,a ,,modern ,,utopia  ,,by ,h4 ,g4      
,,wells    ,a ,,note ,,to ,,the ,,reader
  ,this book is in all probability the  
last of a series of writings1 of        
which--disregarding certain earlier     
disconnected essays--my ,anticipations  
was the beginning4 ,originally ,i       
intended ,anticipations to be my sole   
digression from my art or trade 7or what
 you will7 of an imaginative writer4 ,i 
wrote that book in order to clear up the
 muddle in my own mind about innumerable
 social and political questions1        
questions ,i could not keep out of my   
work1 which it distressed me to touch   
upon in a stupid haphazard way1 and     
which no one1 so far as ,i knew1 had    
handled in a manner to satisfy my needs4
 ,but ,anticipations did not achieve its
 end4 ,i have a slow constructive       
hesitating sort of mind1 and when ,i    
emerged from that undertaking ,i found  
,i had still most of my questions to    
state and solve4 ,in ,mankind in the    
,making1 therefore1 ,i tried to review  

the social organisation in a different  
way1 to consider it as an educational   
process instead of dealing with it as a 
thing with a future history1 and if ,i  
made this second book even less         
satisfactory from a literary standpoint 
than the former 7and this is my         
opinion71 ,i blundered1 ,i think1 more  
edifyingly--at least from the point of  
view of my own instruction4 ,i ventured 
upon several themes with a greater      
frankness than ,i had used in           
,anticipations1 and came out of that    
second effort guilty of much rash       
writing1 but with a considerable        
development of formed opinion4 ,in many 
matters ,i had shaped out at last a     
certain personal certitude1 upon which  
,i feel ,i shall go for the rest of my  
days4 ,in this present book ,i have     
tried to settle accounts with a number  
of issues left over or opened up by its 
two predecessors1 to correct them in    
some particulars1 and to give the       
general picture of a ,utopia that has   

grown up in my mind during the course of
 these speculations as a state of       
affairs at once possible and more       
desirable than the world in which ,i    
live4 ,but this book has brought me back
 to imaginative writing again4 ,in its  
two predecessors the treatment of social
 organisation had been purely objective2
 here my intention has been a little    
wider and deeper1 in that ,i have tried 
to present not simply an ideal1 but an  
ideal in reaction with two              
personalities4 ,moreover1 since this may
 be the last book of the kind ,i shall  
ever publish1 ,i have written into it as
 well as ,i can the heretical           
metaphysical scepticism upon which all  
my thinking rests1 and ,i have inserted 
certain sections reflecting upon the    
established methods of sociological and 
economic science4444  ,the last four    
words will not attract the butterfly    
reader1 ,i know4 ,i have done my best to
 make the whole of this book as lucid   
and entertaining as its matter permits1 

because ,i want it read by as many      
people as possible1 but ,i do not       
promise anything but rage and confusion 
to him who proposes to glance through my
 pages just to see if ,i agree with him1
 or to begin in the middle1 or to read  
without a constantly alert attention4   
,if you are not already a little        
interested and open-minded with regard  
to social and political questions1 and a
 little exercised in self-examination1  
you will find neither interest nor      
pleasure here4 ,if your mind is made up 
upon such issues your time will be      
wasted on these pages4 ,and even if you 
are a willing reader you may require a  
little patience for the peculiar method 
,i have this time adopted4  ,that method
 assumes an air of haphazard1 but it is 
not so careless as it seems4 ,i believe 
it to be--even now that ,i am through   
with the book--the best way to a sort of
 lucid vagueness which has always been  
my intention in this matter4 ,i tried   
over several beginnings of a ,utopian   

book before ,i adopted this4 ,i rejected
 from the outset the form of the        
argumentative essay1 the form which     
appeals most readily to what is called  
the serious reader1 the reader who is   
often no more than the solemnly         
impatient parasite of great questions4  
,he likes everything in hard1 heavy     
lines1 black and white1 yes and no1     
because he does not understand how much 
there is that cannot be presented at all
 in that way2 wherever there is any     
effect of obliquity1 of                 
incommensurables1 wherever there is any 
levity or humour or difficulty of       
multiplex presentation1 he refuses      
attention4 ,mentally he seems to be     
built up upon an invincible assumption  
that the ,spirit of ,creation cannot    
count beyond two1 he deals only in      
alternatives4 ,such readers ,i have     
resolved not to attempt to please here4 
,even if ,i presented all my tri-clinic 
crystals as systems of cubes----6       
,indeed ,i felt it would not be worth   

doing4 ,but having rejected the serious 
essay as a form1 ,i was still greatly   
exercised1 ,i spent some vacillating    
months1 over the scheme of this book4 ,i
 tried first a recognised method of     
viewing questions from divergent points 
that has always attracted me and which  
,i have never succeeded in using1 the   
discussion novel1 after the fashion of  
,peacock's 7and ,mr4 ,mallock's7        
development of the ancient dialogue2 but
 this encumbered me with unnecessary    
characters and the inevitable           
complication of intrigue among them1 and
 ,i abandoned it4 ,after that ,i tried  
to cast the thing into a shape          
resembling a little the double          
personality of ,boswell's ,johnson1 a   
sort of interplay between monologue and 
commentator2 but that too1 although it  
got nearer to the quality ,i sought1    
finally failed4 ,then ,i hesitated over 
what one might call hard narrative4 ,it 
will be evident to the experienced      
reader that by omitting certain         

speculative and metaphysical elements   
and by elaborating incident1 this book  
might have been reduced to a            
straightforward story4 ,but ,i did not  
want to omit as much on this occasion4  
,i do not see why ,i should always      
pander to the vulgar appetite for stark 
stories4 ,and in short1 ,i made it this4
 ,i explain all this in order to make it
 clear to the reader that1 however queer
 this book appears at the first         
examination1 it is the outcome of trial 
and deliberation1 it is intended to be  
as it is4 ,i am aiming throughout at a  
sort of shot-silk texture between       
philosophical discussion on the one hand
 and imaginative narrative on the other4
  ,h4 ,g4 ,,wells4    ,,contents    ,the
 ,owner of the ,voice   ,chapter the    
,first--,topographical   ,chapter the   
,second--,concerning ,freedoms          
,chapter the ,third--,utopian ,economics
   ,chapter the ,fourth--,the ,voice of 
,nature   ,chapter the ,fifth--,failure 
in a ,modern ,utopia   ,chapter the     

,sixth--,women in a ,modern ,utopia     
,chapter the ,seventh--,a ,few ,utopian 
,impressions   ,chapter the ,eighth--,my
 ,utopian ,self   ,chapter the          
,ninth--,the ,samurai   ,chapter the    
,tenth--,race in ,utopia   ,chapter the 
,eleventh--,the ,bubble ,bursts         
,appendix--,scepticism of the           
,instrument   ,a ,,modern ,,utopia      
,,the ,,owner ,,of ,,the ,,voice  ,there
 are works1 and this is one of them1    
that are best begun with a portrait of  
the author4 ,and here1 indeed1 because  
of a very natural misunderstanding this 
is the only course to take4 ,throughout 
these papers sounds a note1 a           
distinctive and personal note1 a note   
that tends at times towards stridency2  
and all that is not1 as these words are1
 in ,italics1 is in one ,voice4 ,now1   
this ,voice1 and this is the peculiarity
 of the matter1 is not to be taken as   
the ,voice of the ostensible author who 
fathers these pages4 ,you have to clear 
your mind of any preconceptions in that 

respect4 ,the ,owner of the ,voice you  
must figure to yourself as a whitish    
plump man1 a little under the middle    
size and age1 with such blue eyes as    
many ,irishmen have1 and agile in his   
movements and with a slight tonsorial   
baldness--a penny might cover it--of the
 crown4 ,his front is convex4 ,he droops
 at times like most of us1 but for the  
greater part he bears himself as        
valiantly as a sparrow4 ,occasionally   
his hand flies out with a fluttering    
gesture of illustration4 ,and his ,voice
 7which is our medium henceforth7 is an 
unattractive tenor that becomes at times
 aggressive4 ,him you must imagine as   
sitting at a table reading a manuscript 
about ,utopias1 a manuscript he holds in
 two hands that are just a little fat at
 the wrist4 ,the curtain rises upon him 
so4 ,but afterwards1 if the devices of  
this declining art of literature        
prevail1 you will go with him through   
curious and interesting experiences4    
,yet1 ever and again1 you will find him 

back at that little table1 the          
manuscript in his hand1 and the         
expansion of his ratiocinations about   
,utopia conscientiously resumed4 ,the   
entertainment before you is neither the 
set drama of the work of fiction you are
 accustomed to read1 nor the set        
lecturing of the essay you are          
accustomed to evade1 but a hybrid of    
these two4 ,if you figure this owner of 
the ,voice as sitting1 a little         
nervously1 a little modestly1 on a      
stage1 with table1 glass of water and   
all complete1 and myself as the         
intrusive chairman insisting with a     
bland ruthlessness upon his few words of
 introduction before he recedes into the
 wings1 and if furthermore you figure a 
sheet behind our friend on which moving 
pictures intermittently appear1 and if  
finally you suppose his subject to be   
the story of the adventure of his soul  
among ,utopian inquiries1 you will be   
prepared for some at least of the       
difficulties of this unworthy but       

unusual work4  ,but over against this   
writer here presented1 there is also    
another earthly person in the book1 who 
gathers himself together into a distinct
 personality only after a preliminary   
complication with the reader4 ,this     
person is spoken of as the botanist1 and
 he is a leaner1 rather taller1 graver  
and much less garrulous man4 ,his face  
is weakly handsome and done in tones of 
grey1 he is fairish and grey-eyed1 and  
you would suspect him of dyspepsia4 ,it 
is a justifiable suspicion4 ,men of this
 type1 the chairman remarks with a      
sudden intrusion of exposition1 are     
romantic with a shadow of meanness1 they
 seek at once to conceal and shape their
 sensuous cravings beneath egregious    
sentimentalities1 they get into mighty  
tangles and troubles with women1 and he 
has had his troubles4 ,you will hear of 
them1 for that is the quality of his    
type4 ,he gets no personal expression in
 this book1 the ,voice is always that   
other's1 but you gather much of the     

matter and something of the manner of   
his interpolations from the asides and  
the tenour of the ,voice4  ,so much by  
way of portraiture is necessary to      
present the explorers of the ,modern    
,utopia1 which will unfold itself as a  
background to these two enquiring       
figures4 ,the image of a cinematograph  
entertainment is the one to grasp4      
,there will be an effect of these two   
people going to and fro in front of the 
circle of a rather defective lantern1   
which sometimes jams and sometimes gets 
out of focus1 but which does            
occasionally succeed in displaying on a 
screen a momentary moving picture of    
,utopian conditions4 ,occasionally the  
picture goes out altogether1 the ,voice 
argues and argues1 and the footlights   
return1 and then you find yourself      
listening again to the rather too plump 
little man at his table laboriously     
enunciating propositions1 upon whom the 
curtain rises now4    ,,chapter ,,the   
,,first  ,topographical   ,section #a   

,the ,utopia of a modern dreamer must   
needs differ in one fundamental aspect  
from the ,nowheres and ,utopias men     
planned before ,darwin quickened the    
thought of the world4 ,those were all   
perfect and static ,states1 a balance of
 happiness won for ever against the     
forces of unrest and disorder that      
inhere in things4 ,one beheld a healthy 
and simple generation enjoying the      
fruits of the earth in an atmosphere of 
virtue and happiness1 to be followed by 
other virtuous1 happy1 and entirely     
similar generations1 until the ,gods    
grew weary4 ,change and development were
 dammed back by invincible dams for     
ever4 ,but the ,modern ,utopia must be  
not static but kinetic1 must shape not  
as a permanent state but as a hopeful   
stage1 leading to a long ascent of      
stages4 ,nowadays we do not resist and  
overcome the great stream of things1 but
 rather float upon it4 ,we build now not
 citadels1 but ships of state4 ,for one 
ordered arrangement of citizens         

rejoicing in an equality of happiness   
safe and assured to them and their      
children for ever1 we have to plan a    
flexible common compromise1 in which a  
perpetually novel succession of         
individualities may converge most       
effectually upon a comprehensive onward 
development4 ,that is the first1 most   
generalised difference between a ,utopia
 based upon modern conceptions and all  
the ,utopias that were written in the   
former time4  ,our business here is to  
be ,utopian1 to make vivid and credible1
 if we can1 first this facet and then   
that1 of an imaginary whole and happy   
world4 ,our deliberate intention is to  
be not1 indeed1 impossible1 but most    
distinctly impracticable1 by every scale
 that reaches only between to-day and   
to-morrow4 ,we are to turn our backs for
 a space upon the insistent examination 
of the thing that is1 and face towards  
the freer air1 the ampler spaces of the 
thing that perhaps might be1 to the     
projection of a ,state or city worth    

while1 to designing upon the sheet of   
our imaginations the picture of a life  
conceivably possible1 and yet better    
worth living than our own4 ,that is our 
present enterprise4 ,we are going to lay
 down certain necessary starting        
propositions1 and then we shall proceed 
to explore the sort of world these      
propositions give us4444  ,it is no     
doubt an optimistic enterprise4 ,but it 
is good for awhile to be free from the  
carping note that must needs be audible 
when we discuss our present             
imperfections1 to release ourselves from
 practical difficulties and the tangle  
of ways and means4 ,it is good to stop  
by the track for a space1 put aside the 
knapsack1 wipe the brows1 and talk a    
little of the upper slopes of the       
mountain we think we are climbing1 would
 but the trees let us see it4  ,there is
 to be no inquiry here of policy and    
method4 ,this is to be a holiday from   
politics and movements and methods4 ,but
 for all that1 we must needs define     

certain limitations4 ,were we free to   
have our untrammelled desire1 ,i suppose
 we should follow ,morris to his        
,nowhere1 we should change the nature of
 man and the nature of things together2 
we should make the whole race wise1     
tolerant1 noble1 perfect--wave our hands
 to a splendid anarchy1 every man doing 
as it pleases him1 and none pleased to  
do evil1 in a world as good in its      
essential nature1 as ripe and sunny1 as 
the world before the ,fall4 ,but that   
golden age1 that perfect world1 comes   
out into the possibilities of space and 
time4 ,in space and time the pervading  
,will to ,live sustains for evermore a  
perpetuity of aggressions4 ,our proposal
 here is upon a more practical plane at 
least than that4 ,we are to restrict    
ourselves first to the limitations of   
human possibility as we know them in the
 men and women of this world to-day1 and
 then to all the inhumanity1 all the    
insubordination of nature4 ,we are to   
shape our state in a world of uncertain 

seasons1 sudden catastrophes1           
antagonistic diseases1 and inimical     
beasts and vermin1 out of men and women 
with like passions1 like uncertainties  
of mood and desire to our own4 ,and1    
moreover1 we are going to accept this   
world of conflict1 to adopt no attitude 
of renunciation towards it1 to face it  
in no ascetic spirit1 but in the mood of
 the ,western peoples1 whose purpose is 
to survive and overcome4 ,so much we    
adopt in common with those who deal not 
in ,utopias1 but in the world of ,here  
and ,now4  ,certain liberties1 however1 
following the best ,utopian precedents1 
we may take with existing fact4 ,we     
assume that the tone of public thought  
may be entirely different from what it  
is in the present world4 ,we permit     
ourselves a free hand with the mental   
conflict of life1 within the            
possibilities of the human mind as we   
know it4 ,we permit ourselves also a    
free hand with all the apparatus of     
existence that man has1 so to speak1    

made for himself1 with houses1 roads1   
clothing1 canals1 machinery1 with laws1 
boundaries1 conventions1 and traditions1
 with schools1 with literature and      
religious organisation1 with creeds and 
customs1 with everything1 in fact1 that 
it lies within man's power to alter4    
,that1 indeed1 is the cardinal          
assumption of all ,utopian speculations 
old and new2 the ,republic and ,laws of 
,plato1 and ,more's ,utopia1 ,howells'  
implicit ,altruria1 and ,bellamy's      
future ,boston1 ,comte's great ,western 
,republic1 ,hertzka's ,freeland1        
,cabet's ,icaria1 and ,campanella's     
,city of the ,sun1 are built1 just as we
 shall build1 upon that1 upon the       
hypothesis of the complete emancipation 
of a community of men from tradition1   
from habits1 from legal bonds1 and that 
subtler servitude possessions entail4   
,and much of the essential value of all 
such speculations lies in this          
assumption of emancipation1 lies in that
 regard towards human freedom1 in the   

undying interest of the human power of  
self-escape1 the power to resist the    
causation of the past1 and to evade1    
initiate1 endeavour1 and overcome4      
,section #b  ,there are very definite   
artistic limitations also4  ,there must 
always be a certain effect of hardness  
and thinness about ,utopian             
speculations4 ,their common fault is to 
be comprehensively jejune4 ,that which  
is the blood and warmth and reality of  
life is largely absent2 there are no    
individualities1 but only generalised   
people4 ,in almost every                
,utopia--except1 perhaps1 ,morris's     
,news from ,nowhere--one sees handsome  
but characterless buildings1 symmetrical
 and perfect cultivations1 and a        
multitude of people1 healthy1 happy1    
beautifully dressed1 but without any    
personal distinction whatever4 ,too     
often the prospect resembles the key to 
one of those large pictures of          
coronations1 royal weddings1            
parliaments1 conferences1 and gatherings

 so popular in ,victorian times1 in     
which1 instead of a face1 each figure   
bears a neat oval with its index number 
legibly inscribed4 ,this burthens us    
with an incurable effect of unreality1  
and ,i do not see how it is altogether  
to be escaped4 ,it is a disadvantage    
that has to be accepted4 ,whatever      
institution has existed or exists1      
however irrational1 however             
preposterous1 has1 by virtue of its     
contact with individualities1 an effect 
of realness and rightness no untried    
thing may share4 ,it has ripened1 it has
 been christened with blood1 it has been
 stained and mellowed by handling1 it   
has been rounded and dented to the      
softened contours that we associate with
 life2 it has been salted1 maybe1 in a  
brine of tears4 ,but the thing that is  
merely proposed1 the thing that is      
merely suggested1 however rational1     
however necessary1 seems strange and    
inhuman in its clear1 hard1             
uncompromising lines1 its unqualified   

angles and surfaces4  ,there is no help 
for it1 there it is6 ,the ,master       
suffers with the last and least of his  
successors4 ,for all the humanity he    
wins to1 through his dramatic device of 
dialogue1 ,i doubt if anyone has ever   
been warmed to desire himself a citizen 
in the ,republic of ,plato2 ,i doubt if 
anyone could stand a month of the       
relentless publicity of virtue planned  
by ,more4444 ,no one wants to live in   
any community of intercourse really1    
save for the sake of the individualities
 he would meet there4 ,the fertilising  
conflict of individualities is the      
ultimate meaning of the personal life1  
and all our ,utopias no more than       
schemes for bettering that interplay4   
,at least1 that is how life shapes      
itself more and more to modern          
perceptions4 ,until you bring in        
individualities1 nothing comes into     
being1 and a ,universe ceases when you  
shiver the mirror of the least of       
individual minds4   ,section #c  ,no    

less than a planet will serve the       
purpose of a modern ,utopia4 ,time was  
when a mountain valley or an island     
seemed to promise sufficient isolation  
for a polity to maintain itself intact  
from outward force2 the ,republic of    
,plato stood armed ready for defensive  
war1 and the ,new ,atlantis and the     
,utopia of ,more in theory1 like ,china 
and ,japan through many centuries of    
effectual practice1 held themselves     
isolated from intruders4 ,such late     
instances as ,butler's satirical        
,erewhon1 and ,mr4 ,stead's queendom of 
inverted sexual conditions in ,central  
,africa1 found the ,tibetan method of   
slaughtering the inquiring visitor a    
simple1 sufficient rule4 ,but the whole 
trend of modern thought is against the  
permanence of any such enclosures4 ,we  
are acutely aware nowadays that1 however
 subtly contrived a ,state may be1      
outside your boundary lines the         
epidemic1 the breeding barbarian or the 
economic power1 will gather its strength

 to overcome you4 ,the swift march of   
invention is all for the invader4 ,now1 
perhaps you might still guard a rocky   
coast or a narrow pass2 but what of that
 near to-morrow when the flying machine 
soars overhead1 free to descend at this 
point or that8 ,a state powerful enough 
to keep isolated under modern conditions
 would be powerful enough to rule the   
world1 would be1 indeed1 if not actively
 ruling1 yet passively acquiescent in   
all other human organisations1 and so   
responsible for them altogether4        
,world-state1 therefore1 it must be4    
,that leaves no room for a modern       
,utopia in ,central ,africa1 or in      
,south ,america1 or round about the     
pole1 those last refuges of ideality4   
,the floating isle of ,la ,cite         
,morellyste no longer avails4 ,we need a
 planet4 ,lord ,erskine1 the author of a
 ,utopia 7,armata7 that might have been 
inspired by ,mr4 ,hewins1 was the first 
of all ,utopists to perceive this--he   
joined his twin planets pole to pole by 

a sort of umbilical cord4 ,but the      
modern imagination1 obsessed by physics1
 must travel further than that4  ,out   
beyond ,sirius1 far in the deeps of     
space1 beyond the flight of a           
cannon-ball flying for a billion years1 
beyond the range of unaided vision1     
blazes the star that is our ,utopia's   
sun4 ,to those who know where to look1  
with a good opera-glass aiding good     
eyes1 it and three fellows that seem in 
a cluster with it--though they are      
incredible billions of miles            
nearer--make just the faintest speck of 
light4 ,about it go planets1 even as our
 planets1 but weaving a different fate1 
and in its place among them is ,utopia1 
with its sister mate1 the ,moon4 ,it is 
a planet like our planet1 the same      
continents1 the same islands1 the same  
oceans and seas1 another ,fuji-,yama is 
beautiful there dominating another      
,yokohama--and another ,matterhorn      
overlooks the icy disorder of another   
,theodule4 ,it is so like our planet    

that a terrestrial botanist might find  
his every species there1 even to the    
meanest pondweed or the remotest ,alpine
 blossom4444  ,only when he had gathered
 that last and turned about to find his 
inn again1 perhaps he would not find his
 inn6  ,suppose now that two of us were 
actually to turn about in just that     
fashion4 ,two1 ,i think1 for to face a  
strange planet1 even though it be a     
wholly civilised one1 without some other
 familiar backing1 dashes the courage   
overmuch4 ,suppose that we were indeed  
so translated even as we stood4 ,you    
figure us upon some high pass in the    
,alps1 and though ,i--being one easily  
made giddy by stooping--am no botanist  
myself1 if my companion were to have a  
specimen tin under his arm--so long as  
it is not painted that abominable       
popular ,swiss apple green--,i would    
make it no occasion for quarrel6 ,we    
have tramped and botanised and come to a
 rest1 and1 sitting among rocks1 we have
 eaten our lunch and finished our bottle

 of ,yvorne1 and fallen into a talk of  
,utopias1 and said such things as ,i    
have been saying4 ,i could figure it    
myself upon that little neck of the     
,lucendro ,pass1 upon the shoulder of   
the ,piz ,lucendro1 for there once ,i   
lunched and talked very pleasantly1 and 
we are looking down upon the ,val       
,bedretto1 and ,villa and ,fontana and  
,airolo try to hide from us under the   
mountain side--three-quarters of a mile 
they are vertically below4 7,lantern47  
,with that absurd nearness of effect one
 gets in the ,alps1 we see the little   
train a dozen miles away1 running down  
the ,biaschina to ,italy1 and the       
,lukmanier ,pass beyond ,piora left of  
us1 and the ,san ,giacomo right1 mere   
footpaths under our feet4444  ,and      
behold6 in the twinkling of an eye we   
are in that other world6  ,we should    
scarcely note the change4 ,not a cloud  
would have gone from the sky4 ,it might 
be the remote town below would take a   
different air1 and my companion the     

botanist1 with his educated observation1
 might almost see as much1 and the      
train1 perhaps1 would be gone out of the
 picture1 and the embanked straightness 
of the ,ticino in the ,ambri-,piotta    
meadows--that might be altered1 but that
 would be all the visible change4 ,yet  
,i have an idea that in some obscure    
manner we should come to feel at once a 
difference in things4  ,the botanist's  
glance would1 under a subtle attraction1
 float back to ,airolo4 ,it's queer1 he 
would say quite idly1 but ,i never      
noticed that building there to the right
 before4  ,which building8  ,that to the
 right--with a queer sort of thing----  
,i see now4 ,yes4 ,yes1 it's certainly  
an odd-looking affair4444 ,and big1 you 
know6 ,handsome6 ,i wonder----  ,that   
would interrupt our ,utopian            
speculations4 ,we should both discover  
that the little towns below had         
changed--but how1 we should not have    
marked them well enough to know4 ,it    
would be indefinable1 a change in the   

quality of their grouping1 a change in  
the quality of their remote1 small      
shapes4  ,i should flick a few crumbs   
from my knee1 perhaps4 ,it's odd1 ,i    
should say1 for the tenth or eleventh   
time1 with a motion to rise1 and we     
should get up and stretch ourselves1    
and1 still a little puzzled1 turn our   
faces towards the path that clambers    
down over the tumbled rocks and runs    
round by the still clear lake and down  
towards the ,hospice of ,st4            
,gotthard--if perchance we could still  
find that path4  ,long before we got to 
that1 before even we got to the great   
high road1 we should have hints from the
 stone cabin in the nape of the pass--it
 would be gone or wonderfully           
changed--from the very goats upon the   
rocks1 from the little hut by the rough 
bridge of stone1 that a mighty          
difference had come to the world of men4
  ,and presently1 amazed and amazing1 we
 should happen on a man--no             
,swiss--dressed in unfamiliar clothing  

and speaking an unfamiliar speech4444   
,section #d  ,before nightfall we should
 be drenched in wonders1 but still we   
should have wonder left for the thing my
 companion1 with his scientific         
training1 would no doubt be the first to
 see4 ,he would glance up1 with that    
proprietary eye of the man who knows his
 constellations down to the little      
,greek letters4 ,i imagine his          
exclamation4 ,he would at first doubt   
his eyes4 ,i should inquire the cause of
 his consternation1 and it would be hard
 to explain4 ,he would ask me with a    
certain singularity of manner for       
,orion1 and ,i should not find him2 for 
the ,great ,bear1 and it would have     
vanished4 ,where8 ,i should ask1 and    
where8 seeking among that scattered     
starriness1 and slowly ,i should acquire
 the wonder that possessed him4  ,then1 
for the first time1 perhaps1 we should  
realise from this unfamiliar heaven that
 not the world had changed1 but         
ourselves--that we had come into the    

uttermost deeps of space4   ,section #e 
,we need suppose no linguistic          
impediments to intercourse4 ,the whole  
world will surely have a common         
language1 that is quite elementarily    
,utopian1 and since we are free of the  
trammels of convincing story-telling1 we
 may suppose that language to be        
sufficiently our own to understand4     
,indeed1 should we be in ,utopia at all1
 if we could not talk to everyone8 ,that
 accursed bar of language1 that hostile 
inscription in the foreigner's eyes1    
deaf and dumb to you1 sir1 and so--your 
enemy1 is the very first of the defects 
and complications one has fled the earth
 to escape4  ,but what sort of language 
would we have the world speak1 if we    
were told the miracle of ,babel was     
presently to be reversed8  ,if ,i may   
take a daring image1 a mediaeval        
liberty1 ,i would suppose that in this  
lonely place the ,spirit of ,creation   
spoke to us on this matter4 ,you are    
wise men1 that ,spirit might say--and   

,i1 being a suspicious1 touchy1         
over-earnest man for all my             
predisposition to plumpness1 would      
instantly scent the irony 7while my     
companion1 ,i fancy1 might even plume   
himself71 and to beget your wisdom is   
chiefly why the world was made4 ,you are
 so good as to propose an acceleration  
of that tedious multitudinous evolution 
upon which ,i am engaged4 ,i gather1 a  
universal tongue would serve you there4 
,while ,i sit here among these          
mountains--,i have been filing away at  
them for this last aeon or so1 just to  
attract your hotels1 you know--will you 
be so kind----8 ,a few hints----8  ,then
 the ,spirit of ,creation might         
transiently smile1 a smile that would be
 like the passing of a cloud4 ,all the  
mountain wilderness about us would be   
radiantly lit4 7,you know those swift   
moments1 when warmth and brightness     
drift by1 in lonely and desolate        
places47  ,yet1 after all1 why should   
two men be smiled into apathy by the    

,infinite8 ,here we are1 with our knobby
 little heads1 our eyes and hands and   
feet and stout hearts1 and if not us or 
ours1 still the endless multitudes about
 us and in our loins are to come at last
 to the ,world ,state and a greater     
fellowship and the universal tongue4    
,let us to the extent of our ability1 if
 not answer that question1 at any rate  
try to think ourselves within sight of  
the best thing possible4 ,that1 after   
all1 is our purpose1 to imagine our best
 and strive for it1 and it is a worse   
folly and a worse sin than presumption1 
to abandon striving because the best of 
all our bests looks mean amidst the     
suns4  ,now you as a botanist would1 ,i 
suppose1 incline to something as they   
say1 scientific4 ,you wince under that  
most offensive epithet--and ,i am able  
to give you my intelligent              
sympathy--though pseudo-scientific and  
quasi-scientific are worse by far for   
the skin4 ,you would begin to talk of   
scientific languages1 of ,esperanto1 ,la

 ,langue ,bleue1 ,new ,latin1 ,volapuk1 
and ,lord ,lytton1 of the philosophical 
language of ,archbishop ,whateley1 ,lady
 ,welby's work upon ,significs and the  
like4 ,you would tell me of the         
remarkable precisions1 the encyclopaedic
 quality of chemical terminology1 and at
 the word terminology ,i should         
insinuate a comment on that eminent     
,american biologist1 ,professor ,mark   
,baldwin1 who has carried the language  
biological to such heights of expressive
 clearness as to be triumphantly and    
invincibly unreadable4 7,which          
foreshadows the line of my defence47    
,you make your ideal clear1 a scientific
 language you demand1 without ambiguity1
 as precise as mathematical formulae1   
and with every term in relations of     
exact logical consistency with every    
other4 ,it will be a language with all  
the inflexions of verbs and nouns       
regular and all its constructions       
inevitable1 each word clearly           
distinguishable from every other word in

 sound as well as spelling4  ,that1 at  
any rate1 is the sort of thing one hears
 demanded1 and if only because the      
demand rests upon implications that     
reach far beyond the region of language1
 it is worth considering here4 ,it      
implies1 indeed1 almost everything that 
we are endeavouring to repudiate in this
 particular work4 ,it implies that the  
whole intellectual basis of mankind is  
established1 that the rules of logic1   
the systems of counting and measurement1
 the general categories and schemes of  
resemblance and difference1 are         
established for the human mind for      
ever--blank ,comte-ism1 in fact1 of the 
blankest description4 ,but1 indeed1 the 
science of logic and the whole framework
 of philosophical thought men have kept 
since the days of ,plato and ,aristotle1
 has no more essential permanence as a  
final expression of the human mind1 than
 the ,scottish ,longer ,catechism4      
,amidst the welter of modern thought1 a 
philosophy long lost to men rises again 

into being1 like some blind and almost  
formless embryo1 that must presently    
develop sight1 and form1 and power1 a   
philosophy in which this assumption is  
denied4 ,footnote3 ,the serious reader  
may refer at leisure to ,sidgwick's ,use
 of ,words in ,reasoning 7particularly71
 and to ,bosanquet's ,essentials of     
,logic1 ,bradley's ,principles of       
,logic1 and ,sigwart's ,logik2 the      
lighter minded may read and mark the    
temper of ,professor ,case in the       
,british ,encyclopaedia1 article ,logic 
7,vol4 ,,xxx474 ,i have appended to his 
book a rude sketch of a philosophy upon 
new lines1 originally read by me to the 
,oxford ,phil4 ,soc4 in #aijc4  ,all    
through this ,utopian excursion1 ,i must
 warn you1 you shall feel the thrust and
 disturbance of that insurgent movement4
 ,in the reiterated use of ,unique1 you 
will1 as it were1 get the gleam of its  
integument2 in the insistence upon      
individuality1 and the individual       
difference as the significance of life1 

you will feel the texture of its shaping
 body4 ,nothing endures1 nothing is     
precise and certain 7except the mind of 
a pedant71 perfection is the mere       
repudiation of that ineluctable marginal
 inexactitude which is the mysterious   
inmost quality of ,being4 ,being1       
indeed6--there is no being1 but a       
universal becoming of individualities1  
and ,plato turned his back on truth when
 he turned towards his museum of        
specific ideals4 ,heraclitus1 that lost 
and misinterpreted giant1 may perhaps be
 coming to his own4444  ,there is no    
abiding thing in what we know4 ,we      
change from weaker to stronger lights1  
and each more powerful light pierces our
 hitherto opaque foundations and reveals
 fresh and different opacities below4   
,we can never foretell which of our     
seemingly assured fundamentals the next 
change will not affect4 ,what folly1    
then1 to dream of mapping out our minds 
in however general terms1 of providing  
for the endless mysteries of the future 

a terminology and an idiom6 ,we follow  
the vein1 we mine and accumulate our    
treasure1 but who can tell which way the
 vein may trend8 ,language is the       
nourishment of the thought of man1 that 
serves only as it undergoes metabolism1 
and becomes thought and lives1 and in   
its very living passes away4 ,you       
scientific people1 with your fancy of a 
terrible exactitude in language1 of     
indestructible foundations built1 as    
that ,wordsworthian doggerel on the     
title-page of ,nature says1 for aye1 are
 marvellously without imagination6  ,the
 language of ,utopia will no doubt be   
one and indivisible2 all mankind will1  
in the measure of their individual      
differences in quality1 be brought into 
the same phase1 into a common resonance 
of thought1 but the language they will  
speak will still be a living tongue1 an 
animated system of imperfections1 which 
every individual man will               
infinitesimally modify4 ,through the    
universal freedom of exchange and       

movement1 the developing change in its  
general spirit will be a world-wide     
change2 that is the quality of its      
universality4 ,i fancy it will be a     
coalesced language1 a synthesis of many4
 ,such a language as ,english is a      
coalesced language2 it is a coalescence 
of ,anglo-,saxon and ,norman ,french and
 ,scholar's ,latin1 welded into one     
speech more ample and more powerful and 
beautiful than either4 ,the ,utopian    
tongue might well present a more        
spacious coalescence1 and hold in the   
frame of such an uninflected or slightly
 inflected idiom as ,english already    
presents1 a profuse vocabulary into     
which have been cast a dozen once       
separate tongues1 superposed and then   
welded together through bilingual and   
trilingual compromises4 ,footnote3 ,vide
 an excellent article1 ,la ,langue      
,francaise en l'an #bjjc1 par ,leon     
,bollack1 in ,la ,revue1 #ae ,juillet1  
#aijc4 ,in the past ingenious men have  
speculated on the inquiry1 ,which       

language will survive8 ,the question was
 badly put4 ,i think now that this      
wedding and survival of several in a    
common offspring is a far more probable 
thing4   ,section #f  ,this talk of     
languages1 however1 is a digression4 ,we
 were on our way along the faint path   
that runs round the rim of the ,lake of 
,lucendro1 and we were just upon the    
point of coming upon our first ,utopian 
man4 ,he was1 ,i said1 no ,swiss4 ,yet  
he would have been a ,swiss on mother   
,earth1 and here he would have the same 
face1 with some difference1 maybe1 in   
the expression2 the same physique1      
though a little better developed1       
perhaps--the same complexion4 ,he would 
have different habits1 different        
traditions1 different knowledge1        
different ideas1 different clothing1 and
 different appliances1 but1 except for  
all that1 he would be the same man4 ,we 
very distinctly provided at the outset  
that the modern ,utopia must have people
 inherently the same as those in the    

world4  ,there is more1 perhaps1 in that
 than appears at the first suggestion4  
,that proposition gives one             
characteristic difference between a     
modern ,utopia and almost all its       
predecessors4 ,it is to be a world      
,utopia1 we have agreed1 no less2 and so
 we must needs face the fact that we are
 to have differences of race4 ,even the 
lower class of ,plato's ,republic was   
not specifically of different race4 ,but
 this is a ,utopia as wide as ,christian
 charity1 and white and black1 brown1   
red and yellow1 all tints of skin1 all  
types of body and character1 will be    
there4 ,how we are to adjust their      
differences is a master question1 and   
the matter is not even to be opened in  
this chapter4 ,it will need a whole     
chapter even to glance at its issues4   
,but here we underline that stipulation2
 every race of this planet earth is to  
be found in the strictest parallelism   
there1 in numbers the same--only1 as ,i 
say1 with an entirely different set of  

traditions1 ideals1 ideas1 and purposes1
 and so moving under those different    
skies to an altogether different        
destiny4  ,there follows a curious      
development of this to anyone clearly   
impressed by the uniqueness and the     
unique significance of individualities4 
,races are no hard and fast things1 no  
crowd of identically similar persons1   
but massed sub-races1 and tribes and    
families1 each after its kind unique1   
and these again are clusterings of still
 smaller uniques and so down to each    
several person4 ,so that our first      
convention works out to this1 that not  
only is every earthly mountain1 river1  
plant1 and beast in that parallel planet
 beyond ,sirius also1 but every man1    
woman1 and child alive has a ,utopian   
parallel4 ,from now onward1 of course1  
the fates of these two planets will     
diverge1 men will die here whom wisdom  
will save there1 and perhaps conversely 
here we shall save men2 children will be
 born to them and not to us1 to us and  

not to them1 but this1 this moment of   
reading1 is the starting moment1 and for
 the first and last occasion the        
populations of our planets are abreast4 
,we must in these days make some such   
supposition4 ,the alternative is a      
,utopia of dolls in the likeness of     
angels--imaginary laws to fit incredible
 people1 an unattractive undertaking4   
,for example1 we must assume there is a 
man such as ,i might have been1 better  
informed1 better disciplined1 better    
employed1 thinner and more active--and  
,i wonder what he is doing6--and you1   
,sir or ,madam1 are in duplicate also1  
and all the men and women that you know 
and ,i4 ,i doubt if we shall meet our   
doubles1 or if it would be pleasant for 
us to do so2 but as we come down from   
these lonely mountains to the roads and 
houses and living places of the ,utopian
 world-state1 we shall certainly find1  
here and there1 faces that will remind  
us singularly of those who have lived   
under our eyes4  ,there are some you    

never wish to meet again1 you say1 and  
some1 ,i gather1 you do4 ,and ,one----6 
,it is strange1 but this figure of the  
botanist will not keep in place4 ,it    
sprang up between us1 dear reader1 as a 
passing illustrative invention4 ,i do   
not know what put him into my head1 and 
for the moment1 it fell in with my      
humour for a space to foist the man's   
personality upon you as yours and call  
you scientific--that most abusive word4 
,but here he is1 indisputably1 with me  
in ,utopia1 and lapsing from our high   
speculative theme into halting but      
intimate confidences4 ,he declares he   
has not come to ,utopia to meet again   
with his sorrows4  ,what sorrows8  ,i   
protest1 even warmly1 that neither he   
nor his sorrows were in my intention4   
,he is a man1 ,i should think1 of       
thirty-nine1 a man whose life has been  
neither tragedy nor a joyous adventure1 
a man with one of those faces that have 
gained interest rather than force or    
nobility from their commerce with life4 

,he is something refined1 with some     
knowledge1 perhaps1 of the minor pains  
and all the civil self-controls2 he has 
read more than he has suffered1 and     
suffered rather than done4 ,he regards  
me with his blue-grey eye1 from which   
all interest in this ,utopia has faded4 
,it is a trouble1 he says1 that has come
 into my life only for a month or so--at
 least acutely again4 ,i thought it was 
all over4 ,there was someone----  ,it is
 an amazing story to hear upon a        
mountain crest in ,utopia1 this         
,hampstead affair1 this story of a      
,frognal heart4 ,frognal1 he says1 is   
the place where they met1 and it summons
 to my memory the word on a board at the
 corner of a flint-dressed new road1 an 
estate development road1 with a vista of
 villas up a hill4 ,he had known her    
before he got his professorship1 and    
neither her people nor his--he speaks   
that detestable middle-class dialect in 
which aunts and things with money and   
the right of intervention are called    

people6--approved of the affair4 ,she   
was1 ,i think1 rather easily swayed1 he 
says4 ,but that's not fair to her1      
perhaps4 ,she thought too much of       
others4 ,if they seemed distressed1 or  
if they seemed to think a course        
right---- 444  ,have ,i come to ,utopia 
to hear this sort of thing8   ,section  
#g  ,it is necessary to turn the        
botanist's thoughts into a worthier     
channel4 ,it is necessary to override   
these modest regrets1 this intrusive1   
petty love story4 ,does he realise this 
is indeed ,utopia8 ,turn your mind1 ,i  
insist1 to this ,utopia of mine1 and    
leave these earthly troubles to their   
proper planet4 ,do you realise just     
where the propositions necessary to a   
modern ,utopia are taking us8 ,everyone 
on earth will have to be                
here2--themselves1 but with a           
difference4 ,somewhere here in this     
world is1 for example1 ,mr4             
,chamberlain1 and the ,king is here 7no 
doubt incognito71 and all the ,royal    

,academy1 and ,sandow1 and ,mr4 ,arnold 
,white4  ,but these famous names do not 
appeal to him4  ,my mind goes from this 
prominent and typical personage to that1
 and for a time ,i forget my companion4 
,i am distracted by the curious side    
issues this general proposition trails  
after it4 ,there will be so-and-so1 and 
so-and-so4 ,the name and figure of ,mr4 
,roosevelt jerks into focus1 and        
obliterates an attempt to acclimatise   
the ,emperor of the ,germans4 ,what1 for
 instance1 will ,utopia do with ,mr4    
,roosevelt8 ,there drifts across my     
inner vision the image of a strenuous   
struggle with ,utopian constables1 the  
voice that has thrilled terrestrial     
millions in eloquent protest4 ,the writ 
of arrest1 drifting loose in the        
conflict1 comes to my feet2 ,i impale   
the scrap of paper1 and read--but can it
 be8--attempted disorganisation8 444    
incitements to disarrange8 444 the      
balance of population8  ,the trend of my
 logic for once has led us into a       

facetious alley4 ,one might indeed keep 
in this key1 and write an agreeable     
little ,utopia1 that like the holy      
families of the mediaeval artists 7or   
,michael ,angelo's ,last ,judgement7    
should compliment one's friends in      
various degrees4 ,or one might embark   
upon a speculative treatment of the     
entire ,almanach de ,gotha1 something on
 the lines of ,epistemon's vision of the
 damned great1 when    ,xerxes was a    
crier of mustard4    ,romulus was a     
salter and a patcher of patterns4444    
,that incomparable catalogue6 ,that     
incomparable catalogue6 ,inspired by the
 ,muse of ,parody1 we might go on to the
 pages of ,who's ,who1 and even1 with an
 eye to the obdurate republic1 to ,who's
 ,who in ,america1 and make the most    
delightful and extensive arrangements4  
,now where shall we put this most       
excellent man8 ,and this8 444  ,but1    
indeed1 it is doubtful if we shall meet 
any of these doubles during our ,utopian
 journey1 or know them when we meet     

them4 ,i doubt if anyone will be making 
the best of both these worlds4 ,the     
great men in this still unexplored      
,utopia may be but village ,hampdens in 
our own1 and earthly goatherds and      
obscure illiterates sit here in the     
seats of the mighty4  ,that again opens 
agreeable vistas left of us and right4  
,but my botanist obtrudes his           
personality again4 ,his thoughts have   
travelled by a different route4  ,i     
know1 he says1 that she will be happier 
here1 and that they will value her      
better than she has been valued upon    
earth4  ,his interruption serves to turn
 me back from my momentary contemplation
 of those popular effigies inflated by  
old newspapers and windy report1 the    
earthly great4 ,he sets me thinking of  
more personal and intimate applications1
 of the human beings one knows with a   
certain approximation to real knowledge1
 of the actual common substance of life4
 ,he turns me to the thought of         
rivalries and tendernesses1 of          

differences and disappointments4 ,i am  
suddenly brought painfully against the  
things that might have been4 ,what if   
instead of that ,utopia of vacant ovals 
we meet relinquished loves here1 and    
opportunities lost and faces as they    
might have looked to us8  ,i turn to my 
botanist almost reprovingly4 ,you know1 
she won't be quite the same lady here   
that you knew in ,frognal1 ,i say1 and  
wrest myself from a subject that is no  
longer agreeable by rising to my feet4  
,and besides1 ,i say1 standing above    
him1 the chances against our meeting her
 are a million to one4444 ,and we       
loiter6 ,this is not the business we    
have come upon1 but a mere incidental   
kink in our larger plan4 ,the fact      
remains1 these people we have come to   
see are people with like infirmities to 
our own--and only the conditions are    
changed4 ,let us pursue the tenour of   
our inquiry4  ,with that ,i lead the way
 round the edge of the ,lake of         
,lucendro towards our ,utopian world4   

7,you figure him doing it47  ,down the  
mountain we shall go and down the       
passes1 and as the valleys open the     
world will open1 ,utopia1 where men and 
women are happy and laws are wise1 and  
where all that is tangled and confused  
in human affairs has been unravelled and
 made right4    ,,chapter ,,the ,,second
  ,concerning ,freedoms   ,section #a   
,now what sort of question would first  
occur to two men descending upon the    
planet of a ,modern ,utopia8 ,probably  
grave solicitude about their personal   
freedom4 ,towards the ,stranger1 as ,i  
have already remarked1 the ,utopias of  
the past displayed their least amiable  
aspect4 ,would this new sort of ,utopian
 ,state1 spread to the dimensions of a  
world1 be any less forbidding8  ,we     
should take comfort in the thought that 
universal ,toleration is certainly a    
modern idea1 and it is upon modern ideas
 that this ,world ,state rests4 ,but    
even suppose we are tolerated and       
admitted to this unavoidable            

citizenship1 there will still remain a  
wide range of possibility4444 ,i think  
we should try to work the problem out   
from an inquiry into first principles1  
and that we should follow the trend of  
our time and kind by taking up the      
question as one of ,man versus the      
,state1 and discussing the compromise of
 ,liberty4  ,the idea of individual     
liberty is one that has grown in        
importance and grows with every         
development of modern thought4 ,to the  
classical ,utopists freedom was         
relatively trivial4 ,clearly they       
considered virtue and happiness as      
entirely separable from liberty1 and as 
being altogether more important things4 
,but the modern view1 with its deepening
 insistence upon individuality and upon 
the significance of its uniqueness1     
steadily intensifies the value of       
freedom1 until at last we begin to see  
liberty as the very substance of life1  
that indeed it is life1 and that only   
the dead things1 the choiceless things1 

live in absolute obedience to law4 ,to  
have free play for one's individuality  
is1 in the modern view1 the subjective  
triumph of existence1 as survival in    
creative work and offspring is its      
objective triumph4 ,but for all men1    
since man is a social creature1 the play
 of will must fall short of absolute    
freedom4 ,perfect human liberty is      
possible only to a despot who is        
absolutely and universally obeyed4 ,then
 to will would be to command and        
achieve1 and within the limits of       
natural law we could at any moment do   
exactly as it pleased us to do4 ,all    
other liberty is a compromise between   
our own freedom of will and the wills of
 those with whom we come in contact4 ,in
 an organised state each one of us has a
 more or less elaborate code of what he 
may do to others and to himself1 and    
what others may do to him4 ,he limits   
others by his rights1 and is limited by 
the rights of others1 and by            
considerations affecting the welfare of 

the community as a whole4  ,individual  
liberty in a community is not1 as       
mathematicians would say1 always of the 
same sign4 ,to ignore this is the       
essential fallacy of the cult called    
,individualism4 ,but in truth1 a general
 prohibition in a state may increase the
 sum of liberty1 and a general          
permission may diminish it4 ,it does not
 follow1 as these people would have us  
believe1 that a man is more free where  
there is least law and more restricted  
where there is most law4 ,a socialism or
 a communism is not necessarily a       
slavery1 and there is no freedom under  
,anarchy4 ,consider how much liberty we 
gain by the loss of the common liberty  
to kill4 ,thereby one may go to and fro 
in all the ordered parts of the earth1  
unencumbered by arms or armour1 free of 
the fear of playful poison1 whimsical   
barbers1 or hotel trap-doors4 ,indeed1  
it means freedom from a thousand fears  
and precautions4 ,suppose there existed 
even the limited freedom to kill in     

vendetta1 and think what would happen in
 our suburbs4 ,consider the             
inconvenience of two households in a    
modern suburb estranged and provided    
with modern weapons of precision1 the   
inconvenience not only to each other1   
but to the neutral pedestrian1 the      
practical loss of freedoms all about    
them4 ,the butcher1 if he came at all1  
would have to come round in an armoured 
cart4444  ,it follows1 therefore1 in a  
modern ,utopia1 which finds the final   
hope of the world in the evolving       
interplay of unique individualities1    
that the ,state will have effectually   
chipped away just all those spendthrift 
liberties that waste liberty1 and not   
one liberty more1 and so have attained  
the maximum general freedom4  ,there are
 two distinct and contrasting methods of
 limiting liberty2 the first is         
,prohibition1 thou shalt not1 and the   
second ,command1 thou shalt4 ,there is1 
however1 a sort of prohibition that     
takes the form of a conditional command1

 and this one needs to bear in mind4 ,it
 says if you do so-and-so1 you must also
 do so-and-so2 if1 for example1 you go  
to sea with men you employ1 you must go 
in a seaworthy vessel4 ,but the pure    
command is unconditional2 it says1      
whatever you have done or are doing or  
want to do1 you are to do this1 as when 
the social system1 working through the  
base necessities of base parents and bad
 laws1 sends a child of thirteen into a 
factory4 ,prohibition takes one definite
 thing from the indefinite liberty of a 
man1 but it still leaves him an         
unbounded choice of actions4 ,he remains
 free1 and you have merely taken a      
bucketful from the sea of his freedom4  
,but compulsion destroys freedom        
altogether4 ,in this ,utopia of ours    
there may be many prohibitions1 but no  
indirect compulsions--if one may so     
contrive it--and few or no commands4 ,as
 far as ,i see it now1 in this present  
discussion1 ,i think1 indeed1 there     
should be no positive compulsions at all

 in ,utopia1 at any rate for the adult  
,utopian--unless they fall upon him as  
penalties incurred4   ,section #b  ,what
 prohibitions should we be under1 we two
 ,uitlanders in this ,utopian world8 ,we
 should certainly not be free to kill1  
assault1 or threaten anyone we met1 and 
in that we earth-trained men would not  
be likely to offend4 ,and until we knew 
more exactly the ,utopian idea of       
property we should be very chary of     
touching anything that might conceivably
 be appropriated4 ,if it was not the    
property of individuals it might be the 
property of the ,state4 ,but beyond that
 we might have our doubts4 ,are we right
 in wearing the strange costumes we do1 
in choosing the path that pleases us    
athwart this rock and turf1 in coming   
striding with unfumigated rucksacks and 
snow-wet hobnails into what is          
conceivably an extremely neat and       
orderly world8 ,we have passed our first
 ,utopian now1 with an answered vague   
gesture1 and have noted1 with secret    

satisfaction1 there is no access of     
dismay2 we have rounded a bend1 and down
 the valley in the distance we get a    
glimpse of what appears to be a         
singularly well-kept road4444  ,i submit
 that to the modern minded man it can be
 no sort of ,utopia worth desiring that 
does not give the utmost freedom of     
going to and fro4 ,free movement is to  
many people one of the greatest of      
life's privileges--to go wherever the   
spirit moves them1 to wander and        
see--and though they have every comfort1
 every security1 every virtuous         
discipline1 they will still be unhappy  
if that is denied them4 ,short of damage
 to things cherished and made1 the      
,utopians will surely have this right1  
so we may expect no unclimbable walls   
and fences1 nor the discovery of any    
laws we may transgress in coming down   
these mountain places4  ,and yet1 just  
as civil liberty itself is a compromise 
defended by prohibitions1 so this       
particular sort of liberty must also    

have its qualifications4 ,carried to the
 absolute pitch the right of free       
movement ceases to be distinguishable   
from the right of free intrusion4 ,we   
have already1 in a comment on ,more's   
,utopia1 hinted at an agreement with    
,aristotle's argument against communism1
 that it flings people into an          
intolerable continuity of contact4      
,schopenhauer carried out ,aristotle in 
the vein of his own bitterness and with 
the truest of images when he likened    
human society to hedgehogs clustering   
for warmth1 and unhappy when either too 
closely packed or too widely separated4 
,empedocles found no significance in    
life whatever except as an unsteady play
 of love and hate1 of attraction and    
repulsion1 of assimilation and the      
assertion of difference4 ,so long as we 
ignore difference1 so long as we ignore 
individuality1 and that ,i hold has been
 the common sin of all ,utopias         
hitherto1 we can make absolute          
statements1 prescribe communisms or     

individualisms1 and all sorts of hard   
theoretic arrangements4 ,but in the     
world of reality1 which--to modernise   
,heraclitus and ,empedocles--is nothing 
more nor less than the world of         
individuality1 there are no absolute    
rights and wrongs1 there are no         
qualitative questions at all1 but only  
quantitative adjustments4 ,equally      
strong in the normal civilised man is   
the desire for freedom of movement and  
the desire for a certain privacy1 for a 
corner definitely his1 and we have to   
consider where the line of              
reconciliation comes4  ,the desire for  
absolute personal privacy is perhaps    
never a very strong or persistent       
craving4 ,in the great majority of human
 beings1 the gregarious instinct is     
sufficiently powerful to render any but 
the most temporary isolations not simply
 disagreeable1 but painful4 ,the savage 
has all the privacy he needs within the 
compass of his skull2 like dogs and     
timid women1 he prefers ill-treatment to

 desertion1 and it is only a scarce and 
complex modern type that finds comfort  
and refreshment in quite lonely places  
and quite solitary occupations4 ,yet    
such there are1 men who can neither     
sleep well nor think well1 nor attain to
 a full perception of beautiful objects1
 who do not savour the best of existence
 until they are securely alone1 and for 
the sake of these even it would be      
reasonable to draw some limits to the   
general right of free movement4 ,but    
their particular need is only a special 
and exceptional aspect of an almost     
universal claim to privacy among modern 
people1 not so much for the sake of     
isolation as for congenial              
companionship4 ,we want to go apart from
 the great crowd1 not so much to be     
alone as to be with those who appeal to 
us particularly and to whom we          
particularly appeal2 we want to form    
households and societies with them1 to  
give our individualities play in        
intercourse with them1 and in the       

appointments and furnishings of that    
intercourse4 ,we want gardens and       
enclosures and exclusive freedoms for   
our like and our choice1 just as        
spacious as we can get them--and it is  
only the multitudinous uncongenial1     
anxious also for similar developments in
 some opposite direction1 that checks   
this expansive movement of personal     
selection and necessitates a compromise 
on privacy4  ,glancing back from our    
,utopian mountain side down which this  
discourse marches1 to the confusions of 
old earth1 we may remark that the need  
and desire for privacies there is       
exceptionally great at the present time1
 that it was less in the past1 that in  
the future it may be less again1 and    
that under the ,utopian conditions to   
which we shall come when presently we   
strike yonder road1 it may be reduced to
 quite manageable dimensions4 ,but this 
is to be effected not by the suppression
 of individualities to some common      
pattern1 ,footnote3 ,more's ,utopia4    

,whoso will may go in1 for there is     
nothing within the houses that is       
private or anie man's owne4 but by the  
broadening of public charity and the    
general amelioration of mind and        
manners4 ,it is not by assimilation1    
that is to say1 but by understanding    
that the modern ,utopia achieves itself4
 ,the ideal community of man's past was 
one with a common belief1 with common   
customs and common ceremonies1 common   
manners and common formulae2 men of the 
same society dressed in the same        
fashion1 each according to his defined  
and understood grade1 behaved in the    
same fashion1 loved1 worshipped1 and    
died in the same fashion4 ,they did or  
felt little that did not find a         
sympathetic publicity4 ,the natural     
disposition of all peoples1 white1      
black1 or brown1 a natural disposition  
that education seeks to destroy1 is to  
insist upon uniformity1 to make         
publicity extremely unsympathetic to    
even the most harmless departures from  

the code4 ,to be dressed odd1 to behave 
oddly1 to eat in a different manner or  
of different food1 to commit1 indeed1   
any breach of the established convention
 is to give offence and to incur        
hostility among unsophisticated men4    
,but the disposition of the more        
original and enterprising minds at all  
times has been to make such innovations4
  ,this is particularly in evidence in  
this present age4 ,the almost           
cataclysmal development of new          
machinery1 the discovery of new         
materials1 and the appearance of new    
social possibilities through the        
organised pursuit of material science1  
has given enormous and unprecedented    
facilities to the spirit of innovation4 
,the old local order has been broken up 
or is now being broken up all over the  
earth1 and everywhere societies         
deliquesce1 everywhere men are afloat   
amidst the wreckage of their flooded    
conventions1 and still tremendously     
unaware of the thing that has happened4 

,the old local orthodoxies of behaviour1
 of precedence1 the old accepted        
amusements and employments1 the old     
ritual of conduct in the important small
 things of the daily life and the old   
ritual of thought in the things that    
make discussion1 are smashed up and     
scattered and mixed discordantly        
together1 one use with another1 and no  
world-wide culture of toleration1 no    
courteous admission of differences1 no  
wider understanding has yet replaced    
them4 ,and so publicity in the modern   
earth has become confusedly             
unsympathetic for everyone4 ,classes are
 intolerable to classes and sets to     
sets1 contact provokes aggressions1     
comparisons1 persecutions and           
discomforts1 and the subtler people are 
excessively tormented by a sense of     
observation1 unsympathetic always and   
often hostile4 ,to live without some    
sort of segregation from the general    
mass is impossible in exact proportion  
to one's individual distinction4  ,of   

course things will be very different in 
,utopia4 ,utopia will be saturated with 
consideration4 ,to us1 clad as we are in
 mountain-soiled tweeds and with no     
money but ,british bank-notes negotiable
 only at a practically infinite         
distance1 this must needs be a          
reassuring induction4 ,and ,utopian     
manners will not only be tolerant1 but  
almost universally tolerable4 ,endless  
things will be understood perfectly and 
universally that on earth are understood
 only by a scattered few2 baseness of   
bearing1 grossness of manner1 will be   
the distinctive mark of no section of   
the community whatever4 ,the coarser    
reasons for privacy1 therefore1 will not
 exist here4 ,and that savage sort of   
shyness1 too1 that makes so many        
half-educated people on earth recluse   
and defensive1 that too the ,utopians   
will have escaped by their more liberal 
breeding4 ,in the cultivated ,state we  
are assuming it will be ever so much    
easier for people to eat in public1 rest

 and amuse themselves in public1 and    
even work in public4 ,our present need  
for privacy in many things marks1       
indeed1 a phase of transition from an   
ease in public in the past due to       
homogeneity1 to an ease in public in the
 future due to intelligence and good    
breeding1 and in ,utopia that transition
 will be complete4 ,we must bear that in
 mind throughout the consideration of   
this question4  ,yet1 after this        
allowance has been made1 there still    
remains a considerable claim for privacy
 in ,utopia4 ,the room1 or apartments1  
or home1 or mansion1 whatever it may be 
a man or woman maintains1 must be       
private1 and under his or her complete  
dominion2 it seems harsh and intrusive  
to forbid a central garden plot or      
peristyle1 such as one sees in ,pompeii1
 within the house walls1 and it is      
almost as difficult to deny a little    
private territory beyond the house4 ,yet
 if we concede that1 it is clear that   
without some further provision we       

concede the possibility that the poorer 
townsman 7if there are to be rich and   
poor in the world7 will be forced to    
walk through endless miles of high      
fenced villa gardens before he may      
expand in his little scrap of reserved  
open country4 ,such is already the poor 
,londoner's miserable fate4444 ,our     
,utopia will have1 of course1 faultless 
roads and beautifully arranged          
inter-urban communications1 swift trains
 or motor services or what not1 to      
diffuse its population1 and without some
 anticipatory provisions1 the prospect  
of the residential areas becoming a vast
 area of defensively walled villa ,edens
 is all too possible4  ,this is a       
quantitative question1 be it remembered1
 and not to be dismissed by any         
statement of principle4 ,our ,utopians  
will meet it1 ,i presume1 by detailed   
regulations1 very probably varying      
locally with local conditions4 ,privacy 
beyond the house might be made a        
privilege to be paid for in proportion  

to the area occupied1 and the tax on    
these licences of privacy might increase
 as the square of the area affected4 ,a 
maximum fraction of private enclosure   
for each urban and suburban square mile 
could be fixed4 ,a distinction could be 
drawn between an absolutely private     
garden and a garden private and closed  
only for a day or a couple of days a    
week1 and at other times open to the    
well-behaved public4 ,who1 in a really  
civilised community1 would grudge that  
measure of invasion8 ,walls could be    
taxed by height and length1 and the     
enclosure of really natural beauties1 of
 rapids1 cascades1 gorges1 viewpoints1  
and so forth made impossible4 ,so a     
reasonable compromise between the vital 
and conflicting claims of the freedom of
 movement and the freedom of seclusion  
might be attained4444  ,and as we argue 
thus we draw nearer and nearer to the   
road that goes up and over the ,gotthard
 crest and down the ,val ,tremola       
towards ,italy4  ,what sort of road     

would that be8   ,section #c  ,freedom  
of movement in a ,utopia planned under  
modern conditions must involve something
 more than unrestricted pedestrian      
wanderings1 and the very proposition of 
a world-state speaking one common tongue
 carries with it the idea of a world    
population travelled and travelling to  
an extent quite beyond anything our     
native earth has seen4 ,it is now our   
terrestrial experience that whenever    
economic and political developments set 
a class free to travel1 that class at   
once begins to travel2 in ,england1 for 
example1 above the five or six hundred  
pounds a year level1 it is hard to find 
anyone who is not habitually migratory1 
who has not been frequently1 as people  
say1 abroad4 ,in the ,modern ,utopia    
travel must be in the common texture of 
life4 ,to go into fresh climates and    
fresh scenery1 to meet a different      
complexion of humanity and a different  
type of home and food and apparatus1 to 
mark unfamiliar trees and plants and    

flowers and beasts1 to climb mountains1 
to see the snowy night of the ,north and
 the blaze of the tropical midday1 to   
follow great rivers1 to taste loneliness
 in desert places1 to traverse the gloom
 of tropical forests and to cross the   
high seas1 will be an essential part of 
the reward and adventure of life1 even  
for the commonest people4444 ,this is a 
bright and pleasant particular in which 
a modern ,utopia must differ again1 and 
differ diametrically1 from its          
predecessors4  ,we may conclude from    
what has been done in places upon our   
earth that the whole ,utopian world will
 be open and accessible and as safe for 
the wayfarer as ,france or ,england is  
to-day4 ,the peace of the world will be 
established for ever1 and everywhere1   
except in remote and desolate places1   
there will be convenient inns1 at least 
as convenient and trustworthy as those  
of ,switzerland to-day2 the touring     
clubs and hotel associations that have  
tariffed that country and ,france so    

effectually will have had their fine    
,utopian equivalents1 and the whole     
world will be habituated to the coming  
and going of strangers4 ,the greater    
part of the world will be as secure and 
cheaply and easily accessible to        
everyone as is ,zermatt or ,lucerne to a
 ,western ,european of the middle-class 
at the present time4  ,on this account  
alone no places will be so congested as 
these two are now on earth4 ,with       
freedom to go everywhere1 with easy     
access everywhere1 with no dread of     
difficulties about language1 coinage1   
custom1 or law1 why should everyone     
continue to go to just a few special    
places8 ,such congestions are merely the
 measure of the general inaccessibility 
and insecurity and costliness of        
contemporary life1 an awkward transitory
 phase in the first beginnings of the   
travel age of mankind4  ,no doubt the   
,utopian will travel in many ways4 ,it  
is unlikely there will be any           
smoke-disgorging steam railway trains in

