Chapter 8 THE ENVOY

In the preceding papers I have, with some repetition and much stumbling, set out a fairly complete theory of what men and women have to do at the present time if human life is to go on hopefully to any great happiness and achievement in the days to come. Much of this material was first prepared to be delivered to a lecture audience, and I regret that ill-health has prevented a complete re-writing of these portions. There is more of the uplifted forefinger and the reiterated point than I should have allowed myself in an essay. But this is a loss of grace rather than of clearness.

And since I am stating a case and not offering the reader anything professing to be a literary work, I shall not apologise for finally summing up and underlining the chief points of this book.

They are, firstly: that a great change in human conditions has been brought about during the past century, and secondly that a vast task of adaptation, which must be, initially and fundamentally, mental adaptation, has to be undertaken by our race. It is a task which politicians, who live from day to day, and statesmen, who live from event to event, may hinder or aid very greatly, but which they cannot be expected to conduct or control. Politicians and statesmen perforce live and work in the scheme of ideas they find about them; the conditions of their activities are made for them. They can be compelled by the weight of public opinion to help it, but the driving force for this great task must come not from official sources but from the steadfast educational pressure of a great and growing multitude of convinced people. In times of fluctuation and dissolving landmarks, the importance of the teacher-using the word in its widest sense-rises with the progressive dissolution of the established order.

The creative responsibility for the world to-day passes steadily into the hands of writers and school teachers, students of social and economic science, professors and poets, editors and journalists, publishers and newspaper proprietors, preachers, every sort of propagandist and every sort of disinterested person who can give time and energy to the reconstruction of the social idea. Human life will continue to be more and more dangerously chaotic until a world social idea crystallizes out. That-and no existing institution and no current issue-is the primary concern of the present age.

We need, therefore, before all other sorts of organization, educational organizations; we need, before any other sort of work, work of education and enlightenment; we need everywhere active societies pressing for a better, more efficient conduct of public schooling, for a wider, more enlightening school curriculum, for a world-wide linking-up of educational systems, for a ruthless subordination of naval, military and court expenditure to educational needs, and for a systematic discouragement of mischief-making between nation and nation and race and race and class and class. I could wish to see Educational Societies, organized as such, springing up everywhere, watching local bodies in order to divert economies from the educational starvation of a district to other less harmful saving; watching for obscurantism and reaction and mischievous nationalist teaching in the local schools and colleges and in the local press; watching members of parliament and congressmen for evidences of educational good-will or malignity; watching and getting control of the administration of public libraries; assisting, when necessary, in the supply of sound literature in their districts; raising funds for invigorating educational propaganda in poor countries like China and in atrociously educated countries like Ireland, and corresponding with kindred societies throughout the world. I believe such societies would speedily become much more influential than the ordinary political party clubs and associations that now use up so much human energy in the western communities. Subordinating all vulgar political considerations to educational development as the supreme need in the world's affairs, even quite small societies could exercise a powerful decisive voice in a great number of political contests. And an educational movement is more tenacious than any other sort of social or political movement whatever. It trains its adherents. What it wins it holds.

I know that in thus putting all the importance upon educational needs at the present time I shall seem to many readers to be ignoring quite excessively the profound racial, social and economic conflicts that are in progress. I do. I believe we shall never get on with human affairs until we do ignore them. I offer no suggestion whatever as to what sides people should take in such an issue as that between France and Germany or between Sinn Fein and the British Government, or in the class war. I offer no such suggestion because I believe that all these conflicts and all such current conflicts are so irrational and destructive that it is impossible for a sane man who wishes to serve the world to identify himself with either side in any of them. These conflicts are mere aspects of the gross and passionate stupidity and ignorance and sectionalism of our present world. The class war, the push for and the resistance to some vague reorganization called the Social Revolution-such things are the natural inevitable result of the sordid moral and intellectual muddle of our common ideas about property. The capitalist, the employer, the property-owning class, as a class, have neither the intelligence nor the conscience to comprehend any moral limitations, any limitations whatever but the strong arm of the law, upon what they do with their property. Their black and obstinate ignorance, the clumsy adventurousness they call private enterprise, their unconscious insolence to poor people, their stupidly conspicuous self-indulgence, produce as a necessary result the black hatred of the employed and the expropriated. On one side we have greed, insensibility and incapacity, on the other envy and suffering stung to vindictive revolt: on neither side light nor generosity nor creative will. Neither side has any power to give us any reality we need. Neither side is more than a hate and an aggression. How can one take sides between them?

