fields, industry having multiplied the population beyond the utmost potentiality of a native food supply. Obviously indicated is a movement of dispersal together with a limitation upon the increase of industrial population. More power will pass to countries, like the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Australia, that have the advantage of enormous food-reserves. Their problems will be internal.

None of this can happen without much blind and violent resistance. But, of course, it will not happen all at once, not all in one place, nor in every case with a clear meaning. And it is not certain that any amount of experience, however painful, will bring nations to adopt what we have called a symbiotic principle of commerce with one another. There is at first the danger that agriculture in its turn will exploit industry as industry has exploited peasantry and that those who possess or control resources of food and raw materials will hold them too dear, thereby taking the industrial nations into their debt or provoking them to insane measures.

Thus the opportunity to go forward might be lost in passion. The fate of retrogression is possible. This has happened many times. It is much less probable than ever before, however, for many reasons that seem permanent. When knowledge was a precious torch borne aloft by a few hands through storm and stress, it was easily quenched. Then darkness. You can hardly imagine destruction of the existing body of science, technology, and fact-knowledge. The mass of it is too great to be lost.

That, of course, has nothing to do with wisdom. By knowledge alone man might extinguish himself utterly. But to suppose that he will not find a new way to go on with, that he will either move the old struggle to new ground or return to medievalism, is to believe there is no law of human progress.

The probability is that he will find the way unknowingly, by groping, and will be well upon it before he has had time to formulate any clear idea or theory of what he is doing. He will have found little by little that it pays, better than any other way, not as he once understood profit, but in terms of enduring satisfactions, which may include peace. Critical understanding of it will come later with reflection, and as it comes he will rid his mind of the phantasy in pursuit of which he has made the world so much richer in things than in happiness.

Seeing now only how relentlessly the curse pursued him still and how the affliction of monotonous toil if it be lifted in one place is made heavier in another, he is torn with a sense of frustration. But the view is wrong—false to his first nature. He forgets the truth of his own myth. Somewhere down the ages it got turned upside down. Once he dwelt in the Garden of Eden, or supposed he did, and cared not for it. He was bored there and beguiled to his fall. The figure at the gate forbidding his return is a symbol of self-knowledge; it was set there by his own forethought, lest he should be tempted to go back.

If the machine with which he has believed himself to be storming a childish wish ever brought him to a state of effortless ease on earth, that would be his last.

It may be a power he is yet morally unprepared to exercise. How strange at least that with an incentive so trivial and naïve in itself he should have been able to perform an absolute feat of creation!

The machine was not. He reached his mind into emptiness and seized it. Even yet he cannot realize what he has done. Out of the free elemental stuff of the universe, visible and invisible, some of it imponderable, such as lightning, he has invented a class of typhonic, mindless organisms, exempt from the will of nature.

We have no understanding of creation, its process or meaning. The machine is the externalized image of man’s thoughts. It is furthermore an extension of his life, for we perceive as an economic fact that human existence in its present phase, on its present scale, could not continue in its absence. And what are we ourselves, life to begin with, if not an image of thought? Perhaps it is true as a principle of creation that the image and its creator must co-exist, inseparably.

In any light, man’s further task is Jovian. That is to learn how best to live with these powerful creatures of his mind, how to give their fecundity a law and their functions a rhythm, how not to employ them in error against himself—since he cannot live without them.

Each, pott 8vo, 2/6 net

Occasionally illustrated

TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW

This series of books, by some of the most distinguished English thinkers, scientists, philosophers, doctors, critics, and artists, was at once recognized as a noteworthy event. Written from various points of view, one book frequently opposing the argument of another, they provide the reader with a stimulating survey of the most modern thought in many departments of life. Several volumes are devoted to the future trend of Civilization, conceived as a whole; while others deal with particular provinces, and cover the future of Woman, War, Population, Clothes, Wireless, Morals, Drama, Poetry, Art, Sex, Law, etc.

It is interesting to see in these neat little volumes, issued at a low price, the revival of a form of literature, the Pamphlet, which has been in disuse for 200 years.

