New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-27

duced in Enghsk life. The articles have
Just been published in book form By the
Century Company, under the title INSIDE
the British Isles"
/ have tried in these articles to show the
passing of England-Little England, Old
England-the crumblng of its caste system,
and the emergence Of the England of John
Bull and Cromwells soldiers from inarticu-
lateness into power. And yet greater thing
has come: the advent of the new British Com
monwealth. The organized state under demo-
cratic control is being established. Labor is
taking over the management of society. The
women have gone out to win their world, and
they face a bitter struggle. There is re-
birth of nationality in Ireland This wide
| spread transformation Of the British State is
being worked by the machinery of joint
boards, labor exchanges, workshop councils,
imperial conference and franchise extension.
The mass of people are winning new status
with minimum wage, limitation Of hours,
choice of work and control inside the indus
try. Every change was long prepared for, and
built out Of age-od materials, and every
change is made by compromise. But the
, change carries long way, because the mo-
mentum is continuous and along straight
| line After all, there is nothing revolu-
tionary as a great tradition, and the most
! daring reconstructors are often men of Tory
blood. The three most powerful men in this
recon struction are Miner, Northcliffe and
Lloyd George.
! Democratic Control
This change is not hasty chance revolu-
ton, but the natural growth Of the English
tradition. The little vessel that contained
that tradition has been broken, but the germi-
nal principle has been scattered rather widely
around the world. Democratic control is the
principle which is SCATTERING the class sys-
TEN, reconstructing industry, emancipating
women, stirring Ireland, seething through the
colonies, making England an industrial de-
mocracy, and transforming the far-hung en-
pire into the British Commonwealth. The
programme is far from victorious attainment.
The Woman's movement bristles with unan-
swered questions. Labor has failed to de-
velop its experts and leaders, and when it
does there remains the intricate problem Of
democratic control, when set of experts sit
at the inner wheels. Freedom is hard task
master. And deeper yet is the problem OF
what excellence shall be made of the life that
| is free.
The British community is one Of infinite va
riety There is something perdurable and
continuing about British character. No outer
violence can shake the citadel of the individ-
ua soul. The Briton is not only willing to
die in what is plainly great matter, such as
the freeing of Belgium, he is willing to be
laughed at and to be put into prison for his
private pet belief. He interrupts public meet
ings and deposes leaders, If the speaker or the
representative outpaces the plain mans view
of what is common sense. There is no British
type There are many types and then, in be-
tween the composite multitude of infinite
ly repellent particles" That indvdualism,
which was in the race in Chaucer's time, and
again found record in Ben Jonson, has never
died. and no collective will'' or state control
will ever rob the British democracy of the
salt and tang of it's variety, the loud protest
of its Protestants and the dissidence Of its
dissent So we have official stupidities with
Ireland and the Russian refugees. But the
! final truth doesn't rest there. | remember a
talk | had with the Mayor of the largest sea-
coast resort, and how he told me of returning
a German lad to his home country after the
war broke out There is kindness in the
race. Many times have been irritated by
something pig-headed and unconsciously ar
rogant in the people, the quality which Have
| lock Ellis describes when he says, at is the
temper OF vigorous, independent, opinion
ated, spoken yet sometimes suspicious
people among whom every individual feels in
himself the impulse to rule" 1t springs from
/ the tradition Of governing class, and once
heard one of the most famous men in Europe
tell how a certain English nobleman always
made him feel: you belong to race which
we once ruled. Really, we ought to be ruling
you now" Then there comes to me the in
innate talk recently had with librarian:
"For FIVE generations my family has been
in the public service" he said, "and could
not be happy elsewhere. receive $500 q
year Recently business house offered me
5000. with the promise Of promotion. But !