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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44074 ***
+
+  MECCANIA
+  THE SUPER-STATE
+
+
+
+
+  MECCANIA
+  THE SUPER-STATE
+
+  BY
+  OWEN GREGORY
+
+  METHUEN & CO. LTD.
+  36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
+  LONDON
+
+
+
+
+  _First Published in 1918_
+
+
+
+
+  INSCRIBED
+
+  TO
+
+  W. H. S.
+
+  IN TOKEN OF TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS'
+  FRIENDSHIP
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                          PAGE
+  INTRODUCTION: A FEW WORDS ABOUT MR.
+      MING AND HIS JOURNAL                  ix
+
+  CHAP.
+     I. I BECOME A FOREIGN OBSERVER          1
+
+    II. BRIDGETOWN, TOUR No. 1              17
+
+   III. INTRODUCTION TO MECCO               53
+
+    IV. PROFESSOR PROSER-TOADY'S LECTURE    82
+
+     V. CULTURE IN MECCO                    97
+
+    VI. MORE CULTURE IN MECCO              122
+
+   VII. A MECCANIAN APOSTLE                139
+
+  VIII. THE MECHOW FESTIVAL                163
+
+    IX. MECCANISATION                      177
+
+     X. CONVERSATIONS                      193
+
+    XI. AN ACADEMIC DISCUSSION             240
+
+   XII. THE LATEST INSTITUTION             260
+
+  XIII. NEVER AGAIN                        289
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+A FEW WORDS ABOUT MR. MING AND HIS JOURNAL
+
+
+As this book is little more than a transcript of a document originally
+written in the form of a journal by a man who, until about a year ago,
+was an entire stranger to me, and as the document itself contains not
+a few statements which make large demands upon the credulity of the
+average reader, it seems necessary to offer some explanation regarding
+both the journal and its author, Mr. Ming--or, to give him his full
+name, Ming Yuen-hwuy.
+
+If I were able to go bail for Mr. Ming and assure the British Public
+that he was an entirely credible and impartial witness, the book might
+have stood on the same foundation as other volumes of 'revelations'
+concerning a country with which Englishmen are still insufficiently
+acquainted. But I cannot go bail for Mr. Ming. The chief source of
+my knowledge of him is the journal itself. It has even been suggested
+to me that Mr. Ming did not write the journal, but must have stolen
+it from some European, probably an Englishman. On this point I shall
+have something to say presently. Perhaps the best solution of these
+difficulties will be to say what I know of the origin of the book.
+
+Mr. Ming was introduced to me, by a friend whose name it is unnecessary
+to give, in November or December 1917. My friend said he remembered
+meeting him in London as far back as 1909. Since then, however, Mr.
+Ming had not only lived in London and travelled throughout England,
+but had also spent about two years in France and Italy, and had
+visited America. What his previous career had been I do not know,
+nor did my friend know. He appeared always to have plenty of money,
+and we surmised that he might have been attached in some way to the
+Chinese Legation; but he never gave the least hint about any such
+connection. What I do know is that he had a remarkable knowledge of
+our language, and a remarkable familiarity with our laws, customs
+and political institutions. He professed a great admiration for our
+British Constitutions, a circumstance which may account for some of the
+political views to which he gives expression in his journal.
+
+A day or two after he had been introduced to me I invited him to dinner
+and on this occasion we found much to talk about--chiefly European
+politics. At length, after we had finished a bottle of wine and a
+liqueur or two, he remarked that of all the countries he had visited in
+Western Europe he had been most impressed by Meccania. (He pronounced
+the word '_Mek-kah´-nia_.')
+
+My knowledge of Geography is not complete, I admit, but I thought
+I knew all the countries of Western Europe (the war has helped
+wonderfully to fill up certain gaps). I replied that I had never heard
+of such a country.
+
+"Probably not," he answered. "But it exists. And the proof of it is
+that I spent some five months there in 1970, and kept a journal of my
+experiences."
+
+"You mean 1870," I said.
+
+"No, 1970," he replied.
+
+I hardly knew whether he were experimenting upon my sense of humour, or
+had got confused between Chinese and European chronology; or whether
+the liqueur had gone to his head. Possibly--and here I became a little
+nervous--he was a little 'abnormal.' "Anyhow," he said, "one of my
+chief objects in seeking an interview with you was to consult you about
+publishing this journal."
+
+We were dining in my chambers and he begged permission to fetch his
+hand-bag from the anteroom. He returned with a bulky manuscript. I
+wondered if he were hard up and wanted to draw me into some sort of
+bargain, but I reflected that he seemed to be a much wealthier man
+than I. He said he was convinced that his journal was an important
+contribution to political literature, and would be found of interest
+not only in Great Britain but in France and America as well. It would
+be a good thing also if the Meccanians themselves could read it.
+Unfortunately there was no chance of that, he said, because nothing was
+read in Meccania except by permission of the Government. He went on to
+explain that the journal had been kept partly in English, partly in
+Chinese and partly in Meccanian; but that he had since written a rough
+translation of the whole in English. His knowledge of English, though
+sufficient for most practical purposes, was not such as to satisfy
+the literary critics; and that was one of the reasons why he sought
+my assistance. The upshot was that I promised to read the manuscript,
+which I did in a few hours next day.
+
+I found that it purported to be the journal of a visit or tour, made
+in 1970, to a country he called Meccania. I had little difficulty in
+penetrating the fiction. (It was obvious what country was meant.) As
+to the date, 1970, I soon came to the conclusion that this was another
+literary device, to enable him to describe with greater freedom what
+he considered to be the probable, or as he would be inclined to say,
+the inevitable development of the tendencies he had observed in that
+country. Whilst some parts of the description were clear, and even
+vivid, many things were left in obscurity. For instance, the extent
+and the limits of the country were quite vague. Only two cities were
+described in any detail. Little was said about domestic life, little
+about religion, little about women and children.
+
+When I questioned him subsequently on these points, he said that the
+obstacles to obtaining full information had proved insuperable: he
+had not been at liberty to travel about when and where he pleased,
+nor to get into close contact with the common people. The journal
+itself if carefully read, he said, gave a sufficient answer on these
+points, and he had preferred to give a faithful account of what had
+actually happened to him, and of the conversations he had had with
+representative Meccanians, leaving the evidence to speak for itself. If
+he had said little about Education the little that he had said would be
+found most illuminating, by the aid of insight and imagination. If he
+had said little about military matters, that was because it would have
+been positively dangerous to be suspected of spying.
+
+I then questioned him about his references to Luniland, which occur on
+the very first page of the journal and are scattered throughout the
+book. Did he mean to indicate England by this term? If so, it was not
+exactly flattering.
+
+Mr. Ming said he intended no offence. The references _were_ perhaps
+a little obscure. The simple fact was that some years ago he had,
+for his own amusement, written a harmless satire upon some of our
+national characteristics. He had then hit upon the phrase Luniland and
+Lunilanders, and he could not get it out of his head. It was just an
+instance of his whimsicality.
+
+"But why Luniland?" I asked.
+
+"Why not?" he said. "You do such funny things without seeing that they
+are funny."
+
+"Such as what?" I asked.
+
+"Well, to take a few things that have happened recently in connection
+with your great war. You are intensely proud of all your soldiers,
+and rightly. Yet you seem to pay the citizens who stay at home about
+three times as much as the soldiers who go out to fight; and I have
+been told, although this seems more difficult to believe, that you pay
+the men who volunteered from the very first less than those whom you
+subsequently had to compel to serve in your armies."
+
+"I am afraid these things you allege are true," I replied, "but they do
+not seem funny to us."
+
+"No, probably not," he said. "Each nation has its own sense of humour!"
+
+"Have you noticed anything else of the same kind?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, a great many things," he said, "but I just gave you a sample of
+what first occurred to me. I did hear of some men being excused from
+serving in the army because they were engaged in carving gravestones."
+
+"For the soldiers, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh no," he replied, "there is no time to carve gravestones for the
+soldiers; for people who die in their beds at home. Yet you do not
+profess to be worshippers of the dead."
+
+"Do not misunderstand me," he added. "You are a wonderful people, and
+it is perhaps because you are Lunilanders that I cannot help liking
+you. We are Lunilanders ourselves if only we knew it. If you were to
+come to my country you would find many things just as funny as those I
+have observed here. Perhaps when you have more time and the opportunity
+is favourable you may like to read my book of observations on
+Luniland, but Meccania is a more important subject."
+
+After a careful reading of Mr. Ming's account of Meccania I was
+inclined to agree with him. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that
+the dangers to be apprehended from Meccania, or Meccanianism, are far
+more real and imminent than the dangers from what he would call our
+Lunilandishness, and for that reason I have done my best to bring
+before the British Public his account of Meccania, although I hope at
+some future time to produce, perhaps for a smaller circle of readers,
+his notes on Luniland and the Lunilanders.
+
+Lastly, a word about the suggestion that the journal cannot be the
+work of a Chinaman. It is implied that the sentiments professed by Mr.
+Ming, his interests and his way of looking at things, are those of an
+Englishman. What does this really amount to? Mr. Ming does not like the
+Meccanians. Certainly _we_ should not like the Meccanians. Therefore
+Mr. Ming is an Englishman. Mr. Ming does not like interferences
+with his personal habits: he has some belief in the political value
+of individual liberty. An Englishman resents interference and is
+also credited with a passion for Liberty. Therefore Mr. Ming must
+be an Englishman. Now I would suggest that, so far from Mr. Ming's
+sentiments being evidence against him, they really substantiate his
+character as a Chinaman and remove all suspicion of his having stolen
+the document from some Englishman, or some other European. In the first
+place, he submits calmly to indignities that a typical Englishman
+would fiercely resent. In the second place, he records things with a
+detachment that few Englishmen would be capable of, and resigns himself
+to the customs of the country in the manner of a mere spectator. In the
+third place, he betrays a philosophical interest, which is again very
+different from the behaviour of most of our countrymen. He records at
+great length conversations which we perhaps find tedious, because he
+thinks the ideas of the Meccanians even more significant than their
+customs. An Englishman's journal, in the same circumstances, would be
+certain to contain angry diatribes against the Meccanians, whereas
+Mr. Ming writes with singular restraint, even when he is describing
+features of Meccanian life which we should consider revolting.
+
+Possibly the style in which the book is presented, the turns of
+expression and the colloquialisms, give the journal an English
+appearance; but for these features the editor is responsible, as it was
+Mr. Ming's wish that the book should not suffer from the most common
+defects of a mere translation.
+
+
+
+
+  NOTE ON PERSONAL NAMES
+
+  The names which occur in the narrative are exactly as given by Mr.
+  Ming in his journal, but it would appear that he has taken some
+  liberties with the language in attempting to give an approximate
+  English equivalent for the original meaning. The translation of
+  personal names and place-names is notoriously difficult as many
+  names are either corrupt or obscure.
+
+
+
+
+MECCANIA
+
+THE SUPER-STATE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+I BECOME A FOREIGN OBSERVER
+
+
+I had already spent several years in various parts of Western Europe,
+staying for long periods in Francaria, Romania and Luniland, before I
+made up my mind to pay a visit to Meccania. Before coming to Europe
+I had read a great deal about Western civilisation generally and had
+conceived a great admiration for many of its features. My experiences
+during my travels had, on the whole, strengthened my feelings of
+admiration; although even an Oriental may be allowed to criticise
+some of the characteristics of Western nations. In Romania I had
+been delighted with the never-ending spectacle of history displayed
+in every part of the country. The whole land was like an infinite
+museum; but it was not in Romania that the living forces of the present
+were to be found. In Francaria, on the other hand, the people were
+more interesting than the country, charming as that country was in
+many ways. One perceived that the people were highly civilised; they
+displayed a combination of intellectual and moral refinement, an
+appreciation of the material and sensuous enjoyment of life as well as
+a traditional standard of conduct and manners, while at the same time
+they were keenly alive to the most modern political ideas, and were
+perpetually discussing new phases of all those problems which must
+constantly emerge wherever political liberty is held as an article of
+popular faith.
+
+But it was in Luniland that I felt most at home. Just what it was that
+kept me constantly pleased and interested it would take long to tell,
+and I must reserve my observations on Luniland for another occasion. It
+will be sufficient to say here that I was not so much impressed with
+the wealth of ideas current in society in Luniland--Francaria was more
+prolific in ideas, and in Francaria intellectual discussion was more
+brilliant--as with the stability of certain political principles which,
+as it seems to me at any rate, are destined to prevail ultimately
+throughout the world.
+
+For many reasons I thoroughly enjoyed the three or four years which,
+with short intervals of absence, I had spent there. I had made many
+acquaintances and even a considerable number of friends. In fact, I
+had stayed so long, contrary to my original intention, that there was
+little time left for carrying out the project of visiting Meccania, and
+I was in some doubt whether I should not have to return home without
+seeing that remarkable country. For I had already received one or two
+pressing reminders from my family that they were expecting my return.
+Before leaving home, however, I had promised some of my political
+friends, who were interested in the subject of Meccanian culture, that
+I would not return without investigating the social and political
+life of Meccania. They had, in fact, written several times to remind
+me of my promise, and I had put them off by explaining that, whilst
+travelling in the rest of Europe was a simple and easy matter, I could
+not enter Meccania without elaborate preparation.
+
+When I began to talk to some of my friends in Luniland of my idea
+of investigating Meccanian culture on the spot, I received the most
+conflicting advice. Some said, "Don't go on any account. You will be
+arrested as a spy, and probably shot!" Others said Meccania was ahead
+of Luniland in every respect, and that I should certainly see something
+worth remembering if I went there. Others, again, said that if I did
+go, I should be looked upon with suspicion on my return. In fact, I
+gathered that most of my friends would never open their doors to me
+again. Finally, I took counsel with Mr. Yorke, a gentleman occupying an
+important position in Lunopolis, a man of wide culture and sober views,
+whom it was a great privilege to count among my friends.
+
+He discussed the matter very frankly with me. I remember it was a
+cold evening early in March, and we sat by the fire in his study
+after an excellent dinner. "We Lunilanders," he said, "do not like
+the Meccanians, and few of us ever visit Meccania. We prefer to have
+nothing to do with that country, and if you followed the advice which
+nine out of ten of my countrymen would give you, you would not go near
+Meccania. But you have come to Europe partly, at all events, to study
+our civilisation, and not simply to amuse yourself; and although there
+is little intercourse between the Meccanians and the rest of us, if
+you want to know Europe you cannot afford to neglect Meccania. If I
+may advise you, I should say, Go there by all means. See as much as
+you can with your own eyes. But try to see the country as a whole.
+Don't be content to see just what interests you, or amuses you, or
+what excites your admiration. If you do that, you will be like certain
+cranks from this country who come back and tell us there is no poverty
+in Meccania, there are no strikes, there is no disorder, no ignorance,
+no preventible disease. You at any rate are not a simpleton to be taken
+in by any sort of hocus-pocus. But the Meccanians are very clever, and
+they manage to impose on many people who are not so wideawake as you
+are. How much you will be allowed to see I don't know. It is a good
+many years since I was there, but, if things are managed as I am told
+they are now, you will not see all you want by any means. In fact,
+in one sense, you would learn far more from books--you read Meccanian
+easily already, I know--than from an actual visit. But unless you go
+there you will not feel satisfied that what you read is true, and you
+will not have the same sense of reality.
+
+"The great thing is to look at the country as a whole--I don't mean
+geographically, but spiritually. There is always a tendency for
+foolish people to take this idea from one country and that institution
+from another. Enthusiastic reformers are ready to shut their eyes to
+everything else if only they can get support for their particular fads.
+If you find after a real study of Meccanian life that you would like to
+turn your own country into a second edition of Meccania, I shall say,
+like old Dogberry, that you are not the man I took you for."
+
+He impressed upon me the importance of a thorough knowledge of the
+language, but I was able to satisfy him on that score; for I had learnt
+to read easily before coming to Europe, and had already undertaken
+a long course of colloquial Meccanian under a good teacher during a
+visit to Francaria. Besides, I rather prided myself on my aptitude for
+languages, and considered myself well equipped. So I packed up all the
+miscellaneous goods I had collected, and stored them in Lunopolis,
+reserving only a couple of trunks filled with the usual necessaries for
+a mere tourist.
+
+I had my passport from our own Government. I procured another from the
+Luniland Foreign Office. I obtained, further, the necessary permission
+from the Meccanian Government, and, choosing the shortest route,
+arrived at the outer frontier on March 28th. As most people know,
+Meccania has a double frontier on the Western side. A belt of country
+twenty miles wide is preserved as neutral territory, a veritable
+No Man's Land. This is a relic from the Great War. It is entirely
+uninhabited and uncultivated. Not a single line of railway crosses
+it, and only five roads, which are merely rough tracks, lead across
+it from various points to the five frontier towns on the inner side.
+These are the only gates into Meccania on the West. The small town on
+the outer frontier in Francaria, through which I was to pass, is called
+Graves. Here my first delay occurred. Intercourse with Meccania is so
+limited that although the official conveyance goes only once a week,
+I found no more than a dozen persons collected there in readiness for
+the journey across No Man's Land. I was about to take my place in the
+conveyance provided to carry us to Bridgetown on the inner frontier,
+when it was discovered that I had no ticket authorising me to make this
+journey. I produced my passports and the letter giving me permission
+to travel in Meccania, but the official who took charge of foreigners
+pointed to a printed instruction on the back of the letter informing
+me that a ticket would be forwarded by a later post. No explanations
+or expostulations were of any use. Until I had that ticket I could not
+enter Meccania. The conveyance went only once a week. There was nothing
+for it therefore but to stay at some hotel in Graves, or return to
+Lunopolis in search of my missing ticket. I put up at a small hotel in
+Graves and telegraphed to my last address for my letters. These arrived
+two days later, and among them was my precious ticket.
+
+The week I spent in Graves forms no part of my Meccanian tour, so I
+will say nothing about it except that it gave me an opportunity of
+seeing the extraordinary sight of No Man's Land. It stretched like
+a belt of desert as far as one could see. Rough grass grew here and
+there, but no other vegetation. Every year, in the warm weather, the
+grass was fired, and other means were taken also to ensure that the
+weeds should not injure the vegetation on the cultivated side, which by
+contrast looked like a garden. At intervals of every twenty yards or
+so an iron pole was erected with wire between. Otherwise there was no
+obstacle; but no unauthorised person, so I was told, ever crossed the
+line.
+
+At the end of the week a few more travellers arrived and were met
+by the conveyance from Bridgetown. It was something like a large
+prison van, but quite comfortable inside except for the fact that the
+passengers could not see outside. My fellow-passengers were evidently
+strangers to one another. One or two, I thought, were Meccanians
+returning home, but as there was little conversation and the journey
+lasted not more than an hour, I was able to learn nothing about any of
+them. When the car stopped--it was a sort of large motor-omnibus--the
+door was opened by a porter in a dark blue uniform, and I found myself
+in the large courtyard of the Bridgetown Police Office. What became
+of my fellow-passengers I have no idea, but I was conducted to a
+waiting-room, where another subordinate official in a grey uniform
+took my papers, and about ten minutes after led me into a small office
+adjoining, where a man in a green uniform sat at a desk surrounded by
+neat little bundles of papers of various colours. He was a rather stout
+man of middle age, with bushy iron-grey hair and whiskers, yet rather
+bald in front. With his light grey eyes slightly protruding, he looked
+at me for a few seconds and said, "Mr. Ming?"
+
+I said, "I am Mr. Ming."
+
+"I am Inspector of Foreigners Stiff," he said very distinctly, "and
+whilst you are in Bridgetown you will be responsible to me for your
+good conduct. By what title are you authorised to be addressed?"
+
+"I am plain Mr. Ming, or Citizen Ming," I replied.
+
+"But you have some other title, doubtless," he said. "What office do
+you hold in your own country?"
+
+"Well," I replied, "I am what we call a National Councillor. I am also
+the President of the Literary Society of my own province, and I have
+been once the Mayor of my native town."
+
+"Then you had better be addressed as National Councillor Ming, or as
+Literary President Ming, or Mayor Ming," he answered promptly. "Choose
+which you prefer, and write down the title on the third line of this
+form."
+
+I wrote down, with a smile, "National Councillor Ming."
+
+"National Councillor Ming," he said, as I handed the form back to him,
+"before we have any further conversation, you will please pass into the
+next room and undergo your medical examination."
+
+I passed into the next room, where I found a man, also in a green
+uniform, but with different facings from those worn by Inspector of
+Foreigners Stiff. "National Councillor Ming," he said, "allow me to
+make my necessary medical examination." I wondered how he had got my
+name so pat. Then I remembered that immediately before passing me into
+the next room, Inspector Stiff had put a card into a pneumatic tube
+by the side of his desk. The doctor led me out of his office into a
+small bedroom, next to which stood a bathroom fitted with various
+apparatus. After undressing in the bedroom, I was ordered to step into
+the bathroom, where first of all I was carefully measured in at least a
+score of places: head, ears, arms, hands, legs, feet, chest, etc. etc.
+Thumb-prints and foot-prints were taken; I was weighed; my chest was
+sounded; my organs were investigated with various curious instruments;
+a record of my speaking voice was taken, for which purpose I had to
+pronounce several long sentences in Meccanian and in my own language. A
+lock of my hair was cut off, and finally I was photographed in several
+different positions. I was then ordered to bathe, at first in water,
+afterwards in a fluid which was evidently some sort of disinfectant.
+At the end of about an hour and a half the doctor pronounced me to be
+"disease-free," and asked me to dress myself in some garments specially
+used on these occasions. The garments were made either of paper, or
+of some substance like paper, and were intended to be destroyed after
+use. I was now in the bedroom. The doctor had disappeared, but a sort
+of orderly in a grey uniform knocked at the door and brought in a tray
+with some food and coffee. He announced that Inspector of Foreigners
+Stiff would be ready to see me again in fifteen minutes. I was very
+glad of the food, the first I had eaten since my arrival, and at the
+end of the fifteen minutes I was again led into Mr. Stiff's room, still
+wearing my paper suit.
+
+"Now," said he, "you will remain in your room until morning, when
+your own clothes will be restored to you after having been thoroughly
+disinfected. You can have supper supplied to you in your room, and
+as you will have a few hours to spare I should advise you to make
+yourself acquainted with the contents of these documents. You will find
+they contain all the instructions you require for the first few days."
+
+I retired to my room feeling rather fatigued by the various experiences
+I had already gone through, but for want of something more interesting
+I began to study my 'Instructions.' The first document was a closely
+printed circular of eight foolscap pages containing numerous extracts
+from the Law relating to the Conduct of Foreign Observers. By the time
+I had waded through this I thought I had done enough for one day, and
+as the orderly came in with preparations for some supper I asked him
+if I might see the daily paper. He did not seem to understand what I
+meant. After some further explanation he said, "We have no daily paper
+in Bridgetown: we have only the weekly local gazette."
+
+"But you have some kind of newspaper which circulates in Bridgetown,"
+I said. "Perhaps it is published in some other large town, perhaps in
+Mecco?" I suggested. (Mecco is the capital of Meccania.)
+
+"We have no general newspaper published daily," he replied.
+
+I thought he had misunderstood me, so I begged him to bring me the
+local Gazette. He said he would try to get me a copy. Presently,
+while I was eating my supper, another official, dressed in a bright
+chocolate-coloured uniform with green facings, made his appearance. He
+explained that Inspector Stiff had gone home--it was then about seven
+o'clock or later--and that he was left in charge of the office. I had
+asked for a newspaper. For what purpose did I require a newspaper?
+
+"Oh," I said, "just to see the current news."
+
+"News what about?" he asked.
+
+"About anything," I replied. "One likes to see the newspaper to see
+what is going on."
+
+"But no one wants anything except for some purpose," he replied, "and
+you have not explained the purpose for which you require a newspaper.
+Also, there are no general newspapers. There are the various gazettes
+issued by the different departments of Government, and there are a few
+local gazettes dealing with purely municipal matters. But until you
+have entered upon your authorised tour of observation, I should have no
+authority to supply you with any of these."
+
+What a fuss about such a trifle, I thought, and wished I had never
+troubled him. I apologised for making the request, whereupon he said,
+"If you wish for something to read after supper there is a case of
+books in the office, from which, no doubt, I can supply your needs."
+
+I thanked him, and presently went to see the books. There was a work
+on the _Law in Relation to Foreign Observers_, in three volumes; a
+_History of the Development of Town Planning_, in five volumes; a
+treatise on _Sewage_, in two volumes; a series of Reports on the
+various Municipal Departments of Bridgetown; an _Encyclopædia of
+Building_; and a few other works equally interesting. I took away a
+volume, hardly noticing what it was, intending to use it only as a
+means of inducing sleep, which it did most effectively.
+
+I was awakened about half-past six next morning by the orderly in the
+grey uniform entering the bedroom to announce that my bath would be
+ready in five minutes, and that it was against the rules to be late. I
+promptly went into the bathroom and found the bath half filled with a
+thin, greeny-yellowish fluid which smelt like a strong disinfectant.
+The orderly explained that all foreigners were obliged to be
+disinfected in this way.
+
+"But," I said, "I was disinfected only yesterday."
+
+"The bath yesterday," he explained, "was to ensure that you brought no
+disease into the country."
+
+"And what is this for?" I asked.
+
+"This is to prevent you from contracting any new disease through the
+change in climate," he answered.
+
+I remarked that the authorities were very solicitous of the welfare of
+foreigners, to which he replied:
+
+"Ah, we must look after ourselves; a sick man is a source of
+infection."
+
+I was told to remain in the bath forty-five minutes. I found I had no
+choice, for, once in, I had no power to get out.
+
+At the end of the forty-five minutes the orderly came and lifted me
+out, turned on a shower bath, and said, "Breakfast in ten minutes."
+My own clothes had been returned to me. I dressed quickly, ate my
+breakfast, which was the usual light continental early breakfast of
+rolls and coffee, and was preparing to leave the Police Office when the
+orderly informed me that Inspector of Foreigners Stiff was ready to see
+me.
+
+"National Councillor Ming," he began, as soon as I entered his room, "I
+find you have with you letters of introduction to several persons in
+Meccania." (So my private papers had been closely scrutinised during
+the process of disinfection.) "You will, of course, not present these
+until you have received permission from the proper authority. In no
+case can this be given until a period of three months has elapsed.
+Now after completing these forms, in accordance with the Instructions
+I handed you yesterday, you will be authorised to begin your tour of
+observation in Bridgetown." Here he handed me four forms. "You must
+first decide whether you mean to stay a week, or a month, or longer;
+for that will naturally determine the programme of your tour of
+observation. You cannot in any case leave without giving three clear
+days' notice and completing your arrangements as to the place you are
+proceeding to."
+
+"Oh," I said in some surprise, "I had no idea that would be necessary.
+I thought I would just look round, perhaps for a day or two, then go
+on to one of your other important cities and make my way by degrees to
+Mecco."
+
+"Then you cannot have read the Instruction Form No. 4, or you would
+know that is quite impossible. If you intend to stay a month, please
+fill up this blue form."
+
+"I think, perhaps, it would be better to say a week," I replied; "then
+if I want to stay longer I suppose I could do so?"
+
+"If you had read the Instructions you would have seen that the plan of
+a tour of a week is on quite a different scale from that of a tour of a
+fortnight or a month. You must decide now which you will take."
+
+I stuck to the week, and we filled up the necessary forms for Tour
+No. 1.
+
+"Your conductor will be Sub-Conductor of Foreign Observers Sheep," he
+said next.
+
+"My conductor?" I exclaimed. "Is it necessary to have a conductor?"
+
+"You are not still in Luniland," he replied testily, "and I must
+again remind you that if you had read the extracts from the Law with
+reference to Foreign Observers you would not have asked the question.
+Sub-Conductor Sheep will be here in five minutes," he said, evidently
+anxious to get rid of me, "and as soon as you have discharged this
+bill of expenses he will take you to the Hotel for Foreign Observers,
+and you will begin your tour." Here he handed me a sort of invoice
+containing the following items:--
+
+To food, 5s.; to bed, one night, 4s.; to medical examination, 10s.; to
+temporary garments, 2s.; to service, 2s.--total, 23s.
+
+There was certainly nothing exorbitant about the charges; all the same,
+I grudged the 10s. for the medical examination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+BRIDGETOWN, TOUR No. 1
+
+
+Sub-conductor of Foreign Observers Sheep came in as I was paying the
+bill. He was a well-set-up man about fifty, and had the appearance of
+an old Non-Com. He looked quiet and rather stolid. I never saw him
+smile during the whole week I was with him, but he was not offensive in
+his manner. Like Inspector Stiff he wore a green uniform, but one with
+fewer facings and with chocolate-coloured buttons. Before we started
+to walk across to the hotel he asked if I had got my pocket-diary. I
+fished out a small notebook, such as I had used in Luniland for marking
+engagements.
+
+"That is of no use for the purpose," he informed me. "You must have one
+like this"; and he showed me a book about six inches by four inches,
+with four pages for each day.
+
+"Oh!" I said, "I shall never need all that; besides, it is spaced for a
+month only."
+
+In a perfectly matter-of-fact voice he said calmly, "Every person in
+Meccania uses a pocket-diary like this. You will find it indispensable
+in order that you may make your entries correctly in your weekly diary
+for the Time Department."
+
+"The what department?" I asked, rather puzzled.
+
+"The Time Department: but never mind; I will explain all that in its
+proper place. We will get a pocket-diary as we go along."
+
+We walked to the hotel, and on the way Sheep slipped into an office of
+some kind and handed me a pocket-diary of the regulation type. As we
+entered the hotel, which was a very small affair,--evidently the number
+of foreigners in Bridgetown at any one time could not be more than a
+dozen if they were all lodged here,--he popped his head into a sort
+of box-office near the door and said in a loud voice, "Nine o'clock.
+National Councillor Ming." A girl in the box-office echoed the words
+whilst making an entry on a large sheet, and handed him a buff-coloured
+sheet of cardboard, divided or ruled into small squares. This he
+presented to me, telling me to note down on it the exact time when I
+entered and left the hotel, and to get it initialed every other day by
+the girl clerk in the box-office. If the times did not tally with her
+record I was to consult the manager of the hotel.
+
+"The first thing to do is to report yourself to the manager of the
+hotel," said Sheep when he had taken me to my room, where I found my
+baggage, which I had not seen since I left Graves.
+
+The manager was a rather fussy little man, also in a green uniform
+like Sheep's but with different facings. He did not seem specially
+pleased to see me. All he said was, "I hope you will not give so much
+trouble as the last of your fellow-countrymen we had here. If you will
+study the regulations you will save yourself and me much inconvenience.
+Meals are at eight, one, and six, and at no other times. And remember
+that conversation with other Foreign Observers is prohibited until you
+have received the Certificate of Approval."
+
+Conductor Sheep had rung up for a motor-car, and as we waited a few
+minutes for its arrival he said, "As you will have seen from the
+printed programme of Tour No. 1, we shall first make a geographical
+survey of the town, then we shall visit the public buildings, taking
+note of their architectural features, and beginning first with those
+under local control, following on with those under the joint control
+of the Central and Local Government, and concluding with those solely
+under the control of the Central Government. And of the first category
+we shall see those first which have to do with the bodily needs, and
+of these we shall take first those connected with food, then with
+clothing, then with housing; for that is the only logical order.
+Everything has been carefully prescribed by the Department of Culture
+and the Department of Sociology, and the same plan is followed by all
+Foreign Observers, whatever city they may be visiting."
+
+We went first to a look-out tower which stood on a hill about a mile
+outside the town. Here we had a view of the surrounding country. The
+town lay in a bend of the river. It was not exactly picturesque, but
+the large number of new public buildings near the centre, the broad
+streets lined with villas, each surrounded by a garden in the large
+residential quarter on the western side, and even the orderly streets
+of houses and flats on the more thickly populated eastern side,
+produced altogether a fine effect. The country round was magnificent.
+Low wooded hills rose on three sides, backed by higher hills in the
+distance. Sheep talked almost learnedly about the geology of the
+district and the historical reasons for the situation of Bridgetown.
+Then he pointed out that the plan of the town was like a wheel. In
+the centre were the public buildings and squares. The main streets
+radiated like spokes, and between these came the residential quarters
+of the seven social classes; those of the first three on the west side,
+those of the fourth to the north and south, those of the fifth, sixth
+and seventh, to the east. On the east side also lay the factories,
+workshops and warehouses. The shops were arranged in a sort of ring
+running through the middle of each of the residential quarters.
+
+"The seven social classes?" I asked. I had heard in a vague way of the
+existence of this arrangement, but had little idea what it meant.
+
+"Yes," answered Sheep, as if he were reading from a guide-book, "the
+first consists of the highest aristocracy, military and civil; the
+second, of the military and naval officers, all of noble birth; the
+third, of the highest mercantile class with an income of £5000 a year
+and the officials of the first grade in the Imperial civil service; the
+fourth, of the officials of the civil service of lower grades and the
+bulk of the professional classes; the fifth, of the skilled artisan
+class; the sixth, of the semi-skilled; and the seventh, of the menial
+industrial groups."
+
+I asked him to go over it again whilst I took a note for future
+reference.
+
+The rest of the morning passed in listening to Sheep's elaborate
+descriptions of the drainage and sewage systems, the water supply,
+the power and light and heat supply, the tramway system, the parcels
+system, the postal delivery system, the milk delivery system, all from
+the geographical point of view. After lunch we spent some time in going
+all over the town on the tramways. This completed the geographical
+survey.
+
+At six o'clock I was deposited in the hotel just in time for dinner.
+Presently I prepared to go out to some place of amusement; but on
+attempting to leave the hotel I was stopped by the porter, who told me
+I could not leave the hotel unless accompanied by my conductor.
+
+So I spent the evening in writing up my journal. During the day I
+had noticed that everywhere all the men were dressed in a sort of
+uniform, and that the colours of these uniforms corresponded to the
+rank or class of the wearers. Perhaps I ought to have mentioned this
+circumstance earlier, for certainly it was one of the first things
+I noticed when I began to go into the streets. The colours of the
+uniforms are very striking and even crude. They supply the only
+touch of the picturesque in Bridgetown, for, judging by my first
+day's impressions of the town, I should imagine that the authorities
+responsible for rebuilding it have swept away every vestige of the
+tiny mediæval city which once existed on this spot and have replaced
+it by a perfectly uniform piece of Meccanian town-planning. In such a
+setting these uniforms strike one at first as out of place, but perhaps
+I have not yet grasped their purpose or significance. The colour of the
+uniforms of the members of the First Class is white; that of the Second
+Class, red or scarlet; of the Third, yellow; of the Fourth, green; of
+the Fifth, chocolate; of the Sixth, grey; of the Seventh, dark blue.
