Part 3

It may be said, we have no such men now; but I think that is a mistake. Mr. Mills himself would probably be one of the first appointed; while a post as responsible director of 5,000 workers would be congenial to many of our broad-minded clergy, to the more educated among the officials of the Salvation Army, and to such sympathetic writers about the poor as Mr. Whiteing, Mr. Zangwill, and many others. It should be considered a position of high rank and importance, equal, say, to that of a judge or a bishop, and none should be appointed who are not in perfect sympathy with the avowed objects of the “colonies,” and determined to do all in his power to make the experiment a success. The salary should not be high; in fact, the lower the better, in some respects. The office would almost certainly attract the best men, since it would enable them to initiate and develop one of the greatest social reforms ever undertaken in a civilised country. They should, of course, have practically a free hand, and be judged only by _results_. They must have complete power to change the heads of departments, if they found them difficult to work with, or of characters unsuited to the task of rendering the labour of the community at once efficient and attractive to the workers.

There would, I believe, very soon arise a healthy rivalry between different colonies, in which every individual, from the Director to the youngest worker, would bear his part, as to which shall exhibit the best results in the various industries carried on; in the cleanliness, comfort, and even elegance of their domestic arrangements and general surroundings; in their amusements and their studies; and especially in the general contentment, order, and happiness of the whole community.

To attain such a result would be a truer honour to our country than all our past and prospective victories, gained at the cost of untold misery to both victors and vanquished, vast burdens of taxation, rivers of blood and tears. To attain such a beneficent result seems now actually within our reach; and my chief hope is that I may live to see it inaugurated, and that all parties and classes alike shall for once forget their prejudices and antagonisms, and work together for the success of some such scheme as is here laid before them.

It is after a considerable acquaintance with the literature of this subject, from the time of the grand pioneer, Robert Owen, down to the present day, that I have arrived at the most absolute conviction that Mr. Mills has pointed out to us the one true road to success, and that any considerable divergence from it will lead to failure. I therefore most earnestly call upon all social reformers, and especially all members of Parliament, whose duty it will be to legislate upon the subject, to make a careful study of his small volume--but really _great_ and _illuminating_ work--to read it carefully throughout; to study it in all its parts; to imbue themselves with its spirit as well as with its facts, its principles, and its arguments; to familiarise themselves with the practical results of co-operative undertakings so far as their opportunities permit; and, by means of the knowledge they will have gained from Mr. Mills, satisfy themselves as to the _essential causes_ of failure or success.

Above all these things, let them see that when the time of legislation, and of giving practical effect to the legislation arrives, the principle of the whole scheme shall be, in Mr. Mills’ words: “That within the bounds of the ‘Co-operative Estates’ we shall endeavour to cultivate able and tender-hearted men, and brave and independent women; and _not_ to accumulate wealth.”

THE UTOPIA PRESS, _Printers_, Worship St., London, E.C.

Pass On Pamphlets.

Every Friday Fortnight.

One Penny.

These Pamphlets are intended to explain the need for Socialism, to explain what Socialism is, to answer objections to Socialism, and to suggest methods for the attainment of Socialism.

_NOW READY._

By R. B. Suthers.

No. 1.--JOHN BULL AND DOCTOR SOCIALISM. No. 2.--JOHN BULL AND DOCTOR FREE TRADE. No. 3.--JOHN BULL AND DOCTOR PROTECTION.

By Julia Dawson.

No. 4.--WHY WOMEN WANT SOCIALISM.

By A. M. Thompson.

No. 5--SOCIALISM AND INVENTIONS.

By F. H. Rose.

No. 6.--STOP THE STRIKE.

By R. B. Suthers.

No. 7.--JOHN BULL’S RENT AND INTEREST.

By Alfred R. Wallace.

No. 8.--THE REMEDY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT.

By Robert Blatchford.

A NEW RELIGION.

By F. W. Jowett, M.P.

WHAT IS THE USE OF PARLIAMENT?

Order them from your Newsagent.

Every Friday Fortnight--One Penny.

MERRIE ENGLAND.

By ROBERT BLATCHFORD. A New Edition.

Paper cover, 3d.; by post 4½d. Cloth, 1/- by post 1/2.

“Merrie England” first appeared as a series of articles in the CLARION in 1892-3. These articles, with some revisions and additions, were afterwards produced in volume form at a shilling. The book met with immediate success, some 25,000 copies being sold.

In October, 1894, the CLARION published the same book, uniform in size and type with the shilling edition, at the low price of ONE PENNY. As the book contained 206 pages, and was printed by trade-union labour, and on British-made paper, it could only be produced at a loss. This loss was borne by the proprietors of the CLARION.

The sale of the penny edition outran all expectations. No one supposed that more than 100,000 would be called for, but in a few months over 700,000 had been sold, without a penny being spent in advertisement, and in face of the tremendous opposition excited by Socialistic publications in those days.

Later on an edition was published at 3d., and the total sale reached nearly a million copies.

An American edition is said to have sold equally well, and the book was translated into Welsh, Dutch, German, Scandinavian, Spanish, and other languages, on none of which editions, it may be remarked, did the author receive any royalties.

The British edition has been out of print for some years, and there has recently been a growing demand for the book’s re-issue. To this the author at length reluctantly acceded, and the present edition was announced. That the demand was real may be judged from the fact that orders for 20,000 copies were placed before the date of publication, and the new issue promises to sell as well as the first threepenny edition.

THE CLARION PRESS, 44, WORSHIP STREET, LONDON, E.C.

* * * * * *

Transcriber’s note:

--Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.

--Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.

--Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.