 ,utopia1 they are already doomed on    
earth1 already threatened with that     
obsolescence that will endear them to   
the ,ruskins of to-morrow1 but a thin   
spider's web of inconspicuous special   
routes will cover the land of the world1
 pierce the mountain masses and tunnel  
under the seas4 ,these may be double    
railways or monorails or what not--we   
are no engineers to judge between such  
devices--but by means of them the       
,utopian will travel about the earth    
from one chief point to another at a    
speed of two or three hundred miles or  
more an hour4 ,that will abolish the    
greater distances4444 ,one figures these
 main communications as something after 
the manner of corridor trains1          
smooth-running and roomy1 open from end 
to end1 with cars in which one may sit  
and read1 cars in which one may take    
refreshment1 cars into which the news of
 the day comes printing itself from the 
wires beside the track2 cars in which   
one may have privacy and sleep if one is

 so disposed1 bath-room cars1 library   
cars2 a train as comfortable as a good  
club4 ,there will be no distinctions of 
class in such a train1 because in a     
civilised world there would be no       
offence between one kind of man and     
another1 and for the good of the whole  
world such travelling will be as cheap  
as it can be1 and well within the reach 
of any but the almost criminally poor4  
,such great tramways as this will be    
used when the ,utopians wish to travel  
fast and far2 thereby you will glide all
 over the land surface of the planet2   
and feeding them and distributing from  
them1 innumerable minor systems1 clean  
little electric tramways ,i picture     
them1 will spread out over the land in  
finer reticulations1 growing close and  
dense in the urban regions and thinning 
as the population thins4 ,and running   
beside these lighter railways1 and      
spreading beyond their range1 will be   
the smooth minor high roads such as this
 one we now approach1 upon which        

independent vehicles1 motor cars1       
cycles1 and what not1 will go4 ,i doubt 
if we shall see any horses upon this    
fine1 smooth1 clean road2 ,i doubt if   
there will be many horses on the high   
roads of ,utopia1 and1 indeed1 if they  
will use draught horses at all upon that
 planet4 ,why should they8 ,where the   
world gives turf or sand1 or along      
special tracts1 the horse will perhaps  
be ridden for exercise and pleasure1 but
 that will be all the use for him2 and  
as for the other beasts of burthen1 on  
the remoter mountain tracks the mule    
will no doubt still be a picturesque    
survival1 in the desert men will still  
find a use for the camel1 and the       
elephant may linger to play a part in   
the pageant of the ,east4 ,but the      
burthen of the minor traffic1 if not the
 whole of it1 will certainly be         
mechanical4 ,this is what we shall see  
even while the road is still remote1    
swift and shapely motor-cars going past1
 cyclists1 and in these agreeable       

mountain regions there will also be     
pedestrians upon their way4 ,cycle      
tracks will abound in ,utopia1 sometimes
 following beside the great high roads1 
but oftener taking their own more       
agreeable line amidst woods and crops   
and pastures2 and there will be a rich  
variety of footpaths and minor ways4    
,there will be many footpaths in        
,utopia4 ,there will be pleasant ways   
over the scented needles of the mountain
 pinewoods1 primrose-strewn tracks      
amidst the budding thickets of the lower
 country1 paths running beside rushing  
streams1 paths across the wide spaces of
 the corn land1 and1 above all1 paths   
through the flowery garden spaces amidst
 which the houses in the towns will     
stand4 ,and everywhere about the world1 
on road and path1 by sea and land1 the  
happy holiday ,utopians will go4  ,the  
population of ,utopia will be a         
migratory population beyond any earthly 
precedent1 not simply a travelling      
population1 but migratory4 ,the old     

,utopias were all localised1 as         
localised as a parish councillor2 but it
 is manifest that nowadays even quite   
ordinary people live over areas that    
would have made a kingdom in those      
former days1 would have filled the      
,athenian of the ,laws with incredulous 
astonishment4 ,except for the habits of 
the very rich during the ,roman ,empire1
 there was never the slightest precedent
 for this modern detachment from place4 
,it is nothing to us that we go eighty  
or ninety miles from home to place of   
business1 or take an hour's spin of     
fifty miles to our week-end golf2 every 
summer it has become a fixed custom to  
travel wide and far4 ,only the          
clumsiness of communications limit us   
now1 and every facilitation of          
locomotion widens not only our          
potential1 but our habitual range4 ,not 
only this1 but we change our habitations
 with a growing frequency and facility2 
to ,sir ,thomas ,more we should seem a  
breed of nomads4 ,that old fixity was of

 necessity and not of choice1 it was a  
mere phase in the development of        
civilisation1 a trick of rooting man    
learnt for a time from his new-found    
friends1 the corn and the vine and the  
hearth2 the untamed spirit of the young 
has turned for ever to wandering and the
 sea4 ,the soul of man has never yet in 
any land been willingly adscript to the 
glebe4 ,even ,mr4 ,belloc1 who preaches 
the happiness of a peasant proprietary1 
is so much wiser than his thoughts that 
he sails about the seas in a little     
yacht or goes afoot from ,belgium to    
,rome4 ,we are winning our freedom again
 once more1 a freedom renewed and       
enlarged1 and there is now neither      
necessity nor advantage in a permanent  
life servitude to this place or that4   
,men may settle down in our ,modern     
,utopia for love and the family at last1
 but first and most abundantly they will
 see the world4  ,and with this         
loosening of the fetters of locality    
from the feet of men1 necessarily there 

will be all sorts of fresh distributions
 of the factors of life4 ,on our own    
poor haphazard earth1 wherever men work1
 wherever there are things to be grown1 
minerals to be won1 power to be used1   
there1 regardless of all the joys and   
decencies of life1 the households needs 
must cluster4 ,but in ,utopia there will
 be wide stretches of cheerless or      
unhealthy or toilsome or dangerous land 
with never a household2 there will be   
regions of mining and smelting1 black   
with the smoke of furnaces and gashed   
and desolated by mines1 with a sort of  
weird inhospitable grandeur of          
industrial desolation1 and the men will 
come thither and work for a spell and   
return to civilisation again1 washing   
and changing their attire in the swift  
gliding train4 ,and by way of           
compensation there will be beautiful    
regions of the earth specially set apart
 and favoured for children2 in them the 
presence of children will remit         
taxation1 while in other less wholesome 

places the presence of children will be 
taxed2 the lower passes and fore hills  
of these very ,alps1 for example1 will  
be populous with homes1 serving the vast
 arable levels of ,upper ,italy4  ,so we
 shall see1 as we come down by our      
little lake in the lap of ,lucendro1 and
 even before we reach the road1 the     
first scattered chalets and households  
in which these migrant people live1 the 
upper summer homes4 ,with the coming of 
summer1 as the snows on the high ,alps  
recede1 a tide of households and        
schools1 teachers and doctors1 and all  
such attendant services will flow up the
 mountain masses1 and ebb again when the
 ,september snows return4 ,it is        
essential to the modern ideal of life   
that the period of education and growth 
should be prolonged to as late a period 
as possible and puberty correspondingly 
retarded1 and by wise regulation the    
statesmen of ,utopia will constantly    
adjust and readjust regulations and     
taxation to diminish the proportion of  

children reared in hot and stimulating  
conditions4 ,these high mountains will1 
in the bright sweet summer1 be populous 
with youth4 ,even up towards this high  
place where the snow is scarce gone     
until ,july1 these households will      
extend1 and below1 the whole long valley
 of ,urseren will be a scattered summer 
town4  ,one figures one of the more     
urban highways1 one of those along which
 the light railways of the second order 
run1 such as that in the valley of      
,urseren1 into which we should presently
 come4 ,i figure it as one would see it 
at night1 a band a hundred yards perhaps
 in width1 the footpath on either side  
shaded with high trees and lit softly   
with orange glowlights2 while down the  
centre the tramway of the road will go1 
with sometimes a nocturnal tram-car     
gliding1 lit and gay but almost         
noiselessly1 past4 ,lantern-lit cyclists
 will flit along the track like         
fireflies1 and ever and again some      
humming motor-car will hurry by1 to or  

from the ,rhoneland or the ,rhineland or
 ,switzerland or ,italy4 ,away on either
 side the lights of the little country  
homes up the mountain slopes will glow4 
,i figure it at night1 because so it is 
we should see it first4  ,we should come
 out from our mountain valley into the  
minor road that runs down the lonely    
rock wilderness of the ,san ,gotthard   
,pass1 we should descend that nine miles
 of winding route1 and so arrive towards
 twilight among the clustering homes and
 upland unenclosed gardens of ,realp and
 ,hospenthal and ,andermatt4 ,between   
,realp and ,andermatt1 and down the     
,schoellenen gorge1 the greater road    
would run4 ,by the time we reached it1  
we should be in the way of understanding
 our adventure a little better4 ,we     
should know already1 when we saw those  
two familiar clusters of chalets and    
hotels replaced by a great dispersed    
multitude of houses--we should see their
 window lights1 but little else--that we
 were the victims of some strange       

transition in space or time1 and we     
should come down by dimly-seen buildings
 into the part that would answer to     
,hospenthal1 wondering and perhaps a    
little afraid4 ,we should come out into 
this great main roadway--this roadway   
like an urban avenue--and look up it and
 down1 hesitating whether to go along   
the valley ,furka-ward1 or down by      
,andermatt through the gorge that leads 
to ,goschenen4444  ,people would pass us
 in the twilight1 and then more people2 
we should see they walked well and wore 
a graceful1 unfamiliar dress1 but more  
we should not distinguish4  ,good-night6
 they would say to us in clear1 fine    
voices4 ,their dim faces would turn with
 a passing scrutiny towards us4  ,we    
should answer out of our perplexity3    
,good-night6--for by the conventions    
established in the beginning of this    
book1 we are given the freedom of their 
tongue4   ,section #d  ,were this a     
story1 ,i should tell at length how much
 we were helped by the good fortune of  

picking up a ,utopian coin of gold1 how 
at last we adventured into the ,utopian 
inn and found it all marvellously easy4 
,you see us the shyest and most watchful
 of guests2 but of the food they put    
before us and the furnishings of the    
house1 and all our entertainment1 it    
will be better to speak later4 ,we are  
in a migratory world1 we know1 one      
greatly accustomed to foreigners2 our   
mountain clothes are not strange enough 
to attract acute attention1 though      
ill-made and shabby1 no doubt1 by       
,utopian standards2 we are dealt with as
 we might best wish to be dealt with1   
that is to say as rather untidy1        
inconspicuous men4 ,we look about us and
 watch for hints and examples1 and1     
indeed1 get through with the thing4 ,and
 after our queer1 yet not unpleasant1   
dinner1 in which we remark no meat      
figures1 we go out of the house for a   
breath of air and for quiet counsel one 
with another1 and there it is we        
discover those strange constellations   

overhead4 ,it comes to us then1 clear   
and full1 that our imagination has      
realised itself2 we dismiss quite       
finally a ,rip-,van-,winkle fancy we    
have entertained1 all the               
unfamiliarities of our descent from the 
mountain pass gather together into one  
fullness of conviction1 and we know1 we 
know1 we are in ,utopia4  ,we wander    
under the trees by the main road1       
watching the dim passers-by as though   
they were the phantoms of a dream4 ,we  
say little to one another4 ,we turn     
aside into a little pathway and come to 
a bridge over the turbulent ,reuss1     
hurrying down towards the ,devil's      
,bridge in the gorge below4 ,far away   
over the ,furka ridge a pallid glow     
preludes the rising of the moon4  ,two  
lovers pass us whispering1 and we follow
 them with our eyes4 ,this ,utopia has  
certainly preserved the fundamental     
freedom1 to love4 ,and then a           
sweet-voiced bell from somewhere high up
 towards ,oberalp chimes two-and-twenty 

times4  ,i break the silence4 ,that     
might mean ten o'clock1 ,i say4  ,my    
companion leans upon the bridge and     
looks down into the dim river below4 ,i 
become aware of the keen edge of the    
moon like a needle of incandescent      
silver creeping over the crest1 and     
suddenly the river is alive with        
flashes4  ,he speaks1 and astonishes me 
with the hidden course his thoughts have
 taken4  ,we two were boy and girl      
lovers like that1 he says1 and jerks a  
head at the receding ,utopians4 ,i loved
 her first1 and ,i do not think ,i have 
ever thought of loving anyone but her4  
,it is a curiously human thing1 and1    
upon my honour1 not one ,i had designed1
 that when at last ,i stand in the      
twilight in the midst of a ,utopian     
township1 when my whole being should be 
taken up with speculative wonder1 this  
man should be standing by my side1 and  
lugging my attention persistently       
towards himself1 towards his limited    
futile self4 ,this thing perpetually    

happens to me1 this intrusion of        
something small and irrelevant and      
alive1 upon my great impressions4 ,the  
time ,i first saw the ,matterhorn1 that 
,queen among the ,alpine summits1 ,i was
 distracted beyond appreciation by the  
tale of a man who could not eat         
sardines--always sardines did this with 
him and that2 and my first wanderings   
along the brown streets of ,pompeii1 an 
experience ,i had anticipated with a    
strange intensity1 was shot with the    
most stupidly intelligent discourse on  
vehicular tariffs in the chief capitals 
of ,europe that it is possible to       
imagine4 ,and now this man1 on my first 
night in ,utopia1 talks and talks and   
talks of his poor little love affair4   
,it shapes itself as the most trite and 
feeble of tragedies1 one of those       
stories of effortless submission to     
chance and custom in which ,mr4 ,hardy  
or ,george ,gissing might have found a  
theme4 ,i do but half listen at         
first--watching the black figures in the

 moonlit roadway pacing to and fro4     
,yet--,i cannot trace how he conveys the
 subtle conviction to my mind--the woman
 he loves is beautiful4  ,they were boy 
and girl together1 and afterwards they  
met again as fellow students in a world 
of comfortable discretions4 ,he seems to
 have taken the decorums of life with a 
confiding good faith1 to have been shy  
and innocent in a suppressed sort of    
way1 and of a mental type not made for  
worldly successes2 but he must have     
dreamt about her and loved her well     
enough4 ,how she felt for him ,i could  
never gather2 it seemed to be all of    
that fleshless friendliness into which  
we train our girls4 ,then abruptly      
happened stresses4 ,the man who became  
her husband appeared1 with a very       
evident passion4 ,he was a year or so   
older than either of them1 and he had   
the habit and quality of achieving his  
ends2 he was already successful1 and    
with the promise of wealth1 and ,i1 at  
least1 perceived1 from my botanist's    

phrasing1 that his desire was for her   
beauty4  ,as my botanist talked ,i      
seemed to see the whole little drama1   
rather clearer than his words gave it   
me1 the actors all absurdly in          
,hampstead middle-class raiment1        
meetings of a ,sunday after church 7the 
men in silk hats1 frock coats1 and      
tightly-rolled umbrellas71 rare         
excursions into evening dress1 the      
decorously vulgar fiction read in their 
homes1 its ambling sentimentalities of  
thought1 the amiably worldly mothers1   
the respectable fathers1 the aunts1 the 
people--his people and her people--the  
piano music and the song1 and in this   
setting our friend1 quite clever at     
botany and going in for it as a         
profession1 and the girl1 gratuitously  
beautiful2 so ,i figured the arranged   
and orderly environment into which this 
claw of an elemental force had thrust   
itself to grip4  ,the stranger who had  
come in got what he wanted2 the girl    
considered that she thought she had     

never loved the botanist1 had had only  
friendship for him--though little she   
knew of the meaning of those fine       
words--they parted a little incoherently
 and in tears1 and it had not occurred  
to the young man to imagine she was not 
going off to conventional life in some  
other of the endless ,frognals he       
imagined as the cellular tissue of the  
world4  ,but she wasn't4  ,he had kept  
her photograph and her memory sweet1 and
 if ever he had strayed from the        
severest constancy1 it seemed only in   
the end to strengthen with the stuff of 
experience1 to enhance by comparative   
disappointment his imagination of what  
she might have meant to him4444 ,then   
eight years afterwards they met again4  
,by the time he gets to this part of his
 story we have1 at my initiative1 left  
the bridge and are walking towards the  
,utopian guest house4 ,the ,utopian     
guest house6 ,his voice rises and falls1
 and sometimes he holds my arm4 ,my     
attention comes and goes4 ,good-night1  

two sweet-voiced ,utopians cry to us in 
their universal tongue1 and ,i answer   
them ,good-night4  ,you see1 he         
persists1 ,i saw her only a week ago4   
,it was in ,lucerne1 while ,i was       
waiting for you to come on from         
,england4 ,i talked to her three or four
 times altogether4 ,and her face--the   
change in her6 ,i can't get it out of my
 head--night or day4 ,the miserable     
waste of her4444  ,before us1 through   
the tall pine stems1 shine the lights of
 our ,utopian inn4  ,he talks vaguely of
 ill-usage4 ,the husband is vain1       
boastful1 dishonest to the very confines
 of the law1 and a drunkard4 ,there are 
scenes and insults----  ,she told you8  
,not much1 but someone else did4 ,he    
brings other women almost into her      
presence to spite her4  ,and it's going 
on8 ,i interrupt4  ,yes4 ,now4  ,need it
 go on8  ,what do you mean8  ,lady in   
trouble1 ,i say4 ,knight at hand4 ,why  
not stop this dismal grizzling and carry
 her off8 7,you figure the heroic sweep 

of the arm that belongs to the ,voice47 
,i positively forget for the moment that
 we are in ,utopia at all4  ,you mean8  
,take her away from him6 ,what's all    
this emotion of yours worth if it isn't 
equal to that6  ,positively he seems    
aghast at me4  ,do you mean elope with  
her8  ,it seems a most suitable case4   
,for a space he is silent1 and we go on 
through the trees4 ,a ,utopian tram-car 
passes and ,i see his face1 poor bitted 
wretch6 looking pinched and scared in   
its trailing glow of light4  ,that's all
 very well in a novel1 he says4 ,but how
 could ,i go back to my laboratory1     
mixed classes with young ladies1 you    
know1 after a thing like that8 ,how     
could we live and where could we live8  
,we might have a house in ,london1 but  
who would call upon us8 444 ,besides1   
you don't know her4 ,she is not the sort
 of woman4444 ,don't think ,i'm timid or
 conventional4 ,don't think ,i don't    
feel4444 ,feel6 ,you don't know what it 
is to feel in a case of this sort4444   

,he halts and then flies out viciously3 
,ugh6 ,there are times when ,i could    
strangle him with my hands4  ,which is  
nonsense4  ,he flings out his lean      
botanising hands in an impotent gesture4
  ,my dear ,man6 ,i say1 and say no     
more4  ,for a moment ,i forget we are in
 ,utopia altogether4   ,section #e  ,let
 us come back to ,utopia4 ,we were      
speaking of travel4  ,besides roadways  
and railways and tramways1 for those who
 go to and fro in the earth the ,modern 
,utopians will have very many other ways
 of travelling4 ,there will be rivers1  
for example1 with a vast variety of     
boats2 canals with diverse sorts of     
haulage2 there will be lakes and        
lagoons2 and when one comes at last to  
the borders of the land1 the pleasure   
craft will be there1 coming and going1  
and the swift great passenger vessels1  
very big and steady1 doing thirty knots 
an hour or more1 will trace long wakes  
as they go dwindling out athwart the    
restless vastness of the sea4  ,they    

will be just beginning to fly in        
,utopia4 ,we owe much to ,m4 ,santos    
,dumont2 the world is immeasurably more 
disposed to believe this wonder is      
coming1 and coming nearly1 than it was  
five years ago4 ,but unless we are to   
suppose ,utopian scientific knowledge   
far in advance of ours--and though that 
supposition was not proscribed in our   
initial undertaking1 it would be        
inconvenient for us and not quite in the
 vein of the rest of our premises--they1
 too1 will only be in the same          
experimental stage as ourselves4 ,in    
,utopia1 however1 they will conduct     
research by the army corps while we     
conduct it--we don't conduct it6 ,we let
 it happen4 ,fools make researches and  
wise men exploit them--that is our      
earthly way of dealing with the         
question1 and we thank ,heaven for an   
assumed abundance of financially        
impotent and sufficiently ingenious     
fools4  ,in ,utopia1 a great multitude  
of selected men1 chosen volunteers1 will

 be collaborating upon this new step in 
man's struggle with the elements4       
,bacon's visionary ,house of ,saloman   
,footnote3 ,in ,the ,new ,atlantis4 will
 be a thing realised1 and it will be    
humming with this business4 ,every      
university in the world will be urgently
 working for priority in this aspect of 
the problem or that4 ,reports of        
experiments1 as full and as prompt as   
the telegraphic reports of cricket in   
our more sportive atmosphere1 will go   
about the world4 ,all this will be      
passing1 as it were1 behind the act drop
 of our first experience1 behind this   
first picture of the urbanised ,urseren 
valley4 ,the literature of the subject  
will be growing and developing with the 
easy swiftness of an eagle's swoop as we
 come down the hillside2 unseen in that 
twilight1 unthought of by us until this 
moment1 a thousand men at a thousand    
glowing desks1 a busy specialist press1 
will be perpetually sifting1            
criticising1 condensing1 and clearing   

the ground for further speculation4     
,those who are concerned with the       
problems of public locomotion will be   
following these aeronautic              
investigations with a keen and          
enterprising interest1 and so will the  
physiologist and the sociologist4 ,that 
,utopian research will1 ,i say1 go like 
an eagle's swoop in comparison with the 
blind-man's fumbling of our terrestrial 
way4 ,even before our own brief ,utopian
 journey is out1 we may get a glimpse of
 the swift ripening of all this activity
 that will be in progress at our coming4
 ,to-morrow1 perhaps1 or in a day or so1
 some silent1 distant thing will come   
gliding into view over the mountains1   
will turn and soar and pass again beyond
 our astonished sight4444   ,section #f 
,but my friend and his great trouble    
turn my mind from these questions of    
locomotion and the freedoms that cluster
 about them4 ,in spite of myself ,i find
 myself framing his case4 ,he is a      
lover1 the most conventional of         

,anglican lovers1 with a heart that has 
had its training1 ,i should think1 in   
the clean but limited schoolroom of     
,mrs4 ,henry ,wood4444  ,in ,utopia ,i  
think they will fly with stronger       
pinions1 it will not be in the          
superficialities of life merely that    
movement will be wide and free1 they    
will mount higher and swoop more steeply
 than he in his cage can believe4 ,what 
will their range be1 their prohibitions8
 what jars to our preconceptions will he
 and ,i receive here8  ,my mind flows   
with the free1 thin flow that it has at 
the end of an eventful day1 and as we   
walk along in silence towards our inn ,i
 rove from issue to issue1 ,i find      
myself ranging amidst the fundamental   
things of the individual life and all   
the perplexity of desires and passions4 
,i turn my questionings to the most     
difficult of all sets of compromises1   
those mitigations of spontaneous freedom
 that constitute the marriage laws1 the 
mystery of balancing justice against the

 good of the future1 amidst these       
violent and elusive passions4 ,where    
falls the balance of freedoms here8 ,i  
pass for a time from ,utopianising      
altogether1 to ask the question that1   
after all1 ,schopenhauer failed         
completely to answer1 why sometimes in  
the case of hurtful1 pointless1 and     
destructive things we want so           
vehemently4444  ,i come back from this  
unavailing glance into the deeps to the 
general question of freedoms in this new
 relation4 ,i find myself far adrift    
from the case of the ,frognal botanist1 
and asking how far a modern ,utopia will
 deal with personal morals4  ,as ,plato 
demonstrated long ago1 the principles of
 the relation of ,state control to      
personal morals may be best discussed in
 the case of intoxication1 the most     
isolated and least complicated of all   
this group of problems4 ,but ,plato's   
treatment of this issue as a question of
 who may or may not have the use of     
wine1 though suitable enough in         

considering a small ,state in which     
everybody was the effectual inspector of
 everybody1 is entirely beside the mark 
under modern conditions1 in which we are
 to have an extraordinarily higher      
standard of individual privacy and an   
amplitude and quantity of migration     
inconceivable to the ,academic          
imagination4 ,we may accept his         
principle and put this particular       
freedom 7of the use of wine7 among the  
distinctive privileges of maturity1 and 
still find all that a modern would think
 of as the ,drink ,question untouched4  
,that question in ,utopia will differ   
perhaps in the proportion of its        
factors1 but in no other respect1 from  
what it is upon earth4 ,the same        
desirable ends will be sought1 the      
maintenance of public order and decency1
 the reduction of inducements to form   
this bad and wasteful habit to their    
lowest possible minimum1 and the        
complete protection of the immature4    
,but the modern ,utopians1 having       

systematised their sociology1 will have 
given some attention to the psychology  
of minor officials1 a matter altogether 
too much neglected by the social        
reformer on earth4 ,they will not put   
into the hands of a common policeman    
powers direct and indirect that would be
 dangerous to the public in the hands of
 a judge4 ,and they will have avoided   
the immeasurable error of making their  
control of the drink traffic a source of
 public revenue4 ,privacies they will   
not invade1 but they will certainly     
restrict the public consumption of      
intoxicants to specified licensed places
 and the sale of them to unmistakable   
adults1 and they will make the          
temptation of the young a grave offence4
 ,in so migratory a population as the   
,modern ,utopian1 the licensing of inns 
and bars would be under the same control
 as the railways and high roads4 ,inns  
exist for the stranger and not for the  
locality1 and we shall meet with nothing
 there to correspond with our           

terrestrial absurdity of ,local ,option4
  ,the ,utopians will certainly control 
this trade1 and as certainly punish     
personal excesses4 ,public drunkenness  
7as distinguished from the mere elation 
that follows a generous but controlled  
use of wine7 will be an offence against 
public decency1 and will be dealt with  
in some very drastic manner4 ,it will1  
of course1 be an aggravation of1 and not
 an excuse for1 crime4  ,but ,i doubt   
whether the ,state will go beyond that4 
,whether an adult shall use wine or beer
 or spirits1 or not1 seems to me        
entirely a matter for his doctor and his
 own private conscience4 ,i doubt if we 
explorers shall meet any drunken men1   
and ,i doubt not we shall meet many who 
have never availed themselves of their  
adult freedom in this respect4 ,the     
conditions of physical happiness will be
 better understood in ,utopia1 it will  
be worth while to be well there1 and the
 intelligent citizen will watch himself 
closely4 ,half and more of the          

drunkenness of earth is an attempt to   
lighten dull days and hopelessly sordid 
and disagreeable lives1 and in ,utopia  
they do not suffer these things4        
,assuredly ,utopia will be temperate1   
not only drinking1 but eating with the  
soundest discretion4 ,yet ,i do not     
think wine and good ale will be         
altogether wanting there1 nor good1     
mellow whisky1 nor1 upon occasion1 the  
engaging various liqueur4 ,i do not     
think so4 ,my botanist1 who abstains    
altogether1 is of another opinion4 ,we  
differ here and leave the question to   
the earnest reader4 ,i have the utmost  
respect for all ,teetotalers1           
,prohibitionists1 and ,haters and       
,persecutors of ,innkeepers1 their      
energy of reform awakens responsive     
notes in me1 and to their species ,i    
look for a large part of the urgent     
repair of our earth2 yet for all        
that----  ,there is ,burgundy1 for      
example1 a bottle of soft and kindly    
,burgundy1 taken to make a sunshine on  

one's lunch when four strenuous hours of
 toil have left one on the further side 
of appetite4 ,or ale1 a foaming tankard 
of ale1 ten miles of sturdy tramping in 
the sleet and slush as a prelude1 and   
then good bread and good butter and a   
ripe hollow ,stilton and celery and     
ale--ale with a certain quantitative    
freedom4 ,or1 again1 where is the sin in
 a glass of tawny port three or four    
times1 or it may be five1 a year1 when  
the walnuts come round in their season8 
,if you drink no port1 then what are    
walnuts for8 ,such things ,i hold for   
the reward of vast intervals of         
abstinence2 they justify your wide1     
immaculate margin1 which is else a mere 
unmeaning blankness on the page of      
palate ,god has given you6 ,i write of  
these things as a fleshly man1          
confessedly and knowingly fleshly1 and  
more than usually aware of my liability 
to err2 ,i know myself for a gross      
creature more given to sedentary        
world-mending than to brisk activities1 

and not one-tenth as active as the      
dullest newspaper boy in ,london4 ,yet  
still ,i have my uses1 uses that vanish 
in monotony1 and still ,i must ask why  
should we bury the talent of these      
bright sensations altogether8 ,under no 
circumstances can ,i think of my        
,utopians maintaining their fine order  
of life on ginger ale and lemonade and  
the ale that is ,kops'4 ,those terrible 
,temperance ,drinks1 solutions of       
qualified sugar mixed with vast volumes 
of gas1 as1 for example1 soda1 seltzer1 
lemonade1 and fire-extincteurs hand     
grenades--minerals1 they call such stuff
 in ,england--fill a man with wind and  
self-righteousness4 ,indeed they do6    
,coffee destroys brain and kidney1 a    
fact now universally recognised and     
advertised throughout ,america2 and tea1
 except for a kind of green tea best    
used with discretion in punch1 tans the 
entrails and turns honest stomachs into 
leather bags4 ,rather would ,i be       
,metchnikoffed ,footnote3 ,see ,the     

,nature of ,man1 by ,professor ,elie    
,metchnikoff4 at once and have a clean1 
good stomach of ,german silver4 ,no6 ,if
 we are to have no ale in ,utopia1 give 
me the one clean temperance drink that  
is worthy to set beside wine1 and that  
is simple water4 ,best it is when not   
quite pure and with a trace of organic  
matter1 for then it tastes and          
sparkles4444  ,my botanist would still  
argue4  ,thank ,heaven this is my book1 
and that the ultimate decision rests    
with me4 ,it is open to him to write his
 own ,utopia and arrange that everybody 
shall do nothing except by the consent  
of the savants of the ,republic1 either 
in his eating1 drinking1 dressing or    
lodging1 even as ,cabet proposed4 ,it is
 open to him to try a ,news from        
,nowhere ,utopia with the wine left out4
 ,i have my short way with him here     
quite effectually4 ,i turn in the       
entrance of our inn to the civil but by 
no means obsequious landlord1 and with a
 careful ambiguity of manner for the    

thing may be considered an outrage1 and 
,i try to make it possible the idea is a
 jest--put my test demand4444  ,you see1
 my dear ,teetotaler8--he sets before me
 tray and glass and444 ,here follows the
 necessary experiment and a deep        
sigh4444 ,yes1 a bottle of quite        
excellent light beer6 ,so there are also
 cakes and ale in ,utopia6 ,let us in   
this saner and more beautiful world     
drink perdition to all earthly excesses4
 ,let us drink more particularly to the 
coming of the day when men beyond there 
will learn to distinguish between       
qualitative and quantitative questions1 
to temper good intentions with good     
intelligence1 and righteousness with    
wisdom4 ,one of the darkest evils of our
 world is surely the unteachable        
wildness of the ,good4   ,section #g    
,so presently to bed and to sleep1 but  
not at once to sleep4 ,at first my      
brain1 like a dog in unfamiliar         
quarters1 must turn itself round for a  
time or so before it lies down4 ,this   

strange mystery of a world of which ,i  
have seen so little as yet--a mountain  
slope1 a twilit road1 a traffic of      
ambiguous vehicles and dim shapes1 the  
window lights of many homes--fills me   
with curiosities4 ,figures and incidents
 come and go1 the people we have passed1
 our landlord1 quietly attentive and    
yet1 ,i feel1 with the keenest curiosity
 peeping from his eyes1 the unfamiliar  
forms of the house parts and            
furnishings1 the unfamiliar courses of  
the meal4 ,outside this little bedroom  
is a world1 a whole unimagined world4 ,a
 thousand million things lie outside in 
the darkness beyond this lit inn of     
ours1 unthought-of possibilities1       
overlooked considerations1 surprises1   
riddles1 incommensurables1 a whole      
monstrous intricate universe of         
consequences that ,i have to do my best 
to unravel4 ,i attempt impossible       
recapitulations and mingle the weird    
quality of dream stuff with my thoughts4
  ,athwart all this tumult of my memory 

goes this queer figure of my            
unanticipated companion1 so obsessed by 
himself and his own egotistical love    
that this sudden change to another world
 seems only a change of scene for his   
gnawing1 uninvigorating passion4 ,it    
occurs to me that she also must have an 
equivalent in ,utopia1 and then that    
idea and all ideas grow thin and vague1 
and are dissolved at last in the rising 
tide of sleep4444    ,,chapter ,,the    
,,third  ,utopian ,economics   ,section 
#a  ,these modern ,utopians with the    
universally diffused good manners1 the  
universal education1 the fine freedoms  
we shall ascribe to them1 their world   
unity1 world language1 world-wide       
travellings1 world-wide freedom of sale 
and purchase1 will remain mere          
dreamstuff1 incredible even by twilight1
 until we have shown that at that level 
the community will still sustain itself4
 ,at any rate1 the common liberty of the
 ,utopians will not embrace the common  
liberty to be unserviceable1 the most   

perfect economy of organisation still   
leaves the fact untouched that all order
 and security in a ,state rests on the  
certainty of getting work done4 ,how    
will the work of this planet be done8   
,what will be the economics of a modern 
,utopia8  ,now in the first place1 a    
state so vast and complex as this world 
,utopia1 and with so migratory a people1
 will need some handy symbol to check   
the distribution of services and        
commodities4 ,almost certainly they will
 need to have money4 ,they will have    
money1 and it is not inconceivable that1
 for all his sorrowful thoughts1 our    
botanist1 with his trained observation1 
his habit of looking at little things   
upon the ground1 would be the one to see
 and pick up the coin that has fallen   
from some wayfarer's pocket4 7,this1 in 
our first hour or so before we reach the
 inn in the ,urseren ,thal47 ,you figure
 us upon the high ,gotthard road1 heads 
together over the little disk that      
contrives to tell us so much of this    

strange world4  ,it is1 ,i imagine1 of  
gold1 and it will be a convenient       
accident if it is sufficient to make us 
solvent for a day or so1 until we are a 
little more informed of the economic    
system into which we have come4 ,it is1 
moreover1 of a fair round size1 and the 
inscription declares it one ,lion1 equal
 to twaindy bronze ,crosses4 ,unless the
 ratio of metals is very different here1
 this latter must be a token coin1 and  
therefore legal tender for but a small  
amount4 7,that would be pain and        
pleasure to ,mr4 ,wordsworth            
,donisthorpe if he were to chance to    
join us1 for once he planned a ,utopian 
coinage1 ,footnote3 ,a ,system of       
,measures1 by ,wordsworth ,donisthorpe4 
and the words ,lion and ,cross are his4 
,but a token coinage and legal tender he
 cannot abide4 ,they make him argue47   
,and being in ,utopia1 that unfamiliar  
twaindy suggests at once we have come   
upon that most ,utopian of all things1 a
 duodecimal system of counting4  ,my    

author's privilege of details serves me 
here4 ,this ,lion is distinctly a       
beautiful coin1 admirably made1 with its
 value in fine1 clear letters circling  
the obverse side1 and a head thereon--of
 ,newton1 as ,i live6 ,one detects      
,american influence here4 ,each year1 as
 we shall find1 each denomination of    
coins celebrates a centenary4 ,the      
reverse shows the universal goddess of  
the ,utopian coinage--,peace1 as a      
beautiful woman1 reading with a child   
out of a great book1 and behind them are
 stars1 and an hour-glass1 halfway run4 
,very human these ,utopians1 after all1 
and not by any means above the obvious  
in their symbolism6  ,so for the first  
time we learn definitely of the ,world  
,state1 and we get our first clear hint1
 too1 that there is an end to ,kings4   
,but our coin raises other issues also4 
,it would seem that this ,utopia has no 
simple community of goods1 that there   
is1 at any rate1 a restriction upon what
 one may take1 a need for evidences of  

equivalent value1 a limitation to human 
credit4  ,it dates--so much of this     
present ,utopia of ours dates4 ,those   
former ,utopists were bitterly against  
gold4 ,you will recall the undignified  
use ,sir ,thomas ,more would have us put
 it to1 and how there was no money at   
all in the ,republic of ,plato1 and in  
that later community for which he wrote 
his ,laws an iron coinage of austere    
appearance and doubtful efficacy4444 ,it
 may be these great gentlemen were a    
little hasty with a complicated         
difficulty1 and not a little unjust to a
 highly respectable element4  ,gold is  
abused and made into vessels of         
dishonour1 and abolished from ideal     
society as though it were the cause     
instead of the instrument of human      
baseness2 but1 indeed1 there is nothing 
bad in gold4 ,making gold into vessels  
of dishonour and banishing it from the  
,state is punishing the hatchet for the 
murderer's crime4 ,money1 did you but   
use it right1 is a good thing in life1 a

 necessary thing in civilised human     
life1 as complicated1 indeed1 for its   
purposes1 but as natural a growth as the
 bones in a man's wrist1 and ,i do not  
see how one can imagine anything at all 
worthy of being called a civilisation   
without it4 ,it is the water of the body
 social1 it distributes and receives1   
and renders growth and assimilation and 
movement and recovery possible4 ,it is  
the reconciliation of human             
interdependence with liberty4 ,what     
other device will give a man so great a 
freedom with so strong an inducement to 
effort8 ,the economic history of the    
world1 where it is not the history of   
the theory of property1 is very largely 
the record of the abuse1 not so much of 
money as of credit devices to supplement
 money1 to amplify the scope of this    
most precious invention2 and no device  
of labour credits ,footnote3 ,edward    
,bellamy's ,looking ,backward1 ,ch4     
,,ix4 or free demand of commodities from
 a central store ,footnote3 ,more's     

,utopia and ,cabet's ,icaria4 or the    
like has ever been suggested that does  
not give ten thousand times more scope  
for that inherent moral dross in man    
that must be reckoned with in any sane  
,utopia we may design and plan4444      
,heaven knows where progress may not    
end1 but at any rate this developing    
,state1 into which we two men have      
fallen1 this ,twentieth ,century        
,utopia1 has still not passed beyond    
money and the use of coins4   ,section  
#b  ,now if this ,utopian world is to be
 in some degree parallel to contemporary
 thought1 it must have been concerned1  
it may be still concerned1 with many    
unsettled problems of currency1 and with
 the problems that centre about a       
standard of value4 ,gold is perhaps of  
all material substances the best adapted
 to the monetary purpose1 but even at   
that best it falls far short of an      
imaginable ideal4 ,it undergoes         
spasmodic and irregular cheapening      
through new discoveries of gold1 and at 

any time it may undergo very extensive  
and sudden and disastrous depreciation  
through the discovery of some way of    
transmuting less valuable elements4 ,the
 liability to such depreciations        
introduces an undesirable speculative   
element into the relations of debtor and
 creditor4 ,when1 on the one hand1 there
 is for a time a check in the increase  
of the available stores of gold1 or an  
increase in the energy applied to social
 purposes1 or a checking of the public  
security that would impede the free     
exchange of credit and necessitate a    
more frequent production of gold in     
evidence1 then there comes an undue     
appreciation of money as against the    
general commodities of life1 and an     
automatic impoverishment of the citizens
 in general as against the creditor     
class4 ,the common people are mortgaged 
into the bondage of debt4 ,and on the   
other hand an unexpected spate of gold  
production1 the discovery of a single   
nugget as big as ,st4 ,paul's1 let us   

say--a quite possible thing--would      
result in a sort of jail delivery of    
debtors and a financial earthquake4  ,it
 has been suggested by an ingenious     
thinker that it is possible to use as a 
standard of monetary value no substance 
whatever1 but instead1 force1 and that  
value might be measured in units of     
energy4 ,an excellent development this1 
in theory1 at any rate1 of the general  
idea of the modern ,state as kinetic and
 not static2 it throws the old idea of  
the social order and the new into the   
sharpest antithesis4 ,the old order is  
presented as a system of institutions   
and classes ruled by men of substance2  
the new1 of enterprises and interests   
led by men of power4  ,now ,i glance at 
this matter in the most incidental      
manner1 as a man may skim through a     
specialist's exposition in a popular    
magazine4 ,you must figure me1          
therefore1 finding from a casual        
periodical paper in our inn1 with a     
certain surprise at not having          

anticipated as much1 the ,utopian self  
of that same ingenious person quite     
conspicuously a leader of thought1 and  
engaged in organising the discussion of 
the currency changes ,utopia has under  
consideration4 ,the article1 as it      
presents itself to me1 contains a       
complete and lucid1 though occasionally 
rather technical1 explanation of his    
newest proposals4 ,they have been       
published1 it seems1 for general        
criticism1 and one gathers that in the  
modern ,utopia the administration       
presents the most elaborately detailed  
schemes of any proposed alteration in   
law or custom1 some time before any     
measure is taken to carry it into       
effect1 and the possibilities of every  
detail are acutely criticised1 flaws    
anticipated1 side issues raised1 and the
 whole minutely tested and fined down by
 a planetful of critics1 before the     
actual process of legislation begins4   
,the explanation of these proposals     
involves an anticipatory glance at the  

local administration of a ,modern       
,utopia4 ,to anyone who has watched the 
development of technical science during 
the last decade or so1 there will be no 
shock in the idea that a general        
consolidation of a great number of      
common public services over areas of    
considerable size is now not only       
practicable1 but very desirable4 ,in a  
little while heating and lighting and   
the supply of power for domestic and    
industrial purposes and for urban and   
inter-urban communications will all be  
managed electrically from common        
generating stations4 ,and the trend of  
political and social speculation points 
decidedly to the conclusion that so soon
 as it passes out of the experimental   
stage1 the supply of electrical energy1 
just like drainage and the supply of    
water1 will fall to the local authority4
 ,moreover1 the local authority will be 
the universal landowner4 ,upon that     
point so extreme an individualist as    
,herbert ,spencer was in agreement with 

the ,socialist4 ,in ,utopia we conclude 
that1 whatever other types of property  
may exist1 all natural sources of force1
 and indeed all strictly natural        
products1 coal1 water power1 and the    
like1 are inalienably vested in the     
local authorities 7which1 in order to   
secure the maximum of convenience and   
administrative efficiency1 will probably
 control areas as large sometimes as    
half ,england71 they will generate      
electricity by water power1 by          
combustion1 by wind or tide or whatever 
other natural force is available1 and   
this electricity will be devoted1 some  
of it to the authority's lighting and   
other public works1 some of it1 as a    
subsidy1 to the ,world-,state authority 
which controls the high roads1 the great
 railways1 the inns and other apparatus 
of world communication1 and the rest    
will pass on to private individuals or  
to distributing companies at a uniform  
fixed rate for private lighting and     
heating1 for machinery and industrial   

applications of all sorts4 ,such an     
arrangement of affairs will necessarily 
involve a vast amount of book-keeping   
between the various authorities1 the    
,world-,state government and the        
customers1 and this book-keeping will   
naturally be done most conveniently in  
units of physical energy4  ,it is not   
incredible that the assessment of the   
various local administrations for the   
central world government would be       
already calculated upon the estimated   
total of energy1 periodically available 
in each locality1 and booked and spoken 
of in these physical units4 ,accounts   
between central and local governments   
could be kept in these terms4 ,moreover1
 one may imagine ,utopian local         
authorities making contracts in which   
payment would be no longer in coinage   
upon the gold basis1 but in notes good  
for so many thousands or millions of    
units of energy at one or other of the  
generating stations4  ,now the problems 
of economic theory will have undergone  

an enormous clarification if1 instead of
 measuring in fluctuating money values1 
the same scale of energy units can be   
extended to their discussion1 if1 in    
fact1 the idea of trading could be      
entirely eliminated4 ,in my ,utopia1 at 
any rate1 this has been done1 the       
production and distribution of common   
commodities have been expressed as a    
problem in the conversion of energy1 and
 the scheme that ,utopia was now        
discussing was the application of this  
idea of energy as the standard of value 
to the entire ,utopian coinage4 ,every  
one of those giant local authorities was
 to be free to issue energy notes       
against the security of its surplus of  
saleable available energy1 and to make  
all its contracts for payment in those  
notes up to a certain maximum defined by
 the amount of energy produced and      
disposed of in that locality in the     
previous year4 ,this power of issue was 
to be renewed just as rapidly as the    
notes came in for redemption4 ,in a     

world without boundaries1 with a        
population largely migratory and        
emancipated from locality1 the price of 
the energy notes of these various local 
bodies would constantly tend to be      
uniform1 because employment would       
constantly shift into the areas where   
energy was cheap4 ,accordingly1 the     
price of so many millions of units of   
energy at any particular moment in coins
 of the gold currency would be          
approximately the same throughout the   
world4 ,it was proposed to select some  
particular day when the economic        
atmosphere was distinctly equable1 and  
to declare a fixed ratio between the    
gold coinage and the energy notes2 each 
gold ,lion and each ,lion of credit     
representing exactly the number of      
energy units it could buy on that day4  
,the old gold coinage was at once to    
cease to be legal tender beyond certain 
defined limits1 except to the central   
government1 which would not reissue it  
as it came in4 ,it was1 in fact1 to     

become a temporary token coinage1 a     
token coinage of full value for the day 
of conversion at any rate1 if not       
afterwards1 under the new standard of   
energy1 and to be replaceable by an     
ordinary token coinage as time went on4 
,the old computation by ,lions and the  
values of the small change of daily life
 were therefore to suffer no disturbance
 whatever4  ,the economists of ,utopia1 
as ,i apprehended them1 had a different 
method and a very different system of   
theories from those ,i have read on     
earth1 and this makes my exposition     
considerably more difficult4 ,this      
article upon which ,i base my account   
floated before me in an unfamiliar1     
perplexing1 and dream-like phraseology4 
,yet ,i brought away an impression that 
here was a rightness that earthly       
economists have failed to grasp4 ,few   
earthly economists have been able to    
disentangle themselves from patriotisms 
and politics1 and their obsession has   
always been international trade4 ,here  

in ,utopia the ,world ,state cuts that  
away from beneath their feet2 there are 
no imports but meteorites1 and no       
exports at all4 ,trading is the earthly 
economists' initial notion1 and they    
start from perplexing and insoluble     
riddles about exchange value1 insoluble 
because all trading finally involves    
individual preferences which are        
incalculable and unique4 ,nowhere do    
they seem to be handling really defined 
standards1 every economic dissertation  
and discussion reminds one more strongly
 than the last of the game of croquet   
,alice played in ,wonderland1 when the  
mallets were flamingoes and the balls   
were hedgehogs and crawled away1 and the
 hoops were soldiers and kept getting up
 and walking about4 ,but economics in   
,utopia must be1 it seems to me1 not a  
theory of trading based on bad          
psychology1 but physics applied to      
problems in the theory of sociology4    
,the general problem of ,utopian        
economics is to state the conditions of 

the most efficient application of the   
steadily increasing quantities of       
material energy the progress of science 
makes available for human service1 to   
the general needs of mankind4 ,human    
labour and existing material are dealt  
with in relation to that4 ,trading and  
relative wealth are merely episodical in
 such a scheme4 ,the trend of the       
article ,i read1 as ,i understood it1   
was that a monetary system based upon a 
relatively small amount of gold1 upon   
which the business of the whole world   
had hitherto been done1 fluctuated      
unreasonably and supplied no real       
criterion of well-being1 that the       
nominal values of things and enterprises
 had no clear and simple relation to the
 real physical prosperity of the        
community1 that the nominal wealth of a 
community in millions of pounds or      
dollars or ,lions1 measured nothing but 
the quantity of hope in the air1 and an 
increase of confidence meant an         
inflation of credit and a pessimistic   

phase a collapse of this hallucination  
of possessions4 ,the new standards1 this
 advocate reasoned1 were to alter all   
that1 and it seemed to me they would4   
,i have tried to indicate the drift of  
these remarkable proposals1 but about   
them clustered an elaborate mass of keen
 and temperate discussion4 ,into the    
details of that discussion ,i will not  
enter now1 nor am ,i sure ,i am         
qualified to render the multitudinous   
aspect of this complicated question at  
all precisely4 ,i read the whole thing  
in the course of an hour or two of rest 
after lunch--it was either the second or
 third day of my stay in ,utopia--and we
 were sitting in a little inn at the end
 of the ,lake of ,uri4 ,we had loitered 
there1 and ,i had fallen reading because
 of a shower of rain4444 ,but certainly 
as ,i read it the proposition struck me 
as a singularly simple and attractive   
one1 and its exposition opened out to me
 for the first time clearly1 in a       
comprehensive outline1 the general      

conception of the economic nature of the
 ,utopian ,state4   ,section #c  ,the   
difference between the social and       
economic sciences as they exist in our  
world ,footnote3 ,but see ,gidding's    
,principles of ,sociology1 a modern and 
richly suggestive ,american work1       
imperfectly appreciated by the ,british 
student4 ,see also ,walter ,bagehot's   
,economic ,studies4 and in this ,utopia 
deserves perhaps a word or so more4 ,i  
write with the utmost diffidence1       
because upon earth economic science has 
been raised to a very high level of     
tortuous abstraction by the industry of 
its professors1 and ,i can claim neither
 a patient student's intimacy with their
 productions nor--what is more          
serious--anything but the most          
generalised knowledge of what their     
,utopian equivalents have achieved4 ,the
 vital nature of economic issues to a   
,utopia necessitates1 however1 some     
attempt at interpretation between the   
two4  ,in ,utopia there is no distinct  

and separate science of economics4 ,many
 problems that we should regard as      
economic come within the scope of       
,utopian psychology4 ,my ,utopians make 
two divisions of the science of         
psychology1 first1 the general          
psychology of individuals1 a sort of    
mental physiology separated by no       
definite line from physiology proper1   
and secondly1 the psychology of         
relationship between individuals4 ,this 
second is an exhaustive study of the    
reaction of people upon each other and  
of all possible relationships4 ,it is a 
science of human aggregations1 of all   
possible family groupings1 of neighbours
 and neighbourhood1 of companies1       
associations1 unions1 secret and public 
societies1 religious groupings1 of      
common ends and intercourse1 and of the 
methods of intercourse and collective   
decision that hold human groups         
together1 and finally of government and 
the ,state4 ,the elucidation of economic
 relationships1 depending as it does on 

the nature of the hypothesis of human   
aggregation actually in operation at any
 time1 is considered to be subordinate  
and subsequent to this general science  
of ,sociology4 ,political economy and   
economics1 in our world now1 consist of 
a hopeless muddle of social assumptions 
and preposterous psychology1 and a few  
geographical and physical               
generalisations4 ,its ingredients will  
be classified out and widely separated  
in ,utopian thought4 ,on the one hand   
there will be the study of physical     
economies1 ending in the descriptive    
treatment of society as an organisation 
for the conversion of all the available 
energy in nature to the material ends of
 mankind--a physical sociology which    
will be already at such a stage of      
practical development as to be giving   
the world this token coinage            
representing energy--and on the other   
there will be the study of economic     
problems as problems in the division of 
labour1 having regard to a social       

organisation whose main ends are        
reproduction and education in an        
atmosphere of personal freedom4 ,each of
 these inquiries1 working unencumbered  
by the other1 will be continually       
contributing fresh valid conclusions for
 the use of the practical administrator4
  ,in no region of intellectual activity
 will our hypothesis of freedom from    
tradition be of more value in devising a
 ,utopia than here4 ,from its beginning 
the earthly study of economics has been 
infertile and unhelpful1 because of the 
mass of unanalysed and scarcely         
suspected assumptions upon which it     
rested4 ,the facts were ignored that    
trade is a bye-product and not an       
essential factor in social life1 that   
property is a plastic and fluctuating   
convention1 that value is capable of    
impersonal treatment only in the case of
 the most generalised requirements4     
,wealth was measured by the standards of
 exchange4 ,society was regarded as a   
practically unlimited number of         

avaricious adult units incapable of any 
other subordinate groupings than        
business partnerships1 and the sources  
of competition were assumed to be       
inexhaustible4 ,upon such quicksands    
rose an edifice that aped the securities
 of material science1 developed a       
technical jargon and professed the      
discovery of laws4 ,our liberation from 
these false presumptions through the    
rhetoric of ,carlyle and ,ruskin and the
 activities of the ,socialists1 is more 
apparent than real4 ,the old edifice    
oppresses us still1 repaired and altered
 by indifferent builders1 underpinned in
 places1 and with a slight change of    
name4 ,political ,economy has been      
painted out1 and instead we read        
,economics--under entirely new          
management4 ,modern ,economics differs  
mainly from old ,political ,economy in  
having produced no ,adam ,smith4 ,the   
old ,political ,economy made certain    
generalisations1 and they were mostly   
wrong2 new ,economics evades            

generalisations1 and seems to lack the  
intellectual power to make them4 ,the   
science hangs like a gathering fog in a 
valley1 a fog which begins nowhere and  
goes nowhere1 an incidental1 unmeaning  
inconvenience to passers-by4 ,its most  
typical exponents display a disposition 
to disavow generalisations altogether1  
to claim consideration as experts1 and  
to make immediate political application 
of that conceded claim4 ,now ,newton1   
,darwin1 ,dalton1 ,davy1 ,joule1 and    
,adam ,smith did not affect this expert 
hankey-pankey1 becoming enough in a     
hairdresser or a fashionable physician1 
but indecent in a philosopher or a man  
of science4 ,in this state of impotent  
expertness1 however1 or in some equally 
unsound state1 economics must struggle  
on--a science that is no science1 a     
floundering lore wallowing in a mud of  
statistics--until either the study of   
the material organisation of production 
on the one hand as a development of     
physics and geography1 or the study of  

social aggregation on the other1 renders
 enduring foundations possible4         
,section #d  ,the older ,utopias were   
all relatively small states2 ,plato's   
,republic1 for example1 was to be       
smaller than the average ,english       
borough1 and no distinction was made    
between the ,family1 the ,local         
,government1 and the ,state4 ,plato and 
,campanella--for all that the latter was
 a ,christian priest--carried communism 
to its final point and prescribed even a
 community of husbands and wives1 an    
idea that was brought at last to the    
test of effectual experiment in the     
,oneida ,community of ,new ,york ,state 
7#ahdh-ahgi74 ,this latter body did not 
long survive its founder1 at least as a 
veritable communism1 by reason of the   
insurgent individualism of its vigorous 
sons4 ,more1 too1 denied privacy and    
ruled an absolute community of goods1 at
 any rate1 and so1 coming to the        
,victorian ,utopias1 did ,cabet4 ,but   
,cabet's communism was one of the free  

store type1 and the goods were yours    
only after you had requisitioned them4  
,that seems the case in the ,nowhere of 
,morris also4 ,compared with the older  
writers ,bellamy and ,morris have a     
vivid sense of individual separation1   
and their departure from the old        
homogeneity is sufficiently marked to   
justify a doubt whether there will be   
any more thoroughly communistic ,utopias
 for ever4  ,a ,utopia such as this     
present one1 written in the opening of  
the ,twentieth ,century1 and after the  
most exhaustive discussion--nearly a    
century long--between ,communistic and  
,socialistic ideas on the one hand1 and 
,individualism on the other1 emerges    
upon a sort of effectual conclusion to  
those controversies4 ,the two parties   
have so chipped and amended each other's
 initial propositions that1 indeed1     
except for the labels still flutteringly
 adhesive to the implicated men1 it is  
hard to choose between them4 ,each side 
established a good many propositions1   

and we profit by them all4 ,we of the   
succeeding generation can see quite     
clearly that for the most part the heat 
and zeal of these discussions arose in  
the confusion of a quantitative for a   
qualitative question4 ,to the onlooker1 
both ,individualism and ,socialism are1 
in the absolute1 absurdities2 the one   
would make men the slaves of the violent
 or rich1 the other the slaves of the   
,state official1 and the way of sanity  
runs1 perhaps even sinuously1 down the  
intervening valley4 ,happily the dead   
past buries its dead1 and it is not our 
function now to adjudicate the          
preponderance of victory4 ,in the very  
days when our political and economic    
order is becoming steadily more         
,socialistic1 our ideals of intercourse 
turn more and more to a fuller          
recognition of the claims of            
individuality4 ,the ,state is to be     
progressive1 it is no longer to be      
static1 and this alters the general     
condition of the ,utopian problem       

profoundly2 we have to provide not only 
for food and clothing1 for order and    
health1 but for initiative4 ,the factor 
that leads the ,world ,state on from one
 phase of development to the next is the
 interplay of individualities2 to speak 
teleologically1 the world exists for the
 sake of and through initiative1 and    
individuality is the method of          
initiative4 ,each man and woman1 to the 
extent that his or her individuality is 
marked1 breaks the law of precedent1    
transgresses the general formula1 and   
makes a new experiment for the direction
 of the life force4 ,it is impossible1  
therefore1 for the ,state1 which        
represents all and is preoccupied by the
 average1 to make effectual experiments 
and intelligent innovations1 and so     
supply the essential substance of life4 
,as against the individual the state    
represents the species1 in the case of  
the ,utopian ,world ,state it absolutely
 represents the species4 ,the individual
 emerges from the species1 makes his    

experiment1 and either fails1 dies1 and 
comes to an end1 or succeeds and        
impresses himself in offspring1 in      
consequences and results1 intellectual1 
material and moral1 upon the world4     
,biologically the species is the        
accumulation of the experiments of all  
its successful individuals since the    
beginning1 and the ,world ,state of the 
,modern ,utopist will1 in its economic  
aspect1 be a compendium of established  
economic experience1 about which        
individual enterprise will be           
continually experimenting1 either to    
fail and pass1 or to succeed and at last
 become incorporated with the undying   
organism of the ,world ,state4 ,this    
organism is the universal rule1 the     
common restriction1 the rising level    
platform on which individualities stand4
  ,the ,world ,state in this ideal      
presents itself as the sole landowner of
 the earth1 with the great local        
governments ,i have adumbrated1 the     
local municipalities1 holding1 as it    

were1 feudally under it as landlords4   
,the ,state or these subordinates holds 
all the sources of energy1 and either   
directly or through its tenants1 farmers
 and agents1 develops these sources1 and
 renders the energy available for the   
work of life4 ,it or its tenants will   
produce food1 and so human energy1 and  
the exploitation of coal and electric   
power1 and the powers of wind and wave  
and water will be within its right4 ,it 
will pour out this energy by assignment 
and lease and acquiescence and what not 
upon its individual citizens4 ,it will  
maintain order1 maintain roads1 maintain
 a cheap and efficient administration of
 justice1 maintain cheap and rapid      
locomotion and be the common carrier of 
the planet1 convey and distribute       
labour1 control1 let1 or administer all 
natural productions1 pay for and secure 
healthy births and a healthy and        
vigorous new generation1 maintain the   
public health1 coin money and sustain   
standards of measurement1 subsidise     

research1 and reward such commercially  
unprofitable undertakings as benefit the
 community as a whole2 subsidise when   
needful chairs of criticism and authors 
and publications1 and collect and       
distribute information4 ,the energy     
developed and the employment afforded by
 the ,state will descend like water that
 the sun has sucked out of the sea to   
fall upon a mountain range1 and back to 
the sea again it will come at last1     
debouching in ground rent and royalty   
and license fees1 in the fees of        
travellers and profits upon carrying and
 coinage and the like1 in death duty1   
transfer tax1 legacy and forfeiture1    
returning to the sea4 ,between the      
clouds and the sea it will run1 as a    
river system runs1 down through a great 
region of individual enterprise and     
interplay1 whose freedom it will        
sustain4 ,in that intermediate region   
between the kindred heights and deeps   
those beginnings and promises will arise
 that are the essential significance1   

the essential substance1 of life4 ,from 
our human point of view the mountains   
and sea are for the habitable lands that
 lie between4 ,so likewise the ,state is
 for ,individualities4 ,the ,state is   
for ,individuals1 the law is for        
freedoms1 the world is for experiment1  
experience1 and change3 these are the   
fundamental beliefs upon which a modern 
,utopia must go4   ,section #e  ,within 
this scheme1 which makes the ,state the 
source of all energy1 and the final     
legatee1 what will be the nature of the 
property a man may own8 ,under modern   
conditions--indeed1 under any           
conditions--a man without some          
negotiable property is a man without    
freedom1 and the extent of his property 
is very largely the measure of his      
freedom4 ,without any property1 without 
even shelter or food1 a man has no      
choice but to set about getting these   
things2 he is in servitude to his needs 
until he has secured property to satisfy
 them4 ,but with a certain small        

property a man is free to do many       
things1 to take a fortnight's holiday   
when he chooses1 for example1 and to try
 this new departure from his work or    
that2 with so much more1 he may take a  
year of freedom and go to the ends of   
the earth2 with so much more1 he may    
obtain elaborate apparatus and try      
curious novelties1 build himself houses 
and make gardens1 establish businesses  
and make experiments at large4 ,very    
speedily1 under terrestrial conditions1 
the property of a man may reach such    
proportions that his freedom oppresses  
the freedom of others4 ,here1 again1 is 
a quantitative question1 an adjustment  
of conflicting freedoms1 a quantitative 
question that too many people insist on 
making a qualitative one4  ,the object  
sought in the code of property laws that
 one would find in operation in ,utopia 
would be the same object that pervades  
the whole ,utopian organisation1 namely1
 a universal maximum of individual      
freedom4 ,whatever far-reaching         

movements the ,state or great rich men  
or private corporations may make1 the   
starvation by any complication of       
employment1 the unwilling deportation1  
the destruction of alternatives to      
servile submissions1 must not ensue4    
,beyond such qualifications1 the object 
of ,modern ,utopian statesmanship will  
be to secure to a man the freedom given 
by all his legitimate property1 that is 
to say1 by all the values his toil or   
skill or foresight and courage have     
brought into being4 ,whatever he has    
justly made he has a right to keep1 that
 is obvious enough2 but he will also    
have a right to sell and exchange1 and  
so this question of what may be property
 takes really the form of what may a man
 buy in ,utopia8  ,a modern ,utopian    
most assuredly must have a practically  
unqualified property in all those things
 that become1 as it were1 by possession1
 extensions and expressions of his      
personality2 his clothing1 his jewels1  
the tools of his employment1 his books1 

the objects of art he may have bought or
 made1 his personal weapons 7if ,utopia 
have need of such things71 insignia1 and
 so forth4 ,all such things that he has 
bought with his money or                
acquired--provided he is not a          
professional or habitual dealer in such 
property--will be inalienably his1 his  
to give or lend or keep1 free even from 
taxation4 ,so intimate is this sort of  
property that ,i have no doubt ,utopia  
will give a man posthumous rights over  
it--will permit him to assign it to a   
successor with at the utmost the payment
 of a small redemption4 ,a horse1       
perhaps1 in certain districts1 or a     
bicycle1 or any such mechanical         
conveyance personally used1 the         
,utopians might find it well to rank    
with these possessions4 ,no doubt1 too1 
a house and privacy owned and occupied  
by a man1 and even a man's own household
 furniture1 might be held to stand as   
high or almost as high in the property  
scale1 might be taxed as lightly and    

transferred under only a slightly       
heavier redemption1 provided he had not 
let these things on hire1 or otherwise  
alienated them from his intimate self4  
,a thorough-going1 ,democratic          
,socialist will no doubt be inclined at 
first to object that if the ,utopians   
make these things a specially free sort 
of property in this way1 men would spend
 much more upon them than they would    
otherwise do1 but indeed that will be an
 excellent thing4 ,we are too much      
affected by the needy atmosphere of our 
own mismanaged world4 ,in ,utopia no one
 will have to hunger because some love  
to make and have made and own and       
cherish beautiful things4 ,to give this 
much of property to individuals will    
tend to make clothing1 ornamentation1   
implements1 books1 and all the arts     
finer and more beautiful1 because by    
buying such things a man will secure    
something inalienable--save in the case 
of bankruptcy--for himself and for those
 who belong to him4 ,moreover1 a man may

 in his lifetime set aside sums to      
ensure special advantages of education  
and care for the immature children of   
himself and others1 and in this manner  
also exercise a posthumous right4       
,footnote3 ,but a ,statute of ,mortmain 
will set a distinct time limit to the   
continuance of such benefactions4 ,a    
periodic revision of endowments is a    
necessary feature in any modern ,utopia4
  ,for all other property1 the ,utopians
 will have a scantier respect2 even     
money unspent by a man1 and debts to him
 that bear no interest1 will at his     
death stand upon a lower level than     
these things4 ,what he did not choose to
 gather and assimilate to himself1 or   
assign for the special education of his 
children1 the ,state will share in the  
lion's proportion with heir and legatee4
  ,this applies1 for example1 to the    
property that a man creates and acquires
 in business enterprises1 which are     
presumably undertaken for gain1 and as a
 means of living rather than for        

themselves4 ,all new machinery1 all new 
methods1 all uncertain and variable and 
non-universal undertakings1 are no      
business for the ,state2 they commence  
always as experiments of unascertained  
value1 and next after the invention of  
money1 there is no invention has so     
facilitated freedom and progress as the 
invention of the limited liability      
company to do this work of trial and    
adventure4 ,the abuses1 the necessary   
reforms of company law on earth1 are no 
concern of ours here and now1 suffice it
 that in a ,modern ,utopia such laws    
must be supposed to be as perfect as    
mortal laws can possibly be made4       
,caveat vendor will be a sound          
qualification of ,caveat emptor in the  
beautifully codified ,utopian law4      
,whether the ,utopian company will be   
allowed to prefer this class of share to
 that or to issue debentures1 whether   
indeed usury1 that is to say lending    
money at fixed rates of interest1 will  
be permitted at all in ,utopia1 one may 