+But so far I have seen no white uniforms, and only a few scarlet. I
+saw several yellow uniforms to-day, but the most common were the green
+uniforms of the Fourth Class and the chocolate uniforms of the Fifth
+Class, to which the skilled artisans belong. Greys and dark blues were
+also fairly numerous; but what surprised me most of all was the small
+number of people to be seen in the streets. I must ask Sheep for the
+explanation of this.
+
+Promptly at nine o'clock next morning Sub-Conductor of Foreign
+Observers Sheep made his appearance at the hotel, and we began our tour
+of the public buildings. He took me first to the 'Import-Food-Hall,'
+which stood alongside the railway on the outskirts of the town near
+the industrial quarter. It was a great warehouse through which all
+the food brought into the town has to pass before it is allowed to be
+sold in the markets and shops. (The sole exception is milk, which is
+distributed by municipal servants.) The building was very extensive
+and several stories high. The two ends were open for the passage of
+railway wagons. The architecture was not without a certain coarse
+dignity. The arches were decorated in Romanesque style, and the whole
+front facing the street was covered with rude sculptures in high relief
+of scenes connected with the production of food. The interior walls
+were covered with frescoes depicting similar scenes. Conductor Sheep
+grew almost enthusiastic over this exhibition of Meccanian Art. All
+these decorations, he said, had been executed by the students of the
+Bridgetown Art School. I was not altogether surprised to hear this;
+there was something so very naïve and obvious about the whole idea.
+
+We next saw the municipal slaughter-houses, which were almost
+adjoining. Inspector Sheep informed me how many minutes it took to
+kill and prepare for the meat market a given number of cattle, sheep or
+pigs. He dilated on the perfection of the machinery for every process,
+and assured me that not a single drop of blood was wasted. The amount
+of every particular kind of animal food required for each week in the
+year was ascertained by the Sociological Department, and consequently
+there was no difficulty in regulating the supply. The perfection of
+the methods of preserving meat also effected some economy. Conductor
+Sheep assured me that the Meccanian slaughter-houses had become the
+models for all the civilised world, and that a former Director of the
+Bridgetown slaughter-houses had been lent to a foreign Government to
+organise the system of technical instruction for butchers.
+
+The five markets were in five different parts of the city. They served
+to distribute perishable foods only, which were not allowed to be
+sold in the ordinary shops. All women in the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh
+Classes were obliged to do their marketing in person. Each person was
+obliged to deal solely with one dealer for a year at a time, and to
+attend at the market at a particular hour, so that there should be no
+congestion and no waste of time on the part of the dealers. This, I
+suppose, explains the wonderful orderliness of these markets. There was
+no gossiping or chaffering. Whether the people enjoy this arrangement
+is a matter upon which Sheep did not enlighten me. He said it had been
+calculated by the Time Department that an economy of 50 per cent had
+been effected in the time spent upon the daily purchase of food since
+the introduction of the modern market system.
+
+Foods that are not perishable are sold in the shops, and as regards
+certain articles there is the same system of choosing each year the
+shop at which one buys a particular article, whilst as regards others
+trade is free. The housewife must buy her bread always from the same
+baker; but things like mustard, spices, coffee or preserved food may be
+bought at any shop.
+
+The sale of drink is regulated in a different way. The three lowest
+classes are not allowed to keep drink in their houses; but as the
+favourite national drink is a mild kind of beer which can be got in
+any restaurant, there is no apparent hardship in this regulation. The
+way in which excess is checked is very curious. The weekly budgets
+of every family, in all classes below the fourth, are checked by the
+authorities--by which department I do not know--and if the amount
+spent on drink exceeds a certain sum per head, a fine is inflicted and
+the offender warned. If the offence is persisted in, the offender is
+forbidden to buy any drink for a specified period. One might suppose
+that such regulations could easily be evaded; so they could in most
+countries, but not in Meccania. Everything is so perfectly scrutinised
+that no evasion seems possible--at any rate as far as the three lowest
+classes are concerned.
+
+"This scrutiny of family budgets," I remarked, "is it not resented and
+even evaded?"
+
+"I do not think it is resented," answered Sheep, "but it certainly
+cannot be evaded. Why should it be resented? The facts are only known
+to the officials, and in any case they would be required by the
+Sociological Department. How else could it obtain the necessary data
+for its researches? Every woman is taught how to keep her household
+accounts in the proper manner, and she sends in her account book at
+the end of each quarter. That is necessary for many reasons. No," he
+concluded, as if the idea had not occurred to him before, "I have never
+heard of any complaints. Only those would wish to complain who desired
+to evade some salutary regulation; consequently there is no reason why,
+out of regard for them, we should interfere with a practice that has so
+many advantages."
+
+"What are the advantages?" I asked, for so far I had seen no advantage
+except the possibility of checking expenditure upon drink.
+
+"The use of these accurate family budgets and household accounts to the
+Sociological Department is simply indispensable. To the Department of
+Trade and Industry also they are very valuable. In fact, you may take
+it that all our Meccanian institutions are so arranged that they serve
+several purposes and fit in with the whole Meccanian scheme of life."
+
+Incidentally, in connection with the family expenditure on food, he
+mentioned model dietaries. I was curious to know what these were. He
+explained that there were three recognised kinds of dietaries. First,
+the Food Department prescribed model dietaries for families of the
+three lowest classes in normal health. Secondly, when each person was
+medically examined--and this happened at least once a year--the medical
+officer might prescribe a dietary for the individual; and lastly, if a
+person were positively ill, it would be the duty of the medical officer
+in charge of the case to prescribe a dietary. I was going to ask some
+further questions about the Medical Department, when Sheep reminded me
+that we had still several other municipal departments to visit before
+we came to the Medical Department, and that we must not depart from the
+programme of our tour.
+
+The Department for the Inspection and Regulation of Clothing came next.
+I was rather surprised that this should be a municipal institution,
+seeing that the regulations were uniform for the whole country.
+
+Sheep explained that it was just because the regulations were so
+perfectly uniform that the function of administering them could be
+entrusted to the municipality. The department was quite a small
+affair. Only about ten inspectors were required for Bridgetown. Their
+duties were to see that no person wore any uniform to which he was
+not entitled, and that on ceremonial occasions full-dress uniform was
+worn. It was quite easy to ensure that a uniform of the right colour
+was worn, but in addition to that the various grades of each class
+were indicated by the various facings, stripes, buttons and badges, as
+were also the different occupations within each class and grade. The
+penalties for wearing unauthorised decorations were very heavy, and
+infringements were very rare, as detection was almost certain.
+
+"I should have thought that the whole clothing trade would be in the
+hands of the Government," I remarked.
+
+"That is not part of our system," replied Sheep. "The production of all
+the kinds of cloth for all the uniforms is so standardised that there
+would be no advantage in the State taking over the mere manufacture.
+Each person chooses his tailor from a small panel. Naturally the
+members of the higher classes have the best tailors. In fact, a tailor
+of the first grade would not be allowed to make suits for the three
+lowest classes; it would be a waste of talent."
+
+"And what about the women's clothing?" I inquired. "They do not wear
+uniforms. Is their dress regulated in any way?"
+
+"Only in two ways," answered Sheep. "Every woman must wear, on the
+front upper part of each of her outdoor dresses, a piece of cloth of
+the regulation pattern and colour, to indicate the class to which she
+belongs. Also the expenditure on dress is limited according to the
+social class."
+
+When we came to the offices of the Department of Health, Sheep said I
+had made a grave error of judgment in choosing Tour No. 1--the tour for
+a single week only--as there was enough to occupy us for a week in the
+Department of Health alone. It included the Sanitation Section, the
+Medical Inspection Section, the Medical Dispensing Section, the Medical
+Attendance Section, the Hospital Section, the section of the Special
+Medical Board, the Marriages and Births Section, the Post-Mortem
+Section, and the Buildings Section.
+
+After this I was not surprised to hear that over a thousand persons were
+employed in the Health Department, in addition to the workmen--chiefly
+of the Sixth and Seventh Classes--who did the actual menial work of
+keeping the sewage system in order and keeping the streets clean. I
+might write a whole chapter on the Health Department, but it will
+perhaps suffice if I mention the most singular features.
+
+Inspectors visit every house twice a year to see that each house and
+flat is kept in a sanitary condition. Each person is medically examined
+once a year--this is in addition to the system of medical inspection in
+schools--and whatever treatment is prescribed he must submit to.
+
+"What happens," I asked, "if a person declines to submit to treatment?"
+
+"He would be taken before the Special Medical Board," answered Sheep.
+
+"And what is that?" I asked.
+
+"We shall come to that presently," said Sheep reprovingly. He went on
+to explain that the Dispensing Section treated all persons of the three
+lowest classes who did not require to go into a hospital. The doctors
+were municipal officials and there was no choice of doctor.
+
+"Why do you not allow choice of doctor?" I asked.
+
+"That would interfere with the proper classification of the diseases,"
+he answered. "As soon as a complaint is diagnosed, it is handed over
+to the appropriate doctor for treatment. The same applies to the
+Medical Attendance Section; but persons in the three lowest classes
+are not generally attended in their homes, they are brought into
+the hospitals. The chief work of the Medical Attendance Section is
+in connection with births; consequently we employ a number of women
+doctor-nurses in this Section. Now we come to the Special Medical
+Board. It is a sort of Higher General Staff. It collates the results
+of the work of all the other medical sections, and is responsible for
+the annual report. It receives the instructions of the Central Medical
+Department of Meccania, and sees that these are carried out. It directs
+special investigations in all abnormal cases. In the case of so-called
+incurable diseases it pronounces its decree as to whether the case is
+incurable, and in that event it authorises the death of the patient."
+
+"Authorises the death of the patient?" I said. "Without the patient's
+consent?"
+
+"The patient can hardly be the best judge," said Sheep.
+
+"What about the relatives then?" I asked.
+
+"The relatives have no voice in the matter," said Sheep.
+
+"That sounds very drastic," I remarked; "and what about the sort of
+case you mentioned a little while ago?"
+
+"The case _you_ mentioned?" said Sheep. "I do not remember any such
+cases, but if one occurred it would be dealt with under Section 143 of
+the Medical Regulations, which prescribes that in case of persistent
+disregard of the instructions of the authorised medical officer, with
+the consent of the Special Medical Board, the person guilty of such
+refusal is to be removed to an asylum for mental abnormality."
+
+"A lunatic asylum!"
+
+"We do not call them lunatic asylums. The term is obsolete; it does not
+accord with our system of classification."
+
+Sheep next dealt with the Marriages and Births Section. This is in some
+ways the most remarkable of all. It appears that a licence to marry is
+issued to all persons in normal health, the Department prescribing the
+number of children to be born within each period of five years. Persons
+classified as abnormal are specially dealt with, and on this subject
+Sheep referred me to the Report of the Central Medical Department,
+which I could obtain in the Great Meccanian Library at Mecco. The
+Post-Mortem Section carried out an examination in all cases of interest
+to the Health Department before cremation.
+
+I asked what the Buildings Section was. It seems to be a sort of link
+between the Architectural Department and the Health Department, and
+supervises the building regulations from the hygienic point of view.
+
+The next day Conductor Sheep called punctually at nine o'clock to
+continue the tour of observation. We had come to the end of one
+section, as marked out in the mind of the 'Authority,' and were now to
+begin another, namely, the institutions controlled partly by the City
+and partly by the State. I suspect that the control by the City is a
+good deal of a fiction, for the State has power to take over any of the
+functions that are not performed to its satisfaction.
+
+We began with the Police. The office of the Central Police Station
+was in the building where I had first been inspected, examined and
+instructed, on my arrival. It was a large building for a town of the
+size of Bridgetown, and seemed full of officials, police officers and
+clerks. Yet I had noticed very few police officers in the streets. I
+remarked upon this to my guide. I said, "In the country I have just
+come from they have a great many police officers in the streets of the
+large towns, but very few other officials connected with the police
+service. Here, apparently, you have few police officers in the streets,
+but a great many other officials connected with the police service. Can
+you explain that?"
+
+"Yes," he said; "I have heard something of the kind before, and
+although I have never been abroad to other countries, the books in
+our libraries describe the police systems so fully that I think I can
+answer your question. The police in Luniland--so I am informed--do
+little else besides keeping order in the streets and following up
+criminals."
+
+"Exactly," I remarked. "What else should they do?"
+
+"Here," said Sheep, "these are the least of their functions. We
+employ fewer police in keeping order in the streets, and in detecting
+criminals, than any country in the world. Crime and disorder are almost
+unknown in Meccania. Our people are so well brought up that they
+have little desire to commit crime. Those who do show any propensity
+in that direction are deported to criminal colonies and give very
+little trouble afterwards. Besides, there is, after all, very little
+opportunity to commit crime, as you would soon discover if you
+attempted to do so."
+
+"I can well believe that," I said. "But what, then, do your police find
+to do?"
+
+"Speaking generally, their function is to see that the regulations
+devised for the good of the State are properly carried out."
+
+"And those regulations are rather numerous, I suppose?"
+
+"Undoubtedly. As they affect every department of life, there are many
+occasions upon which the assistance of the police is necessary in order
+that people shall not make mistakes," said Sheep.
+
+"But," I said, "I thought that the officials of each department of
+State attended to so many things that there would be little left
+for the police. For instance," I added, "the inspectors of food and
+clothing, of buildings, of public health, of education, and so forth."
+
+"Yes, yes," answered Conductor Sheep; "but suppose some matter arises
+which may belong to several departments; the citizen needs guidance.
+Quite apart from that, the police watch over the life of the people
+from the point of view of the general public interest. They collect
+information from all the other departments. Suppose a man neglects his
+attendance at the theatre: the amusement authority must report the case
+to the police. Similarly with all the other departments. Suppose, for
+instance, a man were to try to make an unauthorised journey, or to
+remain absent from work without a medical certificate, or to exceed
+his proper expenditure and get into debt, or try to pass himself off
+as a member of a higher class: in such cases it is the police who
+take cognisance of the offence. Then there is the annual report and
+certificate of conduct with respect to every citizen. How could this be
+filled up without exact information? All this involves a great deal of
+work."
+
+"Indeed it must," I replied.
+
+"You see, then, that our police are not idle," said Sheep triumphantly.
+
+"Indeed I do," I replied.
+
+After this enlightening explanation the offices of the Police
+Department no longer presented a mystery to me. I looked with awe at
+the hundreds of volumes of police reports in the official library of
+the Bridgetown police office, and wondered what the Central Police
+Office Library would be like; for I was told it contained a copy of
+every police report of every district in the country, as well as those
+for the great capital Mecco.
+
+When we came to the Department of Education, which was one of the
+institutions managed by the State and the Municipality, Conductor Sheep
+regretted once more that I had chosen Tour No. 1. We could only spare
+half a day at most for this important department. Here, again, I can
+only note a few of the unusual features of the system, as explained
+to me by my encyclopædic conductor. We saw no schools except on the
+outside, but I noticed the children going to and from school. They
+all marched in step, in twos or fours, like little soldiers. They did
+not race about the streets or play games. Wherever they started from
+they fell into step with their comrades and carried their satchels
+like knapsacks. The State Inspectors, it seems, decide what is to be
+taught, and how it is to be taught: the local officers carry out their
+instructions and classify the children. In the office of the Department
+there is a sort of museum of school apparatus in connection with the
+stores section. The books are all prescribed by the Central Department,
+and no others may be used. The children of the Sixth and Seventh
+Classes attend common schools in order to get the benefit of better
+classification. There are no schools in Bridgetown for the members
+of the First and Second Classes. They go elsewhere, but the other
+classes have separate schools. The children of the Sixth and Seventh
+Classes stay at school until they are twelve; but their instruction is
+largely of a practical and manual kind. Those of the Fifth Class remain
+until fifteen, and are trained to be skilled workmen. After fifteen
+they receive instruction in science in connection with their several
+occupations.
+
+Closely connected with the system of education, for the three lowest
+classes, is the Juvenile Bureau of Industry. This is controlled by
+the Department of Industry and Commerce. No young person in Meccania
+can take up any employment without a certificate granted by this
+Department. The officials of the Juvenile Bureau, after consultation
+with the officials of the Education Department, decide what occupation
+boys and girls may enter, and no employer is allowed to engage a boy or
+girl except through the medium of the Bureau.
+
+"What about the inclinations of the boys and girls, and the desires of
+their parents?" I remarked to Sheep.
+
+"The inclinations of the boys?" said Sheep, more puzzled than
+surprised. "In what way does that affect the question?"
+
+"A boy might like to be a cabinet-maker rather than a metal worker, or
+a mason rather than a clerk," I said.
+
+"But such a question as that will have been determined while the boy is
+at school."
+
+"Then when does he get the chance of choosing an occupation?"
+
+"It will depend upon his abilities for different kinds of work. And he
+can hardly be the judge of that himself," added Sheep.
+
+"Where do the parents come in, then?" I asked.
+
+"The parents will naturally encourage the boy to do his best at school.
+And after all, does it matter much whether a boy is a mason or a
+carpenter? In any case, the number of carpenters will be decided each
+year, and even each quarter, by the Department of Industry. It is not
+as if it would alter his class, either; he will be in the same class
+unless he is very exceptional and passes the State Examination for
+promotion."
+
+I saw it would be useless to suggest any other ideas to Sub-Conductor
+Sheep, who seemed constitutionally unable to understand any objections
+to the official point of view. I could hardly hope to learn much about
+education in a single afternoon. All we saw was the mere machinery from
+the outside, and not even a great deal of that. I gathered that there
+was a most minute classification, with all sorts of subdivisions, of
+the children according to their capacities and future occupations.
+There were sufficient local inspectors to provide one for each
+large school, and their chief business was to conduct psychological
+experiments and apply all sorts of tests of intelligence in order to
+introduce improved methods of instruction. The inspectors themselves
+were all specialists. One was an expert on mental fatigue, another
+devoted himself to classifying the teachers according to their aptitude
+for teaching particular subjects, another specialised in organising
+profitable recreative employments for different grades of children;
+another superintended all juvenile amusements. Sheep showed me the
+exterior of a large psychological laboratory attached to the Technical
+College. Bridgetown was too small to have a University of its own,
+but it had two large 'Secondary' Schools for pupils in the Third and
+Fourth Classes, and an enormous technical school for the boys of the
+Fifth Class. It was fitted up like a series of workshops for all sorts
+of trades, with class-rooms and laboratories attached. Sheep asserted
+that it was through these schools that the Meccanian artisans had
+become by far the most efficient workmen in the whole world. I had not
+time to ask many questions about the provision for games or physical
+training, but from something Sheep said I inferred that whilst games
+had been reduced to a minimum the experts had devised a system of
+physical training which satisfied all Meccanian requirements.
+
+Sheep strongly advised me to study Meccanian education in Mecco if I
+ever got there. All true Meccanians recognised, he said, that the whole
+national greatness of Meccania rested on their system of education. No
+doubt statesmen had done much, but the ground had been prepared by the
+schoolmasters, and the statesmen themselves had been brought up in the
+Meccanian system of education. He himself, he confided, was the son of
+a Meccanian village schoolmaster.
+
+Why then, I asked, begging his pardon if the question were indiscreet,
+did he wear the chocolate button which indicated that he had once been
+a member of the Fifth Class?
+
+"When the sevenfold classification was introduced," he answered,
+"village schoolmasters who were not graduates were in the Fifth
+Class, and I was in the Fifth Class until I was thirty and gained my
+promotion in the Police Department."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Tour No. 1 made no provision for studying the lighter side of life
+in Bridgetown. Sheep said that practically all forms of amusement
+were controlled by a section of the Department of Culture, but that
+the Organising Inspectors of Private Leisure were appointed locally,
+subject to the approval of the Central Department.
+
+"Organising Inspectors of Private Leisure!" I exclaimed. "What an
+extraordinary institution!"
+
+"In what way extraordinary?" said Sheep.
+
+"I am sure they do not exist in any other country," I replied.
+
+"Perhaps not," replied Sheep; "but, then, our culture is not modelled
+on that of any other country. Possibly other countries will discover
+the use of such officials when they have developed a better system of
+education."
+
+"But what is their function?" I asked.
+
+"Any person who has more than an hour a day unaccounted for, after
+doing his day's work, and fulfilling all his other duties, is required
+to submit a scheme every half-year, showing what cultural pursuit he
+proposes to follow. The inspectors will assist him with expert advice
+and will see that he carries out his programme."
+
+"Is there nothing left unregulated in this country?" I asked in as
+innocent a tone as I could command.
+
+"That is a very interesting question," replied Sheep. "If you will
+consult the _Forty-eighth Annual Report of the Ministry of Culture_
+you will find an interesting diagram, or map, showing the whole field
+of Meccanian life and the stages in its organisation. One by one all
+the spheres of life have been gradually organised. If you examine the
+diagram showing the present state of Meccania, and compare it with
+similar maps for other countries, you will perceive how very much more
+advanced our culture is than that of any other country."
+
+"And what regions still remain for the Department of Culture to
+conquer?"
+
+"An investigation is going on at the present time into the interesting
+question of individual taste," he answered. "It is being conducted by
+the Æsthetic Section of the Department, but they have not yet reported."
+
+Where everything is so completely regulated it is not surprising to
+find that poverty, as understood in many countries, no longer exists;
+but I was not quite clear how it was provided against. Once more Sheep
+was ready with a complete explanation.
+
+"Our laws," he said, "do not permit anyone to remain idle, and the
+regulation of the expenditure of the lower classes secures them
+against improvidence. Besides, as they contribute to insurance funds,
+they receive a pension in old age, and allowances during sickness or
+disablement. Poverty is therefore impossible."
+
+"Apparently, then," I remarked, "if the labouring classes will
+surrender their liberty to the State they can be relieved of all danger
+of poverty."
+
+"I do not understand what you mean by surrendering their liberty,"
+replied Sheep.
+
+"In many other countries," I said, "people desire to please themselves
+what they will work at, and indeed whether they will work at all. They
+like to have the liberty of striking, for instance, against wages or
+other conditions that do not satisfy them, and I have heard people in
+such countries declare that they would rather preserve their freedom in
+such things than be secured even against poverty."
+
+"It is no part of my business to discuss such questions," replied
+Sheep, "but I have never heard such a question even discussed in
+Meccania. The foundation of Meccanian law is that the private
+individual has no rights against the State."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was towards the end of the week that I mentioned to Conductor
+Sheep that I had had great difficulty in procuring a copy of the
+local newspaper published in Bridgetown; in fact, I had not managed
+to get a sight of it. Sheep explained that Tour No. 1 did not allow
+time for the study of local social life in such detail as to provide
+a place for such a thing, but he was good enough to procure me a
+sight of the _Bridgetown Weekly Gazette_. It was well printed on
+good paper, but it was more like an official municipal record than a
+newspaper. It contained brief reports of municipal committee meetings,
+announcements as to forthcoming examinations, lists of persons who
+had passed various examinations; and statistics of births, deaths
+and marriages. The figures for the births were given in an unusual
+form. There were fifty first-born boys, forty-five first-born girls;
+forty-seven second-born boys, forty-eight second-born girls; and so on
+down to three fourteenth-born boys and seven fourteenth-born girls.
+There were statistics of accidents, with brief details. There was a
+list of small fines inflicted for various infringements of regulations,
+and announcements of forthcoming legal cases. The only advertisements
+were a few concerning sales of property and household goods. It was
+altogether the driest document calling itself a newspaper I had ever
+seen. I tried to draw Sheep on the subject of newspapers in general,
+but he seemed rather annoyed.
+
+"I procured this _Gazette_," he said, "as a concession to your
+curiosity, although it forms no part of our programme, and now you wish
+to go into a subject which is totally unconnected with our tour. The
+question is of historical interest only, and if you stay in Meccania
+long enough to study the historical development of our Culture,
+you will study the history of the Press in its proper place and
+connection. I will, however, add for your present information that the
+Central Government issues a complete series of Gazettes, which serve
+the same purpose for the country as a whole as the _Bridgetown Weekly
+Gazette_ for his locality."
+
+With that the subject was closed for the present.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Although I had now been here nearly a whole week, I had not yet had
+an opportunity of strolling round to see anything that might catch
+my fancy. Everything had been done according to the programme.
+Nevertheless, I had noticed a few things in the course of my daily
+tours which Conductor Sheep did not think worthy of comment. I got very
+tired of his guide-book style of explanation. Bridgetown was hardly
+worth the painful and systematic study which he compelled me to give to
+it, and I decided to go straight on to the capital in a few days.
+
+I saw no drunken people--the regulations do not permit drunkenness.
+I saw no loose women in the streets. On this subject I can get no
+information from Sheep, but I suspect there is something to learn.
+There were no advertisement hoardings. I must confess I rather missed
+them; they may be ugly, but they are often interesting. The shops were
+very dull. Nothing was displayed in the windows to tempt people to buy,
+and there were no people about the streets shopping in a casual way.
+People must know what they want, and go to the shops which specialise
+in the particular article. There were large stores; but even these were
+so divided into departments that there was little fun in shopping.
+Indiscriminate and casual shopping is distinctly discouraged by the
+State. Advertising is restricted to trade journals, except for a little
+in the miserable local gazettes. Only those forms of production which
+the State considers necessary are allowed to expand indefinitely;
+all the others are regulated. Consequently there are none of the
+incitements to expenditure which exist in most modern countries. I have
+never been a great shopper, but I could not have believed how much
+duller life was without the attractions of the shop windows and the
+stores, if I had not been here. For instance, I found that I had very
+foolishly come without a pair of bedroom slippers, so I wanted to buy
+a pair. I looked round naturally for a shop where I should see such
+things displayed in the window, but I had to go to the slipper section
+of the boot department of a store, choose from an illustrated catalogue
+the quality I wanted, and take whatever they had.
+
+I thought I should have seen book-shops displaying all the most recent
+books and publications. In other countries I found it possible to pick
+up a great deal of information by noticing the kind of literature
+exposed for sale. Booksellers' shops have always an attraction for
+me. To my amazement the book-sellers' shops have disappeared from
+Meccania, yet I know from my own reading they used to be quite a
+feature in the life of the old Meccania. The censorship of the printing
+trade has apparently revolutionised the book-selling business. At any
+rate, the only place in which I could get to see books in Bridgetown
+was at a sort of office in the Technical College. It seems that the
+Publications Department of the Ministry of Culture--I think that is the
+right name--has in every town a public room, fitted up like a small
+library, in which all the current books published are exhibited for six
+months at a time. This is really a very useful institution in itself,
+but the books exhibited were not on sale, so all the pleasurable
+excitement of a book-_shop_ was wanting. To _buy_ books one must order
+them through an authorised book-agent, who has a sort of monopoly. I
+wondered why such an extraordinary arrangement should have been made,
+but when I got the explanation from Sheep it was quite consistent with
+the general scheme of things here.
+
+I asked him whether the Government discouraged the public from reading.
+He said, "Not at all. Our people are great readers; they do not need
+any incitements to read. They consult the lists of new books and come
+to the book-room to see any book in which they are interested. Then
+they decide whether to buy it or to borrow it from the public library."
+
+"But why do you not permit people to open book-shops?"
+
+"It would be a sheer waste," replied Sheep. "One book-agent can
+supply all the books required in Bridgetown without keeping a stock
+of thousands of books that would never be wanted or not wanted for
+years. Apply the same principle to other towns and you will see that by
+keeping only one central stock we effect a great economy."
+
+I pointed out that in other countries the publishers kept the stock and
+supplied booksellers with what they wanted, allowing them to keep a few
+copies for the immediate sales; and that consequently this was almost
+as economical an arrangement.
+
+"But," said Sheep, "we have no publishers in your sense of the word.
+When a book is written it cannot be printed without the sanction of the
+Government censors, who decide how many copies in the first instance
+are to be issued. The publishers are really printers who arrange the
+form and style of the book, but undertake no responsibility such as
+publishers in other countries undertake."
+
+"Then the Government are really the publishers?" I suggested.
+
+"Well," answered Sheep, "the Government _are_ the publishers of most
+books. That is to say, the number of Government publications exceeds
+the number of private publications, but as regards the latter the
+publishers or printers assume the financial responsibility for the
+sales but are insured by the Government against loss, so long as they
+comply with the conditions imposed by the Publishing Department."
+
+But I have digressed too far. My interest in book-shops must be my
+excuse. Not only were there no casual shoppers, but I saw no one
+sauntering about the streets. Everybody seemed to have an object in
+view. There were no children playing. The children were either marching
+in step to or from school, or they were performing some kind of
+organised game--if it could be called a game--under the supervision of
+a teacher or guardian. The workmen going to their work, or returning,
+also marched in step like soldiers. The women going to market went at
+the appointed time and took their place in a little queue if there were
+more than three or four in front of them. At the theatre there was no
+crowd outside; every one had his numbered seat and went to it at the
+minute. Each man's ticket has printed on it the day of his attendance,
+the number of the seat and the exact time at which he must be present.
+
+There are no such things here as football matches or other sports
+witnessed by crowds. The men attend military drill once a week, some
+on Sundays and some on Saturdays. This is in addition to their annual
+periods of drill. The only custom which survives from old times,
+resembling the customs of other countries, is that of sitting in the
+evening in gardens attached to restaurants. Here the people listen to
+bands of music whilst they drink a thin kind of liquor and smoke cigars.
+
+The sense of orderliness is almost oppressive. Every hour of the day
+has been mapped out for me, except when I have been writing my journal
+in the evening. The day before yesterday we began to visit the State
+institutions. The chief of these is the Post Office, but the most
+remarkable is the Time Department. The Post Office is very much like
+any other post office, except that it has a Censor's Department. All
+letters are actually read by the clerks in the Censor's Department.
+Sheep gave me a curious explanation in justification of this
+extraordinary institution. Put briefly, his case was this. The State
+could not, with due regard to the interests of the community, allow
+_all_ letters to go uncensored. All sorts of mischief might be hatched.
+If the State censors any letters it cannot logically stop short of
+censoring all. As to the labour involved, this pays for itself. For
+the public, knowing that its letters are liable to be read, does not
+indulge in unnecessary letter-writing. Thus time is saved, which can be
+devoted to more useful purposes. The statistics compiled by the Time
+Department have completely proved that the labour of the fifty clerks
+employed in censoring the letters effects a saving of more than four
+times the amount of time which would otherwise be spent by the public
+in useless letter-writing.
+
+This Time Department is the most extraordinary institution of all I
+have seen so far. Every person over ten years of age is required to
+fill in a diary-form each week showing the time spent daily on every
+separate operation. The diary form is a stout double sheet of foolscap
+providing four pages altogether. The first page is stamped with the
+name, address, and other particulars of the 'diarist.' The two open
+pages are ruled into 336 small oblong spaces, one for each half-hour of
+the week. In these spaces brief entries are made, such as 'breakfast,'
+'tram-journey,' 'conversation,' 'sleeping,' etc. This part of the
+diary thus gives a chronological account of each day in successive
+half-hours. On the back page is printed a long list of about 150
+categories in three columns. I noticed such headings as these:--Sleep,
+dressing, meals (subdivided), travelling (conveyance specified),
+employment (specified under many heads), study (specified), reading,
+letter-writing, interviews with officials, attendance at theatre,
+concert, church, museum, etc., conversation (subdivided into family,
+friends, others), other amusements (specified), public ceremonies,
+drill, etc. Against each of these headings the total number of minutes
+spent during the week is recorded.
+
+The information derived from these diaries is scrutinised and worked
+up into elaborate reports and statistics for the benefit of the
+Sociological Department, the Police Department, the Department of
+Trade and Industry, and so forth. I hope to learn more of this most
+remarkable feature of Meccanian life when I reach the capital, where
+the Central Time Department carries on its work.
+
+I have good reason to remember the Time Department, for on Sunday
+morning after breakfast I was sent for by the official who manages
+the Hotel for Foreign Observers. He told me rather curtly that he had
+just received a telephone message from the local office of the Time
+Department inquiring whether I had sent in my diary, as it had not
+been received. I told him I knew nothing about such a thing. He said,
+"Nonsense. You have had the usual instructions given to all foreigners.
+Look among your papers." I did look, and there, sure enough, was a
+sheet of instructions and three blank forms. He said, "You had better
+fill it up at once." So I went to the writing-room and began. But I
+could not remember what had happened at all clearly enough to fill the
+half of it in. At the end of an hour the hotel manager came to ask what
+I was doing all this time. I explained my difficulty. He asked if I had
+not kept a pocket-diary: it was indispensable. I suddenly remembered
+the pocket-diary Sheep had procured for me; but I had forgotten to
+make use of it. What a fool I was! We spent the next hour doctoring up
+the diary and then sent it in. He told me I should have to pay a fine
+of ten shillings for the delay. I did not mind that, but the next day
+I received a visit from an official from the Time Department, who
+came with Conductor Sheep to point out that there were many errors in
+the diary. The times for a number of items did not tally with those
+in Conductor Sheep's diary, although we had been together the whole
+week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. I should have to make out a fresh
+diary with the assistance of Conductor Sheep, and pay a fine of £1.
+The charge of falsifying my diary would not be made, in view of my
+colossal ignorance; the charge would be reduced to that of negligence
+to verify particulars. Conductor Sheep was rather disagreeable about
+the affair, as it might be considered to reflect on him. I certainly
+thought he might have taken the trouble to instruct me more fully upon
+such a momentous business. However, as I was on the point of leaving
+Bridgetown for Mecco, I was not much disturbed by his ill-humour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+INTRODUCTION TO MECCO
+
+
+It is a week since I arrived in Mecco, and for the first time I have
+leisure to write up my journal. The life of a Foreign Observer is very
+strenuous, for the Meccanian method of seeing everything according
+to programme and timetable is very fatiguing. Already I feel that
+a holiday will be welcome at the end of my tour. In the whole of
+this vast city of Mecco there is nothing casual, nothing incidental,
+nothing unprovided for. Although I am only a spectator, I feel like
+a little cog in the huge complicated machine. The machine seems to
+absorb everything; the individual counts for nothing. That is perhaps
+the reason why it seems impossible to get into contact with any human
+being other than the officials who instruct me and conduct me every
+moment of my time. I begin to wonder whether the individual Meccanian
+really exists, or whether his personality is merged in the official
+personality which is all that is visible to me.
+
+To resume the record of my experiences. Before I left Bridgetown,
+Sub-Conductor Sheep repeated his opinion that in choosing Tour No. 1,
+which allowed only a week for the study of an important town, I had
+revealed my incapacity as a Foreign Observer. He evidently put me down
+in one of the pigeon-holes of his mind as a mere tourist--a creature
+almost extinct in Meccania. The day before my departure I paid the
+bill for his services, which were reckoned at the modest rate of 16s.
+a day. My hotel bill was also discharged, and I proceeded to my final
+interview with the Police Authorities. I had to submit to another
+disinfecting bath, but apart from this the medical examination was a
+formality.
