SM THE PRIMART PROBLEM

Bvt to-âfty «lie buds aie siimed and fenoed over with éBÛÊH ; aad tliose wfao would caiinot get to them, and tliose wfao own bave no joy in tfaem.

And 9Q, even to-day. wliile riches nntold are wning hom tfae eartli. ît îs latfaer as a lobbery that they are |Mud«jBJ — ^witfaont gladngB or gxatitade, but in grief aad ladnr» and lying and gieed and despair and un-

Say. say, wliat woold tfaose riches be, if the Eartfa aad her loie «cre finee ?

BntaDwaits.

And Ignorance bneds Fear. and Fear breeds Gieed, aad deed tfaat Wealtli idioae converse is Poverty — aad thèse again faieed Stiile and Fear in endless drôles.*

It is Dût possible to read thèse Unes without émotion ; and although many générations of men most pass between the hirth of this f eeling in the beart and its reahzation as structure in sodety— in *' land*natioiiahzatk>n/' or communal ownersUp of coounon neœssities — ^yet the future lies wi the feding and not with présent organized fonn& Carpenter knows his world, both of town and coontry, both of rich and poor. It is not possible to gainsay him when he speaks of the '* crowds of anaemic youths and girls, pale, prematordy sexual. with flabby minds and bodies " * — a common sight in the towns; or of " a thin- I^ged. slouching, apathetic population ' ' ' — a common sight in the country ; or of that which exists at tbe other end of the scale —

A Society vrîdding enormous weaith and privilège, » r. D.. p. 35». • /Wrf., p. 462. » Ibid., p. 463.

TRX7E IMPERI ALISM 288

sldlled chiefly in the finesse of peraonal gain and adxrancement, and honeycombed by cynidsm and onl>elief.»

Though there are sweeter, healthier, nobler déments in sodety than thèse, the picture is true enough to give force and sting to his question,

How eut of snch stufi can a strong nation giow ?

Where are the conditions for the growth of men and vromen,

Healthy and well-formed of limb, self-reliant, enterprising, sdert, sMlled in the use of tools, able to cope vdth Nature in her moods, and with the Earth for tiieir sustenance, loving and^trustful of each other, united and invincible in silent faith ? *

There are eager and f aithf ni groups withm the

commnnity who si)end energy of brain and heart

to create the conditions for the outcrop of a

décent population ; they wrestle with the hydra-

headed problem of destitution, poverty, sanita-

tion, housing, disease ; they find not only that

it is exceedingly difficult to make headway, but

also that complète success is impossible, because

'* the Earth and her love are not free." If the

hypothesis of solidarity is vaUd, then the lowness

of the life-level — as manifest in the misery and

straits of the poor as in the idleness and luxuiy

of the rich — is due to the f act that the f oundation-

élément oi life is being withdrawn and excluded

from common use and serviceableness. To get

1 r, £>., p. 463. * Ihid., p. 464.

HLicncâL norosALs

iôt Iwk 9^m iiiDO|ieB and free cliaiiiieb ^K aaenl jiiiiiM of nodeni social effort

Oae of Caipenter^s piactical

bcfiBÊtod to oocupyiog

slowly

-àaci iSicakm. ne wsf waj be kmg ; but

to^y aie carried cKQt à ife leeik of ■■di ofipositkHi wîD proceed 1— hMKF Jinaiii^; as ihe spiot of underlofv ads mdi încieasing effective asaisuiielollhespiritolsflfhhnffis. Signs aie Boc waLDiine tkat tins also is takmg place, livre is groand for <^>timism ; and it is charoi Caipenter that amid ail tbe tangle he Icts go âis dnead of faith. The period of dsosîoa. division, stnfc; throa^ wliich we aie Dov passiqg is ttsdf a moment in die devdopjooit of man, and pnbaUy necessaiy to that

I take ît tiiat ît 15 ncoessaiy tiiat Ite indtvîdiial sboold be ^■''■*^ iram Ite tzîbe (as tbe dnid Is ezdnded from

s Idtal, p. 163. * Ibié., p. 163.