venture to doubt4 ,but whatever the     
nature of the shares a man may hold1    
they will all be sold at his death1 and 
whatever he has not clearly assigned for
 special educational purposes will--with
 possibly some fractional concession to 
near survivors--lapse to the ,state4    
,the safe investment1 that permanent1   
undying claim upon the community1 is    
just one of those things ,utopia will   
discourage2 which indeed the developing 
security of civilisation quite          
automatically discourages through the   
fall in the rate of interest4 ,as we    
shall see at a later stage1 the ,state  
will insure the children of every       
citizen1 and those legitimately         
dependent upon him1 against the         
inconvenience of his death2 it will     
carry out all reasonable additional     
dispositions he may have made for them  
in the same event2 and it will insure   
him against old age and infirmity2 and  
the object of ,utopian economics will be
 to give a man every inducement to spend

 his surplus money in intensifying the  
quality of his surroundings1 either by  
economic adventures and experiments1    
which may yield either losses or large  
profits1 or in increasing the beauty1   
the pleasure1 the abundance and promise 
of life4  ,besides strictly personal    
possessions and shares in business      
adventures1 ,utopia will no doubt permit
 associations of its citizens to have a 
property in various sorts of contracts  
and concessions1 in leases of           
agricultural and other land1 for        
example2 in houses they may have built1 
factories and machinery they may have   
made1 and the like4 ,and if a citizen   
prefer to adventure into business       
single-handed1 he will have all the     
freedoms of enterprise enjoyed by a     
company2 in business affairs he will be 
a company of one1 and his single share  
will be dealt with at his death like any
 other shares4444 ,so much for the      
second kind of property4 ,and these two 
kinds of property will probably exhaust 

the sorts of property a ,utopian may    
possess4  ,the trend of modern thought  
is entirely against private property in 
land or natural objects or products1 and
 in ,utopia these things will be the    
inalienable property of the ,world      
,state4 ,subject to the rights of free  
locomotion1 land will be leased out to  
companies or individuals1 but--in view  
of the unknown necessities of the       
future--never for a longer period than1 
let us say1 fifty years4  ,the property 
of a parent in his children1 and of a   
husband in his wife1 seems to be        
undergoing a steadily increasing        
qualification in the world of to-day1   
but the discussion of the ,utopian state
 of affairs in regard to such property  
may be better reserved until marriage   
becomes our topic4 ,suffice it here to  
remark1 that the increasing control of a
 child's welfare and upbringing by the  
community1 and the growing disposition  
to limit and tax inheritance are        
complementary aspects of the general    

tendency to regard the welfare and free 
intraplay of future generations no      
longer as the concern of parents and    
altruistic individuals1 but as the      
predominant issue of statesmanship1 and 
the duty and moral meaning of the world 
community as a whole4   ,section #f     
,from the conception of mechanical force
 as coming in from ,nature to the       
service of man1 a conception the        
,utopian proposal of a coinage based on 
energy units would emphasise1 arise     
profound contrasts between the modern   
and the classical ,utopias4 ,except for 
a meagre use of water power for milling1
 and the wind for sailing--so meagre in 
the latter case that the classical world
 never contrived to do without the      
galley slave--and a certain restricted  
help from oxen in ploughing1 and from   
horses in locomotion1 all the energy    
that sustained the old-fashioned ,state 
was derived from the muscular exertion  
of toiling men4 ,they ran their world by
 hand4 ,continual bodily labour was a   

condition of social existence4 ,it is   
only with the coming of coal burning1 of
 abundant iron and steel1 and of        
scientific knowledge that this condition
 has been changed4 ,to-day1 ,i suppose1 
if it were possible to indicate1 in     
units of energy1 the grand total of work
 upon which the social fabric of the    
,united ,states or ,england rests1 it   
would be found that a vastly            
preponderating moiety is derived from   
non-human sources1 from coal and liquid 
fuel1 and explosives and wind and water4
 ,there is every indication of a steady 
increase in this proportion of          
mechanical energy1 in this emancipation 
of men from the necessity of physical   
labour4 ,there appears no limit to the  
invasion of life by the machine4  ,now  
it is only in the last three hundred    
years that any human being seems to have
 anticipated this4 ,it stimulates the   
imagination to remark how entirely it   
was overlooked as a modifying cause in  
human development4 ,footnote3 ,it is    

interesting to note how little even     
,bacon seems to see of this1 in his ,new
 ,atlantis4 ,plato clearly had no ideas 
about machines at all as a force        
affecting social organisation4 ,there   
was nothing in his world to suggest them
 to him4 ,i suppose there arose no      
invention1 no new mechanical appliance  
or method of the slightest social       
importance through all his length of    
years4 ,he never thought of a ,state    
that did not rely for its force upon    
human muscle1 just as he never thought  
of a ,state that was not primarily      
organised for warfare hand to hand4     
,political and moral inventions he saw  
enough of and to spare1 and in that     
direction he still stimulates the       
imagination4 ,but in regard to all      
material possibilities he deadens rather
 than stimulates4 ,footnote3 ,the lost  
,utopia of ,hippodamus provided rewards 
for inventors1 but unless ,aristotle    
misunderstood him1 and it is certainly  
the fate of all ,utopias to be more or  

less misread1 the inventions            
contemplated were political devices4 ,an
 infinitude of nonsense about the ,greek
 mind would never have been written if  
the distinctive intellectual and        
artistic quality of ,plato's time1 its  
extraordinarily clear definition of     
certain material conditions as          
absolutely permanent1 coupled with its  
politico-social instability1 had been   
borne in mind4 ,the food of the ,greek  
imagination was the very antithesis of  
our own nourishment4 ,we are educated by
 our circumstances to think no          
revolution in appliances and economic   
organisation incredible1 our minds play 
freely about possibilities that would   
have struck the men of the ,academy as  
outrageous extravagance1 and it is in   
regard to politico-social expedients    
that our imaginations fail4 ,sparta1 for
 all the evidence of history1 is        
scarcely more credible to us than a     
motor-car throbbing in the agora would  
have been to ,socrates4  ,by sheer      

inadvertence1 therefore1 ,plato         
commenced the tradition of ,utopias     
without machinery1 a tradition we find  
,morris still loyally following1 except 
for certain mechanical barges and       
such-like toys1 in his ,news from       
,nowhere4 ,there are some foreshadowings
 of mechanical possibilities in the ,new
 ,atlantis1 but it is only in the       
nineteenth century that ,utopias        
appeared in which the fact is clearly   
recognised that the social fabric rests 
no longer upon human labour4 ,it was1 ,i
 believe1 ,cabet ,footnote3 ,cabet1     
,voyage en ,icarie1 #ahdh4 who first in 
a ,utopian work insisted upon the escape
 of man from irksome labours through the
 use of machinery4 ,he is the great     
primitive of modern ,utopias1 and       
,bellamy is his ,american equivalent4   
,hitherto1 either slave labour          
7,phaleas71 ,footnote3 ,aristotle's     
,politics1 ,bk4 ,,ii41 ,ch4 ,,viii4 or  
at least class distinctions involving   
unavoidable labour in the lower class1  

have been assumed--as ,plato does1 and  
as ,bacon in the ,new ,atlantis probably
 intended to do 7,more gave his         
,utopians bondsmen sans phrase for their
 most disagreeable toil72 or there      
is--as in ,morris and the outright      
,return-to-,nature ,utopians--a bold    
make-believe that all toil may be made a
 joy1 and with that a levelling down of 
all society to an equal participation in
 labour4 ,but indeed this is against all
 the observed behaviour of mankind4 ,it 
needed the ,olympian unworldliness of an
 irresponsible rich man of the          
shareholding type1 a ,ruskin or a       
,morris playing at life1 to imagine as  
much4 ,road-making under ,mr4 ,ruskin's 
auspices was a joy at ,oxford no doubt1 
and a distinction1 and it still remains 
a distinction2 it proved the least      
contagious of practices4 ,and ,hawthorne
 did not find bodily toil anything more 
than the curse the ,bible says it is1 at
 ,brook ,farm4 ,footnote3 ,the          
,blythedale ,experiment1 and see also   

his ,notebook4  ,if toil is a blessing1 
never was blessing so effectually       
disguised1 and the very people who tell 
us that1 hesitate to suggest more than a
 beautiful ease in the endless day of   
,heaven4 ,a certain amount of bodily or 
mental exercise1 a considerable amount  
of doing things under the direction of  
one's free imagination is quite another 
matter4 ,artistic production1 for       
example1 when it is at its best1 when a 
man is freely obeying himself1 and not  
troubling to please others1 is really   
not toil at all4 ,it is quite a         
different thing digging potatoes1 as    
boys say1 for a lark1 and digging them  
because otherwise you will starve1      
digging them day after day as a dull1   
unavoidable imperative4 ,the essence of 
toil is that imperative1 and the fact   
that the attention must cramp itself to 
the work in hand--that it excludes      
freedom1 and not that it involves       
fatigue4 ,so long as anything but a     
quasi-savage life depended upon toil1 so

 long was it hopeless to expect mankind 
to do anything but struggle to confer   
just as much of this blessing as        
possible upon one another4 ,but now that
 the new conditions physical science is 
bringing about1 not only dispense with  
man as a source of energy but supply the
 hope that all routine work may be made 
automatic1 it is becoming conceivable   
that presently there may be no need for 
anyone to toil habitually at all2 that a
 labouring class--that is to say1 a     
class of workers without personal       
initiative--will become unnecessary to  
the world of men4  ,the plain message   
physical science has for the world at   
large is this1 that were our political  
and social and moral devices only as    
well contrived to their ends as a       
linotype machine1 an antiseptic         
operating plant1 or an electric         
tram-car1 there need now at the present 
moment be no appreciable toil in the    
world1 and only the smallest fraction of
 the pain1 the fear1 and the anxiety    

that now makes human life so doubtful in
 its value4 ,there is more than enough  
for everyone alive4 ,science stands1 a  
too competent servant1 behind her       
wrangling underbred masters1 holding out
 resources1 devices1 and remedies they  
are too stupid to use4 ,footnote3 ,see  
that most suggestive little book1       
,twentieth ,century ,inventions1 by ,mr4
 ,george ,sutherland4 ,and on its       
material side a modern ,utopia must     
needs present these gifts as taken1 and 
show a world that is really abolishing  
the need of labour1 abolishing the last 
base reason for anyone's servitude or   
inferiority4   ,section #g  ,the        
effectual abolition of a labouring and  
servile class will make itself felt in  
every detail of the inn that will       
shelter us1 of the bedrooms we shall    
occupy4 ,you conceive my awakening to   
all these things on the morning after   
our arrival4 ,i shall lie for a minute  
or so with my nose peeping over the     
coverlet1 agreeably and gently coming   

awake1 and with some vague nightmare of 
sitting at a common table with an       
unavoidable dustman in green and gold   
called ,boffin1 ,footnote3 ,vide        
,william ,morris's ,news from ,nowhere4 
fading out of my mind4 ,then ,i should  
start up4 ,you figure my apprehensive1  
startled inspection of my chamber4      
,where am ,i8 that classic phrase1      
recurs4 ,then ,i perceive quite clearly 
that ,i am in bed in ,utopia4  ,utopia6 
,the word is enough to bring anyone out 
of bed1 to the nearest window1 but      
thence ,i see no more than the great    
mountain mass behind the inn1 a very    
terrestrial looking mountain mass4 ,i   
return to the contrivances about me1 and
 make my examination as ,i dress1       
pausing garment in hand to hover over   
first this thing of interest and then   
that4  ,the room is1 of course1 very    
clear and clean and simple2 not by any  
means cheaply equipped1 but designed to 
economise the labour of redding and     
repair just as much as is possible4 ,it 

is beautifully proportioned1 and rather 
lower than most rooms ,i know on earth4 
,there is no fireplace1 and ,i am       
perplexed by that until ,i find a       
thermometer beside six switches on the  
wall4 ,above this switch-board is a     
brief instruction3 one switch warms the 
floor1 which is not carpeted1 but       
covered by a substance like soft        
oilcloth2 one warms the mattress 7which 
is of metal with resistance coils       
threaded to and fro in it72 and the     
others warm the wall in various degrees1
 each directing current through a       
separate system of resistances4 ,the    
casement does not open1 but above1 flush
 with the ceiling1 a noiseless rapid fan
 pumps air out of the room4 ,the air    
enters by a ,tobin shaft4 ,there is a   
recess dressing-room1 equipped with a   
bath and all that is necessary to one's 
toilette1 and the water1 one remarks1 is
 warmed1 if one desires it warm1 by     
passing it through an electrically      
heated spiral of tubing4 ,a cake of soap

 drops out of a store machine on the    
turn of a handle1 and when you have done
 with it1 you drop that and your soiled 
towels and so forth1 which also are     
given you by machines1 into a little    
box1 through the bottom of which they   
drop at once1 and sail down a smooth    
shaft4 ,a little notice tells you the   
price of your room1 and you gather the  
price is doubled if you do not leave the
 toilette as you found it4 ,beside the  
bed1 and to be lit at night by a handy  
switch over the pillow1 is a little     
clock1 its face flush with the wall4    
,the room has no corners to gather dirt1
 wall meets floor with a gentle curve1  
and the apartment could be swept out    
effectually by a few strokes of a       
mechanical sweeper4 ,the door frames and
 window frames are of metal1 rounded and
 impervious to draught4 ,you are        
politely requested to turn a handle at  
the foot of your bed before leaving the 
room1 and forthwith the frame turns up  
into a vertical position1 and the       

bedclothes hang airing4 ,you stand at   
the doorway and realise that there      
remains not a minute's work for anyone  
to do4 ,memories of the foetid disorder 
of many an earthly bedroom after a      
night's use float across your mind4     
,and you must not imagine this dustless1
 spotless1 sweet apartment as anything  
but beautiful4 ,its appearance is a     
little unfamiliar of course1 but all the
 muddle of dust-collecting hangings and 
witless ornament that cover the earthly 
bedroom1 the valances1 the curtains to  
check the draught from the ill-fitting  
wood windows1 the worthless irrelevant  
pictures1 usually a little askew1 the   
dusty carpets1 and all the paraphernalia
 about the dirty1 black-leaded fireplace
 are gone4 ,but the faintly tinted walls
 are framed with just one clear coloured
 line1 as finely placed as the member of
 a ,greek capital2 the door handles and 
the lines of the panels of the door1 the
 two chairs1 the framework of the bed1  
the writing table1 have all that final  

simplicity1 that exquisite finish of    
contour that is begotten of sustained   
artistic effort4 ,the graciously shaped 
windows each frame a picture--since they
 are draughtless the window seats are no
 mere mockeries as are the window seats 
of earth--and on the sill1 the sole     
thing to need attention in the room1 is 
one little bowl of blue ,alpine flowers4
  ,the same exquisite simplicity meets  
one downstairs4  ,our landlord sits down
 at table with us for a moment1 and     
seeing we do not understand the         
electrically heated coffee-pot before   
us1 shows us what to do4 ,coffee and    
milk we have1 in the ,continental       
fashion1 and some excellent rolls and   
butter4  ,he is a swarthy little man1   
our landlord1 and overnight we saw him  
preoccupied with other guests4 ,but we  
have risen either late or early by      
,utopian standards1 we know not which1  
and this morning he has us to himself4  
,his bearing is kindly and inoffensive1 
but he cannot conceal the curiosity that

 possesses him4 ,his eye meets ours with
 a mute inquiry1 and then as we fall to1
 we catch him scrutinising our cuffs1   
our garments1 our boots1 our faces1 our 
table manners4 ,he asks nothing at      
first1 but says a word or so about our  
night's comfort and the day's weather1  
phrases that have an air of being       
customary4 ,then comes a silence that is
 interrogative4  ,excellent coffee1 ,i  
say to fill the gap4  ,and excellent    
rolls1 says my botanist4  ,our landlord 
indicates his sense of our approval4  ,a
 momentary diversion is caused by the   
entry of an elfin-tressed little girl1  
who stares at us half impudently1 half  
shyly1 with bright black eyes1 hesitates
 at the botanist's clumsy smile and nod1
 and then goes and stands by her father 
and surveys us steadfastly4  ,you have  
come far8 ventures our landlord1 patting
 his daughter's shoulder4  ,i glance at 
the botanist4 ,yes1 ,i say1 we have4  ,i
 expand4 ,we have come so far that this 
country of yours seems very strange     

indeed to us4  ,the mountains8  ,not    
only the mountains4  ,you came up out of
 the ,ticino valley8  ,no--not that way4
  ,by the ,oberalp8  ,no4  ,the ,furka8 
,no4  ,not up from the lake8  ,no4  ,he 
looks puzzled4  ,we came1 ,i say1 from  
another world4  ,he seems trying to     
understand4 ,then a thought strikes him1
 and he sends away his little girl with 
a needless message to her mother4  ,ah6 
he says4 ,another world--eh8            
,meaning----8  ,another world--far in   
the deeps of space4  ,then at the       
expression of his face one realises that
 a ,modern ,utopia will probably keep   
its more intelligent citizens for better
 work than inn-tending4 ,he is evidently
 inaccessible to the idea we think of   
putting before him4 ,he stares at us a  
moment1 and then remarks1 ,there's the  
book to sign4  ,we find ourselves       
confronted with a book1 a little after  
the fashion of the familiar hotel       
visitors' book of earth4 ,he places this
 before us1 and beside it puts pen and  

ink and a slab1 upon which ink has been 
freshly smeared4  ,thumbmarks1 says my  
scientific friend hastily in ,english4  
,you show me how to do it1 ,i say as    
quickly4  ,he signs first1 and ,i look  
over his shoulder4  ,he is displaying   
more readiness than ,i should have      
expected4 ,the book is ruled in broad   
transverse lines1 and has a space for a 
name1 for a number1 and a thumbmark4 ,he
 puts his thumb upon the slab and makes 
the thumbmark first with the utmost     
deliberation4 ,meanwhile he studies the 
other two entries4 ,the numbers of the  
previous guests above are complex       
muddles of letters and figures4 ,he     
writes his name1 then with a calm       
assurance writes down his number1       
,a4,m4a4#afjg4b4;ab4 ,i am wrung with   
momentary admiration4 ,i follow his     
example1 and fabricate an equally       
imposing signature4 ,we think ourselves 
very clever4 ,the landlord proffers     
finger bowls for our thumbs1 and his eye
 goes1 just a little curiously1 to our  

entries4  ,i decide it is advisable to  
pay and go before any conversation about
 our formulae arises4  ,as we emerge    
into the corridor1 and the morning      
sunlight of the ,utopian world1 ,i see  
the landlord bending over the book4     
,come on1 ,i say4 ,the most tiresome    
thing in the world is explanations1 and 
,i perceive that if we do not get along1
 they will fall upon us now4  ,i glance 
back to discover the landlord and a     
gracefully robed woman standing outside 
the pretty simplicity of the ,utopian   
inn1 watching us doubtfully as we       
recede4  ,come on1 ,i insist4   ,section
 #h  ,we should go towards the          
,schoellenen gorge1 and as we went1 our 
fresh morning senses would gather       
together a thousand factors for our     
impression of this more civilised world4
 ,a ,modern ,utopia will have done with 
yapping about nationality1 and so the   
ugly fortifications1 the barracks and   
military defilements of the earthly vale
 of ,urseren will be wanting4 ,instead  

there will be a great multitude of      
gracious little houses clustering in    
college-like groups1 no doubt about     
their common kitchens and halls1 down   
and about the valley slopes4 ,and there 
will be many more trees1 and a great    
variety of trees--all the world will    
have been ransacked for winter conifers4
 ,despite the height of the valley there
 will be a double avenue along the road4
 ,this high road with its tramway would 
turn with us to descend the gorge1 and  
we should hesitate upon the adventure of
 boarding the train4 ,but now we should 
have the memory of our landlord's       
curious eye upon us1 and we should      
decide at last to defer the risk of     
explanations such an enterprise might   
precipitate4  ,we should go by the great
 road for a time1 and note something of 
the difference between ,utopian and     
terrestrial engineering4  ,the tramway1 
the train road1 the culverts1 and       
bridges1 the ,urnerloch tunnel1 into    
which the road plunges1 will all be     

beautiful things4  ,there is nothing in 
machinery1 there is nothing in          
embankments and railways and iron       
bridges and engineering devices to      
oblige them to be ugly4 ,ugliness is the
 measure of imperfection2 a thing of    
human making is for the most part ugly  
in proportion to the poverty of its     
constructive thought1 to the failure of 
its producer fully to grasp the purpose 
of its being4 ,everything to which men  
continue to give thought and attention1 
which they make and remake in the same  
direction1 and with a continuing desire 
to do as well as they can1 grows        
beautiful inevitably4 ,things made by   
mankind under modern conditions are     
ugly1 primarily because our social      
organisation is ugly1 because we live in
 an atmosphere of snatch and            
uncertainty1 and do everything in an    
underbred strenuous manner4 ,this is the
 misfortune of machinery1 and not its   
fault4 ,art1 like some beautiful plant1 
lives on its atmosphere1 and when the   

atmosphere is good1 it will grow        
everywhere1 and when it is bad nowhere4 
,if we smashed and buried every machine1
 every furnace1 every factory in the    
world1 and without any further change   
set ourselves to home industries1 hand  
labour1 spade husbandry1 sheep-folding  
and pig minding1 we should still do     
things in the same haste1 and achieve   
nothing but dirtiness1 inconvenience1   
bad air1 and another gaunt and gawky    
reflection of our intellectual and moral
 disorder4 ,we should mend nothing4     
,but in ,utopia a man who designs a tram
 road will be a cultivated man1 an      
artist craftsman2 he will strive1 as a  
good writer1 or a painter strives1 to   
achieve the simplicity of perfection4   
,he will make his girders and rails and 
parts as gracious as that first         
engineer1 ,nature1 has made the stems of
 her plants and the joints and gestures 
of her animals4 ,to esteem him a sort of
 anti-artist1 to count every man who    
makes things with his unaided thumbs an 

artist1 and every man who uses machinery
 as a brute1 is merely a passing phase  
of human stupidity4 ,this tram road     
beside us will be a triumph of design4  
,the idea will be so unfamiliar to us   
that for a time it will not occur to us 
that it is a system of beautiful objects
 at all4 ,we shall admire its ingenious 
adaptation to the need of a district    
that is buried half the year in snow1   
the hard bed below1 curved and guttered 
to do its own clearing1 the great arched
 sleeper masses1 raising the rails a    
good two yards above the ground1 the    
easy1 simple standards and insulators4  
,then it will creep in upon our minds1  
,but1 by ,jove6 ,this is designed6      
,indeed the whole thing will be         
designed4  ,later on1 perhaps1 we may   
find students in an art school working  
in competition to design an electric    
tram1 students who know something of    
modern metallurgy1 and something of     
electrical engineering1 and we shall    
find people as keenly critical of a     

signal box or an iron bridge as they are
 on earth of----6 ,heavens6 what are    
they critical about on earth8  ,the     
quality and condition of a dress tie6   
,we should make some unpatriotic        
comparisons with our own planet1 no     
doubt4    ,,chapter ,,the ,,fourth  ,the
 ,voice of ,nature   ,section #a        
,presently we recognise the fellow of   
the earthly ,devil's ,bridge1 still     
intact as a footway1 spanning the gorge1
 and old memories turn us off the road  
down the steep ruin of an ancient mule  
track towards it4 ,it is our first      
reminder that ,utopia too must have a   
history4 ,we cross it and find the      
,reuss1 for all that it has already lit 
and warmed and ventilated and cleaned   
several thousands of houses in the dale 
above1 and for all that it drives those 
easy trams in the gallery overhead1 is  
yet capable of as fine a cascade as ever
 it flung on earth4 ,so we come to a    
rocky path1 wild as one could wish1 and 
descend1 discoursing how good and fair  

an ordered world may be1 but with a     
certain unformulated qualification in   
our minds about those thumb marks we    
have left behind4  ,do you recall the   
,zermatt valley8 says my friend1 and how
 on earth it reeks and stinks with      
smoke8  ,people make that an argument   
for obstructing change1 instead of      
helping it forward6  ,and here perforce 
an episode intrudes4 ,we are invaded by 
a talkative person4  ,he overtakes us   
and begins talking forthwith in a fluty1
 but not unamiable1 tenor4 ,he is a     
great talker1 this man1 and a fairly    
respectable gesticulator1 and to him it 
is we make our first ineffectual        
tentatives at explaining who indeed we  
are2 but his flow of talk washes that   
all away again4 ,he has a face of that  
rubicund1 knobby type ,i have heard an  
indignant mineralogist speak of as      
botryoidal1 and about it waves a        
quantity of disorderly blond hair4 ,he  
is dressed in leather doublet and knee  
breeches1 and he wears over these a     

streaming woollen cloak of faded crimson
 that give him a fine dramatic outline  
as he comes down towards us over the    
rocks4 ,his feet1 which are large and   
handsome1 but bright pink with the keen 
morning air1 are bare1 except for       
sandals of leather4 7,it was the only   
time that we saw anyone in ,utopia with 
bare feet47 ,he salutes us with a       
scroll-like waving of his stick1 and    
falls in with our slower paces4         
,climbers1 ,i presume8 he says1 and you 
scorn these trams of theirs8 ,i like    
you4 ,so do ,i6 ,why a man should       
consent to be dealt with as a bale of   
goods holding an indistinctive          
ticket--when ,god gave him legs and a   
face--passes my understanding4  ,as he  
speaks1 his staff indicates the great   
mechanical road that runs across the    
gorge and high overhead through a       
gallery in the rock1 follows it along   
until it turns the corner1 picks it up  
as a viaduct far below1 traces it until 
it plunges into an arcade through a     

jutting crag1 and there dismisses it    
with a spiral whirl4 ,no6 he says4  ,he 
seems sent by ,providence1 for just now 
we had been discussing how we should    
broach our remarkable situation to these
 ,utopians before our money is spent4   
,our eyes meet1 and ,i gather from the  
botanist that ,i am to open our case4   
,i do my best4  ,you came from the other
 side of space6 says the man in the     
crimson cloak1 interrupting me4         
,precisely6 ,i like that--it's exactly  
my note6 ,so do ,i6 ,and you find this  
world strange6 ,exactly my case6 ,we are
 brothers6 ,we shall be in sympathy4 ,i 
am amazed1 ,i have been amazed as long  
as ,i can remember1 and ,i shall die1   
most certainly1 in a state of           
incredulous amazement1 at this          
remarkable world4 ,eh8 444 ,you found   
yourselves suddenly upon a mountain top6
 ,fortunate men6 ,he chuckled4 ,for my  
part ,i found myself in the still       
stranger position of infant to two      
parents of the most intractable         

dispositions6  ,the fact remains1 ,i    
protest4  ,a position1 ,i can assure    
you1 demanding ,tact of an altogether   
superhuman quality6  ,we desist for a   
space from the attempt to explain our   
remarkable selves1 and for the rest of  
the time this picturesque and           
exceptional ,utopian takes the talk     
entirely under his control4444          
,section #b  ,an agreeable person1      
though a little distracting1 he was1 and
 he talked1 we recall1 of many things4  
,he impressed us1 we found afterwards1  
as a poseur beyond question1 a conscious
 ,ishmaelite in the world of wit1 and in
 some subtly inexplicable way as a most 
consummate ass4 ,he talked first of the 
excellent and commodious trams that came
 from over the passes1 and ran down the 
long valley towards middle ,switzerland1
 and of all the growth of pleasant homes
 and chalets amidst the heights that    
made the opening gorge so different from
 its earthly parallel1 with a fine      
disrespect4 ,but they are beautiful1 ,i 

protested4 ,they are graciously         
proportioned1 they are placed in        
well-chosen positions2 they give no     
offence to the eye4  ,what do we know of
 the beauty they replace8 ,they are a   
mere rash4 ,why should we men play the  
part of bacteria upon the face of our   
,mother8  ,all life is that6  ,no6 not  
natural life1 not the plants and the    
gentle creatures that live their wild   
shy lives in forest and jungle4 ,that is
 a part of her4 ,that is the natural    
bloom of her complexion4 ,but these     
houses and tramways and things1 all made
 from ore and stuff torn from her       
veins----6 ,you can't better my image of
 the rash4 ,it's a morbid breaking out6 
,i'd give it all for one--what is       
it8--free and natural chamois4  ,you    
live at times in a house8 ,i asked4  ,he
 ignored my question4 ,for him1         
untroubled ,nature was the best1 he     
said1 and1 with a glance at his feet1   
the most beautiful4 ,he professed       
himself a ,nazarite1 and shook back his 

,teutonic poet's shock of hair4 ,so he  
came to himself1 and for the rest of our
 walk he kept to himself as the thread  
of his discourse1 and went over himself 
from top to toe1 and strung thereon all 
topics under the sun by way of          
illustrating his splendours4 ,but       
especially his foil was the relative    
folly1 the unnaturalness and want of    
logic in his fellow men4 ,he held strong
 views about the extreme simplicity of  
everything1 only that men1 in their     
muddle-headedness1 had confounded it    
all4 ,hence1 for example1 these trams6  
,they are always running up and down as 
though they were looking for the lost   
simplicity of nature4 ',we dropped it   
here6' ,he earned a living1 we gathered1
 some considerable way above the minimum
 wage1 which threw a chance light on the
 labour problem--by perforating records 
for automatic musical machines--no doubt
 of the ,pianotist and ,pianola         
kind--and he spent all the leisure he   
could gain in going to and fro in the   

earth lecturing on ,the ,need of a      
,return to ,nature1 and on ,simple      
,foods and ,simple ,ways4 ,he did it for
 the love of it4 ,it was very clear to  
us he had an inordinate impulse to      
lecture1 and esteemed us fair game4 ,he 
had been lecturing on these topics in   
,italy1 and he was now going back       
through the mountains to lecture in     
,saxony1 lecturing on the way1 to       
perforate a lot more records1 lecturing 
the while1 and so start out lecturing   
again4 ,he was undisguisedly glad to    
have us to lecture to by the way4  ,he  
called our attention to his costume at  
an early stage4 ,it was the embodiment  
of his ideal of ,nature-clothing1 and it
 had been made especially for him at    
very great cost4 ,simply because        
naturalness has fled the earth1 and has 
to be sought now1 and washed out from   
your crushed complexities like gold4  ,i
 should have thought1 said ,i1 that any 
clothing whatever was something of a    
slight upon the natural man4  ,not at   

all1 said he1 not at all6 ,you forget   
his natural vanity6  ,he was            
particularly severe on our artificial   
hoofs1 as he called our boots1 and our  
hats or hair destructors4 ,man is the   
real ,king of ,beasts and should wear a 
mane4 ,the lion only wears it by consent
 and in captivity4 ,he tossed his head4 
,subsequently while we lunched and he   
waited for the specific natural dishes  
he ordered--they taxed the culinary     
resources of the inn to the utmost--he  
broached a comprehensive generalisation4
 ,the animal kingdom and the vegetable  
kingdom are easily distinguished1 and   
for the life of me ,i see no reason for 
confusing them4 ,it is1 ,i hold1 a sin  
against ,nature4 ,i keep them distinct  
in my mind and ,i keep them distinct in 
my person4 ,no animal substance inside1 
no vegetable without2--what could be    
simpler or more logical8 ,nothing upon  
me but leather and allwool garments1    
within1 cereals1 fruit1 nuts1 herbs1 and
 the like4 ,classification--order--man's

 function4 ,he is here to observe and   
accentuate ,nature's simplicity4 ,these 
people--he swept an arm that tried not  
too personally to include us--are filled
 and covered with confusion4  ,he ate   
great quantities of grapes and finished 
with a cigarette4 ,he demanded and drank
 a great horn of unfermented grape      
juice1 and it seemed to suit him well4  
,we three sat about the board--it was in
 an agreeable little arbour on a hill   
hard by the place where ,wassen stands  
on earth1 and it looked down the valley 
to the ,uri ,rothstock1 and ever and    
again we sought to turn his undeniable  
gift of exposition to the elucidation of
 our own difficulties4  ,but we seemed  
to get little1 his style was so elusive4
 ,afterwards1 indeed1 we found much     
information and many persuasions had    
soaked into us1 but at the time it      
seemed to us he told us nothing4 ,he    
indicated things by dots and dashes1    
instead of by good hard assertive lines4
 ,he would not pause to see how little  

we knew4 ,sometimes his wit rose so high
 that he would lose sight of it himself1
 and then he would pause1 purse his lips
 as if he whistled1 and then till the   
bird came back to the lure1 fill his    
void mouth with grapes4 ,he talked of   
the relations of the sexes1 and love--a 
passion he held in great contempt as    
being in its essence complex and        
disingenuous--and afterwards we found we
 had learnt much of what the marriage   
laws of ,utopia allow and forbid4  ,a   
simple natural freedom1 he said1 waving 
a grape in an illustrative manner1 and  
so we gathered the ,modern ,utopia did  
not at any rate go to that4 ,he spoke1  
too1 of the regulation of unions1 of    
people who were not allowed to have     
children1 of complicated rules and      
interventions4 ,man1 he said1 had ceased
 to be a natural product6  ,we tried to 
check him with questions at this most   
illuminating point1 but he drove on like
 a torrent1 and carried his topic out of
 sight4 ,the world1 he held1 was        

overmanaged1 and that was the root of   
all evil4 ,he talked of the             
overmanagement of the world1 and among  
other things of the laws that would not 
let a poor simple idiot1 a natural1 go  
at large4 ,and so we had our first      
glimpse of what ,utopia did with the    
feeble and insane4 ,we make all these   
distinctions between man and man1 we    
exalt this and favour that1 and degrade 
and seclude that2 we make birth         
artificial1 life artificial1 death      
artificial4  ,you say ,we1 said ,i1 with
 the first glimmering of a new idea1 but
 you don't participate8  ,not ,i6 ,i'm  
not one of your samurai1 your voluntary 
noblemen who have taken the world in    
hand4 ,i might be1 of course1 but ,i'm  
not4  ,samurai6 ,i repeated1 voluntary  
noblemen6 and for the moment could not  
frame a question4  ,he whirled on to an 
attack on science1 that stirred the     
botanist to controversy4 ,he denounced  
with great bitterness all specialists   
whatever1 and particularly doctors and  

engineers4  ,voluntary noblemen6 he     
said1 voluntary ,gods ,i fancy they     
think themselves1 and ,i was left behind
 for a space in the perplexed           
examination of this parenthesis1 while  
he and the botanist--who is sedulous to 
keep his digestion up to date with all  
the newest devices--argued about the    
good of medicine men4  ,the natural     
human constitution1 said the            
blond-haired man1 is perfectly simple1  
with one simple condition--you must     
leave it to ,nature4 ,but if you mix up 
things so distinctly and essentially    
separated as the animal and vegetable   
kingdoms for example1 and ram that in   
for it to digest1 what can you expect8  
,ill health6 ,there isn't such a        
thing--in the course of ,nature4 ,but   
you shelter from ,nature in houses1 you 
protect yourselves by clothes that are  
useful instead of being ornamental1 you 
wash--with such abstersive chemicals as 
soap for example--and above all you     
consult doctors4 ,he approved himself   

with a chuckle4 ,have you ever found    
anyone seriously ill without doctors and
 medicine about8 ,never6 ,you say a lot 
of people would die without shelter and 
medical attendance6 ,no doubt--but a    
natural death4 ,a natural death is      
better than an artificial life1 surely8 
,that's--to be frank with you--the very 
citadel of my position4  ,that led him1 
and rather promptly1 before the botanist
 could rally to reply1 to a great tirade
 against the laws that forbade sleeping 
out4 ,he denounced them with great      
vigour1 and alleged that for his own    
part he broke that law whenever he      
could1 found some corner of moss1 shaded
 from an excess of dew1 and there sat up
 to sleep4 ,he slept1 he said1 always in
 a sitting position1 with his head on   
his wrists1 and his wrists on his       
knees--the simple natural position for  
sleep in man4444 ,he said it would be   
far better if all the world slept out1  
and all the houses were pulled down4    
,you will understand1 perhaps1 the      

subdued irritation ,i felt1 as ,i sat   
and listened to the botanist entangling 
himself in the logical net of this wild 
nonsense4 ,it impressed me as being     
irrelevant4 ,when one comes to a ,utopia
 one expects a ,cicerone1 one expects a 
person as precise and insistent and     
instructive as an ,american             
advertisement--the advertisement of one 
of those land agents1 for example1 who  
print their own engaging photographs to 
instil confidence and begin1 ,you want  
to buy real estate4 ,one expects to find
 all ,utopians absolutely convinced of  
the perfection of their ,utopia1 and    
incapable of receiving a hint against   
its order4 ,and here was this purveyor  
of absurdities6  ,and yet now that ,i   
come to think it over1 is not this too  
one of the necessary differences between
 a ,modern ,utopia and those finite     
compact settlements of the older school 
of dreamers8 ,it is not to be a         
unanimous world any more1 it is to have 
all and more of the mental contrariety  

we find in the world of the real2 it is 
no longer to be perfectly explicable1 it
 is just our own vast mysterious welter1
 with some of the blackest shadows gone1
 with a clearer illumination1 and a more
 conscious and intelligent will4        
,irrelevance is not irrelevant to such a
 scheme1 and our blond-haired friend is 
exactly just where he ought to be here4 
,still----   ,section #c  ,i ceased to  
listen to the argumentation of my       
botanist with this apostle of ,nature4  
,the botanist1 in his scientific way1   
was1 ,i believe1 defending the learned  
professions4 7,he thinks and argues like
 drawing on squared paper47 ,it struck  
me as transiently remarkable that a man 
who could not be induced to forget      
himself and his personal troubles on    
coming into a whole new world1 who could
 waste our first evening in ,utopia upon
 a paltry egotistical love story1 should
 presently become quite heated and      
impersonal in the discussion of         
scientific professionalism4 ,he         

was--absorbed4 ,i can't attempt to      
explain these vivid spots and blind     
spots in the imaginations of sane men2  
there they are6  ,you say1 said the     
botanist1 with a prevalent index finger1
 and the resolute deliberation of a big 
siege gun being lugged into action over 
rough ground by a number of             
inexperienced men1 you prefer a natural 
death to an artificial life4 ,but what  
is your definition 7stress7 of          
artificial8 444  ,and after lunch too6  
,i ceased to listen1 flicked the end of 
my cigarette ash over the green trellis 
of the arbour1 stretched my legs with a 
fine restfulness1 leant back1 and gave  
my mind to the fields and houses that   
lay adown the valley4  ,what ,i saw     
interwove with fragmentary things our   
garrulous friend had said1 and with the 
trend of my own speculations4444  ,the  
high road1 with its tramways and its    
avenues on either side1 ran in a bold   
curve1 and with one great loop of       
descent1 down the opposite side of the  

valley1 and below crossed again on a    
beautiful viaduct1 and dipped into an   
arcade in the side of the ,bristenstock4
 ,our inn stood out boldly1 high above  
the level this took4 ,the houses        
clustered in their collegiate groups    
over by the high road1 and near the     
subordinate way that ran almost         
vertically below us and past us and up  
towards the valley of the ,meien ,reuss4
 ,there were one or two ,utopians       
cutting and packing the flowery mountain
 grass in the carefully levelled and    
irrigated meadows by means of swift1    
light machines that ran on things like  
feet and seemed to devour the herbage1  
and there were many children and a woman
 or so1 going to and fro among the      
houses near at hand4 ,i guessed a       
central building towards the high road  
must be the school from which these     
children were coming4 ,i noted the      
health and cleanliness of these young   
heirs of ,utopia as they passed below4  
,the pervading quality of the whole     

scene was a sane order1 the deliberate  
solution of problems1 a progressive     
intention steadily achieving itself1 and
 the aspect that particularly occupied  
me was the incongruity of this with our 
blond-haired friend4  ,on the one hand  
here was a state of affairs that implied
 a power of will1 an organising and     
controlling force1 the co-operation of a
 great number of vigorous people to     
establish and sustain its progress1 and 
on the other this creature of pose and  
vanity1 with his restless wit1 his      
perpetual giggle at his own cleverness1 
his manifest incapacity for             
comprehensive co-operation4  ,now1 had  
,i come upon a hopeless incompatibility8
 ,was this the reductio ad absurdum of  
my vision1 and must it even as ,i sat   
there fade1 dissolve1 and vanish before 
my eyes8  ,there was no denying our     
blond friend4 ,if this ,utopia is indeed
 to parallel our earth1 man for man--and
 ,i see no other reasonable choice to   
that--there must be this sort of person 

and kindred sorts of persons in great   
abundance4 ,the desire and gift to see  
life whole is not the lot of the great  
majority of men1 the service of truth is
 the privilege of the elect1 and these  
clever fools who choke the avenues of   
the world of thought1 who stick at no   
inconsistency1 who oppose1 obstruct1    
confuse1 will find only the freer scope 
amidst ,utopian freedoms4  7,they argued
 on1 these two1 as ,i worried my brains 
with riddles4 ,it was like a fight      
between a cock sparrow and a tortoise2  
they both went on in their own way1     
regardless of each other's proceedings4 
,the encounter had an air of being      
extremely lively1 and the moments of    
contact were few4 ,but you mistake my   
point1 the blond man was saying1        
disordering his hair--which had become  
unruffled in the preoccupation of       
dispute--with a hasty movement of his   
hand1 you don't appreciate the position 
,i take up47  ,ugh6 said ,i privately1  
and lighted another cigarette and went  

away into my own thoughts with that4    
,the position he takes up6 ,that's the  
way of your intellectual fool1 the      
,universe over4 ,he takes up a position1
 and he's going to be the most          
brilliant1 delightful1 engaging and     
invincible of gay delicious creatures   
defending that position you can possibly
 imagine4 ,and even when the case is not
 so bad as that1 there still remains the
 quality4 ,we take up our positions1    
silly little contentious creatures that 
we are1 we will not see the right in one
 another1 we will not patiently state   
and restate1 and honestly accommodate   
and plan1 and so we remain at sixes and 
sevens4 ,we've all a touch of ,gladstone
 in us1 and try to the last moment to   
deny we have made a turn4 ,and so our   
poor broken-springed world jolts athwart
 its trackless destiny4 ,try to win into
 line with some fellow weakling1 and see
 the little host of suspicions1         
aggressions1 misrepresentations1 your   
approach will stir--like summer flies on

 a high road--the way he will try to    
score a point and claim you as a convert
 to what he has always said1 his fear   
lest the point should be scored to you4 
,it is not only such gross and palpable 
cases as our blond and tenoring friend4 
,i could find the thing negligible were 
it only that4 ,but when one sees the    
same thread woven into men who are      
leaders1 men who sway vast multitudes1  
who are indeed great and powerful men2  
when one sees how unfair they can be1   
how unteachable1 the great blind areas  
in their eyes also1 their want of       
generosity1 then one's doubts gather    
like mists across this ,utopian valley1 
its vistas pale1 its people become      
unsubstantial phantoms1 all its order   
and its happiness dim and recede4444    
,if we are to have any ,utopia at all1  
we must have a clear common purpose1 and
 a great and steadfast movement of will 
to override all these incurably         
egotistical dissentients4 ,something is 
needed wide and deep enough to float the

 worst of egotisms away4 ,the world is  
not to be made right by acclamation and 
in a day1 and then for ever more trusted
 to run alone4 ,it is manifest this     
,utopia could not come about by chance  
and anarchy1 but by co-ordinated effort 
and a community of design1 and to tell  
of just land laws and wise government1 a
 wisely balanced economic system1 and   
wise social arrangements without telling
 how it was brought about1 and how it is
 sustained against the vanity and       
self-indulgence1 the moody fluctuations 
and uncertain imaginations1 the heat and
 aptitude for partisanship that lurk1   
even when they do not flourish1 in the  
texture of every man alive1 is to build 
a palace without either door or         
staircase4  ,i had not this in mind when
 ,i began4  ,somewhere in the ,modern   
,utopia there must be adequate men1 men 
the very antithesis of our friend1      
capable of self-devotion1 of intentional
 courage1 of honest thought1 and steady 
endeavour4 ,there must be a literature  

to embody their common idea1 of which   
this ,modern ,utopia is merely the      
material form2 there must be some       
organisation1 however slight1 to keep   
them in touch one with the other4  ,who 
will these men be8 ,will they be a      
caste8 a race8 an organisation in the   
nature of a ,church8 444 ,and there came
 into my mind the words of our          
acquaintance1 that he was not one of    
these voluntary noblemen4  ,at first    
that phrase struck me as being merely   
queer1 and then ,i began to realise     
certain possibilities that were wrapped 
up in it4  ,the animus of our chance    
friend1 at any rate1 went to suggest    
that here was his antithesis4 ,evidently
 what he is not1 will be the class to   
contain what is needed here4 ,evidently4
   ,section #d  ,i was recalled from my 
meditations by the hand of the          
blond-haired man upon my arm4  ,i looked
 up to discover the botanist had gone   
into the inn4  ,the blond-haired man was
 for a moment almost stripped of pose4  

,i say1 he said4 ,weren't you listening 
to me8  ,no1 ,i said bluntly4  ,his     
surprise was manifest4 ,but by an effort
 he recalled what he had meant to say4  
,your friend1 he said1 has been telling 
me1 in spite of my sustained            
interruptions1 a most incredible story4 
,i wondered how the botanist managed to 
get it in4 ,about that woman8 ,i said4  
,about a man and a woman who hate each  
other and can't get away from each      
other4  ,i know1 ,i said4  ,it sounds   
absurd4  ,it is4  ,why can't they get   
away8 ,what is there to keep them       
together8 ,it's ridiculous4 ,i----      
,quite4  ,he would tell it to me4  ,it's
 his way4  ,he interrupted me4 ,and     
there's no point in it4 ,is he---- he   
hesitated1 mad8  ,there's a whole world 
of people mad with him1 ,i answered     
after a pause4  ,the perplexed          
expression of the blond-haired man      
intensified4 ,it is vain to deny that he
 enlarged the scope of his inquiry1     
visibly if not verbally4 ,dear me6 he   

said1 and took up something he had      
nearly forgotten4 ,and you found        
yourselves suddenly on a mountain side8 
444 ,i thought you were joking4  ,i     
turned round upon him with a sudden     
access of earnestness4 ,at least ,i     
meant my manner to be earnest1 but to   
him it may have seemed wild4  ,you1 ,i  
said1 are an original sort of man4 ,do  
not be alarmed4 ,perhaps you will       
understand4444 ,we were not joking4     
,but1 my dear fellow6  ,i mean it6 ,we  
come from an inferior world6 ,like this1
 but out of order4  ,no world could be  
more out of order----  ,you play at that
 and have your fun4 ,but there's no     
limit to the extent to which a world of 
men may get out of gear4 ,in our        
world----  ,he nodded1 but his eye had  
ceased to be friendly4  ,men die of     
starvation2 people die by the hundred   
thousand needlessly and painfully2 men  
and women are lashed together to make   
hell for each other2 children are       
born--abominably1 and reared in cruelty 

and folly2 there is a thing called war1 
a horror of blood and vileness4 ,the    
whole thing seems to me at times a cruel
 and wasteful wilderness of muddle4 ,you
 in this decent world have no means of  
understanding----  ,no8 he said1 and    
would have begun1 but ,i went on too    
quickly4  ,no6 ,when ,i see you         
dandering through this excellent and    
hopeful world1 objecting1 obstructing1  
and breaking the law1 displaying your   
wit on science and order1 on the men who
 toil so ingloriously to swell and use  
the knowledge that is salvation1 this   
salvation for which our poor world cries
 to heaven----  ,you don't mean to say1 
he said1 that you really come from some 
other world where things are different  
and worse8  ,i do4  ,and you want to    
talk to me about it instead of listening
 to me8  ,yes4  ,oh1 nonsense6 he said  
abruptly4 ,you can't do it--really4 ,i  
can assure you this present world       
touches the nadir of imbecility4 ,you   
and your friend1 with his love for the  

lady who's so mysteriously tied--you're 
romancing6 ,people could not possibly do
 such things4 ,it's--if you'll excuse   
me--ridiculous4 ,he began--he would     
begin4 ,a most tiresome story--simply   
bore me down4 ,we'd been talking very   
agreeably before that1 or rather ,i had1
 about the absurdity of marriage laws1  
the interference with a free and natural
 life1 and so on1 and suddenly he burst 
like a dam4 ,no6 ,he paused4 ,it's      
really impossible4 ,you behave perfectly
 well for a time1 and then you begin to 
interrupt4444 ,and such a childish      
story1 too6  ,he spun round upon his    
chair1 got up1 glanced at me over his   
shoulder1 and walked out of the arbour4 
,he stepped aside hastily to avoid too  
close an approach to the returning      
botanist4 ,impossible1 ,i heard him say4
 ,he was evidently deeply aggrieved by  
us4 ,i saw him presently a little way   
off in the garden1 talking to the       
landlord of our inn1 and looking towards
 us as he talked--they both looked      

towards us--and after that1 without the 
ceremony of a farewell1 he disappeared1 
and we saw him no more4 ,we waited for  
him a little while1 and then ,i         
expounded the situation to the          
botanist4444  ,we are going to have a   
very considerable amount of trouble     
explaining ourselves1 ,i said in        
conclusion4 ,we are here by an act of   
the imagination1 and that is just one of
 those metaphysical operations that are 
so difficult to make credible4 ,we are1 
by the standard of bearing and clothing 
,i remark about us1 unattractive in     
dress and deportment4 ,we have nothing  
to produce to explain our presence here1
 no bit of a flying machine or a space  
travelling sphere or any of the         
apparatus customary on these occasions4 
,we have no means beyond a dwindling    
amount of small change out of a gold    
coin1 upon which ,i suppose in ethics   
and the law some native ,utopian had a  
better claim4 ,we may already have got  
ourselves into trouble with the         

authorities with that confounded number 
of yours6  ,you did one too6  ,all the  
more bother1 perhaps1 when the thing is 
brought home to us4 ,there's no need for
 recriminations4 ,the thing of moment is
 that we find ourselves in the          
position--not to put too fine a point   
upon it--of tramps in this admirable    
world4 ,the question of all others of   
importance to us at present is what do  
they do with their tramps8 ,because     
sooner or later1 and the balance of     
probability seems to incline to sooner1 
whatever they do with their tramps that 
they will do with us4  ,unless we can   
get some work4  ,exactly--unless we can 
get some work4  ,get work6  ,the        
botanist leant forward on his arms and  
looked out of the arbour with an        
expression of despondent discovery4 ,i  
say1 he remarked2 this is a strange     
world--quite strange and new4 ,i'm only 
beginning to realise just what it means 
for us4 ,the mountains there are the    
same1 the old ,bristenstock and all the 

rest of it2 but these houses1 you know1 
and that roadway1 and the costumes1 and 
that machine that is licking up the     
grass there--only4444  ,he sought       
expression4 ,who knows what will come in
 sight round the bend of the valley     
there8 ,who knows what may happen to us 
anywhere8 ,we don't know who rules over 
us even 444 we don't know that6  ,no1 ,i
 echoed1 we don't know that4            
,,chapter ,,the ,,fifth  ,failure in a  
,modern ,utopia   ,section #a  ,the old 
,utopias--save for the breeding schemes 
of ,plato and ,campanella--ignored that 
reproductive competition among          
individualities which is the substance  
of life1 and dealt essentially with its 
incidentals4 ,the endless variety of    
men1 their endless gradation of quality1
 over which the hand of selection plays1
 and to which we owe the unmanageable   
complication of real life1 is tacitly   
set aside4 ,the real world is a vast    
disorder of accidents and incalculable  
forces in which men survive or fail4 ,a 

,modern ,utopia1 unlike its             
predecessors1 dare not pretend to change
 the last condition2 it may order and   
humanise the conflict1 but men must     
still survive or fail4  ,most ,utopias  
present themselves as going concerns1 as
 happiness in being2 they make it an    
essential condition that a happy land   
can have no history1 and all the        
citizens one is permitted to see are    
well looking and upright and mentally   
and morally in tune4 ,but we are under  
the dominion of a logic that obliges us 
to take over the actual population of   
the world with only such moral and      
mental and physical improvements as lie 
within their inherent possibilities1 and
 it is our business to ask what ,utopia 
will do with its congenital invalids1   
its idiots and madmen1 its drunkards and
 men of vicious mind1 its cruel and     
furtive souls1 its stupid people1 too   
stupid to be of use to the community1   
its lumpish1 unteachable and            
unimaginative people8 ,and what will it 

do with the man who is poor all round1  
the rather spiritless1 rather           
incompetent low-grade man who on earth  
sits in the den of the sweater1 tramps  
the streets under the banner of the     
unemployed1 or trembles--in another     
man's cast-off clothing1 and with an    
infinity of hat-touching--on the verge  
of rural employment8  ,these people will
 have to be in the descendant phase1 the
 species must be engaged in eliminating 
them2 there is no escape from that1 and 
conversely the people of exceptional    
quality must be ascendant4 ,the better  
sort of people1 so far as they can be   
distinguished1 must have the fullest    
freedom of public service1 and the      
fullest opportunity of parentage4 ,and  
it must be open to every man to approve 
himself worthy of ascendency4  ,the way 
of ,nature in this process is to kill   
the weaker and the sillier1 to crush    
them1 to starve them1 to overwhelm them1
 using the stronger and more cunning as 
her weapon4 ,but man is the unnatural   

animal1 the rebel child of ,nature1 and 
more and more does he turn himself      
against the harsh and fitful hand that  
reared him4 ,he sees with a growing     
resentment the multitude of suffering   
ineffectual lives over which his species
 tramples in its ascent4 ,in the ,modern
 ,utopia he will have set himself to    
change the ancient law4 ,no longer will 
it be that failures must suffer and     
perish lest their breed increase1 but   
the breed of failure must not increase1 
lest they suffer and perish1 and the    
race with them4  ,now we need not argue 
here to prove that the resources of the 
world and the energy of mankind1 were   
they organised sanely1 are amply        
sufficient to supply every material need
 of every living human being4 ,and if it
 can be so contrived that every human   
being shall live in a state of          
reasonable physical and mental comfort1 
without the reproduction of inferior    
types1 there is no reason whatever why  
that should not be secured4 ,but there  

must be a competition in life of some   
sort to determine who are to be pushed  
to the edge1 and who are to prevail and 
multiply4 ,whatever we do1 man will     
remain a competitive creature1 and      
though moral and intellectual training  
may vary and enlarge his conception of  
success and fortify him with refinements
 and consolations1 no ,utopia will ever 
save him completely from the emotional  
drama of struggle1 from exultations and 
humiliations1 from pride and prostration
 and shame4 ,he lives in success and    
failure just as inevitably as he lives  
in space and time4  ,but we may do much 
to make the margin of failure endurable4
 ,on earth1 for all the extravagance of 
charity1 the struggle for the mass of   
men at the bottom resolves itself into a
 struggle1 and often a very foul and    
ugly struggle1 for food1 shelter1 and   
clothing4 ,deaths outright from exposure
 and starvation are now perhaps         
uncommon1 but for the multitude there   
are only miserable houses1 uncomfortable

 clothes1 and bad and insufficient food2
 fractional starvation and exposure1    
that is to say4 ,a ,utopia planned upon 
modern lines will certainly have put an 
end to that4 ,it will insist upon every 
citizen being being properly housed1    
well nourished1 and in good health1     
reasonably clean and clothed healthily1 
and upon that insistence its labour laws
 will be founded4 ,in a phrasing that   
will be familiar to everyone interested 
in social reform1 it will maintain a    
standard of life4 ,any house1 unless it 
be a public monument1 that does not come
 up to its rising standard of           
healthiness and convenience1 the        
,utopian ,state will incontinently pull 
down1 and pile the material and charge  
the owner for the labour2 any house     
unduly crowded or dirty1 it must in some
 effectual manner1 directly or          
indirectly1 confiscate and clear and    
clean4 ,and any citizen indecently      
dressed1 or ragged and dirty1 or        
publicly unhealthy1 or sleeping abroad  

homeless1 or in any way neglected or    
derelict1 must come under its care4 ,it 
will find him work if he can and will   
work1 it will take him to it1 it will   
register him and lend him the money     
wherewith to lead a comely life until   
work can be found or made for him1 and  
it will give him credit and shelter him 
and strengthen him if he is ill4 ,in    
default of private enterprises it will  
provide inns for him and food1 and it   
will--by itself acting as the reserve   
employer--maintain a minimum wage which 
will cover the cost of a decent life4   
,the ,state will stand at the back of   
the economic struggle as the reserve    
employer of labour4 ,this most excellent
 idea does1 as a matter of fact1        
underlie the ,british institution of the
 workhouse1 but it is jumbled up with   
the relief of old age and infirmity1 it 
is administered parochially and on the  
supposition that all population is      
static and localised whereas every year 
it becomes more migratory2 it is        

administered without any regard to the  
rising standards of comfort and         
self-respect in a progressive           
civilisation1 and it is administered    
grudgingly4 ,the thing that is done is  
done as unwilling charity by            
administrators who are often1 in the    
rural districts at least1 competing for 
low-priced labour1 and who regard want  
of employment as a crime4 ,but if it    
were possible for any citizen in need of
 money to resort to a place of public   
employment as a right1 and there work   
for a week or month without degradation 
upon certain minimum terms1 it seems    
fairly certain that no one would work1  
except as the victim of some quite      
exceptional and temporary accident1 for 
less4  ,the work publicly provided would
 have to be toilsome1 but not cruel or  
incapacitating4 ,a choice of occupations
 would need to be afforded1 occupations 
adapted to different types of training  
and capacity1 with some residual        
employment of a purely laborious and    

mechanical sort for those who were      
incapable of doing the things that      
required intelligence4 ,necessarily this
 employment by the ,state would be a    
relief of economic pressure1 but it     
would not be considered a charity done  
to the individual1 but a public service4
 ,it need not pay1 any more than the    
police need pay1 but it could probably  
be done at a small margin of loss4      
,there is a number of durable things    
bound finally to be useful that could be
 made and stored whenever the tide of   
more highly paid employment ebbed and   
labour sank to its minimum1 bricks1 iron
 from inferior ores1 shaped and         
preserved timber1 pins1 nails1 plain    
fabrics of cotton and linen1 paper1     
sheet glass1 artificial fuel1 and so on2
 new roads could be made and public     
buildings reconstructed1 inconveniences 
of all sorts removed1 until under the   
stimulus of accumulating material1      
accumulating investments or other       
circumstances1 the tide of private      

enterprise flowed again4  ,the ,state   
would provide these things for its      
citizen as though it was his right to   
require them2 he would receive as a     
shareholder in the common enterprise and
 not with any insult of charity4 ,but on
 the other hand it will require that the
 citizen who renders the minimum of     
service for these concessions shall not 
become a parent until he is established 
in work at a rate above the minimum1 and
 free of any debt he may have incurred4 
,the ,state will never press for its    
debt1 nor put a limit to its            
accumulation so long as a man or woman  
remains childless2 it will not even     
grudge them temporary spells of good    
fortune when they may lift their        
earnings above the minimum wage4 ,it    
will pension the age of everyone who    
cares to take a pension1 and it will    
maintain special guest homes for the    
very old to which they may come as      
paying guests1 spending their pensions  
there4 ,by such obvious devices it will 

achieve the maximum elimination of its  
feeble and spiritless folk in every     
generation with the minimum of suffering
 and public disorder4   ,section #b     
,but the mildly incompetent1 the        
spiritless and dull1 the poorer sort who
 are ill1 do not exhaust our ,utopian   
problem4 ,there remain idiots and       
lunatics1 there remain perverse and     
incompetent persons1 there are people of
 weak character who become drunkards1   
drug takers1 and the like4 ,then there  
are persons tainted with certain foul   
and transmissible diseases4 ,all these  
people spoil the world for others4 ,they
 may become parents1 and with most of   
them there is manifestly nothing to be  
done but to seclude them from the great 
body of the population4 ,you must resort
 to a kind of social surgery4 ,you      
cannot have social freedom in your      
public ways1 your children cannot speak 
to whom they will1 your girls and gentle
 women cannot go abroad while some sorts
 of people go free4 ,and there are      

violent people1 and those who will not  
respect the property of others1 thieves 
and cheats1 they1 too1 so soon as their 
nature is confirmed1 must pass out of   
the free life of our ordered world4 ,so 
soon as there can be no doubt of the    
disease or baseness of the individual1  
so soon as the insanity or other disease
 is assured1 or the crime repeated a    
third time1 or the drunkenness or       
misdemeanour past its seventh occasion  
7let us say71 so soon must he or she    
pass out of the common ways of men4     
,the dreadfulness of all such proposals 
as this lies in the possibility of their
 execution falling into the hands of    
hard1 dull1 and cruel administrators4   
,but in the case of a ,utopia one       
assumes the best possible government1 a 
government as merciful and deliberate as
 it is powerful and decisive4 ,you must 
not too hastily imagine these things    
being done--as they would be done on    
earth at present--by a number of zealous
 half-educated people in a state of     

panic at a quite imaginary ,rapid       
,multiplication of the ,unfit4  ,no     
doubt for first offenders1 and for all  
offenders under five-and-twenty1 the    
,modern ,utopia will attempt cautionary 
and remedial treatment4 ,there will be  
disciplinary schools and colleges for   
the young1 fair and happy places1 but   
with less confidence and more restraint 
than the schools and colleges of the    
ordinary world4 ,in remote and solitary 
regions these enclosures will lie1 they 
will be fenced in and forbidden to the  
common run of men1 and there1 remote    
from all temptation1 the defective      
citizen will be schooled4 ,there will be
 no masking of the lesson2 which do you 
value most1 the wide world of humanity1 
or this evil trend in you8 ,from that   
discipline at last the prisoners will   
return4  ,but the others2 what would a  
saner world do with them8  ,our world is
 still vindictive1 but the all-reaching 
,state of ,utopia will have the strength
 that begets mercy4 ,quietly the outcast

 will go from among his fellow men4     
,there will be no drumming of him out of
 the ranks1 no tearing off of           
epaulettes1 no smiting in the face4 ,the
 thing must be just public enough to    
obviate secret tyrannies1 and that is   
all4  ,there would be no killing1 no    
lethal chambers4 ,no doubt ,utopia will 
kill all deformed and monstrous and     
evilly diseased births1 but for the     
rest1 the ,state will hold itself       
accountable for their being4 ,there is  
no justice in ,nature perhaps1 but the  
idea of justice must be sacred in any   
good society4 ,lives that statesmanship 
has permitted1 errors it has not        
foreseen and educated against1 must not 
be punished by death4 ,if the ,state    
does not keep faith1 no one will keep   
faith4 ,crime and bad lives are the     
measure of a ,state's failure1 all crime
 in the end is the crime of the         
community4 ,even for murder ,utopia will
 not1 ,i think1 kill4  ,i doubt even if 
there will be jails4 ,no men are quite  

wise enough1 good enough and cheap      
enough to staff jails as a jail ought to
 be staffed4 ,perhaps islands will be   
chosen1 islands lying apart from the    
highways of the sea1 and to these the   
,state will send its exiles1 most of    
them thanking ,heaven1 no doubt1 to be  
quit of a world of prigs4 ,the ,state   
will1 of course1 secure itself against  
any children from these people1 that is 
the primary object in their seclusion1  
and perhaps it may even be necessary to 
make these island prisons a system of   
island monasteries and island nunneries4
 ,upon that ,i am not competent to      
speak1 but if ,i may believe the        
literature of the subject--unhappily a  
not very well criticised literature--it 
is not necessary to enforce this        
separation4 ,footnote3 ,see for example 
,dr4 ,w4 ,a4 ,chapple's ,the ,fertility 
of the ,unfit4  ,about such islands     
patrol boats will go1 there will be no  
freedoms of boat building1 and it may be
 necessary to have armed guards at the  

creeks and quays4 ,beyond that the      
,state will give these segregated       
failures just as full a liberty as they 
can have4 ,if it interferes any further 
it will be simply to police the islands 
against the organisation of serious     
cruelty1 to maintain the freedom of any 
of the detained who wish it to transfer 
themselves to other islands1 and so to  
keep a check upon tyranny4 ,the insane1 
of course1 will demand care and control1
 but there is no reason why the islands 
of the hopeless drunkard1 for example1  
should not each have a virtual autonomy1
 have at the most a ,resident and a     
guard4 ,i believe that a community of   
drunkards might be capable of organising
 even its own bad habit to the pitch of 
tolerable existence4 ,i do not see why  
such an island should not build and     
order for itself and manufacture and    
trade4 ,your ways are not our ways1 the 
,world ,state will say2 but here is     
freedom and a company of kindred souls4 
,elect your jolly rulers1 brew if you   

will1 and distil2 here are vine cuttings
 and barley fields2 do as it pleases you
 to do4 ,we will take care of the       
knives1 but for the rest--deal          
yourselves with ,god6  ,and you see the 
big convict steamship standing in to the
 ,island of ,incurable ,cheats4 ,the    
crew are respectfully at their quarters1
 ready to lend a hand overboard1 but    
wide awake1 and the captain is          
hospitably on the bridge to bid his     
guests good-bye and keep an eye on the  
movables4 ,the new citizens for this    
particular ,alsatia1 each no doubt with 
his personal belongings securely packed 
and at hand1 crowd the deck and study   
the nearing coast4 ,bright1 keen faces  
would be there1 and we1 were we by any  
chance to find ourselves beside the     
captain1 might recognise the double of  
this great earthly magnate or that1     
,petticoat ,lane and ,park ,lane cheek  
by jowl4 ,the landing part of the jetty 
is clear of people1 only a government   
man or so stands there to receive the   

boat and prevent a rush1 but beyond the 
gates a number of engagingly            
smart-looking individuals loiter        
speculatively4 ,one figures a remarkable
 building labelled ,custom ,house1 an   
interesting fiscal revival this         
population has made1 and beyond1        
crowding up the hill1 the painted walls 
of a number of comfortable inns clamour 
loudly4 ,one or two inhabitants in      
reduced circumstances would act as hotel
 touts1 there are several hotel         
omnibuses and a ,bureau de ,change1     
certainly a ,bureau de ,change4 ,and a  
small house with a large board1 aimed   
point-blank seaward1 declares itself a  
,gratis ,information ,office1 and next  
to it rises the graceful dome of a small
 ,casino4 ,beyond1 great hoardings      
proclaim the advantages of many island  
specialities1 a hustling commerce1 and  
the opening of a ,public ,lottery4      
,there is a large cheap-looking barrack1
 the school of ,commercial ,science for 
gentlemen of inadequate training4444    