+
+At the Police Office, Inspector of Foreigners Stiff was very sarcastic
+at my expense. "So you think there is nothing more to be learnt in
+Bridgetown," he remarked. "It is not more than ten days since you left
+Luniland, and you think yourself qualified to proceed to the very
+centre of our national Culture. Evidently your stay in Luniland has not
+improved whatever powers of appreciation you may have possessed; but
+that is what one would expect from that country of amateurs, charlatans
+and cranks. You have seen nothing of our Museum, our Art Collections,
+our Libraries: you are not interested in such things. How, then, do you
+suppose you will be able to appreciate what you will find in Mecco? We
+do our best to assist all Foreign Observers, but it is rather a waste
+of time to provide an experienced and qualified Conductor for persons
+who are so clever that they only require a week to learn all there
+is to know in a whole city. However," he added, "the law with respect
+to Foreign Observers does not forbid you to proceed to Mecco. You
+have your medical certificate, I suppose, to show that you are still
+disease-free?" I produced it. "Have you notified the Railway Authority
+of your intention to travel to Mecco?" I had not done so.
+
+"Turn to paragraph 44 of your Instructions and you will see that a
+day's notice must be given," he said brusquely. "You will have to stay
+another night in the hotel and travel to-morrow. Good morning."
+
+Sheep accompanied me to the booking-office at the station, where I
+filled up a form of application. When this was presented to the clerk
+in charge, a fussy little old man in a chocolate-coloured uniform, he
+turned to Sheep in great excitement and whispered something which I did
+not hear. Then he turned indignantly to me and said, "But you are not
+an Ambassador, nor even a Government Agent."
+
+"No," I said; "I am merely National Councillor Ming."
+
+"So I see," he answered testily, "but why do you wish to travel First
+Class?" (I had filled in the word "First" in the space for "Class.")
+"Are you not aware," he said, "that only foreigners who are Ambassadors
+are ever permitted to travel First Class? You will travel Third Class
+in the compartment for Foreign Observers."
+
+Next morning I went to the station in good time. An attendant from the
+hotel brought my bags over and handed them to one of the porters. I
+did not see them again until I found them in the hotel at Mecco. I was
+handed over to an official at the station. This person looked at my
+travel-permit and informed me curtly that I had arrived too early. I
+said, "Oh, that does not matter. I can look about the station until the
+train starts."
+
+"That is not permitted," he said. "You will go to the waiting-room--that
+is what a waiting-room is for. Your train will come in a quarter of an
+hour before it is due to leave, and you will then take your seat,
+Coach Third Class, Compartment IV., Seat No. 12."
+
+So I was taken to the waiting-room. Apparently I did not miss much of
+interest, for the station was one of the quietest and dullest I have
+ever seen. There is very little traffic across the frontier, so that
+Bridgetown station is a sort of dead-end. Only three passenger trains a
+day go direct to Mecco, and these are by no means crowded. I have since
+learnt that the restrictions on travelling in all parts of Meccania are
+part of the general policy designed to keep down unnecessary forms of
+expenditure to a minimum.
+
+The train was due to leave at ten o'clock. At a quarter before ten
+exactly, as I looked through the window screen I saw it gliding along
+the platform into the bay. A bell rang, and my porter came to take me
+to my place. As I stepped across the platform I saw about a hundred
+people preparing to get into the train. Where they had been up to this
+moment I do not know. There was no bustle. Each person took his place
+as if he had been taking his seat in a concert-room. There was no
+examination of tickets. Every one had booked his seat the day before,
+and every seat was numbered. The train was made up of five passenger
+coaches, a post-office van, a baggage wagon, two wagons for perishable
+goods and a special coach for soldiers (privates). One of the passenger
+coaches painted red bore a large Roman II., indicating that it was a
+Second Class coach, another painted yellow was marked III., two others
+painted green were marked IV., and another painted chocolate was marked
+V. There was no First Class coach on this train, as there were no
+persons of the First Class travelling by it. Neither, apparently, were
+there any Sixth or Seventh Class passengers. Every one travelling wore
+a sort of uniform overcoat of the same colour as that of the coach in
+which he travelled. It was only later that I was able to recognise
+readily and without confusion the colours appropriate to the seven
+social classes, but I did notice that the Fifth Class wore chocolate,
+the Fourth green, the Third yellow and the Second red or scarlet.
+
+I was taken to a compartment temporarily set apart for foreigners in
+the Third Class coach. There was still ten minutes before the train
+started, so I looked out of the window and saw the porters and minor
+officials storing the luggage, putting in the mails, and so forth. The
+perishable goods had already been loaded, in a siding I suppose. No one
+was permitted on the platform except the railway servants, so that the
+station looked almost deserted. Presently the stationmaster, dressed in
+a green uniform with chocolate facings and a bit of gold braid on his
+cap, came on the platform and looked at his watch. Then, exactly as the
+big bell of the station clock began to strike ten, he waved a signal
+and the train glided out.
+
+In a few minutes we were going at 100 miles an hour, and in less than
+a quarter of an hour the speed increased to 150. The track was smooth,
+but I began to feel dizzy when I looked out of the window. There was
+little to be seen, for every now and then we passed between embankments
+that shut out the view. I pulled down the blinds, turned on the light
+and tried to read. In a short time I had almost forgotten the immense
+speed at which we were travelling.
+
+I had previously learnt that if I went to Mecco by the express I
+should see nothing of the country, and had consequently proposed to
+travel by a stopping train, perhaps breaking my journey a few times.
+But when I mentioned this to Sheep he said it would be impossible. I
+could not stop at any place to make a stay of less than three days,
+and each of the places I stopped at would have to be notified. I must
+either go direct to Mecco, or to some other city. So here I was, almost
+flying to Mecco. After about an hour, one of the guards came in to
+see that everything was in order. He wore a chocolate uniform, with a
+number of stripes and other symbols to indicate his particular grade,
+occupation and years of service. After stamping my ticket he grinned
+good-humouredly for a Meccanian, and said, "So you are going to see the
+wonders of our wonderful Mecco. Lucky man! There is nothing like it
+anywhere in the world."
+
+"Indeed," I said, "you have travelled abroad a good deal, then?"
+
+"Oh no. I have never been out of Meccania, thank God!"
+
+"What makes you think there is nothing like it, then, in any other
+country?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, the wide streets, the buildings, the gardens, the monuments, the
+uniforms, the music, everything--it is c-o-l-o-s-s-a-l! When you have
+seen the great monument, the statue of Prince Mechow! There is nothing
+like it anywhere. You will see! And you must not miss the Memorial
+Museum of Prince Mechow! I tell you it is a privilege to live in Mecco.
+But I must not gossip," he said, as if half ashamed; "I have many
+duties," and off he went. Towards the end of the journey, which lasted
+a little over two hours, he looked in again and said, "You must not
+leave Mecco until you have seen the great festival on Prince Mechow's
+birthday." I promised to remember it.
+
+As we drew near to Mecco the train slackened speed, and I could see,
+but only for a minute or two, a great city spread over a wide plain.
+There were domes and towers, steeples and pinnacles, huge masses of
+masonry suggesting great public buildings, then miles of houses and
+gardens and in the far distance warehouses and factories, but no smoke.
+We plunged into a tunnel and then emerged suddenly into a blaze of
+light. The train glided along the platform, and as I stepped out I
+could not help looking round in admiration at the truly magnificent
+arches and lofty dome of the great Central Station of Mecco. The roof
+seemed to be made of some wonderful prismatic glass that radiated light
+everywhere. The ground was covered with immense tiles in coloured
+patterns, all as clean as if they had been washed and scrubbed that
+very hour. Not a speck of dirt or smoke was to be seen. Although
+hundreds of people were in the station, there was no bustle. No one
+sauntered about; every one seemed to go just where he had business.
+There was no scrambling for luggage or for cabs. No one was allowed to
+take luggage with him unless it could be carried in one hand; the rest
+was all registered and sent to its destination by the railway servants.
+Only persons of the third or a higher class were allowed to use
+motor-cabs, and these were all ordered beforehand. The impression of
+orderliness was almost uncanny. As I reached the end of the platform I
+was touched on the shoulder by a man in the green uniform of the Fourth
+Class, decorated with several stripes and badges. "You are National
+Councillor Ming," he said, "and I am Conductor of Foreign Observers
+Prigge."
+
+He seemed to be in very good spirits, but this made him rather
+offensive than amiable. He treated me as if I were a sort of prisoner,
+or at any rate as if I were a very juvenile pupil. He said that as my
+bags had gone to the Hotel for Foreign Observers we need not go there
+first, but could proceed straight to the Police Office. This was not
+far from the station and was a large building, almost like a fortress
+in front. Viewed from the other side, as I afterwards saw, it was more
+like a set of offices with large windows.
+
+First of all I was taken to the police doctor, who spent nearly two
+hours upon a minute medical examination of me. The object of this
+could not have been to make sure that I was "disease-free," for I
+had been seen the day before by the police doctor at Bridgetown. It
+could not have been for the purpose of identification, seeing that the
+authorities had obtained all the finger-prints and everything else
+they required, on my first arrival. I could only conclude that it was
+for the purpose of scientific research. I judged from the remarks
+made by Doctor Pincher in the course of his investigations that he
+was an expert anthropologist. He took samples of my hair, not only
+from my head, but from various parts of my body. He took a sample of
+my blood, and of the perspiration from several different glands. He
+even removed a small particle of skin, without any pain. He tested
+my eyesight, hearing and smell, my muscular powers, and all sorts of
+reactions to various stimuli. He informed me that I should require a
+pair of spectacles. I said I did not think it was worth while, as I
+had never yet experienced any discomfort. He replied that that made no
+difference, and proceeded to write out a prescription which he told me
+to take to a certain office, where, in a few days, I should be supplied
+with the necessary glasses. He then took a cast of my mouth and of my
+ears, and measured me in twenty different places. Finally he gave me a
+drink of what appeared to be water, but which made me unconscious for
+several minutes. What he did during those few minutes I do not know,
+and he did not deign to inform me. As I left him he smiled--I suppose
+he thought he was being amiable--and said, "We do not have the pleasure
+of seeing a Chinaman here every day."
+
+I was then taken to the office of Chief Inspector of Foreigners Pryer.
+He looked at me, asked a few trivial questions, and handed me over to a
+subordinate, Lower Inspector of Foreigners Bulley. This gentleman sat
+at a desk, and after noting the time and my name on a sort of tablet,
+took out a yellow form, foolscap size, upon which he proceeded to make
+notes of my answers to his questions. He put me through a catechism
+as to what I had seen in Bridgetown. Which of the local institutions
+had I visited, which of the national, which of the local and national?
+What had I learnt of the industrial and social economy of Bridgetown?
+What had I learnt of the cultural institutions? Had I made notes of my
+daily tours, and could I produce them? (Luckily all my notes were in a
+language that Inspector Bulley could not read.)
+
+He then proceeded to discuss plans for my tours of observation in
+Mecco. In the first place, how long did I propose to stay? I did not
+know. What did the length of my stay depend upon? I said it would
+largely depend upon my ability to stand the strain of it.
+
+I thought this would perhaps annoy him, but on the contrary it pleased
+him immensely. "Good!" he said. "You are here to study the institutions
+of Mecco, and you will stay as long as you have the strength to carry
+out your task."
+
+That was not what I meant, but I let it pass.
+
+"I think you had better select the preliminary six months' tour of
+observation," he said. "After that, you can begin the study of any
+special branch for which you are qualified, and for which you have
+an inclination; possibly industry, possibly art, possibly sociology,
+possibly education. We can decide that at the end of your preliminary
+period. You will have for your guide, for the first few weeks, Lower
+Conductor Prigge. As, however, he has just been promoted to a higher
+rank in the police service, he will not be available after the first
+few weeks, but I will arrange for a suitable successor."
+
+He then presented me with several documents. "This," he said, handing
+me a thick notebook of some two hundred pages, "is the preliminary
+diary in which you make your notes in whatever form you like. There
+are four pages for each day. This is the formal diary for the Time
+Department, to be carefully entered up each week and posted before
+Sunday morning. These are the sheets of Instructions specially drawn
+up for Foreign Observers in Mecco; you will notice they are all marked
+'Tour No. 4,' and numbered consecutively. And this," handing me a thin
+metal plate about half the size of a postcard, "is your identification
+ticket."
+
+It was now the middle of the afternoon. I had had no luncheon, so when
+Prigge came to take me off to the hotel, I proposed that we should
+have some tea. He demurred a little, as he did not drink tea, but he
+consented to have some coffee and a cigar in the smoke-room if I would
+drink my tea there. So we went on talking over our tea and coffee, and
+this is a specimen of the conversation:--
+
+"You will understand," said Prigge, "that everything depends upon
+your own energy and intelligence. If you apply yourself thoroughly
+to the work before you, you will learn more in a fortnight under
+my guidance than in a whole year in Luniland. I have had a long
+experience in conducting foreigners. Most of them have no idea how to
+observe, especially those who come from Luniland. They want to roam
+about without any system or method at all. They want to see an Art
+Gallery one day, and a manufactory the next; or even on the same day.
+Then they want to see a natural history museum on the same day as an
+archæological museum; they will fly from pottery to pictures, and from
+geology to botany. Why, I was taking one of them through our great
+museum illustrative of the stages of culture, which is arranged in
+twenty successive centuries, and when we had reached the sixteenth he
+actually wanted to turn back to look at something in the twelfth!"
+
+"I think it will be a good thing," I said, "if I ask you questions as
+we go along, about matters that strike me. With all your knowledge you
+will be able to tell me many things outside the regular routine."
+
+"Your proposal implies," he replied, "that I shall not give you
+the appropriate information in proper order. If you will follow my
+directions you will learn more than by any amount of aimless and
+desultory questioning. I have studied the principles of Pedagogy as
+applied to conducting Foreign Observers, and I shall accommodate the
+presentation of new matter to the existing content of your mind, in so
+far as your mind has any definite content. You will not be precluded
+from asking questions, but whether I shall answer them will depend upon
+their relevance to the subject in hand."
+
+Before we parted he gave me some general instructions. "For the first
+week," he said, "you will not be permitted to converse with other
+foreigners staying in the hotel. Tonight you will be free to attend
+to your private affairs and prepare for tomorrow. We shall begin by a
+survey of the general geography of the city, and in the evening you
+will have permission to attend one of the lectures specially given
+to Foreign Observers by Professor Proser-Toady on Prince Mechow, the
+re-Founder of the Meccanian State. Professor Proser-Toady is the
+Professor of Historical Culture in Mecco, and this course of lectures
+is given periodically, so that foreigners may have no excuse for being
+ignorant of the true history of the rise and development of Meccanian
+culture."
+
+So I spent the evening in writing letters, looking up my 'Instructions,'
+and filling up my diary. For this day, interviews with officials
+accounted for at least five hours. Next morning at nine o'clock
+Conductor Prigge turned up, looking more perky than ever. He had all
+the airs of a professor, a police officer, and a drill sergeant rolled
+into one. "Our first business will be to study the map," he said. "To
+that we will give one and a half hours. After that we will ascend the
+look-out tower in the Meteorological Department and take a view of
+the city in the concrete. In the afternoon we will go by tram-car in
+three concentric circles, and in the evening you will attend Professor
+Proser-Toady's lecture."
+
+We began with the maps. I remembered something of the maps of the old
+city from my geographical studies at home, and I remarked on the great
+changes, for hardly a vestige of the old city seemed to remain.
+
+Prigge appeared rather pleased. "That is an instance of the superiority
+of our culture," he remarked. "All the other capitals of Europe," he
+said, "still preserve the plan of the mediæval city, in the central
+parts at least. And the central parts are the most important. The
+authorities profess to have preserved them because of their historical
+interest. In reality it is because they do not know how to remodel
+them. Against human stupidity the very gods fight in vain, but to
+intelligence all things are possible. Any dolt can plan a new city,
+but we are the only people in Europe who know how to remodel our old
+cities. Now you will notice," he went on, "that we have preserved the
+old royal palace and several other important buildings. They do not
+interfere with the general plan. The large central ring, over a square
+mile in extent, is occupied by Government buildings; and although there
+is a larger number than in all the European capitals put together,
+they are not crowded. The square of Prince Mechow, where the great
+statue stands, is the largest in Europe. The ring outside that is
+occupied by Cultural Institutions, Museums, Art Galleries, Libraries,
+the University, the Zoological Gardens, the Botanical Gardens, and so
+forth. Next comes a very much larger ring, occupied almost entirely by
+the residential quarters of the six social classes. (In Mecco itself
+there are no members of the Seventh Class.) The whole presents a
+superficial resemblance to a great wheel."
+
+"Where, then, is the manufacturing quarter and the business quarter?"
+
+"Now where would you expect?" he asked, as if to show off his own
+cunning.
+
+"I saw a number of factories in the distance," I said.
+
+"Yes," he answered, "the manufacturing quarter lies outside the ring
+and forms a sort of town by itself."
+
+"And the business quarter? That must be centrally placed," I said.
+
+"Not necessarily. If you draw a line from the centre of Mecco to the
+industrial quarter you will find the commercial quarter occupying
+a long rectangle between the second ring and the outer edge of the
+exterior circle. The commercial quarter thus cuts the residential ring
+on one side. The residential quarters of the Sixth and Fifth Classes
+lie on each side of the commercial quarter and are therefore nearest to
+the industrial quarter.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"You will observe," he continued, "that we have no Seventh Class in
+Mecco itself. We are an Imperial city, and even the servants of the
+well-to-do belong to the Sixth Class. It is the greatest privilege of
+a Meccanian citizen to live in Mecco, and all the citizens of Mecco
+are, so to speak, selected. None but loyal upholders of the national
+and imperial ideal are allowed the privilege of living here. It would
+not be right. There again, it is our superior national culture that
+has enabled us to realise such a plan. What Government in Europe could
+drive out of its capital all citizens who did not actively support the
+State?"
+
+"It is indeed a wonderful thing," I said. "But what becomes of such
+disloyal citizens when they are, shall I say, expelled or exiled?"
+
+"Ah! You must not believe that _we_ have had to indulge in any policy
+of expulsion. You will not find any disloyal element anywhere in
+Meccania. A few individuals you might find, but most of them are in
+lunatic asylums."
+
+"But surely," I said, "I have read in the histories of Meccania, that
+formerly there were large numbers of people, among the working classes
+chiefly, who were, well, rather revolutionary in their ideas, and whom
+I should not have expected to see becoming loyal to such a State as the
+Meccania of to-day."
+
+He smiled a very superior smile. "Really," he said, "the ignorance of
+our country which foreigners betray is extraordinary. Disloyalty to
+the State is found in every country _except_ Meccania. We have got rid
+of it long ago by the simple process of Education. If we find an odd
+individual who displays disloyal sentiments we regard him as a lunatic
+and treat him accordingly."
+
+"How?" I asked.
+
+"We put him in a lunatic asylum."
+
+"And your lunatic asylums? Have you enough for the purpose?" I ventured
+to ask.
+
+Conductor Prigge luckily did not see the point. "In most cases," he
+said, "the threat is sufficient. We require very few lunatic asylums,
+just as we require few prisons. But we are wandering from the subject,"
+he remarked; and he drew out a map of the residential quarters,
+coloured in white, red, yellow, green, chocolate and grey, the colours
+of the classes, omitting the Seventh.
+
+I noticed that the parts coloured white, red and yellow covered about
+half the circle. I was going to put some questions to Prigge as to the
+relative numbers of the classes, when he said, "I do not think you
+have yet grasped our sevenfold classification of the citizenship of
+Meccania."
+
+"Somewhat imperfectly, I am afraid," I replied.
+
+"Then you have not grasped it," he said. "You cannot be said to grasp
+it if you are not perfectly clear about it. I will explain. Attend!
+Begin with the lowest. That is the logical order. The Seventh Class
+consists of persons of the lowest order of intelligence who cannot
+profit by the ordinary instruction in the schools beyond a very
+moderate degree. They are not very numerous. From the age of ten they
+are taught to do simple work of a purely mechanical kind, and when
+strong enough are set to do the most menial work which requires little
+intelligence. A few other persons, who have failed in life through
+their own fault, are relegated to this class as a punishment.
+
+"The Sixth Class corresponds to the unskilled labouring class of most
+foreign countries. They are recruited from the children who at twelve
+years of age show only average ability. They are then trained to do
+either simple manual work, or to act as servants in families below the
+Second Class.
+
+"The Fifth is the largest class; it is larger than the Sixth and
+Seventh together. We require a very large number of skilled artisans
+and clerks in a subordinate capacity. Consequently, we train all who
+are capable of profiting by a combination of theoretical and practical
+instruction until the age of fifteen, and even for some years after
+that, in industrial schools, where they study the practical aspects of
+mathematics and science. Consequently, they are by far the most skilled
+artisan class in the world. We have no trouble in inducing them to
+apply themselves to study, for any member of the Fifth Class who failed
+to profit by the system of instruction provided for him would soon find
+himself in the Sixth Class, which enjoys much less in the shape of
+privileges and material well-being than the Fifth.
+
+"The Fourth Class includes most of the bourgeoisie, the bulk of the
+officials and clergy, as well as the small group of professional people
+who are not officials. In detail it comprises tradesmen, managers of
+businesses and foremen in responsible positions. All these are in the
+Industrial and Commercial world. Then come all Civil servants below
+the first grade, all non-commissioned officers in the Army and Navy,
+all the Clergy below the rank of Bishops. The professional people I
+referred to are a few who have not been absorbed in the official class.
+We have no journalists in Meccania, no doctors who are not in the State
+service, and no lawyers who are not officials."
+
+"Then who _are_ these professional people?" I interrupted.
+
+"They are merely a handful of people, mostly possessed of small private
+means, who write books that are never published, or cultivate art, or
+music, or science. They are not good enough to be taken into the State
+service, and they are gradually disappearing altogether.
+
+"The Third Class," he resumed, "corresponds partly to the Higher
+Bourgeoisie of other countries, but it also includes several
+more important elements. It comprises the richer merchants and
+manufacturers, who must possess an income of at least £5000 a year; the
+first class of Civil servants, the Higher Clergy, those University
+Professors who have held their posts for ten years and are approved
+by the Ministry of Culture, landed proprietors who are District
+Councillors and Magistrates, and all Fund-holders with an income of
+£10,000 a year.
+
+"The Second Class is the military class. It includes all officers, who
+must be of noble birth. A few of the highest Civil servants are in this
+class, but they must have previously served as officers in the Army or
+Navy.
+
+"The First Class is partly military and partly civil; but, except
+members of royal or ducal families, all in the First Class have
+previously passed through the Second. Ambassadors are in the First
+Class, but they have all served for a period as officers in the Army.
+Even the head of a department of State is not admitted to the First
+Class unless he has previously been in the Second Class.
+
+"Lastly, the relative numbers of the various classes are as follows:
+out of a total population of 100,000,000 only about 10,000 are in the
+First Class; 4,000,000 are in the Second; 6,000,000 are in the Third;
+20,000,000 are in the Fourth; 40,000,000 are in the Fifth; 20,000,000
+are in the Sixth; and the rest, nearly 10,000,000, in the Seventh Class.
+
+"All women take the rank of their fathers or their husbands, whichever
+is the higher; children take the rank of their parents until their
+sixteenth year. Is that clear?"
+
+"Quite clear," I replied, "except in one particular."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I take it that some, at any rate, pass from one class to another. By
+what means, for example, does a person who starts life, let us say in
+the Fourth Class, obtain admission to the Third?"
+
+"We must take some particular category."
+
+"A business man, a small manufacturer who is highly successful, perhaps
+makes some valuable discovery which enriches him. How does he obtain
+admission to the Third Class?"
+
+"He must have an income of at least £5000 a year, and he must have
+performed some service to the State," answered Prigge promptly.
+
+"And a Civil servant?"
+
+"If he is promoted to the first grade he also is admitted to the Third
+Class, but this does not frequently happen."
+
+"Then, on the whole, the children of those in each class respectively
+remain in the class in which they are born?"
+
+"That is so as a rule. The percentage has been worked out carefully by
+the statistical branch of the Sociological Department. About 4 per cent
+of the Seventh Class enter the Sixth, about 5 per cent of the Sixth
+enter the Fifth, about 3 per cent of the Fifth enter the Fourth, about
+8 per cent of the Fourth enter the Third. No one, strictly speaking,
+enters the Second from the Third, but as many of the men of the Second
+Class marry women in the Third Class, which is the rich class, the sons
+may enter the Second Class, if they are suitable as officers in the
+Army. Also, a number of the women of the Second Class marry men in the
+Third Class, and their sons also may enter the Army."
+
+"It is a wonderful system," I ventured to observe.
+
+"It is simplicity itself," said Prigge, "yet no other nation has had
+the intelligence to discover it, nor even to copy it. As a matter of
+fact, it is the only logical and scientific classification of society;
+it puts everybody in his proper place."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After this conversation, or rather this discourse, we walked out to
+ascend the look-out tower; but on the way we had to cross the great
+square of Prince Mechow, and there, for the first time, I saw the great
+monument about which I had heard so much. I had expected something
+extraordinary, but I was not prepared for the actual thing. It was
+as high as a church steeple. At the base was a huge shapeless mass
+of basalt. Above this rose a square granite block, twenty feet high,
+covered with high-relief sculptures representing in allegorical form
+the reconstruction of the Meccanian Super-State. At the four corners
+were four figures representing Arms, Intellect, Culture and Power.
+Above this again towered a great pedestal a hundred feet high and
+forty feet in diameter. On the top stood the colossal statue of Prince
+Mechow, a gigantic portrait-figure of a man in the uniform of the
+First Class, his breast covered with decorations, a sword in one hand
+and a mace or some symbolical weapon in the other. The impression of
+brute force which it conveyed was terrific. Every person in the square,
+as he came within sight of it, took off his hat; those in military
+dress saluted it, and pronounced the words, "Long live Meccania and God
+bless Prince Mechow!"
+
+My first feeling on seeing it was one of intense disgust at the
+barbarity of the thing, and I was just going to make some satirical
+remark when I caught sight of Prigge's face. It wore an expression
+of absolute ecstasy, and the look of fierce disdain with which he
+said "Uncover!" was startling. He added something which sounded like
+"Mongolian monkey," but in the excitement of the moment I was not quite
+sure what he said.
+
+I tried to pacify him by saying, in as innocent a tone as I could
+assume, "It is indeed the most remarkable statue I have ever seen."
+
+"It is the most perfect embodiment of Meccanian Culture: no other
+country could produce such a work," he replied solemnly.
+
+"I am inclined to agree," I said. "Who was the artist who conceived and
+executed a monument of such wonderful proportions?"
+
+"The artist? What other nation could produce a man who united such
+gifts with such a true Meccanian spirit? He desired that his name
+should never be spoken. When the work was completed after ten years,
+he gave up his life, and begged to be allowed to be buried underneath
+the rock with all the tools that had been used in the execution of the
+statue. His dying request was respected. His name is never uttered,
+but every child in Meccania knows it, and every citizen in Meccania
+comes once every ten years to salute the statue of Prince Mechow and do
+honour to the hero-artist who lies buried beneath."
+
+"I shall never forget the story," I said, and we walked on to the
+look-out tower. On the way, I noticed that every person in the street
+saluted every other person of higher rank than himself. I have since
+learnt that there are six different forms of salute, one for each class
+above the Seventh, and that it is a point of strict etiquette to give
+the right salute. A salute appropriate to the Fourth Class given to
+a member of the Third is an insult, and the wrong salute given to a
+member of the Second (military) Class may cost the offender his life.
+
+We ascended the look-out tower. The sight was magnificent. From where
+we stood the details of the architecture could not be seen, nor even
+the style of the buildings. But the general impression produced by such
+a vast assemblage of massive edifices was one of grandeur and power,
+while the bright sunlight and the absence of smoke and dirt gave the
+whole city the appearance of having suddenly sprung up in a night, like
+Aladdin's palace.
+
+To the west, in a great semicircle, the quarters of the first three
+classes presented a spectacle such as I have not seen in any capital.
+Every house was a mansion or a villa surrounded by a pleasant garden.
+Here and there one saw large stretches of beautiful park. To the east
+the houses were clustered more thickly together, but even on this side
+there was an air of orderliness and comfort, although certainly not of
+luxury, which contrasted favourably with the populous districts of the
+towns I had seen in other countries. About five miles away we could
+see distinctly, with the aid of the glasses, the manufactories and
+workshops and warehouses of the industrial town that served the needs
+of the whole capital.
+
+Conductor Prigge seemed duly satisfied with the impression made on me.
+"Here," he said, "you are at the centre of the civilisation of the
+modern world. Here are three million thoroughly efficient Meccanians,
+every one in his proper place, every one fulfilling his appointed duty.
+Think of the disorder, the squalor, the conflict of aims, the absence
+of ideals, represented by a city like Lunopolis, or Prisa, and look on
+this picture!"
+
+We descended and returned to the hotel.
+
+After luncheon we proceeded with our tour of the tramway system. By
+this means I got a good view of the exterior appearance of the houses
+of the various classes. It confirmed the impression I had gained
+from the look-out tower, except in one respect. The houses of the
+well-to-do looked as if they had all been designed by the same school
+of architects, and except that they differed in size they might have
+been turned out by machinery. The houses of the rest of the population
+were 'standardised' to an even greater degree. The dwellings of the
+Sixth Class are really blocks of small flats of a standard size; those
+of the Fifth Class are similar, except that the rooms are a little
+larger and there are more of them. One curious fact came to light in
+the course of Conductor Prigge's explanation of the housing system.
+It seems that the Births Department determines the number of children
+each family is expected to have within a given period of years, and
+the houses are distributed accordingly. Thus a family in the Fifth
+Class which is due to have, let us say, four children within the next
+seven years, is assigned a flat of five rooms. Then, if the same family
+is due to have two more children within the next five years, they
+move into a house with seven rooms. Persons in the first grade of the
+Fifth Class are allowed to take a flat with more rooms on payment of a
+special rate or tax.
+
+Apparently there is very little choice of houses. As all the houses of
+a certain grade are practically alike, if a tenant wishes to move to
+another street he has to furnish valid reasons; and it is not easy to
+furnish reasons satisfactory to the authorities. Besides, the number of
+houses or flats is very closely proportioned to the number of tenants,
+and there are never many vacant houses. The members of the Third and
+higher classes own their own houses, and can therefore change their
+residences by purchasing or exchanging. By special privilege members
+of the Fourth Class can obtain permission to buy their houses, but as
+these are mostly flats they are usually rented from the municipality.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PROFESSOR PROSER-TOADY'S LECTURE
+
+
+Following Conductor Prigge's instructions, I presented myself at
+six o'clock in the evening at the entrance to the Great University
+of Mecco. It was the first time I had been out without my 'keeper,'
+but as everybody else was dressed in the Meccanian costume, whilst
+I was wearing the clothes I had been accustomed to wear in Luniland
+and Francaria, there was little risk of my going astray. A porter
+darted out of a box in the entrance hall and directed me to Room 415,
+where the Professor of Historical Culture was to deliver his monthly
+four-hour lecture to Foreign Observers. I found about a dozen Foreign
+Observers of various nationalities waiting in the small lecture-room,
+and presently a few more arrived. Some were Scandinavians, some South
+Americans; a few, I thought, were Turks; several were from some part
+of India. At 6.10 precisely the Professor came in. He wore a brilliant
+yellow uniform of the Third Class, with green facings and buttons and
+a number of little ribbons indicating, I suppose, various services
+rendered to the cause of Meccanian Culture. Apart from his dress he
+resembled the caricatures of Meccanian professors in our comic prints.
+His head was bald on the top and at the front, but at the sides great
+tufts of white hair protruded. His grey beard was of ample proportions.
+His coarse wizened face and staring eyes, covered by a pair of huge
+spectacles, gave him the appearance of a Jack-in-the-box as he sat
+behind a high reading-desk. His voice was tough and leathery. At the
+end of three hours it sounded as fresh and as harsh as in the opening
+sentences. I cannot reproduce the whole lecture; if I did it would
+almost fill a book by itself. I can only hope to give a rough idea of
+it by paraphrasing some of the most salient passages.
+
+He began by saying that to accommodate himself to the culture of his
+foreign auditors he would endeavour to present his subject in the
+simplest possible form, which was the narrative, and would sketch
+the biography of the great re-founder of the Meccanian State, the
+true architect of the First Super-State in the world, the greatest
+political creative genius that had ever stepped upon the World Stage,
+Prince Mechow. We had all seen his memorial statue, a unique monument
+to a unique individual, and no doubt it had made an impression
+upon our imagination; but it was impossible for any work of art
+however great--and here he paid a tribute to the hero-artist who
+built the monument--to convey more than a symbolical suggestion of
+the all-embracing magnificence of Prince Mechow's truly Meccanian
+personality. For that we must look around at the Super-State itself.
+
+Prince Mechow, he said, was historically the culminating figure of
+the national development of Meccania. Compared with many countries
+in Europe, Meccania could not boast a long history. Some historians
+sought a false glory for Meccania by tracing its greatness back to the
+so-called Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, but true Meccanian history
+went back only a few hundred years. In fact, it was not until the
+eighteenth century that the Meccanian State in the proper sense of the
+word began, and only in the nineteenth century did it take its place
+among the powers of the modern world. In the nineteenth century the
+Meccanian State was saved by the genius and will of one great man, the
+worthy predecessor of Prince Mechow, his great-uncle Prince BLUDIRON.
+From a scientific or philosophical point of view it was difficult
+to say whether Prince Bludiron had not contributed as much to the
+greatness of Meccania as Prince Mechow; for it was he, undoubtedly, who
+laid the foundations upon which the final structure rested. The work
+of Prince Bludiron was very different from, but also similar in spirit
+to, the work of Prince Mechow. His task had been to rescue the young
+and inexperienced State from the perils and distractions of the false
+ideals of Liberty and Democracy, to secure the power of the State over
+all sections and classes, to create the proud and confident Meccanian
+spirit and to set the nation on the right path.
+
+The task of Prince Mechow was to erect the Super-State on the
+foundations laid by Prince Bludiron; in other words, to organise the
+energies of the whole nation to one supreme end, to train and direct
+the powers of every individual so as to produce one mind and one will.
+
+Turning to the work of Prince Bludiron, the Professor said that when
+he began his work Meccania was distracted by false and conflicting
+ideals, of foreign origin. Revolution was in the air. People were ready
+to drive out their lawful rulers. Popular government was demanded.
+Parliaments were being set up. It was the saddest page in Meccanian
+history. Had these anarchic forces triumphed, Meccania would have sunk
+to the level of other nations, and the Super-State would never have
+arisen. It was the greatest testimony to the intellectual genius and
+moral power of Prince Bludiron that, after forty years of strenuous
+work, the whole outlook for Meccania was completely changed. The false
+ideal of individual liberty was dead and buried. Popular government
+was a discredited superstition. The military aristocracy were secure
+in their rightful position. The efficiency of the Government was
+demonstrated in every direction, and not least on the field of battle.
