The Scheme of Things By M.H.C.

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 19

The Scheme of Things By M.H.C.

' A; modernj.. writer has something curious to,say*, about his impressions of London afilbr being absent from the' city fora giho'd many years—those following the } vvar. He says: "Buildings, people, vehil :les,. manners, atmosphere, had all changed. The city I remembered'had irj diyiduality; the city I was in had hons .: The difference is best established My the statement that where once everything had been a la carte, now everytl\ij lg was table d'hote. Wherever I- went,^; whatever the time, there were hordes? of people—restless, irritable, qr apathetic—staring into shops, crowding in'OD buses, or waiting impatiently to j^ross streets which were congested ■■wVih every sort of traffic. The gloom, {particularly on the faces of the men, prAs remarkably apparent. In a • thousar id. '■ unsuspected places the ordeal byb kittle results were unmistakably clear. 1' The people were weary, sceptical, disi U^asioned. They sought for pleasure withs) the feverish activity of the unhappy, t Superficially the women all looked al Dee, but they were infinitely better dressed : than they were twenty years lago. I discovered that people neveri smile; They either shriek with :|iughter,. or look as if funerals were fcbe order of the day. The dignity of'whpGh we English used to boast had vaijrlshed; everyone was slightly -hysterical, and seemed to be waiting' for : to happenhalf hoping that it would, and half terrified" that it might. The conversations I heard ; were ~ always about money. It; was obvious that no one saved" sixpence^ that remorse was the shadow that dog ged extravagance, and that 'avcar of a ny sort was regarded as the "highest,; pinnacle of human felicity. The garage has become our spiritual home.}. . . Paradoxes everywhere. It seemi;d to me that everyone was exceedingl.'| class conscious when the plain fact At the. matter was that class .had ceasejtl to exist, and that everyone belonft^dto a vast undifferentiated mass. ■'■'.-■, KJeHiocracy, had triumphed,, at .the tarecis.e moment when everyone haid-:ceased to believe in- it. Politics^hacT :,be!q-pme . a longer word for., "chaos: :Cot^iervatives ' were -in power; oppositioiii was'provided, wholly by supporters of \ the Government; .the Labour Party ::wajs far too busy preparing,, its own..;pro£(3 arrime; dealing with revolution in :jts, :ty vn/,ranks; or explaining that ;itj.h"aa>;nbit|stplen its panaceas from )thec:tiberais]ij;o. spare any timeior effectiveicriticisms -'Meantime, as ever, thel:couritry'swas!:ha& by the Civil Service: .As''to''tn^'Church— it seemed to exist precariously^ in the terms of a permanent v earthq ja ake."

All this is interest ing as coming from a man who* is a 1 1 vrll-known author, and a keen observer. It would be interesting to know j},'hat his latest conclusions are.' 'The ft-orld has rushed on apace since he wivote the above criticisms, and it may Vbe. that the things he mentions have Ji not changed, but

merely intensified. When being critical about today, and specially when comparing the times and people now with those of the past, these things should be taken into account. Was there ever before a 1 time within the present knowledge of man, at all events, when news was carried at the rapid rate it is now; when speed of movement was so intense; when the air

had become quite.a recognised mode of travel; when the people could get daily amusements at such a reasonable price, or when, within1 their own most modest homes, folk could get into, touch with alb-parts 'of world: by turning a small screw this way or that?, '■Ht seems: as if the former,quiet and restful-times had never been; It is