,altogether a very go-ahead looking     
little port it would be1 and though this
 disembarkation would have none of the  
flow of hilarious good fellowship that  
would throw a halo of genial noise about
 the ,islands of ,drink1 it is doubtful 
if the new arrivals would feel anything 
very tragic in the moment4 ,here at last
 was scope for adventure after their    
hearts4  ,this sounds more fantastic    
than it is4 ,but what else is there to  
do1 unless you kill8 ,you must seclude1 
but why should you torment8 ,all modern 
prisons are places of torture by        
restraint1 and the habitual criminal    
plays the part of a damaged mouse at the
 mercy of the cat of our law4 ,he has   
his little painful run1 and back he     
comes again to a state more horrible    
even than destitution4 ,there are no    
,alsatias left in the world4 ,for my own
 part ,i can think of no crime1 unless  
it is reckless begetting or the wilful  
transmission of contagious disease1 for 
which the bleak terrors1 the solitudes  

and ignominies of the modern prison do  
not seem outrageously cruel4 ,if you    
want to go so far as that1 then kill4   
,why1 once you are rid of them1 should  
you pester criminals to respect an      
uncongenial standard of conduct8 ,into  
such islands of exile as this a modern  
,utopia will have to purge itself4      
,there is no alternative that ,i can    
contrive4   ,section #c  ,will a        
,utopian be free to be idle8  ,work has 
to be done1 every day humanity is       
sustained by its collective effort1 and 
without a constant recurrence of effort 
in the single man as in the race as a   
whole1 there is neither health nor      
happiness4 ,the permanent idleness of a 
human being is not only burthensome to  
the world1 but his own secure misery4   
,but unprofitable occupation is also    
intended by idleness1 and it may be     
considered whether that freedom also    
will be open to the ,utopian4           
,conceivably it will1 like privacy1     
locomotion1 and almost all the freedoms 

of life1 and on the same terms--if he   
possess the money to pay for it4  ,that 
last condition may produce a shock in   
minds accustomed to the proposition that
 money is the root of all evil1 and to  
the idea that ,utopia necessarily       
implies something rather oaken and      
hand-made and primitive in all these    
relations4 ,of course1 money is not the 
root of any evil in the world2 the root 
of all evil in the world1 and the root  
of all good too1 is the ,will to ,live1 
and money becomes harmful only when by  
bad laws and bad economic organisation  
it is more easily attained by bad men   
than good4 ,it is as reasonable to say  
food is the root of all disease1 because
 so many people suffer from excessive   
and unwise eating4 ,the sane economic   
ideal is to make the possession of money
 the clear indication of public         
serviceableness1 and the more nearly    
that ideal is attained1 the smaller is  
the justification of poverty and the    
less the hardship of being poor4 ,in    

barbaric and disorderly countries it is 
almost honourable to be indigent and    
unquestionably virtuous to give to a    
beggar1 and even in the more or less    
civilised societies of earth1 so many   
children come into life hopelessly      
handicapped1 that austerity to the poor 
is regarded as the meanest of mean      
virtues4 ,but in ,utopia everyone will  
have had an education and a certain     
minimum of nutrition and training2      
everyone will be insured against        
ill-health and accidents2 there will be 
the most efficient organisation for     
balancing the pressure of employment and
 the presence of disengaged labour1 and 
so to be moneyless will be clear        
evidence of unworthiness4 ,in ,utopia1  
no one will dream of giving to a casual 
beggar1 and no one will dream of        
begging4  ,there will need to be1 in the
 place of the ,british casual wards1    
simple but comfortable inns with a low  
tariff--controlled to a certain extent  
no doubt1 and even in some cases        

maintained1 by the ,state4 ,this tariff 
will have such a definite relation to   
the minimum permissible wage1 that a man
 who has incurred no liabilities through
 marriage or the like relationship1 will
 be able to live in comfort and decency 
upon that minimum wage1 pay his small   
insurance premium against disease1      
death1 disablement1 or ripening years1  
and have a margin for clothing and other
 personal expenses4 ,but he will get    
neither shelter nor food1 except at the 
price of his freedom1 unless he can     
produce money4  ,but suppose a man      
without money in a district where       
employment is not to be found for him2  
suppose the amount of employment to have
 diminished in the district with such   
suddenness as to have stranded him      
there4 ,or suppose he has quarrelled    
with the only possible employer1 or that
 he does not like his particular work4  
,then no doubt the ,utopian ,state1     
which wants everyone to be just as happy
 as the future welfare of the race      

permits1 will come to his assistance4   
,one imagines him resorting to a neat   
and business-like post-office1 and      
stating his case to a civil and         
intelligent official4 ,in any sane      
,state the economic conditions of every 
quarter of the earth will be watched as 
constantly as its meteorological phases1
 and a daily map of the country within a
 radius of three or four hundred miles  
showing all the places where labour is  
needed will hang upon the post-office   
wall4 ,to this his attention will be    
directed4 ,the man out of work will     
decide to try his luck in this place or 
that1 and the public servant1 the       
official1 will make a note of his name1 
verify his identity--the freedom of     
,utopia will not be incompatible with   
the universal registration of           
thumb-marks--and issue passes for travel
 and coupons for any necessary inn      
accommodation on his way to the chosen  
destination4 ,there he will seek a new  
employer4  ,such a free change of       

locality once or twice a year from a    
region of restricted employment to a    
region of labour shortage will be among 
the general privileges of the ,utopian  
citizen4  ,but suppose that in no       
district in the world is there work     
within the capacity of this particular  
man8  ,before we suppose that1 we must  
take into consideration the general     
assumption one is permitted to make in  
all ,utopian speculations4 ,all         
,utopians will be reasonably well       
educated upon ,utopian lines2 there will
 be no illiterates unless they are      
unteachable imbeciles1 no rule-of-thumb 
toilers as inadaptable as trained       
beasts4 ,the ,utopian worker will be as 
versatile as any well-educated man is on
 earth to-day1 and no ,trade ,union will
 impose a limit to his activities4 ,the 
world will be his ,union4 ,if the work  
he does best and likes best is not to be
 found1 there is still the work he likes
 second best4 ,lacking his proper       
employment1 he will turn to some kindred

 trade4  ,but even with that            
adaptability1 it may be that sometimes  
he will not find work4 ,such a          
disproportion between the work to be    
done and the people to do it may arise  
as to present a surplus of labour       
everywhere4 ,this disproportion may be  
due to two causes3 to an increase of    
population without a corresponding      
increase of enterprises1 or to a        
diminution of employment throughout the 
world due to the completion of great    
enterprises1 to economies achieved1 or  
to the operation of new and more        
efficient labour-saving appliances4     
,through either cause1 a ,world ,state  
may find itself doing well except for an
 excess of citizens of mediocre and     
lower quality4  ,but the first cause may
 be anticipated by wise marriage        
laws4444 ,the full discussion of these  
laws will come later1 but here one may  
insist that ,utopia will control the    
increase of its population4 ,without the
 determination and ability to limit that

 increase as well as to stimulate it    
whenever it is necessary1 no ,utopia is 
possible4 ,that was clearly demonstrated
 by ,malthus for all time4  ,the second 
cause is not so easily anticipated1 but 
then1 though its immediate result in    
glutting the labour market is similar1  
its final consequences are entirely     
different from those of the first4 ,the 
whole trend of a scientific mechanical  
civilisation is continually to replace  
labour by machinery and to increase it  
in its effectiveness by organisation1   
and so quite independently of any       
increase in population labour must      
either fall in value until it can       
compete against and check the cheapening
 process1 or if that is prevented1 as it
 will be in ,utopia1 by a minimum wage1 
come out of employment4 ,there is no    
apparent limit to this process4 ,but a  
surplus of efficient labour at the      
minimum wage is exactly the condition   
that should stimulate new enterprises1  
and that in a ,state saturated with     

science and prolific in invention will  
stimulate new enterprises4 ,an          
increasing surplus of available labour  
without an absolute increase of         
population1 an increasing surplus of    
labour due to increasing economy and not
 to proliferation1 and which1 therefore1
 does not press on and disarrange the   
food supply1 is surely the ideal        
condition for a progressive             
civilisation4 ,i am inclined to think   
that1 since labour will be regarded as a
 delocalised and fluid force1 it will be
 the ,world ,state and not the big      
municipalities ruling the force areas   
that will be the reserve employer of    
labour4 ,very probably it will be       
convenient for the ,state to hand over  
the surplus labour for municipal        
purposes1 but that is another question4 
,all over the world the labour exchanges
 will be reporting the fluctuating      
pressure of economic demand and         
transferring workers from this region of
 excess to that of scarcity2 and        

whenever the excess is universal1 the   
,world ,state--failing an adequate      
development of private enterprise--will 
either reduce the working day and so    
absorb the excess1 or set on foot some  
permanent special works of its own1     
paying the minimum wage and allowing    
them to progress just as slowly or just 
as rapidly as the ebb and flow of labour
 dictated4 ,but with sane marriage and  
birth laws there is no reason to suppose
 such calls upon the resources and      
initiative of the world more than       
temporary and exceptional occasions4    
,section #d  ,the existence of our blond
 bare-footed friend was evidence enough 
that in a modern ,utopia a man will be  
free to be just as idle or uselessly    
busy as it pleases him1 after he has    
earned the minimum wage4 ,he must do    
that1 of course1 to pay for his keep1 to
 pay his assurance tax against          
ill-health or old age1 and any charge or
 debt paternity may have brought upon   
him4 ,the ,world ,state of the modern   

,utopist is no state of moral           
compulsions4 ,if1 for example1 under the
 restricted ,utopian scheme of          
inheritance1 a man inherited sufficient 
money to release him from the need to   
toil1 he would be free to go where he   
pleased and do what he liked4 ,a certain
 proportion of men at ease is good for  
the world2 work as a moral obligation is
 the morality of slaves1 and so long as 
no one is overworked there is no need to
 worry because some few are underworked4
 ,utopia does not exist as a solace for 
envy4 ,from leisure1 in a good moral and
 intellectual atmosphere1 come          
experiments1 come philosophy and the new
 departures4  ,in any modern ,utopia    
there must be many leisurely people4 ,we
 are all too obsessed in the real world 
by the strenuous ideal1 by the idea that
 the vehement incessant fool is the only
 righteous man4 ,nothing done in a      
hurry1 nothing done under strain1 is    
really well done4 ,a ,state where all   
are working hard1 where none go to and  

fro1 easily and freely1 loses touch with
 the purpose of freedom4  ,but inherited
 independence will be the rarest and    
least permanent of ,utopian facts1 for  
the most part that wider freedom will   
have to be earned1 and the inducements  
to men and women to raise their personal
 value far above the minimum wage will  
be very great indeed4 ,thereby will come
 privacies1 more space in which to live1
 liberty to go everywhere and do no end 
of things1 the power and freedom to     
initiate interesting enterprises and    
assist and co-operate with interesting  
people1 and indeed all the best things  
of life4 ,the modern ,utopia will give a
 universal security indeed1 and exercise
 the minimum of compulsions to toil1 but
 it will offer some acutely desirable   
prizes4 ,the aim of all these devices1  
the minimum wage1 the standard of life1 
provision for all the feeble and        
unemployed and so forth1 is not to rob  
life of incentives but to change their  
nature1 to make life not less energetic1

 but less panic-stricken and violent and
 base1 to shift the incidence of the    
struggle for existence from our lower to
 our higher emotions1 so to anticipate  
and neutralise the motives of the       
cowardly and bestial1 that the ambitious
 and energetic imagination which is     
man's finest quality may become the     
incentive and determining factor in     
survival4   ,section #e  ,after we have 
paid for our lunch in the little inn    
that corresponds to ,wassen1 the        
botanist and ,i would no doubt spend the
 rest of the forenoon in the discussion 
of various aspects and possibilities of 
,utopian labour laws4 ,we should examine
 our remaining change1 copper coins of  
an appearance ornamental rather than    
reassuring1 and we should decide that   
after what we had gathered from the man 
with the blond hair1 it would1 on the   
whole1 be advisable to come to the point
 with the labour question forthwith4 ,at
 last we should draw the deep breath of 
resolution and arise and ask for the    

,public ,office4 ,we should know by this
 time that the labour bureau sheltered  
with the post-office and other public   
services in one building4  ,the public  
office of ,utopia would of course       
contain a few surprises for two men from
 terrestrial ,england4 ,you imagine us  
entering1 the botanist lagging a little 
behind me1 and my first attempts to be  
offhand and commonplace in a demand for 
work4  ,the office is in charge of a    
quick-eyed little woman of six and      
thirty perhaps1 and she regards us with 
a certain keenness of scrutiny4  ,where 
are your papers8 she asks4  ,i think for
 a moment of the documents in my pocket1
 my passport chequered with visas and   
addressed in my commendation and in the 
name of her late ,majesty by ,we1       
,robert ,arthur ,talbot ,gascoigne      
,cecil1 ,marquess of ,salisbury1 ,earl  
of ,salisbury1 ,viscount ,cranborne1    
,baron ,cecil1 and so forth1 to all whom
 it may concern1 my ,carte d',identite  
7useful on minor occasions7 of the      

,touring ,club de ,france1 my green     
ticket to the ,reading ,room of the     
,british ,museum1 and my ,lettre        
d',indication from the ,london and      
,county ,bank4 ,a foolish humour prompts
 me to unfold all these1 hand them to   
her and take the consequences1 but ,i   
resist4  ,lost1 ,i say1 briefly4  ,both 
lost8 she asks1 looking at my friend4   
,both1 ,i answer4  ,how8  ,i astonish   
myself by the readiness of my answer4   
,i fell down a snow slope and they came 
out of my pocket4  ,and exactly the same
 thing happened to both of you8  ,no4   
,he'd given me his to put with my own4  
,she raised her eyebrows4 ,his pocket is
 defective1 ,i add1 a little hastily4   
,her manners are too ,utopian for her to
 follow that up4 ,she seems to reflect  
on procedure4  ,what are your numbers8  
she asks1 abruptly4  ,a vision of that  
confounded visitors' book at the inn    
above comes into my mind4 ,let me see1  
,i say1 and pat my forehead and reflect1
 refraining from the official eye before

 me4 ,let me see4  ,what is yours8 she  
asks the botanist4  ,a4 ,b41 he says1   
slowly1 little a1 nine four seven1 ,i   
think----  ,don't you know8  ,not       
exactly1 says the botanist1 very        
agreeably4 ,no4  ,do you mean to say    
neither of you know your own numbers8   
says the little post-mistress1 with a   
rising note4  ,yes1 ,i say1 with an     
engaging smile and trying to keep up a  
good social tone4 ,it's queer1 isn't it8
 ,we've both forgotten4  ,you're joking1
 she suggests4  ,well1 ,i temporise4  ,i
 suppose you've got your thumbs8  ,the  
fact is---- ,i say and hesitate4 ,we've 
got our thumbs1 of course4  ,then ,i    
shall have to send a thumb-print down to
 the office and get your number from    
that4 ,but are you sure you haven't your
 papers or numbers8 ,it's very queer4   
,we admit rather sheepishly that it's   
queer1 and question one another         
silently4  ,she turns thoughtfully for  
the thumb-marking slab1 and as she does 
so1 a man enters the office4 ,at the    

sight of him she asks with a note of    
relief1 ,what am ,i to do1 sir1 here8   
,he looks from her to us gravely1 and   
his eye lights to curiosity at our      
dress4 ,what is the matter1 madam8 he   
asks1 in a courteous voice4  ,she       
explains4  ,so far the impression we    
have had of our ,utopia is one of a     
quite unearthly sanity1 of good         
management and comprehensive design in  
every material thing1 and it has seemed 
to us a little incongruous that all the 
,utopians we have talked to1 our host of
 last night1 the post-mistress and our  
garrulous tramp1 have been of the most  
commonplace type4 ,but suddenly there   
looks out from this man's pose and      
regard a different quality1 a quality   
altogether nearer that of the beautiful 
tramway and of the gracious order of the
 mountain houses4 ,he is a well-built   
man of perhaps five and thirty1 with the
 easy movement that comes with perfect  
physical condition1 his face is clean   
shaven and shows the firm mouth of a    

disciplined man1 and his grey eyes are  
clear and steady4 ,his legs are clad in 
some woven stuff deep-red in colour1 and
 over this he wears a white shirt       
fitting pretty closely1 and with a woven
 purple hem4 ,his general effect reminds
 me somehow of the ,knights ,templars4  
,on his head is a cap of thin leather   
and still thinner steel1 and with the   
vestiges of ear-guards--rather like an  
attenuated version of the caps that were
 worn by ,cromwell's ,ironsides4  ,he   
looks at us and we interpolate a word or
 so as she explains and feel a good deal
 of embarrassment at the foolish        
position we have made for ourselves4 ,i 
determine to cut my way out of this     
entanglement before it complicates      
itself further4  ,the fact is---- ,i    
say4  ,yes8 he says1 with a faint smile4
  ,we've perhaps been disingenuous4 ,our
 position is so entirely exceptional1 so
 difficult to explain----  ,what have   
you been doing8  ,no1 ,i say1 with      
decision2 it can't be explained like    

that4  ,he looks down at his feet4 ,go  
on1 he says4  ,i try to give the thing a
 quiet1 matter-of-fact air4 ,you see1 ,i
 say1 in the tone one adopts for really 
lucid explanations1 we come from another
 world4 ,consequently1 whatever         
thumb-mark registration or numbering you
 have in this planet doesn't apply to   
us1 and we don't know our numbers       
because we haven't got any4 ,we are     
really1 you know1 explorers1            
strangers----  ,but what world do you   
mean8  ,it's a different planet--a long 
way away4 ,practically at an infinite   
distance4  ,he looks up in my face with 
the patient expression of a man who     
listens to nonsense4  ,i know it sounds 
impossible1 ,i say1 but here is the     
simple fact--we appear in your world4   
,we appeared suddenly upon the neck of  
,lucendro--the ,passo                   
,lucendro--yesterday afternoon1 and ,i  
defy you to discover the faintest trace 
of us before that time4 ,down we marched
 into the ,san ,gotthard road and here  

we are6 ,that's our fact4 ,and as for   
papers----6 ,where in your world have   
you seen papers like this8  ,i produce  
my pocket-book1 extract my passport1 and
 present it to him4  ,his expression has
 changed4 ,he takes the document and    
examines it1 turns it over1 looks at me1
 and smiles that faint smile of his     
again4  ,have some more1 ,i say1 and    
proffer the card of the ,t4,c4,f4  ,i   
follow up that blow with my green       
,british ,museum ticket1 as tattered as 
a flag in a knight's chapel4  ,you'll   
get found out1 he says1 with my         
documents in his hand4 ,you've got your 
thumbs4 ,you'll be measured4 ,they'll   
refer to the central registers1 and     
there you'll be6  ,that's just it1 ,i   
say1 we sha'n't be4  ,he reflects4 ,it's
 a queer sort of joke for you two men to
 play1 he decides1 handing me back my   
documents4  ,it's no joke at all1 ,i    
say1 replacing them in my pocket-book4  
,the post-mistress intervenes4 ,what    
would you advise me to do8  ,no money8  

he asks4  ,no4  ,he makes some          
suggestions4 ,frankly1 he says1 ,i think
 you have escaped from some island4 ,how
 you got so far as here ,i can't        
imagine1 or what you think you'll do4444
 ,but anyhow1 there's the stuff for your
 thumbs4  ,he points to the             
thumb-marking apparatus and turns to    
attend to his own business4  ,presently 
we emerge from the office in a state    
between discomfiture and amusement1 each
 with a tramway ticket for ,lucerne in  
his hand and with sufficient money to   
pay our expenses until the morrow4 ,we  
are to go to ,lucerne because there     
there is a demand for comparatively     
unskilled labour in carving wood1 which 
seems to us a sort of work within our   
range and a sort that will not compel   
our separation4   ,section #f  ,the old 
,utopias are sessile organisations2 the 
new must square itself to the needs of a
 migratory population1 to an endless    
coming and going1 to a people as fluid  
and tidal as the sea4 ,it does not enter

 into the scheme of earthly             
statesmanship1 but indeed all local     
establishments1 all definitions of      
place1 are even now melting under our   
eyes4 ,presently all the world will be  
awash with anonymous stranger men4  ,now
 the simple laws of custom1 the homely  
methods of identification that served in
 the little communities of the past when
 everyone knew everyone1 fail in the    
face of this liquefaction4 ,if the      
modern ,utopia is indeed to be a world  
of responsible citizens1 it must have   
devised some scheme by which every      
person in the world can be promptly and 
certainly recognised1 and by which      
anyone missing can be traced and found4 
,this is by no means an impossible      
demand4 ,the total population of the    
world is1 on the most generous estimate1
 not more than #a1ejj1jjj1jjj1 and the  
effectual indexing of this number of    
people1 the record of their movement    
hither and thither1 the entry of various
 material facts1 such as marriage1      

parentage1 criminal convictions and the 
like1 the entry of the new-born and the 
elimination of the dead1 colossal task  
though it would be1 is still not so     
great as to be immeasurably beyond      
comparison with the work of the         
post-offices in the world of to-day1 or 
the cataloguing of such libraries as    
that of the ,british ,museum1 or such   
collections as that of the insects in   
,cromwell ,road4 ,such an index could be
 housed quite comfortably on one side of
 ,northumberland ,avenue1 for example4  
,it is only a reasonable tribute to the 
distinctive lucidity of the ,french mind
 to suppose the central index housed in 
a vast series of buildings at or near   
,paris4 ,the index would be classified  
primarily by some unchanging physical   
characteristic1 such as we are told the 
thumb-mark and finger-mark afford1 and  
to these would be added any other       
physical traits that were of material   
value4 ,the classification of           
thumb-marks and of inalterable physical 

characteristics goes on steadily1 and   
there is every reason for assuming it   
possible that each human being could be 
given a distinct formula1 a number or   
scientific name1 under which he or she  
could be docketed4 ,footnote3 ,it is    
quite possible that the actual          
thumb-mark may play only a small part in
 the work of identification1 but it is  
an obvious convenience to our thread of 
story to assume that it is the one      
sufficient feature4 ,about the buildings
 in which this great main index would be
 gathered1 would be a system of other   
indices with cross references to the    
main one1 arranged under names1 under   
professional qualifications1 under      
diseases1 crimes and the like4  ,these  
index cards might conceivably be        
transparent and so contrived as to give 
a photographic copy promptly whenever it
 was needed1 and they could have an     
attachment into which would slip a      
ticket bearing the name of the locality 
in which the individual was last        

reported4 ,a little army of attendants  
would be at work upon this index day and
 night4 ,from sub-stations constantly   
engaged in checking back thumb-marks and
 numbers1 an incessant stream of        
information would come1 of births1 of   
deaths1 of arrivals at inns1 of         
applications to post-offices for        
letters1 of tickets taken for long      
journeys1 of criminal convictions1      
marriages1 applications for public doles
 and the like4 ,a filter of offices     
would sort the stream1 and all day and  
all night for ever a swarm of clerks    
would go to and fro correcting this     
central register1 and photographing     
copies of its entries for transmission  
to the subordinate local stations1 in   
response to their inquiries4 ,so the    
inventory of the ,state would watch its 
every man and the wide world write its  
history as the fabric of its destiny    
flowed on4 ,at last1 when the citizen   
died1 would come the last entry of all1 
his age and the cause of his death and  

the date and place of his cremation1 and
 his card would be taken out and passed 
on to the universal pedigree1 to a place
 of greater quiet1 to the ever-growing  
galleries of the records of the dead4   
,such a record is inevitable if a       
,modern ,utopia is to be achieved4  ,yet
 at this1 too1 our blond-haired friend  
would no doubt rebel4 ,one of the many  
things to which some will make claim as 
a right1 is that of going unrecognised  
and secret whither one will4 ,but that1 
so far as one's fellow wayfarers were   
concerned1 would still be possible4     
,only the ,state would share the secret 
of one's little concealment4 ,to the    
eighteenth-century ,liberal1 to the     
old-fashioned nineteenth-century        
,liberal1 that is to say to all         
professed ,liberals1 brought up to be   
against the ,government on principle1   
this organised clairvoyance will be the 
most hateful of dreams4 ,perhaps1 too1  
the ,individualist would see it in that 
light4 ,but these are only the mental   

habits acquired in an evil time4 ,the   
old ,liberalism assumed bad government1 
the more powerful the government the    
worse it was1 just as it assumed the    
natural righteousness of the free       
individual4 ,darkness and secrecy were1 
indeed1 the natural refuges of liberty  
when every government had in it the near
 possibility of tyranny1 and the        
,englishman or ,american looked at the  
papers of a ,russian or a ,german as one
 might look at the chains of a slave4   
,you imagine that father of the old     
,liberalism1 ,rousseau1 slinking off    
from his offspring at the door of the   
,foundling ,hospital1 and you can       
understand what a crime against natural 
virtue this quiet eye of the ,state     
would have seemed to him4 ,but suppose  
we do not assume that government is     
necessarily bad1 and the individual     
necessarily good--and the hypothesis    
upon which we are working practically   
abolishes either alternative--then we   
alter the case altogether4 ,the         

government of a modern ,utopia will be  
no perfection of intentions ignorantly  
ruling the world4444 ,footnote3 ,in the 
typical modern ,state of our own world1 
with its population of many millions1   
and its extreme facility of movement1   
undistinguished men who adopt an alias  
can make themselves untraceable with the
 utmost ease4 ,the temptation of the    
opportunities thus offered has developed
 a new type of criminality1 the ,deeming
 or ,crossman type1 base men who subsist
 and feed their heavy imaginations in   
the wooing1 betrayal1 ill-treatment1 and
 sometimes even the murder of           
undistinguished women4 ,this is a large1
 a growing1 and1 what is gravest1 a     
prolific class1 fostered by the         
practical anonymity of the common man4  
,it is only the murderers who attract   
much public attention1 but the supply of
 low-class prostitutes is also largely  
due to these free adventures of the     
base4 ,it is one of the bye products of 
,state ,liberalism1 and at present it is

 very probably drawing ahead in the race
 against the development of police      
organisation4  ,such is the eye of the  
,state that is now slowly beginning to  
apprehend our existence as two queer and
 inexplicable parties disturbing the    
fine order of its field of vision1 the  
eye that will presently be focussing    
itself upon us with a growing           
astonishment and interrogation4 ,who in 
the name of ,galton and ,bertillon1 one 
fancies ,utopia exclaiming1 are you8  ,i
 perceive ,i shall cut a queer figure in
 that focus4 ,i shall affect a certain  
spurious ease of carriage no doubt4 ,the
 fact is1 ,i shall begin4444   ,section 
#g  ,and now see how an initial         
hypothesis may pursue and overtake its  
maker4 ,our thumb-marks have been taken1
 they have travelled by pneumatic tube  
to the central office of the            
municipality hard by ,lucerne1 and have 
gone on thence to the headquarters of   
the index at ,paris4 ,there1 after a    
rough preliminary classification1 ,i    

imagine them photographed on glass1 and 
flung by means of a lantern in colossal 
images upon a screen1 all finely        
squared1 and the careful experts marking
 and measuring their several            
convolutions4 ,and then off goes a brisk
 clerk to the long galleries of the     
index building4  ,i have told them they 
will find no sign of us1 but you see him
 going from gallery to gallery1 from bay
 to bay1 from drawer to drawer1 and from
 card to card4 ,here he is6 he mutters  
to himself1 and he whips out a card and 
reads4 ,but that is impossible6 he      
says4444  ,you figure us returning after
 a day or so of such ,utopian           
experiences as ,i must presently        
describe1 to the central office in      
,lucerne1 even as we have been told to  
do4  ,i make my way to the desk of the  
man who has dealt with us before4 ,well8
 ,i say1 cheerfully1 have you heard8    
,his expression dashes me a little4     
,we've heard1 he says1 and adds1 it's   
very peculiar4  ,i told you you wouldn't

 find out about us1 ,i say1             
triumphantly4  ,but we have1 he says2   
but that makes your freak none the less 
remarkable4  ,you've heard6 ,you know   
who we are6 ,well--tell us6 ,we had an  
idea1 but we're beginning to doubt4     
,you1 says the official1 addressing the 
botanist1 are----6  ,and he breathes his
 name4 ,then he turns to me and gives me
 mine4  ,for a moment ,i am dumbfounded4
 ,then ,i think of the entries we made  
at the inn in the ,urserenthal1 and then
 in a flash ,i have the truth4 ,i rap   
the desk smartly with my finger-tips and
 shake my index-finger in my friend's   
face4  ,by ,jove6 ,i say in ,english4   
,they've got our doubles6  ,the botanist
 snaps his fingers4 ,of course6 ,i      
didn't think of that4  ,do you mind1 ,i 
say to this official1 telling us some   
more about ourselves8  ,i can't think   
why you keep it up1 he remarks1 and then
 almost wearily tells me the facts about
 my ,utopian self4 ,they are a little   
difficult to understand4 ,he says ,i am 

one of the samurai1 which sounds        
,japanese1 but you will be degraded1 he 
says1 with a gesture almost of despair4 
,he describes my position in this world 
in phrases that convey very little4     
,the queer thing1 he remarks1 is that   
you were in ,norway only three days ago4
  ,i am there still4 ,at least----4 ,i'm
 sorry to be so much trouble to you1 but
 do you mind following up that last clue
 and inquiring if the person to whom the
 thumb-mark really belongs isn't in     
,norway still8  ,the idea needs         
explanation4 ,he says something         
incomprehensible about a pilgrimage4    
,sooner or later1 ,i say1 you will have 
to believe there are two of us with the 
same thumb-mark4 ,i won't trouble you   
with any apparent nonsense about other  
planets and so forth again4 ,here ,i am4
 ,if ,i was in ,norway a few days ago1  
you ought to be able to trace my journey
 hither4 ,and my friend8  ,he was in    
,india4 ,the official is beginning to   
look perplexed4  ,it seems to me1 ,i    

say1 that the difficulties in this case 
are only just beginning4 ,how did ,i get
 from ,norway hither8 ,does my friend   
look like hopping from ,india to the    
,saint ,gotthard at one hop8 ,the       
situation is a little more difficult    
than that----  ,but here6 says the      
official1 and waves what are no doubt   
photographic copies of the index cards4 
,but we are not those individuals6  ,you
 are those individuals4  ,you will see1 
,i say4  ,he dabs his finger            
argumentatively upon the thumb-marks4 ,i
 see now1 he says4  ,there is a mistake1
 ,i maintain1 an unprecedented mistake4 
,there's the difficulty4 ,if you inquire
 you will find it begin to unravel4     
,what reason is there for us to remain  
casual workmen here1 when you allege we 
are men of position in the world1 if    
there isn't something wrong8 ,we shall  
stick to this wood-carving work you have
 found us here1 and meanwhile ,i think  
you ought to inquire again4 ,that's how 
the thing shapes to me4  ,your case will

 certainly have to be considered        
further1 he says1 with the faintest of  
threatening notes in his tone4 ,but at  
the same time--hand out to those copies 
from the index again--there you are1 you
 know6   ,section #h  ,when my botanist 
and ,i have talked over and exhausted   
every possibility of our immediate      
position1 we should turn1 ,i think1 to  
more general questions4  ,i should tell 
him the thing that was becoming more and
 more apparent in my own mind4 ,here1 ,i
 should say1 is a world1 obviously on   
the face of it well organised4 ,compared
 with our world1 it is like a well-oiled
 engine beside a scrap-heap4 ,it has    
even got this confounded visual organ   
swivelling about in the most alert and  
lively fashion4 ,but that's by the      
way4444 ,you have only to look at all   
these houses below4 7,we should be      
sitting on a seat on the ,gutsch and    
looking down on the ,lucerne of ,utopia1
 a ,lucerne that would1 ,i insist1 quite
 arbitrarily1 still keep the            

,wasserthurm and the ,kapellbrucke47    
,you have only to mark the beauty1 the  
simple cleanliness and balance of this  
world1 you have only to see the free    
carriage1 the unaffected graciousness of
 even the common people1 to understand  
how fine and complete the arrangements  
of this world must be4 ,how are they    
made so8 ,we of the twentieth century   
are not going to accept the sweetish1   
faintly nasty slops of ,rousseauism that
 so gratified our                       
great-great-grandparents in the         
eighteenth4 ,we know that order and     
justice do not come by ,nature--if only 
the policeman would go away4 ,these     
things mean intention1 will1 carried to 
a scale that our poor vacillating1 hot  
and cold earth has never known4 ,what ,i
 am really seeing more and more clearly 
is the will beneath this visible        
,utopia4 ,convenient houses1 admirable  
engineering that is no offence amidst   
natural beauties1 beautiful bodies1 and 
a universally gracious carriage1 these  

are only the outward and visible signs  
of an inward and spiritual grace4 ,such 
an order means discipline4 ,it means    
triumph over the petty egotisms and     
vanities that keep men on our earth     
apart2 it means devotion and a nobler   
hope2 it cannot exist without a gigantic
 process of inquiry1 trial1 forethought 
and patience in an atmosphere of mutual 
trust and concession4 ,such a world as  
this ,utopia is not made by the chance  
occasional co-operations of             
self-indulgent men1 by autocratic rulers
 or by the bawling wisdom of the        
democratic leader4 ,and an unrestricted 
competition for gain1 an enlightened    
selfishness1 that too fails us4444  ,i  
have compared the system of indexing    
humanity we have come upon to an eye1 an
 eye so sensitive and alert that two    
strangers cannot appear anywhere upon   
the planet without discovery4 ,now an   
eye does not see without a brain1 an eye
 does not turn round and look without a 
will and purpose4 ,a ,utopia that deals 

only with appliances and arrangements is
 a dream of superficialities2 the       
essential problem here1 the body within 
these garments1 is a moral and an       
intellectual problem4 ,behind all this  
material order1 these perfected         
communications1 perfected public        
services and economic organisations1    
there must be men and women willing     
these things4 ,there must be a          
considerable number and a succession of 
these men and women of will4 ,no single 
person1 no transitory group of people1  
could order and sustain this vast       
complexity4 ,they must have a collective
 if not a common width of aim1 and that 
involves a spoken or written literature1
 a living literature to sustain the     
harmony of their general activity4 ,in  
some way they must have put the more    
immediate objects of desire into a      
secondary place1 and that means         
renunciation4 ,they must be effectual in
 action and persistent in will1 and that
 means discipline4 ,but in the modern   

world in which progress advances without
 limits1 it will be evident that        
whatever common creed or formula they   
have must be of the simplest sort2 that 
whatever organisation they have must be 
as mobile and flexible as a thing alive4
 ,all this follows inevitably from the  
general propositions of our ,utopian    
dream4 ,when we made those1 we bound    
ourselves helplessly to come to this4444
  ,the botanist would nod an abstracted 
assent4  ,i should cease to talk4 ,i    
should direct my mind to the confused   
mass of memories three days in ,utopia  
will have given us4 ,besides the        
personalities with whom we have come    
into actual contact1 our various hosts1 
our foreman and work-fellows1 the blond 
man1 the public officials and so on1    
there will be a great multitude of other
 impressions4 ,there will be many bright
 snapshots of little children1 for      
example1 of girls and women and men1    
seen in shops and offices and streets1  
on quays1 at windows and by the wayside1

 people riding hither and thither and   
walking to and fro4 ,a very human crowd 
it has seemed to me4 ,but among them    
were there any who might be thought of  
as having a wider interest than the     
others1 who seemed in any way detached  
from the rest by a purpose that passed  
beyond the seen8  ,then suddenly ,i     
recall that clean-shaven man who talked 
with us for a little while in the public
 office at ,wassen1 the man who reminded
 me of my boyish conception of a ,knight
 ,templar1 and with him come momentary  
impressions of other lithe and          
serious-looking people dressed after the
 same manner1 words and phrases we have 
read in such scraps of ,utopian reading 
as have come our way1 and expressions   
that fell from the loose mouth of the   
man with the blond hair4444    ,,chapter
 ,,the ,,sixth  ,women in a ,modern     
,utopia   ,section #a  ,but though ,i   
have come to a point where the problem  
of a ,utopia has resolved itself very   
simply into the problem of government   

and direction1 ,i find ,i have not      
brought the botanist with me4 ,frankly  
he cannot think so steadily onward as ,i
 can4 ,i feel to think1 he thinks to    
feel4 ,it is ,i and my kind that have   
the wider range1 because we can be      
impersonal as well as personal4 ,we can 
escape ourselves4 ,in general terms1 at 
least1 ,i understand him1 but he does   
not understand me in any way at all4 ,he
 thinks me an incomprehensible brute    
because his obsession is merely one of  
my incidental interests1 and wherever my
 reasoning ceases to be explicit and    
full1 the slightest ellipsis1 the most  
transitory digression1 he evades me and 
is back at himself again4 ,he may have a
 personal liking for me1 though ,i doubt
 it1 but also he hates me pretty        
distinctly1 because of this bias he     
cannot understand4 ,my philosophical    
insistence that things shall be         
reasonable and hang together1 that what 
can be explained shall be explained1 and
 that what can be done by calculation   

and certain methods shall not be left to
 chance1 he loathes4 ,he just wants     
adventurously to feel4 ,he wants to feel
 the sunset1 and he thinks that on the  
whole he would feel it better if he had 
not been taught the sun was about       
ninety-two million miles away4 ,he wants
 to feel free and strong1 and he would  
rather feel so than be so4 ,he does not 
want to accomplish great things1 but to 
have dazzling things occur to him4 ,he  
does not know that there are feelings   
also up in the clear air of the         
philosophic mountains1 in the long      
ascents of effort and design4 ,he does  
not know that thought itself is only a  
finer sort of feeling than his--good    
hock to the mixed gin1 porter and       
treacle of his emotions1 a perception of
 similitudes and oppositions that       
carries even thrills4 ,and naturally he 
broods on the source of all his most    
copious feelings and emotions1 women1   
and particularly upon the woman who has 
most made him feel4 ,he forces me also  

to that4  ,our position is unfortunate  
for me4 ,our return to the ,utopian     
equivalent of ,lucerne revives in him   
all the melancholy distresses that so   
preoccupied him when first we were      
transferred to this better planet4 ,one 
day1 while we are still waiting there   
for the public office to decide about   
us1 he broaches the matter4 ,it is early
 evening1 and we are walking beside the 
lake after our simple dinner4 ,about    
here1 he says1 the quays would run and  
all those big hotels would be along     
here1 looking out on the lake4 ,it's so 
strange to have seen them so recently1  
and now not to see them at all4444      
,where have they gone8  ,vanished by    
hypothesis4  ,what8  ,oh6 ,they're there
 still4 ,it's we that have come hither4 
,of course4 ,i forgot4 ,but still----   
,you know1 there was an avenue of little
 trees along this quay with seats1 and  
she was sitting looking out upon the    
lake4444 ,i hadn't seen her for ten     
years4  ,he looks about him still a     

little perplexed4 ,now we are here1 he  
says1 it seems as though that meeting   
and the talk we had must have been a    
dream4  ,he falls musing4  ,presently he
 says3 ,i knew her at once4 ,i saw her  
in profile4 ,but1 you know1 ,i didn't   
speak to her directly4 ,i walked past   
her seat and on for a little way1 trying
 to control myself4444 ,then ,i turned  
back and sat down beside her1 very      
quietly4 ,she looked up at me4          
,everything came back--everything4 ,for 
a moment or so ,i felt ,i was going to  
cry4444  ,that seems to give him a sort 
of satisfaction even in the             
reminiscence4  ,we talked for a time    
just like casual acquaintances--about   
the view and the weather1 and things    
like that4  ,he muses again4  ,in       
,utopia everything would have been      
different1 ,i say4  ,i suppose it would4
  ,he goes on before ,i can say anything
 more4  ,then1 you know1 there was a    
pause4 ,i had a sort of intuition that  
the moment was coming4 ,so ,i think had 

she4 ,you may scoff1 of course1 at these
 intuitions----  ,i don't1 as a matter  
of fact4 ,instead1 ,i swear secretly4   
,always this sort of man keeps up the   
pretence of highly distinguished and    
remarkable mental processes1            
whereas--have not ,i1 in my own         
composition1 the whole diapason of      
emotional fool8 ,is not the suppression 
of these notes my perpetual effort1 my  
undying despair8 ,and then1 am ,i to be 
accused of poverty8  ,but to his story4 
,she said1 quite abruptly1 ',i am not   
happy1' and ,i told her1 ',i knew that  
the instant ,i saw you4' ,then1 you     
know1 she began to talk to me very      
quietly1 very frankly1 about everything4
 ,it was only afterwards ,i began to    
feel just what it meant1 her talking to 
me like that4  ,i cannot listen to this6
  ,don't you understand1 ,i cry1 that we
 are in ,utopia4 ,she may be bound      
unhappily upon earth and you may be     
bound1 but not here4 ,here ,i think it  
will be different4 ,here the laws that  

control all these things will be humane 
and just4 ,so that all you said and did1
 over there1 does not signify here--does
 not signify here6  ,he looks up for a  
moment at my face1 and then carelessly  
at my wonderful new world4  ,yes1 he    
says1 without interest1 with something  
of the tone of an abstracted elder      
speaking to a child1 ,i dare say it will
 be all very fine here4 ,and he lapses1 
thwarted from his confidences1 into     
musing4  ,there is something almost     
dignified in this withdrawal into       
himself4 ,for a moment ,i entertain an  
illusion that really ,i am unworthy to  
hear the impalpable inconclusiveness of 
what he said to her and of what she said
 to him4  ,i am snubbed4 ,i am also     
amazed to find myself snubbed4 ,i become
 breathless with indignation4 ,we walk  
along side by side1 but now profoundly  
estranged4  ,i regard the facade of the 
,utopian public offices of ,lucerne--,i 
had meant to call his attention to some 
of the architectural features of        

these--with a changed eye1 with all the 
spirit gone out of my vision4 ,i wish ,i
 had never brought this introspective   
carcass1 this mental ingrate1 with me4  
,i incline to fatalistic submission4 ,i 
suppose ,i had no power to leave him    
behind4444 ,i wonder and ,i wonder4 ,the
 old ,utopists never had to encumber    
themselves with this sort of man4       
,section #b  ,how would things be       
different in the ,modern ,utopia8 ,after
 all it is time we faced the riddle of  
the problems of marriage and            
motherhood4444  ,the ,modern ,utopia is 
not only to be a sound and happy ,world 
,state1 but it is to be one progressing 
from good to better4 ,but as ,malthus   
,footnote3 ,essay on the ,principles of 
,population4 demonstrated for all time1 
a ,state whose population continues to  
increase in obedience to unchecked      
instinct1 can progress only from bad to 
worse4 ,from the view of human comfort  
and happiness1 the increase of          
population that occurs at each advance  

in human security is the greatest evil  
of life4 ,the way of ,nature is for     
every species to increase nearly to its 
possible maximum of numbers1 and then to
 improve through the pressure of that   
maximum against its limiting conditions 
by the crushing and killing of all the  
feebler individuals4 ,the way of ,nature
 has also been the way of humanity so   
far1 and except when a temporary        
alleviation is obtained through an      
expansion of the general stock of       
sustenance by invention or discovery1   
the amount of starvation and of the     
physical misery of privation in the     
world1 must vary almost exactly with the
 excess of the actual birth-rate over   
that required to sustain population at a
 number compatible with a universal     
contentment4 ,neither has ,nature       
evolved1 nor has man so far put into    
operation1 any device by which paying   
this price of progress1 this misery of a
 multitude of starved and unsuccessful  
lives can be evaded4 ,a mere            

indiscriminating restriction of the     
birth-rate--an end practically attained 
in the homely1 old-fashioned            
civilisation of ,china by female        
infanticide1 involves not only the      
cessation of distresses but stagnation1 
and the minor good of a sort of comfort 
and social stability is won at too great
 a sacrifice4 ,progress depends         
essentially on competitive selection1   
and that we may not escape4  ,but it is 
a conceivable and possible thing that   
this margin of futile struggling1 pain  
and discomfort and death might be       
reduced to nearly nothing without       
checking physical and mental evolution1 
with indeed an acceleration of physical 
and mental evolution1 by preventing the 
birth of those who would in the         
unrestricted interplay of natural forces
 be born to suffer and fail4 ,the method
 of ,nature red in tooth and claw is to 
degrade1 thwart1 torture1 and kill the  
weakest and least adapted members of    
every species in existence in each      

generation1 and so keep the specific    
average rising2 the ideal of a          
scientific civilisation is to prevent   
those weaklings being born4 ,there is no
 other way of evading ,nature's         
punishment of sorrow4 ,the struggle for 
life among the beasts and uncivilised   
men means misery and death for the      
inferior individuals1 misery and death  
in order that they may not increase and 
multiply2 in the civilised ,state it is 
now clearly possible to make the        
conditions of life tolerable for every  
living creature1 provided the inferiors 
can be prevented from increasing and    
multiplying4 ,but this latter condition 
must be respected4 ,instead of competing
 to escape death and wretchedness1 we   
may compete to give birth and we may    
heap every sort of consolation prize    
upon the losers in that competition4    
,the modern ,state tends to qualify     
inheritance1 to insist upon education   
and nurture for children1 to come in    
more and more in the interests of the   

future between father and child4 ,it is 
taking over the responsibility of the   
general welfare of the children more and
 more1 and as it does so1 its right to  
decide which children it will shelter   
becomes more and more reasonable4  ,how 
far will such conditions be prescribed8 
how far can they be prescribed in a     
,modern ,utopia8  ,let us set aside at  
once all nonsense of the sort one hears 
in certain quarters about the human stud
 farm4 ,footnote3 ,see ,mankind in the  
,making1 ,ch4 ,,ii4 ,state breeding of  
the population was a reasonable proposal
 for ,plato to make1 in view of the     
biological knowledge of his time and the
 purely tentative nature of his         
metaphysics2 but from anyone in the days
 after ,darwin1 it is preposterous4 ,yet
 we have it given to us as the most     
brilliant of modern discoveries by a    
certain school of sociological writers1 
who seem totally unable to grasp the    
modification of meaning species and     
individual have undergone in the last   

fifty years4 ,they do not seem capable  
of the suspicion that the boundaries of 
species have vanished1 and that         
individuality now carries with it the   
quality of the unique6 ,to them         
individuals are still defective copies  
of a ,platonic ideal of the species1 and
 the purpose of breeding no more than an
 approximation to that perfection4      
,individuality is indeed a negligible   
difference to them1 an impertinence1 and
 the whole flow of modern biological    
ideas has washed over them in vain4     
,but to the modern thinker individuality
 is the significant fact of life1 and   
the idea of the ,state1 which is        
necessarily concerned with the average  
and general1 selecting individualities  
in order to pair them and improve the   
race1 an absurdity4 ,it is like fixing a
 crane on the plain in order to raise   
the hill tops4 ,in the initiative of the
 individual above the average1 lies the 
reality of the future1 which the ,state1
 presenting the average1 may subserve   

but cannot control4 ,and the natural    
centre of the emotional life1 the       
cardinal will1 the supreme and          
significant expression of individuality1
 should lie in the selection of a       
partner for procreation4  ,but          
compulsory pairing is one thing1 and the
 maintenance of general limiting        
conditions is another1 and one well     
within the scope of ,state activity4    
,the ,state is justified in saying1     
before you may add children to the      
community for the community to educate  
and in part to support1 you must be     
above a certain minimum of personal     
efficiency1 and this you must show by   
holding a position of solvency and      
independence in the world2 you must be  
above a certain age1 and a certain      
minimum of physical development1 and    
free of any transmissible disease4 ,you 
must not be a criminal unless you have  
expiated your offence4 ,failing these   
simple qualifications1 if you and some  
person conspire and add to the          

population of the ,state1 we will1 for  
the sake of humanity1 take over the     
innocent victim of your passions1 but we
 shall insist that you are under a debt 
to the ,state of a peculiarly urgent    
sort1 and one you will certainly pay1   
even if it is necessary to use restraint
 to get the payment out of you3 it is a 
debt that has in the last resort your   
liberty as a security1 and1 moreover1 if
 this thing happens a second time1 or if
 it is disease or imbecility you have   
multiplied1 we will take an absolutely  
effectual guarantee that neither you nor
 your partner offend again in this      
matter4  ,harsh6 you say1 and ,poor     
,humanity6  ,you have the gentler       
alternative to study in your terrestrial
 slums and asylums4  ,it may be urged   
that to permit conspicuously inferior   
people to have one or two children in   
this way would be to fail to attain the 
desired end1 but1 indeed1 this is not   
so4 ,a suitably qualified permission1 as
 every statesman knows1 may produce the 

social effects without producing the    
irksome pressure of an absolute         
prohibition4 ,amidst bright and         
comfortable circumstances1 and with an  
easy and practicable alternative1 people
 will exercise foresight and            
self-restraint to escape even the       
possibilities of hardship and           
discomfort2 and free life in ,utopia is 
to be well worth this trouble even for  
inferior people4 ,the growing comfort1  
self-respect1 and intelligence of the   
,english is shown1 for example1 in the  
fall in the proportion of illegitimate  
births from #b4b per #a1jjj in #ahdf-ej 
to #a4b per #a1jjj in #ahij-aijj1 and   
this without any positive preventive    
laws whatever4 ,this most desirable     
result is pretty certainly not the      
consequence of any great exaltation of  
our moral tone1 but simply of a rising  
standard of comfort and a livelier sense
 of consequences and responsibilities4  
,if so marked a change is possible in   
response to such progress as ,england   

has achieved in the past fifty years1 if
 discreet restraint can be so effectual 
as this1 it seems reasonable to suppose 
that in the ampler knowledge and the    
cleaner1 franker atmosphere of our      
,utopian planet the birth of a child to 
diseased or inferior parents1 and       
contrary to the sanctions of the ,state1
 will be the rarest of disasters4  ,and 
the death of a child1 too1 that most    
tragic event1 ,utopia will rarely know4 
,children are not born to die in        
childhood4 ,but in our world1 at        
present1 through the defects of our     
medical science and nursing methods1    
through defects in our organisation1    
through poverty and carelessness1 and   
through the birth of children that never
 ought to have been born1 one out of    
every five children born dies within    
five years4 ,it may be the reader has   
witnessed this most distressful of all  
human tragedies4 ,it is sheer waste of  
suffering4 ,there is no reason why      
ninety-nine out of every hundred        

children born should not live to a ripe 
age4 ,accordingly1 in any ,modern       
,utopia1 it must be insisted they will4 
,section #c  ,all former ,utopias have1 
by modern standards1 erred on the side  
of over regulation in these matters4    
,the amount of ,state interference with 
the marriage and birth of the citizens  
of a modern ,utopia will be much less   
than in any terrestrial ,state4 ,here1  
just as in relation to property and     
enterprise1 the law will regulate only  
in order to secure the utmost freedom   
and initiative4  ,up to the beginning of
 this chapter1 our ,utopian             
speculations1 like many ,acts of        
,parliament1 have ignored the difference
 of sex4 ,he indeed is to be read as ,he
 and ,she in all that goes before4 ,but 
we may now come to the sexual aspects of
 the modern ideal of a constitution of  
society in which1 for all purposes of   
the individual1 women are to be as free 
as men4 ,this will certainly be realised
 in the ,modern ,utopia1 if it can be   

realised at all--not only for woman's   
sake1 but for man's4  ,but women may be 
free in theory and not in practice1 and 
as long as they suffer from their       
economic inferiority1 from the inability
 to produce as much value as a man for  
the same amount of work--and there can  
be no doubt of this inferiority--so long
 will their legal and technical equality
 be a mockery4 ,it is a fact that almost
 every point in which a woman differs   
from a man is an economic disadvantage  
to her1 her incapacity for great        
stresses of exertion1 her frequent      
liability to slight illnesses1 her      
weaker initiative1 her inferior         
invention and resourcefulness1 her      
relative incapacity for organisation and
 combination1 and the possibilities of  
emotional complications whenever she is 
in economic dependence on men4 ,so long 
as women are compared economically with 
men and boys they will be inferior in   
precisely the measure in which they     
differ from men4 ,all that constitutes  

this difference they are supposed not to
 trade upon except in one way1 and that 
is by winning or luring a man to marry1 
selling themselves in an almost         
irrevocable bargain1 and then following 
and sharing his fortunes for better or  
worse4  ,but--do not let the proposition
 in its first crudity alarm you--suppose
 the ,modern ,utopia equalises things   
between the sexes in the only possible  
way1 by insisting that motherhood is a  
service to the ,state and a legitimate  
claim to a living2 and that1 since the  
,state is to exercise the right of      
forbidding or sanctioning motherhood1 a 
woman who is1 or is becoming1 a mother1 
is as much entitled to wages above the  
minimum wage1 to support1 to freedom1   
and to respect and dignity as a         
policeman1 a solicitor-general1 a king1 
a bishop in the ,state ,church1 a       
,government professor1 or anyone else   
the ,state sustains4 ,suppose the ,state
 secures to every woman who is1 under   
legitimate sanctions1 becoming or likely

 to become a mother1 that is to say who 
is duly married1 a certain wage from her
 husband to secure her against the need 
of toil and anxiety1 suppose it pays her
 a certain gratuity upon the birth of a 
child1 and continues to pay at regular  
intervals sums sufficient to keep her   
and her child in independent freedom1 so
 long as the child keeps up to the      
minimum standard of health and physical 
and mental development4 ,suppose it pays
 more upon the child when it rises      
markedly above certain minimum          
qualifications1 physical or mental1 and1
 in fact1 does its best to make         
thoroughly efficient motherhood a       
profession worth following4 ,and suppose
 in correlation with this it forbids the
 industrial employment of married women 
and of mothers who have children needing
 care1 unless they are in a position to 
employ qualified efficient substitutes  
to take care of their offspring4 ,what  
differences from terrestrial conditions 
will ensue8  ,this extent of            

intervention will at least abolish two  
or three salient hardships and evils of 
the civilised life4 ,it will abolish the
 hardship of the majority of widows1 who
 on earth are poor and encumbered       
exactly in proportion as they have      
discharged the chief distinctive duty of
 a woman1 and miserable1 just in        
proportion as their standard of life and
 of education is high4 ,it will abolish 
the hardship of those who do not now    
marry on account of poverty1 or who do  
not dare to have children4 ,the fear    
that often turns a woman from a         
beautiful to a mercenary marriage will  
vanish from life4 ,in ,utopia a career  
of wholesome motherhood would be1 under 
such conditions as ,i have suggested1   
the normal and remunerative calling for 
a woman1 and a capable woman who has    
borne1 bred1 and begun the education of 
eight or nine well-built1 intelligent1  
and successful sons and daughters would 
be an extremely prosperous woman1 quite 
irrespective of the economic fortunes of

 the man she has married4 ,she would    
need to be an exceptional woman1 and she
 would need to have chosen a man at     
least a little above the average as her 
partner in life4 ,but his death1 or     
misbehaviour1 or misfortunes would not  
ruin her4  ,now such an arrangement is  
merely the completed induction from the 
starting propositions that make some    
measure of education free and compulsory
 for every child in the ,state4 ,if you 
prevent people making profit out of     
their children--and every civilised     
,state--even that compendium of         
old-fashioned ,individualism1 the       
,united ,states of ,america--is now     
disposed to admit the necessity of that 
prohibition--and if you provide for the 
aged instead of leaving them to their   
children's sense of duty1 the practical 
inducements to parentage1 except among  
very wealthy people1 are greatly        
reduced4 ,the sentimental factor in the 
case rarely leads to more than a        
solitary child or at most two to a      

marriage1 and with a high and rising    
standard of comfort and circumspection  
it is unlikely that the birth-rate will 
ever rise very greatly again4 ,the      
,utopians will hold that if you keep the
 children from profitable employment for
 the sake of the future1 then1 if you   
want any but the exceptionally rich1    
secure1 pious1 unselfish1 or reckless to
 bear children freely1 you must be      
prepared to throw the cost of their     
maintenance upon the general community4 
,in short1 ,utopia will hold that sound 
childbearing and rearing is a service   
done1 not to a particular man1 but to   
the whole community1 and all its legal  
arrangements for motherhood will be     
based on that conception4   ,section #d 
,and after these preliminaries we must  
proceed to ask1 first1 what will be the 
,utopian marriage law1 and then what    
sort of customs and opinions are likely 
to be superadded to that law8  ,the     
trend of our reasoning has brought us to
 the conclusion that the ,utopian ,state

 will feel justified in intervening     
between men and women on two accounts1  
first on account of paternity1 and      
secondly on account of the clash of     
freedoms that may otherwise arise4 ,the 
,utopian ,state will effectually        
interfere with and prescribe conditions 
for all sorts of contract1 and for this 
sort of contract in particular it will  
be in agreement with almost every       
earthly ,state1 in defining in the      
completest fashion what things a man or 
woman may be bound to do1 and what they 
cannot be bound to do4 ,from the point  
of view of a statesman1 marriage is the 
union of a man and woman in a manner so 
intimate as to involve the probability  
of offspring1 and it is of primary      
importance to the ,state1 first in order
 to secure good births1 and secondly    
good home conditions1 that these unions 
should not be free1 nor promiscuous1 nor
 practically universal throughout the   
adult population4  ,prolific marriage   
must be a profitable privilege4 ,it must

 occur only under certain obvious       
conditions1 the contracting parties must
 be in health and condition1 free from  
specific transmissible taints1 above a  
certain minimum age1 and sufficiently   
intelligent and energetic to have       
acquired a minimum education4 ,the man  
at least must be in receipt of a net    
income above the minimum wage1 after any
 outstanding charges against him have   
been paid4 ,all this much it is surely  
reasonable to insist upon before the    
,state becomes responsible for the      
prospective children4 ,the age at which 
men and women may contract to marry is  
difficult to determine4 ,but if we are1 
as far as possible1 to put women on an  
equality with men1 if we are to insist  
upon a universally educated population1 
and if we are seeking to reduce the     
infantile death-rate to zero1 it must be
 much higher than it is in any          
terrestrial ,state4 ,the woman should be
 at least one-and-twenty2 the man       
twenty-six or twenty-seven4  ,one       

imagines the parties to a projected     
marriage first obtaining licenses which 
will testify that these conditions are  
satisfied4 ,from the point of view of   
the theoretical ,utopian ,state1 these  
licenses are the feature of primary     
importance4 ,then1 no doubt1 that       
universal register at ,paris would come 
into play4 ,as a matter of justice1     
there must be no deception between the  
two people1 and the ,state will ensure  
that in certain broad essentials this is
 so4 ,they would have to communicate    
their joint intention to a public office
 after their personal licenses were     
granted1 and each would be supplied with
 a copy of the index card of the        
projected mate1 on which would be       
recorded his or her age1 previous       
marriages1 legally important diseases1  
offspring1 domiciles1 public            
appointments1 criminal convictions1     
registered assignments of property1 and 
so forth4 ,possibly it might be         
advisable to have a little ceremony for 

each party1 for each in the absence of  
the other1 in which this record could be
 read over in the presence of witnesses1
 together with some prescribed form of  
address of counsel in the matter4 ,there
 would then be a reasonable interval for
 consideration and withdrawal on the    
part of either spouse4 ,in the event of 
the two people persisting in their      
resolution1 they would after this       
minimum interval signify as much to the 
local official and the necessary entry  
would be made in the registers4 ,these  
formalities would be quite independent  
of any religious ceremonial the         
contracting parties might choose1 for   
with religious belief and procedure the 
modern ,state has no concern4  ,so much 
for the preliminary conditions of       
matrimony4 ,for those men and women who 
chose to ignore these conditions and to 
achieve any sort of union they liked the
 ,state would have no concern1 unless   
offspring were born illegitimately4 ,in 
that case1 as we have already suggested1

 it would be only reasonable to make the
 parents chargeable with every duty1    
with maintenance1 education1 and so     
forth1 that in the normal course of     
things would fall to the ,state4 ,it    
would be necessary to impose a life     
assurance payment upon these parents1   
and to exact effectual guarantees       
against every possible evasion of the   
responsibility they had incurred4 ,but  
the further control of private morality1
 beyond the protection of the immature  
from corruption and evil example1 will  
be no concern of the ,state's4 ,when a  
child comes in1 the future of the       
species comes in2 and the ,state comes  
in as the guardian of interests wider   
than the individual's2 but the adult's  
private life is the entirely private    
life into which the ,state may not      
intrude4  ,now what will be the nature  
of the ,utopian contract of matrimony8  
,from the first of the two points of    
view named above1 that of parentage1 it 
is obvious that one unavoidable         

condition will be the chastity of the   
wife4 ,her infidelity being             
demonstrated1 must at once terminate the
 marriage and release both her husband  
and the ,state from any liability for   
the support of her illegitimate         
offspring4 ,that1 at any rate1 is beyond
 controversy2 a marriage contract that  
does not involve that1 is a triumph of  
metaphysics over common sense4 ,it will 
be obvious that under ,utopian          
conditions it is the ,state that will   
suffer injury by a wife's misconduct1   
and that a husband who condones anything
 of the sort will participate in her    
offence4 ,a woman1 therefore1 who is    
divorced on this account will be        
divorced as a public offender1 and not  
in the key of a personal quarrel2 not as
 one who has inflicted a private and    
personal wrong4 ,this1 too1 lies within 
the primary implications of marriage4   
,beyond that1 what conditions should a  
marriage contract in ,utopia involve8   
,a reciprocal restraint on the part of  

the husband is clearly of no importance 
whatever1 so far as the first end of    
matrimony goes1 the protection of the   
community from inferior births4 ,it is  
no wrong to the ,state4 ,but it does    
carry with it a variable amount of      
emotional offence to the wife2 it may   
wound her pride and cause her violent   
perturbations of jealousy2 it may lead  
to her neglect1 her solitude and        
unhappiness1 and it may even work to her
 physical injury4 ,there should be an   
implication that it is not to occur4    
,she has bound herself to the man for   
the good of the ,state1 and clearly it  
is reasonable that she should look to   
the ,state for relief if it does occur4 
,the extent of the offence given her is 
the exact measure of her injury2 if she 
does not mind nobody minds1 and if her  
self-respect does not suffer nothing    
whatever is lost to the world2 and so it
 should rest with her to establish his  
misconduct1 and1 if she thinks fit1 to  
terminate the marriage4  ,a failure on  

either side to perform the elementary   
duties of companionship1 desertion1 for 
example1 should obviously give the other
 mate the right to relief1 and clearly  
the development of any disqualifying    
habit1 drunkenness1 or drug-taking1 or  
the like1 or any serious crime or acts  
of violence1 should give grounds for a  
final release4 ,moreover1 the modern    
,utopian ,state intervenes between the  
sexes only because of the coming        
generation1 and for it to sustain       
restrictions upon conduct in a          
continually fruitless marriage is       
obviously to lapse into purely moral    
intervention4 ,it seems reasonable1     
therefore1 to set a term to a marriage  
that remains childless1 to let it expire
 at the end of three or four or five    
unfruitful years1 but with no           
restriction upon the right of the       
husband and wife to marry each other    
again4  ,these are the fairly easy      
primaries of this question4 ,we now come
 to the more difficult issues of the    