+Wars had been won with a rapidity unprecedented in any age.
+
+Prince Bludiron's success was so complete that it was almost impossible
+for us now to realise how great his difficulties had been. So strong
+were the forces of Democracy that even he had to temporise and set up a
+Parliament. He even granted manhood suffrage.
+
+Dr. Proser-Toady then explained how Prince Bludiron outwitted the
+disloyal elements among the people by securing the reality of power
+to the organised centralised State, whilst leaving the semblance of
+control to the representative bodies. He quoted a Foreign Observer, at
+the end of Prince Bludiron's career, who declared that the institutions
+set up by him enabled the State to wield the maximum of power with
+the minimum of opposition. Strangely enough, said the Professor, the
+very movement that threatened to undo all his work was in reality
+of the greatest service. He referred to the movement of Meccanian
+Socialism or Social Democracy which owed its peculiar character to a
+certain demagogue named Spotts. The career and influence of Spotts
+was for a time almost as remarkable as Prince Bludiron's. Spotts
+persuaded his followers that the economic tendencies of modern life
+must inevitably create the Socialist State. The people need only
+wait until these tendencies had worked themselves out and then seize
+the power of the State, which would drop into their hands like ripe
+fruit. He saw in the existing State nothing but organised Capitalism.
+Consequently he encouraged his followers to take no part in the actual
+Government, but to maintain themselves in permanent opposition until
+the inevitable revolution came about, when they were to assume the
+whole control. Spottsian Socialism became the universal doctrine of the
+Meccanian proletariat of those days. They talked about the economic
+interpretation of history, about economic forces, about economic
+revolutions, mixed with vague notions of Liberty and Equality. But in
+reality they cared not a straw for Liberty; what they sought was Power.
+Yet by standing in permanent opposition to every other element in the
+State they played into Prince Bludiron's hands. Whilst they waited for
+the inevitable revolution, he had accustomed the people to prosperity;
+and had raised the prestige of the State at home and abroad. He had
+gained the support of all the strongest elements in society, had
+trained an efficient bureaucracy and an efficient military aristocracy.
+And yet at his death the followers of Spotts went on waiting for the
+economic revolution!
+
+The Professor then dealt briefly with what he said was the most
+difficult period for a Meccanian historian, the period between the
+death of Prince Bludiron and the rise of the still greater statesman,
+Prince Mechow. In that interval no great leader arose, but a number
+of foolish statesmen who fancied they were cast in the mould of the
+great Bludiron. At that time Meccania had commercial relations with
+the whole world, and was rapidly penetrating every country with its
+peculiar culture. Its army and navy were growing in strength, and the
+temper of the people was becoming restless and aggressive. They lacked
+the controlling hand of Prince Bludiron. They were carried away by
+dreams of sudden world-conquest. Foolish statesmen allowed the country
+to be plunged into war with half the world at once. The Meccanians
+performed wonders, but they could not perform miracles, and in the end
+the country was reduced to great straits. Provinces were torn away.
+Its accumulations of wealth were exhausted; its manhood was decimated.
+The situation was terrible, yet it was this tremendous ordeal that
+indirectly created the most favourable conditions for the work of
+Prince Mechow.
+
+During the war the Government had been compelled to take over, more and
+more, the control of every department of life. Under the pressure of
+war the last vestiges of the obsolete doctrines of Individualism had
+disappeared. Now that the war was over, the necessity for increasing
+all the means of wealth-production placed a new power in the hands of
+the State. It was in these years of what was called 'Reconstruction'
+that Prince Mechow came to the front. Every one was depressed. The
+most conflicting views were expressed. Some people lamented that the
+whole work of Prince Bludiron had been destroyed. Others said it had
+been all a mistake, and that the nation ought to have followed the
+example of the rest of Europe. Some advocated hare-brained schemes of
+'Internationalism,' as they called it.
+
+Prince Mechow was one of the few who kept a clear head. He saw exactly
+where the blunder had been made. Meccania had ventured upon projects of
+world-conquest before completing the internal work of perfecting the
+Super-State on the foundations laid down by Prince Bludiron. He saw
+that we must go back exactly to the point where Prince Bludiron left
+off. But the first step was the most difficult. Prince Mechow was quite
+a young man, not more than thirty, and was only an Under-Secretary.
+He had one advantage in that he was a grand-nephew of Prince Bludiron
+and had the ear of the Emperor, who very soon made him Minister of the
+Interior, a post created to relieve the Chief Minister.
+
+Professor Proser-Toady said we should obtain the clearest conception
+of Prince Mechow's views and the best key to his policy in a volume of
+correspondence with his cousin General Count Block. Count Block, like
+many of his military colleagues, was alarmed at the general confusion.
+He declared there was nothing for it but to sweep away all popular
+representative institutions, restrict education to the upper classes
+and fall back upon the direct rule of the military. Prince Mechow
+pointed out that such a policy would fail utterly: it would bring
+about the very revolution it sought to avoid. Efficiency could never
+be created by the military alone. Industrial efficiency was absolutely
+necessary to military power. He agreed in the main with Count Block's
+objects, but declared that his means were clumsy and inadequate.
+The work of Prince Bludiron must be continued by the creation of a
+Super-State. The _term_ had already been coined, but the _thing_ did
+not yet exist.
+
+It is in Prince Mechow's clear conception of the Super-State that we
+see his intellectual genius, but it is in the steps he took to bring
+it into being that we realise his kinship with his famous predecessor,
+Prince Bludiron. Prince Bludiron had had to live from hand to mouth
+relying upon his statesman's instinct. Prince Mechow, even before he
+became Chief Minister, foresaw every detail of the structure he was
+determined to erect.
+
+The State, he said, has hitherto done only what is forced upon it by
+necessity. It has never attempted to utilise the whole energies of the
+Nation. The Super-State will only come into being by uniting in itself
+the will, the knowledge, the wisdom, and the multifarious energies,
+of the whole people. The State has been merely the strongest organ of
+society: the Super-State must be the only organ, uniting all others in
+itself.
+
+How was such a conception to be realised concretely? In explaining his
+plans he found ample illustration in the circumstances of the recent
+Great War. The State had not only controlled everything essential to
+the conduct of the war; it had not only regulated the manufacture of
+all supplies, including food and clothing for the whole nation, but had
+undertaken a thousand activities never previously dreamt of, except by
+the Socialists.
+
+He proposed to capture the whole armoury of the Socialists by gradually
+seizing everything for the State itself. The motto of the Super-State
+must be Efficiency. But to be efficient the State must absorb all the
+persons who represented efficiency. The whole conception of Bureaucracy
+must be revolutionised by being carried to its logical conclusion.
+The efficiency of a business firm depends upon the efficiency of the
+persons composing it. The efficiency of the Super-State will depend
+upon the efficiency of the new Bureaucracy and the Military Class.
+There was no instance in history of an efficient Government being
+overthrown by any popular forces.
+
+A century of industrial development had transformed the material world,
+whilst in the meantime the organisation of the State had almost stood
+still. The Super-State must borrow from the Socialists the conception
+of an all-embracing power and activity, and from the Industrial world
+the machinery for the execution of its will. The most efficient and
+successful business firms were those which got every ounce of work
+out of every member of the firm. The Super-State must not be less
+resourceful.
+
+Now as to the methods, said the Professor. How was the State to absorb
+into its service all the energies of the nation, without at the same
+time becoming a Social Democracy? Already the Social Democrats, as in
+Prince Bludiron's time, were proclaiming that the Capitalist State was
+working out for them the Social Revolution predicted by Spotts; and as
+in Prince Bludiron's days so under Prince Mechow they went on waiting
+for the Social Revolution. They are waiting still. In the meantime
+Prince Mechow got into the saddle and began his practical reforms. He
+was a man of the most extraordinary energy and versatility. He was not
+content to begin with Education and wait for a generation. He attacked
+a dozen different problems at the same time: Education, Industry,
+Commerce, Railways, Finance, the Press, the Stage, the Professions,
+the Church--every side of national life received his attention; but
+the prime instrument through which he worked was the Bureaucracy. He
+laid it down as an axiom that the machinery of the State must work so
+smoothly that the people should be unaware of its operations.
+
+There have been instances in history, he wrote in one of his letters,
+in which a Government has been overturned in a single day. How? By a
+perfectly planned _coup d'état_. What can be accomplished on a single
+occasion can be done as a part of the regular working of the State
+Machinery. Our Super-State must be capable of a _coup d'état_ every
+day. Those of his friends who did not see the necessity for his reforms
+he silenced by showing them that if they did not capture the State the
+Social Democracy would do so.
+
+During the first ten years of his regime he worked wonders. He renewed
+the State control of all the large industries. He took into the service
+of the State all the most capable business men and manufacturers, all
+the best scientists and engineers as well as the best administrators.
+The Censorship of the Press was continued and extended to every form
+of literature. He bought up all the big newspapers and drove all the
+little ones into bankruptcy. When every clever journalist was engaged
+on the State newspapers and all advertisements were controlled,
+there was not much room for an 'opposition' Press. The Schools and
+Universities were already well under control, but he revised the whole
+system. He made every teacher and every professor a direct servant of
+the State. Every textbook was revised. He paid particular attention
+to history, philosophy and literature. The new generation were thus
+educated in an atmosphere calculated to cultivate the true Meccanian
+spirit. Inspectors, organisers and directors of Education infused new
+energy into the system and trained the whole population to co-operate
+with the Super-State.
+
+As to the proletariat, he saw to it that there was no unemployment.
+Production went up by leaps and bounds, wages were increased, but there
+was no waste. Goods that could not be disposed of immediately were
+stored, but methods of control and regulation were introduced to direct
+industry into the right channels. Whilst he controlled the wage-earners
+he at the same time controlled the employers. All surplus wages and
+profits were invested in the State funds.
+
+Of course there was opposition to these reforms. The Military Class
+were slow to understand his methods, so he established periodical
+military councils, took them into his confidence and eventually won
+them over completely. As for the Social Democrats, he did not scruple
+to employ against them the same methods they would have employed
+against him. He made use of secret agents to preach the doctrine that
+by his methods the way would be prepared for the social revolution.
+When at length he inaugurated the system of the seven social classes
+the Social Democrats professed to see in this a means of stimulating
+class consciousness; but after a few years they discovered that no
+class was willing to surrender its privileges. The Fifth Class, which
+includes the most skilled artisans in Europe, began to see that no
+revolution would improve their position, whilst it might lower them to
+the level of the Sixth or Seventh Class. The boasted solidarity of the
+proletariat proved to be an illusion, like most of Spotts's ideas.
+
+When he reformed the railway system he made travelling free. But of
+course if travelling were to be free, restrictions must be imposed.
+Similarly in regard to housing. He applied all the technical knowledge
+in the country to the problem. Standardised houses and other devices
+made it possible to rebuild any portions of our cities and to transfer
+population from one region to another with the greatest ease. On the
+other hand, restrictions were necessary. You cannot have free trade in
+houses and at the same time guarantee a house to every family.
+
+I have condensed Dr. Proser-Toady's lecture, which lasted several
+hours, into such short compass that it gives very little idea, I am
+afraid, of the complete revolution worked out by Prince Mechow's
+reforms. For instance, he showed how the whole character of politics
+had been transformed, how the questions that agitated Meccania sixty
+years ago had entirely disappeared; how the Press no longer existed,
+because its functions had been absorbed by other agencies; how the
+Parliament, which I was surprised to hear still existed, was now
+organised to correspond with the seven social classes; how the State
+was so wealthy that control over taxation was no longer necessary.
+
+He ended with a remarkable passage about the seven social classes and
+the national Meccanian uniforms.
+
+"Many Foreign Observers," he said, "in times past, have made merry
+over our sevenfold classification and our national costumes. What
+have other nations to put in their place? They too have these classes,
+for they are natural and inevitable. They have their nobles, their
+soldiers, their officials and professional men, their bourgeoisie,
+their artisans, their labourers and their degraded 'submerged tenth.'
+But they are afraid to call them by their proper names, afraid to
+recognise them. They have no uniforms, no dignified and pleasing
+costumes; but you never mistake one class for another. You never
+mistake the labourer for the wealthy bourgeois or the popinjay
+aristocrat. Nowhere else, they say, would people consent to wear the
+servile badge of their caste. We Meccanians are proud of our seven
+national colours. So far from being a degradation, the historical
+origin of the costumes proves that it is a privilege to wear them.
+The seven uniforms were once the ceremonial dress of the seven guilds
+established by Prince Mechow. When permission was granted for all the
+members of the classes to wear the ceremonial dress it was the occasion
+of national rejoicings everywhere. The national costumes are part of
+the Ritual of the Super-State."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Long-winded as some parts of the lecture were, I must confess it was
+most illuminating, and to me, as a student of politics and sociology,
+exceedingly interesting. I begin to understand now what the Meccanian
+Super-State really is.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CULTURE IN MECCO
+
+
+During the first few weeks of my tour in Mecco--Tour No. 4--Conductor
+Prigge kept my nose well to the grindstone. At times he made me feel
+like a small schoolboy, at times like a prisoner in charge of a warder.
+It would be tedious to detail all the incidents of my daily rounds, or
+to describe everything in the exact order in which it was presented to
+my view. So I propose to set down, as they remain in my mind, the most
+interesting or remarkable features of this truly remarkable city. One
+circumstance, however, annoys and almost distresses me. I cannot get
+into contact with any individual living people. I see everything as a
+spectacle from the outside.
+
+As I go about, the impression of orderliness, cleanliness, and even
+magnificence of a kind, is such as I have seldom felt in any part of
+the world. At times the whole city gives one the same sort of feeling
+that one experiences in going through a gigantic hospital, where
+everything is spotless and nothing is out of its place. I am even
+getting used to the coloured uniforms of the seven classes. In the
+central parts of the city green and yellow predominate; for the number
+of people belonging to the official class is enormous. Even apart from
+their actual number they are the most conspicuous, because the lower
+classes are at work in their factories and business houses, and are
+consequently seldom seen except when returning home in the evening.
+Occasionally I notice a few white uniforms (of the very select First
+Class) and occasionally, too, a crowd of officers in their brilliant
+scarlet uniforms. At the other end of the scale, the most common colour
+visible is the grey, worn by the numerous servants in the well-to-do
+quarters. The few servants who wear chocolate are mostly the lackeys of
+the very rich, and the upper servants in the large hotels.
+
+On the day after Dr. Proser-Toady's lecture, Conductor Prigge was more
+than usually "pedagogic." I wanted to look about the streets and ask
+questions about many things that occurred to me at the moment, but
+he insisted upon pouring out detailed information about the drainage
+system, the postal areas, the parcels' delivery areas, the telephone
+system, the market system, and so forth. What did interest me, however,
+was the organisation known as the Time Department, of which I had
+already seen something at Bridgetown.
+
+There is, as I have said, an enormous number of public buildings in
+Mecco, but nobody can miss the gigantic office of the Time Department.
+It towers up, about seven stories high, over the surrounding
+buildings, and above it rises a great clock that can be seen for
+miles. In this central department alone, ten thousand people are
+employed--that is, of course, in addition to all those employed in the
+local offices of the Time Department in various parts of the country.
+
+Conductor Prigge was tremendously proud of the Time Department.
+"Other nations," he said, "have never thought of establishing such an
+institution for themselves. They have not even had the intelligence to
+imitate ours. We Meccanians were the first to discover both time and
+space: our philosophers were the first to understand time and space: we
+have been the first Government to organise time and space. We can tell
+you," he went on, "the exact amount of time occupied by any person,
+or any group of persons, in doing anything. We know exactly how much
+time is devoted to eating and drinking, as well as the time required
+to produce a picture, or a piece of sculpture, or a poem, or a musical
+composition; or how long it takes to learn any language, or any subject
+of study."
+
+"But," I said, "what about the time spent by all the clerks and
+officials employed all over the country, as well as here, in the Time
+Department itself; isn't it rather extravagant? What is the object of
+it all?"
+
+"Do you think," he replied, "that we should keep up such an institution
+if it had not proved to be useful in the highest degree? Foreigners
+have such childish ideas of organisation," he continued. "This was one
+of the most brilliant inventions of Prince Mechow, but it has taken
+thirty years to bring it to its present state of perfection. It pays
+for itself over and over again, in the mere economy it effects; and it
+has other far-reaching effects on the whole social and economic life of
+the nation. In the first place, in the matter of material production,
+in every trade and occupation it enables us to speed-up scientifically.
+An increase of 1½ per cent in the productiveness of the four main
+industries alone would more than pay all the expenses of the Time
+Department. We have increased productiveness all round by at least 20
+per cent since the introduction of the Time Department; and although
+not all of this increase is due to the Time Department, we may safely
+reckon 5 per cent. We have done away with all the dawdlers in art,
+all the incompetent painters and novelists and poets. In connection
+with the Post Office we have been able to diminish the amount of time
+spent in writing useless letters by 50 per cent. Why, without the
+Time Department the Department for the Direction of Leisure would be
+helpless. In Education, how should we know the right proportion of time
+to be devoted to the various subjects, the right amount to recreation
+or amusement? And apart from economy, the aid given to the researches
+of the Sociological Department is simply invaluable. The efficiency of
+the Police Department is due in great measure to the Time Department."
+
+"But," I inquired innocently, "is there no feeling of resentment on the
+part of the public at the somewhat inquisitorial methods of the Time
+Department?"
+
+"Resentment!" he said, almost angrily. "Why should there be resentment?"
+
+"At having to give an account of all that one does even in one's
+leisure time?"
+
+"But when everybody knows that we save millions a year by it, and
+when the State has decided that it is for the public benefit, and
+the obligation is imposed upon everybody; why should anyone raise
+objections?"
+
+"Still," I said, remembering my unfortunate experience, "you find it
+necessary to inflict fines in order to ensure compliance with the
+regulations about filling up the weekly diaries."
+
+"Naturally. But perhaps you overlook the educative effect of having to
+keep the diary. The proper keeping of the diary is almost an education
+in itself." My conductor said this with such an air of finality that I
+thought it was not worth while to pursue the question further.
+
+I was much amused by a conversation I had a few days ago on another
+subject. It was about five o'clock and I was feeling rather tired, so
+I proposed that we should have a meal in a restaurant, and then go to
+some place of amusement in the evening.
+
+"You may return to the hotel if you are indisposed," said Prigge, "and
+rest there during the evening; or you may have a meal in a restaurant
+and resume your tour. But until we have completed at least the first
+week's tour of observation, you cannot possibly be permitted to visit
+any place of amusement, as you call it. Besides, such places as you
+probably have in mind, do not exist in Mecco. I have seen, in other
+countries, what are termed music halls, where a lot of so-called actors
+were making fools of themselves."
+
+"Perhaps," I ventured to say, "you did not look at the performance from
+the right point of view."
+
+"I see! You mean that I should have regarded these childish performances
+as illustrating the stage of mental culture of the people. From that
+point of view your 'music halls' may be of some interest, just as the
+drama of foreign countries is of interest; but it is so very primitive."
+
+"Primitive? In what way primitive?" I asked.
+
+"Primitive by comparison with our highly developed drama. For example,
+all the foreign dramas I have seen are written in the narrative form,
+or rather, I should say, the drama is still in the chronological stage.
+We have left that behind."
+
+"Indeed," I said, "I am afraid I can hardly conceive of drama in any
+other form."
+
+"Exactly. _You_ cannot understand. But our Meccanian culture is
+not exactly designed for the intelligence of foreigners. If you are
+specially interested in the subject of the drama--it is not one of
+my specialities, although of course I am not ignorant of the drama,
+no Meccanian is--I will introduce you to my friend in the Department
+of Public Amusement, which is a branch of the Ministry of Education
+and Culture. He will probably enable you in the shortest period of
+time--and that is always a consideration, although most foreigners are
+often quite oblivious of the time aspect of such matters--to understand
+the Meccanian drama, in so far as it is possible for a foreigner to
+understand it."
+
+I thanked him, and he made a note in his pocket-book to remind him of
+his promise. "Perhaps you can tell me," I said, "how your people do
+amuse themselves, apart from going to the theatre; for they cannot go
+to the theatre every evening."
+
+"I notice that, like all foreigners, you are more interested in
+amusement than in the serious aspects of life. You will receive full
+information at the proper time if you will avail yourself of my offer
+to take you to my friend Dr. Dodderer, the Sub-Controller of Public
+Amusements (Section B); but I do not mind giving you a few facts such
+as are common knowledge among all Meccanians."
+
+"Well," I said, "take your commercial travellers, who must spend a good
+deal of time in towns away from home. What do they do in the evenings?"
+
+"If you were to go to the Great Meccanian Library," he replied, "and
+consult the Reports of the Sociological Department for the last twenty
+years, you would be able to see exactly how all these persons have
+spent their time. But you would perhaps be surprised to find that the
+number of persons travelling about and staying away from home is very
+small. When you have studied our industrial and commercial system you
+will see that we require comparatively few commercial travellers. As
+to the way they spend their time, you must understand that in every
+town there are guilds of all the professions. Consequently, as every
+commercial traveller naturally wishes to improve his knowledge, he
+frequents the guild house, where he meets with other members of his
+profession and discusses matters of interest. If he comes from Mecco
+he will be welcomed, as the provincial members will be only too glad
+to learn anything from one who comes from the very centre of Meccanian
+culture. Also, he may wish to visit the local museums, or other
+cultural institutions. If not, he will attend either an outdoor or an
+indoor concert."
+
+"The commercial travellers of Meccania must be quite unlike the
+commercial travellers of all other countries if they spend their
+leisure in the way you have described," I remarked. "You spoke of
+concerts," I continued. "I suppose music is still the most popular form
+of amusement in Meccania?"
+
+"Neither the drama nor music are, strictly speaking, mere amusements,"
+answered Conductor Prigge. "They may be so regarded in other countries,
+but not in Meccania."
+
+"Then what are they?" I asked.
+
+"They form part of our general scheme of culture," replied Prigge. "As
+you probably know, attendance at the theatre once a week is compulsory
+for all persons over eighteen. Those below eighteen attend the juvenile
+theatre as part of their school course in literature."
+
+"Attendance compulsory?" I said. "But if Meccanians are so advanced in
+the cultivation of the drama, why should it be necessary to enforce
+attendance?"
+
+"Perhaps it is not really necessary, but I doubt whether our scheme of
+dramatic culture could be carried out without strict regulation. For
+instance, there are some plays more popular than others. People would
+want to see these plays in great numbers and there would not be room
+for them; whilst the less popular plays would not be well attended."
+
+"Just so," I said, "that is what one would naturally expect; and where
+is the harm?"
+
+"Our scheme provides a succession of plays throughout the year, all
+designed as part of our culture, and if people were at liberty to pick
+and choose what they would see, and what they would not see, we should
+have no guarantee that they would have gone through the course."
+
+"Would that matter," I asked, "so long as they were amused?"
+
+"May I repeat that the Meccanian drama is something more than
+amusement," he replied testily. "You will learn more of this subject
+from Dr. Dodderer. We need not pursue it further."
+
+"Then may I ask whether attendance at concerts is compulsory also?"
+
+"It is not compulsory, but it is strictly regulated as regards the
+different grades of music," he answered.
+
+"I should like to know how you regulate attendance at concerts," I
+said; "I have never heard of it elsewhere."
+
+"I dare say not," said Prigge. "Other countries are still in a very
+backward state as regards musical culture. In the first place, all
+persons below eighteen have to pass an examination in some branch
+of practical or theoretical music, unless they are defective in the
+musical sense. Then, before any adult is admitted to the first, second
+or third grades of concerts, he has to pass an examination in musical
+appreciation. That is to say, only those are admitted to concerts
+of the first class who hold a first-class certificate in musical
+appreciation, and so on with the other grades. Otherwise we should have
+people whose musical knowledge is very moderate listening to the best
+music by the best performers. By means of our system we can provide
+exactly the right standard of music at all public concerts. At the
+beginning of each season the programmes of all the concerts of the
+first three grades are issued. Each person enters his name for a course
+of concerts according to the grade of musical culture attained by him.
+He is informed how many concerts he may attend in the season; he then
+chooses which concerts he will attend, and after that there is no
+difficulty."
+
+"No," said I, "I should think there would be no difficulty after such
+careful preparation. Then the open-air concerts in the beer gardens," I
+said; "where do they come in?"
+
+"Those are not regulated in the same way. We can tell from the Time
+Department whether any person is spending too much time at these
+performances, and any person who neglects to pass his examination in
+musical appreciation before the age of thirty is forbidden to attend
+such concerts--if they can be called concerts--more than once a week."
+
+"And is it possible to carry out such a regulation?" I asked.
+
+"You have not studied our Time Department to much purpose if you ask
+such a question," answered Prigge.
+
+"I suppose, then," I said, "as I have no certificate I shall not be
+permitted to hear any of your best music?"
+
+"Foreigners who are Doctors of Music of any University," replied
+Prigge, "are admitted by special leave of the Ministry of Culture
+to attend a specified number of concerts even of the first grade,
+and others can attend a few concerts of the third grade, likewise by
+special permission of the Ministry of Culture."
+
+I think it was on the same day that Prigge said to me, "I notice you
+are not wearing your spectacles."
+
+"I have never worn spectacles," I said.
+
+"But you were ordered to wear spectacles by Dr. Pincher."
+
+"He did prescribe them," I said, "but I have not troubled to get them,
+as I do not really require them."
+
+Conductor Prigge looked positively aghast. "You must go at once," he
+said; "you have the address. You had better pretend that there has been
+some delay--but no, your diary will show that you have not been to the
+optician. You will certainly be fined in accordance with Regulation 127
+of the Instructions to Foreign Observers."
+
+I went accordingly, and in a few days I had the spectacles. I suppose
+this incident caused me to notice that nearly all Meccanians wear
+spectacles or eyeglasses. Some wear two pairs at once, and I have seen
+even three pairs worn. I felt thankful nothing wrong with my teeth had
+been discovered.
+
+A day or two later I was taken by Prigge to see Dr. Dodderer. What I
+learnt from him was even more remarkable than what my conductor had
+told me, so I will not apologise for giving a fairly full account of
+my interview.
+
+We were due at ten o'clock, and a whole hour had been reserved for me.
+As we entered his room he noted the exact time on his tablet and said,
+"The object of your visit is to learn something of the Meccanian drama,
+as part of the system of culture, and the relation of amusement to our
+system of culture. Very good; if you will be seated I will do my best
+to enlighten you."
+
+He was a dried-up little man, with bright black eyes and a narrow but
+lofty forehead. I thanked him and prepared to listen. I knew he would
+think me disrespectful if I did not make use of my notebook, so I
+prepared to make copious notes.
+
+When he saw I was ready, he sat with his eyes shut and his hands
+clasped together in front of him, and proceeded to pour forth a long
+discourse. He began by saying that all the higher animals showed some
+disposition towards play; and that, in particular, the human animal
+was pre-eminently distinguished in this respect. Some anthropologists
+had argued that the persistence of the play-instinct was a proof
+of the essential usefulness of play, in developing both muscular
+and intellectual power. He himself did not adopt this view, or, at
+any rate, only in a modified form. He held that play was one of the
+most wasteful methods of nature, and that if the competition between
+the various races and subdivisions of the human species had been
+perfect, the race that could reduce play to an absolute minimum,
+confined perhaps to the first three years of life, would--_ceteris
+paribus_--succeed in winning the foremost place. Play was certainly
+the least profitable form of mental activity, and one of the problems
+of education was the gradual elimination of play from the scheme of
+national culture. It was unfortunately true that even the best system
+of education had to make concessions to this instinct of play, and it
+would take many generations before it could be reduced to a minimum.
+But the experiments of the Meccanian psychologists had demonstrated
+that the amount necessary, both in the case of children and in the case
+of adults, had been grossly exaggerated in the past, and was still
+grossly exaggerated by other nations. These experiments would have
+been impossible without the assistance of the Time Department, and the
+absence of a Time Department in other countries probably accounted for
+the little progress they had made in this direction.
+
+"For example," he continued, "other nations have almost entirely
+neglected the value of cultural toys. They have been content, even
+where they have given any thought at all to the subject, to devise toys
+which gave a little more opportunity for ingenuity, but their object
+has been mainly to amuse; they have had no clear conception of the
+ultimate purpose of toys in a complete cultural scheme. Now we have a
+carefully thought-out scheme, and although it does not come under my
+department, but under Section A1, it affords a good illustration of the
+basis of our system. All our toys are classified in fifteen stages. We
+began with only five stages, but the number has gradually increased,
+for the system necessarily becomes more complex as it becomes more
+perfect. Stage I. is represented by simple objects which a baby can
+grasp and recognise before the age of eighteen months. Stage II. is
+represented by balls and cubes and objects of that order. Stage III.
+by dolls and images. Stage IV. by objects which can be grouped so
+as to afford a basis for the teaching of number. Stage V. by simple
+mechanical toys and simple tools. Stage VI. by constructive blocks of
+various kinds...."
+
+Here, I am afraid, I became confused, but I remember that Stage XIII.
+was represented by toys which formed an introduction to chemistry,
+and that the toys of Stage XIV. could only be worked by boys whose
+mathematical knowledge was far in advance of what I should have thought
+possible. He explained that visits were paid by the domestic Inspectors
+of Child-Life to see that the parents made proper use of the system
+of cultural toys. There had been great difficulty at first, but the
+parents were now properly instructed; and in a short time there would
+be no need to instruct them, as they would have grown up in familiarity
+with the system.
+
+"Other experiments equally valuable have been conducted in order to
+discover what forms of amusement are most profitable from the cultural
+point of view; these include experiments designed to improve production.
+
+"For example, in our schools for the children of the Seventh Class,
+we find we have to allow a considerable time for non-intellectual
+pursuits. It would be sheer waste to allow all this time to be given
+to mere amusement. Children who cannot give more than three hours a
+day to study, can be very usefully employed in making simple articles.
+We have a number of simple machines which can be worked by quite small
+children. You would be surprised to learn, perhaps, that goods worth
+a million are exported annually which are all the product of the
+semi-recreative work of these children. On the other hand, any boys
+of the _Second_ Class who cannot profitably be kept at intellectual
+pursuits for more than a few hours a day, are trained to be active and
+bold and self-reliant in preparation for their military career.
+
+"The same principle applies not only to children at school but to
+people of all ages. For example, we discovered, through our Time
+Department again, that thousands of men were wasting precious hours
+upon games such as chess. We have introduced mathematical exercises
+of an interesting kind as a substitute, with most beneficial results.
+Others were addicted to aimless walks and rambles in the country.
+We began by offering prizes for botanical, entomological and other
+specimens, and for essays upon scientific subjects. We have, in fact,
+almost eliminated aimless amusement from the life of our common
+people. In the Fifth Class, which is a highly intelligent class,
+we encourage the pursuit of science by promoting those who pass
+certain examinations, which include a thesis, to the first grade of
+their class, and in a few cases we are able to promote exceptionally
+promising young men to the Fourth Class."
+
+"In what way does this bear upon the drama?" I said in a pause in Dr.
+Dodderer's discourse.
+
+"I have been trying to show you the basis of our system of public
+amusement. With us, amusement is never an end in itself. We find a
+certain crude kind of interest in the drama, or shall I say in the
+theatre, in almost all peoples, and some of the greatest poets have
+utilised that interest in order to reach the minds of their hearers.
+The greatest poets are those who have conceded least to the mere
+instinct for amusement. We have followed the same principle. But we
+could not carry out this scheme of dramatic culture without first
+getting control over the theatre. Prince Mechow, with his usual
+insight, saw that it was useless to control and direct the Press, if
+he did not at the same time control and direct the Theatre. First of
+all he made the censorship a reality. Then he took all the most popular
+playwrights into the State service. Then he was able to weed out those
+who were incapable of entering into his purpose. Gradually all the
+theatres became cultural institutions of the State. All this took time,
+of course. Even now there are a few popular theatres where only the
+lower kinds of dramatic varieties are performed. Attendance at these is
+not compulsory."
+
+"I do not yet understand," I said, "why it should be necessary to make
+attendance compulsory when the drama is so popular."
+
+"For the majority of the people," replied Dr. Dodderer, "compulsion is
+quite unnecessary; but it is just those who are most in need of the
+culture that can be given through the medium of the drama who would be
+lax in their attendance. The whole subject has been investigated," he
+continued, "by the aid of the Time Department, and we are satisfied
+that we get the best results through our present system."
+
+"Since your playwrights became Civil servants has there been no decline
+in the quality of your dramatic productions?" I asked.
+
+"On the contrary," replied Dr. Dodderer. "Our modern plays are on a
+much higher level. There are several reasons for this. In the first
+place, in the old days the uninstructed public were hardly fit judges
+of dramatic or literary excellence. They often preferred plays of
+little cultural value. Consequently, the men who could write really
+good plays often found it impossible to get them produced. Our Board
+of Dramatic Criticism is now able to decide the merits of all plays,
+and the dramatists are quite independent of the caprice of the public.
+Also, we can carry specialisation to a point undreamt of in former
+times."
+
+"Specialisation?" I said; "that is quite a new idea to me."
+
+"Naturally, there are writers who have plenty of ingenuity in
+devising plots, but who are lacking in literary style; others who
+write excellent Meccanian, both prose and verse, but who are weak
+in the dramatic instinct. It is, in fact, very seldom that a modern
+Meccanian drama is the sole work of any single author. Moreover, the
+drama as developed by us lends itself particularly to specialisation.
+For example, most of our classical plays are presented in four
+phases. The simplest phase comes first. The subject is presented in
+chronological-dramatic form, somewhat resembling the dramas of other
+days and other countries. Next comes the analytical phase, and after
+that the synthetic. The last phase or act is a complete philosophical
+symposium in which the whole subject is presented in its highest and
+most abstract form."
+
+"When you speak of the subject of a play, what do you mean exactly?" I
+asked.
+
+"The old plays had often no real subject; they had titles, it is
+true, but these titles were mere names of persons, or mere names
+of places or incidents. What, for instance, can you make of a title
+such as _Julius Cæsar_? or _The Emperor of the East_? or _Catherine_?
+or _The Tyrant of Genoa_? or _The Crime of Boniface_? If you are
+acquainted with the development of the drama, you will know that
+about ninety years ago a great advance was made by means of what
+was then called 'The Problem Play.' Some of these plays had a real
+subject. We have gone much further, of course. Take the subjects of
+some of our best-known plays: _Efficiency_, _Inefficiency_, _National
+Self-Consciousness_. These are all by our Chief Dramatic-Composer
+Grubber. His latest play, _Uric Acid_, is in my opinion even better
+than these."
+
+"_Uric Acid_!" I exclaimed; "what an extraordinary subject!"
+
+"It is one of a series of medical plays," explained Dr. Dodderer,
+quite undisturbed. "The subject lends itself splendidly to the
+methods of Meccanian Art. The part played by uric acid in the life
+of the individual, the family, the State, treated physiologically,
+pathologically, sociologically, ethically and philosophically, is
+almost infinite in its possibilities, and Grubber has made the most of
+them."
