The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-06-16
n his observation of the sphere.

ed, and if Mr.. Wells had been SUBJ
ject to the discipline of what may be
called an efficient education, he might
have seen his sphere at the age OF
twenty-seven as slightly fattened:
whether probate or oblate is of no
consequence, and could not be styled
with the designation of normallty. ne
is, in fact, normal just so far as ms
gift of vision was undistorted by the
precepts and dogmas of his parents,
teachers and early companions.
Mr.. Wells romances have little or
nothing in common with those Of
Jules Verne, not even that peculiar
quality of romance which revels In the
impossible, says Beresford. The
heroes of Jules Verne were idealised
creatures making use Of some wonder
full inventions for their own purposes;
and the future of mankind was OF no
consequence in the balance against
the lust for adventure under new me-
chanical conditions.
Mr.. Wells experiments with the rel
atively improbable have become IN,
creasingly involved with the soclal
problems, and it would be possible to
follow the growth of his opinions from
this evidence alone, even If we had not
the valuable commentary afforded by
his novels and essays in sociology;
But his interest in the present. and
future welfare of mankind would not
in the first place have prompted him
in the writing of romance (unless 1t
had been cast in the severely allegorl-
cal form of The Pilgrims Progress)
and if we are to account for that
ebullition we shall be driven to take
refuge in some theory Of exuberance.
The later works have been so defensive
and. in one sense. didactic that one IS
apt to forget that many Of the carrier
books, and all of the short stores:
must have originated in the efferves-
cence of creative imagination.
Mr.. Wells is second to none as
writer of romance. -. .. but as a
novelist his position is less certain;
He brings to his fiction the open-eyed
recognition of realities, the fine analy-
sis Of modern conditions, the lucid con-
seouent thought and the clean graphic
stvle that mark the qualities OF MS
other methods; he has that poetic
gift, the gift of the creative and illum-
native phrase" which he has said
"alone justifes writing;" but he has
not the power of creating characters
that stand for some essential type OF
humanity. On the one hand ne IS IN
clined to idealize the engineer and the
scientific researcher, and on the other
to satirize and. in effect: to group into
one sloppy-thinking mass every other
kind of Englishman, not excepting;
philosophers, politicians and social
reformers. This broad generalization
omits any consideration Of the merely
uneducated, and the many women ne
has drawn. But the former, however
sympathetically treated: are certainly
not localized; and among the latter:
the only real creation is Susan Pom
derevo in Tono-Bungay; although
there is possible composite OF the
various women in the later books that
may represent the general insurgent
character of recent young woman
hood. If Mr.. Wells character types
are too few and too specialized; and
Sc. with regard to his more or less
;dealized males - such as Capes:
George Ponderevo, Remington, Iraf-
ford. Stafford-he has modelled and
re-modelled them in the effort to build
up one finally estimable OF masculine
ability; there still remains an enor-
nous gallery of subsidiary portraits
for the most part family caricatured:
Of men and women who do for some
thing in modern life; portraits that
are Valuable, interesting and memor1-
able. Nevertheless Mr.. Wells novels
will not live by reason OF their char
acteristMation.
Mr.. Wells sessays in sociology are
not dry treasies based on Blue books
and the gathering together OF infor-
nation and statistics from formless
and rather worthless collection of ear
lier sources. He has approached TINS
question of man in relation to the
State in the same generous spirit dis
nlaved in his works of fiction and it
is only by using the word "soclol,
ogy'' in it's fuller sense as conceived
by Comic, rather than in the restricted
sense of "social science with its I'M
plication of economics that we may
use so dangerous a technical term
Mr.. Wells has way OF treating all
such subjects as relate to the better
ment of humanity with a broad out
look, an entire disrespect for conven-
tional forms however hallowed. he
approaches his subject with the nor
NAL mind of one who sees the world
it's customs and rules of conduct. from
what is, after all, the point OF vie"
of common-sense. The essential thing
about Mr.. Wells is that he is not 8
Follower, whether of Marx, or Hynd'
man, or Shaw, or Bebel; he may have
learnt from any or all Of them, but
his theory of social reconstruction IS
eminently his own. In sociologl:
cal essays, as in his novels, his methoc
is that of picturing the more desirable
thing or condition, the method Of
sweet persuasion rather than that OF
the sectarian who has pet specific
Nevertheless Mr.. Wells uses his sharp
ened weapon of satire with consider:
able effect when he contemplates and
displays for us the world as he sees il
today. It would be impossible in e
paper to do more than mention few
of the important essays: Anticipation
Mankind in the Making, A Modern
Utopia, The Future of America, New
Wor1de for Old aFr