matter4 ,the first of these is the      
question of the economic relationships  
of husband and wife1 having regard to   
the fact that even in ,utopia women1 at 
least until they become mothers1 are    
likely to be on the average poorer than 
men4 ,the second is the question of the 
duration of a marriage4 ,but the two    
interlock1 and are1 perhaps1 best       
treated together in one common section4 
,and they both ramify in the most       
complicated manner into the             
consideration of the general morale of  
the community4   ,section #e  ,this     
question of marriage is the most        
complicated and difficult in the whole  
range of ,utopian problems4 ,but it is  
happily not the most urgent necessity   
that it should be absolutely solved4    
,the urgent and necessary problem is the
 ruler4 ,with rulers rightly contrived  
and a provisional defective marriage law
 a ,utopia may be conceived as existing 
and studying to perfect itself1 but     
without rulers a ,utopia is impossible  

though the theory of its matrimony be   
complete4 ,and the difficulty in this   
question is not simply the difficulty of
 a complicated chess problem1 for       
example1 in which the whole tangle of   
considerations does at least lie in one 
plane1 but a series of problems upon    
different levels and containing         
incommensurable factors4  ,it is very   
easy to repeat our initial propositions1
 to recall that we are on another       
planet1 and that all the customs and    
traditions of the earth are set aside1  
but the faintest realisation of that    
demands a feat of psychological insight4
 ,we have all grown up into an          
invincible mould of suggestion about    
sexual things2 we regard this with      
approval1 that with horror1 and this    
again with contempt1 very largely       
because the thing has always been put to
 us in this light or that4 ,the more    
emancipated we think ourselves the more 
subtle are our bonds4 ,the              
disentanglement of what is inherent in  

these feelings from what is acquired is 
an extraordinary complex undertaking4   
,probably all men and women have a more 
or less powerful disposition to         
jealousy1 but what exactly they will be 
jealous about and what exactly they will
 suffer seems part of the superposed    
factor4 ,probably all men and women are 
capable of ideal emotions and wishes    
beyond merely physical desires1 but the 
shape these take are almost entirely a  
reaction to external images4 ,and you   
really cannot strip the external off2   
you cannot get your stark natural man1  
jealous1 but not jealous about anything 
in particular1 imaginative without any  
imaginings1 proud at large4 ,emotional  
dispositions can no more exist without  
form than a man without air4 ,only a    
very observant man who had lived all    
over the planet ,earth1 in all sorts of 
social strata1 and with every race and  
tongue1 and who was endowed with great  
imaginative insight1 could hope to      
understand the possibilities and the    

limitations of human plasticity in this 
matter1 and say what any men and any    
women could be induced to do willingly1 
and just exactly what no man and no     
woman could stand1 provided one had the 
training of them4 ,though very young men
 will tell you readily enough4 ,the     
proceedings of other races and other    
ages do not seem to carry conviction2   
what our ancestors did1 or what the     
,greeks or ,egyptians did1 though it is 
the direct physical cause of the modern 
young man or the modern young lady1 is  
apt to impress these remarkable         
consequences merely as an arrangement of
 quaint1 comical or repulsive           
proceedings4  ,but there emerges to the 
modern inquirer certain ideals and      
desiderata that at least go some way    
towards completing and expanding the    
crude primaries of a ,utopian marriage  
law set out in section #d4  ,the sound  
birth being assured1 does there exist   
any valid reason for the persistence of 
the ,utopian marriage union8  ,there are

 two lines of reasoning that go to      
establish a longer duration for         
marriage4 ,the first of these rests upon
 the general necessity for a home and   
for individual attention in the case of 
children4 ,children are the results of a
 choice between individuals2 they grow  
well1 as a rule1 only in relation to    
sympathetic and kindred individualities1
 and no wholesale character-ignoring    
method of dealing with them has ever had
 a shadow of the success of the         
individualised home4 ,neither ,plato nor
 ,socrates1 who repudiated the home1    
seems ever to have had to do with       
anything younger than a young man4      
,procreation is only the beginning of   
parentage1 and even where the mother is 
not the direct nurse and teacher of her 
child1 even where she delegates these   
duties1 her supervision is1 in the      
common case1 essential to its welfare4  
,moreover1 though the ,utopian ,state   
will pay the mother1 and the mother     
only1 for the being and welfare of her  

legitimate children1 there will be a    
clear advantage in fostering the natural
 disposition of the father to associate 
his child's welfare with his individual 
egotism1 and to dispense some of his    
energies and earnings in supplementing  
the common provision of the ,state4 ,it 
is an absurd disregard of a natural     
economy to leave the innate             
philoprogenitiveness of either sex      
uncultivated4 ,unless the parents       
continue in close relationship1 if each 
is passing through a series of          
marriages1 the dangers of a conflict of 
rights1 and of the frittering away of   
emotions1 become very grave4 ,the family
 will lose homogeneity1 and its         
individuals will have for the mother    
varied and perhaps incompatible         
emotional associations4 ,the balance of 
social advantage is certainly on the    
side of much more permanent unions1 on  
the side of an arrangement that1 subject
 to ample provisions for a formal       
divorce without disgrace in cases of    

incompatibility1 would bind1 or at least
 enforce ideals that would tend to bind1
 a man and woman together for the whole 
term of her maternal activity1 until1   
that is1 the last born of her children  
was no longer in need of her help4  ,the
 second system of considerations arises 
out of the artificiality of woman's     
position4 ,it is a less conclusive      
series than the first1 and it opens a   
number of interesting side vistas4  ,a  
great deal of nonsense is talked about  
the natural equality or inferiority of  
women to men4 ,but it is only the same  
quality that can be measured by degrees 
and ranged in ascending and descending  
series1 and the things that are         
essentially feminine are different      
qualitatively from and incommensurable  
with the distinctly masculine things4   
,the relationship is in the region of   
ideals and conventions1 and a ,state is 
perfectly free to determine that men and
 women shall come to intercourse on a   
footing of conventional equality or with

 either the man or woman treated as the 
predominating individual4 ,aristotle's  
criticism of ,plato in this matter1 his 
insistence upon the natural inferiority 
of slaves and women1 is just the sort of
 confusion between inherent and imposed 
qualities that was his most             
characteristic weakness4 ,the spirit of 
the ,european people1 of almost all the 
peoples now in the ascendant1 is towards
 a convention of equality2 the spirit of
 the ,mahometan world is towards the    
intensification of a convention that the
 man alone is a citizen and that the    
woman is very largely his property4     
,there can be no doubt that the latter  
of these two convenient fictions is the 
more primitive way of regarding this    
relationship4 ,it is quite unfruitful to
 argue between these ideals as if there 
were a demonstrable conclusion1 the     
adoption of either is an arbitrary act1 
and we shall simply follow our age and  
time if we display a certain bias for   
the former4  ,if one looks closely into 

the various practical expansions of     
these ideas1 we find their inherent     
falsity works itself out in a very      
natural way so soon as reality is       
touched4 ,those who insist upon equality
 work in effect for assimilation1 for a 
similar treatment of the sexes4 ,plato's
 women of the governing class1 for      
example1 were to strip for gymnastics   
like men1 to bear arms and go to war1   
and follow most of the masculine        
occupations of their class4 ,they were  
to have the same education and to be    
assimilated to men at every doubtful    
point4 ,the ,aristotelian attitude1 on  
the other hand1 insists upon            
specialisation4 ,the men are to rule and
 fight and toil2 the women are to       
support motherhood in a state of natural
 inferiority4 ,the trend of evolutionary
 forces through long centuries of human 
development has been on the whole in    
this second direction1 has been towards 
differentiation4 ,footnote3 ,see        
,havelock ,ellis's ,man and ,woman4 ,an 

adult white woman differs far more from 
a white man than a negress or pigmy     
woman from her equivalent male4 ,the    
education1 the mental disposition1 of a 
white or ,asiatic woman1 reeks of sex2  
her modesty1 her decorum is not to      
ignore sex but to refine and put a point
 to it2 her costume is clamorous with   
the distinctive elements of her form4   
,the white woman in the materially      
prosperous nations is more of a sexual  
specialist than her sister of the poor  
and austere peoples1 of the prosperous  
classes more so than the peasant woman4 
,the contemporary woman of fashion who  
sets the tone of occidental intercourse 
is a stimulant rather than a companion  
for a man4 ,too commonly she is an      
unwholesome stimulant turning a man from
 wisdom to appearance1 from beauty to   
beautiful pleasures1 from form to       
colour1 from persistent aims to belief  
and stirring triumphs4 ,arrayed in what 
she calls distinctly dress1 scented1    
adorned1 displayed1 she achieves by     

artifice a sexual differentiation       
profounder than that of any other       
vertebrated animal4 ,she outshines the  
peacock's excess above his mate1 one    
must probe among the domestic secrets of
 the insects and crustacea to find her  
living parallel4 ,and it is a question  
by no means easy and yet of the utmost  
importance1 to determine how far the    
wide and widening differences between   
the human sexes is inherent and         
inevitable1 and how far it is an        
accident of social development that may 
be converted and reduced under a        
different social regimen4 ,are we going 
to recognise and accentuate this        
difference and to arrange our ,utopian  
organisation to play upon it1 are we to 
have two primary classes of human being1
 harmonising indeed and reacting1 but   
following essentially different lives1  
or are we going to minimise this        
difference in every possible way8  ,the 
former alternative leads either to a    
romantic organisation of society in     

which men will live and fight and die   
for wonderful1 beautiful1 exaggerated   
creatures1 or it leads to the hareem4   
,it would probably lead through one     
phase to the other4 ,women would be     
enigmas and mysteries and maternal      
dignitaries that one would approach in a
 state of emotional excitement and      
seclude piously when serious work was in
 hand4 ,a girl would blossom from the   
totally negligible to the mystically    
desirable at adolescence1 and boys would
 be removed from their mother's         
educational influence at as early an age
 as possible4 ,whenever men and women   
met together1 the men would be in a     
state of inflamed competition towards   
one another1 and the women likewise1 and
 the intercourse of ideas would be in   
suspense4 ,under the latter alternative 
the sexual relation would be            
subordinated to friendship and          
companionship2 boys and girls would be  
co-educated--very largely under maternal
 direction1 and women1 disarmed of their

 distinctive barbaric adornments1 the   
feathers1 beads1 lace1 and trimmings    
that enhance their clamorous claim to a 
directly personal attention would       
mingle1 according to their quality1 in  
the counsels and intellectual           
development of men4 ,such women would be
 fit to educate boys even up to         
adolescence4 ,it is obvious that a      
marriage law embodying a decision       
between these two sets of ideas would be
 very different according to the        
alternative adopted4 ,in the former case
 a man would be expected to earn and    
maintain in an adequate manner the dear 
delight that had favoured him4 ,he would
 tell her beautiful lies about her      
wonderful moral effect upon him1 and    
keep her sedulously from all            
responsibility and knowledge4 ,and1     
since there is an undeniably greater    
imaginative appeal to men in the first  
bloom of a woman's youth1 she would have
 a distinct claim upon his energies for 
the rest of her life4 ,in the latter    

case a man would no more pay for and    
support his wife than she would do so   
for him4 ,they would be two friends1    
differing in kind no doubt but differing
 reciprocally1 who had linked themselves
 in a matrimonial relationship4 ,our    
,utopian marriage so far as we have     
discussed it1 is indeterminate between  
these alternatives4  ,we have laid it   
down as a general principle that the    
private morals of an adult citizen are  
no concern for the ,state4 ,but that    
involves a decision to disregard certain
 types of bargain4 ,a sanely contrived  
,state will refuse to sustain bargains  
wherein there is no plausibly fair      
exchange1 and if private morality is    
really to be outside the scope of the   
,state then the affections and          
endearments most certainly must not be  
regarded as negotiable commodities4 ,the
 ,state1 therefore1 will absolutely     
ignore the distribution of these favours
 unless children1 or at least the       
possibility of children1 is involved4   

,it follows that it will refuse to      
recognise any debts or transfers of     
property that are based on such         
considerations4 ,it will be only        
consistent1 therefore1 to refuse        
recognition in the marriage contract to 
any financial obligation between husband
 and wife1 or any settlements qualifying
 that contract1 except when they are in 
the nature of accessory provision for   
the prospective children4 ,footnote3    
,unqualified gifts for love by solvent  
people will1 of course1 be quite        
possible and permissible1 unsalaried    
services and the like1 provided the     
standard of life is maintained and the  
joint income of the couple between whom 
the services hold does not sink below   
twice the minimum wage4 ,so far the     
,utopian ,state will throw its weight   
upon the side of those who advocate the 
independence of women and their         
conventional equality with men4  ,but to
 any further definition of the marriage 
relation the ,world ,state of ,utopia   

will not commit itself4 ,the wide range 
of relationships that are left possible1
 within and without the marriage code1  
are entirely a matter for the individual
 choice and imagination4 ,whether a man 
treat his wife in private as a goddess  
to be propitiated1 as a mystery to be   
adored1 as an agreeable auxiliary1 as a 
particularly intimate friend1 or as the 
wholesome mother of his children1 is    
entirely a matter for their private     
intercourse3 whether he keep her in     
,oriental idleness or active            
co-operation1 or leave her to live her  
independent life1 rests with the couple 
alone1 and all the possible friendship  
and intimacies outside marriage also lie
 quite beyond the organisation of the   
modern ,state4 ,religious teaching and  
literature may affect these2 customs may
 arise2 certain types of relationship   
may involve social isolation2 the       
justice of the statesman is blind to    
such things4 ,it may be urged that      
according to ,atkinson's illuminating   

analysis ,footnote3 ,see ,lang and      
,atkinson's ,social ,origins and ,primal
 ,law4 the control of love-making was   
the very origin of the human community4 
,in ,utopia1 nevertheless1 love-making  
is no concern of the ,state's beyond the
 province that the protection of        
children covers4 ,footnote3 ,it cannot  
be made too clear that though the       
control of morality is outside the law  
the ,state must maintain a general      
decorum1 a systematic suppression of    
powerful and moving examples1 and of    
incitations and temptations of the young
 and inexperienced1 and to that extent  
it will1 of course1 in a sense1 exercise
 a control over morals4 ,but this will  
be only part of a wider law to safeguard
 the tender mind4 ,for example1 lying   
advertisements1 and the like1 when they 
lean towards adolescent interests1 will 
encounter a specially disagreeable      
disposition in the law1 over and above  
the treatment of their general          
dishonesty4 ,change of function is one  

of the ruling facts in life1 the sac    
that was in our remotest ancestors a    
swimming bladder is now a lung1 and the 
,state which was once1 perhaps1 no more 
than the jealous and tyrannous will of  
the strongest male in the herd1 the     
instrument of justice and equality4 ,the
 ,state intervenes now only where there 
is want of harmony between              
individuals--individuals who exist or   
who may presently come into existence4  
,section #f  ,it must be reiterated that
 our reasoning still leaves ,utopian    
marriage an institution with wide       
possibilities of variation4 ,we have    
tried to give effect to the ideal of a  
virtual equality1 an equality of spirit 
between men and women1 and in doing so  
we have overridden the accepted opinion 
of the great majority of mankind4       
,probably the first writer to do as much
 was ,plato4 ,his argument in support of
 this innovation upon natural human     
feeling was thin enough--a mere analogy 
to illustrate the spirit of his         

propositions2 it was his creative       
instinct that determined him4 ,in the   
atmosphere of such speculations as this1
 ,plato looms very large indeed1 and in 
view of what we owe to him1 it seems    
reasonable that we should hesitate      
before dismissing as a thing prohibited 
and evil1 a type of marriage that he    
made almost the central feature in the  
organisation of the ruling class1 at    
least1 of his ideal ,state4 ,he was     
persuaded that the narrow monogamic     
family is apt to become illiberal and   
anti-social1 to withdraw the imagination
 and energies of the citizen from the   
services of the community as a whole1   
and the ,roman ,catholic ,church has so 
far endorsed and substantiated his      
opinion as to forbid family relations to
 its priests and significant servants4  
,he conceived of a poetic devotion to   
the public idea1 a devotion of which the
 mind of ,aristotle1 as his criticisms  
of ,plato show1 was incapable1 as a     
substitute for the warm and tender but  

illiberal emotions of the home4 ,but    
while the ,church made the alternative  
to family ties celibacy ,footnote3 ,the 
warm imagination of ,campanella1 that   
quaint ,calabrian monastic1 fired by    
,plato1 reversed this aspect of the     
,church4 and participation in an        
organisation1 ,plato was far more in    
accordance with modern ideas in         
perceiving the disadvantage that would  
result from precluding the nobler types 
of character from offspring4 ,he sought 
a way to achieve progeny1 therefore1    
without the narrow concentration of the 
sympathies about the home1 and he found 
it in a multiple marriage in which every
 member of the governing class was      
considered to be married to all the     
others4 ,but the detailed operation of  
this system he put tentatively and very 
obscurely4 ,his suggestions have the    
experimental inconsistency of an        
enquiring man4 ,he left many things     
altogether open1 and it is unfair to him
 to adopt ,aristotle's forensic method  

and deal with his discussion as though  
it was a fully-worked-out project4 ,it  
is clear that ,plato intended every     
member of his governing class to be so  
changed at birth as to leave paternity  
untraceable2 mothers were not to know   
their children1 nor children their      
parents1 but there is nothing to forbid 
the supposition that he intended these  
people to select and adhere to congenial
 mates within the great family4         
,aristotle's assertion that the         
,platonic republic left no scope for the
 virtue of continence shows that he had 
jumped to just the same conclusions a   
contemporary ,london errand boy1        
hovering a little shamefacedly over     
,jowett in a public library1 might be   
expected to reach4  ,aristotle obscures 
,plato's intention1 it may be           
accidentally1 by speaking of his        
marriage institution as a community of  
wives4 ,when reading ,plato he could not
 or would not escape reading in his own 
conception of the natural ascendency of 

men1 his idea of property in women and  
children4 ,but as ,plato intended women 
to be conventionally equal to men1 this 
phrase belies him altogether2 community 
of husbands and wives would be truer to 
his proposal4 ,aristotle condemns ,plato
 as roundly as any commercial room would
 condemn him to-day1 and in much the    
same spirit2 he asserts rather than     
proves that such a grouping is against  
the nature of man4 ,he wanted to have   
women property just as he wanted to have
 slaves property1 he did not care to ask
 why1 and it distressed his conception  
of convenience extremely to imagine any 
other arrangement4 ,it is no doubt true 
that the natural instinct of either sex 
is exclusive of participators in        
intimacy during a period of intimacy1   
but it was probably ,aristotle who gave 
,plato an offensive interpretation in   
this matter4 ,no one would freely submit
 to such a condition of affairs as      
multiple marriage carried out1 in the   
spirit of the ,aristotelian             

interpretation1 to an obscene           
completeness1 but that is all the more  
reason why the modern ,utopia should not
 refuse a grouped marriage to three or  
more freely consenting persons4 ,there  
is no sense in prohibiting institutions 
which no sane people could ever want to 
abuse4 ,it is claimed--though the full  
facts are difficult to ascertain--that a
 group marriage of over two hundred     
persons was successfully organised by   
,john ,humphrey ,noyes at ,oneida       
,creek4 ,footnote3 ,see ,john ,h4       
,noyes's ,history of ,american          
,socialisms and his writings generally4 
,the bare facts of this and the other   
,american experiments are given1        
together with more recent matter1 by    
,morris ,hillquirt1 in ,the ,history of 
,socialism in the ,united ,states4 ,it  
is fairly certain in the latter case    
that there was no promiscuity1 and that 
the members mated for variable periods1 
and often for life1 within the group4   
,the documents are reasonably clear upon

 that point4 ,this ,oneida community    
was1 in fact1 a league of two hundred   
persons to regard their children as     
common4 ,choice and preference were not 
abolished in the community1 though in   
some cases they were set aside--just as 
they are by many parents under our      
present conditions4 ,there seems to have
 been a premature attempt at            
stirpiculture1 at what ,mr4 ,francis    
,galton now calls ,eugenics1 in the     
mating of the members1 and there was    
also a limitation of offspring4 ,beyond 
these points the inner secrets of the   
community do not appear to be very      
profound2 its atmosphere was almost     
commonplace1 it was made up of very     
ordinary people4 ,there is no doubt that
 it had a career of exceptional success 
throughout the whole lifetime of its    
founder1 and it broke down with the     
advent of a new generation1 with the    
onset of theological differences1 and   
the loss of its guiding intelligence4   
,the ,anglo-,saxon spirit1 it has been  

said by one of the ablest children of   
the experiment1 is too individualistic  
for communism4 ,it is possible to regard
 the temporary success of this complex  
family as a strange accident1 as the    
wonderful exploit of what was certainly 
a very exceptional man4 ,its final      
disintegration into frankly monogamic   
couples--it is still a prosperous       
business association--may be taken as an
 experimental verification of           
,aristotle's common-sense psychology1   
and was probably merely the public      
acknowledgment of conditions already    
practically established4  ,out of       
respect for ,plato we cannot ignore this
 possibility of multiple marriage       
altogether in our ,utopian theorising1  
but even if we leave this possibility   
open we are still bound to regard it as 
a thing so likely to be rare as not to  
come at all under our direct observation
 during our ,utopian journeyings4 ,but  
in one sense1 of course1 in the sense   
that the ,state guarantees care and     

support for all properly born children1 
our entire ,utopia is to be regarded as 
a comprehensive marriage group4         
,footnote3 ,the ,thelema of ,rabelais1  
with its principle of ,fay ce que       
vouldras within the limits of the order1
 is probably intended to suggest a      
,platonic complex marriage after the    
fashion of our interpretation4  ,it must
 be remembered that a modern ,utopia    
must differ from the ,utopias of any    
preceding age in being world-wide2 it is
 not1 therefore1 to be the development  
of any special race or type of culture1 
as ,plato's developed an                
,athenian-,spartan blend1 or ,more1     
,tudor ,england4 ,the modern ,utopia is 
to be1 before all things1 synthetic4    
,politically and socially1 as           
linguistically1 we must suppose it a    
synthesis2 politically it will be a     
synthesis of once widely different forms
 of government2 socially and morally1 a 
synthesis of a great variety of domestic
 traditions and ethical habits4 ,into   

the modern ,utopia there must have      
entered the mental tendencies and       
origins that give our own world the     
polygamy of the ,zulus and of ,utah1 the
 polyandry of ,tibet1 the latitudes of  
experiment permitted in the ,united     
,states1 and the divorceless wedlock of 
,comte4 ,the tendency of all synthetic  
processes in matters of law and custom  
is to reduce and simplify the compulsory
 canon1 to admit alternatives and       
freedoms2 what were laws before become  
traditions of feeling and style1 and in 
no matter will this be more apparent    
than in questions affecting the         
relations of the sexes4    ,,chapter    
,,the ,,seventh  ,a ,few ,utopian       
,impressions   ,section #a  ,but now we 
are in a better position to describe the
 houses and ways of the ,utopian        
townships about the ,lake of ,lucerne1  
and to glance a little more nearly at   
the people who pass4 ,you figure us as  
curiously settled down in ,utopia1 as   
working for a low wage at wood-carving1 

until the authorities at the central    
registry in ,paris can solve the        
perplexing problem we have set them4 ,we
 stay in an inn looking out upon the    
lake1 and go to and fro for our five    
hours' work a day1 with a curious effect
 of having been born ,utopians4 ,the    
rest of our time is our own4  ,our inn  
is one of those inns and lodging houses 
which have a minimum tariff1 inns which 
are partly regulated1 and1 in the       
default of private enterprise1          
maintained and controlled by the ,world 
,state throughout the entire world4 ,it 
is one of several such establishments in
 ,lucerne4 ,it possesses many hundreds  
of practically self-cleaning little     
bedrooms1 equipped very much after the  
fashion of the rooms we occupied in the 
similar but much smaller inn at         
,hospenthal1 differing only a little in 
the decoration4 ,there is the same      
dressing-room recess with its bath1 the 
same graceful proportion in the succinct
 simplicity of its furniture4 ,this     

particular inn is a quadrangle after the
 fashion of an ,oxford college2 it is   
perhaps forty feet high1 and with about 
five stories of bedrooms above its lower
 apartments2 the windows of the rooms   
look either outward or inward to the    
quadrangle1 and the doors give upon     
artificially-lit passages with          
staircases passing up and down4 ,these  
passages are carpeted with a sort of    
cork carpet1 but are otherwise bare4    
,the lower story is occupied by the     
equivalent of a ,london club1 kitchens  
and other offices1 dining-room1         
writing-room1 smoking and assembly      
rooms1 a barber's shop1 and a library4  
,a colonnade with seats runs about the  
quadrangle1 and in the middle is a      
grass-plot4 ,in the centre of this a    
bronze figure1 a sleeping child1 reposes
 above a little basin and fountain1 in  
which water lilies are growing4 ,the    
place has been designed by an architect 
happily free from the hampering         
traditions of ,greek temple building1   

and of ,roman and ,italian palaces2 it  
is simple1 unaffected1 gracious4 ,the   
material is some artificial stone with  
the dull surface and something of the   
tint of yellow ivory2 the colour is a   
little irregular1 and a partial         
confession of girders and pillars breaks
 this front of tender colour with lines 
and mouldings of greenish gray1 that    
blend with the tones of the leaden      
gutters and rain pipes from the light   
red roof4 ,at one point only does any   
explicit effort towards artistic effect 
appear1 and that is in the great arched 
gateway opposite my window4 ,two or     
three abundant yellow roses climb over  
the face of the building1 and when ,i   
look out of my window in the early      
morning--for the usual ,utopian working 
day commences within an hour of         
sunrise--,i see ,pilatus above this     
outlook1 rosy in the morning sky4  ,this
 quadrangle type of building is the     
prevalent element in ,utopian ,lucerne1 
and one may go from end to end of the   

town along corridors and covered        
colonnades without emerging by a gateway
 into the open roads at all4 ,small     
shops are found in these colonnades1 but
 the larger stores are usually housed in
 buildings specially adapted to their   
needs4 ,the majority of the residential 
edifices are far finer and more         
substantial than our own modest shelter1
 though we gather from such chance      
glimpses as we get of their arrangements
 that the labour-saving ideal runs      
through every grade of this servantless 
world2 and what we should consider a    
complete house in earthly ,england is   
hardly known here4  ,the autonomy of the
 household has been reduced far below   
terrestrial conditions by hotels and    
clubs1 and all sorts of co-operative    
expedients4 ,people who do not live in  
hotels seem usually to live in clubs4   
,the fairly prosperous ,utopian belongs1
 in most cases1 to one or two           
residential clubs of congenial men and  
women4 ,these clubs usually possess in  

addition to furnished bedrooms more or  
less elaborate suites of apartments1 and
 if a man prefers it one of these latter
 can be taken and furnished according to
 his personal taste4 ,a pleasant        
boudoir1 a private library and study1 a 
private garden plot1 are among the      
commonest of such luxuries4 ,devices to 
secure roof gardens1 loggias1 verandahs1
 and such-like open-air privacies to the
 more sumptuous of these apartments1    
give interest and variety to ,utopian   
architecture4 ,there are sometimes      
little cooking corners in these         
flats--as one would call them on        
earth--but the ordinary ,utopian would  
no more think of a special private      
kitchen for his dinners than he would   
think of a private flour mill or dairy  
farm4 ,business1 private work1 and      
professional practice go on sometimes in
 the house apartments1 but often in     
special offices in the great warren of  
the business quarter4 ,a common garden1 
an infant school1 play rooms1 and a     

playing garden for children1 are        
universal features of the club          
quadrangles4  ,two or three main roads  
with their tramways1 their cyclists'    
paths1 and swift traffic paths1 will    
converge on the urban centre1 where the 
public offices will stand in a group    
close to the two or three theatres and  
the larger shops1 and hither1 too1 in   
the case of ,lucerne1 the head of the   
swift railway to ,paris and ,england and
 ,scotland1 and to the ,rhineland and   
,germany will run4 ,and as one walks out
 from the town centre one will come to  
that mingling of homesteads and open    
country which will be the common        
condition of all the more habitable     
parts of the globe4  ,here and there1 no
 doubt1 will stand quite solitary       
homesteads1 homesteads that will        
nevertheless be lit and warmed by cables
 from the central force station1 that   
will share the common water supply1 will
 have their perfected telephonic        
connection with the rest of the world1  

with doctor1 shop1 and so forth1 and may
 even have a pneumatic tube for books   
and small parcels to the nearest        
post-office4 ,but the solitary          
homestead1 as a permanent residence1    
will be something of a luxury--the      
resort of rather wealthy garden lovers2 
and most people with a bias for         
retirement will probably get as much    
residential solitude as they care for in
 the hire of a holiday chalet in a      
forest1 by remote lagoons or high up the
 mountain side4  ,the solitary house may
 indeed prove to be very rare indeed in 
,utopia4 ,the same forces1 the same     
facilitation of communications that will
 diffuse the towns will tend to little  
concentrations of the agricultural      
population over the country side4 ,the  
field workers will probably take their  
food with them to their work during the 
day1 and for the convenience of an      
interesting dinner and of civilised     
intercourse after the working day is    
over1 they will most probably live in a 

college quadrangle with a common room   
and club4 ,i doubt if there will be any 
agricultural labourers drawing wages in 
,utopia4 ,i am inclined to imagine      
farming done by tenant associations1 by 
little democratic unlimited liability   
companies working under elected         
managers1 and paying not a fixed rent   
but a share of the produce to the       
,state4 ,such companies could           
reconstruct annually to weed out        
indolent members4 ,footnote3 ,schemes   
for the co-operative association of     
producers will be found in ,dr4         
,hertzka's ,freeland4 ,a minimum        
standard of efficiency in farming would 
be insured by fixing a minimum beneath  
which the rent must not fall1 and       
perhaps by inspection4 ,the general laws
 respecting the standard of life would1 
of course1 apply to such associations4  
,this type of co-operation presents     
itself to me as socially the best       
arrangement for productive agriculture  
and horticulture1 but such enterprises  

as stock breeding1 seed farming and the 
stocking and loan of agricultural       
implements are probably1 and            
agricultural research and experiment    
certainly1 best handled directly by     
large companies or the municipality or  
the ,state4  ,but ,i should do little to
 investigate this question2 these are   
presented as quite incidental           
impressions4 ,you must suppose that for 
the most part our walks and observations
 keep us within the more urban quarters 
of ,lucerne4 ,from a number of          
beautifully printed placards at the     
street corners1 adorned with caricatures
 of considerable pungency1 we discover  
an odd little election is in progress4  
,this is the selection1 upon strictly   
democratic lines1 with a suffrage that  
includes every permanent resident in the
 ,lucerne ward over the age of fifteen1 
of the ugliest local building4 ,the old 
little urban and local governing bodies1
 we find1 have long since been          
superseded by great provincial          

municipalities for all the more serious 
administrative purposes1 but they still 
survive to discharge a number of curious
 minor functions1 and not the least     
among these is this sort of aesthetic   
ostracism4 ,every year every minor local
 governing body pulls down a building   
selected by local plebiscite1 and the   
greater ,government pays a slight       
compensation to the owner1 and resumes  
possession of the land it occupies4 ,the
 idea would strike us at first as simply
 whimsical1 but in practice it appears  
to work as a cheap and practical device 
for the aesthetic education of builders1
 engineers1 business men1 opulent       
persons1 and the general body of the    
public4 ,but when we come to consider   
its application to our own world we     
should perceive it was the most ,utopian
 thing we had so far encountered4       
,section #b  ,the factory that employs  
us is something very different from the 
ordinary earthly model4 ,our business is
 to finish making little wooden         

toys--bears1 cattle men1 and the        
like--for children4 ,the things are made
 in the rough by machinery1 and then    
finished by hand1 because the work of   
unskilful but interested men--and it    
really is an extremely amusing          
employment--is found to give a          
personality and interest to these       
objects no machine can ever attain4  ,we
 carvers--who are the riffraff of       
,utopia--work in a long shed together1  
nominally by time2 we must keep at the  
job for the length of the spell1 but we 
are expected to finish a certain number 
of toys for each spell of work4 ,the    
rules of the game as between employer   
and employed in this particular industry
 hang on the wall behind us2 they are   
drawn up by a conference of the ,common 
,council of ,wages ,workers with the    
employers1 a common council which has   
resulted in ,utopia from a synthesis of 
the old ,trades ,unions1 and which has  
become a constitutional power2 but any  
man who has skill or humour is presently

 making his own bargain with our        
employer more or less above that datum  
line4  ,our employer is a quiet         
blue-eyed man with a humorous smile4 ,he
 dresses wholly in an indigo blue1 that 
later we come to consider a sort of     
voluntary uniform for ,utopian artists4 
,as he walks about the workshop1        
stopping to laugh at this production or 
praise that1 one is reminded inevitably 
of an art school4 ,every now and then he
 carves a little himself or makes a     
sketch or departs to the machinery to   
order some change in the rough shapes it
 is turning out4 ,our work is by no     
means confined to animals4 ,after a time
 ,i am told to specialise in a comical  
little ,roman-nosed pony2 but several of
 the better paid carvers work up        
caricature images of eminent ,utopians4 
,over these our employer is most        
disposed to meditate1 and from them he  
darts off most frequently to improve the
 type4  ,it is high summer1 and our shed
 lies open at either end4 ,on one hand  

is a steep mountain side down which     
there comes1 now bridging a chasm1 now a
 mere straight groove across a meadow1  
now hidden among green branches1 the    
water-slide that brings our trees from  
the purple forest overhead4 ,above us1  
but nearly hidden1 hums the machine     
shed1 but we see a corner of the tank   
into which1 with a mighty splash1 the   
pine trees are delivered4 ,every now and
 then1 bringing with him a gust of      
resinous smell1 a white-clad machinist  
will come in with a basketful of crude1 
unwrought little images1 and will turn  
them out upon the table from which we   
carvers select them4  7,whenever ,i     
think of ,utopia that faint and         
fluctuating smell of resin returns to   
me1 and whenever ,i smell resin1 comes  
the memory of the open end of the shed  
looking out upon the lake1 the          
blue-green lake1 the boats mirrored in  
the water1 and far and high beyond      
floats the atmospheric fairyland of the 
mountains of ,glarus1 twenty miles      

away47  ,the cessation of the second and
 last spell of work comes about midday1 
and then we walk home1 through this     
beautiful intricacy of a town to our    
cheap hotel beside the lake4  ,we should
 go our way with a curious contentment1 
for all that we were earning scarcely   
more than the minimum wage4 ,we should  
have1 of course1 our uneasiness about   
the final decisions of that universal   
eye which has turned upon us1 we should 
have those ridiculous sham numbers on   
our consciences2 but that general       
restlessness1 that brooding stress that 
pursues the weekly worker on earth1 that
 aching anxiety that drives him so often
 to stupid betting1 stupid drinking1 and
 violent and mean offences will have    
vanished out of mortal experience4      
,section #c  ,i should find myself      
contrasting my position with my         
preconceptions about a ,utopian visit4  
,i had always imagined myself as        
standing outside the general machinery  
of the ,state--in the distinguished     

visitors' gallery1 as it were--and      
getting the new world in a series of    
comprehensive perspective views4 ,but   
this ,utopia1 for all the sweeping      
floats of generalisation ,i do my best  
to maintain1 is swallowing me up4 ,i    
find myself going between my work and   
the room in which ,i sleep and the place
 in which ,i dine1 very much as ,i went 
to and fro in that real world into which
 ,i fell five-and-forty years ago4 ,i   
find about me mountains and horizons    
that limit my view1 institutions that   
vanish also without an explanation1     
beyond the limit of sight1 and a great  
complexity of things ,i do not          
understand and about which1 to tell the 
truth1 ,i do not formulate acute        
curiosities4 ,people1 very              
unrepresentative people1 people just as 
casual as people in the real world1 come
 into personal relations with us1 and   
little threads of private and immediate 
interest spin themselves rapidly into a 
thickening grey veil across the general 

view4 ,i lose the comprehensive         
interrogation of my first arrival2 ,i   
find myself interested in the grain of  
the wood ,i work1 in birds among the    
tree branches1 in little irrelevant     
things1 and it is only now and then that
 ,i get fairly back to the mood that    
takes all ,utopia for its picture4  ,we 
spend our first surplus of ,utopian     
money in the reorganisation of our      
wardrobes upon more ,utopian lines2 we  
develop acquaintance with several of our
 fellow workers1 and of those who share 
our table at the inn4 ,we pass          
insensibly into acquaintanceships and   
the beginnings of friendships4 ,the     
,world ,utopia1 ,i say1 seems for a time
 to be swallowing me up4 ,at the thought
 of detail it looms too big for me4 ,the
 question of government1 of its         
sustaining ideas1 of race1 and the wider
 future1 hang like the arch of the sky  
over these daily incidents1 very great  
indeed1 but very remote4 ,these people  
about me are everyday people1 people not

 so very far from the minimum wage1     
accustomed much as the everyday people  
of earth are accustomed to take their   
world as they find it4 ,such enquiries  
as ,i attempt are pretty obviously a    
bore to them1 pass outside their range  
as completely as ,utopian speculation on
 earth outranges a stevedore or a member
 of ,parliament or a working plumber4   
,even the little things of daily life   
interest them in a different way4 ,so ,i
 get on with my facts and reasoning     
rather slowly4 ,i find myself looking   
among the pleasant multitudes of the    
streets for types that promise congenial
 conversation4  ,my sense of loneliness 
is increased during this interlude by   
the better social success of the        
botanist4 ,i find him presently falling 
into conversation with two women who are
 accustomed to sit at a table near our  
own4 ,they wear the loose1 coloured     
robes of soft material that are the     
usual wear of common adult ,utopian     
women2 they are both dark and sallow1   

and they affect amber and crimson in    
their garments4 ,their faces strike me  
as a little unintelligent1 and there is 
a faint touch of middle-aged coquetry in
 their bearing that ,i do not like4 ,yet
 on earth we should consider them women 
of exceptional refinement4 ,but the     
botanist evidently sees in this         
direction scope for the feelings that   
have wilted a little under my           
inattention1 and he begins that petty   
intercourse of a word1 of a slight      
civility1 of vague enquiries and        
comparisons that leads at last to       
associations and confidences4 ,such     
superficial confidences1 that is to say1
 as he finds satisfactory4  ,this throws
 me back upon my private observations4  
,the general effect of a ,utopian       
population is vigour4 ,everyone one     
meets seems to be not only in good      
health but in training2 one rarely meets
 fat people1 bald people1 or bent or    
grey4 ,people who would be obese or bent
 and obviously aged on earth are here in

 good repair1 and as a consequence the  
whole effect of a crowd is livelier and 
more invigorating than on earth4 ,the   
dress is varied and graceful2 that of   
the women reminds one most of the       
,italian fifteenth century2 they have an
 abundance of soft and                  
beautifully-coloured stuffs1 and the    
clothes1 even of the poorest1 fit       
admirably4 ,their hair is very simply   
but very carefully and beautifully      
dressed1 and except in very sunny       
weather they do not wear hats or        
bonnets4 ,there is little difference in 
deportment between one class and        
another2 they all are graceful and bear 
themselves with quiet dignity1 and among
 a group of them a ,european woman of   
fashion in her lace and feathers1 her   
hat and metal ornaments1 her mixed      
accumulations of trimmings1 would look  
like a barbarian tricked out with the   
miscellaneous plunder of a museum4 ,boys
 and girls wear much the same sort of   
costume--brown leather shoes1 then a    

sort of combination of hose and         
close-fitting trousers that reaches from
 toe to waist1 and over this a beltless 
jacket fitting very well1 or a belted   
tunic4 ,many slender women wear the same
 sort of costume4 ,we should see them in
 it very often in such a place as       
,lucerne1 as they returned from         
expeditions in the mountains4 ,the older
 men would wear long robes very         
frequently1 but the greater proportion  
of the men would go in variations of    
much the same costume as the children4  
,there would certainly be hooded cloaks 
and umbrellas for rainy weather1 high   
boots for mud and snow1 and cloaks and  
coats and furry robes for the winter4   
,there would be no doubt a freer use of 
colour than terrestrial ,europe sees in 
these days1 but the costume of the women
 at least would be soberer and more     
practical1 and 7in harmony with our     
discussion in the previous chapter7 less
 differentiated from the men's4  ,but   
these1 of course1 are generalisations4  

,these are the mere translation of the  
social facts we have hypotheticated into
 the language of costume4 ,there will be
 a great variety of costume and no      
compulsions4 ,the doubles of people who 
are naturally foppish on earth will be  
foppish in ,utopia1 and people who have 
no natural taste on earth will have     
inartistic equivalents4 ,everyone will  
not be quiet in tone1 or harmonious1 or 
beautiful4 ,occasionally1 as ,i go      
through the streets to my work1 ,i shall
 turn round to glance again at some robe
 shot with gold embroidery1 some        
slashing of the sleeves1 some           
eccentricity of cut1 or some discord or 
untidiness4 ,but these will be but      
transient flashes in a general flow of  
harmonious graciousness2 dress will have
 scarcely any of that effect of         
disorderly conflict1 of self-assertion  
qualified by the fear of ridicule1 that 
it has in the crudely competitive       
civilisations of earth4  ,i shall have  
the seeker's attitude of mind during    

those few days at ,lucerne4 ,i shall    
become a student of faces4 ,i shall be1 
as it were1 looking for someone4 ,i     
shall see heavy faces1 dull faces1 faces
 with an uncongenial animation1 alien   
faces1 and among these some with an     
immediate quality of appeal4 ,i should  
see desirable men approaching me1 and ,i
 should think2 ,now1 if ,i were to speak
 to you8 ,many of these latter ,i should
 note wore the same clothing as the man 
who spoke to us at ,wassen2 ,i should   
begin to think of it as a sort of       
uniform4444  ,then ,i should see        
grave-faced girls1 girls of that budding
 age when their bearing becomes         
delusively wise1 and the old deception  
of my youth will recur to me2 ,could you
 and ,i but talk together8 ,i should    
think4 ,women will pass me lightly1     
women with open and inviting faces1 but 
they will not attract me1 and there will
 come beautiful women1 women with that  
touch of claustral preoccupation which  
forbids the thought of any near         

approach4 ,they are private and secret1 
and ,i may not enter1 ,i know1 into     
their thoughts4444  ,i go as often as ,i
 can to the seat by the end of old      
,kapelbrucke1 and watch the people      
passing over4  ,i shall find a quality  
of dissatisfaction throughout all these 
days4 ,i shall come to see this period  
more and more distinctly as a pause1 as 
a waiting interlude1 and the idea of an 
encounter with my double1 which came at 
first as if it were a witticism1 as     
something verbal and surprising1 begins 
to take substance4 ,the idea grows in my
 mind that after all this is the someone
 ,i am seeking1 this ,utopian self of   
mine4 ,i had at first an idea of a      
grotesque encounter1 as of something    
happening in a looking glass1 but       
presently it dawns on me that my        
,utopian self must be a very different  
person from me4 ,his training will be   
different1 his mental content different4
 ,but between us there will be a strange
 link of essential identity1 a sympathy1

 an understanding4 ,i find the thing    
rising suddenly to a preponderance in my
 mind4 ,i find the interest of details  
dwindling to the vanishing point4 ,that 
,i have come to ,utopia is the lesser   
thing now2 the greater is that ,i have  
come to meet myself4  ,i spend hours    
trying to imagine the encounter1        
inventing little dialogues4 ,i go alone 
to the ,bureau to find if any news has  
come to hand from the ,great ,index in  
,paris1 but ,i am told to wait another  
twenty-four hours4 ,i cease absolutely  
to be interested in anything else1      
except so far as it leads towards       
intercourse with this being who is to be
 at once so strangely alien and so      
totally mine4   ,section #d  ,wrapped up
 in these preoccupations as ,i am1 it   
will certainly be the botanist who will 
notice the comparative absence of       
animals about us4  ,he will put it in   
the form of a temperate objection to the
 ,utopian planet4  ,he is a professed   
lover of dogs and there are none4 ,we   

have seen no horses and only one or two 
mules on the day of our arrival1 and    
there seems not a cat in the world4 ,i  
bring my mind round to his suggestion4  
,this follows1 ,i say4  ,it is only     
reluctantly that ,i allow myself to be  
drawn from my secret musings into a     
discussion of ,utopian pets4  ,i try to 
explain that a phase in the world's     
development is inevitable when a        
systematic world-wide attempt will be   
made to destroy for ever a great number 
of contagious and infectious diseases1  
and that this will involve1 for a time  
at any rate1 a stringent suppression of 
the free movement of familiar animals4  
,utopian houses1 streets and drains will
 be planned and built to make rats1     
mice1 and such-like house parasites     
impossible2 the race of cats and        
dogs--providing1 as it does1 living     
fastnesses to which such diseases as    
plague1 influenza1 catarrhs and the     
like1 can retreat to sally forth        
again--must pass for a time out of      

freedom1 and the filth made by horses   
and the other brutes of the highway     
vanish from the face of the earth4      
,these things make an old story to me1  
and perhaps explicitness suffers through
 my brevity4  ,my botanist fails        
altogether to grasp what the            
disappearance of diseases means4 ,his   
mind has no imaginative organ of that   
compass4 ,as ,i talk his mind rests on  
one fixed image4 ,this presents what the
 botanist would probably call a dear old
 doggie--which the botanist would make  
believe did not possess any sensible    
odour--and it has faithful brown eyes   
and understands everything you say4 ,the
 botanist would make believe it         
understood him mystically1 and ,i figure
 his long white hand--which seems to me1
 in my more jaundiced moments1 to exist 
entirely for picking things and holding 
a lens--patting its head1 while the     
brute looked things unspeakable4444     
,the botanist shakes his head after my  
explanation and says quietly1 ,i do not 

like your ,utopia1 if there are to be no
 dogs4  ,perhaps that makes me a little 
malicious4 ,indeed ,i do not hate dogs1 
but ,i care ten thousand times more for 
a man than for all the brutes on the    
earth1 and ,i can see1 what the botanist
 ,i think cannot1 that a life spent in  
the delightful atmosphere of many pet   
animals may have too dear a price4444   
,i find myself back again at the        
comparison of the botanist and myself4  
,there is a profound difference in our  
imaginations1 and ,i wonder whether it  
is the consequence of innate character  
or of training and whether he is really 
the human type or ,i4 ,i am not         
altogether without imagination1 but what
 imagination ,i have has the most       
insistent disposition to square itself  
with every fact in the universe4 ,it    
hypothesises very boldly1 but on the    
other hand it will not gravely make     
believe4 ,now the botanist's imagination
 is always busy with the most impossible
 make-believe4 ,that is the way with all

 children ,i know4 ,but it seems to me  
one ought to pass out of it4 ,it isn't  
as though the world was an untidy       
nursery2 it is a place of splendours    
indescribable for all who will lift its 
veils4 ,it may be he is essentially     
different from me1 but ,i am much more  
inclined to think he is simply more     
childish4 ,always it is make-believe4   
,he believes that horses are beautiful  
creatures for example1 dogs are         
beautiful creatures1 that some women are
 inexpressibly lovely1 and he makes     
believe that this is always so4 ,never a
 word of criticism of horse or dog or   
woman6 ,never a word of criticism of his
 impeccable friends6 ,then there is his 
botany4 ,he makes believe that all the  
vegetable kingdom is mystically perfect 
and exemplary1 that all flowers smell   
deliciously and are exquisitely         
beautiful1 that ,drosera does not hurt  
flies very much1 and that onions do not 
smell4 ,most of the universe does not   
interest this nature lover at all4 ,but 

,i know1 and ,i am querulously incapable
 of understanding why everyone else does
 not know1 that a horse is beautiful in 
one way and quite ugly in another1 that 
everything has this shot-silk quality1  
and is all the finer for that4 ,when    
people talk of a horse as an ugly animal
 ,i think of its beautiful moments1 but 
when ,i hear a flow of indiscriminate   
praise of its beauty ,i think of such an
 aspect as one gets for example from a  
dog-cart1 the fiddle-shaped back1 and   
that distressing blade of the neck1 the 
narrow clumsy place between the ears1   
and the ugly glimpse of cheek4 ,there   
is1 indeed1 no beauty whatever save that
 transitory thing that comes and comes  
again2 all beauty is really the beauty  
of expression1 is really kinetic and    
momentary4 ,that is true even of those  
triumphs of static endeavour achieved by
 ,greece4 ,the ,greek temple1 for       
example1 is a barn with a face that at a
 certain angle of vision and in a       
certain light has a great calm beauty4  

,but where are we drifting8 ,all such   
things1 ,i hold1 are cases of more and  
less1 and of the right moment and the   
right aspect1 even the things ,i most   
esteem4 ,there is no perfection1 there  
is no enduring treasure4 ,this pet dog's
 beautiful affection1 ,i say1 or this   
other sensuous or imaginative delight1  
is no doubt good1 but it can be put     
aside if it is incompatible with some   
other and wider good4 ,you cannot focus 
all good things together4  ,all right   
action and all wise action is surely    
sound judgment and courageous           
abandonment in the matter of such       
incompatibilities4 ,if ,i cannot imagine
 thoughts and feelings in a dog's brain 
that cannot possibly be there1 at least 
,i can imagine things in the future of  
men that might be there had we the will 
to demand them4444  ,i don't like this  
,utopia1 the botanist repeats4 ,you     
don't understand about dogs4 ,to me     
they're human beings--and more6 ,there  
used to be such a jolly old dog at my   

aunt's at ,frognal when ,i was a boy----
  ,but ,i do not heed his anecdote4     
,something--something of the nature of  
conscience--has suddenly jerked back the
 memory of that beer ,i drank at        
,hospenthal1 and puts an accusing finger
 on the memory4  ,i never have had a pet
 animal1 ,i confess1 though ,i have been
 fairly popular with kittens4 ,but with 
regard to a certain petting of          
myself----8  ,perhaps ,i was premature  
about that beer4 ,i have had no pet     
animals1 but ,i perceive if the ,modern 
,utopia is going to demand the sacrifice
 of the love of animals1 which is1 in   
its way1 a very fine thing indeed1 so   
much the more readily may it demand the 
sacrifice of many other indulgences1    
some of which are not even fine in the  
lowest degree4  ,it is curious this     
haunting insistence upon sacrifice and  
discipline6  ,it is slowly becoming my  
dominant thought that the sort of people
 whose will this ,utopia embodies must  
be people a little heedless of small    

pleasures4 ,you cannot focus all good   
things at the same time4 ,that is my    
chief discovery in these meditations at 
,lucerne4 ,much of the rest of this     
,utopia ,i had in a sort of way         
anticipated1 but not this4 ,i wonder if 
,i shall see my ,utopian self for long  
and be able to talk to him freely4444   
,we lie in the petal-strewn grass under 
some ,judas trees beside the lake shore1
 as ,i meander among these thoughts1 and
 each of us1 disregardful of his        
companion1 follows his own associations4
  ,very remarkable1 ,i say1 discovering 
that the botanist has come to an end    
with his story of that ,frognal dog4    
,you'd wonder how he knew1 he says4     
,you would4  ,i nibble a green blade4   
,do you realise quite1 ,i ask1 that     
within a week we shall face our ,utopian
 selves and measure something of what we
 might have been8  ,the botanist's face 
clouds4 ,he rolls over1 sits up abruptly
 and puts his lean hands about his      
knees4  ,i don't like to think about it1

 he says4 ,what is the good of reckoning
 444 might have beens8   ,section #e    
,it is pleasant to think of one's       
puzzling the organised wisdom of so     
superior a planet as this ,utopia1 this 
moral monster ,state my ,frankenstein of
 reasoning has made1 and to that pitch  
we have come4 ,when we are next in the  
presence of our ,lucerne official1 he   
has the bearing of a man who faces a    
mystification beyond his powers1 an     
incredible disarrangement of the order  
of ,nature4 ,here1 for the first time in
 the records of ,utopian science1 are   
two cases--not simply one but two1 and  
these in each other's company6--of      
duplicated thumb-marks4 ,this1 coupled  
with a cock-and-bull story of an        
instantaneous transfer from some planet 
unknown to ,utopian astronomy4 ,that he 
and all his world exists only upon a    
hypothesis that would explain everyone  
of these difficulties absolutely1 is    
scarcely likely to occur to his         
obviously unphilosophic mind4  ,the     

official eye is more eloquent than the  
official lips and asks almost urgently1 
,what in this immeasurable universe have
 you managed to do to your thumbs8 ,and 
why8 ,but he is only a very inferior    
sort of official indeed1 a mere clerk of
 the post1 and he has all the guarded   
reserve of your thoroughly unoriginal   
man4 ,you are not the two persons ,i    
ascertained you were1 he says1 with the 
note of one resigned to communion with  
unreason2 because you--he indicates     
me--are evidently at your residence in  
,london4 ,i smile4 ,that gentleman--he  
points a pen at the botanist in a manner
 that is intended to dismiss my smile   
once for all--will be in ,london next   
week4 ,he will be returning next ,friday
 from a special mission to investigate  
the fungoid parasites that have been    
attacking the cinchona trees in ,ceylon4
  ,the botanist blesses his heart4      
,consequently--the official sighs at the
 burthen of such nonsense1 you will have
 to go and consult with--the people you 

ought to be4  ,i betray a faint         
amusement4  ,you will have to end by    
believing in our planet1 ,i say4  ,he   
waggles a negation with his head4 ,he   
would intimate his position is too      
responsible a one for jesting1 and both 
of us in our several ways enjoy the     
pleasure we poor humans have in meeting 
with intellectual inferiority4 ,the     
,standing ,committee of ,identification1
 he says1 with an eye on a memorandum1  
has remitted your case to the ,research 
,professor of ,anthropology in the      
,university of ,london1 and they want   
you to go there1 if you will1 and talk  
to him4  ,what else can we do8 says the 
botanist4  ,there's no positive         
compulsion1 he remarks1 but your work   
here will probably cease4 ,here---- he  
pushed the neat slips of paper towards  
us--are your tickets for ,london1 and a 
small but sufficient supply of          
money1--he indicates two piles of coins 
and paper on either hand of him--for a  
day or so there4 ,he proceeds in the    

same dry manner to inform us we are     
invited to call at our earliest         
convenience upon our doubles1 and upon  
the ,professor1 who is to investigate   
our case4  ,and then8  ,he pulls down   
the corners of his mouth in a wry       
deprecatory smile1 eyes us obliquely    
under a crumpled brow1 shrugs his       
shoulders1 and shows us the palms of his
 hands4  ,on earth1 where there is      
nationality1 this would have been a     
,frenchman--the inferior sort of        
,frenchman--the sort whose only         
happiness is in the routine security of 
,government employment4   ,section #f   
,london will be the first ,utopian city 
centre we shall see4  ,we shall find    
ourselves there with not a little       
amazement4 ,it will be our first        
experience of the swift long distance   
travel of ,utopia1 and ,i have an       
idea--,i know not why--that we should   
make the journey by night4 ,perhaps ,i  
think so because the ideal of           
long-distance travel is surely a restful

 translation less suitable for the      
active hours4  ,we shall dine and gossip
 and drink coffee at the pretty little  
tables under the lantern-lit trees1 we  
shall visit the theatre1 and decide to  
sup in the train1 and so come at last to
 the station4 ,there we shall find      
pleasant rooms with seats and           
books--luggage all neatly elsewhere--and
 doors that we shall imagine give upon a
 platform4 ,our cloaks and hats and     
such-like outdoor impedimenta will be   
taken in the hall and neatly labelled   
for ,london1 we shall exchange our shoes
 for slippers there1 and we shall sit   
down like men in a club4 ,an officious  
little bell will presently call our     
attention to a label ,london on the     
doorway1 and an excellent phonograph    
will enforce that notice with infinite  
civility4 ,the doors will open1 and we  
shall walk through into an equally      
comfortable gallery4  ,where is the     
train for ,london8 we shall ask a       
uniformed fellow ,utopian4  ,this is the

 train for ,london1 he will say4  ,there
 will be a shutting of doors1 and the   
botanist and ,i1 trying not to feel too 
childish1 will walk exploring through   
the capacious train4  ,the resemblance  
to a club will strike us both4 ,a good  
club1 the botanist will correct me4     
,when one travels beyond a certain      
speed1 there is nothing but fatigue in  
looking out of a window1 and this       
corridor train1 twice the width of its  
poor terrestrial brother1 will have no  
need of that distraction4 ,the simple   
device of abandoning any but a few      
windows1 and those set high1 gives the  
wall space of the long corridors to     
books2 the middle part of the train is  
indeed a comfortable library with       
abundant armchairs and couches1 each    
with its green-shaded light1 and soft   
carpets upon the soundproof floor4      
,further on will be a news-room1 with a 
noiseless but busy tape at one corner1  
printing off messages from the wires by 
the wayside1 and further still1 rooms   

for gossip and smoking1 a billiard room1
 and the dining car4 ,behind we shall   
come to bedrooms1 bathrooms1 the        
hairdresser1 and so forth4  ,when shall 
we start8 ,i ask presently1 as we       
return1 rather like bashful yokels1 to  
the library1 and the old gentleman      
reading the ,arabian ,nights in the     
armchair in the corner glances up at me 
with a sudden curiosity4  ,the botanist 
touches my arm and nods towards a pretty
 little lead-paned window1 through which
 we see a village sleeping under cloudy 
moonlight go flashing by4 ,then a skylit
 lake1 and then a string of swaying     
lights1 gone with the leap of a camera  
shutter4  ,two hundred miles an hour6   
,we resort to a dignified ,chinese      
steward and secure our berths4 ,it is   
perhaps terrestrial of us that we do not
 think of reading the ,utopian          
literature that lines the middle part of
 the train4 ,i find a bed of the simple 
,utopian pattern1 and lie for a time    
thinking--quite tranquilly--of this     

marvellous adventure4  ,i wonder why it 
is that to lie securely in bed1 with the
 light out1 seems ever the same place1  
wherever in space one may chance to be8 
,and asleep1 there is no space for us at
 all4 ,i become drowsy and incoherent   
and metaphysical4444  ,the faint and    
fluctuating drone of the wheels below   
the car1 re-echoed by the flying track1 
is more perceptible now1 but it is not  
unpleasantly loud1 merely a faint       
tinting of the quiet4444  ,no sea       
crossing breaks our journey2 there is   
nothing to prevent a ,channel tunnel in 
that other planet2 and ,i wake in       
,london4  ,the train has been in ,london
 some time when ,i awake1 for these     
marvellous ,utopians have discovered    
that it is not necessary to bundle out  
passengers from a train in the small    
hours1 simply because they have arrived4
 ,a ,utopian train is just a peculiar   
kind of hotel corridor that flies about 
the earth while one sleeps4   ,section  
#g  ,how will a great city of ,utopia   

strike us8  ,to answer that question    
well one must needs be artist and       
engineer1 and ,i am neither4 ,moreover1 
one must employ words and phrases that  
do not exist1 for this world still does 
not dream of the things that may be done
 with thought and steel1 when the       
engineer is sufficiently educated to be 
an artist1 and the artistic intelligence
 has been quickened to the              
accomplishment of an engineer4 ,how can 
one write of these things for a         
generation which rather admires that    
inconvenient and gawky muddle of        
ironwork and ,flemish architecture1 the 
,london ,tower ,bridge4 ,when before    
this1 temerarious anticipators have     
written of the mighty buildings that    
might someday be1 the illustrator has   
blended with the poor ineffectual       
splutter of the author's words1 his     
powerful suggestion that it amounted    
simply to something bulbous1 florid and 
fluent in the vein of the onion1 and    
,l',art ,nouveau4 ,but here1 it may be1 

the illustrator will not intervene4     
,art has scarcely begun in the world4   
,there have been a few forerunners and  
that is all4 ,leonardo1 ,michael        
,angelo2 how they would have exulted in 
the liberties of steel6 ,there are no   
more pathetic documents in the archives 
of art than ,leonardo's memoranda4 ,in  
these1 one sees him again and again     
reaching out as it were1 with empty     
desirous hands1 towards the unborn      
possibilities of the engineer4 ,and     
,durer1 too1 was a ,modern1 with the    
same turn towards creative invention4   
,in our times these men would have      
wanted to make viaducts1 to bridge wild 
and inaccessible places1 to cut and     
straddle great railways athwart the     
mountain masses of the world4 ,you can  
see1 time after time1 in ,durer's work1 
as you can see in the imaginary         
architectural landscape of the ,pompeian
 walls1 the dream of structures1 lighter
 and bolder than stone or brick can     
yield4444 ,these ,utopian town buildings

 will be the realisation of such dreams4
  ,here will be one of the great meeting
 places of mankind4 ,here--,i speak of  
,utopian ,london--will be the           
traditional centre of one of the great  
races in the commonalty of the ,world   
,state--and here will be its social and 
intellectual exchange4 ,there will be a 
mighty ,university here1 with thousands 
of professors and tens of thousands of  
advanced students1 and here great       
journals of thought and speculation1    
mature and splendid books of philosophy 
and science1 and a glorious fabric of   
literature will be woven and shaped1 and
 with a teeming leisureliness1 put      
forth4 ,here will be stupendous         
libraries1 and a mighty organisation of 
museums4 ,about these centres will      
cluster a great swarm of people1 and    
close at hand will be another centre1   
for ,i who am an ,englishman must needs 
stipulate that ,westminster shall still 
be a seat of world ,empire1 one of      
several seats1 if you will--where the   

ruling council of the world assembles4  
,then the arts will cluster round this  
city1 as gold gathers about wisdom1 and 
here ,englishmen will weave into        
wonderful prose and beautiful rhythms   
and subtly atmospheric forms1 the       
intricate1 austere and courageous       
imagination of our race4  ,one will come
 into this place as one comes into a    
noble mansion4 ,they will have flung    
great arches and domes of glass above   
the wider spaces of the town1 the       
slender beauty of the perfect metal-work
 far overhead will be softened to a     
fairy-like unsubstantiality by the mild 
,london air4 ,it will be the ,london air
 we know1 clear of filth and all        
impurity1 the same air that gives our   
,october days their unspeakable clarity 
and makes every ,london twilight        
mysteriously beautiful4 ,we shall go    
along avenues of architecture that will 
be emancipated from the last memories of
 the squat temple boxes of the ,greek1  
the buxom curvatures of ,rome2 the ,goth

 in us will have taken to steel and     
countless new materials as kindly as    
once he took to stone4 ,the gay and     
swiftly moving platforms of the public  
ways will go past on either hand1       
carrying sporadic groups of people1 and 
very speedily we shall find ourselves in
 a sort of central space1 rich with     
palms and flowering bushes and statuary4
 ,we shall look along an avenue of      
trees1 down a wide gorge between the    
cliffs of crowded hotels1 the hotels    
that are still glowing with internal    
lights1 to where the shining morning    
river streams dawnlit out to sea4       
,great multitudes of people will pass   
softly to and fro in this central space1
 beautiful girls and youths going to the
 ,university classes that are held in   
the stately palaces about us1 grave and 
capable men and women going to their    
businesses1 children meandering along to
 their schools1 holiday makers1 lovers1 
setting out upon a hundred quests2 and  
here we shall ask for the two we more   

particularly seek4 ,a graceful little   
telephone kiosk will put us within reach
 of them1 and with a queer sense of     
unreality ,i shall find myself talking  
to my ,utopian twin4 ,he has heard of   
me1 he wants to see me and he gives me  
clear directions how to come to him4  ,i
 wonder if my own voice sounds like     
that4  ,yes1 ,i say1 then ,i will come  
as soon as we have been to our hotel4   
,we indulge in no eloquence upon this   
remarkable occasion4 ,yet ,i feel an    
unusual emotional stir4 ,i tremble      
greatly1 and the telephonic mouthpiece  
rattles as ,i replace it4  ,and thence  
the botanist and ,i walk on to the      
apartments that have been set aside for 
us1 and into which the poor little rolls
 of the property that has accumulated   
about us in ,utopia1 our earthly        
raiment1 and a change of linen and the  
like1 have already been delivered4 ,as  
we go ,i find ,i have little to say to  
my companion1 until presently ,i am     
struck by a transitory wonder that he   

should have so little to say to me4  ,i 
can still hardly realise1 ,i say1 that  
,i am going to see myself--as ,i might  
have been4  ,no1 he says1 and relapses  
at once into his own preoccupation4     
,for a moment my wonder as to what he   
should be thinking about brings me near 
to a double self-forgetfulness4  ,i     
realise we are at the entrance of our   
hotel before ,i can formulate any       
further remark4  ,this is the place1 ,i 
say4    ,,chapter ,,the ,,eighth  ,my   
,utopian ,self   ,section #a  ,it falls 
to few of us to interview our better    
selves4 ,my ,utopian self is1 of course1
 my better self--according to my best   
endeavours--and ,i must confess myself  
fully alive to the difficulties of the  
situation4 ,when ,i came to this ,utopia
 ,i had no thought of any such intimate 
self-examination4  ,the whole fabric of 
that other universe sways for a moment  
as ,i come into his room1 into his clear
 and ordered work-room4 ,i am trembling4
 ,a figure rather taller than myself    

stands against the light4  ,he comes    
towards me1 and ,i1 as ,i advance to    
meet him1 stumble against a chair4      
,then1 still without a word1 we are     
clasping hands4  ,i stand now so that   
the light falls upon him1 and ,i can see
 his face better4 ,he is a little taller
 than ,i1 younger looking and sounder   
looking2 he has missed an illness or so1
 and there is no scar over his eye4 ,his
 training has been subtly finer than    
mine2 he has made himself a better face 
than mine4444 ,these things ,i might    
have counted upon4 ,i can fancy he      
winces with a twinge of sympathetic     
understanding at my manifest            
inferiority4 ,indeed1 ,i come1 trailing 
clouds of earthly confusion and         
weakness2 ,i bear upon me all the       
defects of my world4 ,he wears1 ,i see1 
that white tunic with the purple band   
that ,i have already begun to consider  
the proper ,utopian clothing for grave  
men1 and his face is clean shaven4 ,we  
forget to speak at first in the         

intensity of our mutual inspection4     
,when at last ,i do gain my voice it is 
to say something quite different from   
the fine1 significant openings of my    
premeditated dialogues4  ,you have a    
pleasant room1 ,i remark1 and look about
 a little disconcerted because there is 
no fireplace for me to put my back      
against1 or hearthrug to stand upon4 ,he
 pushes me a chair1 into which ,i plump1
 and we hang over an immensity of       
conversational possibilities4  ,i say1  
,i plunge1 what do you think of me8 ,you
 don't think ,i'm an impostor8  ,not now
 that ,i have seen you4 ,no4  ,am ,i so 
like you8  ,like me and your            
story--exactly4  ,you haven't any doubt 
left8 ,i ask4  ,not in the least1 since 
,i saw you enter4 ,you come from the    
world beyond ,sirius1 twin to this4 ,eh8
  ,and you don't want to know how ,i got
 here8  ,i've ceased even to wonder how 
,i got here1 he says1 with a laugh that 
echoes mine4  ,he leans back in his     
chair1 and ,i in mine1 and the absurd   

parody of our attitude strikes us both4 
,well8 we say1 simultaneously1 and laugh
 together4  ,i will confess this meeting
 is more difficult even than ,i         
anticipated4   ,section #b  ,our        
conversation at that first encounter    
would do very little to develop the     
,modern ,utopia in my mind4 ,inevitably1
 it would be personal and emotional4 ,he
 would tell me how he stood in his      
world1 and ,i how ,i stood in mine4 ,i  
should have to tell him things1 ,i      
should have to explain things----4  ,no1
 the conversation would contribute      
nothing to a modern ,utopia4  ,and so ,i
 leave it out4   ,section #c  ,but ,i   
should go back to my botanist in a state
 of emotional relaxation4 ,at first ,i  
should not heed the fact that he1 too1  
had been in some manner stirred4 ,i have
 seen him1 ,i should say1 needlessly1   
and seem to be on the verge of telling  
the untellable4 ,then ,i should fade off
 into3 ,it's the strangest thing4  ,he  
would interrupt me with his own         

preoccupation4 ,you know1 he would say1 
,i've seen someone4  ,i should pause and
 look at him4  ,she is in this world1 he
 says4  ,who is in this world8  ,mary6  
,i have not heard her name before1 but  
,i understand1 of course1 at once4  ,i  
saw her1 he explains4  ,saw her8  ,i'm  
certain it was her4 ,certain4 ,she was  
far away across those gardens near      
here--and before ,i had recovered from  
my amazement she had gone6 ,but it was  
,mary4  ,he takes my arm4 ,you know ,i  
did not understand this1 he says4 ,i did
 not really understand that when you    
said ,utopia1 you meant ,i was to meet  
her--in happiness4  ,i didn't4  ,it     
works out at that4  ,you haven't met her
 yet4  ,i shall4 ,it makes everything   
different4 ,to tell you the truth ,i've 
rather hated this ,utopia of yours at   
times4 ,you mustn't mind my saying it1  
but there's something of the            
,gradgrind----  ,probably ,i should     
swear at that4  ,what8 he says4         
,nothing4  ,but you spoke8  ,i was      

purring4 ,i'm a ,gradgrind--it's quite  
right--anything you can say about       
,herbert ,spencer1 vivisectors1         
materialistic ,science or ,atheists1    
applies without correction to me4       
,begbie away6 ,but now you think better 
of a modern ,utopia8 ,was the lady      
looking well8  ,it was her real self4   
,yes4 ,not the broken woman ,i met--in  
the real world4  ,and as though she was 
pining for you4  ,he looks puzzled4     
,look there6 ,i say4  ,he looks4  ,we   
are standing high above the ground in   
the loggia into which our apartments    
open1 and ,i point across the soft haze 
of the public gardens to a tall white   
mass of ,university buildings that rises
 with a free and fearless gesture1 to   
lift saluting pinnacles against the     
clear evening sky4 ,don't you think that
 rather more beautiful than--say--our   
,national ,gallery8  ,he looks at it    
critically4 ,there's a lot of metal in  
it1 he objects4 ,what8  ,i purred4 ,but1
 anyhow1 whatever you can't see in that1

 you can1 ,i suppose1 see that it is    
different from anything in your         
world--it lacks the kindly humanity of a
 red-brick ,queen ,anne villa residence1
 with its gables and bulges1 and bow    
windows1 and its stained glass fanlight1
 and so forth4 ,it lacks the            
self-complacent unreasonableness of     
,board of ,works classicism4 ,there's   
something in its proportions--as though 
someone with brains had taken a lot of  
care to get it quite right1 someone who 
not only knew what metal can do1 but    
what a ,university ought to be1 somebody
 who had found the ,gothic spirit       
enchanted1 petrified1 in a cathedral1   
and had set it free4  ,but what has     
this1 he asks1 to do with her8  ,very   
much1 ,i say4 ,this is not the same     
world4 ,if she is here1 she will be     
younger in spirit and wiser4 ,she will  
be in many ways more refined----  ,no   
one---- he begins1 with a note of       
indignation4  ,no1 no6 ,she couldn't be4
 ,i was wrong there4 ,but she will be   

different4 ,grant that at any rate4     
,when you go forward to speak to her1   
she may not remember--very many things  
you may remember4 ,things that happened 
at ,frognal--dear romantic walks through
 the ,sunday summer evenings1           
practically you two alone1 you in your  
adolescent silk hat and your nice       
gentlemanly gloves4444 ,perhaps that did
 not happen here6 ,and she may have     
other memories--of things--that down    
there haven't happened4 ,you noted her  
costume4 ,she wasn't by any chance one  
of the samurai8  ,he answers1 with a    
note of satisfaction1 ,no6 ,she wore a  
womanly dress of greyish green4         
,probably under the ,lesser ,rule4  ,i  
don't know what you mean by the ,lesser 
,rule4 ,she wasn't one of the samurai4  
,and1 after all1 you know--,i keep on   
reminding you1 and you keep on losing   
touch with the fact1 that this world    
contains your double4  ,he pales1 and   
his countenance is disturbed4 ,thank    
,heaven1 ,i've touched him at last6     