+
+"And do the public enjoy these medical plays?"
+
+"You appear to be obsessed, if I may say so," replied Dr. Dodderer,
+"with the idea of enjoyment. You must bear in mind our standpoint,
+which I have already explained. But certainly the public take great
+interest in the medical plays. Sub-Dramatist Smellie wrote a series,
+_Phthisis_, _Nephritis_ and _Meningitis_, which are almost equal to
+Grubber's _Uric Acid_, but he fails a little in the higher aspects
+of the subject, and consequently his fourth acts fall short of the
+highest philosophical perfection. I remember reading the proofs of
+his first play, _Gall Stones_. It was excellent until he came to the
+philosophical phase. It reminded me of an older play produced in the
+transition period, some fifty years ago, called _The Blind and the
+Deaf_. It had a considerable vogue for several years, but you see from
+its title that the conception was not fully developed."
+
+"These medical plays," I said, "are not the most typical productions of
+the dramatic genius of modern Meccania, I suppose?"
+
+"In some ways they are," replied Dr. Dodderer. "That is to say, they
+are almost peculiar to our country. But one of our younger playwrights
+has developed the subject of economics in a way almost equally unique.
+His _Significance of Food_, and his _Insurance_, and _Distribution_,
+are a mere introduction to his masterpiece, _Value_. A very slight
+work on _Inaccuracy_, which was almost a farce, first attracted
+the attention of the Board of Criticism. They refused to produce
+_Inaccuracy_ in its original form, and he embodied it in a more mature
+work, _Production_, which was the first of his genuine economic plays."
+
+"I suppose, then, you have historical or at least political plays?"
+
+"Historical plays are mostly performed in the juvenile theatres," he
+said. "I have very little to do with them. They fall under Section
+A, and, as you know, I am the Sub-Controller of Section B," replied
+Dodderer. "But," he continued, "we have a certain number of more
+advanced historical plays for adults. For instance, _The Evolution of
+Society_, with its sequel, _The Triumph of Meccania_, are excellent
+historical plays. Political plays have become almost obsolete, but
+there are still a few produced occasionally. _The Principle of
+Monarchy_ is still quite a classic in its way, and _The Futility of
+Democracy_ is one of the most brilliant pieces of Meccanian satire.
+_Obedience_ is another classic."
+
+"It seems to me a very remarkable fact that your Sixth and Seventh
+Classes should be able to appreciate such plays as those you have been
+describing," I said, "especially in parts of the country which cannot
+be so far advanced as the capital."
+
+"I do not say that they appreciate the drama in the same degree as the
+more educated classes; but you must remember they have gone through
+a long course of training. You perhaps now appreciate our wisdom in
+making attendance compulsory. Without regularity in attendance we could
+not arrange for a proper sequence of plays. Also, I must admit that on
+the days when the Sixth and Seventh Classes are due to attend, we put
+on the less advanced plays as a rule."
+
+"What happens," I asked, "to the old plays which were written, say, a
+hundred years ago; are they never performed?"
+
+"Oh dear, yes," replied Dr. Dodderer; "the performance of such plays
+forms a regular part of the literature course at all our Universities
+and Colleges. We also utilise quite a number of them in the courses of
+plays for the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Classes; but the form in which
+they are written is so simple and childish, such a contrast to the ripe
+perfection of the fully developed Meccanian drama."
+
+"It must be a difficult matter," I remarked, "to arrange for
+progressive courses of plays for so many people as you have in Mecco."
+
+"On the contrary, the larger the city the easier it is. Members of the
+Third Class and, of course, of higher classes, are considered capable
+of appreciating all kinds of plays. Class Four consists of four grades,
+and the two higher grades, all the members of which are over thirty,
+are likewise eligible to attend any plays. We have a very simple plan
+of classifying all the others. At the age of eighteen they are all at
+liberty to attend plays which are classed as Stage I.; then after six
+months any one is at liberty to apply for a certificate entitling him
+to attend plays in Stage II. After another year they can obtain a
+certificate for Stage III.; and so on. We seldom refuse an application,
+and in fact we rather encourage our people to advance, otherwise many
+people would be content to remain in Stage II., or Stage III., all
+their lives. Then, at the beginning of each season, we know how many
+to provide for in each class, and at each stage; and the greater the
+number of theatres the easier it is to arrange the plays accordingly."
+
+"What about the actors?" I asked. "In most countries the leading
+actors are very much sought after, and can make large fortunes. I
+should imagine your system does not allow of that kind of career for a
+successful actor."
+
+"All our actors," replied Dr. Dodderer, "are trained in the Imperial
+Meccanian Dramatic College. The lower grades belong to the Fifth Class,
+the higher grades to the Fourth. The technique of acting has been
+brought to such perfection that the 'star' as he used to be called,
+has entirely disappeared. There is no room for him in our system. The
+'star' was a mere product of popular enthusiasm."
+
+"How do you judge, then, of the popularity of any particular actor?"
+
+"We take no account of it at all," replied Dr. Dodderer. "Our expert
+Board of Dramatic Criticism determines the standing of each actor.
+We have, of course, expert psychologists, who are able to test the
+particular psychological effect both of each phase of the play and of
+the impression made by individual actors. Their experiments are of
+great value both to our dramatic managers and to the writers of plays."
+
+At this point Dr. Dodderer announced that the hour he had reserved for
+me was at an end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MORE CULTURE IN MECCO
+
+
+I returned to Conductor Prigge and my daily grind. But as most of
+this first period was spent in visiting systematically a number of
+institutions similar to those I had seen in Bridgetown, but on a larger
+scale, it is hardly necessary to describe them here. For instance,
+the arrangements for receiving and distributing food are on the same
+principle: the markets are managed in the same way. The general system
+of shopping is the same, except that, as the city is much larger, there
+is very much more 'shopping by post.' As the shops are not permitted
+to display anything in shop windows, nor to advertise except in the
+trade gazettes and catalogues, there is not much incentive to spend
+time in desultory shopping. The great Stores are more like warehouses
+than shops. I had gathered from my conversations with Sheep that the
+State seemed to place obstacles in the way of personal expenditure, and
+yet at the same time production was encouraged. Sheep's explanations
+had not seemed to me entirely satisfactory, so I decided to question
+Prigge on this interesting point. As his services were charged for at
+double the rate of Sheep's, I thought I ought to get more complete
+information from him. So one day I said to him, "How is it that in
+Meccania, as far as I can judge, you have brought production to such
+a pitch of perfection--I mean as regards the enormous quantities
+manufactured--whilst at the same time you seem to restrict expenditure
+or consumption in so many ways?"
+
+Prigge tilted back his head and put on his professorial air.
+
+"Such a question would be better dealt with when you come to make a
+definite study of our National Economy, but as it is really quite an
+elementary question--a commonplace of all our textbooks--I do not
+mind explaining it briefly now. Your first error is in supposing that
+the State encourages production indiscriminately. We produce what we
+require and no more, but we are able to measure our requirements better
+than other nations. In other countries people are allowed to buy a lot
+of things they do not require; this causes unnecessary production, of
+course. Unregulated consumption gives rise to unregulated production."
+
+I still felt puzzled as to what became of the wealth produced by the
+wonderfully efficient system of wholesale production, for, as far as I
+could tell, the people seemed less luxurious in their habits than those
+of countries far less advanced in machine production. But I felt I
+should be getting on dangerous ground, and forbore.
+
+The commercial quarter, in which we spent a whole day, was remarkably
+small for so large a city, especially considering that the city is not
+commercially self-contained. But I learnt that Mecco is not really
+the commercial centre of Meccania. The merchants are little more than
+the agents for the distribution of goods. The quantities are largely
+fixed by the Department of Industry and Commerce, consequently there
+is not much room for enterprise, except in effecting economies in
+distribution, in bargaining with the Government as to the kinds of
+goods to be produced, and in discussing with manufacturers matters
+of detail as to patterns and styles. For example, the Schools of Art
+produce every year designs for cloth for women's dress. The merchants
+select from these the patterns to be manufactured. There is little
+excitement in a merchant's career. Most of the clerks seem to be
+occupied in the preparation and revision of catalogues, which are the
+substitute for advertisements. No new article can be produced until
+it has been approved by the Improvements Section of the Department of
+Industry and Commerce.
+
+All this side of the life of Mecco was very tame and stereotyped.
+Prigge discoursed at length on the merits of the Post Office and all
+its works, but the only remarkable thing I noticed about it, besides
+the censorship of letters, and the enormous number of people employed,
+was the ingenious arrangement whereby a conversation carried on in any
+part of Meccania could be overheard at the Central Office.
+
+The absence of life and bustle in the streets was as striking as in
+Bridgetown. Most of the people in the Government offices belonged to
+the Fourth Class, and as these all lived in the two quarters running
+north and south of the central ring, they could reach their offices
+in a very short time. The midday meal was taken in a canteen within
+the office. The few inferior employees, messengers, porters, cleaners,
+etc., who belonged to the Fifth or Sixth Class, lived almost as near.
+The higher Civil servants of the Third Class, who of course were less
+numerous, did not make a crowd in the street. The green uniforms
+of the Fourth Class were the most conspicuous object everywhere.
+The industrial classes, living as they do on the side nearest the
+industrial town, are transported by an ingenious system of trams and
+underground and overhead railways, so that in half an hour they can
+all get from their homes to their work, where they remain all day. All
+goods arriving from the industrial town for distribution to the Stores
+are carried by a regular service of motor-vans. The distribution of
+goods to houses is so systematised as to require comparatively few
+vehicles. For instance, certain kinds of goods can be delivered only
+once a month for each household, others only once a week. Consequently
+one sees a perfectly regular stream of traffic, which is never very
+dense and never congested. All this might have been very interesting
+to a student of municipal socialism and mechanical organisation, but
+my chief interests lay in other directions, and it was not until we
+came to the cultural institutions that I found things so remarkable,
+at any rate from my own point of view, that I shall make no apology
+for describing them with some fullness here, even at the risk of being
+tedious to those who think more of locomotion than of liberty, or who
+regard the Post Office as the highest symbol of civilisation.
+
+I had looked forward with some curiosity to my first visit to a
+Meccanian Art Gallery, for, as I had not been into any private houses,
+and as there are no shop windows, I had seen hardly any signs of
+Meccanian Art Culture, except in Architecture. The decorative work in
+the public buildings did not impress me favourably. It was Patriotic
+Art, executed by the students of the Imperial Meccanian Academy.
+
+Prigge announced that, as he had been promoted to a higher grade in the
+Police Service, he would no longer be available to conduct me. By way
+of consoling me for the deprivation he said that in any case I should
+have to be handed over to various specialist conductors, as I had
+almost completed the general part of my tour and had reached the stage
+when I should have to begin the study of definite branches of Meccanian
+culture. He had consequently arranged for me to spend the first three
+days in the Great Meccanian Gallery under the guidance of Specialist
+Art Section Sub-Conductor Musch.
+
+Sub-Conductor Musch met me at the appointed time at the hotel. He
+was a very different type from Prigge. He was much less of the
+drill-sergeant; in fact he looked rather 'decadent,' if a Meccanian
+can be decadent. He spoke in a soft voice, which was quite a contrast
+to the leathery voices of most officials I had encountered previously.
+He began by saying that before we actually began our inspection of the
+pictures there were certain preliminaries.
+
+The Great Meccanian Gallery, he said, was the temple of all that was
+sacred in the æsthetic world. I must be properly prepared for it,
+so that I could concentrate my attention upon what I saw and not be
+distracted by having to ask questions about extraneous matters. If I
+would pay careful attention he would describe the general arrangements.
+
+"The Great Meccanian Gallery," he said, "is one of the four galleries
+in Mecco; the other three are subsidiary. The first gallery is devoted
+to the old historical collections that existed before the time of
+Prince Mechow, and contains only foreign pictures. The second gallery
+contains Meccanian pictures of a date previous to the foundation of the
+Great Meccanian Gallery by Prince Mechow. The fourth gallery contains
+foreign pictures contemporary with those in the Great Meccanian
+Gallery. And now we come to the Great Meccanian Gallery itself.
+
+"Every picture in that gallery is an expression of the Meccanian
+spirit; otherwise it is not admitted. Its technique must also satisfy
+the Board of Art of the Department of Culture. Consequently, as
+soon as you enter you are in the atmosphere of pure Meccanian Art.
+Previous to the creation of this gallery, the influence of Art was
+rather de-nationalising. The æsthetic sense was cultivated in total
+ignorance of the possibility of marrying it to the Meccanian spirit.
+The Meccanian spirit is the active, creative male; the æsthetic sense
+is receptive, conceptive, essentially female. Of the two, Meccanian Art
+is born."
+
+He went on in this style for several minutes until I thought I had
+better get something more definite from him for my 'guidance.' So I
+said, "How does one tell whether a picture is an expression of the
+Meccanian spirit?"
+
+"To the true Meccanian, all things truly Meccanian are sacred, and
+by the inward cultivation of the sense of reverence for what is most
+characteristically Meccanian he arrives at a certainty which is
+incommunicable to others."
+
+"But suppose opinion is divided. Suppose, for example, one man says,
+here is a picture which is full of the Meccanian spirit, and another
+man says the contrary."
+
+Musch smiled in a sad, superior way, by which I saw that after all, in
+spite of his 'decadence,' he was a true Meccanian. "You are evidently
+not well acquainted with either Meccanian history or philosophy,"
+he said. "Even our early philosophers taught that the Meccanian
+spirit must embody itself in institutions or it would evaporate. The
+Imperial Meccanian Academy is the visible embodiment of the highest
+manifestation of the Meccanian æsthetic spirit. All Meccanian artists
+are trained under the influence of the Academy. Its judgment, as
+expressed by the Central Board, is infallible. None of its decisions
+has ever been reversed. I do not think you realise how completely the
+influence of the Academy has moulded the Meccanian appreciation of Art
+during the last generation," he went on in his slow, soft speech. "You
+have heard something from my friend Dr. Dodderer of the care taken by
+our all-beneficent Super-State in the cultivation of the appreciation
+of the Drama, and you have probably heard something too of our musical
+culture. Other forms of Art are equally sacred, since they are all
+Meccanian. Every person in the Fourth and higher classes goes through a
+course of art appreciation, which extends over several years. No person
+is admitted beyond the fifth stage of the Great Meccanian Gallery
+unless he has passed the advanced test. Attendance at the gallery
+is compulsory, once a fortnight, for all persons of the Fourth and
+Third Classes between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. The Fifth
+Class are not admitted to rooms beyond Stage III., except by special
+permission on four days in the year. For them we have a few local
+galleries, as we have for the Sixth Class also, containing pictures
+which are soundly Meccanian in spirit but which do not come up to the
+standard of the Great Gallery."
+
+Presently we proceeded to the gallery containing the old historical
+collection. Musch said that we should see what we wanted of this
+in an hour, in fact it was rather a formality to visit it, but the
+Regulations for Foreign Observers made it necessary that I should see
+this first. It turned out to be really a fine collection, such as I had
+seen in many others parts of Europe; but I almost gasped at the strange
+freak which had inspired the curators in arranging the pictures. They
+were arranged strictly according to subject. All the "Nativities" were
+together in one room, all the "Madonnas" together in another, all the
+"Adam and Eves" together, all the "Deluges," all the "Susannas," all
+the "Prodigal Sons," all the "Venuses," all the "Bacchuses"; whatever
+the subject, every picture relating to that subject was placed together
+as if the gallery were a collection of butterflies.
+
+Musch took no interest in this collection. It was all dead, he said,
+obsolete, pre-Meccanian, untouched by the spirit. When we came to the
+second gallery containing the older Meccanian pictures he showed more
+interest. Some painted three centuries ago I thought very fine, but
+Musch said they were lacking in self-consciousness. The Meccanian
+spirit was overlaid by false foreign culture. Only when we came to
+some weird and powerful but almost revolting pictures, dating from the
+beginning of the century, did he grow enthusiastic. These, he said,
+were the genuine precursors and pioneers of Meccanian Art.
+
+It was afternoon when we entered the first section or stage of the
+Great Meccanian Gallery. This was the first stage for young persons,
+and was divided into a section containing 'elementary-general'
+pictures, and another containing historical pictures. The general
+pictures were mostly scenes of places of interest in various parts of
+Meccania, or national customs and public ceremonies. The technique
+was distinctly good. The historical pictures mostly represented wars
+against foreign enemies. I noticed that the Meccanians were represented
+as heroes, and their enemies as brutalised hordes of semi-lunatics.
+Others represented Meccanians discovering all the arts of peace and
+war. I spent a dreary day and more, working painfully through Stages
+I., II. and III., up to XIX., until, on the third day, we came to the
+most advanced specimens. These reminded me of Dr. Dodderer's account of
+the Meccanian drama. There was a number of allegorical subjects--"The
+Birth of the Meccanian Spirit," "The Victory of Time over Space," "The
+Festival of Chemistry," "The Nuptials of Science and Force," "The
+Conquests of Culture." Others were more mystical--"War the Servant of
+Culture," "The Deity instructing Monarchy," "The Eternal Principle of
+Meccanian Monarchy," "The Wisdom of the Super-State," "The Unity of the
+Seven Classes."
+
+Some of these were immense canvases forty feet long, full of life-size
+figures drawn with microscopic exactness. The artists had certainly
+managed to catch and even accentuate the Meccanian features of every
+face. I felt the Meccanian atmosphere, but I still could not understand
+why such careful cultivation should have been required to produce this
+extraordinary collection. I would gladly have given the whole gallery
+for a few masterpieces from the old collection.
+
+I could not imagine that any effect produced on the mind even of
+patriotic Meccanians could be worth all the trouble spent upon either
+the creation of the gallery itself or the organisation of artistic
+culture that centred round it. I was therefore curious to see what sort
+of effect the sight of the pictures had upon other visitors. In one
+of the lower rooms I had seen some groups of schoolgirls accompanied
+by a teacher. They all had their notebooks, and were taking down
+notes in shorthand. Musch explained enthusiastically that these girls
+would spend a whole afternoon on half a dozen pictures, and that by
+the time they were twenty years of age they would have studied every
+picture up to Stage XIX. in the gallery. What I overheard from the
+teacher's lecture was something like this: "Now let us analyse the
+colour scheme. By the aid of the colour divider you perceive at once
+the proportions in which the colours are distributed. Now notice that
+red, which occupies only 7 per cent of the canvas, is more conspicuous
+than green, which occupies more than 25 per cent." I did not catch
+the next passage, but presently I heard: "All the pictures by the
+same artist have the same distribution of colour. Consequently it
+would be possible to determine by an analysis of the colour scheme the
+authenticity of any picture by this artist. Next notice the method of
+the brush strokes. Under the microscope" (here the microscope came into
+play) "you will see the characteristic quality of the brush stroke.
+It has been already ascertained that in this picture there are 5232
+down-strokes of an average length of 3 millimetres, 1079 strokes from
+right to left of an average length of 1½ millimetre, only 490 from left
+to right, and 72 upward strokes. The same proportion of strokes has
+been discovered in several other pictures by the same artist, according
+to the size of the picture. This picture was painted in exactly 125
+hours. The quantity of paint used must have been almost exactly
+three-quarters of a litre, so you can make a calculation to ascertain
+the number of brush strokes to the litre."
+
+In another gallery I noticed some superior young men of the Fourth
+Class in their green uniforms, discussing the merits of a popular
+artist. One of them was saying, "And I maintain that his morality
+is pre-Meccanian; he lacks super-masculinity." In another room a
+few stolid citizens of middle age were slowly making a pilgrimage.
+I wondered why they did not move faster and get it over, until I
+discovered there was a rule that, at each visit, non-students were
+not allowed to spend less than half an hour in one room, or more than
+three-quarters of an hour. This regulation did not apply to me so long
+as I was under the charge of Musch, who had access to the whole gallery.
+
+I found Musch a less desirable acquaintance than Prigge. I suspected
+him of being addicted to drugs, and wondered how far his enthusiasm
+for the Meccanian spirit was an official pose; for, after completing
+my visit to the Great Gallery, I was asking him whether all artists
+were employed by the State, and whether there were not other types of
+pictures produced, besides those represented in the Great Gallery, when
+he began to tell me of another phase of art.
+
+"All artists," he said, "who in the seventh year of their training are
+accepted by the Academy are employed permanently by the State; the
+others are found other employment according to their capacity, but are
+not permitted to produce pictures."
+
+"I suppose," I said, "the artists who are taken into the service of the
+State are controlled in some way. What happens, for instance, if they
+turn out to be idlers?"
+
+"They are certainly controlled. The Board selects the subjects for the
+year, for each artist, according to his capacity. Of course he may
+suggest subjects too, but until they are approved he is not allowed
+to proceed. He must also submit a plan or sketch of his proposed
+treatment."
+
+"And is a painter not allowed even in his own leisure to paint subjects
+of his own choice?"
+
+"Ah, there you touch upon an interesting subject," replied Musch, with
+something like a leer. "The Board are naturally desirous of preserving
+the Meccanian spirit in all its purity, but the effort to rise to the
+sublime heights of emotion which that demands, produces a reaction, and
+many of our artists find an outlet for this, so that beside the pure
+stream of Meccanian Art there flows, as it were, another stream."
+
+"In other words," I suggested, "they carry on an illicit production
+of works of a lower ethical quality, which can only be disposed of by
+being sold to the rich."
+
+"Your intuition is remarkable," he replied.
+
+"Not in the least," I said. "One only requires a little knowledge of
+human nature to see what must happen. But how does this practice escape
+the attention of the Super-State?" I said.
+
+"There are many patrons of Art among the higher official class,"
+replied Musch significantly.
+
+This was the first time I had learnt from any person that the State had
+any chinks in its armour.
+
+"Perhaps you can tell me," I said, "something which has puzzled me ever
+since I came here, and that is--Why your Super-State occupies itself
+so meticulously with such things as Music, and the Drama, and Art.
+Such interests seem rather foreign to the main purpose for which, as I
+understand it, the great statesmen who have made Meccania what it is,
+designed it."
+
+"I have often wondered the same thing myself," replied Musch. "I can
+only say that if all this side of life were left unregulated, the life
+of the State would be incomplete. Sooner or later the consciousness of
+the State must embrace all things."
+
+I said no more, and this was the last I saw of poor Musch, for next day
+he was ill, and I was taken by another Sub-Conductor, whose name was
+Grovel, to see the Mechow Memorial Museum. Almost everything in Mecco
+is a sort of memorial or reminder of Prince Mechow. Mechow Street,
+Mechow Square, the Mechow Monument, Mechow Park, the Mechow Palace,
+Mechow Hotels meet one at every turn. There are even Mechow whiskers,
+of a pattern seldom seen outside Meccania, but immensely popular among
+middle-aged officials of the Third and Fourth Classes. Curiously
+enough, I learnt that the higher officials rather resent the wearing of
+this style of whisker by subordinate officials, but as it is a sort of
+symbol of loyalty it is not considered proper to repress it.
+
+The Museum is near the square and is the largest biographical museum in
+existence. It contains a model of the house Prince Mechow was born in,
+with all his clothes and toys, all the schoolbooks he used, and models
+of all the rooms he lived in, including his bedrooms. One room contains
+all the letters he wrote, all the letters written to him, all the
+minutes he wrote as a Civil servant, the very pens he used, the office
+furniture, etc. etc. The library contains not only the books he read,
+and the few he wrote, but an enormous number of books and pamphlets
+written about him personally and about all his work.
+
+Besides his printed speeches, which run into many volumes, there are
+phonographic records of them, which are 'performed' daily in a special
+hall, to youths and girls from the High Schools.
+
+One large room contains models of all the towns in Meccania, as they
+were before his reforms and as they are now. Another room is devoted
+to the great Monument. It contains the original plans and models, as
+well as a model of all the copies erected in various towns. Adjoining
+this room is a large collection of photographs of Prince Mechow,
+casts of his face and waxwork models of him as he appeared on several
+great historical occasions. One case in the library struck me as very
+characteristic. It was a series of volumes in folio, sumptuously
+bound. The first was entitled _Prince Mechow as Statesman_; and there
+were at least thirty others with such titles as Prince Mechow as
+Subject, Prince Mechow as Conservative, Prince Mechow as Reformer,
+Prince Mechow as Student, Prince Mechow as Author, Prince Mechow as
+Orator, Prince Mechow as Philosopher, Prince Mechow as Husband and
+Father, Prince Mechow as Agriculturist, Prince Mechow's Taste in Art,
+Prince Mechow's Taste in Music, Prince Mechow's Taste in Literature,
+Prince Mechow's Taste in Nature, Prince Mechow's Loyalty, Prince
+Mechow's Generosity, Prince Mechow's Pets, Prince Mechow's Religion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A MECCANIAN APOSTLE
+
+
+It was a week or two after my visit to the Mechow Museum that I made
+the acquaintance of one of the Foreign Observers who was staying at
+the hotel. A day or two before, I had been sent for by the Hotel
+Manager, and had been presented with a small certificate authorising
+me to take my meals in the common dining-room, and to converse with
+other foreigners whose names I was instructed to enter in my diary. I
+had previously noticed a certain gentleman from Luniland whose face
+seemed familiar to me. On this particular evening he came across to my
+table and introduced himself as Mr. Johnson, a friend of Mr. Yorke, in
+whose house I had stayed and where he had met me. We soon fell into
+conversation, and when dinner was over we retired for a long chat to a
+corner of the smoke-room. It appeared that he had been in Mecco over
+a year, and had travelled also in various parts of the country. In
+fact, this was his second visit, he said, his first having been made
+a few years before. He was a man of about forty-five, tall and slim,
+with a rather large bony nose and a grave but kindly expression. His
+manner was quiet and dignified, and at first he spoke with a certain
+obvious restraint; but afterwards he became more genial and was rather
+humorous, after the manner of many of his countrymen.
+
+"I should rather like to ask what you think of this country, but it
+would hardly be fair, because the chances are that every word we say
+here is overheard. I always suspect they have one of those beastly
+contrivances fixed in the walls, to enable the manager or somebody
+representing the Authorities to listen to everything that goes on. I
+don't much mind if they turn me out of their precious country, but I
+wouldn't like to get you into trouble. Anyhow, I believe if we were to
+begin talking in my language, which I remember you speak very well, we
+should presently have somebody round reminding us that it is against
+the rules."
+
+"Yet you have spent quite a long time in the country apparently," I
+remarked. "I have really been wondering whether to stay here much
+longer, and perhaps you could give me some tips if I decide to stay."
+
+"Well," he replied, "it's just a matter of taste whether you like the
+country. I shouldn't be able to stand it but for one thing."
+
+"And what is that?" I asked.
+
+"It enables me to thank God every hour that I am not a Meccanian."
+
+"Yes," I said, "there's something in that. I myself object to some of
+the inconveniences that these numerous regulations about everything
+entail, but they are nothing, I suppose, compared with what it would
+feel like if one expected to spend one's life here."
+
+"It's just possible they really like it. But what sort of 'tips' were
+you thinking of? Perhaps I know the ropes a little better than you, if
+you have been here only a month or two."
+
+"Well, there are two things I would like to know," I replied. "I am
+rather tired of being 'conducted' about everywhere. That's the first.
+And I want to get to know individual people as I did in Luniland. Here,
+so far, I have met only officials, always on duty. It seems impossible
+to get into contact with real live people. Until lately, as you know,
+I was forbidden to talk to the people staying in the hotel; but now
+that I have got over that difficulty, although, no doubt, I can pick up
+a certain amount of information from my fellow Foreign Observers and
+enjoy their conversation, I am no nearer getting to know the Meccanian
+private citizens themselves."
+
+"And do you particularly want to know them?" asked Mr. Johnson.
+
+"One naturally wants to know what the people of any country are like,
+and unless one has some fairly intimate intercourse of a social kind
+with people of different ranks and types, one might almost as well
+stay at home and read the matter up in books," I replied.
+
+"I see. You are a genuine Foreign Observer. Well, to tell the truth,
+so am I," he said more confidentially. "I am not here because I
+like it. I detest the whole lot of them. I came here for the first
+time five or six years ago. I had heard a lot about the country and
+its wonderful organisation. Organisation! Blessed word! I had also
+heard some rather tall stories, and thought the accounts had been
+exaggerated. I came with an open mind. I rather prided myself on being
+an impartial observer. I was prepared to allow a lot for the natural
+differences of taste between one nation and another. At first I was
+so keenly interested that I didn't mind the little restrictions, but
+when the novelty had worn off, and I began to realise what it all
+meant, I determined to make a more thorough study of the country than
+I had at first thought would be worth while. So I am here now studying
+Meccanian education. Now the only way, so far as I know, of getting rid
+of your everlasting 'conductors' is to get permission to study some
+special subject. I went through just the same experience. I was what
+they call merely a 'general' observer. The Authorities don't exactly
+like the 'general' observer. They can't find it in their hearts to
+let him alone. As they regulate their own people they must keep as
+close a watch on the foreigner. As he doesn't fit into their system,
+they have to invent a system for him. It is troublesome to them, and
+not very pleasant for the foreigner; but Meccanian principles make it
+necessary. However, if you can satisfy them that you are a _bona fide_
+student of some special subject--it doesn't matter what it is, you may
+choose anything from the parasites in the intestines of a beetle to
+the philosophy of the Absolute--they will treat you quite decently,
+according to their lights."
+
+"How do you account for this difference?" I asked.
+
+"They are immensely flattered by the notion that if you come here to
+study anything, it must be because their knowledge is so superior to
+what can be found elsewhere. However, if you want to get rid of the
+daily worry of a 'conductor,' that is what you must do. But you must be
+a specialist of some sort, or they won't admit you to the privilege."
+
+"But there is no special subject I want to study," I said. "I am just
+a 'general' observer, and if I undertake to study a special subject I
+shall miss seeing what I most want to see."
+
+"That is a difficulty. Perhaps you had better go on as you have been
+doing, and when you have had enough of that, go in for some political
+institutions; they have got you registered as a National Councillor, so
+you can pretend to study the working of the Constitution or some such
+thing."
+
+"That's rather a good idea," I said; "but, judging from what I have
+seen, I should doubt whether they will let me see what I want to see."
+
+"Why, what do you want to see?"
+
+"Just what I cannot get from an inspection of the machinery of the
+State--the effect of the laws and customs on the actual life of the
+people."
+
+"Ah, that you will have to get by the aid of your imagination."
+
+"But," I suggested, "is it not possible to get permission to live in
+some family, or with several different families in different classes in
+succession?"
+
+"Oh yes," replied Johnson, "quite possible, if you are prepared to go
+through all the necessary formalities; but I doubt whether you will get
+much by it. You see, each family is a sort of replica, in miniature,
+of the State. They will have to report to the Police once a week upon
+all your doings. Every word you say will be listened to. They will be
+studying you, just as you will be studying them. I have tried it. There
+_is_ no natural intercourse in this country. Try it if you like, but I
+am sure you will come to my opinion in the end.
+
+"Don't forget to enter the time of this conversation in your diary,"
+Mr. Johnson said as we parted. "If you make a mistake, or if I make a
+mistake, we shall have an interview with an inspector from the Time
+Department, and the hotel manager will worry us to death about it."
+
+The next day I resumed my tour of observation with a new 'conductor'
+whose name was Lickrod. He was almost affectionate in his greeting when
+we met at the Police Office, and we had not been long together before
+I recognised that he was a different type from Prigge, or Sheep, or
+any of the others I had met. He was to take me to see the Industrial
+town, and he was full of enthusiasm for everything we were to see. As
+we went along in the tram he explained rather effusively that it was
+a great pleasure to him to meet foreigners. He had a mission in life,
+just as Meccania had a mission among all the nations. He was a loyal
+Meccanian--in fact, he yielded to no man in his loyalty to the State;
+but for that very reason he ventured to criticise one defect in the
+policy of the Government. I began to wonder what that could be.
+
+"I have travelled abroad," he said, "and I have seen with my own eyes
+the benighted condition of so many millions of my fellow-creatures. I
+come home, and I see everywhere around me order, knowledge, prosperity,
+cleanliness--no dirt, no poverty, no disorder, no strikes, no
+disturbance, no ignorance, no disease that can be prevented--Culture
+everywhere. It makes me almost weep to think of the state of the
+world outside. We have not done all that we might have done to carry
+our Culture abroad. We have kept it too much to ourselves. In my
+humble way, as a Conductor of Foreigners, I take every opportunity I
+can of spreading a knowledge of our Culture. But instead of a few
+score, or at most a few hundred, foreigners every year, we ought to
+have thousands here. Then they would become missionaries in their
+own countries. I always impress upon them that they must begin with
+the reform of education in their countries; and I would advise you,
+before you return, to make a thorough study of our system of education.
+Without that you cannot hope to succeed."
+
+"But," I suggested, "if other countries followed your example would
+they not become as strong as you? Perhaps your Government looks at it
+from that point of view."
+
+"There are, on this question," he observed sagely, "two opposite
+opinions. One is that it is better to keep our Culture to ourselves;
+the other is that we ought to teach other nations, so that ultimately
+all the earth can become one great and glorious Meccania."
+
+By this time we had arrived at the entrance to the Industrial town.
+Conductor Lickrod broke off to note the time of our arrival, and to
+lead me into the office of the Governor or Controller of what, for
+convenience, I may call Worktown. Indeed the Industrial quarter is
+known by a similar term in Mecco. This Controller is responsible
+for the preservation of order; but as there is no difficulty about
+discipline in the ordinary sense of the word, his functions are rather
+to promote a high standard of Meccanian conduct among the workers
+of all ages and grades. In this work he is assisted by scores of
+Sub-Controllers of Industrial Training, as they are called.
+
+The organisation of the Controller's Department was explained before
+we proceeded to any of the works. There was a large room filled with
+thousands of little dossiers in shelves, and card-index cases to
+correspond. The particulars of the character and career of every worker
+in the town could be ascertained at a moment's notice. All the workers
+were either in the Fifth or Sixth Class, but they were divided into
+more than a dozen subgrades, and the card-index showed by the colour
+which of the many grades any particular person had attained.
+
+I asked how the workmen were engaged.
+
+"The industrial career of a workman," said Lickrod enthusiastically,
+"begins, if I may so express myself, with the dawn of his industrial
+intelligence. In our schools--and here you perceive one of the
+perfections of our educational system--our teachers are trained to
+detect the signs of the innate capacity of each child, and to classify
+it appropriately. In 79½ per cent of cases, as you will see from the
+last report of the Industrial Training Section of the Department of
+Industry and Commerce, the careers of boys are determined before the
+age of thirteen. The rest is merely a question of training. By a proper
+classification we are able to adjust the supply of each different kind
+of capacity to the requirements of our industry. We avoid all the
+waste and uncertainty which one sees in countries where even the least
+competent workmen are allowed to choose their employment. We guarantee
+employment to everybody, and on the other hand we preserve the right to
+say what the employment shall be."