Published by KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. Broadway House: 68-74 Carter Lane, London, E.C.4

TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW

VOLUMES READY

Daedalus, or Science and the Future. By J. B. S. Haldane, Reader in Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. Sixth impression.

“A fascinating and daring little book.”—Westminster Gazette. “The essay is brilliant, sparkling with wit and bristling with challenges.”—British Medical Journal.

“Predicts the most startling changes.”—Morning Post.

Callinicus, a Defence of Chemical Warfare. By J. B. S. Haldane. Second impression.

“Mr. Haldane’s brilliant study.”—Times Leading Article. “A book to be read by every intelligent adult.”—Spectator. “This brilliant little monograph.”—Daily News.

Icarus, or the Future of Science. By Bertrand Russell, f.r.s. Fourth impression.

“Utter pessimism.”—Observer. “Mr. Russell refuses to believe that the progress of Science must be a boon to mankind.”—Morning Post. “A stimulating book, that leaves one not at all discouraged.”—Daily Herald.

What I Believe. By Bertrand Russell, f.r.s. Second impression.

“One of the most brilliant and thought-stimulating little books I have read—a better book even than Icarus.”—Nation. “Simply and brilliantly written.”—Nature. “In stabbing sentences he punctures the bubble of cruelty, envy, narrowness, and ill-will which those in authority call their morals.”—New Leader.

Tantalus, or the Future of Man. By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc., Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Second impression.

“They are all (Daedalus, Icarus, and Tantalus) brilliantly clever, and they supplement or correct one another.”—Dean Inge, in Morning Post. “Immensely valuable and infinitely readable.”—Daily News. “The book of the week.”—Spectator.

Cassandra, or the Future of the British Empire. By F. C. S. Schiller, D.Sc.

“We commend it to the complacent of all parties.”—Saturday Review. “The book is small, but very, very weighty; brilliantly written, it ought to be read by all shades of politicians and students of politics.”—Yorkshire Post. “Yet another addition to that bright constellation of pamphlets.”—Spectator.

Quo Vadimus? Glimpses of the Future. By E. E. Fournier d’Albe, D.Sc., author of “Selenium, the Moon Element,” etc.

“A wonderful vision of the future. A book that will be talked about.”—Daily Graphic. “A remarkable contribution to a remarkable series.”—Manchester Dispatch. “Interesting and singularly plausible.”—Daily Telegraph.

Hephaestus, the Soul of the Machine. By E. E. Fournier d’Albe, D.Sc.

“A worthy contribution to this interesting series. A delightful and thought-provoking essay.”—Birmingham Post. “There is a special pleasure in meeting with a book like Hephaestus. The author has the merit of really understanding what he is talking about.”—Engineering.

Lysistrata, or Woman’s Future and Future Woman. By Anthony M. Ludovici, author of “A Defence of Aristocracy”, etc.

“A stimulating book. Volumes would be needed to deal, in the fullness his work provokes, with all the problems raised.”—Sunday Times. “Pro-feminine, but anti-feministic.”— Scotsman. “Full of brilliant common-sense.”—Observer.

Hypatia, or Woman and Knowledge. By Mrs Bertrand Russell. With a frontispiece. Second impression.

An answer to Lysistrata. “A passionate vindication of the rights of women.”—Manchester Guardian. “Says a number of things that sensible women have been wanting publicly said for a long time.”—Daily Herald. “Everyone who cares at all about these things should read it.”—Weekly Westminster.

Thrasymachus, the Future of Morals. By C. E. M. Joad, author of “Common-Sense Ethics,” etc.

“His provocative book.”—Graphic. “Written in a style of deliberate brilliance.”—Times Literary Supplement. “As outspoken and unequivocal a contribution as could well be imagined. Even those readers who dissent will be forced to recognize the admirable clarity with which he states his case. A book that will startle.”—Daily Chronicle.

The Passing of the Phantoms: a Study of Evolutionary Psychology and Morals. By C. J. Patten, Professor of Anatomy, Sheffield University. With 4 Plates.

“Readers of Daedalus, Icarus and Tantalus, will be grateful for an excellent presentation of yet another point of view.”—Yorkshire Post. “This bright and bracing little book.”— Literary Guide. “Interesting and original.”—Medical Times.

