Evening star., 1938-12-17

ltG none OF the eXlSLlnR movements
satisfied his private lust for power. He
and belts instead Of colored shirts
Britain as a beginning In the mean
time. OLD pr. Carstsll sat down to dis,
cuss Gus with his son I'll the troubled a. wsy s'., OF
cations of scientific advances and what
the new generation should do about it.
ths boy n.ve thnl i1 'otGrm ont new Sshsvior
BY H. G. WELLS.
For an interval the elder man
answered nothing.
Il suppose" he resumed present.
ly, that some sort Of mental re-
nascence is possible. A sufficient
renascence. I hope So But I see
very few signs of it. That adapta-
ton you talk about There's a
lot of unteachable stuff in human
ity. Down here I've been watch
ing a little section Of mankind,
bringing new individuals into the
world, seeing the old ones drop out
of it, seeing the insides and the
undersides and the backsides of
the creatures. Queer stuff and weak
stuff, they are. Mean. A lot OF
malice in them. And also a sort
of obduracy. Do you know that
almost always they lie to me about
themselves. Their doctor am
and they lie to me. Out of self
protective vanity-mostly. They
come for advice and then they
fake their facts and dodge their
medicine
"All of them?"
Most. They vary. Their i'm
aginations vary. And their go. Very
widely. So widely that at times
seem to be dealing with different
species of creature. But on the
whole I don't see that renascence
of will and understanding which is
needed to head off catastrophe
| No. y
Self Confidence Fading.
But during your 40 years of prac-
tice,' said the younger man, hasn't
there been a certain amount of gen.
eral, all over, mental progress? More
education. more books, more infor.
nation? Not enough, l admit, but
some. If only we were able to in
crease the tempo of that sort o1
thing?
The old man shook his head with
a smile of unbelief.
You haven't been watching 8
commounity for four full decades
Dick. have. My practice here is
fair sample of mankind. . have
seen a sort of self-confidence fad
ing out of this world. Like a twi-
light. When 1 bought this practice
every one who came to me. every
man Jack of them, felt he had 2
place in the world, that there were
things he ought to do, and thing.
he mustn't do. Maybe people were
a little lower then, nearer the
earth, but that was how thing!
were. A normal man got along ir
a system he thought he understood
Now
Dick, people aren't nearly as
straight in business as they were
They've ceased to feel that honesty
is the best policy. They've found
themselves put out of business by
competition they think unfair. They
try to get even by countercheating
And they aren't clever enough
They find the income they hac
counted on, their pay or what not
raided by taxation, shattered by
currency manipulation and slumps
knocked to pieces by all this mess.
ing about with money. this inf1a.
ton. deflation, and all the rest of it
Even the Wage-earners never know
now what they money can buy
These football pools are a sort Of
disease of vain hopes, social dropsy
The women bet. 1t was unhearC
Of in the old days. There's hardly
man in my area, now. Dick, under
So who finds any satisfaction in 6
job we'll done, or believes that il
will secure him any sort of reward
Think of what that means in so.
cial stability.
Decentralization of Women.
"And the women 1 have to dea
with, Dick, the younger women;
they're all demoralized as we under.
stood decentralization. They dont
understand themselves. There was
certain amount of sly adultery anc
still slyer fornication going on then
but it didn't disturb the even sur.
face of things. 1t was just healthy
incontinence Chastity now i.
out of fashion. Children are ar
incumbrance. The women want
or feel they ought to want, a sort
of gadding- about amusement and 6
man has to pay for it. They sci
themselves almost frankly, whole.
sale or retail. They aren't steady
because the men aren't steady. The
men are insecure and ratified anc
the women followed suit. Youc
be amazed, Dick, at the people who
come along nowadays limiting al
abortion.
I'm telling you my ideas, father
as well as l can. You've asked fol
it. But see no way out of the pres.
ent breakup, but let the best rough
win Then so soon as you've 90,
top rough in the world, he'll have
to organize efficiently to save him.
ent breakup. but let the best rough
and he'll have to be quick about it
The bigger he grows-and you know
the next rough may be wide
the less of the administration, the
less of the planning he and his gang
will be able to control, and the more
he'll have to use and trust the able
resolute relatively unambitiou.
type.
Meaning our sort? Our virtuous
sort? Eh?"
"Weu-yes."
after the democracies, the dema-
gogues who become dictators and
after them a world civil service?
Fabian permeation and all that
And I'm not so sure of that civil
service. 1t may develop a high STAN
dard Of comfort and a taste fol-
dependents.
The young man reconsidered it
| "All sorts of combinations and in.