+
+"Does that mean," I asked, "that a workman can never change his
+employment?"
+
+"In some of the more backward parts of the country it is sometimes
+necessary for workmen to change their employment; but here, in Mecco,
+we should think we had managed our business very badly if that were
+necessary."
+
+"But without its being necessary, a man might wish to change. I have
+heard of many cases, in Luniland and Transatlantica, of a clever and
+enterprising man having risen to eminence, after an experience in half
+a dozen different occupations. Here, I understand, that is impossible."
+
+"Ah," replied Lickrod, "I see you have not grasped the scientific basis
+of our system. You say such and such a person rose to eminence, shall
+we say as a lawyer, after having been, let us say, a printer or even a
+house-painter. If there had been a sufficient supply of good lawyers
+it is probable that he would not have succeeded in becoming an eminent
+lawyer. Now, _we_ know our requirements as regards lawyers, just as
+we know our requirements as to engineers. We have also the means of
+judging the capacity of our young people, and we place them in the
+sphere in which they can be of most service."
+
+I thought I could see holes in this theory, but all I said was, "So you
+think of the problem from the point of view of the good of the State,
+regardless of the wishes of the individual."
+
+"Certainly of the good of the State; but you mistake the true meaning
+of the wishes of the individual. The apparent wish of the individual
+may be to follow some other course than that which the State, with its
+fuller knowledge and deeper wisdom, directs; but the real inward wish
+of all Meccanians is to serve the interests of Meccania. That is the
+outcome of our system of education. We must talk about that some other
+time, but just now I want you to see that our system produces such
+wonderful fruits that it never enters the head of any Meccanian workman
+to question its wisdom."
+
+We entered a gigantic engineering works, full of thousands of machine
+tools. Everything appeared as clean and orderly as in the experimental
+room of an engineering college. Some of the workmen wore grey-coloured
+overalls, showing that they belonged to the Sixth Class, but most of
+them wore the chocolate uniform of the men of the Fifth Class. These
+were evidently performing highly skilled work. Even the moulding shops
+were clean and tidy, and the employment of machinery for doing work
+that elsewhere I had been accustomed to see done by hand astonished
+me. The workmen looked like soldiers and behaved like automatons.
+Conversation went on, but I was informed by Lickrod, again in a tone
+of pride, that only conversation relative to the work in hand was
+permitted. Here and there I saw a man in a green uniform, applying some
+mysterious instrument to one of the workmen. I asked Lickrod what this
+meant.
+
+"That is one of our industrial psychologists, testing the
+psycho-physiological effects of certain operations. By this means we
+can tell not only when a workman is over-fatigued, but also if he is
+under-fatigued. It is all part of our science of production."
+
+"What happens if a man is under-fatigued persistently?" I asked.
+
+"He will have to perform fatigue duty after the usual hours, just as he
+would in the army," he answered.
+
+"And do they not object to this?"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"The workmen."
+
+"Why should they? The man who is guilty of under-fatigue knows that
+he is justly punished. The others regard the offence as one against
+themselves. It is part of our industrial training. But we have indeed
+very few cases of under-fatigue in Mecco. You know, perhaps, that all
+our citizens are, so to speak, selected. Anyone who does not appreciate
+his privileges can be removed to other cities or towns, and there are
+thousands of loyal Meccanians only too eager to come to live in Mecco."
+
+One of the most remarkable industries I saw carried on was the
+House-building Industry. The plans for houses of every kind, except
+those for the Third and higher classes, are stereotyped. That is to
+say, there are some forty or fifty different plans, all worked out to
+the minutest detail. Suppose ten houses are wanted in any particular
+quarter, the Building Department decides the type of house, the order
+is given for ten houses, Type No. 27 let us say. This goes to the firm
+which specialises in Type No. 27. There are no architect's fees, and
+the expenses of superintending the work are almost _nil_.
+
+I asked Conductor Lickrod why it was that, when the whole industry of
+house-building had been reduced to a matter of routine, the State did
+not itself carry on the work, but employed private firms.
+
+"That question," he said, "touches one of the fundamental principles of
+our Meccanian policy. If you study our National Economy you will learn
+all you require about it, but for the moment I may say that the control
+of the State over Industry is complete, yet we have not extinguished
+the capitalist. We do not desire to do so, for many reasons. The Third
+Class, which includes all the large capitalists, and the Fourth Class,
+which includes the smaller capitalists, furnish a most important
+element in the National Economy. Their enterprise in business and
+manufacture is truly astonishing."
+
+"But what motive have they for displaying enterprise?" I asked.
+
+"What motive? Why, every motive. Their livelihood depends upon the
+profits made; their promotion to a higher grade in their own class,
+and in the case of those in the Fourth Class their promotion to the
+ranks of the Third Class, also depends upon their skill and enterprise.
+But most of all, the Meccanian spirit, which has been inculcated by
+our system of education, inspires them with the desire to excel the
+business men of all other nations for the sake of Meccanian Culture."
+
+Certainly the organisation of industry was marvellous, and the
+production of everything must be enormous. We spent three days going
+through factory after factory. There was the same marvellous order and
+cleanliness and perfect discipline, wherever one turned. On leaving
+the works the men all marched in step, as if on parade. Inside, they
+saluted their 'officers,' but the salute was of a special kind--the
+hand was raised to the shoulder only, so as to avoid a sweeping motion
+which might have brought it in contact with some object. One of the
+triumphs of organisation, to which Lickrod called my attention, was the
+arrangement whereby the workmen reached their work at the proper time,
+got their midday meal, and reached home in the evening without any
+congestion. Each separate workshop had its appointed time for beginning
+work; some began as early as 6, others at 6.15, the last to begin were
+a few that had a comparatively short day, starting at 7.30. The midday
+meal began at 11.30, and was taken by relays until about 1.30. All the
+women employed in the canteens were the wives and daughters of workmen,
+who spent the rest of their time in household work at home.
+
+At the end of the third day, as I was taking coffee with Conductor
+Lickrod, I took advantage of his communicativeness, which was rather
+a contrast to the brusqueness of Prigge, to get some light on several
+matters that had so far puzzled me.
+
+"Your industrial system," I remarked, "as a productive machine, appears
+to me to be quite marvellous."
+
+Lickrod beamed. "I knew you would think so," he said. "We have a word
+in our language which, so far as I am aware, has no exact equivalent
+in other languages, because their culture does not include the thing.
+It means 'the adaptation of the means to the end.' Our industrial
+system exemplifies the virtue connoted by that expression; but our
+whole industrial system itself is only a means perfectly adapted to its
+end. We have no 'Industrial Problem' in the old sense of that word. Of
+course we are always effecting improvements in detail."
+
+"But I have been wondering how it is," I said, "that with all this
+marvellous efficiency in production, your workmen in the Fifth and
+Sixth, and I suppose in the Seventh Class also, appear to work as long
+as those in other countries; they do not appear to be richer and they
+seem to have fewer opportunities of rising in the social scale."
+
+"I have heard the same question put by other Foreign Observers,"
+replied Lickrod, "and I am glad you have come to me for information
+on the subject. A complete answer involves a correct understanding
+of our whole Culture. To begin with, the supreme good of the State
+can only be determined by the State itself. The wishes or opinions of
+the private individual are of no account. Now, the State knows what
+its requirements are, and determines the amounts and kinds of work
+necessary to meet these requirements. By means of our Sociological
+Department, our Industrial Department, our Time Department, and the
+various sections of our Department of Culture, we know perfectly how to
+adjust our industries to the end determined by the State. Every class
+and grade therefore is required to contribute towards the supreme good
+of the State according to its ability."
+
+"I quite understand," I interrupted, "the point of view you are
+expounding; but what I am wondering is why, with all this efficient
+machinery of production, everybody in the country is not in the
+enjoyment either of wealth or of leisure."
+
+"I am afraid it is not easy for a foreigner, without longer experience,
+to appreciate the different value we attach to things such as wealth
+and leisure, and other things too. Suppose, purely for the sake of
+argument, that our working class worked only five hours a day instead
+of nine or ten: what would they do with their leisure?"
+
+"I suppose they would enjoy themselves," I replied; "and seeing that
+they have had the benefit of a good education, I take it that they
+would know how to enjoy themselves in a decent manner. Besides, your
+regulations would be able to prevent any excesses or disorders."
+
+"And you think they would be better employed in enjoying themselves
+than in serving the State as they do now?" asked Lickrod.
+
+"Who is to judge whether they would be better employed?" I answered.
+
+"That is just the question," said Lickrod, "and it is there that our
+Culture is so much in advance of other nations. Private enjoyment is
+not the supreme end of the State."
+
+"But surely," I said, "you do not go on producing wealth simply for
+the sake of keeping your working classes employed ten hours instead of
+five? What becomes of the wealth?"
+
+"As I said before, we produce just the wealth we require."
+
+"Then I confess I am baffled," I said. "Possibly a great deal is
+required for your army and navy and other public services. You have,
+you must acknowledge, a very large number of people employed as
+officials of all kinds. As these are not producing material goods,
+perhaps the surplus wealth is drained away into these channels?"
+
+"All that is included in my statement, that we produce what we
+require," answered Lickrod.
+
+"Can you give me any idea," I asked, with some hesitation, fearing I
+was getting on delicate ground, "how much of the industrial product
+is required for military and naval purposes? I don't suppose you can,
+because I am aware that your Government does not publish its military
+estimates; and even if it did, it would not be possible to tell how
+much of the labour of the working classes is absorbed in that way. But
+whilst I do not ask for any information that it is not usual to give, I
+suggest to you that when I see the extraordinary productivity of your
+economic machine, coupled with the comparative simplicity of the mode
+of life pursued by the bulk of your population, I am bound to infer
+one of two things: either a vast amount must be absorbed by some rich
+class, or it must be in some way absorbed by the State itself."
+
+"I think your reasoning is perfectly sound," replied Lickrod. "I could
+not tell you what proportion of the wealth product is absorbed by the
+army if I wished; for I do not know, and nobody in Meccania knows,
+except the Supreme Authority. The Finance Department knows only in
+terms of money what is spent upon the various services. But without
+knowing either exact amounts or proportions, I have no hesitation in
+saying that a very great deal of the wealth product does go in these
+directions. But that is part of our Meccanian ideal. The army is the
+nation, is it not? Every workman you have seen is a soldier; and he is
+a soldier just as much when he is in the factory as when he is in the
+camp or the barracks. He spends five years of his life between twenty
+and thirty in the camp, and he spends from one to two months of every
+year afterwards in keeping up his training. Then of course there is the
+equipment of both army and navy, which of course is always developing.
+Your idea is, I suppose, that if we devoted less to such objects as
+these, the people of the working classes, or even the whole body of
+people, would have more to spend upon pleasure, or could enjoy more
+leisure."
+
+"Yes," I said, "in most other countries every penny spent upon either
+military purposes or upon State officials, beyond what is strictly
+necessary, is grudged. The people scrutinise very keenly all public
+expenditure. They prefer to spend what they regard as their own money
+in their own way. It seems to me therefore, that either your people do
+not look at the matter in the same way, or if they do, that the State
+has discovered a very effective way of overcoming their objections."
+
+"What you say," replied Lickrod, "only brings out more and more
+the difference between our Culture and that of other nations. This
+sense of antagonism between the interests of the individual and the
+interests of the State, which has hindered and apparently still hinders
+the development of other countries, has been almost entirely eradicated
+among the Meccanians."
+
+"What!" I said, "do you mean that a Meccanian pays his taxes
+cheerfully?"
+
+"What taxes?" asked Lickrod blandly.
+
+"I do not know in what form your taxes are paid," I said, "but they
+must be paid in some way, and I suspect that even in Meccania, if they
+were left to voluntary subscription, the Exchequer would not be quite
+so full."
+
+"Now that is a very curious instance of what I am tempted to call
+the political stupidity of other nations. Instead of removing all
+circumstances that provoke a consciousness of difference between the
+individual and the State, they seem to call the attention of the
+private citizen, as they call him, to these differences. They first
+allow a man to regard property as entirely his own, and then discuss
+with him how much he shall contribute, and finally make him pay in hard
+cash."
+
+"And how do you manage to get over the difficulty?" I said.
+
+"All Meccanians are taught from their youth--even from early
+childhood--that all they have they owe to the beneficent protection
+of the State. The State is their Father and their Mother. No one
+questions its benevolence or its wisdom or its power. Consequently all
+this haggling about how much shall be paid this year or that year is
+avoided. The State is the direct paymaster of nearly half the nation.
+Hence it can deduct what is due without any sense of loss. Through our
+Banking system the collection of the rest is quite easy. The private
+employers deduct from the wages of their employees, and are charged the
+exact amount through the Banks. No one feels it."
+
+"But does your Parliament exercise no control over taxation?" I asked
+in some surprise.
+
+"Our Parliament is in such complete accord with the Government that it
+would not dream of disturbing the system of taxation, which has worked
+so well for over thirty years," replied Lickrod.
+
+"Have they the power to do so?" I asked.
+
+"They have the power to ask questions, certainly," he replied; "but the
+taxes are fixed for periods of seven years. That is to say, the direct
+taxes falling upon each separate class are fixed every seven years in
+each case; so that the taxes for the First Class come up for revision
+one year, those for the Second Class the next year, and so on. The
+Constitution does not allow Parliament to increase the amount asked for
+by the Government, and as the vote is taken not individually but by
+classes, it is hardly to the interest of any of the classes to try to
+reduce the amount assessed upon any one class. Besides, the Government
+derives a considerable proportion of its income from its own property
+in the shape of mines, railways, forests, farms, and so forth. When we
+hear foreigners speak of Parliamentary Opposition we hardly know what
+the term means. It is entirely foreign to the Meccanian spirit."
+
+"You speak of the Government," I remarked, "but I have not yet
+discovered what the Government is."
+
+"I am afraid I must refer you to our manuals of Constitutional Law,"
+replied Lickrod.
+
+"Oh, I know in a general way the outline of your Constitution," I said,
+"but in every country there is a real working Constitution, which
+differs from the formal Constitution. For instance, Constitutions
+usually contain nothing about political parties, yet the policy and
+traditions of these parties are the most important factors. The merely
+legal powers of a monarch, for instance, may in practice lapse, or may
+be so rarely exercised as not to matter. Now in Meccania one sees a
+powerful Government at work everywhere--that is, one sees the machinery
+of Government, but the driving force and the controlling force seem
+hidden."
+
+"You may find the answer to your question if you make a study of our
+political institutions. At present I am afraid your curiosity seems
+directed towards matters that to us have only a sort of historical
+interest. It would never occur to any Meccanian to ask who controls the
+Government. His conception of the State is so entirely different that
+the question seems almost unmeaning."
+
+"I have recently spent a long time in Luniland," I remarked at this
+point, "and I am afraid a Lunilander would say that if such a question
+has become unmeaning to a Meccanian, the Meccanians must have lost the
+political sense."
+
+"And we should say that we have solved the problem of politics. We
+should say," he went on, "that the Lunilanders have no Government. A
+Government that can be changed every few years, a Government that has
+to ask the consent of what they call the taxpayers for every penny
+it is to spend, a Government that must expose all its business to
+an ignorant mob, a Government that must pass and carry out any law
+demanded by a mere majority--we do not call that a Government."
+
+"They regard liberty as more important than Government," I replied,
+with a smile.
+
+"They are still enslaved by the superstitions of the eighteenth and
+nineteenth centuries," he replied solemnly. "No nation will make real
+progress until it learns how to embody its physical, intellectual
+and spiritual forces in an all-embracing State. Our State may be
+imperfect--I know it is--but we are in the right way; and developed
+as it may be in another century it will completely answer all human
+requirements."
+
+"Developed?" I said, almost betraying my amusement, for I wondered
+what further developments the Super-State was capable of. "In what
+directions do you anticipate development?"
+
+"There is still an immense fund of religious sentiment that is
+squandered upon unworthy objects: this may be--I feel sure it will
+be--directed into a nobler channel. Our ritual, too, in no way
+corresponds to the sublimity of the Idea of the Super-State. The ritual
+of the Catholic Church--which is after all but a section of the whole
+State--is still superior, from the sensuous and the artistic point of
+view, to our State ritual. Our reverence for the State is too cold, too
+inarticulate. I have sometimes thought that the Emperor might found an
+order of priests or monks who would cultivate an inward devotion that
+would inevitably give birth to a real religion of the State."
+
+"You are a true missionary," I said; "in fact, I think you are entitled
+to be considered a Meccanian Apostle. I have learnt a great deal from
+our intercourse, and just as you have suggested that the Government
+might bring more foreigners to see the wonders of your Meccanian
+Culture, I would suggest that they should send you and others like
+yourself into other countries to enlighten them as to the real mission
+of Meccania."
+
+He was pleased to accept this testimony from an innocent and
+well-disposed Foreign Observer, and said that I could best show my
+appreciation by inducing more of my fellow-countrymen to come and study
+the wonders of Meccanian Culture.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE MECHOW FESTIVAL
+
+
+I told Mr. Johnson of this conversation when next we met, and he seemed
+immensely amused by it. "You will have a chance of seeing a bit of
+Meccanian ritual to-morrow," he said.
+
+"You mean this Prince Mechow Festival," I replied. "What is it like? I
+suppose you have seen it before?"
+
+"Haven't you noticed the whole town is crowded with visitors?" he said.
+"But I won't take the edge off by telling you anything about it. You
+shall see it for yourself without prejudice."
+
+I was aroused about five o'clock next morning by a tremendous booming
+of guns. It lasted for half an hour, and sounded like a bombardment.
+Then, for the next half-hour, all the bells in Mecco began ringing.
+By this time I was dressed and out on the veranda of the hotel. I had
+tried to go outside the hotel, but was reminded by the porter that we
+were instructed to remain indoors until we were taken to a building in
+the great square to watch the proceedings. At a few minutes after six
+we were conveyed in a motor-car to one of the hotels in the square,
+and provided with seats at the windows. There were only about twenty
+Foreign Observers in Mecco altogether, and as most of them were not
+very desirable acquaintances I sought the company of Mr. Johnson.
+
+The streets were rapidly filling with people, the great majority being
+dressed in grey and chocolate uniforms, with a fair sprinkling of
+green. There were also quite a number of dark blue uniforms. As there
+is no Seventh Class in Mecco, I pointed this out to Johnson, who said
+that all the people in the streets were from the provinces.
+
+"You will see the citizens of Mecco presently," he said.
+
+"Where have they lodged all these people?" I asked, for I knew the
+hotels would not hold them.
+
+"Oh, every person is billeted upon somebody of his own class as far as
+possible. Some of them have relatives here."
+
+At seven o'clock, about fifty bands of music struck up, in different
+parts of the great central circle. They all played the same tunes and
+kept wonderful time. As soon as they struck up, Johnson said, "That
+means the processions have started."
+
+We waited about a quarter of an hour. The square itself was quite clear
+of people, but a few sentries in brilliant uniforms stood guarding the
+entrances from the four streets that led into it. The great statue
+towered above everything. Presently, headed by a band, the first of
+the processions, composed of members of the Sixth Class, in their best
+grey uniforms with all their badges and stripes, reached the square.
+Six men, at the head, carried a great banner, and were followed by
+another six, carrying an enormous wreath, which they deposited at the
+foot of the statue. Then, as the procession moved on across the square,
+six abreast, the two outside files left the procession, and separating,
+one to the right the other to the left, filled up the back of the whole
+square four deep. How many men there were altogether of the Sixth
+Class I have no idea, but they took half an hour to file past. Then
+followed another still bigger procession of the Fifth Class. These
+performed a similar ceremony, and proceeded to fill up the square ten
+deep. After them came the Fourth Class, in their green uniforms. This
+procession was much more brilliant in appearance than even the Fifth
+Class in its bright chocolate uniform. There were apparently ten grades
+of the Fourth Class, including as it does nearly all the professional
+men, as well as officials and business men. Some of the men in the
+first two grades had their breasts almost covered with badges and
+decorations. Last came a much smaller procession of the Third Class.
+The yellow against the background of green and chocolate and grey, as
+they filed into the square, filling the inner part about four deep,
+made a brilliant colour effect. There were no women in the processions,
+but the buildings in the square were full of the wives and daughters
+of the men of the upper classes, who watched the proceedings from the
+open windows and balconies. The bands went on playing all the time the
+processions were moving in and filling up the square. It must have
+been half-past nine when the music suddenly stopped. There was silence
+for five minutes. Then suddenly the guns burst forth again, and for a
+quarter of an hour the noise was deafening. Then the bells rang for
+half an hour, but after the guns they sounded like a mere tinkling. At
+half-past ten, after a short silence, a subdued kind of murmur went
+through the crowd, and we saw advancing from the Imperial Church,
+which stands back from one side of the square, a new procession, this
+time in military uniforms. They seemed to be arranged in companies of
+about fifty, and there must have been a hundred companies. They were
+all on foot, as it would have been very inconvenient to have cavalry
+in the crowded square. They filled up the central space. Immediately
+after came a group of about fifty generals, all belonging to the Army
+Council. They were followed by the members of the Imperial Council,
+all dressed in Generals' uniforms. Then came the Emperor himself,
+followed by the Prime Minister and some of the chief officials of the
+State. I could not see the face of the Emperor from where I stood. He
+was dressed in the most gorgeous sort of uniform I have ever seen, and
+as he appeared, at a given signal (which I did _not_ see), a great
+shout went up from all the people present, "Hail the Emperor! Hail
+the Emperor! Hail the Emperor!" Then everybody knelt on one knee for
+about half a minute, whilst he uttered some kind of blessing which I
+could not hear. The bands then struck up the National Hymn, after which
+there was complete silence for a minute or two. Suddenly a loud voice
+was heard. It must have been produced by a kind of megaphone, but it
+was perfectly clear. We were listening to the Emperor's formal speech
+on the occasion. I have not the exact words, but as near as I can
+reproduce it the speech was something like this:
+
+"We meet for the sixteenth time since the death of the illustrious
+Prince Mechow, to commemorate his never-to-be-forgotten services and
+to thank God for the blessings which, through the divinely appointed
+instrumentality of that noble Statesman, he has so abundantly bestowed
+upon this his most beloved country....
+
+"Superior to all other nations and races in our God-given endowments,
+we had not achieved those triumphs of culture of which our noble race
+and nation was capable, until by God's grace my father's Minister,
+Prince Mechow, showed my people of all ranks and classes how to direct
+their efforts, through discipline and knowledge and devotion, to the
+strengthening and glorifying of our divinely founded State....
+
+"To-day we again show our gratitude to God for having raised up, in the
+direct succession of great servants of the State, one who knew how to
+serve his Emperor and his God, and thus to defeat the evil intentions
+of all the host of envious and malignant enemies--enemies to God as
+well as to our nation--by whom we are surrounded....
+
+"Let those enemies beware how they set God at defiance by thwarting
+the divine mission he has entrusted to us. He has set our glorious
+and invincible State in the midst of all the nations, but in their
+blindness and ignorance they have scorned our mission.... If, whilst
+all other nations are striving within themselves, class against class
+and man against man and rulers against ruled, in our nation and among
+my people there is but one will, one purpose, one mind, we owe it,
+under God, more to Prince Mechow than to any other.... This monument,
+which to-day we decorate with the wreaths of memory, is but a symbol
+of that monument which exists in the shape of the whole nation, whose
+forces he organised and whose purposes he directed to one end, the
+strength and unity of the State. Hail to Prince Mechow! Hail! Hail!
+Hail!"
+
+The whole crowd burst out in shouts of "Hail to Prince Mechow! Hail!"
+Then came renewed shouts of "Hail the Emperor! Hail!" After he had
+bowed a dozen times or so, those near him prepared to form the
+procession back towards the Imperial Church, and for the next two
+hours the processions filed out to the sound of music. It grew very
+tiresome, and I was getting hungry, so we got permission to return to
+our hotel for a meal. Until now everybody had fasted, but the rest of
+the day was given up to a sort of carnival. Banquets were arranged to
+take place in every part of the city, and the whole population prepared
+to enjoy itself. At these banquets it is the custom to make patriotic
+speeches, which are faithfully reported. The man who is adjudged to
+have made the best patriotic speech is awarded a special decoration
+called the Prince Mechow Prize.
+
+As the streets were liable to be crowded with strangers, it was not
+thought fit to allow us to wander about; but I learnt from Johnson that
+as the day goes on, and a large quantity of beer is drunk, the streets
+become filled with a boisterous crowd, which is a most unusual sight in
+Mecco.
+
+Two things seemed to me rather odd about this festival: why was it that
+the Emperor allowed such adulation to be paid to a former subject; and
+why was the commemoration of Prince Mechow, who had done so much to
+introduce the strictest discipline, the one occasion when licence was
+allowed? I put these questions to Mr. Johnson as we sat talking in the
+smoke-room, where we could faintly hear the murmur of the crowd in the
+streets in the distance.
+
+"It is just as well you did not ask these questions of any of your
+Meccanian conductors," replied Johnson. "The real reason is one which
+I don't believe any Meccanian would avow. This Mechow Festival is
+a genuine expression of national character. They used to 'enthuse'
+about Bludiron in almost the same way, some eighty years ago. I have
+heard my father tell of some of the scenes he saw here. They have a
+childish belief in national heroes. Then, the upper classes have a very
+special reason for encouraging this cult of Mechowism. They realise how
+completely he did their work for them and made their power secure, and
+it suits them to cultivate the superstition that there is something
+sacred about everything he established. Perhaps you know that the
+Military Class are the real power behind the Throne here. They let the
+Emperor play his part on the stage in public, but he takes good care
+not to do anything to offend them; and this worship of Mechow is a sort
+of symbol of their power. The real effect of Mechow's reforms was not
+to make the Emperor himself supreme, but to make the Military Caste
+all-powerful. They take care, therefore, to make this festival popular.
+I don't suppose the Emperor altogether enjoys the part he has to play
+on an occasion like to-day."
+
+"What you say about the Military is rather interesting," I replied,
+"for only a day or two ago I was trying to get Lickrod to tell me what
+the Government really is. I couldn't make out whether he knew or not,
+but he certainly didn't enlighten me much."
+
+"Of course it's the Military Class," said Johnson, with a laugh. "I
+thought everybody knew that. It's a very open secret."
+
+"I have heard that theory put forward," I said, "but I can't quite make
+it square with the facts."
+
+"Why not?" asked Johnson.
+
+"Well, if the Military are the supreme power, why should they have such
+an elaborate Bureaucracy and make such a parade of culture in every
+direction?" I said.
+
+"Ah," replied Johnson, "you must remember we are living in the
+twentieth century; in fact, you must remember all that this wonderful
+rascal of a Mechow taught his countrymen. The clumsy methods of the
+Military Autocracy of a barbarous age would not be of the slightest use
+in our times. Human society in modern times, even under an Autocracy,
+is tremendously complex. An elaborate Bureaucracy is a necessary part
+of the machine. Suppose, for instance, that you were an autocrat, and
+you wanted to be able to wield the whole force of the nation over which
+you ruled, how could you give effect to your will unless the whole
+nation were organised with that end in view? Suppose you had absolute
+power, as far as the law could give it you, and suppose you wanted a
+powerful army; you would want also the best equipment. How would you
+get it unless your industries were already organised and under control?
+There is no doubt at all that the nation that can control and mobilise
+all its resources for whatever purposes it happens to require them, has
+a great advantage, from the military standpoint, over other nations not
+so organised."
+
+"But," I said, "they organise all sorts of things that have nothing
+to do with military efficiency. Look at the theatres, and at Art, and
+Music: their organisation of these is carried to an absurd point."
+
+"That is quite true, but did you ever know any big organisation that
+did just exactly what it ought to do, and stopped short of the things
+it ought not to do? Once set up a Bureaucracy and it will inevitably
+extend its functions. People are dirty, so the bureaucrat says, let
+us make them wash. Then, he says, let us make them keep their houses
+clean. Then, he says, let us make them keep their clothes tidy. He
+doesn't like the way they walk, so he makes them march in step. You can
+see that there was a tremendous advantage in having a well-instructed
+middle class and a well-instructed working class. To secure this, a
+powerful department to organise and enforce education was necessary.
+Once the Bureaucracy was created there was hardly any limit to its
+functions. Besides, and this seems to me rather important, the more
+widely extended are the functions of the Bureaucracy, the more
+effectually is its main purpose disguised. The people are accustomed to
+being directed and 'organised.' They imagine, in a vague sort of way,
+that it is all for their good. Another little turn of the screw is not
+felt. If the State tells me what to eat, why shouldn't it tell me what
+to wear, and what to read, and what to think?
+
+"There is another reason why it 'organises' all this culture. In every
+nation some kind of intellectual life goes on. It must be either free
+or controlled. If it is let alone, the force of ideas is such that,
+in the long run, they will shape the political structure. The State,
+if it means to preserve itself as an Autocracy, must get control over
+the intellectual life of the nation. In ancient times it succeeded for
+a time. In the Middle Ages the Church tried the same thing. In modern
+times most States have _not_ made the attempt, but this State _has_
+made the attempt. It has done no more than Plato would have done. It
+has done it rather differently perhaps, but it has followed the same
+idea."
+
+"They would feel rather flattered, don't you think," I said, "if you
+told them they were carrying out Plato's principles?"
+
+"Perhaps they would, but that only means they have learnt nothing from
+twenty centuries of political experience."
+
+"On the contrary, it looks as if they have learnt a good deal," I said.
+
+"They have learnt how to make a nation of slaves and tyrants."
+
+"And yet they don't seem to mind being slaves, if they are slaves."
+
+"I wonder," replied Johnson. "A hundred years in the life of a nation
+is not a long time. Human nature is a strange thing. They kiss the rod
+so affectionately that I don't mind how long _they_ remain in bondage:
+all I care about is that they should not make slaves of the rest of us."
+
+"Do you think there is any danger?" I asked.
+
+"I do indeed," replied Johnson. "A great danger."
+
+"Why, how could it be brought about?" I said.
+
+"In all sorts of ways. Liberty is the most precarious possession of the
+human race. Very few nations have possessed it for long together."
+
+"But surely," I said, "Meccania is so unpopular, to put it mildly, with
+almost all other nations, that her influence can hardly be dangerous."
+
+"Oh, but it is," insisted Johnson. "The danger takes several forms.
+Meccania is tremendously strong as a military power. She knows it,
+and other nations know it. Suppose a great war took place, and she
+were successful; she would bring other nations under her power, as
+she has done in the past. These would soon be compelled to adopt
+her institutions. Then, in self-defence, other nations would feel
+themselves compelled to resort to the same means as have proved
+successful in her case, to make themselves strong too. To a certain
+degree that has already taken place. Lots of our military people now
+are always agitating to introduce what they call reforms, to place us
+on a level with Meccania. Then all sorts of cranks come over here:
+Sanitary Reformers, Eugenists, Town Planners, Educationists, Physical
+Culturists, Temperance Reformers, Scientific Industrialists, and
+so forth. Each of them finds some idea he wants to push. There are
+people who think that if they could only cure unemployment they would
+bring in the millennium, and they are willing to reconstruct society
+for the sole purpose of doing away with unemployment. And so we get
+disconnected bits of Bureaucracy set up, first for this and then for
+that. By and by some one will come along who will try to co-ordinate
+the whole thing."
+
+I had evidently set Mr. Johnson on to a train of thought that excited
+him, for he usually took things very calmly. After a short pause
+he went on: "And yet I don't think the greatest danger comes from
+these would-be bureaucrats of ours. With us the bureaucrat only
+gets his chance when we have played the fool so badly that somebody
+has got to step in and set things right. For instance, we had what
+we called magistrates at one time. They were supposed to be the
+prominent citizens with common sense and initiative; but they became
+so incompetent, and the authorities chose them so foolishly, that
+they lost the public confidence; so we had to replace them partly by
+officials and partly by paid judges. Then look at our manufacturers;
+they hadn't the sense to apply a reasonable proportion of their profits
+to developing their business on scientific lines, so the State had to
+step in and compel them to. They hadn't the sense, either, to encourage
+their workpeople to become educated, nor even to pay them any more
+than they could help. Consequently the State had to step in again. No,
+what I am most afraid of is our disinclination to set things right
+ourselves. We can't let mothers go on murdering their babies, we can't
+let food dealers poison the public, we can't let seducers of children
+traffic in obscenity; and as the public is apathetic about all these
+things the bureaucrat steps in and adds another Department to the
+fabric. What I am afraid of chiefly is that we shall get into a bad
+mess that will place us at the mercy either of the Meccanians over here
+or of our own Meccanians at home."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+MECCANISATION
+
+
+When I came to reflect that night upon the experience of the last few
+days, I was much impressed by three things which somehow seemed to
+hang together. There was first my conversation with Lickrod. If all
+Meccanians, or even a majority, took the same view of the State that
+he did, there could be no limit to the functions of the State. He
+seemed to claim for it all the moral authority of the Mediæval Church,
+and although in other countries theories are put forward for academic
+discussion without having much influence upon practical politics, in
+Meccania the powers that be are able to carry out their ideas without
+the obstruction which necessarily arises in countries where public
+opinion is more spontaneous. He had evaded the question as to the
+control of the Government, and had maintained that such a question
+had no meaning in a country where the people were not conscious of
+any difference between the State and themselves. Then there was this
+Mechow Festival. Now, it was either a sincere manifestation of a
+national admiration of Prince Mechow, and an approval of his work in
+creating a Super-State with unlimited powers, or it was a proof that
+the ruling class, whatever that was, could manipulate the whole life
+of the nation as it pleased. Lastly, there was the idea that Johnson
+had thrown out. He was quite confident of the accuracy of his own view
+that the Military Class was the power behind everything, and that the
+whole elaborate bureaucratic organisation of society had for its motive
+and driving force the desire and the will to make Meccania a perfect
+instrument of militarism.
+
+Up to this time I had been partly amused and partly annoyed by what
+I had seen and heard and experienced. I was amused by the meticulous
+regulation and organisation of all the petty details of life, by the
+pedantic precision of all the officials I had met, and by the utter
+absence of a sense of humour in the mentality of the Meccanian people.
+I had been annoyed by the meddlesome interference with my private
+habits, but I tried to disregard this, because, as an experienced
+traveller, I had sufficient experience to tell me that in every country
+one has to accommodate oneself to the customs and prejudices of the
+community. But most of all, I felt baffled by my failure to find out
+anything about the real life and thought and feeling of the people.
