Evening star., 1923-06-12
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM

ID. q. Wells recalls the kaiser when
| the latter was yet a kaiser. Like
Wilhelm In his great days, MIR. Wells
turns never a hair of hesitation to-
ward improving upon the handiwork
OF Cid Himself Indeed. creating a
new heaven and a new earth every
now and then is coming to be- a Wells
specially. He has only just complet-
ed one OF these periodic acts of crea-
tion. This latest omnipotence Is set
out in Men Like Gods"
| X X II
1t Is an age of marvels. We are
daily getting more and more used to
| this fact in wide and varied field
So 1t were childish to hang back here
| on any plea of either the absurd or
the impossible as Mr.. Wells gravely
1 waves us in invitation toward his
brand-new world. Meanwhile, he is
soberly winding it up to register two
thousand years ahead of the point
| where we earthIings are now stand
| ing. Twenty hundred years. nova
daSs' however, is hardly more than a
| minute OF our earlier reck onings, for
the scientists have taught us to talk
| easily in terms of millions of years
! sixty, hundred a thousand of these
therefore, Mr.. Wells trifing jolt to
his time machine counts with us for
no more than stepping off into to-
| morrow. The last two thousand
years have changed man, essential
| man, not an atom. We look for no
| difficulties with the new order of man
in this new world
r
For, we are going. And, We are
| arrived-just like that Possibly we
| merely desire to see what kind of a
god Mr.. Wells can be when he really
puts his mind to IT, Not so much diff
| ference. after all, from our own
| place. Some little shifting about of
the landscape. maybe, much as we
| used TO reset the parlor furniture
upon occasion, in the old home world
\ A brighter sheen upon the LEAKAGE
perhaps. deeper dye within the
bloom, richer blush upon the fruit
age. Nothing more. at first glance.
Ihen the amazing roominess of this
new world steps into the open. How
Is this. Mr.. Wells? Where are all the
folks? Mr.. Wells. for the first time
reminiscent In manner OF his high
creative calling. asserts that the
sparseness of population is no acct
dent. Achieved by clear design, it
stands as the basic fact in this tri-
umph Of modern creation Merely
good housekeeping" cutting the
garment according to the CLOTH are
| the homely and familiar phrases into
which we translate Mr.. Wells as he
goes over the scheme OF having neat
ly held down the population of his
world. in order that each individual
might have his rightfuI due of am
pie opportunity for a sound and
beautiful development. Polite to this
new god, we for the moment accept
the theory. But how can this be
brought about? Children-broods and
litters of them-are certainly acts
of God" with which no man may
tamper. Mr.. Wells shakes his head
and smiles, little, as he points to
his splendid people of a carefully Sc
lected parentage, indicating. contrari-
i'll born. half nourished, diseased. miser-
able children. Never mind. Let's drop
| that point. But-just a minute. How
does that matter of proper parentage
affect the tradition of love. and the
Institutions of marriage and the fam
lily? Shaking his head again, Mr.
Wells tells US TO think that out for
ourselves, keeping in mind the single
essential fact that children have just
one right-the right to a fair birth
as part of the fair chance that is
their clear due.
Much better to move into a more
| impersonal domain, that of the gov
ernment. for instance. But it turns
out that there is no government in
Mr.. Wells world. No. not any at ALL
i except as such as lies in a diffused
/ JOY of the people as a whole in beau
| ty of conduct. in seemliness of be-
! havior, in a general order. This COM
| mon joy each converts into an active
| impulse for the common good. Mr..
Wells appears to us to be Stressing
his new heaven right here, some
what to the neglect Of his new earth.
He contends, however, that this is
not true and suggests. in proof, that
we move over into industry to see
how it behaves in this world of his
own making. Not nearly so much of
1t as we have been used to see among
ourselves. 1t is clear that these
people have passed beyond the mania
for things, and more things. An in
are at the height of this madness. AS
the material condition of our own
people improves, what do they do?
Get more things-more and better
music machines. more this. more
that. Does this better condition bring
added kindliness, greater sympathy.
a keener joy in nature. a truer feel
ing for art? Not so that you can
notice it-yet. Maybe in another mil
lion years or so. we too, like Mr..
Wells people. shall have moved out
of this passion for individual pos
session into common ownership
and a deep appreciation of many
things that can neither be bought nor
sold. Industry here is greatly sim
plified through the elimination of in
Vulnerable demands. The good earth
gives enough for all and there is with
them no organized purpose for huge
piied-up reserves. Therefore. the un-
derlying causes for industrial strife
with which we are so familiar have
fallen out impotent, under this new
outlook and aspiration. Government,
society. industry, in Mr.. Wells world
have become simple, instead of more
Complex. through the elimination of
innumerable negligible things by an
Intelligent and highly developed
people.
WHY men like gods? They look
as we have been told the old gods did
look, as we have come to think a god
ought to look. They are beautiful
big and straight and easy-moving, COM
posed and self-confident They have
come to do without clothes. these peo-
pie. Think Of this as an easement for
both body and soul. 1t Is hardly pos
sible for a clothes-ridden world like ours
TO enter into anything like an adequate
conception of so heavenly a release.
They have learned, also, to do without
speech, that is, for the thoughts and
emotions that count. To be sure, they
still babble, little. over the fragmen-
tory pothjnpS borne over out of the