The present system, unless it can develop a better intelligence and a better heart, is manifestly destined to foster fresh wars and to continue wasting what is left of the substance of mankind, until absolute social disaster overtakes us all. And manifestly the revolutionary communist, at his present level of education, has neither the plans nor the capacity to substitute any more efficient system for this crazy edifice of ill-disciplined private enterprise that is now blundering to destruction. But at a higher level of intelligence, at a level at which it is possible to define the limitations of private property clearly and to ensure a really loyal and effectual co-operation between individual and state, this issue-this wholly destructive conflict between the property manipulator and the communist fanatic which is now rapidly wrecking our world-disappears. It disappears as completely as the causes of a murderous conflict between two drunken men will disappear when they are separated and put under a stream of clear cold water.

So it is that, in spite of their apparent urgency, I ask the reader to detach himself from these present conflicts of national politics, of political parties and of the class war as completely as he can; or, if he cannot detach himself completely, then to play such a part in them, regardless of any other consideration, as may be most conducive to a wide-thinking, wide-ranging education upon which we can base a new world order. A resolute push for quite a short period now might reconstruct the entire basis of our collective human life.

In this book I have tried to show what form that push should take, to show that it has a reasonable hope of an ultimate success, and that unless it is made, the outlook for mankind is likely to become an entirely dismal prospect. I put these theses before the reader for his consideration. They are not discursive criticisms of life, not haphazard grumblings at our present discontents, they are offered as the fundamental propositions of an ordered constructive project in which he can easily find a part to play commensurate with his ability and opportunities.

[A] First published in the Review of Reviews.

[B] Written originally as a lecture to be delivered in America.

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INDEX

Adult learning, spread of, 167

Aircraft as a means of quick travel, 48

in future wars, 9

Air transport a problem for Europe, 58

possibilities of future, 66

"All-red air routes," 67

America and the League of Nations, 15, 28, 47

generalized history teaching in, 108

her part in European reconstruction, 62

locomotion in, 49, 52

political unity of, 60

(see also United States)

American social system, comparisons, 2

Americans, patriotism of, 69

Anthology and a modernized Bible, 125

Apocrypha, the, and a modernized Bible, 119 et seq.

Arithmetic, a wrong way of teaching, 149

Austria after the war, 44

Belloc, Hilaire, 178

Bible, the, a criticism of, 98 et seq.

and the theory of origin, 103

English translation of, 107

its effect upon civilization, 101

redundancy in, 99

rules of health in, 111

why it has lost hold on the people, 101

Bible of Civilization, the, 95 et seq.

need for frequent revision, 136

what it will contain, 105 et seq.

Biology, Huxley's system of, 171

study of, 151, 152

Bolshevik propaganda, suppression of, 175

Bolshevism and the overthrow of Russia, 44

Books and mentality, 183

Boundary question in Europe, 54, 59, 61, 62

Bradlaugh, Charles, lectures of, 171

Breasted, Professor, works of, 108

Breeding, points required in, 140

Britain, national egotism of, 72

British Civil Air Transport Committee, 48, 66

British Empire, the, a prime necessity for security of, 65

a wrong conception of, 64

an ocean state, 65

its failure with reconstruction, 28-9

British monarchy, the, lost opportunities of, 29

Browning, Oscar, 108

Canonical books and the Bible of Civilization, 119

Chinese discovery of gunpowder, 6

Christianity, 23

spread of, in Western Europe, 78

Cinematograph, the, as an aid to teaching, 80, 161

Civilization, adjustment of political ideas necessary for, 46

effect of the Bible on, 101

impotence of, 1

the Bible of, 95 et seq.

the war and, 43 et seq.