+
+I determined that I would make a more serious attempt to get behind
+the screen which all this officialism set up between the people and a
+well-intentioned Foreign Observer like myself or Mr. Johnson. I would
+find out whether the screen was erected only between the foreigner and
+the people, or whether the people themselves were so 'organised' that,
+even for them, intercourse was made difficult. I promised myself that
+Lickrod, with his genuine enthusiasm for every feature of Meccanian
+culture, would be much more likely to enlighten me than any person I
+had come in contact with before. We had still some days to spend in
+completing our general survey of industry in Mecco. As President of
+an important Literary Society, I expressed a desire to see how the
+whole business of literary production was conducted in Meccania, for I
+understood that several features in the system were quite unlike what
+could be found anywhere else in the world. Conductor Lickrod was almost
+eager to gratify my curiosity--at any rate up to a certain point.
+
+"The printing industry," said he in answer to my questions, "is a
+perfect example of the effect of Prince Mechow's reforms. It would be
+impossible in any other country to do what we do, even if they employed
+three times the number of men. In other countries the waste of labour,
+not only manual labour but brain labour and business enterprise, is
+ridiculous. Look at the amount of advertising, the number of rival
+newspapers and magazines, the number of rival publishers of all sorts.
+It is a perfect chaos. Now we have no advertising, as advertising is
+understood abroad. Every commodity can be classified, whether it be a
+hair restorer or a mansion for sale. Our system of commerce gets rid
+of advertising miscellaneous commodities. The wholesale merchants have
+their regular catalogues issued to the trade, and the same system is
+extended to retail trade. For example, if you want to buy an article
+of clothing, apart from your regular uniform, you consult a directory
+of the retail dealers. Then you consult a catalogue of any particular
+firm at the bureau for retail trade, where you will find a catalogue
+of every shop in the town you happen to be in. There are no hoardings
+covered with posters tempting people, out of mere curiosity, to buy
+things they don't want. Now look at a typical newspaper in any foreign
+country. Half of it is covered with advertisements of concerts,
+theatrical performances, other amusements, sales, situations vacant and
+wanted, clothing, patent medicines, books--every imaginable thing. With
+us that is all unnecessary. The bureaux of employment do away with all
+advertisements for employment--but in any case we should require few of
+these, because our system of employment is so much better organised.
+As to concerts and theatres, everybody knows, through the official
+gazettes, what amusements are available for months in advance."
+
+"You have not only got rid of the advertisements," I remarked, "but
+even of the newspapers themselves, I understand. I have certainly seen
+none except the local gazettes."
+
+"Exactly; I was coming to that," he continued. "Look at the enormous
+waste of effort that goes to the production of forty or fifty big
+newspapers. What is the use of them? Every item of information can
+be classified. It may be a crime, an accident, an event in foreign
+politics, a new law, a trial, a new discovery in some branch of science
+or industry, and so on. Now look at all the ingenuity displayed in
+getting hold of some sort of account of these things at the earliest
+moment, in order to gratify the mere curiosity of crowds of ignorant
+people. Then look at the special articles, all or nearly all produced
+in haste, and the so-called leading articles, all designed to
+influence the mind of the public by giving some particular colour or
+interpretation to the alleged facts. Our official gazettes give the
+public all they require to know. The _Law Gazette_, issued each week,
+gives information about all the breaches of the law committed, all
+the important processes before the Law Courts, all the changes in the
+Law. All the 'articles' which are necessary to throw light upon legal
+matters are written by real experts. As you know, the journalist is
+extinct in Meccania. The Industrial Gazettes--one for each of the main
+branches of industry, with a general Industrial Gazette for matters
+affecting industry generally, contain everything required in a much
+more complete form than can be given in a daily newspaper. So you
+see that, applying the same principle to the various aspects of our
+public life, we are able to substitute one well-organised publication,
+dealing completely with all matters and issued with all the authority
+of the State, for the miscellaneous jumble of scraps which are called
+newspapers in other countries.
+
+"Then look at the number of magazines; they represent a stage of
+culture which we have left entirely behind. We have our Literary
+Gazettes to keep the public informed about all the recent publications.
+We have our Quarterly Records for every department of knowledge. If
+you want the latest contributions to history or archæology, philology,
+ethnology, or anthropology, you know where to go for them. Everything
+is done by experts, and we do not go to the trouble of printing
+anything by anyone else on such subjects."
+
+"Then you have no popular magazines such as would interest people who
+are not strictly students, but who take an interest in things?" I asked.
+
+"No. As I said a moment ago, we have left that stage of culture behind.
+We provide a good education for all those who, we think, are able
+to utilise it for the good of the State. After that, every one is
+encouraged to pursue that branch of knowledge which will be most useful
+to him in his calling. In a certain sense every man is a specialist. We
+do not encourage people to dabble in things they only half understand."
+
+"But is there not also a need," I said, "for what I may call general
+knowledge on the part of the public? For instance, suppose a new law
+is to be introduced which is to affect people's lives, _everybody_ is
+concerned, whether he is a specialist or not. Or suppose some question
+of public morals, or some question of political interest arises, you
+surely want the public to discuss such things. How, indeed, can your
+authorities keep in touch with the public mind unless there is some
+medium by which the general public can express itself?"
+
+"What you say," answered Lickrod, "only serves to demonstrate the
+truth of what I am trying to convey to you, namely, that our Culture
+is so differently conceived that you foreigners cannot understand our
+attitude. You use the expression 'public opinion.' Our psychologists
+will tell you exactly how that public opinion is formed. They made
+a careful study of it before we decided to replace it by something
+better. It was one of the superstitions of the nineteenth century,
+which has not only lingered on but has become a serious hinderance
+to the development of scientific government in all countries except
+Meccania. They actually allow their fiscal policy to be determined by
+'public opinion.' Fiscal policy is entirely a matter for the State,
+and the only persons qualified to advise the State are the experts.
+You speak of public morals, but the business of guiding the morals
+of the nation is the highest function of the State itself. Now the
+organs through which every nation or State functions are determined and
+developed by the national consciousness: this consciousness expresses
+itself just as legitimately through experts as through an uninstructed
+public opinion."
+
+"So you would be prepared to say, then," I said, "that your people
+fully acquiesce in the suppression or abolition of one of the
+institutions which most foreigners consider almost the last safeguard
+of liberty? I mean, of course, the daily press."
+
+"The present generation of Meccanians, that is, the young people, say
+between twenty and thirty, have never known the Press. The older men
+were, I confess, bitterly opposed for some years, or at least a section
+of them were; but if anyone proposed to revive the Press nowadays he
+would be regarded as one would be who wished to revive steam-trams, or
+wigs, or general elections."
+
+"But suppose some people were mad enough to want to publish a
+newspaper, could they not do so?" I asked.
+
+"Well, there is no positive law against it, but it would be impossible,
+all the same."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"The expense would be very great, for one thing. There would be no
+advertisements, remember. They would not be allowed to publish news
+before it had been submitted to the censor, or before it was given to
+the public through the official gazettes...."
+
+"You need say no more," I said. "I quite see it would be impossible.
+The censorship extends to all printed matter, I gather?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied. "The State would be guilty of a grave neglect
+of its function as guardian of the Meccanian spirit if it permitted any
+scribbler who wished to seduce the minds of the people to mislead them."
+
+"But," I could not help replying, "I thought that your people were on
+the whole so well educated that there would be less danger of their
+being misled in Meccania than in any country. Also I have been informed
+that all the best writers are already in the employ of the State;
+and, further, that the people generally are so completely at one in
+sentiment with the spirit and policy of the State that there could be
+no real danger from the free expression of opinion."
+
+Conductor Lickrod smiled. It was a benevolent, almost a pitying smile.
+
+"I perceive," he said, "that some of the most commonplace axioms of our
+policy seem like abstruse doctrines to people whose culture is less
+advanced. But I think I can make all this clear. Your argument is that
+our people are well instructed, our writers--the best of them--are
+employed by the State, and our common loyalty to the Meccanian ideal
+is so firmly established that even a free Press, or at least the free
+expression of opinion in books, would give rise to no danger. Now
+do you not see that it is only by means of our system--so wisely
+conceived by the greatest statesman who ever lived--that we _have_ this
+instructed public, that we _have_ all the best writers in the service
+of the State, that we _possess_ this common allegiance to the Meccanian
+spirit? When we have achieved what no other nation has achieved, should
+we not be fools to introduce an entirely contrary principle, and for
+the sake of what? In order to provide an opportunity for the few
+people who are not loyal to Meccania to attack the very State whose
+children they are. For, examine what it is you propose. No one who is
+a loyal Meccanian finds the least fault with our present system. It
+has the enormous advantage over all the systems of other countries
+that, without any waste, it provides the most authentic information
+about every conceivable subject, it gives the public the benefit of the
+services of such a body of experts as no other country possesses. And
+the people who would write such books as _you_ are thinking of; who
+would support them? They are already fully employed in some manner, and
+in the manner considered by the State to be the most useful. I assure
+you this is a purely academic discussion, for no one would dream of
+putting into practice such a proposal."
+
+"There must be something in the mentality of the Meccanians very
+different from that of other nations, and that is all the more
+surprising because, at least according to the ethnologists, they are
+not racially different from several of the surrounding nations."
+
+"That is quite true, with some slight reservations. We are not a pure
+race by any means. We have racial elements within our nation which are
+indeed distinct from those of the surrounding nations, and they have
+perhaps contributed to the final result much more than in proportion
+to their actual numbers. What you call Latin culture has never done
+more than furnish us with the material for such elements of our culture
+as we wished to utilise. You see it has hardly affected our language.
+No, the Meccanian culture of to-day is the result of education and
+scientific statesmanship."
+
+"Excuse my putting the question so bluntly," I said, "but it seems
+to me that the principles you have put forward would justify even a
+revival of an institution known in mediæval times, and even later, as
+the Inquisition. I suppose there is no institution corresponding to
+that in Meccania?"
+
+"It is quite unnecessary. And that is one powerful argument in favour
+of our system of controlling the Press. That control, together with
+our other institutions of which it forms part--our whole polity
+is a perfect harmony--makes an 'Inquisition,' as you call it, an
+anachronism."
+
+"But," I said, "I was told by one of your own people of something that
+seems to a mere outsider to resemble an incipient Inquisition."
+
+"Indeed," he said, "and what is that?"
+
+"Well, I gathered that in certain cases the Special Medical Board
+uses its discretionary power to incarcerate persons whose opinions or
+convictions make it impossible for them to embrace what I may call the
+Meccanian ideals of life."
+
+I felt I was treading on delicate ground, but as Prigge on a previous
+occasion had openly approved of putting people into lunatic asylums if
+they did not accept the Authority of the Super-State I felt justified
+in sounding Lickrod on the point. To my surprise he betrayed no
+embarrassment.
+
+"You are probably not aware," he said, "of the remarkable strides that
+have been made by our medical scientists in Meccania during the last
+fifty years. The pathological side of psychology has received great
+attention, with the consequence that our specialists are able to detect
+mental disease in cases where it would not be suspected by less skilled
+doctors. I believe I am right in saying that our experts detected the
+disease now widely recognised as _Znednettlapseiwz_ (Chronic tendency
+to Dissent) long before it was known in other countries that such
+a characteristic was in any way connected with brain disease. The
+microbe has been fully described in the twenty-seventh volume of the
+_Report of the Special Medical Board_. The first clue to the existence
+of this disease was discovered during the great war, or perhaps a
+little later. A number of people persisted in putting forward views
+concerning the origin of the war, which were totally at variance with
+the official, and even the Imperial, explanatory statements made for
+the enlightenment of the public. At the time, it was regarded as just
+mental perversity. But what led to the discovery was that, after ten,
+and even fifteen years in some cases, notwithstanding every natural
+inducement to desist from such perversity, these people deliberately
+and persistently maintained the objectivity of their hallucinations.
+Experiments were made; they were under close observation for some
+years, and at length Doctor Sikofantis-Sangwin produced his theory and
+confidently predicted that the bacillus would be found in a few years.
+From that time the path was clear. The disease was most rife some forty
+years ago, soon after the beginning of Prince Mechow's premiership; but
+since then it has almost disappeared. You see it is not hereditary,
+and the normal conditions of Meccanian life are very unfavourable to
+its development. But coming back to your point, although no doubt this
+is what has given rise to the calumny that the Special Medical Board
+uses its powers as an Inquisition, there is not a vestige of truth in
+the charge. Each case--and the cases are becoming very rare indeed--is
+investigated on strictly psycho-physiological lines. The patients in
+all cases are isolated, and placed under observation for some months
+before any pronouncement is made."
+
+"Your explanation is as usual most illuminating," I replied, "and the
+patience with which you deal with my questions emboldens me to put to
+you some further difficulties that have been puzzling me."
+
+"Proceed," replied Lickrod encouragingly.
+
+"Well now," I said, "your whole national culture is so elaborately
+perfect, from the standpoint of its basic principles, that it is
+certainly well worth studying by any student of sociology or politics
+or economics; yet we foreigners find ourselves hampered at many points
+whenever we wish to get into contact with certain kinds of facts. For
+instance, we may wish to find out what are the ideas, the current
+thoughts and feelings, of the various groups, and even individuals, who
+make up society. We cannot go and live with people and converse freely
+with them. I have not been able to understand why your Government takes
+such precautions to keep secret, as it were, facts which in any other
+country are as open as the day."
+
+"That is not at all difficult to answer by anyone who really
+understands the principles of our Culture, and I am surprised that
+none of the conductors who have instructed you have explained it--that
+is, if you have asked them," he answered. "You have been hampered,
+you say. Yes, but you have been assisted too. You have been shown
+things in a way that would be impossible in most other countries
+within such a short time. Our Government has paid great attention to
+the instruction of foreigners. Instead of leaving them to gather
+all sorts of erroneous impressions, it provides them with authentic
+information. If, on the other hand, there are things which it does not
+wish foreigners to know, it takes care, and quite rightly, that they
+shall not obtain the information by any illicit means. For instance,
+if you were foolish enough to attempt to obtain information about our
+military affairs, you would find yourself against a blank wall; and, if
+I may say so, you might hurt your head against the wall. But then there
+are matters which, without being secret, cannot well be investigated
+by the individual inquirer. Take such a thing as the current thought
+of any particular class or group. Only a trained and well-equipped
+social-psychologist is capable of making such an inquiry. The liability
+to error is tremendous. All the books written by travellers reveal
+this. We do not wish to be exploited by casual and irresponsible
+travellers. We provide opportunities, under proper conditions, for
+expert investigators; but very few are willing to comply with the
+conditions. Besides, our Culture, like all the finest products of the
+human intellect, is a very delicate thing. When we have carefully
+educated our people in the Meccanian spirit we are not prepared to
+expose them to the insidious influences of irresponsible busybodies.
+Every Meccanian is valuable in our eyes, and just as we protect him
+from infection in the shape of physical disease, so we protect him from
+the more insidious but not less injurious influence of foreign ideas.
+You will find plenty of philosophical justification for that policy in
+the writings of Plato and Aristotle--two philosophers who are studied
+in all the foreign universities but whose systems of thought are
+utterly misunderstood except in Meccania."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+CONVERSATIONS
+
+
+It must have been more than a week after my long talk with Conductor
+Lickrod that I was sitting one evening in the hotel with Mr. Johnson
+and a certain Francarian gentleman to whom he had introduced me, when
+the latter made a suggestion that has since proved very useful to me.
+Mr. Villele the Francarian is a short and rather stout man of middle
+age, with a pair of merry black eyes, a swarthy complexion, and dark
+hair beginning to turn grey. He professes to find Meccania and the
+Meccanians amusing, but I suspect from the nature of his sarcasms that
+he entertains a deep hatred of them. We were talking of my journal when
+he said, "And what is the use of it?"
+
+"Well," I said, "I do not flatter myself that I can produce a great
+literary work, but the facts I have been able to place on record are so
+interesting in themselves that I believe my countrymen would welcome a
+plain straightforward account of my visit to this most extraordinary
+country."
+
+"I have heard," he said, "that the Chinese have very good verbal
+memories. Have you committed your record to memory in its entirety?"
+
+"Why should I?" I replied; "it is to save my memory that I am taking
+the trouble of making such full notes, even of such things as
+conversations."
+
+"And how do you propose to get your journal out of the country?"
+
+"I propose to take it with me when I return," I said.
+
+At this he turned to Johnson and laughed, but immediately apologised
+for his apparent rudeness.
+
+"And what about the Censor?" he asked.
+
+"Surely," I replied, "these people take such precautions not to let us
+foreigners see anything they do not want us to see, that they cannot
+object to a faithful record being made of what they do permit us to
+see!"
+
+"Then you have not even read Regulation 79 of the Law concerning
+Foreign Observers."
+
+"What is that?" I asked.
+
+"Simply that foreigners are not allowed to take out of the country
+anything they have not been permitted to bring in, except with the
+consent of the Chief Inspector of Foreign Observers."
+
+"And you think they will object?"
+
+"I have not the slightest doubt."
+
+"But it is written partly in Chinese; they would have to translate it."
+
+"All the more reason for detaining it. If you ever get it again, it
+will be in a few years, after it has been translated for the benefit
+of the Sociological Section of the Ministry of Culture."
+
+"What do you advise me to do, then?" I asked.
+
+"Have you any friends at the Chinese Embassy?" he asked.
+
+"I have no personal friends. At least I have not troubled to inquire.
+I have had no business at the Embassy; there seemed no reason why I
+should trouble them."
+
+"There is a fellow-countryman of yours here in Mecco who is _persona
+grata_ with the Authorities," said Villele, "but he is rather a dark
+horse."
+
+"A dark horse?" I said.
+
+"He is a sort of convert to Meccanianism. He has written books in
+appreciation of Meccanian principles, Meccanian ideals, Meccanian
+institutions, and so forth. They are eagerly read by the Meccanians.
+They even use them in their colleges. I have read them, and they seem
+to me very clever indeed. I translated them for the benefit of my
+countrymen, and I am not exactly an admirer of things Meccanian."
+
+I must have looked rather puzzled, for Mr. Johnson came to my rescue.
+
+"Mr. Villele means," he said, "that these books have a double meaning.
+I have read one of them. Under cover of the most exuberant flattery
+he gives such an impression of the cold-blooded devilishness of the
+system, that some of us suspect his real purpose to be that of exposing
+the whole business."
+
+"He knows more of Meccania than anyone who is not a high official,"
+said Villele; "and if you want to pursue your investigations any
+further, and incidentally get your manuscript conveyed out of the
+country, I should advise you to seek an interview with him."
+
+"Will that be possible," I asked, "without arousing suspicion?"
+
+"Oh, quite easily," answered Villele. "_He_ is above suspicion, if you
+are not," he added, smiling. "He holds a weekly _salon_ for foreigners,
+and you can easily get permission to attend. After that I leave it to
+you, and him."
+
+That evening we went on talking a long time. Mr. Villele related some
+remarkable things, but I was not sure whether he was merely making fun
+of the Meccanians.
+
+"You have not seen much of the Meccanian women?" he remarked.
+
+"No," I said; "I have had no opportunity."
+
+"They are quite as wonderful as the men," he said. "You never heard,
+for instance, of the great Emancipation Act, Regulation 19 of the
+Marital Law?"
+
+"No," I replied; "what is it?"
+
+"No Meccanian woman is obliged to submit to the embraces of her lawful
+husband."
+
+"But how did the men ever consent to such a law?" I asked; "for in this
+country it is the men who make the laws."
+
+"It is rather a queer story," he replied. "It is quite a long time ago,
+forty years or more, since a movement arose among the women, influenced
+no doubt by the women's movement in Europe, which had for its object,
+or one of its objects, greater freedom from the domestic tyranny of
+the Meccanian husband. Some of them, of course, thought that the way
+to secure everything they wanted was to get the right to vote for the
+National Council; but the wiser among them saw that the vote was merely
+a bad joke. Anybody could have the vote, because it was worth nothing;
+seeing that the powers of the representatives were being reduced to
+nothing. All the same, this women's movement, such as it was, was the
+nearest approach to a revolutionary movement that the Meccanians have
+ever shown themselves capable of. Once more our dear old Prince Mechow
+came to the rescue. He was a real genius."
+
+"But I thought you did not admire the Mechow reforms?" I interrupted.
+
+"I do not; but I recognise a genius when I see him. Believe me, Prince
+Mechow was the first Meccanian to understand his countrymen. He knew
+exactly what they wanted, what they would stand, what they could do,
+what they could be made to believe. He was absorbed in his early
+reforms when this women's movement broke out, and some people were
+afraid of it. He attacked the problem in his characteristic fashion.
+He knew the women didn't want political power; he knew also that there
+was not the slightest danger of them getting it; but he saw immense
+possibilities in having the women as his allies in certain of his
+reforms, especially his Eugenic reforms. He hit upon a really brilliant
+idea. I don't suppose you can guess what it was?"
+
+"How can I?" I said. "All this is quite new to me."
+
+"Well, if you had read Meccanian literature, or even the writings
+of the old travellers in Meccania--your predecessors as Foreign
+Observers--you would know that the Meccanian women are the most
+primitive in Europe. They have one ideal as regards men. They have a
+superstitious admiration for physical strength. If a Meccanian woman
+were really free to choose her mate, in ninety-nine cases out of a
+hundred she would choose the strongest man. They have always been like
+that. Probably many primitive peoples have had that characteristic, but
+the Meccanians have preserved that trait longest. You think I am joking
+or spinning a theory?"
+
+"I was thinking that as they have had the same marriage laws as the
+rest of Europe for many centuries, the fact, if it is a fact, cannot be
+of much practical importance," I said.
+
+"The fact itself is vouched for by dozens of writers among the
+Meccanians. They pride themselves on having preserved these primitive
+characteristics; they glory in never having been influenced by Latin
+culture. The marriage laws you speak of have been adopted by the
+men, in self-defence, so to speak. In very early times the Meccanian
+marriage laws were essentially the same as they have been for two
+thousand years, and the penalties on the women for infractions of the
+marriage laws were more severe in practice than in any other country.
+Notice the facts: breaches of the 'moral code' before marriage are
+regarded very lightly: illegitimacy in Meccania, as is proved by
+statistics, was more prevalent than in most countries; but the men
+took care that breaches after marriage should be severely dealt with.
+I told you it was a long story, and I have not yet come to the point.
+For twenty or thirty years before Prince Mechow got into the saddle
+all the young hot-headed Meccanian patriots got Eugenics on the brain,
+but none of them knew how to put their ideas into practice. Mechow
+himself was a Eugenist of the most brutal type. He believed that if he
+could once utilise this primitive instinct of the Meccanian women, he
+could do something much more effective than eliminating certain feeble
+types, which was all that the Eugenist theorists had so far aimed at.
+He proposed to give every woman the right to choose, within limits,
+the father of her children. He knew that all the Meccanian women were
+obsessed with a frantic admiration for the Military Class--in the old
+days it was the ambition of every woman to marry an officer, and that
+was why the officers who were not well-to-do never had any difficulty
+in getting a rich _partie_. Well, he actually made a law to the effect
+that any woman could claim a sort of exemption from the marital rights
+of her husband, upon the recommendation of an authorised medical man."
+
+"But why on earth did the men consent to such a law?" I asked once more.
+
+"That was easily done. You had only to invoke the Meccanian spirit,
+devotion to the supreme interests of the State, the opinion of the
+experts and all the rest of it. The opposition was stifled. The three
+highest classes were all for it; the women supported it, and although
+they had no political power they made opposition impossible."
+
+"And what effect has this law had? I am afraid I do not see how it
+would effect the purpose Prince Mechow had in view," I said.
+
+"The consequences have been enormous. I do not mean that the law by
+itself effected much, but taken as part of a system it solved the whole
+problem from Mechow's point of view."
+
+"But how?" I asked, somewhat puzzled.
+
+"You understand, I suppose, the system of medical inspection and
+medical supervision and medical treatment?"
+
+"To a certain extent," I replied.
+
+"Well, you realise perhaps that, in the hands of a patriotic medical
+staff, the system can be so worked that every woman who is 'approved'
+can be provided with a 'eugenic' mate from an approved panel, drawn
+chiefly from the Military Class, eh?"
+
+"Is this one of Mr. Villele's jokes at the expense of the Meccanians?"
+I asked Mr. Johnson.
+
+"He is telling the story in his own way," answered Johnson, "but in
+substance it is quite true."
+
+"But it sounds incredible," I said. "What do the husbands say to it?"
+
+"Oh, the business is done very quietly. A woman is ordered a 'cure' by
+the 'medical authority,' and she goes away for a little time. The men
+on the panel are kept in training, like pugilists used to be. As for
+the husbands--did you ever attend any lectures in the Universities on
+Meccanian ethics? Of course you have not been in the country very long.
+Jealousy is regarded as an obsolete virtue, or vice, whichever you
+like. Besides, you must not imagine the custom affects large numbers.
+Probably not more than 10 per cent of the women, chiefly in the Fifth
+and Sixth, and to some extent in the Fourth, Class, are affected."
+
+"But I should have thought that social caste would be an insuperable
+obstacle," I said.
+
+"Surely not! When did you hear that women were chosen for such purposes
+from any particular class? It is not a question of marriage."
+
+"There is one circumstance," interposed Mr. Johnson, "that has some
+bearing on this subject. Domestic life in Meccania for generations
+past has been based on quite a different ideal from that prevalent
+in other parts of Europe. A Meccanian in the old days used to choose
+a wife very much as he would choose a horse. She was thought of as
+the mother of children; in fact, the Meccanian sociologists used to
+maintain that this was one of the marks of their superiority over other
+European nations. Conjugal affection was recognised only as a sort of
+by-product of marriage. Of course they always pretended to cultivate a
+kind of Romanticism because they wrote a lot of verse about the spring,
+and moonlight and kisses and love-longing, but their Romanticism never
+went beyond that. As the object of Meccanian sentiment, one person
+would do just as well as another."
+
+"Our friend seems very much surprised at many things he finds in
+Meccania," remarked Mr. Villele, "and my own countrymen, and more
+especially my own countrywomen, only half believe the accounts they
+read about this country, simply because they think human nature is the
+same everywhere; but then they are ignorant of history. Civilisations
+just as extraordinary have existed in ancient times, created through
+the influence of a few dominant ideas. The Meccanians are a primitive
+people with a mechanical culture. They have never been civilised,
+because they have no conception of an individual soul. Consequently
+they find it easy to devote themselves to a common purpose."
+
+The conversation went on for a long time. It was a warm summer evening
+and we were sitting in the garden at the back of the hotel, otherwise
+we should have been rather more guarded in our remarks. As we parted,
+Mr. Villele repeated his advice to seek an interview with Mr. Kwang,
+as he called him. (His name was Sz-ma-Kwang, but for convenience I
+shall allude to him as Mr. Kwang.) A day or two later, I contrived to
+get an interview with him, and although Conductor Lickrod was present
+I soon discovered that Mr. Kwang and I were members of the same secret
+society. He promised that I should see him again before long, and that
+he would be happy to assist me in any way he could. He told Lickrod
+that he had been doing his best, for the last five years, to induce
+the Chinese Government to send more 'observers' to Meccania; but his
+enthusiasm for Meccania had perhaps defeated its own object, as it
+caused him to be mistrusted. His writings on Meccania were well known,
+and it was thought that he was trying to proselytise. He spoke most
+flatteringly of me to Lickrod, and said that, in view of the influence
+I should have in my own country, it was well worth while giving me
+every facility to see all I wished. He would guarantee that, under his
+tutelage, I should soon learn to appreciate things from the right point
+of view.
+
+Two days after this, I received a message to call on the Chief
+Inspector of Foreigners. He received me most politely, and almost
+apologised for not having had time to see me before. He had only just
+learnt that I was a friend of the excellent Mr. Kwang. He said I should
+be permitted to visit Mr. Kwang whenever I chose, and that I was now
+at liberty to make use of the letters of introduction I had brought
+with me to several persons in Meccania. It would not be necessary for
+me to be accompanied by a 'conductor' every day. He would transfer me
+to Class B, Stage II. Class B meant Foreign Observers staying not less
+than six months; and Stage II. meant that they were permitted to submit
+a plan each week showing how they proposed to spend the following
+week; so that on the days which were occupied to the satisfaction of
+the Inspector of Foreign Observers for the district, the services of a
+'conductor' could be dispensed with.
+
+I did not know whether to avail myself of my new-found liberty or not.
+For when I came to talk the matter over with the only person at hand,
+Conductor Lickrod, I found that it was not very easy to prepare a plan
+that would be accepted by the Authorities, unless I were prepared to
+pursue some definite line of research. When I talked of taking a few
+walks in the poorer quarters, calling in for a few lectures in the
+University, hearing some concerts, and seeing some plays and other
+amusements, looking round the museums,--a programme innocent enough
+in all conscience,--Lickrod said no Inspector would sanction such
+a miscellaneous time-table for an observer in Stage II. I was not
+qualified to attend concerts; I had not yet received permission to
+visit the theatre. Unless I were pursuing some particular study, I
+could only visit the museums in company with a conductor. As for a
+stroll through the poorer quarters, he failed to see the object of
+that. On the whole, I decided to stick to Lickrod for another week at
+any rate. I asked if I might see something of Education in Mecco. He
+said certainly, if I desired to make a study of Meccanian Pedagogics
+for a period of not less than four months. Otherwise it would not
+be possible to enter any of the educational institutions. I could
+get permission to read in the Great Library, if I would specify the
+subject, or subjects, and show that I was qualified to pursue them. In
+that way I could read up Meccanian Education. If I were not willing
+to do this, he advised me to talk to Mr. Johnson, who was a keen and
+capable student of Meccanian Pedagogics.
+
+I suggested investigating Meccanian political institutions, but similar
+difficulties arose there. I could only study Meccanian politics if I
+were registered as a specialist, and for that I should have to obtain
+permission from the Department for Foreign Affairs as well as from the
+Chief Inspector of Foreign Observers. He remarked, however, that in
+his opinion there was little to study beyond what could be got from
+books. The political system of Meccania was really simplicity itself
+when once the fundamental principles had been grasped. I replied that
+in most countries it took a foreigner rather a long time to understand
+the views and policy of the many different groups and sections in the
+representative assemblies. Each of them usually had their organisations
+and their special point of view. He replied that in Meccania the State
+itself was the only political organisation.
+
+"But," I said, "when your members of the National Council meet, do they
+not fall into groups according to their views upon policy?"
+
+"They are grouped according to classes, of course," he answered. "Each
+of the seven classes has the same number of representatives, and
+there is no doubt a tendency for the representatives of each class
+to consider things somewhat from the point of view of the interests
+of their class. But the members have no meetings, except in the full
+assembly and in the committees. Such group-meetings form no part
+of the Constitution. We do not do things by halves. When the State
+decided to have nothing to do with party government, it decided also
+not to have anything to do with group government. There is no room
+for such trifling in Meccania. So you see there is nothing for you to
+investigate in this direction."
+
+"The classes themselves, then? Is there no body of opinion, no
+collective political tradition or sentiment cultivated by the various
+classes?"
+
+"You might find something there," said Lickrod, musing a little. "But
+except in the shape of books I do not know how you would get at it."
+
+"But all books are censored, are they not?" I said.
+
+"Certainly, but how does that affect the question?"
+
+"Books would hardly give me a truthful idea of all the currents of
+thought."
+
+"But surely you cannot suppose that the State would assist you in
+trying to discover things which, by its deliberate action, it had
+already thought it desirable to suppress?" he answered. "Besides," he
+added, "such things belong rather to the pathology of politics. By the
+way, you would find some useful matter in Doctor Squelcher's great work
+on Political Pathology."
+
+"That is a new term to me," I said.
+
+"Doctor Squelcher's researches have proved invaluable to the Special
+Medical Board in connection with the disease _Znednettlapseiwz_
+(Chronic tendency to Dissent) which you also had not heard of."
+
+In view of this conversation my attempt to investigate Meccanian
+politics did not seem likely to meet with much success.
+
+Before seeing Mr. Kwang again, I received an invitation to dine with a
+certain Industrial Director Blobber, one of the persons to whom I had
+a letter of introduction. He lived in a very pleasant villa in the
+Third Quarter, and as it was the first time I had had an opportunity
+of seeing the interior of any private _ménage_, I was naturally rather
+curious to observe everything in the house. The door was opened by
+a servant in a livery of grey. The hall was spotlessly clean, and
+decorated in yellow tones, to indicate the class to which my host
+belonged. I was shown into what I took to be a drawing-room, the
+prevailing tone of which was also yellow. The first thing that struck
+me was the peculiar construction of the easy chairs in the room. They
+were all fitted with mechanical contrivances which enabled them to
+be adjusted in any position. At first I thought they were invalids'
+chairs, but they were all alike. The other furniture suggested the
+latest phases of Meccanian decorative Art, but it would be tedious
+to describe it in detail. The frieze was decorated with a curious
+geometrical design executed in the seven colours. There were silk
+hangings which at first I took to be Chinese, but which I soon saw
+were imitations. The carpet had the Imperial arms woven in the centre.
+It seems it is one of the privileges of officials of the Third Class
+to have the Imperial arms as a decoration on certain articles of
+furniture; only members of the Second and First Classes may have their
+own arms. The mantelpiece was large and clumsy. A bust of the reigning
+Emperor stood on one side and one of Prince Mechow on the other.
+
+Mr. Blobber joined me in a few minutes. He was dressed in a lounge suit
+of bright yellow with green buttons. (The buttons indicated that he had
+been promoted from the Fourth Class.) He was polite, in a condescending
+sort of way, and spoke to me as if I had been a child. He was a foot
+taller than I am, and decidedly portly in build. He had a red face, a
+rather lumpy nose and a large bald forehead. He wore spectacles and was
+decorated with the 'Mechow' beard, which he not only stroked but combed
+in my presence.
+
+After the first formal greetings, he said, "So you have come all the
+way from the other side of the world to see our wonderful country. You
+had all the countries in the world to choose from, and you had the good
+sense to come to Meccania. You decided well, and I hope you have been
+profiting by your stay."
+
+"Yes," I said; "I have seen a great many things to admire already."
+
+"For example?" he said.
+
+"The wonderful roof of your Great Central Station," I said.
+
+"Ah, yes unique, is it not? We have, of course, the finest railway
+stations in the world, and the finest railway system too. But that is
+only part of our industrial organisation."
+
+"You have indeed a wonderful industrial system," I said, "and no
+industrial problem."
+
+"No industrial problem?" he replied. "We have a great many. We do not
+produce half enough. Of course, compared with other countries, it may
+seem that we are doing very well, but we are not satisfied."
+
+"I meant rather that you have no disturbances, no strikes, no Trade
+Unionism or anything of that sort."
+
+"Of course, you cannot help thinking of what you have seen in other
+countries. No, we have no time for nonsense of that kind. But I take
+no interest in that sort of thing. I have enough to do with my work.
+The chief Director of the Imperial Porcelain Factory is a busy man, I
+assure you."
