Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-30
Wells Hopes for a Better World
Through Enlightened Selfshness

we trail certain egotism into our
work." he said. Gould we do other
Wise? But II has ceased to be purely
egotism. It Is no longer I am L. but
i am part One wants to be an hon.
orable part"
Thus does Mr.. Wells indicate his be.
lief In the existence of men who are
thinking in terms of the general good
rather than In terms of their own profit.
Fep soiu deny that the solution OF
the pressing problems before the
Uorld depends on the enlargement Of
this number Of broad Visioncd men.
THEN the novelist comes down to the
1 coal problem in England and the
Coal Commission. Sir Richmond wants
the coal in England to be mined and
sold for the benefit Of all the people
and not for the benefit Of the mine own
ers, and he wants the coal and oil Of
the whole world to be treated In the
same way. But he says that when he
says this to his commission they stare
at me like a committee In a thieves
kitchen when some one casually men,
tions tho law" Yet he insists that
every member Of the commission Is
dissatisfied.
They pursue their own ends bitterly
and obstinately, I admit" says Sir
Richmond, but they are bitter and oh.
stinate because they pursue them
against an internal opposition-which
is on my side. They are terrified to
think. II once they stopped fighting me,
how far they might not 20 with me-"
In another place Sir Richmond Is
made to say, "Given q change in laws
and prevailing ideas, and the very same
people who are greedy traders and
grasping owners will work together
cheerfully, even generously, for common
ends"
And Mr.. Wells, speaking through Sir
Richmond, says: '"This is my chief
discovery about life. began with the
question of fuel and the energy It af-
fords mankind, and I have found that
my generalization applies to all human
AFFAIRS. Human beings are fools, weak
lings, towards, passionate idiots-I
grant you. But they are not such fools
and so forth that they can't do pretty
well materially II once we hammer out
a sane collective method of getting and
using fuel"
Curious stuff, this Is, to put IN a
novel, but Mr.. Wells has the audacitv
to do it and still call the book a
novel.
THE last two or three quotations are
L from the conversation Of Sir Rich.
mond with the daughter Of an Ameri-
can oil millionaire, the girl with whom
no fell in love while talking socialism
and fuel control to her. An American n
girl is patiently introduced in order to
get what Mr.. Wells Is doubtless pleased
to regard as the point Of view of WON .
an on the merits Of a problem which
she could regard without the precon.
ceptions that invariably arise from init. .
mate connection with ownership and
personal responsibility for vast proper
ties. The girl agrees with Sir Rich
mond, so Mr.. Wells says in effect
Behold what the women who are to
have an increasing share in the politics
Of the world think about this socialistic
solution Of the fuel problem and take
warning"
All the story there is in tho book
could have been told in twenty pages.
Those who read for story will doubt.
less throw the book aside before they
get half way through 1t. For their
benefit 1t should be said that 1t is In
the latter half that such story as there
is is told. But, as already indicated,
the book is negligible as a work Of fc-
tion. 1t Is the latest form in which
Mr.. Wells has set forth his plan for
better world
GEORGE w. DOUGLAS.