Evening star., 1927-10-30

have been for mankind in the past,
they are not now unavoidable. The
| CLANCY and diSagreeably adventurous
way we live is not the only possible,
not the best way of living. 1t is a
| phase out of which our race NAV
pass.
Cannot Figure Staple Needs.
| The reason why our community
cannot figure out what the life task
| of coal miner should be is simply
because it does not know enough
about things that can be quite eff.
fectively known. 1t cannot figure out
even it's broad staple needs and sup.
plies and be certain of them. as vet,
even within quite wide limits. We
| have to guess and gamble our way
| through life, to overcharge and under.
pay and keep on the safe side" We
hoard If we can. We think ourselves
lucky if we can saddle the world with
debt for the loan of our boarded ac.
| cumulations. We cannot imagine free.
dom and independence except in the
role Of well secured creditor.
Again we have to fall back on the
| gold standard for monetary purposes.
| because we have not the necessary
facts for a regulated currency, al
| though theoretically a regulated cur
| rency is far more desirable thing
than currency resting finally for
| its sanctions on a brute quantity of
gold. We do not only live in alxie-
| ties that could be dispelled, by virtue
of this same ignorance; we sicken and
die of disease which might have heen
I'prevented or cured. We are still as
| much the prey of chance as any other
animals. All our lives are worried,
shadowed, belittled and laid waste 10y
the preoccupations arising out of the
lack of that comprehensive knowledge
without which the sane and compre-
hensive direction of human affairs is
impossible.
Same Problems 5000 Years Ago.
Now what am writing here of life,
its present uncertainty and disorder,
is to be found in the lamentations of
the preacher and in the pessimistic
literature of the Egypt of 5000 years
ago. The readers of Breasteds DE
velopment of Religions and Thought
in Ancient Egypt" will find passages
about human life that say exactly
what my last paragraph repeats. But
what is new, what we have clear in
our mind today, is the growth of
body of knowledge charged with the
place these ancient distresses. Then,
indeed, the world was limitless and
dreams Of control were absurd Now,
in the last three centuries, we have
begun the surveying and mapping of
the whole planet. After contours and
topography follow geological surveys,
biological explorations, climatology,
economic appraisal. AS the surveyor
advances the prospector disappears.
We are bringing all the material
basis of human life into the sphere of
the calculable. We are numbering the
people, always an annoying process to
the ancient gods. In quite few years
we shall know within quite small linn
its the population of the world and its
rate Of increase; we shall know within
the limits of a few hundred tons it's
annual requirements of wheat and
rice, steel and coal, cotton and wool.
We shall know how and where to get
these and all other staple commodities.
We shall be able to work out the
whole processes of getting and dis
tributing the material requirements
of human life upon lines not of com.
mercial adventure, but clear certitude.
We shall have a grip upon disease of
which our present attempts at public
and world system are only the fain:est
first intinlation. And the little scat
tered band of meteorologists, who
now. observe and guess about the
weather, will have been reinforced and
developed into a big competent world
organization, which may even fore
cast our crops and anticipate our
shortages within q continually closer
margin of accuracy years ahead.
Cites Scientific Advance.
Do not the achievements of science
in the past two centuries fully jus.
tify what I have written here? And
if that be SO, and if there is this clear
prospect Of a world in which we can
plan out the general activities Of
| mankind on estates, trustworthy to
within very small fraction of the
total amount, is it conceivable that
| any Of the main disputes of our pres.
ent economic world scrambles will
survive? You may call me a dreamer
in these matters, but it is not I who
| dream; it is you who are not prop.
| erly awake to what man has done
| and what man can hope to do. Anti.
| quated methods must pass away.
| wish my wakefulness was more
| contagious than it seems to be.
| Britain, the sleeper, mutters Mud
| die through" in it's sleep, and will not
| open its eyes to the facts that are in
| the same room with it. The heavy
industries of the Old Country grow
| heavier and heavier. Unless those
| droWsy eyelids can be lifted, unless
| Britain can rouse herself within a.
very brief term of years to meet the
irksome demand for more knowledge,
more science and more imaginative
| courage. it must sink into a perma.
| nently inferior position to the United
states Of America and to renascent
Central Europe. Leadership is for
those who will lead, and the direc.
ton In which the world has to be led
Is manifestly toward the systematic
control and stimulation of the pro.
duction OF basic substances in the
common interest.
Prof1t-seeking Gripping.
Production primarily for profit in
raw material and basic substances
like the more commercialization of
tne transport services, works out in
tne crippling Of the higher types of
lndustrial life. The movement for
the conservation of forests and other
ness of unbridled private enterprise
IN America, with which President
roosevelt identified himself, was
merely one early recognition of what
is now becoming a widely recognized
ruth. With the development Of ma.
,erlaI civilization and the accumu.
latlon of exact knowledge the con.
Germ of the common veal spreads into
neids that were once left quite Iepiti,
mately to adventurous exploitation.
For Great Britain, in respect to
fuel, the issue is now a vital o,o
Either she must prepare to subsidize
and then nationalize her coal sunn1v
or she must face the clear prosnect
OF retrocession from the position ~
leadership in the world.
Copyright, 1927. by the New York Time.