The Mongol in our Midst: a Study of Man and his Three Faces. By F. G. Crookshank, m.d., f.r.c.p. With 28 Plates. Second Edition, revised.

“A brilliant piece of speculative induction.”—Saturday Review. “An extremely interesting and suggestive book, which will reward careful reading.”—Sunday Times. “The pictures carry fearful conviction.”—Daily Herald.

The Conquest of Cancer. By H. W. S. Wright, m.s., f.r.c.s. Introduction by F. G. Crookshank, m.d.

“Eminently suitable for general reading. The problem is fairly and lucidly presented. One merit of Mr. Wright’s plan is that he tells people what, in his judgment, they can best do, here and now.”—From the Introduction.

Pygmalion, or the Doctor of the Future. By R. McNair Wilson, M.D.

“Dr Wilson has added a brilliant essay to this series.”—Times Literary Supplement. “This is a very little book, but there is much wisdom in it.”—Evening Standard. “No doctor worth his salt would venture to say that Dr Wilson was wrong.”—Daily Herald.

Prometheus, or Biology and the Advancement of Man. By H. S. Jennings, Professor of Zoology, Johns Hopkins University.

“This volume is one of the most remarkable that has yet appeared in this series. Certainly the information it contains will be due to most educated laymen. It is essentially a discussion of ... heredity and environment, and it clearly establishes the fact that the current use of these terms has no scientific justification.”—Times Literary Supplement. “An exceedingly brilliant book.”—New Leader.

Narcissus: an Anatomy of Clothes. By Gerald Heard. With 19 illustrations.

“A most suggestive book.”—Nation. “Irresistible. Reading it is like a switchback journey. Starting from prehistoric times we rocket down the ages.”—Daily News. “Interesting, provocative, and entertaining.”—Queen.

Thamyris, or Is There a Future for Poetry? By R. C. Trevelyan.

“Learned, sensible, and very well-written.”—Affable Hawk, in New Statesman. “Very suggestive.”—J. C. Squire, in Observer. “A very charming piece of work. I agree with all, or at any rate, almost all its conclusions.”—J. St. Loe Strachey, in Spectator.

Proteus, or the Future of Intelligence. By Vernon Lee, author of “Satan the Waster,” etc.

“We should like to follow the author’s suggestions as to the effect of intelligence on the future of Ethics, Aesthetics, and Manners. Her book is profoundly stimulating and should be read by everyone.”—Outlook. “A concise, suggestive piece of work.”—Saturday Review.

Timotheus, the Future of the Theatre. By Bonamy Dobrée, author of “Restoration Drama,” etc.

“A witty, mischievous little book, to be read with delight.”—Times Literary Supplement. “This is a delightfully witty book.”—Scotsman. “In a subtly satirical vein he visualizes various kinds of theatres in 200 years time. His gay little book makes delightful reading.”—Nation.

Paris, or the Future of War. By Captain B. H. Liddell Hart.

A companion volume to Callinicus. “A gem of close thinking and deduction.”—Observer. “A noteworthy contribution to a problem of concern to every citizen in this country.”—Daily Chronicle. “There is some lively thinking about the future of war in Paris, just added to this set of live-wire pamphlets on big subjects.”—Manchester Guardian.

Wireless Possibilities. By Professor A. M. Low. With 4 diagrams.

“As might be expected from an inventor who is always so fresh, he has many interesting things to say.”—Evening Standard. “The mantle of Blake has fallen upon the physicists. To them we look for visions, and we find them in this book.”—New Statesman.

Perseus: of Dragons. By H. F. Scott Stokes. With 2 illustrations.

“A diverting little book, chock-full of ideas. Mr. Stokes’ dragon-lore is both quaint and various.”—Morning Post. “Very amusingly written, and a mine of curious knowledge for which the discerning reader will find many uses.”—Glasgow Herald.

Lycurgus, or the Future of Law. By E. S. P. Haynes, author of “Concerning Solicitors,” etc.

