New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-04-18
mp wslIs's "APoLooIA."

,eS,,,,tAI, FORCES in ENGl.ANn Am ~,
hNSnRICA. ny III. q. Wells wv W.
az Harper \ Bros.
Mr.. wells gives Us IN this BOOK 80 ne
informs US, q fairly complete view Oh
all nay opinions, 1t is practically all
my miscellaneous writings for the last
four OF Eve years. edited and drawn to-
S,thsr into an effective whole IL is
N this coordination of these articles
written at different times and ON APP
psrentiy unconneoted or at BEST but
sliehtly connected topics, that lies the
greater interest OF the volume, for IL
demonstrates how deeply and losieaily
Mr.. Wells has reflected upon all the
phases Of our bewilderingly complex
and confusing civilization, and how he
has reached the conclusion, constantly
reiterated, that we are milling not
progressing: that our governments
have fallen far behind the collective
intelligence and the aspirations OF the
governed, and that what is needed II
chaos and revolution are 20 be averteo'
IS "a great science OF social ADJUST
ment and disciplined and orderly ma
chinery TO turn enthusiasms into et-
feet"
We have, then. in these PAGES the
practical rather than the prophetic Mr.
Wells. he is not so much concerned
with a far distant future Of perfected
social, economic and personal adjust
ments as with the here and now
and. the norrow-chiehy at home in
England, but also in this country.
he has long been the Cassandra OF his
nation, warning, protesting, crying out
loud TO awaken It from the inertia
which, in his opinion, threatens 70 place
il in the rear instead Of in the van Of
the great powers. Either We are
people essentially and incurably in
ferior" he exclaims. "or there is some
thing wrong in our training, something
benumbing in our atmosphere" And,
as he has done often before, he con-
cludes that Il is British education
which is at fault The foreigner is
ad Of the Briton in this, he insists,
snAt is especially true Of the middle
and Upper classes. from which inven-
uon and enterprise come. This text,
one need not remind the reader, occurs
'fne and again in Mr.. Weiss writings
IN HIS novels as well as elsewhere.
mere Is the navy, for instance. All
: lalicr car, think Of is 10 build more
I'D ever bigger superdreadnoughts
but the foreigner, he is quite certain,
mas invented and keeps secretly in
readiness lighter, handler, swifter far
less expensive engines OF destruction
which will revolutionize naval war
fare with one. to England, disastrous
blow. The country does not encourage
inventors, innovators, men OF ideas and
initiative. II puts its faith in routine.
In foreign affairs its statesmen do not
look ahead at all. Germany is the only
enemy they can conceive Of; yet, says
Mr. Wells, the day will come when
Germans and English will stand side
by side on the East Prussian frontier;
the Russian danger IN India las simply
been lost sight Of.
Most OF all IS he concerned. however
with the labor question IN England.
and with the inconceivably short
sighted attitude Of British capital:
The working man CT to-day reads. talks,
has general ideas ana "A sense OF the
round world; he is far nearer 10 the ruler
OF to-day in knowledge and Intellectual
range than he is 70 the wOrkingman Of
fifty years ago. The politician or bust
ness rnagnate Of to-day is no better edu-
Gated and very little better informed than
his equals were fifty years ago
These are the new conditions and the
middle-aged and elderly gentlemen who
are dealing with the crisis on the sup
position that their vast experience Of
labor questions in the seventies and
eighties furnishes valuable guidance in
this present issue are merely bringing
the gunpowder Of misapprehension 10 the
revolutionary fort. .FCats Of legal
suotiety are inoppOrtUue arithmetical eX-
ploits still more so. To emerge with the
sum OF As. SD. as q minimum, by calcu-
lI.ting on the basis OF the mines present
earnings, from a conference which the
miners and everybody else imagined was
70 give a minimum Of SIS. may be clever,
but II Is certainly not polite in the pres
ent stage OF labor feeling.
It is when Mr.. Wells turns to the
discussion of American affairs that he
is least satisfactory--to Americans. at
\ east: fully as unsatisfactory as most
american observers writing OF England
20 Englishmen. He spent brief
= with us sir wears ago, and wrote