,this world contains your double4 ,but1 
conceivably1 everything may be different
 here4 ,the whole romantic story may    
have run a different course4 ,it was as 
it was in our world1 by the accidents of
 custom and proximity4 ,adolescence is a
 defenceless plastic period4 ,you are a 
man to form great affections1--noble1   
great affections4 ,you might have met   
anyone almost at that season and formed 
the same attachment4  ,for a time he is 
perplexed and troubled by this          
suggestion4  ,no1 he says1 a little     
doubtfully4 ,no4 ,it was herself4 444   
,then1 emphatically1 ,no6   ,section #d 
,for a time we say no more1 and ,i fall 
musing about my strange encounter with  
my ,utopian double4 ,i think of the     
confessions ,i have just made to him1   
the strange admissions both to him and  
myself4 ,i have stirred up the          
stagnations of my own emotional life1   
the pride that has slumbered1 the hopes 
and disappointments that have not       
troubled me for years4 ,there are things

 that happened to me in my adolescence  
that no discipline of reason will ever  
bring to a just proportion for me1 the  
first humiliations ,i was made to       
suffer1 the waste of all the fine       
irrecoverable loyalties and passions of 
my youth4 ,the dull base caste of my    
little personal tragi-comedy--,i have   
ostensibly forgiven1 ,i have for the    
most part forgotten--and yet when ,i    
recall them ,i hate each actor still4   
,whenever it comes into my mind--,i do  
my best to prevent it--there it is1 and 
these detestable people blot out the    
stars for me4  ,i have told all that    
story to my double1 and he has listened 
with understanding eyes4 ,but for a     
little while those squalid memories will
 not sink back into the deeps4  ,we     
lean1 side by side1 over our balcony1   
lost in such egotistical absorptions1   
quite heedless of the great palace of   
noble dreams to which our first         
enterprise has brought us4   ,section #e
  ,i can understand the botanist this   

afternoon2 for once we are in the same  
key4 ,my own mental temper has gone for 
the day1 and ,i know what it means to be
 untempered4 ,here is a world and a     
glorious world1 and it is for me to take
 hold of it1 to have to do with it1 here
 and now1 and behold6 ,i can only think 
that ,i am burnt and scarred1 and there 
rankles that wretched piece of business1
 the mean unimaginative triumph of my   
antagonist----  ,i wonder how many men  
have any real freedom of mind1 are1 in  
truth1 unhampered by such associations1 
to whom all that is great and noble in  
life does not1 at times at least1 if not
 always1 seem secondary to obscure      
rivalries and considerations1 to the    
petty hates that are like germs in the  
blood1 to the lust for self-assertion1  
to dwarfish pride1 to affections they   
gave in pledge even before they were    
men4  ,the botanist beside me dreams1 ,i
 know1 of vindications for that woman4  
,all this world before us1 and its order
 and liberty1 are no more than a painted

 scene before which he is to meet ,her  
at last1 freed from that scoundrel4  ,he
 expects that scoundrel really to be    
present and1 as it were1 writhing under 
their feet4444  ,i wonder if that man   
was a scoundrel4 ,he has gone wrong on  
earth1 no doubt1 has failed and         
degenerated1 but what was it sent him   
wrong8 ,was his failure inherent1 or did
 some net of cross purposes tangle about
 his feet8 ,suppose he is not a failure 
in ,utopia6444  ,i wonder that this has 
never entered the botanist's head4  ,he1
 with his vaguer mind1 can              
overlook--spite of my ruthless          
reminders--all that would mar his vague 
anticipations4 ,that1 too1 if ,i        
suggested it1 he would overcome and     
disregard4 ,he has the most amazing     
power of resistance to uncongenial      
ideas2 amazing that is1 to me4 ,he hates
 the idea of meeting his double1 and    
consequently so soon as ,i cease to     
speak of that1 with scarcely an effort  
of his will1 it fades again from his    

mind4  ,down below in the gardens two   
children pursue one another1 and one1   
near caught1 screams aloud and rouses me
 from my reverie4  ,i follow their      
little butterfly antics until they      
vanish beyond a thicket of flowering    
rhododendra1 and then my eyes go back to
 the great facade of the ,university    
buildings4  ,but ,i am in no mood to    
criticise architecture4  ,why should a  
modern ,utopia insist upon slipping out 
of the hands of its creator and becoming
 the background of a personal drama--of 
such a silly little drama8  ,the        
botanist will not see ,utopia in any    
other way4 ,he tests it entirely by its 
reaction upon the individual persons and
 things he knows2 he dislikes it because
 he suspects it of wanting to lethal    
chamber his aunt's dear old doggie1 and 
now he is reconciled to it because a    
certain ,mary looks much younger and    
better here than she did on earth4 ,and 
here am ,i1 near fallen into the same   
way of dealing6  ,we agreed to purge    

this ,state and all the people in it of 
traditions1 associations1 bias1 laws1   
and artificial entanglements1 and begin 
anew2 but we have no power to liberate  
ourselves4 ,our past1 even its          
accidents1 its accidents above all1 and 
ourselves1 are one4    ,,chapter ,,the  
,,ninth  ,the ,samurai   ,section #a    
,neither my ,utopian double nor ,i love 
emotion sufficiently to cultivate it1   
and my feelings are in a state of seemly
 subordination when we meet again4 ,he  
is now in possession of some clear1     
general ideas about my own world1 and ,i
 can broach almost at once the thoughts 
that have been growing and accumulating 
since my arrival in this planet of my   
dreams4 ,we find our interest in a      
humanised state-craft1 makes us1 in     
spite of our vast difference in training
 and habits1 curiously akin4  ,i put it 
to him that ,i came to ,utopia with but 
very vague ideas of the method of       
government1 biassed1 perhaps1 a little  
in favour of certain electoral devices1 

but for the rest indeterminate1 and that
 ,i have come to perceive more and more 
clearly that the large intricacy of     
,utopian organisation demands more      
powerful and efficient method of control
 than electoral methods can give4 ,i    
have come to distinguish among the      
varied costumes and the innumerable     
types of personality ,utopia presents1  
certain men and women of a distinctive  
costume and bearing1 and ,i know now    
that these people constitute an order1  
the samurai1 the voluntary nobility1    
which is essential in the scheme of the 
,utopian ,state4 ,i know that this order
 is open to every physically and        
mentally healthy adult in the ,utopian  
,state who will observe its prescribed  
austere rule of living1 that much of the
 responsible work of the ,state is      
reserved for it1 and ,i am inclined now 
at the first onset of realisation to    
regard it as far more significant than  
it really is in the ,utopian scheme1 as 
being1 indeed1 in itself and completely 

the ,utopian scheme4 ,my predominant    
curiosity concerns the organisation of  
this order4 ,as it has developed in my  
mind1 it has reminded me more and more  
closely of that strange class of        
guardians which constitutes the         
essential substance of ,plato's         
,republic1 and it is with an implicit   
reference to ,plato's profound          
intuitions that ,i and my double discuss
 this question4  ,to clarify our        
comparison he tells me something of the 
history of ,utopia1 and incidentally it 
becomes necessary to make a correction  
in the assumptions upon which ,i have   
based my enterprise4 ,we are assuming a 
world identical in every respect with   
the real planet ,earth1 except for the  
profoundest differences in the mental   
content of life4 ,this implies a        
different literature1 a different       
philosophy1 and a different history1 and
 so soon as ,i come to talk to him ,i   
find that though it remains unavoidable 
that we should assume the correspondence

 of the two populations1 man for        
man--unless we would face unthinkable   
complications--we must assume also that 
a great succession of persons of        
extraordinary character and mental      
gifts1 who on earth died in childhood or
 at birth1 or who never learnt to read1 
or who lived and died amidst savage or  
brutalising surroundings that gave their
 gifts no scope1 did in ,utopia         
encounter happier chances1 and take up  
the development and application of      
social theory--from the time of the     
first ,utopists in a steady onward      
progress down to the present hour4      
,footnote3 ,one might assume as an      
alternative to this that amidst the     
four-fifths of the ,greek literature now
 lost to the world1 there perished1     
neglected1 some book of elementary      
significance1 some earlier ,novum       
,organum1 that in ,utopia survived to   
achieve the profoundest consequences4   
,the differences of condition1          
therefore1 had widened with each        

successive year4 ,jesus ,christ had been
 born into a liberal and progressive    
,roman ,empire that spread from the     
,arctic ,ocean to the ,bight of ,benin1 
and was to know no ,decline and ,fall1  
and ,mahomet1 instead of embodying the  
dense prejudices of ,arab ignorance1    
opened his eyes upon an intellectual    
horizon already nearly as wide as the   
world4  ,and through this empire the    
flow of thought1 the flow of intention1 
poured always more abundantly4 ,there   
were wars1 but they were conclusive wars
 that established new and more permanent
 relations1 that swept aside            
obstructions1 and abolished centres of  
decay2 there were prejudices tempered to
 an ordered criticism1 and hatreds that 
merged at last in tolerant reactions4   
,it was several hundred years ago that  
the great organisation of the samurai   
came into its present form4 ,and it was 
this organisation's widely sustained    
activities that had shaped and          
established the ,world ,state in        

,utopia4  ,this organisation of the     
samurai was a quite deliberate          
invention4 ,it arose in the course of   
social and political troubles and       
complications1 analogous to those of our
 own time on earth1 and was1 indeed1 the
 last of a number of political and      
religious experiments dating back to the
 first dawn of philosophical state-craft
 in ,greece4 ,that hasty despair of     
specialisation for government that gave 
our poor world individualism1 democratic
 liberalism1 and anarchism1 and that    
curious disregard of the fund of        
enthusiasm and self-sacrifice in men1   
which is the fundamental weakness of    
worldly economics1 do not appear in the 
history of ,utopian thought4 ,all that  
history is pervaded with the recognition
 of the fact that self-seeking is no    
more the whole of human life than the   
satisfaction of hunger2 that it is an   
essential of a man's existence no doubt1
 and that under stress of evil          
circumstances it may as entirely obsess 

him as would the food hunt during       
famine1 but that life may pass beyond to
 an illimitable world of emotions and   
effort4 ,every sane person consists of  
possibilities beyond the unavoidable    
needs1 is capable of disinterested      
feeling1 even if it amounts only to     
enthusiasm for a sport or an industrial 
employment well done1 for an art1 or for
 a locality or class4 ,in our world now1
 as in the ,utopian past1 this          
impersonal energy of a man goes out into
 religious emotion and work1 into       
patriotic effort1 into artistic         
enthusiasms1 into games and amateur     
employments1 and an enormous proportion 
of the whole world's fund of effort     
wastes itself in religious and political
 misunderstandings and conflicts1 and in
 unsatisfying amusements and            
unproductive occupations4 ,in a modern  
,utopia there will1 indeed1 be no       
perfection2 in ,utopia there must also  
be friction1 conflicts and waste1 but   
the waste will be enormously less than  

in our world4 ,and the co-ordination of 
activities this relatively smaller waste
 will measure1 will be the achieved end 
for which the order of the samurai was  
first devised4  ,inevitably such an     
order must have first arisen among a    
clash of social forces and political    
systems as a revolutionary organisation4
 ,it must have set before itself the    
attainment of some such ,utopian ideal  
as this modern ,utopia does1 in the key 
of mortal imperfection1 realise4 ,at    
first it may have directed itself to    
research and discussion1 to the         
elaboration of its ideal1 to the        
discussion of a plan of campaign1 but at
 some stage it must have assumed a more 
militant organisation1 and have         
prevailed against and assimilated the   
pre-existing political organisations1   
and to all intents and purposes have    
become this present synthesised ,world  
,state4 ,traces of that militancy would1
 therefore1 pervade it still1 and a     
campaigning quality--no longer against  

specific disorders1 but against         
universal human weaknesses1 and the     
inanimate forces that trouble man--still
 remain as its essential quality4       
,something of this kind1 ,i should tell 
my double1 had arisen in our thought--,i
 jerk my head back to indicate an       
infinitely distant planet--just before  
,i came upon these explorations4 ,the   
idea had reached me1 for example1 of    
something to be called a ,new ,republic1
 which was to be in fact an organisation
 for revolution something after the     
fashion of your samurai1 as ,i          
understand them--only most of the       
organisation and the rule of life still 
remained to be invented4 ,all sorts of  
people were thinking of something in    
that way about the time of my coming4   
,the idea1 as it reached me1 was pretty 
crude in several respects4 ,it ignored  
the high possibility of a synthesis of  
languages in the future2 it came from a 
literary man1 who wrote only ,english1  
and1 as ,i read him--he was a little    

vague in his proposals--it was to be a  
purely ,english-speaking movement4 ,and 
his ideas were coloured too much by the 
peculiar opportunism of his time2 he    
seemed to have more than half an eye for
 a prince or a millionaire of genius2 he
 seemed looking here and there for      
support and the structural elements of a
 party4 ,still1 the idea of a           
comprehensive movement of disillusioned 
and illuminated men behind the shams and
 patriotisms1 the spites and            
personalities of the ostensible world   
was there4  ,i added some particulars4  
,our movement had something of that     
spirit in the beginning1 said my        
,utopian double4 ,but while your men    
seem to be thinking disconnectedly1 and 
upon a very narrow and fragmentary basis
 of accumulated conclusions1 ours had a 
fairly comprehensive science of human   
association1 and a very careful analysis
 of the failures of preceding beginnings
 to draw upon4 ,after all1 your world   
must be as full as ours was of the      

wreckage and decay of previous attempts2
 churches1 aristocracies1 orders1       
cults4444  ,only at present we seem to  
have lost heart altogether1 and now     
there are no new religions1 no new      
orders1 no new cults--no beginnings any 
more4  ,but that's only a resting phase1
 perhaps4 ,you were saying----          
,oh6--let that distressful planet alone 
for a time6 ,tell me how you manage in  
,utopia4   ,section #b  ,the social     
theorists of ,utopia1 my double         
explained1 did not base their schemes   
upon the classification of men into     
labour and capital1 the landed interest1
 the liquor trade1 and the like4 ,they  
esteemed these as accidental categories1
 indefinitely amenable to statesmanship1
 and they looked for some practical and 
real classification upon which to base  
organisation4 ,footnote3 ,in that they  
seem to have profited by a more         
searching criticism of early social and 
political speculations than our earth   
has yet undertaken4 ,the social         

speculations of the ,greeks1 for        
example1 had just the same primary      
defect as the economic speculations of  
the eighteenth century--they began with 
the assumption that the general         
conditions of the prevalent state of    
affairs were permanent4 ,but1 on the    
other hand1 the assumption that men are 
unclassifiable1 because practically     
homogeneous1 which underlies modern     
democratic methods and all the fallacies
 of our equal justice1 is even more     
alien to the ,utopian mind4 ,throughout 
,utopia there is1 of course1 no other   
than provisional classifications1 since 
every being is regarded as finally      
unique1 but for political and social    
purposes things have long rested upon a 
classification of temperaments1 which   
attends mainly to differences in the    
range and quality and character of the  
individual imagination4  ,this ,utopian 
classification was a rough one1 but it  
served its purpose to determine the     
broad lines of political organisation2  

it was so far unscientific that many    
individuals fall between or within two  
or even three of its classes4 ,but that 
was met by giving the correlated        
organisation a compensatory looseness of
 play4 ,four main classes of mind were  
distinguished1 called1 respectively1 the
 ,poietic1 the ,kinetic1 the ,dull1 and 
the ,base4 ,the former two are supposed 
to constitute the living tissue of the  
,state2 the latter are the fulcra and   
resistances1 the bone and cover of its  
body4 ,they are not hereditary classes1 
nor is there any attempt to develop any 
class by special breeding1 simply       
because the intricate interplay of      
heredity is untraceable and             
incalculable4 ,they are classes to which
 people drift of their own accord4      
,education is uniform until             
differentiation becomes unmistakable1   
and each man 7and woman7 must establish 
his position with regard to the lines of
 this abstract classification by his own
 quality1 choice1 and development4444   

,the ,poietic or creative class of      
mental individuality embraces a wide    
range of types1 but they agree in       
possessing imaginations that range      
beyond the known and accepted1 and that 
involve the desire to bring the         
discoveries made in such excursions1    
into knowledge and recognition4 ,the    
scope and direction of the imaginative  
excursion may vary very greatly4 ,it may
 be the invention of something new or   
the discovery of something hitherto     
unperceived4 ,when the invention or     
discovery is primarily beauty then we   
have the artistic type of ,poietic mind2
 when it is not so1 we have the true    
scientific man4 ,the range of discovery 
may be narrowed as it is in the art of  
,whistler or the science of a           
cytologist1 or it may embrace a wide    
extent of relevance1 until at last both 
artist or scientific inquirer merge in  
the universal reference of the true     
philosopher4 ,to the accumulated        
activities of the ,poietic type1 reacted

 upon by circumstances1 are due almost  
all the forms assumed by human thought  
and feeling4 ,all religious ideas1 all  
ideas of what is good or beautiful1     
entered life through the poietic        
inspirations of man4 ,except for        
processes of decay1 the forms of the    
human future must come also through men 
of this same type1 and it is a primary  
essential to our modern idea of an      
abundant secular progress that these    
activities should be unhampered and     
stimulated4  ,the ,kinetic class        
consists of types1 various1 of course1  
and merging insensibly along the        
boundary into the less representative   
constituents of the ,poietic group1 but 
distinguished by a more restricted range
 of imagination4 ,their imaginations do 
not range beyond the known1 experienced1
 and accepted1 though within these      
limits they may imagine as vividly or   
more vividly than members of the former 
group4 ,they are often very clever and  
capable people1 but they do not do1 and 

they do not desire to do1 new things4   
,the more vigorous individuals of this  
class are the most teachable people in  
the world1 and they are generally more  
moral and more trustworthy than the     
,poietic types4 ,they live1--while the  
,poietics are always something of       
experimentalists with life4 ,the        
characteristics of either of these two  
classes may be associated with a good or
 bad physique1 with excessive or        
defective energy1 with exceptional      
keenness of the senses in some          
determinate direction or such-like bent1
 and the ,kinetic type1 just as the     
,poietic type1 may display an           
imagination of restricted or of the most
 universal range4 ,but a fairly         
energetic ,kinetic is probably the      
nearest thing to that ideal our earthly 
anthropologists have in mind when they  
speak of the ,normal human being4 ,the  
very definition of the ,poietic class   
involves a certain abnormality4  ,the   
,utopians distinguished two extremes of 

this ,kinetic class according to the    
quality of their imaginative            
preferences1 the ,dan and ,beersheba1 as
 it were1 of this division4 ,at one end 
is the mainly intellectual1 unoriginal  
type1 which1 with energy of personality1
 makes an admirable judge or            
administrator and without it an         
uninventive1 laborious1 common          
mathematician1 or common scholar1 or    
common scientific man2 while at the     
other end is the mainly emotional1      
unoriginal man1 the type to which--at a 
low level of personal energy--my        
botanist inclines4 ,the second type     
includes1 amidst its energetic forms1   
great actors1 and popular politicians   
and preachers4 ,between these extremes  
is a long and wide region of varieties1 
into which one would put most of the    
people who form the reputable workmen1  
the men of substance1 the trustworthy   
men and women1 the pillars of society on
 earth4  ,below these two classes in the
 ,utopian scheme of things1 and merging 

insensibly into them1 come the ,dull4   
,the ,dull are persons of altogether    
inadequate imagination1 the people who  
never seem to learn thoroughly1 or hear 
distinctly1 or think clearly4 7,i       
believe if everyone is to be carefully  
educated they would be considerably in  
the minority in the world1 but it is    
quite possible that will not be the     
reader's opinion4 ,it is clearly a      
matter of an arbitrary line47 ,they are 
the stupid people1 the incompetent      
people1 the formal1 imitative people1   
the people who1 in any properly         
organised ,state1 should1 as a class1   
gravitate towards and below the minimum 
wage that qualifies for marriage4 ,the  
laws of heredity are far too mysterious 
for such offspring as they do produce to
 be excluded from a fair chance in the  
world1 but for themselves1 they count   
neither for work nor direction in the   
,state4  ,finally1 with a bold disregard
 of the logician's classificatory rules1
 these ,utopian statesmen who devised   

the ,world ,state1 hewed out in theory a
 class of the ,base4 ,the ,base may1    
indeed1 be either poietic1 kinetic1 or  
dull1 though most commonly they are the 
last1 and their definition concerns not 
so much the quality of their imagination
 as a certain bias in it1 that to a     
statesman makes it a matter for special 
attention4 ,the ,base have a narrower   
and more persistent egoistic reference  
than the common run of humanity2 they   
may boast1 but they have no frankness2  
they have relatively great powers of    
concealment1 and they are capable of1   
and sometimes have an aptitude and      
inclination towards1 cruelty4 ,in the   
queer phrasing of earthly psychology    
with its clumsy avoidance of analysis1  
they have no moral sense4 ,they count as
 an antagonism to the ,state            
organisation4  ,obviously1 this is the  
rudest of classifications1 and no       
,utopian has ever supposed it to be a   
classification for individual           
application1 a classification so precise

 that one can say1 this man is poietic1 
and that man is base4 ,in actual        
experience these qualities mingle and   
vary in every possible way4 ,it is not a
 classification for ,truth1 but a       
classification to an end4 ,taking       
humanity as a multitude of unique       
individuals in mass1 one may1 for       
practical purposes1 deal with it far    
more conveniently by disregarding its   
uniquenesses and its mixed cases        
altogether1 and supposing it to be an   
assembly of poietic1 kinetic1 dull1 and 
base people4 ,in many respects it       
behaves as if it were that4 ,the ,state1
 dealing as it does only with           
non-individualised affairs1 is not only 
justified in disregarding1 but is bound 
to disregard1 a man's special           
distinction1 and to provide for him on  
the strength of his prevalent aspect as 
being on the whole poietic1 kinetic1 or 
what not4 ,in a world of hasty judgments
 and carping criticism1 it cannot be    
repeated too often that the fundamental 

ideas of a modern ,utopia imply         
everywhere and in everything1 margins   
and elasticities1 a certain universal   
compensatory looseness of play4         
,section #c  ,now these ,utopian        
statesmen who founded the ,world ,state 
put the problem of social organisation  
in the following fashion3--,to contrive 
a revolutionary movement that shall     
absorb all existing governments and fuse
 them with itself1 and that must be     
rapidly progressive and adaptable1 and  
yet coherent1 persistent1 powerful1 and 
efficient4  ,the problem of combining   
progress with political stability had   
never been accomplished in ,utopia      
before that time1 any more than it has  
been accomplished on earth4 ,just as on 
earth1 ,utopian history was a succession
 of powers rising and falling in an     
alternation of efficient conservative   
with unstable liberal ,states4 ,just as 
on earth1 so in ,utopia1 the kinetic    
type of men had displayed a more or less
 unintentional antagonism to the        

poietic4 ,the general life-history of a 
,state had been the same on either      
planet4 ,first1 through poietic         
activities1 the idea of a community has 
developed1 and the ,state has shaped    
itself2 poietic men have arisen first in
 this department of national life1 and  
then that1 and have given place to      
kinetic men of a high type--for it seems
 to be in their nature that poietic men 
should be mutually repulsive1 and not   
succeed and develop one another         
consecutively--and a period of expansion
 and vigour has set in4 ,the general    
poietic activity has declined with the  
development of an efficient and settled 
social and political organisation2 the  
statesman has given way to the          
politician who has incorporated the     
wisdom of the statesman with his own    
energy1 the original genius in arts1    
letters1 science1 and every department  
of activity to the cultivated and       
scholarly man4 ,the kinetic man of wide 
range1 who has assimilated his poietic  

predecessor1 succeeds with far more     
readiness than his poietic contemporary 
in almost every human activity4 ,the    
latter is by his very nature            
undisciplined and experimental1 and is  
positively hampered by precedents and   
good order4 ,with this substitution of  
the efficient for the creative type1 the
 ,state ceases to grow1 first in this   
department of activity1 and then in     
that1 and so long as its conditions     
remain the same it remains orderly and  
efficient4 ,but it has lost its power of
 initiative and change2 its power of    
adaptation is gone1 and with that       
secular change of conditions which is   
the law of life1 stresses must arise    
within and without1 and bring at last   
either through revolution or through    
defeat the release of fresh poietic     
power4 ,the process1 of course1 is not  
in its entirety simple2 it may be masked
 by the fact that one department of     
activity may be in its poietic stage1   
while another is in a phase of          

realisation4 ,in the ,united ,states of 
,america1 for example1 during the       
nineteenth century1 there was great     
poietic activity in industrial          
organisation1 and none whatever in      
political philosophy2 but a careful     
analysis of the history of any period   
will show the rhythm almost invariably  
present1 and the initial problem before 
the ,utopian philosopher1 therefore1 was
 whether this was an inevitable         
alternation1 whether human progress was 
necessarily a series of developments1   
collapses1 and fresh beginnings1 after  
an interval of disorder1 unrest1 and    
often great unhappiness1 or whether it  
was possible to maintain a secure1      
happy1 and progressive ,state beside an 
unbroken flow of poietic activity4      
,clearly they decided upon the second   
alternative4 ,if1 indeed1 ,i am         
listening to my ,utopian self1 then they
 not only decided the problem could be  
solved1 but they solved it4  ,he tells  
me how they solved it4  ,a modern       

,utopia differs from all the older      
,utopias in its recognition of the need 
of poietic activities--one sees this new
 consideration creeping into thought for
 the first time in the phrasing of      
,comte's insistence that spiritual must 
precede political reconstruction1 and in
 his admission of the necessity of      
recurrent books and poems about         
,utopias--and at first this recognition 
appears to admit only an added          
complication to a problem already       
unmanageably complex4 ,comte's          
separation of the activities of a ,state
 into the spiritual and material does1  
to a certain extent1 anticipate this    
opposition of poietic and kinetic1 but  
the intimate texture of his mind was    
dull and hard1 the conception slipped   
from him again1 and his suppression of  
literary activities1 and his imposition 
of a rule of life upon the poietic      
types1 who are least able to sustain it1
 mark how deeply he went under4 ,to a   
large extent he followed the older      

,utopists in assuming that the          
philosophical and constructive problem  
could be done once for all1 and he      
worked the results out simply under an  
organised kinetic government4 ,but what 
seems to be merely an addition to the   
difficulty may in the end turn out to be
 a simplification1 just as the          
introduction of a fresh term to an      
intricate irreducible mathematical      
expression will at times bring it to    
unity4  ,now philosophers after my      
,utopian pattern1 who find the ultimate 
significance in life in individuality1  
novelty and the undefined1 would not    
only regard the poietic element as the  
most important in human society1 but    
would perceive quite clearly the        
impossibility of its organisation4      
,this1 indeed1 is simply the application
 to the moral and intellectual fabric of
 the principles already applied in      
discussing the ,state control of        
reproduction 7in ,chapter the ,sixth1   
section #b74 ,but just as in the case of

 births it was possible for the ,state  
to frame limiting conditions within     
which individuality plays more freely   
than in the void1 so the founders of    
this modern ,utopia believed it possible
 to define conditions under which every 
individual born with poietic gifts      
should be enabled and encouraged to give
 them a full development1 in art1       
philosophy1 invention1 or discovery4    
,certain general conditions presented   
themselves as obviously reasonable3--to 
give every citizen as good an education 
as he or she could acquire1 for example2
 to so frame it that the directed       
educational process would never at any  
period occupy the whole available time  
of the learner1 but would provide       
throughout a marginal free leisure with 
opportunities for developing            
idiosyncrasies1 and to ensure by the    
expedient of a minimum wage for a       
specified amount of work1 that leisure  
and opportunity did not cease throughout
 life4  ,but1 in addition to thus making

 poietic activities universally         
possible1 the founders of this modern   
,utopia sought to supply incentives1    
which was an altogether more difficult  
research1 a problem in its nature       
irresolvably complex1 and admitting of  
no systematic solution4 ,but my double  
told me of a great variety of devices by
 which poietic men and women were given 
honour and enlarged freedoms1 so soon as
 they produced an earnest of their      
quality1 and he explained to me how     
great an ambition they might entertain4 
,there were great systems of            
laboratories attached to every municipal
 force station at which research could  
be conducted under the most favourable  
conditions1 and every mine1 and1 indeed1
 almost every great industrial          
establishment1 was saddled under its    
lease with similar obligations4 ,so much
 for poietic ability and research in    
physical science4 ,the ,world ,state    
tried the claims of every living        
contributor to any materially valuable  

invention1 and paid or charged a royalty
 on its use that went partly to him     
personally1 and partly to the research  
institution that had produced him4 ,in  
the matter of literature and the        
philosophical and sociological sciences1
 every higher educational establishment 
carried its studentships1 its           
fellowships1 its occasional             
lectureships1 and to produce a poem1 a  
novel1 a speculative work of force or   
merit1 was to become the object of a    
generous competition between rival      
,universities4 ,in ,utopia1 any author  
has the option either of publishing his 
works through the public bookseller as a
 private speculation1 or1 if he is of   
sufficient merit1 of accepting a        
,university endowment and conceding his 
copyright to the ,university press4 ,all
 sorts of grants in the hands of        
committees of the most varied           
constitution1 supplemented these        
academic resources1 and ensured that no 
possible contributor to the wide flow of

 the ,utopian mind slipped into neglect4
 ,apart from those who engaged mainly in
 teaching and administration1 my double 
told me that the world-wide ,house of   
,saloman ,footnote3 ,the ,new ,atlantis4
 thus created sustained over a million  
men4 ,for all the rarity of large       
fortunes1 therefore1 no original man    
with the desire and capacity for        
material or mental experiments went long
 without resources and the stimulus of  
attention1 criticism1 and rivalry4  ,and
 finally1 said my double1 our ,rules    
ensure a considerable understanding of  
the importance of poietic activities in 
the majority of the samurai1 in whose   
hands as a class all the real power of  
the world resides4  ,ah6 said ,i1 and   
now we come to the thing that interests 
me most4 ,for it is quite clear1 in my  
mind1 that these samurai form the real  
body of the ,state4 ,all this time that 
,i have spent going to and fro in this  
planet1 it has been growing upon me that
 this order of men and women1 wearing   

such a uniform as you wear1 and with    
faces strengthened by discipline and    
touched with devotion1 is the ,utopian  
reality2 but that for them1 the whole   
fabric of these fair appearances would  
crumble and tarnish1 shrink and shrivel1
 until at last1 back ,i should be amidst
 the grime and disorders of the life of 
earth4 ,tell me about these samurai1 who
 remind me of ,plato's guardians1 who   
look like ,knights ,templars1 who bear a
 name that recalls the swordsmen of     
,japan 444 and whose uniform you        
yourself are wearing4 ,what are they8   
,are they an hereditary caste1 a        
specially educated order1 an elected    
class8 ,for1 certainly1 this world turns
 upon them as a door upon its hinges4   
,section #d  ,i follow the ,common      
,rule1 as many men do1 said my double1  
answering my allusion to his uniform    
almost apologetically4 ,but my own work 
is1 in its nature1 poietic2 there is    
much dissatisfaction with our isolation 
of criminals upon islands1 and ,i am    

analysing the psychology of prison      
officials and criminals in general with 
a view to some better scheme4 ,i am     
supposed to be ingenious with expedients
 in this direction4 ,typically1 the     
samurai are engaged in administrative   
work4 ,practically the whole of the     
responsible rule of the world is in     
their hands2 all our head teachers and  
disciplinary heads of colleges1 our     
judges1 barristers1 employers of labour 
beyond a certain limit1 practising      
medical men1 legislators1 must be       
samurai1 and all the executive          
committees1 and so forth1 that play so  
large a part in our affairs are drawn by
 lot exclusively from them4 ,the order  
is not hereditary--we know just enough  
of biology and the uncertainties of     
inheritance to know how silly that would
 be--and it does not require an early   
consecration or novitiate or ceremonies 
and initiations of that sort4 ,the      
samurai are1 in fact1 volunteers4 ,any  
intelligent adult in a reasonably       

healthy and efficient state may1 at any 
age after five-and-twenty1 become one of
 the samurai1 and take a hand in the    
universal control4  ,provided he follows
 the ,rule4  ,precisely--provided he    
follows the ,rule4  ,i have heard the   
phrase1 'voluntary nobility4'  ,that was
 the idea of our ,founders4 ,they made a
 noble and privileged order--open to the
 whole world4 ,no one could complain of 
an unjust exclusion1 for the only thing 
that could exclude from the order was   
unwillingness or inability to follow the
 ,rule4  ,but the ,rule might easily    
have been made exclusive of special     
lineages and races4  ,that wasn't their 
intention4 ,the ,rule was planned to    
exclude the dull1 to be unattractive to 
the base1 and to direct and co-ordinate 
all sound citizens of good intent4  ,and
 it has succeeded8  ,as well as anything
 finite can4 ,life is still imperfect1  
still a thick felt of dissatisfactions  
and perplexing problems1 but most       
certainly the quality of all its        

problems has been raised1 and there has 
been no war1 no grinding poverty1 not   
half the disease1 and an enormous       
increase of the order1 beauty1 and      
resources of life since the samurai1 who
 began as a private aggressive cult1 won
 their way to the rule of the world4  ,i
 would like to have that history1 ,i    
said4 ,i expect there was fighting8 ,he 
nodded4 ,but first--tell me about the   
,rule4  ,the ,rule aims to exclude the  
dull and base altogether1 to discipline 
the impulses and emotions1 to develop a 
moral habit and sustain a man in periods
 of stress1 fatigue1 and temptation1 to 
produce the maximum co-operation of all 
men of good intent1 and1 in fact1 to    
keep all the samurai in a state of moral
 and bodily health and efficiency4 ,it  
does as much of this as well as it can1 
but1 of course1 like all general        
propositions1 it does not do it in any  
case with absolute precision4 ,on the   
whole1 it is so good that most men who1 
like myself1 are doing poietic work1 and

 who would be just as well off without  
obedience1 find a satisfaction in       
adhesion4 ,at first1 in the militant    
days1 it was a trifle hard and          
uncompromising2 it had rather too strong
 an appeal to the moral prig and harshly
 righteous man1 but it has undergone1   
and still undergoes1 revision and       
expansion1 and every year it becomes a  
little better adapted to the need of a  
general rule of life that all men may   
try to follow4 ,we have now a whole     
literature1 with many very fine things  
in it1 written about the ,rule4  ,he    
glanced at a little book on his desk1   
took it up as if to show it me1 then put
 it down again4  ,the ,rule consists of 
three parts2 there is the list of things
 that qualify1 the list of things that  
must not be done1 and the list of things
 that must be done4 ,qualification      
exacts a little exertion1 as evidence of
 good faith1 and it is designed to weed 
out the duller dull and many of the     
base4 ,our schooling period ends now    

about fourteen1 and a small number of   
boys and girls--about three per         
cent4--are set aside then as            
unteachable1 as1 in fact1 nearly        
idiotic2 the rest go on to a college or 
upper school4  ,all your population8    
,with that exception4  ,free8  ,of      
course4 ,and they pass out of college at
 eighteen4 ,there are several different 
college courses1 but one or other must  
be followed and a satisfactory          
examination passed at the end--perhaps  
ten per cent4 fail--and the ,rule       
requires that the candidate for the     
samurai must have passed4  ,but a very  
good man is sometimes an idle schoolboy4
  ,we admit that4 ,and so anyone who has
 failed to pass the college leaving     
examination may at any time in later    
life sit for it again--and again and    
again4 ,certain carefully specified     
things excuse it altogether4  ,that     
makes it fair4 ,but aren't there people 
who cannot pass examinations8  ,people  
of nervous instability----  ,but they   

may be people of great though irregular 
poietic gifts4  ,exactly4 ,that is quite
 possible4 ,but we don't want that sort 
of people among our samurai4 ,passing an
 examination is a proof of a certain    
steadiness of purpose1 a certain        
self-control and submission----  ,of a  
certain 'ordinariness4'  ,exactly what  
is wanted4  ,of course1 those others can
 follow other careers4  ,yes4 ,that's   
what we want them to do4 ,and1 besides  
these two educational qualifications1   
there are two others of a similar kind  
of more debateable value4 ,one is       
practically not in operation now4 ,our  
,founders put it that a candidate for   
the samurai must possess what they      
called a ,technique1 and1 as it operated
 in the beginning1 he had to hold the   
qualification for a doctor1 for a       
lawyer1 for a military officer1 or an   
engineer1 or teacher1 or have painted   
acceptable pictures1 or written a book1 
or something of the sort4 ,he had1 in   
fact1 as people say1 to 'be something1' 

or to have 'done something4' ,it was a  
regulation of vague intention even in   
the beginning1 and it became catholic to
 the pitch of absurdity4 ,to play a     
violin skilfully has been accepted as   
sufficient for this qualification4      
,there may have been a reason in the    
past for this provision2 in those days  
there were many daughters of prosperous 
parents--and even some sons--who did    
nothing whatever but idle               
uninterestingly in the world1 and the   
organisation might have suffered by     
their invasion1 but that reason has gone
 now1 and the requirement remains a     
merely ceremonial requirement4 ,but1 on 
the other hand1 another has developed4  
,our ,founders made a collection of     
several volumes1 which they called1     
collectively1 the ,book of the ,samurai1
 a compilation of articles and extracts1
 poems and prose pieces1 which were     
supposed to embody the idea of the      
order4 ,it was to play the part for the 
samurai that the ,bible did for the     

ancient ,hebrews4 ,to tell you the      
truth1 the stuff was of very unequal    
merit2 there was a lot of very          
second-rate rhetoric1 and some nearly   
namby-pamby verse4 ,there was also      
included some very obscure verse and    
prose that had the trick of seeming     
wise4 ,but for all such defects1 much of
 the ,book1 from the very beginning1 was
 splendid and inspiring matter4 ,from   
that time to this1 the ,book of the     
,samurai has been under revision1 much  
has been added1 much rejected1 and some 
deliberately rewritten4 ,now1 there is  
hardly anything in it that is not       
beautiful and perfect in form4 ,the     
whole range of noble emotions finds     
expression there1 and all the guiding   
ideas of our ,modern ,state4 ,we have   
recently admitted some terse criticism  
of its contents by a man named ,henley4 
,old ,henley6  ,a man who died a little 
time ago4  ,i knew that man on earth4   
,and he was in ,utopia1 too6 ,he was a  
great red-faced man1 with fiery hair1 a 

noisy1 intolerant maker of enemies1 with
 a tender heart--and he was one of the  
samurai8  ,he defied the ,rules4  ,he   
was a great man with wine4 ,he wrote    
like wine2 in our world he wrote wine2  
red wine with the light shining through4
  ,he was on the ,committee that revised
 our ,canon4 ,for the revising and      
bracing of our ,canon is work for       
poietic as well as kinetic men4 ,you    
knew him in your world8  ,i wish ,i had4
 ,but ,i have seen him4 ,on earth he    
wrote a thing 444 it would run--    ,out
 of the night that covers me1           
,black as the pit from pole to pole1    
,i thank whatever ,gods may be1         
,for my unconquerable soul4444  ,we have
 that here4 ,all good earthly things are
 in ,utopia also4 ,we put that in the   
,canon almost as soon as he died1 said  
my double4   ,section #e  ,we have now a
 double ,canon1 a very fine ,first      
,canon1 and a ,second ,canon of work by 
living men and work of inferior quality1
 and a satisfactory knowledge of both of

 these is the fourth intellectual       
qualification for the samurai4  ,it must
 keep a sort of uniformity in your tone 
of thought4  ,the ,canon pervades our   
whole world4 ,as a matter of fact1 very 
much of it is read and learnt in the    
schools4444 ,next to the intellectual   
qualification comes the physical1 the   
man must be in sound health1 free from  
certain foul1 avoidable1 and            
demoralising diseases1 and in good      
training4 ,we reject men who are fat1 or
 thin and flabby1 or whose nerves are   
shaky--we refer them back to training4  
,and finally the man or woman must be   
fully adult4  ,twenty-one8 ,but you said
 twenty-five6  ,the age has varied4 ,at 
first it was twenty-five or over2 then  
the minimum became twenty-five for men  
and twenty-one for women4 ,now there is 
a feeling that it ought to be raised4   
,we don't want to take advantage of mere
 boy and girl emotions--men of my way of
 thinking1 at any rate1 don't--we want  
to get our samurai with experiences1    

with a settled mature conviction4 ,our  
hygiene and regimen are rapidly pushing 
back old age and death1 and keeping men 
hale and hearty to eighty and more4     
,there's no need to hurry the young4    
,let them have a chance of wine1 love1  
and song2 let them feel the bite of     
full-bodied desire1 and know what devils
 they have to reckon with4  ,but there  
is a certain fine sort of youth that    
knows the desirability of the better    
things at nineteen4  ,they may keep the 
,rule at any time--without its          
privileges4 ,but a man who breaks the   
,rule after his adult adhesion at       
five-and-twenty is no more in the       
samurai for ever4 ,before that age he is
 free to break it and repent4  ,and now1
 what is forbidden8  ,we forbid a good  
deal4 ,many small pleasures do no great 
harm1 but we think it well to forbid    
them1 none the less1 so that we can weed
 out the self-indulgent4 ,we think that 
a constant resistance to little         
seductions is good for a man's quality4 

,at any rate1 it shows that a man is    
prepared to pay something for his honour
 and privileges4 ,we prescribe a regimen
 of food1 forbid tobacco1 wine1 or any  
alcoholic drink1 all narcotic drugs---- 
,meat8  ,in all the round world of      
,utopia there is no meat4 ,there used to
 be4 ,but now we cannot stand the       
thought of slaughter-houses4 ,and1 in a 
population that is all educated1 and at 
about the same level of physical        
refinement1 it is practically impossible
 to find anyone who will hew a dead ox  
or pig4 ,we never settled the hygienic  
question of meat-eating at all4 ,this   
other aspect decided us4 ,i can still   
remember1 as a boy1 the rejoicings over 
the closing of the last slaughter-house4
  ,you eat fish4  ,it isn't a matter of 
logic4 ,in our barbaric past horrible   
flayed carcases of brutes dripping      
blood1 were hung for sale in the public 
streets4 ,he shrugged his shoulders4    
,they do that still in ,london--in my   
world1 ,i said4  ,he looked again at my 

laxer1 coarser face1 and did not say    
whatever thought had passed across his  
mind4  ,originally the samurai were     
forbidden usury1 that is to say the     
lending of money at fixed rates of      
interest4 ,they are still under that    
interdiction1 but since our commercial  
code practically prevents usury         
altogether1 and our law will not        
recognise contracts for interest upon   
private accommodation loans to          
unprosperous borrowers1 it is now       
scarcely necessary4 ,the idea of a man  
growing richer by mere inaction and at  
the expense of an impoverishing debtor1 
is profoundly distasteful to ,utopian   
ideas1 and our ,state insists pretty    
effectually now upon the participation  
of the lender in the borrower's risks4  
,this1 however1 is only one part of a   
series of limitations of the same       
character4 ,it is felt that to buy      
simply in order to sell again brings out
 many unsocial human qualities2 it makes
 a man seek to enhance profits and      

falsify values1 and so the samurai are  
forbidden to buy to sell on their own   
account or for any employer save the    
,state1 unless some process of          
manufacture changes the nature of the   
commodity 7a mere change in bulk or     
packing does not suffice71 and they are 
forbidden salesmanship and all its arts4
 ,consequently they cannot be           
hotel-keepers1 or hotel proprietors1 or 
hotel shareholders1 and a doctor--all   
practising doctors must be              
samurai--cannot sell drugs except as a  
public servant of the municipality or   
the ,state4  ,that1 of course1 runs     
counter to all our current terrestrial  
ideas1 ,i said4 ,we are obsessed by the 
power of money4 ,these rules will work  
out as a vow of moderate poverty1 and if
 your samurai are an order of poor      
men----  ,they need not be4 ,samurai who
 have invented1 organised1 and developed
 new industries1 have become rich men1  
and many men who have grown rich by     
brilliant and original trading have     

subsequently become samurai4  ,but these
 are exceptional cases4 ,the bulk of    
your money-making business must be      
confined to men who are not samurai4    
,you must have a class of rich1 powerful
 outsiders----  ,have we8  ,i don't see 
the evidences of them4  ,as a matter of 
fact1 we have such people6 ,there are   
rich traders1 men who have made         
discoveries in the economy of           
distribution1 or who have called        
attention by intelligent1 truthful      
advertisement to the possibilities of   
neglected commodities1 for example4     
,but aren't they a power8  ,why should  
they be8  ,wealth is power4  ,i had to  
explain that phrase4  ,he protested4    
,wealth1 he said1 is no sort of power at
 all unless you make it one4 ,if it is  
so in your world it is so by            
inadvertency4 ,wealth is a ,state-made  
thing1 a convention1 the most artificial
 of powers4 ,you can1 by subtle         
statesmanship1 contrive what it shall   
buy and what it shall not4 ,in your     

world it would seem you have made       
leisure1 movement1 any sort of freedom1 
life itself1 purchaseable4 ,the more    
fools you6 ,a poor working man with you 
is a man in discomfort and fear4 ,no    
wonder your rich have power4 ,but here a
 reasonable leisure1 a decent life1 is  
to be had by every man on easier terms  
than by selling himself to the rich4    
,and rich as men are here1 there is no  
private fortune in the whole world that 
is more than a little thing beside the  
wealth of the ,state4 ,the samurai      
control the ,state and the wealth of the
 ,state1 and by their vows they may not 
avail themselves of any of the coarser  
pleasures wealth can still buy4 ,where1 
then1 is the power of your wealthy man8 
,but1 then--where is the incentive----8 
,oh6 a man gets things for himself with 
wealth--no end of things4 ,but little or
 no power over his fellows--unless they 
are exceptionally weak or self-indulgent
 persons4  ,i reflected4 ,what else may 
not the samurai do8  ,acting1 singing1  

or reciting are forbidden them1 though  
they may lecture authoritatively or     
debate4 ,but professional mimicry is not
 only held to be undignified in a man or
 woman1 but to weaken and corrupt the   
soul2 the mind becomes foolishly        
dependent on applause1 over-skilful in  
producing tawdry and momentary illusions
 of excellence2 it is our experience    
that actors and actresses as a class are
 loud1 ignoble1 and insincere4 ,if they 
have not such flamboyant qualities then 
they are tepid and ineffectual players4 
,nor may the samurai do personal        
services1 except in the matter of       
medicine or surgery2 they may not be    
barbers1 for example1 nor inn waiters1  
nor boot cleaners4 ,but1 nowadays1 we   
have scarcely any barbers or boot       
cleaners2 men do these things for       
themselves4 ,nor may a man under the    
,rule be any man's servant1 pledged to  
do whatever he is told4 ,he may neither 
be a servant nor keep one2 he must shave
 and dress and serve himself1 carry his 

own food from the helper's place to the 
table1 redd his sleeping room1 and leave
 it clean4444  ,that is all easy enough 
in a world as ordered as yours4 ,i      
suppose no samurai may bet8  ,absolutely
 not4 ,he may insure his life and his   
old age for the better equipment of his 
children1 or for certain other specified
 ends1 but that is all his dealings with
 chance4 ,and he is also forbidden to   
play games in public or to watch them   
being played4 ,certain dangerous and    
hardy sports and exercises are          
prescribed for him1 but not competitive 
sports between man and man or side and  
side4 ,that lesson was learnt long ago  
before the coming of the samurai4       
,gentlemen of honour1 according to the  
old standards1 rode horses1 raced       
chariots1 fought1 and played competitive
 games of skill1 and the dull1 cowardly 
and base came in thousands to admire1   
and howl1 and bet4 ,the gentlemen of    
honour degenerated fast enough into a   
sort of athletic prostitute1 with all   

the defects1 all the vanity1 trickery1  
and self-assertion of the common actor1 
and with even less intelligence4 ,our   
,founders made no peace with this       
organisation of public sports4 ,they did
 not spend their lives to secure for all
 men and women on the earth freedom1    
health1 and leisure1 in order that they 
might waste lives in such folly4  ,we   
have those abuses1 ,i said1 but some of 
our earthly games have a fine side4     
,there is a game called cricket4 ,it is 
a fine1 generous game4  ,our boys play  
that1 and men too4 ,but it is thought   
rather puerile to give very much time to
 it2 men should have graver interests4  
,it was undignified and unpleasant for  
the samurai to play conspicuously ill1  
and impossible for them to play so      
constantly as to keep hand and eye in   
training against the man who was fool   
enough and cheap enough to become an    
expert4 ,cricket1 tennis1 fives1        
billiards----4 ,you will find clubs and 
a class of men to play all these things 

in ,utopia1 but not the samurai4 ,and   
they must play their games as games1 not
 as displays2 the price of a privacy for
 playing cricket1 so that they could    
charge for admission1 would be          
overwhelmingly high4444 ,negroes are    
often very clever at cricket4 ,for a    
time1 most of the samurai had their     
sword-play1 but few do those exercises  
now1 and until about fifty years ago    
they went out for military training1 a  
fortnight in every year1 marching long  
distances1 sleeping in the open1        
carrying provisions1 and sham fighting  
over unfamiliar ground dotted with      
disappearing targets4 ,there was a      
curious inability in our world to       
realise that war was really over for    
good and all4  ,and now1 ,i said1       
haven't we got very nearly to the end of
 your prohibitions8 ,you have forbidden 
alcohol1 drugs1 smoking1 betting1 and   
usury1 games1 trade1 servants4 ,but     
isn't there a vow of ,chastity8  ,that  
is the ,rule for your earthly orders8   