College stage of education, 168

changed conditions of, 180

how it could be improved, 172

problem of its extension, 177

Comenius, political and educational ideas of, 95, 97, 138

Committees, good work by, 107

Communism and property, 115

Communists, Russian, and the Press, 186

Connecticut, State of, the Bible as its only law, 98

Conscience the basis of moral life, 20

Contemporary problems, complexity of, 3

Cosmogony of the Bible, the, 103-4

Customs, the, and European travel, 56

Declaration of Independence, 63, 107

Denmark, present-day conditions in, 45

Disarmament, ineffectual movements for, 13

Discovery, the age of, 6

Education a fundamental difficulty, 155

chief end of, 25

degradation of, 105

in the world state, 20, 90

necessary basis of, 103

neglect of language teaching, 145

past and present, 79, 104

primary obstacle to, 153

progressive character of, 166, 183

reorganization of, needed, 158, 165

Educational organization, a review of, 139

need of, 194

England before and after the war, 45

Epics and a modernized Bible, 125

Eugenic literature, 140, 141

Europe, and the League of Nations, 47

boundary question of, 54, 59, 61, 62

in the seventeenth century, 96

problem of air transport, 58

propaganda of patriotism in, 72

results of political disunion, 54

slow economic recovery of, 59

European travel, preparations needed for, 55

Evening continuation and technical schools, 169

Exchange, fluctuating nature of, 56, 57

Federal World State, an approaching reality, 80

Forecasts, a Book of, and the modernized Bible, 132

Foresight, need of, 133

France, national egotism of, 72

post-war decadence in, 45

Frontiers and the possibility of war, 59

Geography, improved method of teaching, 151

Germany, ebb in civilization in, 45

intensive nationalist education in, 72

Gladstone, Mr., a speech by, 171

Gramophones as aids to school teaching, 160

Gunpowder, discovery of, 6

Hamsun's Growth of the Soil, 124

Health and the citizen, 111

Hebrew Bible, the, 110

Henley, a poem by, 127

Herbert, Auberon, lectures by, 171

Higher education, a false conception of, 181

Historical books, value of illustrations and maps in, 110

History, and national egotism, 73

cardinal experiences in, 1

History of the Ancient World, 108

History teaching in schools, unsatisfactory nature of, 151

Holland, post-war condition of, 45

Human brotherhood, gospel of, 24

Human disorder, the key to, 192

Human outlook, the, 1

Human society, ancient and modern, 5

needs reconstruction, 11

Human unity and a world state, 75

Hungary, post-war desolation in, 44

Huxley, Professor, author's tribute to, 170

his system of teaching geography, 151

Illustrations, need of, in books, 110

Independent nationality, need for, 76

Individualists and property, 115

Industrialism, modern, 114

Intellectuals, their estimate of man, 14

International mind, an, 73

International problem of to-day, 46

Ireland, after-effects of war in, 45

condition of (1640-1650), 96

Islam, lasting unity of, 79

spread of, in seventh century, 23

Italy, after the war, 45

forbids export of works of art, 117

Judd, Professor, 171

Kipling, Rudyard, 15

Komensky (see Comenius)

Labour problems, the Bible and, 114

Labour trouble, and from what it springs, 116, 117

Language teaching, a necessary part of education, 145

suggested use of gramophones for, 160

twofold object of, 147

League of Nations, the, 13, 17

and the boundary question, 62

educational value of its propaganda, 75

ineffectiveness of, 5, 37, 41, 47, 76

President Wilson and, 15, 28

Lectures as basis of instruction, 178

Lenin and Russia, 44

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, 126

Locomotion and methods of communication, 48, 52, 53

Machinery, in a world state, 91

Magna Carta, 107

Man, his plain duty, 38

social nature of, 19

Mankind, influence of surroundings on, 18

probable future of, 1 et seq.

