Social Chaos and the Way Out (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Social Chaos and the Way Out I think no one will deny that the question which eclipses all others at the present moment, the one which is daily becoming more serious in its demands upon our attention, is the deplorable condition of England. This book, which is a record of many years of thought and study, is an attempt to throw a new light upon our social chaos, and to offer a possible solution. Though conscious of the fact that as a book it could be greatly improved, I am convinced that the case which I have tried to make out is unassailable. The work by which I gain my livelihood was imperative, this book has been written entirely in my spare time, in the way that ants do things, by tireless and regular additions. Therefore I trust the reader will make due allowance for the numerous shortcomings of which I am all too aware. I confess that I am a complete novice with the pen, and I lay no claim to be considered in the least literary, for, with the exception of a few articles on natural history, I have never yet appeared in print. I despise the so-called littérateur, a merely literary man is, to me, an idler, an entertainer, a trifler with the most unimportant details, who ignores the highest aim of literature. The importance of an author's message to the world is the only thing that really matters. Matter is everything, manner is the veriest detail. I would rather be the rustic who speaks the truth in uncouth language, than the poet or lady of title who writes untruth, drivel, or copy-book philosophy in the most scholarly language. "Only get the thought, and do not silence the peasant because he cannot speak good grammar, " says the old art-jargonist, Ruskin. Truth is of interest to the manly man, it is his poetry. The pursuit of truth is difficult, and often repellent, therefore few know or care much about it: with untruth it is not so. I do not write to please my readers, I write because I feel I have something very definite to say, something of interest to everyone who can read, but pleasurable only to those few who love truth - no matter how unpleasant it may be - before everything else. So I advise the reader if he dislikes ugly truth to put the book down at once and pick up a Browning, a Milton, a Dante, or a Mrs Hemans, as he chooses. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.