,yes--except1 if ,i remember rightly1   
for ,plato's ,guardians4  ,there is a   
,rule of ,chastity here--but not of     
,celibacy4 ,we know quite clearly that  
civilisation is an artificial           
arrangement1 and that all the physical  
and emotional instincts of man are too  
strong1 and his natural instinct of     
restraint too weak1 for him to live     
easily in the civilised ,state4         
,civilisation has developed far more    
rapidly than man has modified4 ,under   
the unnatural perfection of security1   
liberty and abundance our civilisation  
has attained1 the normal untrained human
 being is disposed to excess in almost  
every direction2 he tends to eat too    
much and too elaborately1 to drink too  
much1 to become lazy faster than his    
work can be reduced1 to waste his       
interest upon displays1 and to make love
 too much and too elaborately4 ,he gets 
out of training1 and concentrates upon  
egoistic or erotic broodings4 ,the past 
history of our race is very largely a   

history of social collapses due to      
demoralisation by indulgences following 
security and abundance4 ,in the time of 
our ,founders the signs of a world-wide 
epoch of prosperity and relaxation were 
plentiful4 ,both sexes drifted towards  
sexual excesses1 the men towards        
sentimental extravagances1 imbecile     
devotions1 and the complication and     
refinement of physical indulgences2 the 
women towards those expansions and      
differentiations of feeling that find   
expression in music and costly and      
distinguished dress4 ,both sexes became 
unstable and promiscuous4 ,the whole    
world seemed disposed to do exactly the 
same thing with its sexual interest as  
it had done with its appetite for food  
and drink--make the most of it4  ,he    
paused4  ,satiety came to help you1 ,i  
said4  ,destruction may come before     
satiety4 ,our ,founders organised       
motives from all sorts of sources1 but  
,i think the chief force to give men    
self-control is ,pride4 ,pride may not  

be the noblest thing in the soul1 but it
 is the best ,king there1 for all that4 
,they looked to it to keep a man clean  
and sound and sane4 ,in this matter1 as 
in all matters of natural desire1 they  
held no appetite must be glutted1 no    
appetite must have artificial whets1 and
 also and equally that no appetite      
should be starved4 ,a man must come from
 the table satisfied1 but not replete4  
,and1 in the matter of love1 a straight 
and clean desire for a clean and        
straight fellow-creature was our        
,founders' ideal4 ,they enjoined        
marriage between equals as the samurai's
 duty to the race1 and they framed      
directions of the precisest sort to     
prevent that uxorious inseparableness1  
that connubiality which will reduce a   
couple of people to something jointly   
less than either4 ,that ,canon is too   
long to tell you now4 ,a man under the  
,rule who loves a woman who does not    
follow it1 must either leave the samurai
 to marry her1 or induce her to accept  

what is called the ,woman's ,rule1      
which1 while it excepts her from the    
severer qualifications and disciplines1 
brings her regimen of life into a       
working harmony with his4  ,suppose she 
breaks the ,rule afterwards8  ,he must  
leave either her or the order4  ,there  
is matter for a novel or so in that4    
,there has been matter for hundreds4    
,is the ,woman's ,rule a sumptuary law  
as well as a regimen8 ,i mean--may she  
dress as she pleases8  ,not a bit of it1
 said my double4 ,every woman who could 
command money used it1 we found1 to make
 underbred aggressions on other women4  
,as men emerged to civilisation1 women  
seemed going back to savagery--to paint 
and feathers4 ,but the samurai1 both men
 and women1 and the women under the     
,lesser ,rule also1 all have a          
particular dress4 ,no difference is made
 between women under either the ,great  
or the ,lesser ,rule4 ,you have seen the
 men's dress--always like this ,i wear4 
,the women may wear the same1 either    

with the hair cut short or plaited      
behind them1 or they may have a         
high-waisted dress of very fine1 soft   
woollen material1 with their hair coiled
 up behind4  ,i have seen it1 ,i said4  
,indeed1 nearly all the women had seemed
 to be wearing variants of that simple  
formula4 ,it seems to me a very         
beautiful dress4 ,the other--,i'm not   
used to4 ,but ,i like it on girls and   
slender women4  ,i had a thought1 and   
added1 ,don't they sometimes1 well--take
 a good deal of care1 dressing their    
hair8  ,my double laughed in my eyes4   
,they do1 he said4  ,and the ,rule8     
,the ,rule is never fussy1 said my      
double1 still smiling4  ,we don't want  
women to cease to be beautiful1 and     
consciously beautiful1 if you like1 he  
added4 ,the more real beauty of form and
 face we have1 the finer our world4 ,but
 costly sexualised trappings----  ,i    
should have thought1 ,i said1 a class of
 women who traded on their sex would    
have arisen1 women1 ,i mean1 who found  

an interest and an advantage in         
emphasising their individual womanly    
beauty4 ,there is no law to prevent it4 
,surely they would tend to counteract   
the severity of costume the ,rule       
dictates4  ,there are such women4 ,but  
for all that the ,rule sets the key of  
everyday dress4 ,if a woman is possessed
 by the passion for gorgeous raiment she
 usually satisfies it in her own private
 circle1 or with rare occasional        
onslaughts upon the public eye4 ,her    
everyday mood and the disposition of    
most people is against being conspicuous
 abroad4 ,and ,i should say there are   
little liberties under the ,lesser      
,rule2 a discreet use of fine needlework
 and embroidery1 a wider choice of      
materials4  ,you have no changing       
fashions8  ,none4 ,for all that1 are not
 our dresses as beautiful as yours8     
,our women's dresses are not beautiful  
at all1 ,i said1 forced for a time      
towards the mysterious philosophy of    
dress4 ,beauty8 ,that isn't their       

concern4  ,then what are they after8    
,my dear man6 ,what is all my world     
after8   ,section #f  ,i should come to 
our third talk with a great curiosity to
 hear of the last portion of the ,rule1 
of the things that the samurai are      
obliged to do4  ,there would be many    
precise directions regarding his health1
 and rules that would aim at once at    
health and that constant exercise of    
will that makes life good4 ,save in     
specified exceptional circumstances1 the
 samurai must bathe in cold water1 and  
the men must shave every day2 they have 
the precisest directions in such        
matters2 the body must be in health1 the
 skin and muscles and nerves in perfect 
tone1 or the samurai must go to the     
doctors of the order1 and give implicit 
obedience to the regimen prescribed4    
,they must sleep alone at least four    
nights in five2 and they must eat with  
and talk to anyone in their fellowship  
who cares for their conversation for an 
hour1 at least1 at the nearest          

club-house of the samurai once on three 
chosen days in every week4 ,moreover1   
they must read aloud from the ,book of  
the ,samurai for at least ten minutes   
every day4 ,every month they must buy   
and read faithfully through at least one
 book that has been published during the
 past five years1 and the only          
intervention with private choice in that
 matter is the prescription of a certain
 minimum of length for the monthly book 
or books4 ,but the full ,rule in these  
minor compulsory matters is voluminous  
and detailed1 and it abounds with       
alternatives4 ,its aim is rather to keep
 before the samurai by a number of      
sample duties1 as it were1 the need of1 
and some of the chief methods towards   
health of body and mind1 rather than to 
provide a comprehensive rule1 and to    
ensure the maintenance of a community of
 feeling and interests among the samurai
 through habit1 intercourse1 and a      
living contemporary literature4 ,these  
minor obligations do not earmark more   

than an hour in the day4 ,yet they serve
 to break down isolations of sympathy1  
all sorts of physical and intellectual  
sluggishness and the development of     
unsocial preoccupations of many sorts4  
,women samurai who are married1 my      
double told me1 must bear children--if  
they are to remain married as well as in
 the order--before the second period for
 terminating a childless marriage is    
exhausted4 ,i failed to ask for the     
precise figures from my double at the   
time1 but ,i think it is beyond doubt   
that it is from samurai mothers of the  
,greater or ,lesser ,rule that a very   
large proportion of the future          
population of ,utopia will be derived4  
,there is one liberty accorded to women 
samurai which is refused to men1 and    
that is to marry outside the ,rule1 and 
women married to men not under the ,rule
 are also free to become samurai4 ,here1
 too1 it will be manifest there is scope
 for novels and the drama of life4 ,in  
practice1 it seems that it is only men  

of great poietic distinction outside the
 ,rule1 or great commercial leaders1 who
 have wives under it4 ,the tendency of  
such unions is either to bring the      
husband under the ,rule1 or take the    
wife out of it4 ,there can be no doubt  
that these marriage limitations tend to 
make the samurai something of an        
hereditary class4 ,their children1 as a 
rule1 become samurai4 ,but it is not an 
exclusive caste2 subject to the most    
reasonable qualifications1 anyone who   
sees fit can enter it at any time1 and  
so1 unlike all other privileged castes  
the world has seen1 it increases        
relatively to the total population1 and 
may indeed at last assimilate almost the
 whole population of the earth4         
,section #g  ,so much my double told me 
readily4  ,but now he came to the heart 
of all his explanations1 to the will and
 motives at the centre that made men and
 women ready to undergo discipline1 to  
renounce the richness and elaboration of
 the sensuous life1 to master emotions  

and control impulses1 to keep in the key
 of effort while they had abundance     
about them to rouse and satisfy all     
desires1 and his exposition was more    
difficult4  ,he tried to make his       
religion clear to me4  ,the leading     
principle of the ,utopian religion is   
the repudiation of the doctrine of      
original sin2 the ,utopians hold that   
man1 on the whole1 is good4 ,that is    
their cardinal belief4 ,man has pride   
and conscience1 they hold1 that you may 
refine by training as you refine his eye
 and ear2 he has remorse and sorrow in  
his being1 coming on the heels of all   
inconsequent enjoyments4 ,how can one   
think of him as bad8 ,he is religious2  
religion is as natural to him as lust   
and anger1 less intense1 indeed1 but    
coming with a wide-sweeping             
inevitableness as peace comes after all 
tumults and noises4 ,and in ,utopia they
 understand this1 or1 at least1 the     
samurai do1 clearly4 ,they accept       
,religion as they accept ,thirst1 as    

something inseparably in the mysterious 
rhythms of life4 ,and just as thirst and
 pride and all desires may be perverted 
in an age of abundant opportunities1 and
 men may be degraded and wasted by      
intemperance in drinking1 by display1 or
 by ambition1 so too the nobler complex 
of desires that constitutes religion may
 be turned to evil by the dull1 the     
base1 and the careless4 ,slovenly       
indulgence in religious inclinations1 a 
failure to think hard and discriminate  
as fairly as possible in religious      
matters1 is just as alien to the men    
under the ,rule as it would be to drink 
deeply because they were thirsty1 eat   
until glutted1 evade a bath because the 
day was chilly1 or make love to any     
bright-eyed girl who chanced to look    
pretty in the dusk4 ,utopia1 which is to
 have every type of character that one  
finds on earth1 will have its temples   
and its priests1 just as it will have   
its actresses and wine1 but the samurai 
will be forbidden the religion of       

dramatically lit altars1 organ music1   
and incense1 as distinctly as they are  
forbidden the love of painted women1 or 
the consolations of brandy4 ,and to all 
the things that are less than religion  
and that seek to comprehend it1 to      
cosmogonies and philosophies1 to creeds 
and formulae1 to catechisms and easy    
explanations1 the attitude of the       
samurai1 the note of the ,book of       
,samurai1 will be distrust4 ,these      
things1 the samurai will say1 are part  
of the indulgences that should come     
before a man submits himself to the     
,rule2 they are like the early          
gratifications of young men1 experiences
 to establish renunciation4 ,the samurai
 will have emerged above these things4  
,the theology of the ,utopian rulers    
will be saturated with that same        
philosophy of uniqueness1 that          
repudiation of anything beyond          
similarities and practical parallelisms1
 that saturates all their institutions4 
,they will have analysed exhaustively   

those fallacies and assumptions that    
arise between the ,one and the ,many1   
that have troubled philosophy since     
philosophy began4 ,just as they will    
have escaped that delusive unification  
of every species under its specific     
definition that has dominated earthly   
reasoning1 so they will have escaped the
 delusive simplification of ,god that   
vitiates all terrestrial theology4 ,they
 will hold ,god to be complex and of an 
endless variety of aspects1 to be       
expressed by no universal formula nor   
approved in any uniform manner4 ,just as
 the language of ,utopia will be a      
synthesis1 even so will its ,god be4    
,the aspect of ,god is different in the 
measure of every man's individuality1   
and the intimate thing of religion must1
 therefore1 exist in human solitude1    
between man and ,god alone4 ,religion in
 its quintessence is a relation between 
,god and man2 it is perversion to make  
it a relation between man and man1 and a
 man may no more reach ,god through a   

priest than love his wife through a     
priest4 ,but just as a man in love may  
refine the interpretation of his        
feelings and borrow expression from the 
poems and music of poietic men1 so an   
individual man may at his discretion    
read books of devotion and hear music   
that is in harmony with his inchoate    
feelings4 ,many of the samurai1         
therefore1 will set themselves private  
regimens that will help their secret    
religious life1 will pray habitually1   
and read books of devotion1 but with    
these things the ,rule of the order will
 have nothing to do4  ,clearly the ,god 
of the samurai is a transcendental and  
mystical ,god4 ,so far as the samurai   
have a purpose in common in maintaining 
the ,state1 and the order and progress  
of the world1 so far1 by their          
discipline and denial1 by their public  
work and effort1 they worship ,god      
together4 ,but the fount of motives lies
 in the individual life1 it lies in     
silent and deliberate reflections1 and  

at this1 the most striking of all the   
rules of the samurai aims4 ,for seven   
consecutive days in the year1 at least1 
each man or woman under the ,rule must  
go right out of all the life of man into
 some wild and solitary place1 must     
speak to no man or woman1 and have no   
sort of intercourse with mankind4 ,they 
must go bookless and weaponless1 without
 pen or paper1 or money4 ,provisions    
must be taken for the period of the     
journey1 a rug or sleeping sack--for    
they must sleep under the open sky--but 
no means of making a fire4 ,they may    
study maps beforehand to guide them1    
showing any difficulties and dangers in 
the journey1 but they may not carry such
 helps4 ,they must not go by beaten ways
 or wherever there are inhabited houses1
 but into the bare1 quiet places of the 
globe--the regions set apart for them4  
,this discipline1 my double said1 was   
invented to secure a certain stoutness  
of heart and body in the members of the 
order1 which otherwise might have lain  

open to too many timorous1 merely       
abstemious1 men and women4 ,many things 
had been suggested1 swordplay and tests 
that verged on torture1 climbing in     
giddy places and the like1 before this  
was chosen4 ,partly1 it is to ensure    
good training and sturdiness of body and
 mind1 but partly1 also1 it is to draw  
their minds for a space from the        
insistent details of life1 from the     
intricate arguments and the fretting    
effort to work1 from personal quarrels  
and personal affections1 and the things 
of the heated room4 ,out they must go1  
clean out of the world4  ,certain great 
areas are set apart for these yearly    
pilgrimages beyond the securities of the
 ,state4 ,there are thousands of square 
miles of sandy desert in ,africa and    
,asia set apart2 much of the ,arctic and
 ,antarctic circles2 vast areas of      
mountain land and frozen marsh2 secluded
 reserves of forest1 and innumerable    
unfrequented lines upon the sea4 ,some  
are dangerous and laborious routes2 some

 merely desolate2 and there are even    
some sea journeys that one may take in  
the halcyon days as one drifts through a
 dream4 ,upon the seas one must go in a 
little undecked sailing boat1 that may  
be rowed in a calm2 all the other       
journeys one must do afoot1 none aiding4
 ,there are1 about all these desert     
regions and along most coasts1 little   
offices at which the samurai says       
good-bye to the world of men1 and at    
which they arrive after their minimum   
time of silence is overpast4 ,for the   
intervening days they must be alone with
 ,nature1 necessity1 and their own      
thoughts4  ,it is good8 ,i said4  ,it is
 good1 my double answered4 ,we civilised
 men go back to the stark ,mother that  
so many of us would have forgotten were 
it not for this ,rule4 ,and one         
thinks4444 ,only two weeks ago ,i did my
 journey for the year4 ,i went with my  
gear by sea to ,tromso1 and then inland 
to a starting-place1 and took my ice-axe
 and rucksack1 and said good-bye to the 

world4 ,i crossed over four glaciers2 ,i
 climbed three high mountain passes1 and
 slept on moss in desolate valleys4 ,i  
saw no human being for seven days4 ,then
 ,i came down through pine woods to the 
head of a road that runs to the ,baltic 
shore4 ,altogether it was thirteen days 
before ,i reported myself again1 and had
 speech with fellow creatures4  ,and the
 women do this8  ,the women who are     
truly samurai--yes4 ,equally with the   
men4 ,unless the coming of children     
intervenes4  ,i asked him how it had    
seemed to him1 and what he thought about
 during the journey4  ,there is always a
 sense of effort for me1 he said1 when  
,i leave the world at the outset of the 
journey4 ,i turn back again and again1  
and look at the little office as ,i go  
up my mountain side4 ,the first day and 
night ,i'm a little disposed to shirk   
the job--every year it's the same--a    
little disposed1 for example1 to sling  
my pack from my back1 and sit down1 and 
go through its contents1 and make sure  

,i've got all my equipment4  ,there's no
 chance of anyone overtaking you8  ,two 
men mustn't start from the same office  
on the same route within six hours of   
each other4 ,if they come within sight  
of each other1 they must shun an        
encounter1 and make no sign--unless life
 is in danger4 ,all that is arranged    
beforehand4  ,it would be1 of course4   
,go on telling me of your journey4  ,i  
dread the night4 ,i dread discomfort and
 bad weather4 ,i only begin to brace up 
after the second day4  ,don't you worry 
about losing your way8  ,no4 ,there are 
cairns and skyline signs4 ,if it wasn't 
for that1 of course we should be        
worrying with maps the whole time4 ,but 
,i'm only sure of being a man after the 
second night1 and sure of my power to go
 through4  ,and then8  ,then one begins 
to get into it4 ,the first two days one 
is apt to have the events of one's      
journey1 little incidents of travel1 and
 thoughts of one's work and affairs1    
rising and fading and coming again2 but 

then the perspectives begin4 ,i don't   
sleep much at nights on these journeys2 
,i lie awake and stare at the stars4    
,about dawn1 perhaps1 and in the morning
 sunshine1 ,i sleep6 ,the nights this   
last time were very short1 never more   
than twilight1 and ,i saw the glow of   
the sun always1 just over the edge of   
the world4 ,but ,i had chosen the days  
of the new moon1 so that ,i could have a
 glimpse of the stars4444 ,years ago1 ,i
 went from the ,nile across the ,libyan 
,desert east1 and then the stars--the   
stars in the later days of that         
journey--brought me near weeping4444    
,you begin to feel alone on the third   
day1 when you find yourself out on some 
shining snowfield1 and nothing of       
mankind visible in the whole world save 
one landmark1 one remote thin red       
triangle of iron1 perhaps1 in the saddle
 of the ridge against the sky4 ,all this
 busy world that has done so much and so
 marvellously1 and is still so          
little--you see it little as it is--and 

far off4 ,all day long you go and the   
night comes1 and it might be another    
planet4 ,then1 in the quiet1 waking     
hours1 one thinks of one's self and the 
great external things1 of space and     
eternity1 and what one means by ,god4   
,he mused4  ,you think of death8  ,not  
of my own4 ,but when ,i go among snows  
and desolations--and usually ,i take my 
pilgrimage in mountains or the north--,i
 think very much of the ,night of this  
,world--the time when our sun will be   
red and dull1 and air and water will lie
 frozen together in a common snowfield  
where now the forests of the tropics are
 steaming4444 ,i think very much of     
that1 and whether it is indeed ,god's   
purpose that our kind should end1 and   
the cities we have built1 the books we  
have written1 all that we have given    
substance and a form1 should lie dead   
beneath the snows4  ,you don't believe  
that8  ,no4 ,but if it is not so----4 ,i
 went threading my way among gorges and 
precipices1 with my poor brain dreaming 

of what the alternative should be1 with 
my imagination straining and failing4   
,yet1 in those high airs and in such    
solitude1 a kind of exaltation comes to 
men4444 ,i remember that one night ,i   
sat up and told the rascal stars very   
earnestly how they should not escape us 
in the end4  ,he glanced at me for a    
moment as though he doubted ,i should   
understand4  ,one becomes a             
personification up there1 he said4 ,one 
becomes the ambassador of mankind to the
 outer world4  ,there is time to think  
over a lot of things4 ,one puts one's   
self and one's ambition in a new pair of
 scales4444  ,then there are hours when 
one is just exploring the wilderness    
like a child4 ,sometimes perhaps one    
gets a glimpse from some precipice edge 
of the plains far away1 and houses and  
roadways1 and remembers there is still a
 busy world of men4 ,and at last one    
turns one's feet down some slope1 some  
gorge that leads back4 ,you come down1  
perhaps1 into a pine forest1 and hear   

that queer clatter reindeer make--and   
then1 it may be1 see a herdsman very far
 away1 watching you4 ,you wear your     
pilgrim's badge1 and he makes no sign of
 seeing you4444  ,you know1 after these 
solitudes1 ,i feel just the same queer  
disinclination to go back to the world  
of men that ,i feel when ,i have to     
leave it4 ,i think of dusty roads and   
hot valleys1 and being looked at by many
 people4 ,i think of the trouble of     
working with colleagues and opponents4  
,this last journey ,i outstayed my time1
 camping in the pine woods for six days4
 ,then my thoughts came round to my     
proper work again4 ,i got keen to go on 
with it1 and so ,i came back into the   
world4 ,you come back physically        
clean--as though you had had your       
arteries and veins washed out4 ,and your
 brain has been cleaned1 too4444 ,i     
shall stick to the mountains now until  
,i am old1 and then ,i shall sail a boat
 in ,polynesia4 ,that is what so many   
old men do4 ,only last year one of the  

great leaders of the samurai--a         
white-haired man1 who followed the ,rule
 in spite of his one hundred and eleven 
years--was found dead in his boat far   
away from any land1 far to the south1   
lying like a child asleep4444  ,that's  
better than a tumbled bed1 said ,i1 and 
some boy of a doctor jabbing you with   
injections1 and distressful people      
hovering about you4  ,yes1 said my      
double2 in ,utopia we who are samurai   
die better than that4444 ,is that how   
your great men die8  ,it came to me     
suddenly as very strange that1 even as  
we sat and talked1 across deserted seas1
 on burning sands1 through the still    
aisles of forests1 and in all the high  
and lonely places of the world1 beyond  
the margin where the ways and houses go1
 solitary men and women sailed alone or 
marched alone1 or clambered--quiet1     
resolute exiles2 they stood alone amidst
 wildernesses of ice1 on the precipitous
 banks of roaring torrents1 in monstrous
 caverns1 or steering a tossing boat in 

the little circle of the horizon amidst 
the tumbled1 incessant sea1 all in their
 several ways communing with the        
emptiness1 the enigmatic spaces and     
silences1 the winds and torrents and    
soulless forces that lie about the lit  
and ordered life of men4  ,i saw more   
clearly now something ,i had seen dimly 
already1 in the bearing and the faces of
 this ,utopian chivalry1 a faint        
persistent tinge of detachment from the 
immediate heats and hurries1 the little 
graces and delights1 the tensions and   
stimulations of the daily world4 ,it    
pleased me strangely to think of this   
steadfast yearly pilgrimage of solitude1
 and how near men might come then to the
 high distances of ,god4   ,section #h  
,after that ,i remember we fell talking 
of the discipline of the ,rule1 of the  
,courts that try breaches of it1 and    
interpret doubtful cases--for1 though a 
man may resign with due notice and be   
free after a certain time to rejoin     
again1 one deliberate breach may exclude

 a man for ever--of the system of law   
that has grown up about such trials1 and
 of the triennial council that revises  
and alters the ,rule4 ,from that we     
passed to the discussion of the general 
constitution of this ,world ,state4     
,practically all political power vests  
in the samurai4 ,not only are they the  
only administrators1 lawyers1 practising
 doctors1 and public officials of almost
 all kinds1 but they are the only       
voters4 ,yet1 by a curious exception1   
the supreme legislative assembly must   
have one-tenth1 and may have one-half of
 its members outside the order1 because1
 it is alleged1 there is a sort of      
wisdom that comes of sin and laxness1   
which is necessary to the perfect ruling
 of life4 ,my double quoted me a verse  
from the ,canon on this matter that my  
unfortunate verbal memory did not       
retain1 but it was in the nature of a   
prayer to save the world from           
unfermented men4 ,it would seem that    
,aristotle's idea of a rotation of      

rulers1 an idea that crops up again in  
,harrington's ,oceana1 that first       
,utopia of the sovereign people 7a      
,utopia that1 through ,danton's readings
 in ,english1 played a disastrous part  
in the ,french ,revolution71 gets a     
little respect in ,utopia4 ,the tendency
 is to give a practically permanent     
tenure to good men4 ,every ruler and    
official1 it is true1 is put on his     
trial every three years before a jury   
drawn by lot1 according to the range of 
his activities1 either from the samurai 
of his municipal area or from the       
general catalogue of the samurai1 but   
the business of this jury is merely to  
decide whether to continue him in office
 or order a new election4 ,in the       
majority of cases the verdict is        
continuation4 ,even if it is not so the 
official may still appear as a candidate
 before the second and separate jury    
which fills the vacant post4444  ,my    
double mentioned a few scattered details
 of the electoral methods1 but as at    

that time ,i believed we were to have a 
number of further conversations1 ,i did 
not exhaust my curiosities upon this    
subject4 ,indeed1 ,i was more than a    
little preoccupied and inattentive4 ,the
 religion of the samurai was after my   
heart1 and it had taken hold of me very 
strongly4444 ,but presently ,i fell     
questioning him upon the complications  
that arise in the ,modern ,utopia       
through the differences between the     
races of men1 and found my attention    
returning4 ,but the matter of that      
discussion ,i shall put apart into a    
separate chapter4 ,in the end we came   
back to the particulars of this great   
,rule of ,life that any man desiring of 
joining the samurai must follow4  ,i    
remember how1 after our third bout of   
talking1 ,i walked back through the     
streets of ,utopian ,london to rejoin   
the botanist at our hotel4  ,my double  
lived in an apartment in a great        
building--,i should judge about where1  
in our ,london1 the ,tate ,gallery      

squats1 and1 as the day was fine1 and ,i
 had no reason for hurry1 ,i went not by
 the covered mechanical way1 but on foot
 along the broad1 tree-set terraces that
 follow the river on either side4  ,it  
was afternoon1 and the mellow ,thames   
,valley sunlight1 warm and gentle1 lit a
 clean and gracious world4 ,there were  
many people abroad1 going to and fro1   
unhurrying1 but not aimless1 and ,i     
watched them so attentively that were   
you to ask me for the most elementary   
details of the buildings and terraces   
that lay back on either bank1 or of the 
pinnacles and towers and parapets that  
laced the sky1 ,i could not tell you    
them4 ,but of the people ,i could tell a
 great deal4  ,no ,utopians wear black1 
and for all the frequency of the samurai
 uniform along the ,london ways the     
general effect is of a gaily-coloured   
population4 ,you never see anyone       
noticeably ragged or dirty2 the police1 
who answer questions and keep order 7and
 are quite distinct from the            

organisation for the pursuit of         
criminals7 see to that2 and shabby      
people are very infrequent4 ,people who 
want to save money for other purposes1  
or who do not want much bother with     
their clothing1 seem to wear costumes of
 rough woven cloth1 dyed an unobtrusive 
brown or green1 over fine woollen       
underclothing1 and so achieve a decent  
comfort in its simplest form4 ,others   
outside the ,rule of the samurai range  
the spectrum for colour1 and have every 
variety of texture2 the colours attained
 by the ,utopian dyers seem to me to be 
fuller and purer than the common range  
of stuffs on earth2 and the subtle      
folding of the woollen materials witness
 that ,utopian ,bradford is no whit     
behind her earthly sister4 ,white is    
extraordinarily frequent2 white woollen 
tunics and robes into which are woven   
bands of brilliant colour1 abound4      
,often these ape the cut and purple edge
 that distinguishes the samurai4 ,in    
,utopian ,london the air is as clear and

 less dusty than it is among high       
mountains2 the roads are made of        
unbroken surfaces1 and not of friable   
earth2 all heating is done by           
electricity1 and no coal ever enters the
 town2 there are no horses or dogs1 and 
so there is not a suspicion of smoke and
 scarcely a particle of any sort of dirt
 to render white impossible4  ,the      
radiated influence of the uniform of the
 samurai has been to keep costume       
simple1 and this1 perhaps1 emphasises   
the general effect of vigorous health1  
of shapely bodies4 ,everyone is well    
grown and well nourished2 everyone seems
 in good condition2 everyone walks well1
 and has that clearness of eye that     
comes with cleanness of blood4 ,in      
,london ,i am apt to consider myself of 
a passable size and carriage2 here ,i   
feel small and mean-looking4 ,the faint 
suspicions of spinal curvatures1 skew   
feet1 unequal legs1 and ill-grown bones1
 that haunt one in a ,london crowd1 the 
plain intimations--in yellow faces1     

puffy faces1 spotted and irregular      
complexions1 in nervous movements and   
coughs and colds--of bad habits and an  
incompetent or disregarded medical      
profession1 do not appear here4 ,i      
notice few old people1 but there seems  
to be a greater proportion of men and   
women at or near the prime of life4  ,i 
hang upon that4 ,i have seen one or two 
fat people here--they are all the more  
noticeable because they are rare4 ,but  
wrinkled age8 ,have ,i yet in ,utopia   
set eyes on a bald head8  ,the ,utopians
 have brought a sounder physiological   
science than ours to bear upon regimen4 
,people know better what to do and what 
to avoid1 how to foresee and forestall  
coming trouble1 and how to evade and    
suppress the subtle poisons that blunt  
the edge of sensation4 ,they have put   
off the years of decay4 ,they keep their
 teeth1 they keep their digestions1 they
 ward off gout and rheumatism1 neuralgia
 and influenza and all those cognate    
decays that bend and wrinkle men and    

women in the middle years of existence4 
,they have extended the level years far 
into the seventies1 and age1 when it    
comes1 comes swiftly and easily4 ,the   
feverish hurry of our earth1 the decay  
that begins before growth has ceased1 is
 replaced by a ripe prolonged maturity4 
,this modern ,utopia is an adult world4 
,the flushed romance1 the predominant   
eroticisms1 the adventurous uncertainty 
of a world in which youth prevails1     
gives place here to a grave             
deliberation1 to a fuller and more      
powerful emotion1 to a broader handling 
of life4  ,yet youth is here4  ,amidst  
the men whose faces have been made fine 
by thought and steadfast living1 among  
the serene-eyed women1 comes youth1     
gaily-coloured1 buoyantly healthy1 with 
challenging eyes1 with fresh and eager  
face4444  ,for everyone in ,utopia who  
is sane enough to benefit1 study and    
training last until twenty2 then comes  
the travel year1 and many are still     
students until twenty-four or           

twenty-five4 ,most are still1 in a      
sense1 students throughout life1 but it 
is thought that1 unless responsible     
action is begun in some form in the     
early twenties1 will undergoes a partial
 atrophy4 ,but the full swing of adult  
life is hardly attained until thirty is 
reached4 ,men marry before the middle   
thirties1 and the women rather earlier1 
few are mothers before five-and-twenty4 
,the majority of those who become       
samurai do so between twenty-seven and  
thirty-five4 ,and1 between seventeen and
 thirty1 the ,utopians have their       
dealings with love1 and the play and    
excitement of love is a chief interest  
in life4 ,much freedom of act is allowed
 them so that their wills may grow      
freely4 ,for the most part they end     
mated1 and love gives place to some     
special and more enduring interest1     
though1 indeed1 there is love between   
older men and fresh girls1 and between  
youths and maturer women4 ,it is in     
these most graceful and beautiful years 

of life that such freedoms of dress as  
the atmosphere of ,utopia permits are to
 be seen1 and the crude bright will and 
imagination of youth peeps out in       
ornament and colour4  ,figures come into
 my sight and possess me for a moment   
and pass1 and give place to others2     
there comes a dusky little ,jewess1     
red-lipped and amber-clad1 with a deep  
crimson flower--,i know not whether real
 or sham--in the dull black of her hair4
 ,she passes me with an unconscious     
disdain2 and then ,i am looking at a    
brightly-smiling1 blue-eyed girl1 tall1 
ruddy1 and freckled warmly1 clad like a 
stage ,rosalind1 and talking gaily to a 
fair young man1 a novice under the      
,rule4 ,a red-haired mother under the   
,lesser ,rule goes by1 green-gowned1    
with dark green straps crossing between 
her breasts1 and her two shock-headed   
children1 bare-legged and lightly shod1 
tug at her hands on either side4 ,then a
 grave man in a long1 fur-trimmed robe1 
a merchant1 maybe1 debates some serious 

matter with a white-tunicked clerk4 ,and
 the clerk's face----8 ,i turn to mark  
the straight1 blue-black hair4 ,the man 
must be ,chinese4444  ,then come two    
short-bearded men in careless indigo    
blue raiment1 both of them convulsed    
with laughter--men outside the ,rule1   
who practise1 perhaps1 some art--and    
then one of the samurai1 in cheerful    
altercation with a blue-robed girl of   
eight4 ,but you could have come back    
yesterday1 ,dadda1 she persists4 ,he is 
deeply sunburnt1 and suddenly there     
passes before my mind the picture of a  
snowy mountain waste at night-fall and a
 solitary small figure under the        
stars4444  ,when ,i come back to the    
present thing again1 my eye is caught at
 once by a young negro1 carrying books  
in his hand1 a prosperous-looking1      
self-respecting young negro1 in a       
trimly-cut coat of purple-blue and      
silver4  ,i am reminded of what my      
double said to me of race4    ,,chapter 
,,the ,,tenth  ,race in ,utopia         

,section #a  ,above the sphere of the   
elemental cravings and necessities1 the 
soul of man is in a perpetual           
vacillation between two conflicting     
impulses3 the desire to assert his      
individual differences1 the desire for  
distinction1 and his terror of          
isolation4 ,he wants to stand out1 but  
not too far out1 and1 on the contrary1  
he wants to merge himself with a group1 
with some larger body1 but not          
altogether4 ,through all the things of  
life runs this tortuous compromise1 men 
follow the fashions but resent          
ready-made uniforms on every plane of   
their being4 ,the disposition to form   
aggregations and to imagine aggregations
 is part of the incurable nature of man2
 it is one of the great natural forces  
the statesman must utilise1 and against 
which he must construct effectual       
defences4 ,the study of the aggregations
 and of the ideals of aggregations about
 which men's sympathies will twine1 and 
upon which they will base a large       

proportion of their conduct and personal
 policy1 is the legitimate definition of
 sociology4  ,now the sort of           
aggregation to which men and women will 
refer themselves is determined partly by
 the strength and idiosyncrasy of the   
individual imagination1 and partly by   
the reek of ideas that chances to be in 
the air at the time4 ,men and women may 
vary greatly both in their innate and   
their acquired disposition towards this 
sort of larger body or that1 to which   
their social reference can be made4 ,the
 natural social reference of a man is   
probably to some rather vaguely         
conceived tribe1 as the natural social  
reference of a dog is to a pack4 ,but   
just as the social reference of a dog   
may be educated until the reference to a
 pack is completely replaced by a       
reference to an owner1 so on his higher 
plane of educability the social         
reference of the civilised man undergoes
 the most remarkable transformations4   
,but the power and scope of his         

imagination and the need he has of      
response sets limits to this process4 ,a
 highly intellectualised mature mind may
 refer for its data very consistently to
 ideas of a higher being so remote and  
indefinable as ,god1 so comprehensive as
 humanity1 so far-reaching as the       
purpose in things4 ,i write may1 but ,i 
doubt if this exaltation of reference is
 ever permanently sustained4 ,comte1 in 
his ,positive ,polity1 exposes his soul 
with great freedom1 and the curious may 
trace how1 while he professes and quite 
honestly intends to refer himself always
 to his ,greater ,being ,humanity1 he   
narrows constantly to his projected     
,western ,republic of civilised men1 and
 quite frequently to the minute         
indefinite body of ,positivist          
subscribers4 ,and the history of the    
,christian ,church1 with its development
 of orders and cults1 sects and         
dissents1 the history of fashionable    
society with its cliques and sets and   
every political history with its cabals 

and inner cabinets1 witness to the      
struggle that goes on in the minds of   
men to adjust themselves to a body      
larger indeed than themselves1 but which
 still does not strain and escape their 
imaginative grasp4  ,the statesman1 both
 for himself and others1 must recognise 
this inadequacy of grasp1 and the       
necessity for real and imaginary        
aggregations to sustain men in their    
practical service of the order of the   
world4 ,he must be a sociologist2 he    
must study the whole science of         
aggregations in relation to that ,world 
,state to which his reason and his      
maturest thought direct him4 ,he must   
lend himself to the development of      
aggregatory ideas that favour the       
civilising process1 and he must do his  
best to promote the disintegration of   
aggregations and the effacement of      
aggregatory ideas1 that keep men narrow 
and unreasonably prejudiced one against 
another4  ,he will1 of course1 know that
 few men are even rudely consistent in  

such matters1 that the same man in      
different moods and on different        
occasions1 is capable of referring      
himself in perfect good faith1 not only 
to different1 but to contradictory      
larger beings1 and that the more        
important thing about an aggregatory    
idea from the ,state maker's point of   
view is not so much what it explicitly  
involves as what it implicitly          
repudiates4 ,the natural man does not   
feel he is aggregating at all1 unless he
 aggregates against something4 ,he      
refers himself to the tribe2 he is loyal
 to the tribe1 and quite inseparably he 
fears or dislikes those others outside  
the tribe4 ,the tribe is always at least
 defensively hostile and usually        
actively hostile to humanity beyond the 
aggregation4 ,the ,anti-idea1 it would  
seem1 is inseparable from the           
aggregatory idea2 it is a necessity of  
the human mind4 ,when we think of the   
class ,a as desirable1 we think of      
,not-,a as undesirable4 ,the two things 

are as inevitably connected as the      
tendons of our hands1 so that when we   
flatten down our little fingers on our  
palms1 the fourth digit1 whether we want
 it or not1 comes down halfway4 ,all    
real working gods1 one may remark1 all  
gods that are worshipped emotionally1   
are tribal gods1 and every attempt to   
universalise the idea of ,god trails    
dualism and the devil after it as a     
moral necessity4  ,when we inquire1 as  
well as the unformed condition of       
terrestrial sociology permits1 into the 
aggregatory ideas that seem to satisfy  
men1 we find a remarkable complex1 a    
disorderly complex1 in the minds of     
nearly all our civilised contemporaries4
 ,for example1 all sorts of aggregatory 
ideas come and go across the chameleon  
surfaces of my botanist's mind4 ,he has 
a strong feeling for systematic         
botanists as against plant              
physiologists1 whom he regards as lewd  
and evil scoundrels in this relation1   
but he has a strong feeling for all     

botanists1 and1 indeed1 all biologists1 
as against physicists1 and those who    
profess the exact sciences1 all of whom 
he regards as dull1 mechanical1         
ugly-minded scoundrels in this relation2
 but he has a strong feeling for all who
 profess what is called ,science as     
against psychologists1 sociologists1    
philosophers1 and literary men1 whom he 
regards as wild1 foolish1 immoral       
scoundrels in this relation2 but he has 
a strong feeling for all educated men as
 against the working man1 whom he       
regards as a cheating1 lying1 loafing1  
drunken1 thievish1 dirty scoundrel in   
this relation2 but so soon as the       
working man is comprehended together    
with those others1 as ,englishmen--which
 includes1 in this case1 ,i may remark1 
the ,scottish and ,welsh--he holds them 
superior to all other sorts of          
,european1 whom he regards1 c4444  ,now 
one perceives in all these aggregatory  
ideas and rearrangements of the         
sympathies one of the chief vices of    

human thought1 due to its obsession by  
classificatory suggestions4 ,footnote3  
,see ,chapter the ,first1 section #e1   
and the ,appendix4 ,the necessity for   
marking our classes has brought with it 
a bias for false and excessive contrast1
 and we never invent a term but we are  
at once cramming it with implications   
beyond its legitimate content4 ,there is
 no feat of irrelevance that people will
 not perform quite easily in this way2  
there is no class1 however accidental1  
to which they will not at once ascribe  
deeply distinctive qualities4 ,the      
seventh sons of seventh sons have       
remarkable powers of insight2 people    
with a certain sort of ear commit crimes
 of violence2 people with red hair have 
souls of fire2 all democratic socialists
 are trustworthy persons2 all people    
born in ,ireland have vivid imaginations
 and all ,englishmen are clods2 all     
,hindoos are cowardly liars2 all        
curly-haired people are good-natured2   
all hunch-backs are energetic and       

wicked1 and all ,frenchmen eat frogs4   
,such stupid generalisations have been  
believed with the utmost readiness1 and 
acted upon by great numbers of sane1    
respectable people4 ,and when the class 
is one's own class1 when it expresses   
one of the aggregations to which one    
refers one's own activities1 then the   
disposition to divide all qualities     
between this class and its converse1 and
 to cram one's own class with every     
desirable distinction1 becomes          
overwhelming4  ,it is part of the       
training of the philosopher to regard   
all such generalisations with suspicion2
 it is part of the training of the      
,utopist and statesman1 and all good    
statesmen are ,utopists1 to mingle      
something very like animosity with that 
suspicion4 ,for crude classifications   
and false generalisations are the curse 
of all organised human life4   ,section 
#b  ,disregarding classes1 cliques1     
sets1 castes1 and the like minor        
aggregations1 concerned for the most    

part with details and minor aspects of  
life1 one finds among the civilised     
peoples of the world certain broad types
 of aggregatory idea4 ,there are1       
firstly1 the national ideas1 ideas      
which1 in their perfection1 require a   
uniformity of physical and mental type1 
a common idiom1 a common religion1 a    
distinctive style of costume1           
decoration1 and thought1 and a compact  
organisation acting with complete       
external unity4 ,like the ,gothic       
cathedral1 the national idea is never   
found complete with all its parts2 but  
one has in ,russia1 with her insistence 
on political and religious orthodoxy1   
something approaching it pretty closely1
 and again in the inland and typical    
provinces of ,china1 where even a       
strange pattern of hat arouses          
hostility4 ,we had it in vigorous       
struggle to exist in ,england under the 
earlier ,georges in the minds of those  
who supported the ,established ,church4 
,the idea of the fundamental nature of  

nationality is so ingrained in thought1 
with all the usual exaggeration of      
implication1 that no one laughs at talk 
about ,swedish painting or ,american    
literature4 ,and ,i will confess and    
point out that my own detachment from   
these delusions is so imperfect and     
discontinuous that in another passage ,i
 have committed myself to a short       
assertion of the exceptionally noble    
quality of the ,english imagination4    
,footnote3 ,chapter the ,seventh1       
section #f4 ,i am constantly gratified  
by flattering untruths about ,english   
superiority which ,i should reject      
indignantly were the application bluntly
 personal1 and ,i am ever ready to      
believe the scenery of ,england1 the    
poetry of ,england1 even the decoration 
and music of ,england1 in some mystic   
and impregnable way1 the best4 ,this    
habit of intensifying all class         
definitions1 and particularly those in  
which one has a personal interest1 is in
 the very constitution of man's mind4   

,it is part of the defect of that       
instrument4 ,we may watch against it and
 prevent it doing any great injustices1 
or leading us into follies1 but to      
eradicate it is an altogether different 
matter4 ,there it is1 to be reckoned    
with1 like the coccyx1 the pineal eye1  
and the vermiform appendix4 ,and a too  
consistent attack on it may lead simply 
to its inversion1 to a vindictively     
pro-foreigner attitude that is equally  
unwise4  ,the second sort of aggregatory
 ideas1 running very often across the   
boundaries of national ideas and in     
conflict with them1 are religious ideas4
 ,in ,western ,europe true national     
ideas only emerged to their present     
hectic vigour after the shock of the    
,reformation had liberated men from the 
great tradition of a ,latin-speaking    
,christendom1 a tradition the ,roman    
,catholic ,church has sustained as its  
modification of the old ,latin-speaking 
,imperialism in the rule of the pontifex
 maximus4 ,there was1 and there remains 

to this day1 a profound disregard of    
local dialect and race in the ,roman    
,catholic tradition1 which has made that
 ,church a persistently disintegrating  
influence in national life4 ,equally    
spacious and equally regardless of      
tongues and peoples is the great        
,arabic-speaking religion of ,mahomet4  
,both ,christendom and ,islam are indeed
 on their secular sides imperfect       
realisations of a ,utopian ,world       
,state4 ,but the secular side was the   
weaker side of these cults2 they        
produced no sufficiently great statesmen
 to realise their spiritual forces1 and 
it is not in ,rome under pontifical     
rule1 nor in ,munster under the         
,anabaptists1 but rather in ,thomas a   
,kempis and ,saint ,augustin's ,city of 
,god that we must seek for the ,utopias 
of ,christianity4  ,in the last hundred 
years a novel development of material   
forces1 and especially of means of      
communication1 has done very much to    
break up the isolations in which        

nationality perfected its prejudices and
 so to render possible the extension and
 consolidation of such a world-wide     
culture as mediaeval ,christendom and   
,islam foreshadowed4 ,the first onset of
 these expansive developments has been  
marked in the world of mind by an       
expansion of political ideals--,comte's 
,western ,republic 7#ahdh7 was the first
 ,utopia that involved the synthesis of 
numerous ,states--by the development of 
,imperialisms in the place of national  
policies1 and by the search for a basis 
for wider political unions in racial    
traditions and linguistic affinities4   
,anglo-,saxonism1 ,pan-,germanism1 and  
the like are such synthetic ideas4      
,until the eighties1 the general        
tendency of progressive thought was at  
one with the older ,christian tradition 
which ignored race1 and the aim of the  
expansive liberalism movement1 so far as
 it had a clear aim1 was to ,europeanise
 the world1 to extend the franchise to  
negroes1 put ,polynesians into trousers1

 and train the teeming myriads of ,india
 to appreciate the exquisite lilt of    
,the ,lady of the ,lake4 ,there is      
always some absurdity mixed with human  
greatness1 and we must not let the fact 
that the middle ,victorians counted     
,scott1 the suffrage and pantaloons     
among the supreme blessings of life1    
conceal from us the very real nobility  
of their dream of ,england's mission to 
the world4444  ,we of this generation   
have seen a flood of reaction against   
such universalism4 ,the great           
intellectual developments that centre   
upon the work of ,darwin have           
exacerbated the realisation that life is
 a conflict between superior and        
inferior types1 it has underlined the   
idea that specific survival rates are of
 primary significance in the world's    
development1 and a swarm of inferior    
intelligences has applied to human      
problems elaborated and exaggerated     
versions of these generalisations4      
,these social and political followers of

 ,darwin have fallen into an obvious    
confusion between race and nationality1 
and into the natural trap of patriotic  
conceit4 ,the dissent of the ,indian and
 ,colonial governing class to the first 
crude applications of liberal           
propositions in ,india has found a voice
 of unparalleled penetration in ,mr4    
,kipling1 whose want of intellectual    
deliberation is only equalled by his    
poietic power4 ,the search for a basis  
for a new political synthesis in        
adaptable sympathies based on linguistic
 affinities1 was greatly influenced by  
,max ,muller's unaccountable assumption 
that language indicated kindred1 and led
 straight to wildly speculative         
ethnology1 to the discovery that there  
was a ,keltic race1 a ,teutonic race1 an
 ,indo-,european race1 and so forth4 ,a 
book that has had enormous influence in 
this matter1 because of its use in      
teaching1 is ,j4 ,r4 ,green's ,short    
,history of the ,english ,people1 with  
its grotesque insistence upon           

,anglo-,saxonism4 ,and just now1 the    
world is in a sort of delirium about    
race and the racial struggle4 ,the      
,briton forgetting his ,defoe1          
,footnote3 ,the ,true-born ,englishman4 
the ,jew forgetting the very word       
proselyte1 the ,german forgetting his   
anthropometric variations1 and the      
,italian forgetting everything1 are     
obsessed by the singular purity of their
 blood1 and the danger of contamination 
the mere continuance of other races     
involves4 ,true to the law that all     
human aggregation involves the          
development of a spirit of opposition to
 whatever is external to the            
aggregation1 extraordinary              
intensifications of racial definition   
are going on2 the vileness1 the         
inhumanity1 the incompatibility of alien
 races is being steadily exaggerated4   
,the natural tendency of every human    
being towards a stupid conceit in       
himself and his kind1 a stupid          
depreciation of all unlikeness1 is      

traded upon by this bastard science4    
,with the weakening of national         
references1 and with the pause before   
reconstruction in religious belief1     
these new arbitrary and unsubstantial   
race prejudices become daily more       
formidable4 ,they are shaping policies  
and modifying laws1 and they will       
certainly be responsible for a large    
proportion of the wars1 hardships1 and  
cruelties the immediate future holds in 
store for our earth4  ,no               
generalisations about race are too      
extravagant for the inflamed credulity  
of the present time4 ,no attempt is ever
 made to distinguish differences in     
inherent quality--the true racial       
differences--from artificial differences
 due to culture4 ,no lesson seems ever  
to be drawn from history of the         
fluctuating incidence of the civilising 
process first upon this race and then   
upon that4 ,the politically ascendant   
peoples of the present phase are        
understood to be the superior races1    

including such types as the ,sussex farm
 labourer1 the ,bowery tough1 the       
,london hooligan1 and the ,paris apache2
 the races not at present prospering    
politically1 such as the ,egyptians1 the
 ,greeks1 the ,spanish1 the ,moors1 the 
,chinese1 the ,hindoos1 the ,peruvians1 
and all uncivilised people are          
represented as the inferior races1 unfit
 to associate with the former on terms  
of equality1 unfit to intermarry with   
them on any terms1 unfit for any        
decisive voice in human affairs4 ,in the
 popular imagination of ,western        
,europe1 the ,chinese are becoming      
bright gamboge in colour1 and           
unspeakably abominable in every respect2
 the people who are black--the people   
who have fuzzy hair and flattish noses1 
and no calves to speak of--are no longer
 held to be within the pale of humanity4
 ,these superstitions work out along the
 obvious lines of the popular logic4    
,the depopulation of the ,congo ,free   
,state by the ,belgians1 the horrible   

massacres of ,chinese by ,european      
soldiery during the ,pekin expedition1  
are condoned as a painful but necessary 
part of the civilising process of the   
world4 ,the world-wide repudiation of   
slavery in the nineteenth century was   
done against a vast sullen force of     
ignorant pride1 which1 reinvigorated by 
the new delusions1 swings back again to 
power4  ,science is supposed to lend its
 sanction to race mania1 but it is only 
science as it is understood by very     
illiterate people that does anything of 
the sort--scientists' science1 in fact4 
,what science has to tell about ,the    
,races of ,man will be found compactly  
set forth by ,doctor ,j4 ,deinker1 in   
the book published under that title4    
,footnote3 ,see also an excellent paper 
in the ,american ,journal of ,sociology 
for ,march1 #aijd1 ,the ,psychology of  
,race ,prejudice1 by ,w4 ,i4 ,thomas4   
,from that book one may learn the       
beginnings of race charity4 ,save for a 
few isolated pools of savage humanity1  

there is probably no pure race in the   
whole world4 ,the great continental     
populations are all complex mixtures of 
numerous and fluctuating types4 ,even   
the ,jews present every kind of skull   
that is supposed to be racially         
distinctive1 a vast range of            
complexion--from blackness in ,goa1 to  
extreme fairness in ,holland--and a vast
 mental and physical diversity4 ,were   
the ,jews to discontinue all            
intermarriage with other races          
henceforth for ever1 it would depend    
upon quite unknown laws of fecundity1   
prepotency1 and variability1 what their 
final type would be1 or1 indeed1 whether
 any particular type would ever prevail 
over diversity4 ,and1 without going     
beyond the natives of the ,british      
,isles1 one can discover an enormous    
range of types1 tall and short1         
straight-haired and curly1 fair and     
dark1 supremely intelligent and         
unteachably stupid1 straightforward1    
disingenuous1 and what not4 ,the natural

 tendency is to forget all this range   
directly race comes under discussion1 to
 take either an average or some quite   
arbitrary ideal as the type1 and think  
only of that4 ,the more difficult thing 
to do1 but the thing that must be done  
if we are to get just results in this   
discussion1 is to do one's best to bear 
the range in mind4  ,let us admit that  
the average ,chinaman is probably       
different in complexion1 and1 indeed1 in
 all his physical and psychical         
proportions1 from the average           
,englishman4 ,does that render their    
association upon terms of equality in a 
,world ,state impossible8 ,what the     
average ,chinaman or ,englishman may be1
 is of no importance whatever to our    
plan of a ,world ,state4 ,it is not     
averages that exist1 but individuals4   
,the average ,chinaman will never meet  
the average ,englishman anywhere2 only  
individual ,chinamen will meet          
individual ,englishmen4 ,now among      
,chinamen will be found a range of      

variety as extensive as among           
,englishmen1 and there is no single     
trait presented by all ,chinamen and no 
,englishman1 or vice versa4 ,even the   
oblique eye is not universal in ,china1 
and there are probably many ,chinamen   
who might have been changed at birth1   
taken away and educated into quite      
passable ,englishmen4 ,even after we    
have separated out and allowed for the  
differences in carriage1 physique1 moral
 prepossessions1 and so forth1 due to   
their entirely divergent cultures1 there
 remains1 no doubt1 a very great        
difference between the average ,chinaman
 and the average ,englishman2 but would 
that amount to a wider difference than  
is to be found between extreme types of 
,englishmen8  ,for my own part ,i do not
 think that it would4 ,but it is evident
 that any precise answer can be made    
only when anthropology has adopted much 
more exact and exhaustive methods of    
inquiry1 and a far more precise analysis
 than its present resources permit4  ,be

 it remembered how doubtful and tainted 
is the bulk of our evidence in these    
matters4 ,these are extraordinarily     
subtle inquiries1 from which few men    
succeed in disentangling the threads of 
their personal associations--the        
curiously interwoven strands of         
self-love and self-interest that affect 
their inquiries4 ,one might almost say  
that instinct fights against such       
investigations1 as it does undoubtedly  
against many necessary medical          
researches4 ,but while a long special   
training1 a high tradition and the      
possibility of reward and distinction1  
enable the medical student to face many 
tasks that are at once undignified and  
physically repulsive1 the people from   
whom we get our anthropological         
information are rarely men of more than 
average intelligence1 and of no mental  
training at all4 ,and the problems are  
far more elusive4 ,it surely needs at   
least the gifts and training of a       
first-class novelist1 combined with a   

sedulous patience that probably cannot  
be hoped for in combination with these1 
to gauge the all-round differences      
between man and man4 ,even where there  
are no barriers of language and colour1 
understanding may be nearly impossible4 
,how few educated people seem to        
understand the servant class in         
,england1 or the working men6 ,except   
for ,mr4 ,bart ,kennedy's ,a ,man       
,adrift1 ,i know of scarcely any book   
that shows a really sympathetic and     
living understanding of the navvy1 the  
longshore sailor man1 the rough chap of 
our own race4 ,caricatures1 luridly     
tragic or gaily comic1 in which the     
misconceptions of the author blend with 
the preconceptions of the reader and    
achieve success1 are1 of course1 common 
enough4 ,and then consider the sort of  
people who pronounce judgments on the   
moral and intellectual capacity of the  
negro1 the ,malay1 or the ,chinaman4    
,you have missionaries1 native          
schoolmasters1 employers of coolies1    

traders1 simple downright men1 who      
scarcely suspect the existence of any   
sources of error in their verdicts1 who 
are incapable of understanding the      
difference between what is innate and   
what is acquired1 much less of          
distinguishing them in their interplay4 
,now and then one seems to have a       
glimpse of something really living--in  
,mary ,kingsley's buoyant work1 for     
instance--and even that may be no more  
than my illusion4  ,for my own part ,i  
am disposed to discount all adverse     
judgments and all statements of         
insurmountable differences between race 
and race4 ,i talk upon racial qualities 
to all men who have had opportunities of
 close observation1 and ,i find that    
their insistence upon these differences 
is usually in inverse proportion to     
their intelligence4 ,it may be the      
chance of my encounters1 but that is my 
clear impression4 ,common sailors will  
generalise in the profoundest way about 
,irishmen1 and ,scotchmen1 and ,yankees1

 and ,nova ,scotians1 and ,dutchies1    
until one might think one talked of     
different species of animal1 but the    
educated explorer flings clear of all   
these delusions4 ,to him men present    
themselves individualised1 and if they  
classify it is by some skin-deep        
accident of tint1 some trick of the     
tongue1 or habit of gesture1 or         
such-like superficiality4 ,and after all
 there exists to-day available one kind 
at least of unbiassed anthropological   
evidence4 ,there are photographs4 ,let  
the reader turn over the pages of some  
such copiously illustrated work as ,the 
,living ,races of ,mankind1 ,footnote3  
,the ,living ,races of ,mankind1 by ,h4 
,n4 ,hutchinson1 ,j4 ,w4 ,gregory1 and  
,r4 ,lydekker4 7,hutchinson47 and look  
into the eyes of one alien face after   
another4 ,are they not very like the    
people one knows8 ,for the most part1   
one finds it hard to believe that1 with 
a common language and common social     
traditions1 one would not get on very   

well with these people4 ,here or there  
is a brutish or evil face1 but you can  
find as brutish and evil in the ,strand 
on any afternoon4 ,there are differences
 no doubt1 but fundamental              
incompatibilities--no6 ,and very many of
 them send out a ray of special         
resemblance and remind one more strongly
 of this friend or that1 than they do of
 their own kind4 ,one notes with        
surprise that one's good friend and     
neighbour ,x and an anonymous naked     
,gold ,coast negro belong to one type1  
as distinguished from one's dear friend 
,y and a beaming individual from        
,somaliland1 who as certainly belong to 
another4  ,in one matter the careless   
and prejudiced nature of accepted racial
 generalisations is particularly marked4
 ,a great and increasing number of      
people are persuaded that half-breeds   
are peculiarly evil creatures--as       
hunchbacks and bastards were supposed to
 be in the middle ages4 ,the full legend
 of the wickedness of the half-breed is 

best to be learnt from a drunken mean   
white from ,virginia or the ,cape4 ,the 
half-breed1 one hears1 combines all the 
vices of either parent1 he is wretchedly
 poor in health and spirit1 but         
vindictive1 powerful1 and dangerous to  
an extreme degree1 his morals--the mean 
white has high and exacting             
standards--are indescribable even in    
whispers in a saloon1 and so on1 and so 
on4 ,there is really not an atom of     
evidence an unprejudiced mind would     
accept to sustain any belief of the     
sort4 ,there is nothing to show that the
 children of racial admixture are1 as a 
class1 inherently either better or worse
 in any respect than either parent4     
,there is an equally baseless theory    
that they are better1 a theory displayed
 to a fine degree of foolishness in the 
article on ,shakespeare in the          
,encyclopaedia ,britannica4 ,both       
theories belong to the vast edifice of  
sham science that smothers the realities
 of modern knowledge4 ,it may be that   

most half-breeds are failures in life1  
but that proves nothing4 ,they are1 in  
an enormous number of cases1            
illegitimate and outcast from the normal
 education of either race2 they are     
brought up in homes that are the        
battle-grounds of conflicting cultures2 
they labour under a heavy premium of    
disadvantage4 ,there is1 of course1 a   
passing suggestion of ,darwin's to      
account for atavism that might go to    
support the theory of the vileness of   
half-breeds1 if it had ever been proved4
 ,but1 then1 it never has been proved4  
,there is no proof in the matter at all4
   ,section #c  ,suppose1 now1 there is 
such a thing as an all-round inferior   
race4 ,is that any reason why we should 
propose to preserve it for ever in a    
condition of tutelage8 ,whether there is
 a race so inferior ,i do not know1 but 
certainly there is no race so superior  
as to be trusted with human charges4    
,the true answer to ,aristotle's plea   
for slavery1 that there are natural     

slaves1 lies in the fact that there are 
no natural masters4 ,power is no more to
 be committed to men without discipline 
and restriction than alcohol4 ,the true 
objection to slavery is not that it is  
unjust to the inferior but that it      
corrupts the superior4 ,there is only   
one sane and logical thing to be done   
with a really inferior race1 and that is
 to exterminate it4  ,now there are     
various ways of exterminating a race1   
and most of them are cruel4 ,you may end
 it with fire and sword after the old   
,hebrew fashion2 you may enslave it and 
work it to death1 as the ,spaniards did 
the ,caribs2 you may set it boundaries  
and then poison it slowly with          
deleterious commodities1 as the         
,americans do with most of their        
,indians2 you may incite it to wear     
clothing to which it is not accustomed  
and to live under new and strange       
conditions that will expose it to       
infectious diseases to which you        
yourselves are immune1 as the           

missionaries do the ,polynesians2 you   
may resort to honest simple murder1 as  
we ,english did with the ,tasmanians2 or
 you can maintain such conditions as    
conduce to race suicide1 as the ,british
 administration does in ,fiji4 ,suppose1
 then1 for a moment1 that there is an   
all-round inferior race2 a ,modern      
,utopia is under the hard logic of life1
 and it would have to exterminate such a
 race as quickly as it could4 ,on the   
whole1 the ,fijian device seems the     
least cruel4 ,but ,utopia would do that 
without any clumsiness of race          
distinction1 in exactly the same manner1
 and by the same machinery1 as it       
exterminates all its own defective and  
inferior strains2 that is to say1 as we 
have already discussed in ,chapter the  
,fifth1 section #a1 by its marriage     
laws1 and by the laws of the minimum    
wage4 ,that extinction need never be    
discriminatory4 ,if any of the race did1
 after all1 prove to be fit to survive1 
they would survive--they would be picked

 out with a sure and automatic justice  
from the over-ready condemnation of all 
their kind4  ,is there1 however1 an     
all-round inferior race in the world8   
,even the ,australian black-fellow is1  
perhaps1 not quite so entirely eligible 
for extinction as a good1 wholesome1    
horse-racing1 sheep-farming ,australian 
white may think4 ,these queer little    
races1 the black-fellows1 the ,pigmies1 
the ,bushmen1 may have their little     
gifts1 a greater keenness1 a greater    
fineness of this sense or that1 a       
quaintness of the imagination or what   
not1 that may serve as their little     
unique addition to the totality of our  
,utopian civilisation4 ,we are supposing
 that every individual alive on earth is
 alive in ,utopia1 and so all the       
surviving black-fellows are there4      
,every one of them in ,utopia has had   
what none have had on earth1 a fair     
education and fair treatment1 justice1  
and opportunity4 ,suppose that the      
common idea is right about the general  

inferiority of these people1 then it    
would follow that in ,utopia most of    
them are childless1 and working at or   
about the minimum wage1 and some will   
have passed out of all possibility of   
offspring under the hand of the offended
 law2 but still--cannot we imagine some 
few of these little people--whom you    
must suppose neither naked nor clothed  
in the ,european style1 but robed in the
 ,utopian fashion--may have found some  
delicate art to practise1 some peculiar 
sort of carving1 for example1 that      
justifies ,god in creating them8 ,utopia
 has sound sanitary laws1 sound social  
laws1 sound economic laws2 what harm are
 these people going to do8  ,some may be
 even prosperous and admired1 may have  
married women of their own or some other
 race1 and so may be transmitting that  
distinctive thin thread of excellence1  
to take its due place in the great      
synthesis of the future4  ,and1 indeed1 
coming along that terrace in ,utopia1 ,i
 see a little figure1 a little          

bright-eyed1 bearded man1 inky black1   
frizzy haired1 and clad in a white tunic
 and black hose1 and with a mantle of   
lemon yellow wrapped about his          
shoulders4 ,he walks1 as most ,utopians 
walk1 as though he had reason to be     
proud of something1 as though he had no 
reason to be afraid of anything in the  
world4 ,he carries a portfolio in his   
hand4 ,it is that1 ,i suppose1 as much  
as his hair1 that recalls the ,quartier 
,latin to my mind4   ,section #d  ,i had
 already discussed the question of race 
with the botanist at ,lucerne4  ,but you
 would not like1 he cried in horror1    
your daughter to marry a ,chinaman or a 
negro8  ,of course1 said ,i1 when you   
say ,chinaman1 you think of a creature  
with a pigtail1 long nails1 and         
insanitary habits1 and when you say     
negro you think of a filthy-headed1     
black creature in an old hat4 ,you do   
this because your imagination is too    
feeble to disentangle the inherent      
qualities of a thing from its habitual  

associations4  ,insult isn't argument1  
said the botanist4  ,neither is unsound 
implication4 ,you make a question of    
race into a question of unequal         
cultures4 ,you would not like your      
daughter to marry the sort of negro who 
steals hens1 but then you would also not
 like your daughter to marry a pure     
,english hunchback with a squint1 or a  
drunken cab tout of ,norman blood4 ,as a
 matter of fact1 very few well-bred     
,english girls do commit that sort of   
indiscretion4 ,but you don't think it   
necessary to generalise against men of  
your own race because there are drunken 
cab touts1 and why should you generalise
 against negroes8 ,because the          
proportion of undesirables is higher    
among negroes1 that does not justify a  
sweeping condemnation4 ,you may have to 
condemn most1 but why all8 ,there may   
be--neither of us knows enough to       
deny--negroes who are handsome1 capable1
 courageous4  ,ugh6 said the botanist4  
,how detestable you must find ,othello6 

,it is my ,utopia1 and for a moment ,i  
could almost find it in my heart to     
spite the botanist by creating a modern 
,desdemona and her lover sooty black to 
the lips1 there before our eyes4 ,but ,i
 am not so sure of my case as that1 and 
for the moment there shall come nothing 
more than a swart-faced1 dusky ,burmese 
woman in the dress of the ,greater      
,rule1 with her tall ,englishman 7as he 
might be on earth7 at her side4 ,that1  
however1 is a digression from my        
conversation with the botanist4  ,and   
the ,chinaman8 said the botanist4  ,i   
think we shall have all the buff and    
yellow peoples intermingling pretty     
freely4  ,chinamen and white women1 for 
example4  ,yes1 ,i said1 you've got to  
swallow that1 anyhow2 you shall swallow 
that4  ,he finds the idea too revolting 
for comment4  ,i try and make the thing 
seem easier for him4 ,do try1 ,i said1  
to grasp a ,modern ,utopian's           
conditions4 ,the ,chinaman will speak   
the same language as his wife--whatever 

her race may be--he will wear costume of
 the common civilised fashion1 he will  
have much the same education as his     
,european rival1 read the same          
literature1 bow to the same traditions4 
,and you must remember a wife in ,utopia
 is singularly not subject to her       
husband4444  ,the botanist proclaims his
 invincible conclusion3 ,everyone would 
cut her6  ,this is ,utopia1 ,i said1 and
 then sought once more to tranquillise  
his mind4 ,no doubt among the vulgar1   
coarse-minded people outside the ,rule  
there may be something of the sort4     
,every earthly moral blockhead1 a little
 educated1 perhaps1 is to be found in   
,utopia4 ,you will1 no doubt1 find the  
'cut' and the 'boycott1' and all those  
nice little devices by which dull people
 get a keen edge on life1 in their place
 here1 and their place here is          
somewhere----  ,i turned a thumb        
earthward4 ,there6  ,the botanist did   
not answer for a little while4 ,then he 
said1 with some temper and great        

emphasis3 ,well1 ,i'm jolly glad anyhow 
that ,i'm not to be a permanent resident
 in this ,utopia1 if our daughters are  
to be married to ,hottentots by         
regulation4 ,i'm jolly glad4  ,he turned
 his back on me4  ,now did ,i say       
anything of the sort8 444  ,i had to    
bring him1 ,i suppose2 there's no       
getting away from him in this life4     
,but1 as ,i have already observed1 the  
happy ancients went to their ,utopias   
without this sort of company4   ,section
 #e  ,what gives the botanist so great  
an advantage in all his ,anti-,utopian  
utterances is his unconsciousness of his
 own limitations4 ,he thinks in little  
pieces that lie about loose1 and nothing
 has any necessary link with anything   
else in his mind4 ,so that ,i cannot    
retort upon him by asking him1 if he    
objects to this synthesis of all        
nations1 tongues and peoples in a ,world
 ,state1 what alternative ideal he      
proposes4  ,people of this sort do not  
even feel the need of alternatives4     

,beyond the scope of a few personal     
projects1 meeting ,her again1 and things
 like that1 they do not feel that there 
is a future4 ,they are unencumbered by  
any baggage of convictions whatever1 in 
relation to that4 ,that1 at least1 is   
the only way in which ,i can explain our
 friend's high intellectual mobility4   
,attempts to correlate statesmanship1   
which they regard with interest as a    
dramatic interplay of personalities1    
with any secular movement of humanity1  
they class with the differential        
calculus and ,darwinism1 as things far  
too difficult to be anything but finally
 and subtly wrong4  ,so the argument    
must pass into a direct address to the  
reader4  ,if you are not prepared to    
regard a world-wide synthesis of all    
cultures and polities and races into one
 ,world ,state as the desirable end upon
 which all civilising efforts converge1 
what do you regard as the desirable end8
 ,synthesis1 one may remark in passing1 
does not necessarily mean fusion1 nor   

does it mean uniformity4  ,the          
alternatives fall roughly under three   
headings4 ,the first is to assume there 
is a best race1 to define as well as one
 can that best race1 and to regard all  
other races as material for             
extermination4 ,this has a fine1 modern1
 biological air 7,survival of the       
,fittest74 ,if you are one of those     
queer ,german professors who write      
insanity about ,welt-,politik1 you      
assume the best race is the ,teutonic2  
,cecil ,rhodes affected that triumph of 
creative imagination1 the ,anglo-,saxon 
race2 my friend1 ,moses ,cohen1 thinks  
there is much to be said for the ,jew4  
,on its premises1 this is a perfectly   
sound and reasonable policy1 and it     
opens out a brilliant prospect for the  
scientific inventor for what one might  
call ,welt-,apparat in the future1 for  
national harrowing and reaping machines1
 and race-destroying fumigations4 ,the  
great plain of ,china 7,yellow ,peril7  
lends itself particularly to some       

striking wholesale undertaking2 it      
might1 for example1 be flooded for a few
 days1 and then disinfected with        
volcanic chlorine4 ,whether1 when all   
the inferior races have been stamped    
out1 the superior race would not proceed
 at once1 or after a brief millennial   
period of social harmony1 to divide     
itself into sub-classes1 and begin the  
business over again at a higher level1  
is an interesting residual question into
 which we need not now penetrate4  ,that
 complete development of a scientific   
,welt-,politik is not1 however1 very    
widely advocated at present1 no doubt   
from a want of confidence in the public 
imagination4 ,we have1 however1 a very  
audible and influential school1 the     
,modern ,imperialist school1 which      
distinguishes its own race--there is a  
,german1 a ,british1 and an             
,anglo-,saxon section in the school1 and
 a wider teaching which embraces the    
whole white race in one remarkable      
tolerance--as the superior race1 as one1

 indeed1 superior enough to own slaves1 
collectively1 if not individually2 and  
the exponents of this doctrine look with
 a resolute1 truculent1 but slightly    
indistinct eye to a future in which all 
the rest of the world will be in        
subjection to these elect4 ,the ideals  
of this type are set forth pretty       
clearly in ,mr4 ,kidd's ,control of the 
,tropics4 ,the whole world is to be     
administered by the white ,powers--,mr4 
,kidd did not anticipate ,japan--who    
will see to it that their subjects do   
not prevent the utilisation of the      
immense natural resources which they    
have in charge4 ,those other races are  
to be regarded as children1 recalcitrant
 children at times1 and without any of  
the tender emotions of paternity4 ,it is
 a little doubtful whether the races    
lacking in the elementary qualities of  
social efficiency are expected to       
acquire them under the chastening hands 
of those races which1 through strength  
and energy of character1 humanity1      

probity1 and integrity1 and a           
single-minded devotion to conceptions of
 duty1 are developing the resources of  
the richest regions of the earth over   
their heads1 or whether this is the     
ultimate ideal4  ,next comes the rather 
incoherent alternative that one         
associates in ,england with official    
,liberalism4  ,liberalism in ,england is
 not quite the same thing as ,liberalism
 in the rest of the world2 it is woven  
of two strands4 ,there is ,whiggism1 the
 powerful tradition of                  
seventeenth-century ,protestant and     
republican ,england1 with its great debt
 to republican ,rome1 its strong        
constructive and disciplinary bias1 its 
broad and originally very living and    
intelligent outlook2 and interwoven with
 this there is the sentimental and      
logical ,liberalism that sprang from the
 stresses of the eighteenth century1    
that finds its early scarce             
differentiated expression in            
,harrington's ,oceana1 and after fresh  

draughts of the tradition of ,brutus and
 ,cato and some elegant trifling with   
noble savages1 budded in ,la ,cite      
,morellyste1 flowered in the emotional  
democratic naturalism of ,rousseau1 and 
bore abundant fruit in the ,french      
,revolution4 ,these are two very        
distinct strands4 ,directly they were   
freed in ,america from the grip of      
conflict with ,british ,toryism1 they   
came apart as the ,republican and       
,democratic parties respectively4 ,their
 continued union in ,great ,britain is a
 political accident4 ,because of this   
mixture1 the whole career of            
,english-speaking ,liberalism1 though it
 has gone to one unbroken strain of     
eloquence1 has never produced a clear   
statement of policy in relation to other
 peoples politically less fortunate4 ,it
 has developed no definite ideas at all 
about the future of mankind4 ,the ,whig 
disposition1 which once had some play in
 ,india1 was certainly to attempt to    
anglicise the native1 to assimilate his 

culture1 and then to assimilate his     
political status with that of his       
temporary ruler4 ,but interwoven with   
this anglicising tendency1 which was    
also1 by the bye1 a ,christianising     
tendency1 was a strong disposition1     
derived from the ,rousseau strand1 to   
leave other peoples alone1 to facilitate
 even the separation and autonomy of    
detached portions of our own peoples1 to
 disintegrate finally into perfect1     
because lawless1 individuals4 ,the      
official exposition of ,british         
,liberalism to-day still wriggles       
unstably because of these conflicting   
constituents1 but on the whole the ,whig
 strand now seems the weaker4 ,the      
contemporary ,liberal politician offers 
cogent criticism upon the brutality and 
conceit of modern imperialisms1 but that
 seems to be the limit of his service4  
,taking what they do not say and do not 
propose as an indication of ,liberal    
intentions1 it would seem that the ideal
 of the ,british ,liberals and of the   