Mathematics, teaching of, 149

Medi?val and Modern History, 108

Medi?val and Modern Times, 108

Mental life, schooling and the, 142

Mesopotamia, irrigation system of, 6

Military class, mischief of a, 29

Milton's defence of free speech, 128

Missouri, establishment of, 49

Money, Sir Leo, his Triumph of Nationalization, 187

Morris, William, lectures by, 171

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, 48

National independence, meaning of, 59

Newspapers, 183

evolution of, 184

journalistic demoralization, 187, 188

Novels, and a modernized Bible, 123

Ocean transport, importance of, 65

Organized education, the key to human disorder, 192

Organized solidarity and modern communities, 102

Original Sin, the factor of, 105

Outline of History, Wells's, 107, 108

Passports, delays attendant on, 55

Patriotism, a unity-destroying propaganda of, 72

aggressive, dangers of, 39

American, 69

true and false conceptions of, 68, 69

Peace Ministry, functions of a, 87

Philosophical works and a modernized Bible, 124

Physiography, Huxley and, 151

Physiology, value of study of, 151

Pilgrim Fathers, the, and the Bible, 110

Plays and a modernized Bible, 123

Political reconstruction, accompaniments of, 25

Politicians, their need of foresight, 133

Politics in a world state, 81, 93

Prayer Book, the, 107

Press, the, demoralization of, 187-8

freedom of, 185

Government control of, 186, 187

Printing and the community, 7

Progress, arrest of, 1

Property, class war and, 196

labour trouble and, 116, 117

problems of, 114

rights and duties of, 115

Puritanism in the seventeenth century, 97

Quakers, the, foundation of, 97

Radiogram, the, and its results, 6

Railways, American, 49 et seq., 65

Readjustment of political ideas, 46 et seq., 68

Religion and the political and social outlook, 23, 79

universalist in theory, 81

Religious instruction and discussion barred by colleges, 175

Revolutions and how produced, 27

Robinson, Professor, 108

Roman Empire, the, rise and fall of, 53

Russia, Bolshevism in, 44

the Press in, 186

vexatious delays in a journey to, 56 et seq.

St. Petersburg before and after the war, 43, 44

Schoolhouse, an ordinary, and an ideal, 158-9

Schooling of the world, the, 139 et seq.

and what should be taught, 143

why so often a failure, 153

Schools and the development of education, 25

of a world state, 90

Science teaching under difficulties and a suggested remedy, 161

Scotland after the war, 45

Sea power and the submarine, 66

Semaphores, 48

Sexual morality, need for, 112

Shakespear and the Bible of Civilization, 122

Social nature of man, 19

Sovereign states, incoherent nature of, 31

Steamboats, American, 49, 65

Stopes, Dr. Marie, 113

Submarine, the, and sea power, 66

Sweden, before and after the war, 45

Teachers, lack of, and the reason, 153

Teaching and the future of mankind, 37

Teaching power and how it might be economized, 156 et seq.

Technical study, specialized, 182

Telegraphy, development of, 6, 48

Thirty Years War, the, 96

Tolstoi's War and Peace, 124

Trade problems, the Bible and, 114

Transport and the international problem, 46

Travel, inconveniences of European, 55 et seq.

United States, the government of, 47, 83

growth of, 49-50

political system of, 27

(see also America)

University, the, and adult learning, 168

Vienna threatened by the Turk, 96

Wales, Prince of, world tour of, 29, 84

War, a ruling and constructive idea, 4

abolition of, and what it means, 5

frequent recurrence of, 3

military science in, 8

Washington, George, and his successors, 83

Webster, Dr. Hutton, historical summaries of, 108

Wells, H. G., as educationist, 155

college life of, 170

his Outline of History, 107, 108

ideals of, 42

serves on British Civil Air Transport Committee, 48, 66

views on teaching of history, 151

Wilson, President, and the League of Nations, 15, 28

World control, and what it means, 14, 17

World History, a suggested, 109

World peace, American and European view of, 61

World state, the, cult of, 35

enlargement of patriotism to, 68

fundamental ideas of, 37

government of, 82 et seq.

life in, 88 et seq.

meaning of, 82

project of, 42 et seq.

the Council and its functions, 85

World, the, as a university, 168

Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.4

* * *

ERRATUM.

Page 176, line 20,

", there are still modern Immortals in the darkness"

should read,

", if they are still modern Immortals, in the darkness"

* * *

Mr. WELLS has also written the following novels:

LOVE AND MR. LEWISHAM

KIPPS

MR. POLLY

THE WHEELS OF CHANCE

THE NEW MACHIAVELLI

ANN VERONICA

TONO BUNGAY

MARRIAGE

BEALBY

THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS

THE WIFE OF SIR ISAAC HARMAN

THE RESEARCH MAGNIFICENT

MR. BRITLING SEES IT THROUGH

THE SOUL OF A BISHOP

JOAN AND PETER

THE UNDYING FIRE

The following fantastic and imaginative romances:

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

THE TIME MACHINE

THE WONDERFUL VISIT

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU

THE SEA LADY

THE SLEEPER AWAKES

THE FOOD OF THE GODS

THE WAR IN THE AIR

THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON

IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET

THE WORLD SET FREE

And numerous Short Stories now collected in One Volume under the title of

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND

A Series of books upon Social, Religious and Political questions:

ANTICIPATIONS (1900)

MANKIND IN THE MAKING

FIRST AND LAST THINGS

NEW WORLDS FOR OLD

A MODERN UTOPIA

THE FUTURE IN AMERICA

AN ENGLISHMAN LOOKS AT THE WORLD

WHAT IS COMING?

WAR AND THE FUTURE

IN THE FOURTH YEAR

GOD THE INVISIBLE KING

THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY

RUSSIA IN THE SHADOWS

And two little books about children's play, called:

FLOOR GAMES and LITTLE WARS