Evening star., 1939-01-17
BY H. G. WELLS.
CHAPTER XxXVIII.


tuolnous common man throughout
the earth had to make what he could
OF a stupendous fact, of which he
had mad no previous warning.
namely Rud, the World Trustee,
AND Rud being himself, as indeed
ne always alleged, no more than a
common man, had also, with scarcely
more preparation to make what he
could OF himself. The mystical per-
sonlfication of himself as the uni-
VerSal common man was the most
congenial Interpretation that had
occurred to him, and for a time he
clung to it.
He would like to have said to
mankind that he was just themselves
IN concentrated form, and that
What seemed good to him was neces-
sarlly good for them all, vet more
ana more did Thirp make it clear to
MN that the pervading infantilism
OF MS felloW-creatures demanded no
such mystical and incomprehensible
identification with him, but objective
leadership and paternalism. They
reused to live in him, they kept
themselves to themselves, but thev
were quite ready to live under him.
So with a rapidly diminishing re-
luctance Rud allowed a sympathetic
yet heroic version of himself to be
oullt up in the public mind. And
as thls objective version was estab-
nShed throughout the world. it
brought conviction to himself. Except
IN rare moments of private eXalta-
t1sn, he ceased to be that universal
man OF his profounder speculations
ana instead he became merely the
} greatest and most greatly advertised
Of men.
Getting Firmer Grasp.
Norvel. like so many of the group
ana their associates, was growing
rapidly to the scale of his occasions,
He was getting a firmer and more
comprehensive grasp upon his par
tlcular aspect of the world problem,
and he was gathering round him a
sehool OF colleagues who shared
Ideas and purposes with him. It was
a parallel process to Bellacourt's
consolidation OF, the world services
OF transport and distribution, to
lrWellS successful invention of a
nnanclal network practically free
from speculative corruption, and to
the scientific reorganization of pro-
| ductlon by Roots and Holbank, who
were now, among other innovations,
manufacturing soil and resettling
agricultural workers at the rate of
100 square miles a week.
Norvel had observed the decadence
OF the newspaper. in the days before
the War OF Ideologies, until it had
become a mere daily entertainment
and bazaar display, he had de-
veloped and dominated the world
wide distribution of cheap books,
and he had acquired very extensive
mass OF experience with all the new
and multiplying appliances for
\ mental stimulation and exchange by
CINEMA, radio, microphotography
and the like. He had organized an
effective world survey of schools and
colleges, and he was now in a posi-
ton to remodel, multiply and ex-
pand them as he chose and so far
as the available material would let
him. That was tremendous task.
The Revolution had indeed crippled
the power of business interests and
the old religions to hinder the liberia
tion of the human mind, but it had
done little to equip the minds it had
emancipated. For the purposes of
world community, he found the
world even in its most progressive
regions, thinly educated, thinly to a
dismaying degree. Quite as much
as Roots and Holbank, who had
realized the limits set to vegetable
growth by soil insufhciency. he found
he had to begin the new crop OF
humanity from the ground upward.
Has Alert Helpers.
Norvel found himself involved in
gigantic extension of the old
structures of thought, research and
instruction, in the, evocation and
training of vast armies of teachers,
in the application of film and radio
to school use and the establishment
throughout the world of millions
of those community centers that
manifestly had to replace the
schools and home instruction of
the past. He had assembled mag
nificent group of associates and an
ever-increasing multitude Of men
tally quickened helpers; he was
sustained by an increasing realiza-
ton that most human beings want
to learn and are ready to meet cap
able teaching half way; but for all
that 1t had become palmer and
! palmer to him that to establish
even the broad framework for the
mental reconditioning of mankind,
would be a task that would demand
the sustained devotion of hundreds
of thousands of workers through
some scores of years.
And in the interim, what was to
be done for the passing generations?
For the present and for the rest
of his lifetime, it was plain to him
that he would have to endure the
spectacle of vast masses Of the pop
ulation, white, yellow, brown and
black, under educated through no
fault of their own, and for sheer
lack of equipment, stating and or
ganization, still largely unedu-
NoOAS. "Aei1 a JOU wv OA6 AOA AAAAAA
before him, 1t was manifest he had
TO economize all his resources. He
had to concentrate first upon the
bare scaffold of the new intellectual
order and work for progressive in
crements in enlightenment, and be-
yond that the multitude would
have to be left to much the same
methods of information and sug-
gestion as had served before the
Revolution.
Giving Public Its Wants.
we may stop some of the quack
medicines at the source" he said,
but until we have put doctors,
teachers and then more and more
OF the public through the mill of
real education, they will still prefer