,american ,democrats is to favour the   
existence of just as many petty1 loosely
 allied1 or quite independent           
nationalities as possible1 just as many 
languages as possible1 to deprecate     
armies and all controls1 and to trust to
 the innate goodness of disorder and the
 powers of an ardent sentimentality to  
keep the world clean and sweet4 ,the    
,liberals will not face the plain       
consequence that such a state of affairs
 is hopelessly unstable1 that it        
involves the maximum risk of war with   
the minimum of permanent benefit and    
public order4 ,they will not reflect    
that the stars in their courses rule    
inexorably against it4 ,it is a vague1  
impossible ideal1 with a rude sort of   
unworldly moral beauty1 like the gospel 
of the ,doukhobors4 ,besides that charm 
it has this most seductive quality to an
 official ,british ,liberal1 that it    
does not exact intellectual activity nor
 indeed activity of any sort whatever4  
,it is1 by virtue of that alone1 a far  

less mischievous doctrine than the crude
 and violent ,imperialism of the popular
 ,press4  ,neither of these two schools 
of policy1 neither the international    
laisser faire of the ,liberals1 nor     
hustle to the top ,imperialism1 promise 
any reality of permanent progress for   
the world of men4 ,they are the resort1 
the moral reference1 of those who will  
not think frankly and exhaustively over 
the whole field of this question4 ,do   
that1 insist upon solutions of more than
 accidental applicability1 and you      
emerge with one or other of two         
contrasted solutions1 as the            
consciousness of kind or the            
consciousness of individuality prevails 
in your mind4 ,in the former case you   
will adopt aggressive ,imperialism1 but 
you will carry it out to its thorough   
degree of extermination4 ,you will seek 
to develop the culture and power of your
 kind of men and women to the utmost in 
order to shoulder all other kinds from  
the earth4 ,if on the other hand you    

appreciate the unique1 you will aim at  
such a synthesis as this ,utopia        
displays1 a synthesis far more credible 
and possible than any other             
,welt-,politik4 ,in spite of all the    
pageant of modern war1 synthesis is in  
the trend of the world4 ,to aid and     
develop it1 could be made the open and  
secure policy of any great modern empire
 now4 ,modern war1 modern international 
hostility is1 ,i believe1 possible only 
through the stupid illiteracy of the    
mass of men and the conceit and         
intellectual indolence of rulers and    
those who feed the public mind4 ,were   
the will of the mass of men lit and     
conscious1 ,i am firmly convinced it    
would now burn steadily for synthesis   
and peace4  ,it would be so easy to     
bring about a world peace within a few  
decades1 was there but the will for it  
among men6 ,the great empires that exist
 need but a little speech and frankness 
one with another4 ,within1 the riddles  
of social order are already half solved 

in books and thought1 there are the     
common people and the subject peoples to
 be educated and drilled1 to be led to a
 common speech and a common literature1 
to be assimilated and made citizens2    
without1 there is the possibility of    
treaties4 ,why1 for example1 should     
,britain and ,france1 or either and the 
,united ,states1 or ,sweden and ,norway1
 or ,holland1 or ,denmark1 or ,italy1   
fight any more for ever8 ,and if there  
is no reason1 how foolish and dangerous 
it is still to sustain linguistic       
differences and custom houses1 and all  
sorts of foolish and irritating         
distinctions between their various      
citizens6 ,why should not all these     
peoples agree to teach some common      
language1 ,french1 for example1 in their
 common schools1 or to teach each       
other's languages reciprocally8 ,why    
should they not aim at a common         
literature1 and bring their various     
common laws1 their marriage laws1 and so
 on1 into uniformity8 ,why should they  

not work for a uniform minimum of labour
 conditions through all their           
communities8 ,why1 then1 should they    
not--except in the interests of a few   
rascal plutocrats--trade freely and     
exchange their citizenship freely       
throughout their common boundaries8 ,no 
doubt there are difficulties to be      
found1 but they are quite finite        
difficulties4 ,what is there to prevent 
a parallel movement of all the civilised
 ,powers in the world towards a common  
ideal and assimilation8                 
,stupidity--nothing but stupidity1 a    
stupid brute jealousy1 aimless and      
unjustifiable4  ,the coarser conceptions
 of aggregation are at hand1 the        
hostile1 jealous patriotisms1 the blare 
of trumpets and the pride of fools2 they
 serve the daily need though they lead  
towards disaster4 ,the real and the     
immediate has us in its grip1 the       
accidental personal thing4 ,the little  
effort of thought1 the brief sustained  
effort of will1 is too much for the     

contemporary mind4 ,such treaties1 such 
sympathetic international movements1 are
 but dream stuff yet on earth1 though   
,utopia has realised them long since and
 already passed them by4    ,,chapter   
,,the ,,eleventh  ,the ,bubble ,bursts  
,section #a  ,as ,i walk back along the 
river terrace to the hotel where the    
botanist awaits me1 and observe the     
,utopians ,i encounter1 ,i have no      
thought that my tenure of ,utopia       
becomes every moment more precarious4   
,there float in my mind vague           
anticipations of more talks with my     
double and still more1 of a steady      
elaboration of detail1 of interesting   
journeys of exploration4 ,i forget that 
a ,utopia is a thing of the imagination 
that becomes more fragile with every    
added circumstance1 that1 like a        
soap-bubble1 it is most brilliantly and 
variously coloured at the very instant  
of its dissolution4 ,this ,utopia is    
nearly done4 ,all the broad lines of its
 social organisation are completed now1 

the discussion of all its general       
difficulties and problems4 ,utopian     
individuals pass me by1 fine buildings  
tower on either hand2 it does not occur 
to me that ,i may look too closely4 ,to 
find the people assuming the concrete   
and individual1 is not1 as ,i fondly    
imagine1 the last triumph of            
realisation1 but the swimming moment of 
opacity before the film gives way4 ,to  
come to individual emotional cases1 is  
to return to the earth4  ,i find the    
botanist sitting at a table in the hotel
 courtyard4  ,well8 ,i say1 standing    
before him4  ,i've been in the gardens  
on the river terrace1 he answers1 hoping
 ,i might see her again4  ,nothing      
better to do8  ,nothing in the world4   
,you'll have your double back from      
,india to-morrow4 ,then you'll have     
conversation4  ,i don't want it1 he     
replies1 compactly4  ,i shrug my        
shoulders1 and he adds1 ,at least with  
him4  ,i let myself down into a seat    
beside him4  ,for a time ,i sit         

restfully enjoying his companionable    
silence1 and thinking fragmentarily of  
those samurai and their ,rules4 ,i      
entertain something of the satisfaction 
of a man who has finished building a    
bridge2 ,i feel that ,i have joined     
together things that ,i had never joined
 before4 ,my ,utopia seems real to me1  
very real1 ,i can believe in it1 until  
the metal chair-back gives to my        
shoulder blades1 and ,utopian sparrows  
twitter and hop before my feet4 ,i have 
a pleasant moment of unhesitating       
self-satisfaction2 ,i feel a shameless  
exultation to be there4 ,for a moment ,i
 forget the consideration the botanist  
demands2 the mere pleasure of           
completeness1 of holding and controlling
 all the threads possesses me4  ,you    
will persist in believing1 ,i say1 with 
an aggressive expository note1 that if  
you meet this lady she will be a person 
with the memories and sentiments of her 
double on earth4 ,you think she will    
understand and pity1 and perhaps love   

you4 ,nothing of the sort is the case4  
,i repeat with confident rudeness1      
,nothing of the sort is the case4       
,things are different altogether here2  
you can hardly tell even now how        
different are----  ,i discover he is not
 listening to me4  ,what is the matter8 
,i ask abruptly4  ,he makes no answer1  
but his expression startles me4  ,what  
is the matter8 and then ,i follow his   
eyes4  ,a woman and a man are coming    
through the great archway--and instantly
 ,i guess what has happened4 ,she it is 
arrests my attention first--long ago ,i 
knew she was a sweetly beautiful woman4 
,she is fair1 with frank blue eyes1 that
 look with a sort of tender receptivity 
into her companion's face4 ,for a moment
 or so they remain1 greyish figures in  
the cool shadow1 against the sunlit     
greenery of the gardens beyond4  ,it is 
,mary1 the botanist whispers with white 
lips1 but he stares at the form of the  
man4 ,his face whitens1 it becomes so   
transfigured with emotion that for a    

moment it does not look weak4 ,then ,i  
see that his thin hand is clenched4  ,i 
realise how little ,i understand his    
emotions4  ,a sudden fear of what he    
will do takes hold of me4 ,he sits white
 and tense as the two come into the     
clearer light of the courtyard4 ,the    
man1 ,i see1 is one of the samurai1 a   
dark1 strong-faced man1 a man ,i have   
never seen before1 and she is wearing   
the robe that shows her a follower of   
the ,lesser ,rule4  ,some glimmering of 
the botanist's feelings strikes through 
to my slow sympathies4 ,of course--a    
strange man6 ,i put out a restraining   
hand towards his arm4 ,i told you1 ,i   
say1 that very probably1 most probably1 
she would have met some other4 ,i tried 
to prepare you4  ,nonsense1 he whispers1
 without looking at me4 ,it isn't that4 
,it's--that scoundrel----  ,he has an   
impulse to rise4 ,that scoundrel1 he    
repeats4  ,he isn't a scoundrel1 ,i say4
 ,how do you know8 ,keep still6 ,why are
 you standing up8  ,he and ,i stand up  

quickly1 ,i as soon as he4 ,but now the 
full meaning of the group has reached   
me4 ,i grip his arm4 ,be sensible1 ,i   
say1 speaking very quickly1 and with my 
back to the approaching couple4 ,he's   
not a scoundrel here4 ,this world is    
different from that4 ,it's caught his   
pride somehow and made a man of him4    
,whatever troubled them there----  ,he  
turns a face of white wrath on me1 of   
accusation1 and for the moment of       
unexpected force4 ,this is your doing1  
he says4 ,you have done this to mock me4
 ,he--of all men6 ,for a moment speech  
fails him1 then2 ,you--you have done    
this to mock me4  ,i try to explain very
 quickly4 ,my tone is almost            
propitiatory4  ,i never thought of it   
until now4 ,but he's---- ,how did ,i    
know he was the sort of man a           
disciplined world has a use for8  ,he   
makes no answer1 but he looks at me with
 eyes that are positively baleful1 and  
in the instant ,i read his mute but     
mulish resolve that ,utopia must end4   

,don't let that old quarrel poison all  
this1 ,i say almost entreatingly4 ,it   
happened all differently                
here--everything is different here4     
,your double will be back to-morrow4    
,wait for him4 ,perhaps then you will   
understand----  ,he shakes his head1 and
 then bursts out with1 ,what do ,i want 
with a double8 ,double6 ,what do ,i care
 if things have been different here8    
,this----  ,he thrusts me weakly back   
with his long1 white hand4 ,my ,god6 he 
says almost forcibly1 what nonsense all 
this is6 ,all these dreams6 ,all        
,utopias6 ,there she is----6 ,oh1 but ,i
 have dreamt of her6 ,and now----  ,a   
sob catches him4 ,i am really frightened
 by this time4 ,i still try to keep     
between him and these ,utopians1 and to 
hide his gestures from them4  ,it's     
different here1 ,i persist4 ,it's       
different here4 ,the emotion you feel   
has no place in it4 ,it's a scar from   
the earth--the sore scar of your        
past----  ,and what are we all but      

scars8 ,what is life but a scarring8    
,it's you--you who don't understand6 ,of
 course we are covered with scars1 we   
live to be scarred1 we are scars6 ,we   
are the scars of the past6 ,these       
dreams1 these childish dreams----6  ,he 
does not need to finish his sentence1 he
 waves an unteachable destructive arm4  
,my ,utopia rocks about me4  ,for a     
moment the vision of that great         
courtyard hangs real4 ,there the        
,utopians live real about me1 going to  
and fro1 and the great archway blazes   
with sunlight from the green gardens by 
the riverside4 ,the man who is one of   
the samurai1 and his lady1 whom the     
botanist loved on earth1 pass out of    
sight behind the marble flower-set      
,triton that spouts coolness in the     
middle of the place4 ,for a moment ,i   
see two working men in green tunics     
sitting on a marble seat in the shadow  
of the colonnade1 and a sweet little    
silver-haired old lady1 clad all in     
violet1 and carrying a book1 comes      

towards us1 and lifts a curious eye at  
the botanist's gestures4 ,and then----  
,scars of the past6 ,scars of the past6 
,these fanciful1 useless dreams6        
,section #b  ,there is no jerk1 no      
sound1 no hint of material shock4 ,we   
are in ,london1 and clothed in the      
fashion of the town4 ,the sullen roar of
 ,london fills our ears4444  ,i see that
 ,i am standing beside an iron seat of  
poor design in that grey and gawky waste
 of asphalte--,trafalgar ,square1 and   
the botanist1 with perplexity in his    
face1 stares from me to a poor1         
shrivelled1 dirt-lined old woman--my    
,god6 what a neglected thing she        
is6--who proffers a box of matches4444  
,he buys almost mechanically1 and turns 
back to me4  ,i was saying1 he says1 the
 past rules us absolutely4 ,these       
dreams----  ,his sentence does not      
complete itself4 ,he looks nervous and  
irritated4  ,you have a trick at times1 
he says instead1 of making your         
suggestions so vivid----  ,he takes a   

plunge4 ,if you don't mind1 he says in a
 sort of quavering ultimatum1 we won't  
discuss that aspect of the question--the
 lady1 ,i mean--further4  ,he pauses1   
and there still hangs a faint perplexity
 between us4  ,but---- ,i begin4  ,for a
 moment we stand there1 and my dream of 
,utopia runs off me like water from an  
oiled slab4 ,of course--we lunched at   
our club4 ,we came back from            
,switzerland by no dream train but by   
the ordinary ,bale express4 ,we have    
been talking of that ,lucerne woman he  
harps upon1 and ,i have made some novel 
comment on his story4 ,i have touched   
certain possibilities4  ,you can't      
conceivably understand1 he says4  ,the  
fact remains1 he goes on1 taking up the 
thread of his argument again with an air
 of having defined our field1 we are the
 scars of the past4 ,that's a thing one 
can discuss--without personalities4     
,no1 ,i say rather stupidly1 no4  ,you  
are always talking as though you could  
kick the past to pieces2 as though one  

could get right out from oneself and    
begin afresh4 ,it is your weakness--if  
you don't mind my being frank--it makes 
you seem harsh and dogmatic4 ,life has  
gone easily for you2 you have never been
 badly tried4 ,you have been lucky--you 
do not understand the other way about4  
,you are--hard4  ,i answer nothing4  ,he
 pants for breath4 ,i perceive that in  
our discussion of his case ,i must have 
gone too far1 and that he has rebelled4 
,clearly ,i must have said something    
wounding about that ineffectual love    
story of his4  ,you don't allow for my  
position1 he says1 and it occurs to me  
to say1 ,i'm obliged to look at the     
thing from my own point of view4444     
,one or other of us makes a move4 ,what 
a lot of filthy1 torn paper is scattered
 about the world6 ,we walk slowly side  
by side towards the dirt-littered basin 
of the fountain1 and stand regarding two
 grimy tramps who sit and argue on a    
further seat4 ,one holds a horrible old 
boot in his hand1 and gesticulates with 

it1 while his other hand caresses his   
rag-wrapped foot4 ,wot does ,cham'lain  
si8 his words drift to us4 ,w'y1 'e     
says1 wot's the good of 'nvesting your  
kepital where these 'ere ,americans may 
dump it flat any time they like4444     
7,were there not two men in green       
sitting on a marble seat87   ,section #c
  ,we walk on1 our talk suspended1 past 
a ruthlessly clumsy hoarding1 towards   
where men and women and children are    
struggling about a string of omnibuses4 
,a newsvendor at the corner spreads a   
newspaper placard upon the wood         
pavement1 pins the corners down with    
stones1 and we glimpse something        
about3--   ,,massacre ,,in ,,odessa4    
,,discovery ,,of ,,human ,,remains ,,at 
,,chertsey4  ,,shocking ,,lynching      
,,outrage ,,in ,,new ,,york ,,state4    
,,german ,,intrigues ,,get ,a           
,,set-,,back4  ,,the ,,birthday         
,,honours4--,,full ,,list4   ,dear old  
familiar world6  ,an angry parent in    
conversation with a sympathetic friend  

jostles against us4 ,i'll knock his     
blooming young 'ed orf if 'e cheeks me  
again4 ,it's these 'ere brasted ,board  
,schools----  ,an omnibus passes1       
bearing on a board beneath an           
incorrectly drawn ,union ,jack an       
exhortation to the true patriot to ,buy 
,bumper's ,british-,boiled ,jam4 444  ,i
 am stunned beyond the possibility of   
discussion for a space4 ,in this very   
place it must have been that the high   
terrace ran with the gardens below it1  
along which ,i came from my double to   
our hotel4 ,i am going back1 but now    
through reality1 along the path ,i      
passed so happily in my dream4 ,and the 
people ,i saw then are the people ,i am 
looking at now--with a difference4  ,the
 botanist walks beside me1 white and    
nervously jerky in his movements1 his   
ultimatum delivered4  ,we start to cross
 the road4 ,an open carriage drives by1 
and we see a jaded1 red-haired woman1   
smeared with paint1 dressed in furs1 and
 petulantly discontented4 ,her face is  

familiar to me1 her face1 with a        
difference4  ,why do ,i think of her as 
dressed in green8  ,of course6--she it  
was ,i saw leading her children by the  
hand6  ,comes a crash to our left1 and a
 running of people to see a cab-horse   
down on the slippery1 slanting pavement 
outside ,st4 ,martin's ,church4  ,we go 
on up the street4  ,a heavy-eyed young  
,jewess1 a draggled prostitute--no      
crimson flower for her hair1 poor       
girl6--regards us with a momentary      
speculation1 and we get a whiff of foul 
language from two newsboys on the kerb4 
,we can't go on talking1 the botanist   
begins1 and ducks aside just in time to 
save his eye from the ferule of a       
stupidly held umbrella4 ,he is going to 
treat our little tiff about that lady as
 closed4 ,he has the air of picking up  
our conversation again at some earlier  
point4  ,he steps into the gutter1 walks
 round outside a negro hawker1 just     
escapes the wheel of a hansom1 and comes
 to my side again4  ,we can't go on     

talking of your ,utopia1 he says1 in a  
noise and crowd like this4  ,we are     
separated by a portly man going in the  
opposite direction1 and join again4 ,we 
can't go on talking of ,utopia1 he      
repeats1 in ,london4444 ,up in the      
mountains--and holiday-time--it was all 
right4 ,we let ourselves go6  ,i've been
 living in ,utopia1 ,i answer1 tacitly  
adopting his tacit proposal to drop the 
lady out of the question4  ,at times1 he
 says1 with a queer laugh1 you've almost
 made me live there too4  ,he reflects4 
,it doesn't do1 you know4 ,no6 ,and ,i  
don't know whether1 after all1 ,i       
want----  ,we are separated again by    
half-a-dozen lifted flagstones1 a       
burning brazier1 and two engineers      
concerned with some underground business
 or other--in the busiest hour of the   
day's traffic4  ,why shouldn't it do8 ,i
 ask4  ,it spoils the world of everyday 
to let your mind run on impossible      
perfections4  ,i wish1 ,i shout against 
the traffic1 ,i could smash the world of

 everyday4  ,my note becomes            
quarrelsome4 ,you may accept this as the
 world of reality1 you may consent to be
 one scar in an ill-dressed compound    
wound1 but so--not ,i6 ,this is a dream 
too--this world4 ,your dream1 and you   
bring me back to it--out of ,utopia---- 
,the crossing of ,bow ,street gives me  
pause again4  ,the face of a girl who is
 passing westward1 a student girl1      
rather carelessly dressed1 her books in 
a carrying-strap1 comes across my field 
of vision4 ,the westward sun of ,london 
glows upon her face4 ,she has eyes that 
dream1 surely no sensuous nor personal  
dream4  ,after all1 after all1          
dispersed1 hidden1 disorganised1        
undiscovered1 unsuspected even by       
themselves1 the samurai of ,utopia are  
in this world1 the motives that are     
developed and organised there stir      
dumbly here and stifle in ten thousand  
futile hearts4444  ,i overtake the      
botanist1 who got ahead at the crossing 
by the advantage of a dust-cart4  ,you  

think this is real because you can't    
wake out of it1 ,i say4 ,it's all a     
dream1 and there are people--,i'm just  
one of the first of a multitude--between
 sleeping and waking--who will presently
 be rubbing it out of their eyes4  ,a   
pinched and dirty little girl1 with     
sores upon her face1 stretches out a    
bunch of wilting violets1 in a pitifully
 thin little fist1 and interrupts my    
speech4 ,bunch o' vi'lets--on'y a penny4
  ,no6 ,i say curtly1 hardening my      
heart4  ,a ragged and filthy nursing    
mother1 with her last addition to our   
,imperial ,people on her arm1 comes out 
of a drinkshop1 and stands a little     
unsteadily1 and wipes mouth and nose    
comprehensively with the back of a red  
chapped hand4444   ,section #d  ,isn't  
that reality8 says the botanist1 almost 
triumphantly1 and leaves me aghast at   
his triumph4  ,that6 ,i say belatedly4  
,it's a thing in a nightmare6  ,he      
shakes his head and                     
smiles--exasperatingly4  ,i perceive    

quite abruptly that the botanist and ,i 
have reached the limits of our          
intercourse4  ,the world dreams things  
like that1 ,i say1 because it suffers   
from an indigestion of such people as   
you4  ,his low-toned self-complacency1  
like the faded banner of an obstinate   
fort1 still flies unconquered4 ,and you 
know1 he's not even a happy man with it 
all6  ,for ten seconds or more ,i am    
furiously seeking in my mind for a word1
 for a term of abuse1 for one           
compendious verbal missile that shall   
smash this man for ever4 ,it has to     
express total inadequacy of imagination 
and will1 spiritual anaemia1 dull       
respectability1 gross sentimentality1 a 
cultivated pettiness of heart4444  ,that
 word will not come4 ,but no other word 
will do4 ,indeed the word does not      
exist4 ,there is nothing with sufficient
 vituperative concentration for this    
moral and intellectual stupidity of     
educated people4444  ,er---- he begins4 
,no6 ,i can't endure him4  ,with a      

passionate rapidity of movement1 ,i     
leave his side1 dart between a carriage 
and a van1 duck under the head of a     
cab-horse1 and board a 'bus going       
westward somewhere--but anyhow1 going in
 exactly the reverse direction to the   
botanist4 ,i clamber up the steps and   
thread my swaying way to the seat       
immediately behind the driver4  ,there6 
,i say1 as ,i whack myself down on the  
seat and pant4  ,when ,i look round the 
botanist is out of sight4   ,section #e 
,but ,i am back in the world for all    
that1 and my ,utopia is done4  ,it is   
good discipline for the ,utopist to     
visit this world occasionally4  ,but    
from the front seat on the top of an    
omnibus on a sunny ,september afternoon1
 the ,strand1 and ,charing ,cross       
corner1 and ,whitehall1 and the great   
multitude of people1 the great uproar of
 vehicles1 streaming in all directions1 
is apt to look a world altogether too   
formidable4 ,it has a glare1 it has a   
tumult and vigour that shouts one down4 

,it shouts one down1 if shouting is to  
carry it4 ,what good was it to trot     
along the pavement through this noise   
and tumult of life1 pleading ,utopia to 
that botanist8 ,what good would it be to
 recommend ,utopia in this driver's     
preoccupied ear8  ,there are moments in 
the life of every philosopher and       
dreamer when he feels himself the       
flimsiest of absurdities1 when the      
,thing in ,being has its way with him1  
its triumphant way1 when it asks in a   
roar1 unanswerably1 with a fine solid   
use of the current vernacular1 ,what    
,good is all this--,rot about ,utopias8 
,one inspects the ,thing in ,being with 
something of the diffident speculation  
of primitive man1 peering from behind a 
tree at an angry elephant4  7,there is  
an omen in that image4 ,on how many     
occasions must that ancestor of ours    
have had just the ,utopist's feeling of 
ambitious unreality1 have decided that  
on the whole it was wiser to go very    
quietly home again1 and leave the big   

beast alone8 ,but1 in the end1 men rode 
upon the elephant's head1 and guided him
 this way or that4444 ,the ,thing in    
,being that roars so tremendously about 
,charing ,cross corner seems a bigger   
antagonist than an elephant1 but then we
 have better weapons than chipped flint 
blades44447  ,after all1 in a very      
little time everything that impresses me
 so mightily this ,september afternoon  
will have changed or passed away for    
ever1 everything4 ,these omnibuses1     
these great1 stalwart1 crowded1         
many-coloured things that jostle one    
another1 and make so handsome a         
clatter-clamour1 will all have gone2    
they and their horses and drivers and   
organisation2 you will come here and you
 will not find them4 ,something else    
will be here1 some different sort of    
vehicle1 that is now perhaps the mere   
germ of an idea in some engineer        
student's brain4 ,and this road and     
pavement will have changed1 and these   
impressive great buildings2 other       

buildings will be here1 buildings that  
are as yet more impalpable than this    
page you read1 more formless and flimsy 
by far than anything that is reasoned   
here4 ,little plans sketched on paper1  
strokes of a pen or of a brush1 will be 
the first materialisations of what will 
at last obliterate every detail and atom
 of these re-echoing actualities that   
overwhelm us now4 ,and the clothing and 
gestures of these innumerable people1   
the character of their faces and        
bearing1 these too will be recast in the
 spirit of what are now obscure and     
impalpable beginnings4  ,the new things 
will be indeed of the substance of the  
thing that is1 but differing just in the
 measure of the will and imagination    
that goes to make them4 ,they will be   
strong and fair as the will is sturdy   
and organised and the imagination       
comprehensive and bold2 they will be    
ugly and smeared with wretchedness as   
the will is fluctuating and the         
imagination timid and mean4  ,indeed    

,will is stronger than ,fact1 it can    
mould and overcome ,fact4 ,but this     
world has still to discover its will1 it
 is a world that slumbers inertly1 and  
all this roar and pulsation of life is  
no more than its heavy breathing4444 ,my
 mind runs on to the thought of an      
awakening4  ,as my omnibus goes         
lumbering up ,cockspur ,street through  
the clatter rattle of the cabs and      
carriages1 there comes another fancy in 
my mind4444 ,could one but realise an   
apocalyptic image and suppose an angel1 
such as was given to each of the seven  
churches of ,asia1 given for a space to 
the service of the ,greater ,rule4 ,i   
see him as a towering figure of flame   
and colour1 standing between earth and  
sky1 with a trumpet in his hands1 over  
there above the ,haymarket1 against the 
,october glow2 and when he sounds1 all  
the samurai1 all who are samurai in     
,utopia1 will know themselves and one   
another4444  7,whup6 says a motor       
brougham1 and a policeman stays the     

traffic with his hand47  ,all of us who 
partake of the samurai would know       
ourselves and one another6  ,for a      
moment ,i have a vision of this         
resurrection of the living1 of a vague1 
magnificent answer1 of countless myriads
 at attention1 of all that is fine in   
humanity at attention1 round the compass
 of the earth4  ,then that philosophy of
 individual uniqueness resumes its sway 
over my thoughts1 and my dream of a     
world's awakening fades4  ,i had        
forgotten4444  ,things do not happen    
like that4 ,god is not simple1 ,god is  
not theatrical1 the summons comes to    
each man in its due time for him1 with  
an infinite subtlety of variety4444  ,if
 that is so1 what of my ,utopia8  ,this 
infinite world must needs be flattened  
to get it on one retina4 ,the picture of
 a solid thing1 although it is flattened
 and simplified1 is not necessarily a   
lie4 ,surely1 surely1 in the end1 by    
degrees1 and steps1 something of this   
sort1 some such understanding1 as this  

,utopia must come4 ,first here1 then    
there1 single men and then groups of men
 will fall into line--not indeed with my
 poor faulty hesitating suggestions--but
 with a great and comprehensive plan    
wrought out by many minds and in many   
tongues4 ,it is just because my plan is 
faulty1 because it mis-states so much1  
and omits so much1 that they do not now 
fall in4 ,it will not be like my dream1 
the world that is coming4 ,my dream is  
just my own poor dream1 the thing       
sufficient for me4 ,we fail in          
comprehension1 we fail so variously and 
abundantly4 ,we see as much as it is    
serviceable for us to see1 and we see no
 further4 ,but the fresh undaunted      
generations come to take on our work    
beyond our utmost effort1 beyond the    
range of our ideas4 ,they will learn    
with certainty things that to us are    
guesses and riddles4444  ,there will be 
many ,utopias4 ,each generation will    
have its new version of ,utopia1 a      
little more certain and complete and    

real1 with its problems lying closer and
 closer to the problems of the ,thing in
 ,being4 ,until at last from dreams     
,utopias will have come to be working   
drawings1 and the whole world will be   
shaping the final ,world ,state1 the    
fair and great and fruitful ,world      
,state1 that will only not be a ,utopia 
because it will be this world4 ,so      
surely it must be----   ,the policeman  
drops his hand4 ,come up1 says the 'bus 
driver1 and the horses strain2 ,clitter1
 clatter1 cluck1 clak1 the line of      
hurrying hansoms overtakes the omnibus  
going west4 ,a dexterous lad on a       
bicycle with a bale of newspapers on his
 back dodges nimbly across the head of  
the column and vanishes up a side       
street4  ,the omnibus sways forward4    
,rapt and prophetic1 his plump hands    
clasped round the handle of his         
umbrella1 his billycock hat a trifle    
askew1 this irascible little man of the 
,voice1 this impatient dreamer1 this    
scolding ,optimist1 who has argued so   

rudely and dogmatically about economics 
and philosophy and decoration1 and      
indeed about everything under the sun1  
who has been so hard on the botanist and
 fashionable women1 and so reluctant in 
the matter of beer1 is carried onward1  
dreaming dreams1 dreams that with all   
the inevitable ironies of difference1   
may be realities when you and ,i are    
dreams4  ,he passes1 and for a little   
space we are left with his egoisms and  
idiosyncrasies more or less in suspense4
  ,but why was he intruded8 you ask4    
,why could not a modern ,utopia be      
discussed without this                  
impersonation--impersonally8 ,it has    
confused the book1 you say1 made the    
argument hard to follow1 and thrown a   
quality of insincerity over the whole4  
,are we but mocking at ,utopias1 you    
demand1 using all these noble and       
generalised hopes as the backcloth      
against which two bickering             
personalities jar and squabble8 ,do ,i  
mean we are never to view the promised  

land again except through a foreground  
of fellow-travellers8 ,there is a common
 notion that the reading of a ,utopia   
should end with a swelling heart and    
clear resolves1 with lists of names1    
formation of committees1 and even the   
commencement of subscriptions4 ,but this
 ,utopia began upon a philosophy of     
fragmentation1 and ends1 confusedly1    
amidst a gross tumult of immediate      
realities1 in dust and doubt1 with1 at  
the best1 one individual's aspiration4  
,utopias were once in good faith1       
projects for a fresh creation of the    
world and of a most unworldly           
completeness2 this so-called ,modern    
,utopia is a mere story of personal     
adventures among ,utopian philosophies4 
,indeed1 that came about without the    
writer's intention4 ,so it was the      
summoned vision came4 ,for ,i see about 
me a great multitude of little souls and
 groups of souls as darkened1 as        
derivative as my own2 with the passage  
of years ,i understand more and more    

clearly the quality of the motives that 
urge me and urge them to do whatever we 
do4444 ,yet that is not all ,i see1 and 
,i am not altogether bounded by my      
littleness4 ,ever and again1 contrasting
 with this immediate vision1 come       
glimpses of a comprehensive scheme1 in  
which these personalities float1 the    
scheme of a synthetic wider being1 the  
great ,state1 mankind1 in which we all  
move and go1 like blood corpuscles1 like
 nerve cells1 it may be at times like   
brain cells1 in the body of a man4 ,but 
the two visions are not seen            
consistently together1 at least by me1  
and ,i do not surely know that they     
exist consistently together4 ,the       
motives needed for those wider issues   
come not into the interplay of my       
vanities and wishes4 ,that greater      
scheme lies about the men and women ,i  
know1 as ,i have tried to make the      
vistas and spaces1 the mountains1       
cities1 laws1 and order of ,utopia lie  
about my talking couple1 too great for  

their sustained comprehension4 ,when one
 focuses upon these two that wide       
landscape becomes indistinct and        
distant1 and when one regards that then 
the real persons one knows grow vague   
and unreal4 ,nevertheless1 ,i cannot    
separate these two aspects of human     
life1 each commenting on the other4 ,in 
that incongruity between great and      
individual inheres the incompatibility  
,i could not resolve1 and which1        
therefore1 ,i have had to present in    
this conflicting form4 ,at times that   
great scheme does seem to me to enter   
certain men's lives as a passion1 as a  
real and living motive2 there are those 
who know it almost as if it was a thing 
of desire2 even for me1 upon occasion1  
the little lures of the immediate life  
are seen small and vain1 and the soul   
goes out to that mighty ,being1 to      
apprehend it and serve it and possess4  
,but this is an illumination that passes
 as it comes1 a rare transitory         
lucidity1 leaving the soul's desire     

suddenly turned to presumption and      
hypocrisy upon the lips4 ,one grasps at 
the ,universe and attains--,bathos4 ,the
 hungers1 the jealousies1 the prejudices
 and habits have us again1 and we are   
forced back to think that it is so1 and 
not otherwise1 that we are meant to     
serve the mysteries2 that in these      
blinkers it is we are driven to an end  
we cannot understand4 ,and then1 for    
measured moments in the night watches or
 as one walks alone or while one sits in
 thought and speech with a friend1 the  
wider aspirations glow again with a     
sincere emotion1 with the colours of    
attainable desire4444  ,that is my all  
about ,utopia1 and about the desire and 
need for ,utopia1 and how that planet   
lies to this planet that bears the daily
 lives of men4    ,,appendix            
,,scepticism ,,of ,,the ,,instrument    
,a ,portion of a ,paper read to the     
,oxford ,philosophical ,society1        
,november #h1 #aijc1 and reprinted1 with
 some ,revision1 from the ,version given

 in ,mind1 vol4 xiii4 7,n4,s471 ,no4    
#ea4  7,see also ,chapter ,i41 ,section 
#f1 and ,chapter ,x41 ,sections #a and  
#b47  ,it seems to me that ,i may most  
propitiously attempt to interest you    
this evening by describing very briefly 
the particular metaphysical and         
philosophical system in which ,i do my  
thinking1 and more particularly by      
setting out for your consideration one  
or two points in which ,i seem to myself
 to differ most widely from current     
accepted philosophy4  ,you must be      
prepared for things that will strike you
 as crude1 for a certain difference of  
accent and dialect that you may not     
like1 and you must be prepared too to   
hear what may strike you as the clumsy  
statement of my ignorant rediscovery of 
things already beautifully thought out  
and said4 ,but in the end you may       
incline to forgive me some of this first
 offence4444 ,it is quite unavoidable   
that1 in setting out these intellectual 
foundations of mine1 ,i should lapse for

 a moment or so towards autobiography4  
,a convergence of circumstances led to  
my having my knowledge of concrete      
things quite extensively developed      
before ,i came to philosophical         
examination at all4 ,i have heard       
someone say that a savage or an animal  
is mentally a purely objective being1   
and in that respect ,i was like a savage
 or an animal until ,i was well over    
twenty4 ,i was extremely unaware of the 
subjective or introverted element in my 
being4 ,i was a ,positivist without     
knowing it4 ,my early education was a   
feeble one2 it was one in which my      
private observation1 inquiry and        
experiment were far more important      
factors than any instruction1 or rather 
perhaps the instruction ,i received was 
less even than what ,i learnt for       
myself1 and it terminated at thirteen4  
,i had come into pretty intimate contact
 with the harder realities of life1 with
 hunger in various forms1 and many base 
and disagreeable necessities1 before ,i 

was fifteen4 ,about that age1 following 
the indication of certain theological   
and speculative curiosities1 ,i began to
 learn something of what ,i will call   
deliberately and justly1 ,elementary    
,science--stuff ,i got out of ,cassell's
 ,popular ,educator and cheap           
text-books--and then1 through accidents 
and ambitions that do not matter in the 
least to us now1 ,i came to three years 
of illuminating and good scientific     
work4 ,the central fact of those three  
years was ,huxley's course in           
,comparative ,anatomy at the school in  
,exhibition ,road4 ,about that as a     
nucleus ,i arranged a spacious digest of
 facts4 ,at the end of that time ,i had 
acquired what ,i still think to be a    
fairly clear1 and complete and ordered  
view of the ostensibly real universe4   
,let me try to give you the chief things
 ,i had4 ,i had man definitely placed in
 the great scheme of space and time4 ,i 
knew him incurably for what he was1     
finite and not final1 a being of        

compromises and adaptations4 ,i had     
traced his lungs1 for example1 from a   
swimming bladder1 step by step1 with    
scalpel and probe1 through a dozen types
 or more1 ,i had seen the ancestral     
caecum shrink to that disease nest1 the 
appendix of to-day1 ,i had watched the  
gill slit patched slowly to the purposes
 of the ear and the reptile jaw         
suspension utilised to eke out the needs
 of a sense organ taken from its native 
and natural water4 ,i had worked out the
 development of those extraordinarily   
unsatisfactory and untrustworthy        
instruments1 man's teeth1 from the skin 
scutes of the shark to their present    
function as a basis for gold stoppings1 
and followed the slow unfolding of the  
complex and painful process of gestation
 through which man comes into the world4
 ,i had followed all these things and   
many kindred things by dissection and in
 embryology--,i had checked the whole   
theory of development again in a year's 
course of palaeontology1 and ,i had     

taken the dimensions of the whole       
process1 by the scale of the stars1 in a
 course of astronomical physics4 ,and   
all that amount of objective elucidation
 came before ,i had reached the         
beginnings of any philosophical or      
metaphysical inquiry1 any inquiry as to 
why ,i believed1 how ,i believed1 what  
,i believed1 or what the fundamental    
stuff of things was4  ,now following    
hard upon this interlude with knowledge1
 came a time when ,i had to give myself 
to teaching1 and it became advisable to 
acquire one of those ,teaching ,diplomas
 that are so widely and so foolishly    
despised1 and that enterprise set me to 
a superficial1 but suggestive study of  
educational method1 of educational      
theory1 of logic1 of psychology1 and so 
at last1 when the little affair with the
 diploma was settled1 to philosophy4    
,now to come to logic over the bracing  
uplands of comparative anatomy is to    
come to logic with a lot of very natural
 preconceptions blown clean out of one's

 mind4 ,it is1 ,i submit1 a way of      
taking logic in the flank4 ,when you    
have realised to the marrow1 that all   
the physical organs of man and all his  
physical structure are what they are    
through a series of adaptations and     
approximations1 and that they are kept  
up to a level of practical efficiency   
only by the elimination of death1 and   
that this is true also of his brain and 
of his instincts and of many of his     
mental predispositions1 you are not     
going to take his thinking apparatus    
unquestioningly as being in any way     
mysteriously different and better4 ,and 
,i had read only a little logic before  
,i became aware of implications that ,i 
could not agree with1 and assumptions   
that seemed to me to be altogether at   
variance with the general scheme of     
objective fact established in my mind4  
,i came to an examination of logical    
processes and of language with the      
expectation that they would share the   
profoundly provisional character1 the   

character of irregular limitation and   
adaptation that pervades the whole      
physical and animal being of man4 ,and  
,i found the thing ,i had expected4 ,and
 as a consequence ,i found a sort of    
intellectual hardihood about the        
assumptions of logic1 that at first     
confused me and then roused all the     
latent scepticism in my mind4  ,my first
 quarrel with the accepted logic ,i     
developed long ago in a little paper    
that was printed in the ,fortnightly    
,review in ,july #ahia4 ,it was called  
the ,rediscovery of the ,unique1 and    
re-reading it ,i perceive not only how  
bad and even annoying it was in         
manner--a thing ,i have long known--but 
also how remarkably bad it was in       
expression4 ,i have good reason for     
doubting whether my powers of expression
 in these uses have very perceptibly    
improved1 but at any rate ,i am doing my
 best now with that previous failure    
before me4  ,that unfortunate paper1    
among other oversights ,i can no longer 

regard as trivial1 disregarded quite    
completely the fact that a whole        
literature upon the antagonism of the   
one and the many1 of the specific ideal 
and the individual reality1 was already 
in existence4 ,it defined no relations  
to other thought or thinkers4 ,i        
understand now1 what ,i did not         
understand then1 why it was totally     
ignored4 ,but the idea underlying that  
paper ,i cling to to-day4 ,i consider it
 an idea that will ultimately be        
regarded as one of primary importance to
 human thought1 and ,i will try and     
present the substance of that early     
paper again now very briefly1 as the    
best opening of my general case4 ,my    
opening scepticism is essentially a     
doubt of the objective reality of       
classification4 ,i have no hesitation in
 saying that is the first and primary   
proposition of my philosophy4  ,i have  
it in my mind that classification is a  
necessary condition of the working of   
the mental implement1 but that it is a  

departure from the objective truth of   
things1 that classification is very     
serviceable for the practical purposes  
of life but a very doubtful preliminary 
to those fine penetrations the          
philosophical purpose1 in its more      
arrogant moods1 demands4 ,all the       
peculiarities of my way of thinking     
derive from that4  ,a mind nourished    
upon anatomical study is of course      
permeated with the suggestion of the    
vagueness and instability of biological 
species4 ,a biological species is quite 
obviously a great number of unique      
individuals which is separable from     
other biological species only by the    
fact that an enormous number of other   
linking individuals are inaccessible in 
time--are in other words dead and       
gone--and each new individual in that   
species does1 in the distinction of its 
own individuality1 break away in however
 infinitesimal degree from the previous 
average properties of the species4      
,there is no property of any species1   

even the properties that constitute the 
specific definition1 that is not a      
matter of more or less4 ,if1 for        
example1 a species be distinguished by a
 single large red spot on the back1 you 
will find if you go over a great number 
of specimens that red spot shrinking    
here to nothing1 expanding there to a   
more general redness1 weakening to pink1
 deepening to russet and brown1 shading 
into crimson1 and so on1 and so on4 ,and
 this is true not only of biological    
species4 ,it is true of the mineral     
specimens constituting a mineral        
species1 and ,i remember as a constant  
refrain in the lectures of ,prof4 ,judd 
upon rock classification1 the words they
 pass into one another by insensible    
gradations4 ,that is true1 ,i hold1 of  
all things4  ,you will think perhaps of 
atoms of the elements as instances of   
identically similar things1 but these   
are things not of experience but of     
theory1 and there is not a phenomenon in
 chemistry that is not equally well     

explained on the supposition that it is 
merely the immense quantities of atoms  
necessarily taken in any experiment that
 mask by the operation of the law of    
averages the fact that each atom also   
has its unique quality1 its special     
individual difference4 ,this idea of    
uniqueness in all individuals is not    
only true of the classifications of     
material science2 it is true1 and still 
more evidently true1 of the species of  
common thought1 it is true of common    
terms4 ,take the word chair4 ,when one  
says chair1 one thinks vaguely of an    
average chair4 ,but collect individual  
instances1 think of armchairs and       
reading chairs1 and dining-room chairs  
and kitchen chairs1 chairs that pass    
into benches1 chairs that cross the     
boundary and become settees1 dentists'  
chairs1 thrones1 opera stalls1 seats of 
all sorts1 those miraculous fungoid     
growths that cumber the floor of the    
,arts and ,crafts ,exhibition1 and you  
will perceive what a lax bundle in fact 

is this simple straightforward term4 ,in
 co-operation with an intelligent joiner
 ,i would undertake to defeat any       
definition of chair or chairishness that
 you gave me4 ,chairs just as much as   
individual organisms1 just as much as   
mineral and rock specimens1 are unique  
things--if you know them well enough you
 will find an individual difference even
 in a set of machine-made chairs--and it
 is only because we do not possess minds
 of unlimited capacity1 because our     
brain has only a limited number of      
pigeon-holes for our correspondence with
 an unlimited universe of objective     
uniques1 that we have to delude         
ourselves into the belief that there is 
a chairishness in this species common to
 and distinctive of all chairs4  ,let me
 repeat2 this is of the very smallest   
importance in all the practical affairs 
of life1 or indeed in relation to       
anything but philosophy and wide        
generalisations4 ,but in philosophy it  
matters profoundly4 ,if ,i order two    

new-laid eggs for breakfast1 up come two
 unhatched but still unique avian       
individuals1 and the chances are they   
serve my rude physiological purpose4 ,i 
can afford to ignore the hens' eggs of  
the past that were not quite so nearly  
this sort of thing1 and the hens' eggs  
of the future that will accumulate      
modification age by age2 ,i can venture 
to ignore the rare chance of an         
abnormality in chemical composition and 
of any startling aberration in my       
physiological reaction2 ,i can1 with a  
confidence that is practically perfect1 
say with unqualified simplicity two     
eggs1 but not if my concern is not my   
morning's breakfast but the utmost      
possible truth4  ,now let me go on to   
point out whither this idea of          
uniqueness tends4 ,i submit to you that 
syllogism is based on classification1   
that all hard logical reasoning tends to
 imply and is apt to imply a confidence 
in the objective reality of             
classification4 ,consequently in denying

 that ,i deny the absolute validity of  
logic4 ,classification and number1 which
 in truth ignore the fine differences of
 objective realities1 have in the past  
of human thought been imposed upon      
things4 ,let me for clearness' sake take
 a liberty here--commit1 as you may     
perhaps think1 an unpardonable          
insolence4 ,hindoo thought and ,greek   
thought alike impress me as being       
overmuch obsessed by an objective       
treatment of certain necessary          
preliminary conditions of human         
thought--number and definition and class
 and abstract form4 ,but these things1  
number1 definition1 class and abstract  
form1 ,i hold1 are merely unavoidable   
conditions of mental                    
activity--regrettable conditions rather 
than essential facts4 ,the forceps of   
our minds are clumsy forceps1 and crush 
the truth a little in taking hold of it4
  ,it was about this difficulty that the
 mind of ,plato played a little         
inconclusively all his life4 ,for the   

most part he tended to regard the idea  
as the something behind reality1 whereas
 it seems to me that the idea is the    
more proximate and less perfect thing1  
the thing by which the mind1 by ignoring
 individual differences1 attempts to    
comprehend an otherwise unmanageable    
number of unique realities4  ,let me    
give you a rough figure of what ,i am   
trying to convey in this first attack   
upon the philosophical validity of      
general terms4 ,you have seen the       
results of those various methods of     
black and white reproduction that       
involve the use of a rectangular net4   
,you know the sort of process picture ,i
 mean--it used to be employed very      
frequently in reproducing photographs4  
,at a little distance you really seem to
 have a faithful reproduction of the    
original picture1 but when you peer     
closely you find not the unique form and
 masses of the original1 but a multitude
 of little rectangles1 uniform in shape 
and size4 ,the more earnestly you go    

into the thing1 the closer you look1 the
 more the picture is lost in            
reticulations4 ,i submit the world of   
reasoned inquiry has a very similar     
relation to the world ,i call           
objectively real4 ,for the rough        
purposes of every day the net-work      
picture will do1 but the finer your     
purpose the less it will serve1 and for 
an ideally fine purpose1 for absolute   
and general knowledge that will be as   
true for a man at a distance with a     
telescope as for a man with a microscope
 it will not serve at all4  ,it is true 
you can make your net of logical        
interpretation finer and finer1 you can 
fine your classification more and       
more--up to a certain limit4 ,but       
essentially you are working in limits1  
and as you come closer1 as you look at  
finer and subtler things1 as you leave  
the practical purpose for which the     
method exists1 the element of error     
increases4 ,every species is vague1     
every term goes cloudy at its edges1 and

 so in my way of thinking1 relentless   
logic is only another phrase for a      
stupidity1--for a sort of intellectual  
pigheadedness4 ,if you push a           
philosophical or metaphysical inquiry   
through a series of valid               
syllogisms--never committing any        
generally recognised fallacy--you       
nevertheless leave a certain rubbing and
 marginal loss of objective truth and   
you get deflections that are difficult  
to trace1 at each phase in the process4 
,every species waggles about in its     
definition1 every tool is a little loose
 in its handle1 every scale has its     
individual error4 ,so long as you are   
reasoning for practical purposes about  
the finite things of experience1 you can
 every now and then check your process1 
and correct your adjustments4 ,but not  
when you make what are called           
philosophical and theological inquiries1
 when you turn your implement towards   
the final absolute truth of things4     
,doing that is like firing at an        

inaccessible1 unmarkable and            
indestructible target at an unknown     
distance1 with a defective rifle and    
variable cartridges4 ,even if by chance 
you hit1 you cannot know that you hit1  
and so it will matter nothing at all4   
,this assertion of the necessary        
untrustworthiness of all reasoning      
processes arising out of the fallacy of 
classification in what is quite         
conceivably a universe of uniques1 forms
 only one introductory aspect of my     
general scepticism of the ,instrument of
 ,thought4  ,i have now to tell you of  
another aspect of this scepticism of the
 instrument which concerns negative     
terms4  ,classes in logic are not only  
represented by circles with a hard firm 
outline1 whereas they have no such      
definite limits1 but also there is a    
constant disposition to think of        
negative terms as if they represented   
positive classes4 ,with words just as   
with numbers and abstract forms there   
are definite phases of human            

development4 ,there is1 you know1 with  
regard to number1 the phase when man can
 barely count at all1 or counts in      
perfect good faith and sanity upon his  
fingers4 ,then there is the phase when  
he is struggling with the development of
 number1 when he begins to elaborate all
 sorts of ideas about numbers1 until at 
last he develops complex superstitions  
about perfect numbers and imperfect     
numbers1 about threes and sevens and the
 like4 ,the same is the case with       
abstracted forms1 and even to-day we are
 scarcely more than heads out of the    
vast subtle muddle of thinking about    
spheres and ideally perfect forms and so
 on1 that was the price of this little  
necessary step to clear thinking4 ,you  
know better than ,i do how large a part 
numerical and geometrical magic1        
numerical and geometrical philosophy has
 played in the history of the mind4 ,and
 the whole apparatus of language and    
mental communication is beset with like 
dangers4 ,the language of the savage is1

 ,i suppose1 purely positive2 the thing 
has a name1 the name has a thing4 ,this 
indeed is the tradition of language1 and
 to-day even1 we1 when we hear a name1  
are predisposed--and sometimes it is a  
very vicious disposition--to imagine    
forthwith something answering to the    
name4 ,we are disposed1 as an incurable 
mental vice1 to accumulate intension in 
terms4 ,if ,i say to you ,wodget or     
,crump1 you find yourself passing over  
the fact that these are nothings1 these 
are1 so to speak1 mere blankety blanks1 
and trying to think what sort of thing a
 ,wodget or a ,crump may be4 ,and where 
this disposition has come in1 in its    
most alluring guise1 is in the case of  
negative terms4 ,our instrument of      
knowledge persists in handling even such
 openly negative terms as the ,absolute1
 the ,infinite1 as though they were real
 existences1 and when the negative      
element is ever so little disguised1 as 
it is in such a word as ,omniscience1   
then the illusion of positive reality   

may be complete4  ,please remember that 
,i am trying to tell you my philosophy1 
and not arguing about yours4 ,let me try
 and express how in my mind this matter 
of negative terms has shaped itself4 ,i 
think of something which ,i may perhaps 
best describe as being off the stage or 
out of court1 or as the ,void without   
,implications1 or as ,nothingness or as 
,outer ,darkness4 ,this is a sort of    
hypothetical ,beyond to the visible     
world of human thought1 and thither ,i  
think all negative terms reach at last1 
and merge and become nothing4 ,whatever 
positive class you make1 whatever       
boundary you draw1 straight away from   
that boundary begins the corresponding  
negative class and passes into the      
illimitable horizon of nothingness4 ,you
 talk of pink things1 you ignore1 if you
 are a trained logician1 the more       
elusive shades of pink1 and draw your   
line4 ,beyond is the not pink1 known and
 knowable1 and still in the not pink    
region one comes to the ,outer          

,darkness4 ,not blue1 not happy1 not    
iron1 all the not classes meet in that  
,outer ,darkness4 ,that same ,outer     
,darkness and nothingness is infinite   
space1 and infinite time1 and any being 
of infinite qualities1 and all that     
region ,i rule out of court in my       
philosophy altogether4 ,i will neither  
affirm nor deny if ,i can help it about 
any not things4 ,i will not deal with   
not things at all1 except by accident   
and inadvertence4 ,if ,i use the word   
'infinite' ,i use it as one often uses  
'countless1' the countless hosts of the 
enemy--or 'immeasurable'--immeasurable  
cliffs--that is to say as the limit of  
measurement rather than as the limit of 
imaginary measurability1 as a convenient
 equivalent to as many times this cloth 
yard as you can1 and as many again and  
so on and so on4 ,now a great number of 
apparently positive terms are1 or have  
become1 practically negative terms and  
are under the same ban with me4 ,a      
considerable number of terms that have  

played a great part in the world of     
thought1 seem to me to be invalidated by
 this same defect1 to have no content or
 an undefined content or an             
unjustifiable content4 ,for example1    
that word ,omniscient1 as implying      
infinite knowledge1 impresses me as     
being a word with a delusive air of     
being solid and full1 when it is really 
hollow with no content whatever4 ,i am  
persuaded that knowing is the relation  
of a conscious being to something not   
itself1 that the thing known is defined 
as a system of parts and aspects and    
relationships1 that knowledge is        
comprehension1 and so that only finite  
things can know or be known4 ,when you  
talk of a being of infinite extension   
and infinite duration1 omniscient and   
omnipotent and ,perfect1 you seem to me 
to be talking in negatives of nothing   
whatever4 ,when you speak of the        
,absolute you speak to me of nothing4   
,if however you talk of a great yet     
finite and thinkable being1 a being not 

myself1 extending beyond my imagination 
in time and space1 knowing all that ,i  
can think of as known and capable of    
doing all that ,i can think of as done1 
you come into the sphere of my mental   
operations1 and into the scheme of my   
philosophy4444  ,these then are my first
 two charges against our ,instrument of 
,knowledge1 firstly1 that it can work   
only by disregarding individuality and  
treating uniques as identically similar 
objects in this respect or that1 so as  
to group them under one term1 and that  
once it has done so it tends            
automatically to intensify the          
significance of that term1 and secondly1
 that it can only deal freely with      
negative terms by treating them as      
though they were positive4 ,but ,i have 
a further objection to the ,instrument  
of ,human ,thought1 that is not         
correlated to these former objections   
and that is also rather more difficult  
to convey4  ,essentially this idea is to
 present a sort of stratification in    

human ideas4 ,i have it very much in    
mind that various terms in our reasoning
 lie1 as it were1 at different levels   
and in different planes1 and that we    
accomplish a large amount of error and  
confusion by reasoning terms together   
that do not lie or nearly lie in the    
same plane4  ,let me endeavour to make  
myself a little less obscure by a most  
flagrant instance from physical things4 
,suppose some one began to talk         
seriously of a man seeing an atom       
through a microscope1 or better perhaps 
of cutting one in half with a knife4    
,there are a number of non-analytical   
people who would be quite prepared to   
believe that an atom could be visible to
 the eye or cut in this manner4 ,but any
 one at all conversant with physical    
conceptions would almost as soon think  
of killing the square root of #b with a 
rook rifle as of cutting an atom in half
 with a knife4 ,our conception of an    
atom is reached through a process of    
hypothesis and analysis1 and in the     

world of atoms there are no knives and  
no men to cut4 ,if you have thought with
 a strong consistent mental movement1   
then when you have thought of your atom 
under the knife blade1 your knife blade 
has itself become a cloud of swinging   
grouped atoms1 and your microscope lens 
a little universe of oscillatory and    
vibratory molecules4 ,if you think of   
the universe1 thinking at the level of  
atoms1 there is neither knife to cut1   
scale to weigh nor eye to see4 ,the     
universe at that plane to which the mind
 of the molecular physicist descends has
 none of the shapes or forms of our     
common life whatever4 ,this hand with   
which ,i write is in the universe of    
molecular physics a cloud of warring    
atoms and molecules1 combining and      
recombining1 colliding1 rotating1 flying
 hither and thither in the universal    
atmosphere of ether4  ,you see1 ,i hope1
 what ,i mean1 when ,i say that the     
universe of molecular physics is at a   
different level from the universe of    

common experience2--what we call stable 
and solid is in that world a freely     
moving system of interlacing centres of 
force1 what we call colour and sound is 
there no more than this length of       
vibration or that4 ,we have reached to a
 conception of that universe of         
molecular physics by a great enterprise 
of organised analysis1 and our universe 
of daily experiences stands in relation 
to that elemental world as if it were a 
synthesis of those elemental things4  ,i
 would suggest to you that this is only 
a very extreme instance of the general  
state of affairs1 that there may be     
finer and subtler differences of level  
between one term and another1 and that  
terms may very well be thought of as    
lying obliquely and as being twisted    
through different levels4  ,it will     
perhaps give a clearer idea of what ,i  
am seeking to convey if ,i suggest a    
concrete image for the whole world of a 
man's thought and knowledge4 ,imagine a 
large clear jelly1 in which at all      

angles and in all states of simplicity  
or contortion his ideas are imbedded4   
,they are all valid and possible ideas  
as they lie1 none in reality            
incompatible with any4 ,if you imagine  
the direction of up or down in this     
clear jelly being as it were the        
direction in which one moves by analysis
 or by synthesis1 if you go down for    
example from matter to atoms and centres
 of force and up to men and states and  
countries--if you will imagine the ideas
 lying in that manner--you will get the 
beginning of my intention4 ,but our     
,instrument1 our process of thinking1   
like a drawing before the discovery of  
perspective1 appears to have            
difficulties with the third dimension1  
appears capable only of dealing with or 
reasoning about ideas by projecting them
 upon the same plane4 ,it will be       
obvious that a great multitude of things
 may very well exist together in a solid
 jelly1 which would be overlapping and  
incompatible and mutually destructive1  

when projected together upon one plane4 
,through the bias in our ,instrument to 
do this1 through reasoning between terms
 not in the same plane1 an enormous     
amount of confusion1 perplexity and     
mental deadlocking occurs4  ,the old    
theological deadlock between            
predestination and free-will serves     
admirably as an example of the sort of  
deadlock ,i mean4 ,take life at the     
level of common sensation and common    
experience and there is no more         
indisputable fact than man's freedom of 
will1 unless it is his complete moral   
responsibility4 ,but make only the least
 penetrating of analyses and you        
perceive a world of inevitable          
consequences1 a rigid succession of     
cause and effect4 ,insist upon a flat   
agreement between the two1 and there you
 are6 ,the ,instrument fails4  ,it is   
upon these three objections1 and upon an
 extreme suspicion of abstract terms    
which arises materially out of my first 
and second objections1 that ,i chiefly  

rest my case for a profound scepticism  
of the remoter possibilities of the     
,instrument of ,thought4 ,it is a thing 
no more perfect than the human eye or   
the human ear1 though like those other  
instruments it may have undefined       
possibilities of evolution towards      
increased range1 and increased power4   
,so much for my main contention4 ,but   
before ,i conclude ,i may--since ,i am  
here--say a little more in the          
autobiographical vein1 and with a view  
to your discussion to show how ,i       
reconcile this fundamental scepticism   
with the very positive beliefs about    
world-wide issues ,i possess1 and the   
very definite distinction ,i make       
between right and wrong4  ,i reconcile  
these things by simply pointing out to  
you that if there is any validity in my 
image of that three dimensional jelly in
 which our ideas are suspended1 such a  
reconciliation as you demand in logic1  
such a projection of the things as in   
accordance upon one plane1 is totally   

unnecessary and impossible4  ,this      
insistence upon the element of          
uniqueness in being1 this subordination 
of the class to the individual          
difference1 not only destroys the       
universal claim of philosophy1 but the  
universal claim of ethical imperatives1 
the universal claim of any religious    
teaching4 ,if you press me back upon my 
fundamental position ,i must confess ,i 
put faith and standards and rules of    
conduct upon exactly the same level as  
,i put my belief of what is right in    
art1 and what ,i consider right practice
 in art4 ,i have arrived at a certain   
sort of self-knowledge and there are1 ,i
 find1 very distinct imperatives for me1
 but ,i am quite prepared to admit there
 is no proving them imperative on any   
one else4 ,one's political proceedings1 
one's moral acts are1 ,i hold1 just as  
much self-expression as one's poetry or 
painting or music4 ,but since life has  
for its primordial elements assimilation
 and aggression1 ,i try not only to obey

 my imperatives1 but to put them        
persuasively and convincingly into other
 minds1 to bring about my good and to   
resist and overcome my evil as though   
they were the universal ,good and the   
universal ,evil in which unthinking men 
believe4 ,and it is obviously in no way 
contradictory to this philosophy1 for   
me1 if ,i find others responding        
sympathetically to any notes of mine or 
if ,i find myself responding            
sympathetically to notes sounding about 
me1 to give that common resemblance     
between myself and others a name1 to    
refer these others and myself in common 
to this thing as if it were externalised
 and spanned us all4  ,scepticism of the
 ,instrument is for example not         
incompatible with religious association 
and with organisation upon the basis of 
a common faith4 ,it is possible to      
regard ,god as a ,being synthetic in    
relation to men and societies1 just as  
the idea of a universe of atoms and     
molecules and inorganic relationships is

 analytical in relation to human life4  
,the repudiation of demonstration in any
 but immediate and verifiable cases that
 this ,scepticism of the ,instrument    
amounts to1 the abandonment of any      
universal validity for moral and        
religious propositions1 brings ethical1 
social and religious teaching into the  
province of poetry1 and does something  
to correct the estrangement between     
knowledge and beauty that is a feature  
of so much mental existence at this     
time4 ,all these things are             
self-expression4 ,such an opinion sets a
 new and greater value on that          
penetrating and illuminating quality of 
mind we call insight1 insight which when
 it faces towards the contradictions    
that arise out of the imperfections of  
the mental instrument is called humour4 
,in these innate1 unteachable qualities 
,i hold--in humour and the sense of     
beauty--lies such hope of intellectual  
salvation from the original sin of our  
intellectual instrument as we may       

entertain in this uncertain and         
fluctuating world of unique             
appearances4444  ,so frankly ,i spread  
my little equipment of fundamental      
assumptions before you1 heartily glad of
 the opportunity you have given me of   
taking them out1 of looking at them with
 the particularity the presence of      
hearers ensures1 and of hearing the     
impression they make upon you4 ,of      
course1 such a sketch must have an      
inevitable crudity of effect4 ,the time 
,i had for it--,i mean the time ,i was  
able to give in preparation--was        
altogether too limited for any          
exhaustive finish of presentation2 but  
,i think on the whole ,i have got the   
main lines of this sketch map of my     
mental basis true4 ,whether ,i have made
 myself comprehensible is a different   
question altogether4 ,it is for you     
rather than me to say how this sketch   
map of mine lies with regard to your own
 more systematic cartography4444  ,here 
followed certain comments upon ,personal

 ,idealism1 and ,mr4 ,f4 ,c4 ,s4        
,schiller's ,humanism1 of no particular 
value4