“An interesting and concisely written book.”—Yorkshire Post. “He roundly declares that English criminal law is a blend of barbaric violence, medieval prejudices, and modern fallacies.... A humane and conscientious investigation.”—T.P.’s Weekly. “A thoughtful book—deserves careful reading.”—Law Times.

Euterpe, or the Future of Art. By Lionel R. McColvin, author of “The Theory of Book-Selection.”

“Discusses briefly, but very suggestively, the problem of the future of art in relation to the public.”—Saturday Review. “Another indictment of machinery as a soul-destroyer ... a gloomy prospect, but Mr. Colvin has the courage to suggest solutions.”—Westminster Gazette. “This is altogether a much-needed book.”—New Leader.

Birth Control and the State: a Plea and a Forecast. By C. P. Blacker, M.C., M.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.

Just published. A discussion of the arguments for and against Birth Control, considered from the personal, social, and international aspects, and in its bearings upon the future. Summing up in its favour, the author contends that the only adequate solution rests in the hands of the medical profession throughout the world.

Atlantis, or America and the Future. By Colonel J. F. C. Fuller.

“Many hard things have been said about America, but few quite so bitter and caustic as these.”—Daily Sketch. “The whole of America as his subject. He can conjure up possibilities of a new Atlantis, controlled by the gods; but he requires a few centuries for the communication.”—Clarion.

Midas, or the United States and the Future. By C. H. Bretherton, author of “The Real Ireland,” etc.

A companion volume to Atlantis. “Full of astute observations and acute reflections ... this wise and witty pamphlet, a provocation to the thought that is creative.”—Morning Post. “Packs a punch in every paragraph. One could hardly ask for more ‘meat’.”—Spectator.

Nuntius, or the Future of Advertising. By Gilbert Russell.

“Another booklet which looks wisely on the world of to-morrow. The future of advertising is very sanely considered here. We are heartily in agreement with the main thesis.”—Spectator. “A thoughtful little book.”—Daily Sketch.

Pegasus, or Problems of Transport. By Colonel J. F. C. Fuller, author of “The Reformation of War,” etc. With 8 Plates.

“The foremost military prophet of the day propounds a solution for industrial and unemployment problems. It is a bold essay ... and calls for the attention of all concerned with imperial problems.”—Daily Telegraph. “With a broad imaginative grasp he finds the solution [of unemployment] in ‘tracked’ vehicles.”—Westminster Gazette.

“Right up to the high standard of the rest of this series.”—Clarion.

READY SHORTLY

Artifex, or the Future of Craftsmanship. By John Gloag, author of “Time, Taste, and Furniture.”

After a suggestive sketch of the history of craftsmanship, the author examines the possibilities in the use of machinery to extend craftsmanship and make beautiful articles of commerce.

Plato’s American Republic. By J. D. Woodruff.

A series of witty dialogues in the Platonic manner dealing with aspects of American life and manners.

Sybilla, or the Future of Prophecy. By C. A. Mace, University of St. Andrew’s.

An examination of the possibilities of scientific forecasting, with special reference to certain volumes in this series.

Orpheus, or the Future of Music. By W. J. Turner, author of “Music and Life.”

IN PREPARATION

Ouroboros, or the Mechanical Extension of Mankind. By Garet Garrett.

Machine civilization has filled the world with its products. What will happen when markets are over-flooded?

Gallio, or the Tyranny of Science. By J. W. N. Sullivan, author of “A History of Mathematics.”

An attack on the values which science is so successfully imposing upon civilization.

Mercurius, or the World on Wings. By C. Thompson Walker.

A brilliant picture of the world as it will be when inevitable developments in aircraft take place.

The Future of the English Language. By Basil De Sélincourt, author of “The English Secret,” etc.

An analysis of the present condition of the English language and the paths along which it is progressing.

The Future of Architecture. By Christian Barman, editor of “The Architects’ Journal.”

A survey of the condition of architecture and developments to be expected in the future.

Delphos, or the Future of International Language. By E. Sylvia Pankhurst.

Caliban, or the Future of Industrial Capitalism. By Hilaire Belloc.

The Future of Futurism. By John Rodker.

The Future of Films. By Francis Betts.