Evening star., 1927-04-17
THE WAY THE WORLD IS GOING
BY H. G.. WELLS
sN-'"~"~".@"v@s's'

machinery i'm skilled hands, and to increase the
relative proportion OF semi skilled moderately
versatile and fairly comfortable workers. II
may. indeed create temporary masses of unem-
ployed and in THE Sleeper Awakes' there was
a mass Of unemployed people under matches.
That was written in 1897, when the possibility
of restraining the growth of large masses OF
population had scarcely dawned on the world,
1t was reasonable then to anticipate an emOar-
RAISING underworld of underproductive people.
We did not know what to do with the abyss.
But there is no excuse for that today. Ans
what this film anticipates is not unemployment,
but drudge employment. which is precisely
what is passing away. It's fabricators have
not even realized that the machine Gusts the
drudge
y j X *
"Effciency" means large.scale production,
machinery as fully developed as possible and
high wages. The British government delega.
ton sent to study the success in America has
reported unanimously to that effect. Increas-
ingly the efficient industri1iSm Of America has
so little need of drudges that il has set up the
seyerest barriers against the flooding of the
United states by drudge immigration. Ufa
knows nothing of such facts
A young woman appears from nowhere in
particular to help these drudges. She impinges
upon Masterman's Eric, and they 90 TO the
"catacombs," which in spite Of the Master
mans steam mains, cables and drainage have
skeletons and ALL and burroW under this City
of Metropolis" She conducts a sort of Chris.
tian worship in these unaccountabe caverns
and the drudges love and trust her. With a
nice sense Of fitness she lights herself about
the catacombs with a torch instead Of electric
lamps that are now so common. That reyersion
to torches is quite typical Of the spirit of this
show. Torches are Christian. we are asked to
suppose; torches are human Torches have
hearts, but electric hand lamps are wicked. me-
chanical, heartess things. The bad, bad in.
ventor uses quite big one.
X X X X
Mary's services are unsectarian, rather like
afternoon Sunday school, and in her special
Catacomb she has not SO much an altar a
kind of umbrella stand fun of crosses. The
leading idea Of her religion seems to be a dis
approval of machines and efficiency. She
forces the great moral lesson that the bolder
and stouter human effort becomes the more
spitefui Heaven grows by recitng the story
of Babel. The story Of Babel as we know,
is lesson against pride" 1t teaches the
human soul to grieye. 1t incuIcates the duty of
Incompetence. The Tower Of Babel was built.
it seems, by bald-headed men, ! said there
was no original touch in the film, but this last
seems to be a real question--you see the bald
headed men building Babel. Myrads of them
Why they are bald-headed is inexplcable Tt is
not even meant to be funny, and it isn't funny
it is just another touch Of Stiffness. The work
ers in Metropolis are not to rebel or do any
thing for themaalFes, she teaches, because they
may rely on the vindictiFeness of heaven.
But Rotwang, the inventor. is making Robot.
apparently without any license from Capek, the
original patentee. It is to look and work like
human being, but it is to have no soul"
1t is to be substitute for drudge labor Master
man very properly suggests that 1t should never
have soul, and for the life Of me I cannot see
why it should The whole aim of mechanical
civilization is to eliminate the drudge and
Continued on Third Page)