+
+At this moment Madame Blobber came in and I was introduced to her. She
+was a great contrast to her husband in many ways. She was tall and
+rather thin--at any rate for a Meccanian--and would have been graceful
+but for a certain stiffness and coldness in her manner and bearing. She
+had a pale face with cold blue eyes. Her mouth was rather large, and
+her lips thin and flexible. While her husband's voice was leathery,
+like that of most Meccanians, hers was thin and penetrating, but not
+loud. We crossed into the dining-room. A butler in a chocolate-coloured
+livery saw that all was in order, and left the room. Waiting was
+unnecessary. The first dishes were on the table, where they were kept
+hot by electricity, and others on the sideboard were afterwards handed
+by a woman servant in a grey uniform.
+
+It was a rather silent meal. Mr. Blobber was much occupied with his
+food, which he evidently enjoyed, and at a later stage he relapsed
+into a sleepy condition. Madame Blobber then took the lead in the
+conversation. She was evidently a very well-read woman, especially in
+all matters relating to Art. I suspected she had no children and had
+made herself a blue-stocking. She talked like a professor, and with
+all the dogmatism of one. She said the Chinese had never had any true
+knowledge of colour. They had merely hit upon some colours which were
+pleasing to a crude taste. The Meccanians in fifty years had absorbed
+all the knowledge the Chinese had ever possessed, and much more besides.
+
+I ventured to say that there were still some secrets of artistic
+production in porcelain that foreigners had not discovered. She
+laughed at the idea. The 'secrets,' she said, were the very things the
+Meccanian experts had rejected as of no value. I might as well say that
+the Chinese political constitution was a secret because the Meccanians
+had not adopted it. When I suggested that scientific knowledge was not
+a complete equipment for Art, and would not necessarily increase the
+artistic powers of a nation, she said this was a mere superstition. Art
+was not a mystery. Every work of art admitted of being analysed; the
+laws of its production were ascertainable; and it could be reproduced
+or modified in every conceivable way.
+
+I asked if the same were true of music. I had heard, I said, that
+for nearly a hundred years even the Meccanians had produced no great
+musician.
+
+"Another superstition," she declared. "The great musicians, as they
+were called, were merely the pioneers of music. Their works were much
+overrated in foreign countries. We have proved by analysis," she said,
+"that they were merely groping for their effects. _We_ know what they
+wanted to effect, and we have discovered how to get those effects.
+Musical psychology was an unknown science a hundred years ago. Why, the
+old composers had simply no means of testing the psychological effects
+of their works by experiment."
+
+"I am afraid I am very ignorant of musical science," I said. "In fact,
+I did not even know there was such a thing as a science of music."
+
+"What did you think music was?" she almost snapped.
+
+"Simply one of the Arts," I said.
+
+"There can be no art in the proper sense without a science."
+
+"But I thought you Europeans considered that in Sculpture, for example,
+the Ancients had never been surpassed; and yet they had no science of
+sculpture."
+
+"Their science was probably lost: but _we_ have recovered the
+true science. The basis of all sculpture is accurate measurement.
+Whatever has bulk, whatever occupies space, can be measured, if your
+instruments are fine enough. Our instruments _are_ fine enough. We can
+reproduce any statue ever made by any artist."
+
+"But that is only copying," I said. "How do you create?"
+
+"The process is a little more elaborate, but the principles are exactly
+the same. Even the classical sculptors had models, had they not? Well,
+our sculptors also use models; they pose them in thousands of different
+positions until they have the attitude they want; they have instruments
+to enable them to fix them in position, and the rest is merely accurate
+measurement."
+
+"I should never have imagined that sculpture had been carried to such a
+point," I remarked. "Is there much of it in Meccania?"
+
+"Not a great deal of the finer work. Accurate measurement is a slow and
+costly business even with our improved instruments."
+
+"Tell me," I said,--"you see I am very ignorant of Art as understood in
+Meccania,--has Literature been pursued by the same scientific methods?"
+
+"It depends upon what you mean by Literature," replied Madame Blobber.
+
+"Broadly speaking," I said, "I mean the art of expressing ideas in
+language that satisfies one's sense of beauty."
+
+"All our professional writers go through a period of training in the
+particular department they cultivate. For example, our writers of
+history are very carefully trained, writers of scientific treatises
+also."
+
+"But what of your novelists and poets?" I asked.
+
+"We do not specially encourage the writing of novels. All stories are
+merely variations of a few themes: all the stories worth writing have
+been written long ago. We print a certain number of the old novels,
+and we employ a few specialists to 'vamp' up new stories from the old
+materials, chiefly for the benefit of the lower classes. We Meccanians
+never really took to novel-writing, except under foreign influence, and
+that passed away long ago. The theme of almost all novels is domestic
+life and individual passion: they treat of phases of thought and
+feeling that our Culture tends more and more to make obsolete. We have
+developed the Drama much more; in fact, the drama takes the place of
+the novel with us."
+
+"I have heard something of your Drama from Dr. Dodderer," I said.
+
+"Indeed! Then you understand the fourfold treatment. That in itself
+would explain why we have discarded the novel. We still keep up the
+philosophical parable, which is a sort of link between the novel and
+our modern drama."
+
+"I am afraid I should find it difficult to appreciate some of your
+plays," I said; "_Uric Acid_, for instance."
+
+"That is only because our mental environment is in advance of the rest
+of Europe. Physical science, including of course medical science, is
+part of our mental furniture: we have assimilated whole masses of ideas
+that are still unfamiliar to other peoples. Naturally our drama finds
+its material in the affairs that interest us."
+
+"And Poetry?" I said. "Is Poetry still cultivated?"
+
+"Naturally! Most of our dramas are in poetry: our language lends
+itself admirably; it is almost as easy to write poetry as prose in our
+language."
+
+"But is there no lyrical poetry?"
+
+"Certainly; we utilise it as one of the means of cultivating the
+Meccanian spirit, especially among the young. No poetry is published
+unless it contributes to the uplifting of the Meccanian spirit."
+
+At this point Director Blobber woke up and proposed that we should
+retire to his study for a glass of spirits and a cigar. Madame Blobber
+left us, and for the next half-hour I did my best to keep Mr. Blobber
+awake. But it was evident he wanted to go to bed, and by half-past nine
+I left the house, without any desire to see either of my hosts again.
+
+Two days later I received another invitation, this time to dine with
+an Under-Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. I had not
+presented any letters of introduction to him. I could therefore only
+suspect that this invitation was in some way due to Mr. Kwang. I went,
+of course; but I could hardly help wondering what was in store for me.
+Under-Secretary Count Krafft belonged to one of the great families and
+wore the uniform of the Second Class, with a badge to indicate that he
+was now in the Civil Service, although of course he had served as an
+officer in the army. His wife was apparently dining elsewhere, for I
+saw no sign of her, and we dined _tête-à-tête_ in a small apartment in
+his large mansion in the Second Quarter. He was much more a man of the
+world than the others I had met, and in his manners resembled the men
+of good family whom I had met in Luniland. After a short preliminary
+talk, about nothing in particular, he said he was sorry that he had not
+learnt of my presence in Mecco when I first arrived, particularly as I
+was a friend of Mr. Kwang.
+
+"The applications from foreigners for permission to travel in
+Meccania," he said, by way of apology, "are not very numerous, and
+they are always referred to me for my signature. Yours reached us
+from Luniland, and was regarded as that of a mere globe-trotter. It
+is a pity you did not give the name of your friend, Mr. Kwang, as a
+reference. We think very highly of Mr. Kwang, and I should be pleased
+to give special facilities to any of his friends. I don't suppose you
+have been neglected," he added; "our officials have instructions to pay
+attention to the comfort of all Foreign Observers, and I am sure we do
+more for them than any Government I am acquainted with."
+
+We were by this time about half-way through dinner, and under its
+influence I ventured upon a mild joke.
+
+"You do everything for them," I said, "except leave them alone."
+
+He took this in good part.
+
+"You have been in Luniland," he remarked, "where every one does what he
+pleases. When you have spent as long a time here you will appreciate
+the wisdom of our arrangements. No doubt it seems a little irksome at
+first, and perhaps rather dull, especially as you have seen only the
+mere routine aspects of the life of the lower and middle classes--I
+use the old-fashioned terms, you see. But how else would you arrange
+matters? We cannot invite all foreign visitors, indiscriminately, to
+take part in our higher social life, and it would not be fair to our
+own citizens to allow foreigners a greater liberty than we allow to
+ourselves."
+
+"So you put us in a strait-jacket," I said, laughing, "because you have
+to put your whole nation in a strait-jacket."
+
+"Our whole nation in a strait-jacket," he replied, with a smile. "So
+that is how it strikes you, is it?"
+
+"Well, isn't it so?" I said. "Your children are sorted out while they
+are at school, their play is turned into useful employment, their
+careers are decided for them; hardly any of them rise out of their
+original class. Then everybody is under the eye of the Time Department,
+everybody is inspected and looked after from the cradle to the grave.
+It is almost impossible to commit a real crime or to set up any
+independent institution. There is, you must admit, a certain want of
+freedom in your arrangements."
+
+"But of what people are you speaking?" said Count Krafft. "You seem to
+have confined your attention to the lower classes. For them, in all
+countries, something of a strait-jacket is needed surely. Certainly it
+is for ours. We know our own people. When they are properly drilled and
+led they do wonders, but left to themselves they have always relapsed
+into laziness and barbarism, or else have burst out into anarchy and
+revolutionary fury."
+
+"But what scope does your system allow for their energies?" I asked.
+"Every aspect of life seems confined by your meticulous regulations."
+
+"That is an illusion," he replied. "You see, we are a highly
+intellectual people and it is quite natural for us to formulate
+regulations. Modern life is necessarily complex, and the chief
+difference between us and other nations is that we recognise the
+complexity and organise our activities accordingly. We are simply
+in advance of other nations, that is all. Take a simple thing like
+Railways. We organised our Railway system to suit our national
+purposes instead of leaving them to commercial enterprise. Take the
+Education of the people. The State took charge of it fifty years before
+other nations recognised its vital importance. Take the question of
+Public Health; even those States which prate about individual liberty
+have had to follow in our wake and organise the medical service.
+Besides, it is only by organising the activities of the lower classes
+that the State can maintain its supremacy."
+
+"I see," I replied, "the strait-jacket is for the lower classes. I
+thought it was a garment worn by everybody."
+
+"The expression was yours," he said, with an indulgent smile. "We
+certainly do not regard it as a strait-jacket."
+
+"That is perhaps because the ruling classes do not wear it," I replied.
+
+"We do not recognise any classes as ruling classes," he said suavely.
+"It is an obsolete expression."
+
+"But I thought you liked to recognise facts and call things by their
+proper names," I replied.
+
+"Certainly we do," he answered. "But which are the ruling classes? The
+Super-State is the supreme and only ruler in Meccania."
+
+"Even in a Super-State," I said, "I should have thought, from what you
+have said, that some groups of persons really wielded the power of the
+State."
+
+"Under the crude organisation of most foreign States that is quite
+possible," answered Count Krafft; "but the essence of the Super-State
+is that, in it, power cannot be exercised without authority, and only
+these persons are authorised through whom the Super-State chooses to
+express its will. It places everybody in such a position as enables
+him to render the greatest service to the State that he is capable of
+rendering. Consequently no fault can be found, by any class or section,
+with the power exercised by any other class or section; because they
+are merely the instruments of the State itself."
+
+"That sounds a very comfortable doctrine for those who happen to wield
+the power," I said. "It leaves no room for any 'opposition.'"
+
+"The Super-State would not be the Super-State if it contained within it
+any opposition," he replied. "You ought to read the speech of Prince
+Mechow on the Super-State as the final expression of the Meccanian
+spirit," he went on. "Foreigners are apt to confuse the Super-State
+with an Autocracy. It is essentially different. In an autocracy of the
+crude, old-fashioned type, an exterior power is visible, and your talk
+of ruling classes would be appropriate there. In the Super-State all
+the functions are so organised that the whole body politic acts as one
+man. We educate the will of the component units in such a way that all
+conflicting impulses are eradicated. After all, that was the ideal of
+the Catholic Church. Prince Mechow applied the same principle when he
+reformed our Educational system. A good Meccanian would no more seek to
+violate the obligations laid upon him by the Super-State than a good
+Catholic would seek to commit deadly sin."
+
+"Then there is no room for a Free Press in the Super-State," I remarked.
+
+He saw my point and replied, "A 'Free Press,' as you call it, would
+be an anachronism. What necessity is there for it? Its function
+has disappeared. It only existed during a brief historical phase
+in the earlier development of the modern State. Our great Prince
+Bludiron was the first to perceive its inconsistency with the line
+of true development. Prince Mechow absorbed all the functions of the
+independent professions, and among them those of the journalists, who
+were always an element of weakness in the State."
+
+"But what, then, is the object of this complete Unity which, as far as
+I can make out, the Super-State seems always to be aiming at?" I asked.
+
+"The object?" he replied, almost bored by my pertinacity. "Unity is the
+law of all organic life. We are simply more advanced in our development
+than other States, that is all."
+
+"Then it is not true that all this super-organisation is for the
+purpose of fostering national power?" I said.
+
+"That is the old argument of the weak against the strong, the poor
+against the rich, the ignorant against the educated. Every healthy
+person is a strong person; the rich man is stronger than the poor man;
+the educated man is stronger than the ignorant. The modern State, even
+among our neighbours, is infinitely 'stronger' than the incoherent
+political organisms of earlier times. It cannot help itself. Its
+resources are enormously greater. How can the Super-State help being
+strong? No State deliberately seeks to weaken itself, or deprive itself
+of its natural force." Then, as if tired of the discussion into which
+our conversation had led us, he said, "But these are all matters about
+which you will learn much more from my friend the Professor of State
+Science. I am afraid I have been dishing up one of his old lectures.
+You will find this liqueur quite palatable."
+
+We then drifted on to more trivial topics. He said I had spent too
+long among the petty officials, grubbing about with my Tour No. 4. I
+ought to see something of better society. Unfortunately it was the dead
+season just then, and I might have to wait a little time, but there
+were still some dinners at the University. Some of the professors never
+went out of Mecco and would be glad to entertain me.
+
+We parted on very good terms. His manner had been friendly, and if he
+had done little besides expound Meccanian principles he had at any rate
+not been dictatorial. I wondered whether he really believed in his
+own plausible theories or whether he had been simply instructing the
+Foreign Observer.
+
+When I saw Mr. Kwang a day or two afterwards--this time alone--he
+greeted me cordially and said, "So things are improving?"
+
+"They promise to do so," I said, "but so far, all that has happened
+has been a very tedious visit to Director Blobber and an academic
+discussion with Count Krafft."
+
+"So you don't appreciate the honour of dining with an Under-Secretary
+of the Super-State?" he said. "You have stayed too long in Luniland."
+
+"I am promised the privilege of seeing something of the best Meccanian
+Society, but what I was more anxious to see was the worst Meccanian
+Society."
+
+"They will take care you don't," he answered, laughing.
+
+"But why? In any other country one can associate with peasants or
+vagabonds or artisans or tradesmen or business men."
+
+"You ought to know by this time--I am sure it has been explained to you
+over and over again. You would gather false impressions, and you might
+contaminate the delicate fruits of Meccanian Culture."
+
+"That is the theory I have heard _ad nauseam_. But there is nothing in
+it."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because by keeping us apart they arouse the suspicions of both."
+
+"Oh no, they may arouse _your_ suspicions, but the Meccanian knows
+that what the State prescribes for him must be for his good. This is
+the only country where theories are carried into practice. It is a
+Super-State."
+
+"And you admire it? You have become a proselyte," I said jokingly.
+
+"Have you read my books yet?" he asked.
+
+"I saw one for the first time this week," I said.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I recognise it as a masterpiece."
+
+He bowed and smiled. "From the President of the Kiang-su Literary
+Society that is high praise indeed."
+
+"I am undecided whether to remain here longer," I said, "or to return
+home, perhaps calling for a rest and a change to see my friends in
+Lunopolis. I should like your advice."
+
+"Of course that depends upon circumstances. I do not yet understand
+your difficulty or the circumstances."
+
+"Well," I said, "I came here prepared to stay perhaps a year, if I
+liked the country, with the intention of obtaining general impressions,
+and some definite information on matters in which I am interested; but
+every Meccanian I have met is either a Government agent or a bore."
+
+"What, even Madame Blobber?" he interposed, smiling.
+
+"Even Madame Blobber," I said. "I am getting tired of it. I try all
+sorts of means to gratify my perfectly innocent curiosity, and am
+baffled every time. Now I am promised a sight of high Society, but I
+expect they will show me what they want me to see and nothing they
+don't want me to see."
+
+"Why should they show you what they don't want you to see?" he laughed.
+
+"I don't know how you stand it," I said.
+
+"I have had the virtue of patience," he said, "and patience has been
+rewarded. I, too, am going home before long. I have got what I want."
+
+He made the signal that bound me to absolute secrecy, and told me what
+his plans were. When I said that he ran a risk of being victimised
+he shook his head. "I am not afraid," he said. "By the time I reach
+home, every Meccanian agent in China will have been quietly deported.
+And they will not come back again. We are not a Super-State, but our
+country is not Idiotica."
+
+"And in the meantime," I said, "suppose I stay here another month or
+so, what do you advise me to do?"
+
+"Oh, just amuse yourself as well as you can," he said.
+
+"Amuse myself! In Meccania?"
+
+"Yes; it is not worth while trying now to do anything else. You will
+find out nothing new--nothing that I have not already found out. It
+takes ten years to penetrate beneath the surface here, even with my
+methods," he said. "But I have got what I want."
+
+"And how am I to amuse myself?"
+
+"Accept all the invitations you get, keep your ears open and use your
+own considerable powers of reflection. By way of relief, come and talk
+to me whenever you want."
+
+I followed Sz-ma-Kwang's advice: I gave up all thought of investigating
+either Meccanian Politics, or 'social problems,' or anything of the
+kind. I thought I should probably get better information at second
+hand from Mr. Kwang than I could get at first hand for myself, in the
+short time that I was prepared to stay, and I am satisfied now that I
+decided rightly.... I saw Lickrod almost daily, and went with him to a
+number of places, museums, the great library, industrial exhibitions,
+manufactories and so forth. We spent a day or two looking at examples
+of Meccanian architecture, which was more interesting from the
+engineering point of view than from the artistic. I began to receive
+invitations to several houses, chiefly of high officials in the Civil
+Service and one or two members of the higher bourgeoisie.
+
+In the meantime I had some interesting conversation with my friends,
+Mr. Johnson and Mr. Villele, as we sat in the garden after dinner. I
+had never yet asked Mr. Johnson why he was pursuing what I could not
+help thinking was the distasteful study of Meccanian Pedagogics, but
+as Lickrod had recommended me to talk to Mr. Johnson about Meccanian
+education the question came up naturally. I put it to him quite frankly.
+
+"You are what I should describe as an Anti-Meccanian by temperament,"
+I said, "and it seems very odd that you should be studying Meccanian
+Pedagogics of all things in the world."
+
+"It is because I am an Anti-Meccanian, as you put it, that I am
+doing so," he replied. "You see in Luniland we never do things
+thoroughly--thank God!--and we have no pedagogical system. But every
+now and then a sort of movement arises in favour of some reform or
+other. For a long time Meccanian education was out of court; people
+would hear of nothing that savoured of Meccania, good or bad. Then
+there was a revival of interest, and societies were started to promote
+what they called Education on a scientific basis--by which they meant,
+not the study of science, but Meccanian education. As Professor of
+Education in one of our smaller Universities I was obliged to take some
+line or other, and the more I studied Meccanian Education from books,
+the less I liked it. So I came to equip myself with a better knowledge
+of the whole thing than the cranks who have taken it up."
+
+"I suppose you find some things worth copying," I suggested, "in a
+field so wide, especially seeing that they have applied psychological
+science to methods of study?"
+
+"Oh yes, there are certain pedagogical tricks and dodges that are
+decidedly clever. In fact, if the human race were a race of clever
+insects, the Meccanian system of education would be almost perfect.
+The pupils store up knowledge as bees store honey, and they learn to
+perform their functions, as members of an organisation, with wonderful
+accuracy. I cannot help thinking sometimes that Meccania is a society
+of clever insects."
+
+"Exactly," struck in Mr. Villele. "There are the soldier ants, and the
+slave ants, and the official ants, and the egg-producing ants. We ought
+to call Meccania the Super-Insect-State, eh?"
+
+"Yes; the land of the Super-Insects," said Johnson. "No person in
+Meccania, certainly no child, is ever looked upon as an 'end in
+itself'; he is simply one of a community of ants."
+
+"Of course," I said, "to be quite fair, we cannot consider anybody
+strictly as an end in himself, even in Luniland."
+
+"Theoretically that is so," replied Johnson, "but in practice it
+makes all the difference in the world whether you regard a man as an
+individual soul, or as a cell in an organism or a wheel in a machine."
+
+"Why do you Lunilanders and Francarians, if I may ask such a large
+question, allow yourselves to be influenced at all by what is done in
+Meccania? There is so little intercourse between the countries that it
+hardly seems worth while having any at all," I said.
+
+"Because in both countries there are still many people who regard
+the Meccanians not as Super-Insects, but as human beings," answered
+Johnson. "And there is always, too, the ultimate possibility of
+conflict. If they were on another planet it would not matter, providing
+they could invent no means of communicating with us. In itself
+Meccanian education is of little interest, except, of course, as
+education in the insect world might be interesting, or perhaps as a
+branch of pedagogical pathology or psychological pathology."
+
+"In effect," interrupted Mr. Villele, "it all comes back to what Mr.
+Johnson was saying a few nights ago, that the key to the whole polity
+of Meccania is military power. Meccanian education is merely a means to
+that end, just as the Time Department, and every other institution--and
+the absence of certain other institutions like the Press, for
+example--is. The Super-State is the grand instrument of Militarism."
+
+"Is it not possible," I said, "that the real key to the Super-State is
+the desire of the ruling classes to keep themselves in power?"
+
+"But the two things go together," answered Villele. "The Meccanian
+maxim is that 'The State must be strong within in order to be strong
+without.'"
+
+"And is not that true doctrine?" I said, wondering how they would
+answer the argument.
+
+"To a certain extent," answered Johnson cautiously. "But where are
+their enemies? Why should they want all this 'Super-Strength'?"
+
+"They say they are surrounded by unfriendly nations," I replied.
+
+"So they are," answered Villele, "but they have done their best to
+make them unfriendly. If you knock a man down, and trample on him, and
+rob him into the bargain, you can hardly expect him to be a friendly
+neighbour next day."
+
+"We started by talking about education," I remarked, "but we have very
+soon got into a discussion about Militarism--somehow we seem to get to
+that no matter what point we start from."
+
+"And with very good reason," said Villele. "There used to be a saying
+that all roads lead to Rome. In Meccania all roads lead to Militarism.
+You who are not faced by the problem it presents may regard it as an
+obsession, but a man who refuses to admit the plainest evidence is also
+the victim of an obsession."
+
+"And you think the evidence is unmistakable?" I said.
+
+"For what purpose does the Meccanian Parliament--if it can be called
+a Parliament--surrender its control over taxation? For what purpose
+does the Government conceal its expenditure upon army and navy? For
+what purpose does it destroy the freedom of the Press, and freedom of
+speech? For what purpose does the Government keep every person under
+supervision? For what purpose does it control all production?"
+
+"I cannot answer these questions," I said; "but what evidence is there
+that the Meccanian system of education is designed as part of the
+scheme of Militarism?"
+
+"The evidence is abundant," answered Johnson, "but it is not so plain
+as to be unmistakable. If you see one of our elaborate pieces of
+modern machinery, a printing-machine or a spinning-machine, you will
+find that it contains a thousand separate contrivances, and unless
+you are an expert you will not be able to perceive that every part
+is absolutely necessary to the performance of the simple function of
+printing or spinning. Yet that is the fact. It is just the same with
+the Meccanian educational machine. Its chief purpose, according to
+the Meccanian theory, is to enable the citizen--or, as Villele and
+I might say, the Super-Insect--to perform his functions as a member
+of the Super-Insect community. But the chief end of the Super-Insect
+State is Power. The Meccanians say so themselves. Anyhow, we can easily
+see for ourselves that their system of education fits in exactly with
+Militarism. It makes men efficient for the purposes required of them
+by the Super-State; it makes them not only docile and obedient, but
+actively devoted to the interests, not of themselves individually, but
+of what they are taught to regard as something more important, namely,
+the Super-State; it fosters the superstition which makes possible such
+an incredible custom as Villele has told you of; it keeps them ignorant
+of all other ideals of civilisation."
+
+"All that may be true," I replied. "It may very well be that the
+system of education does favour Militarism, but it may not have been
+deliberately designed to that end. It has been put to me," I added,
+"that all this elaborate organisation, including education, is part of
+the inevitable tendency of things in the modern world, and that the
+Meccanians are only doing a little in advance of other people what they
+will all do sooner or later."
+
+"That won't do at all," interposed Villele. "They cannot have it both
+ways. What becomes of the genius of Prince Mechow if it is all an
+inevitable tendency? They tell us other nations are not clever enough,
+or not far-seeing enough, or not strong-willed enough, to produce
+such a system. These reforms had to be introduced in the teeth of
+opposition. Other nations have not adopted them and will not adopt
+them except under the pressure of fear. It is Militarism alone that is
+strong enough to impose such a system."
+
+"But," said I, "I find it difficult to believe that any civilisation,
+even Meccanian, can be really the result of the domination of a single
+idea. Not even the communities of the ancient world were so simple in
+their principles."
+
+"That fact tells in favour of our contention," answered Villele.
+
+"How so?" I said.
+
+"Why, you admit the natural tendency of all civilised peoples towards
+diversity of aims. The more highly developed, the more diversified. If,
+therefore, you find a people becoming less diversified, subordinating
+all individual wills to the will of the State, you must suspect some
+extraordinary force. You would not deny the fact that individual
+liberty has been suppressed?"
+
+"No," I said, "I do not deny that."
+
+"But you think the Super-State has such an interest in the tender plant
+of the individual souls of its children, their moral and spiritual and
+physical life, that it is merely a meticulous grandmother trying to
+prepare them all for a better world, eh?"
+
+I laughed.
+
+"No, that won't do. Only two things are strong enough to suppress the
+spirit of liberty: one is superstition calling itself religion; the
+other is Militarism."
+
+"If it were less well done," resumed Johnson, "it would be easier
+to detect. But it is diabolically well done. Who but the Meccanians
+would think it worth while to control the whole teaching of history
+for the sake of cultivating Militarism? In most countries anybody
+may write history, although very few people read it. Here only the
+official historians may write: only the books prescribed by the State
+may be read. And all the people while they are at school and college
+must read it. In this way they create a powerful tradition. One need
+not laugh at the idea of State historians. They have done their work
+too well for that. Their falsification of history is not a clumsy
+affair of inventing fairy tales. It is scientific falsification.
+They utilise every fact that can tell against, or discredit, other
+nations, and every fact about their own people which can raise their
+national self-esteem. The method is not new, for you may say that all
+historians are biased. But in other countries the bias of one historian
+is counterbalanced by the bias of others. The _method_ is not new but
+the _system_ is. As an example, take their treatment of a well-known
+Luniland statesman of the beginning of the last century--and this
+is a fairly harmless instance. He was undoubtedly a single-minded,
+public-spirited man, a patriot who was also a good European, for he did
+as much as any one man to save Europe from a military tyranny. But he
+shared many of the current ideas of his age and lived according to its
+customs. In _Meccanian_ history all we are told of him is that he drank
+heavily, gambled, persecuted ignorant and misguided labourers, bribed
+the people's representatives, enriched capitalists and landlords by his
+fiscal system, and displayed his ignorance of finance by inventing a
+fallacious Sinking Fund that any schoolboy could see through."
+
+"Mr. Johnson is putting the case much too mildly," interposed
+Villele. "There are in the 'reports' issued by the Government on all
+sorts of matters, but particularly with regard to foreign affairs,
+falsifications of fact of the most barefaced character. Now the
+writers of the school and college histories quote very extensively
+from these official reports, implying always that the statements are
+true. Further than this, you know, but not perhaps as well as we do,
+that in countries where speech is free and the Press is free there
+are any number of libellous writers who vilify their opponents in a
+shameless fashion. In Luniland in particular, if my friend will pardon
+my saying so, there are enthusiasts for some particular cause who have
+no sense whatever of proportion. For instance, to hear some of the
+so-called Temperance advocates you would imagine that the Lunilanders
+were a nation of drunkards, wife-beaters, seducers, abandoned wretches
+of every kind. To listen to their Socialist fanatics you would
+imagine that every working man was a down-trodden slave. To listen to
+their anti-vivisectionists you would imagine that the whole medical
+profession spent its leisure in the sport of torturing animals. To
+listen to some of the priests you would think the whole nation was sunk
+in vice. To listen to the anti-priests you would think the priests
+were a tribe of grasping hypocrites, and so on and so on. Now you will
+find Meccanian histories, and works on the social and political life of
+foreign nations, full of quotations from such writers."
+
+"As I said at the outset," remarked Johnson, "this may seem a little
+thing in itself, but it is symptomatic and characteristic. Look at an
+entirely different aspect of the system. The whole teaching profession
+is honeycombed with sycophancy. Every teacher is a spy upon every
+other. Every one tries to show his zeal, and gain some promotion, by
+a display of the Meccanian spirit. As you know, there are no private
+schools. There is not a single independent teacher in the whole
+country. It is in the Universities even more than in the schools that
+sycophancy runs riot."
+
+"That may be perfectly true," I said, "but would you not get this
+disease of sycophancy wherever you have a bureaucracy, quite apart from
+Militarism? Suppose there were no army at all, but suppose that the
+State were the sole employer and controller of every person and thing,
+you might still have all the petty tyranny and sycophancy that you
+describe."
+
+"But there is a difference," said Johnson. "Under a mere bureaucracy
+it is still possible for the large groups of workers to combine, and
+very effectually, to safeguard their interests; especially if at the
+same time there is a real parliamentary system. Indeed, many years ago
+one of the strongest arguments brought forward in Luniland against any
+large extension of State employment was that the employees, through
+their trade combinations, would be able to exert political pressure,
+and rather exploit the State than be exploited by it. No, I maintain
+that a military autocracy without a bureaucracy may be brutal and
+tyrannical, in a spasmodic sort of way; but it is loose-jointed and
+clumsy: a bureaucracy apart from a military control of the State may be
+meddlesome and irritating; but it is only when you get the two combined
+that the people are bound hand and foot. Anyhow, I cannot conceive of
+the whole teaching profession, including the highest as well as the
+lowest branches, being so completely enslaved as it is here, without
+there being a driving power at the back of the bureaucratic machine,
+such as only Militarism can supply in our times--for religion is out of
+the question."
+
+"Well, now, is there any other sort of evidence," I said, "that the
+educational system is inspired by Militarism? So far the case is 'not
+proven.'"
+
+"The cultivation of 'the Meccanian spirit,' which is one of the prime
+aims of all the teaching, points at any rate in the same direction."
+
+"But the Meccanian spirit is only another name for patriotism, is it
+not?" I said.
+
+"Your scepticism," remarked Villele, "would almost make one suppose
+you were becoming a convert to Meccanianism."
+
+"Not at all," I said. "I have tried to get firsthand information on
+these matters and I have failed. Here I am, listening to you who are
+avowedly, if I may say so in your presence, anti-Meccanians." They both
+nodded assent. "Would it not be foolish of me to accept your views
+without at any rate sifting the evidence as fully as I am able? It has
+this advantage, I shall be much more likely to become convinced of the
+correctness of your opinions if I find that you meet the hypothetical
+objections I raise than if I merely listen to your views."
+
+"The Meccanian spirit is another name for patriotism," said Johnson;
+"but it is Meccanian patriotism. Patriotism is not a substitute for
+Ethics in the rest of Europe, nor was it in Meccania two centuries ago.
+Absolute obedience to the State is definitely inculcated here. No form
+of resistance is possible. Resistance is never dreamt of; the Meccanian
+spirit implies active co-operation with the Super-State, not passive
+obedience only but reverence and devotion. And remember that the
+Super-State when you probe under the surface _is the Second Class, the
+Military Caste_."
+
+"But do not all States inculcate obedience to themselves?" I said.
+
+"No," replied Johnson bluntly. "They may inculcate obedience to
+the laws for the time being; it is only Churches claiming Divine
+inspiration that arrogate to themselves infallibility, and demand
+unconditional obedience. In the rest of Europe the State is one of the
+organs--a most necessary and important organ--of the community: here,
+the State or the Super-State is the Divinity in which society lives and
+moves and has its being. It is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent."
+
+"Admitting all you say about the deliberate policy of the Super-State,"
+I answered, "is it not strange that a hundred millions of people
+submit themselves to it, and that even outside Meccania there are many
+advocates of Meccanian principles?"
+
+"Tyrannies have flourished in the world in every age," replied Johnson,
+"because there is something even worse than Tyranny. To escape a plague
+a man will take refuge in a prison. Anarchy, such as that which broke
+out in Idiotica some fifty years ago, was a godsend to the rulers
+of Meccania. They persuaded the public that there was a choice only
+between the Super-State and Anarchy or Bolshevism as it was then
+called. We know that is false. Liberty may be attacked by an open
+enemy or by a secret and loathsome disease; but that is no reason for
+surrendering either to the one or the other."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+AN ACADEMIC DISCUSSION
+
+
+It was some days after this conversation with my friends at the hotel
+that I was present at a dinner-party given by the President of Mecco
+University. There were about thirty guests, so that at table a general
+conversation was almost impossible; I could hear only what was said
+by those close to me. I was seated between a member of the diplomatic
+corps and a general. General Wolf, a benevolent-looking old gentleman
+with a large, coarse face and a double chin, seemed rather disappointed
+that I could not discuss with him the Higher Mathematics. He deplored
+the neglect of Mathematics in Meccania. He admitted that unless a
+person had a mathematical brain it was useless to attempt to make
+him a mathematician; but he said the Eugenics section of the Health
+Department was not sufficiently alive to the importance of improving
+the mathematical stock. He railed very bitterly against a member of the
+Eugenics Board who had tried to get authority to improve the supply
+of artists. Happily the Board had turned down his proposals. Count
+Hardflogg, who wore the Mechow whisker and an eyeglass, and frowned
+fiercely at everything one said to him, was full of a recent report by
+the experts in the Industrial Psychology section of the Department of
+Industry and Commerce. It seems they had recommended a shortening of
+hours for the members of the Sixth and Fifth Classes in a number of
+provincial towns, to bring them more on a level with the same class of
+workers in Mecco itself. He said it was the thin end of the wedge; that
+they ought not to have reported until experiments had been made with
+a different diet: he blamed the Eugenics Section, too, for not being
+able to produce a tougher strain of workers. Reduction of working hours
+should not be resorted to, he maintained, until every other expedient
+had been tried: it was so very difficult to increase them afterwards.
+Besides, in the Strenuous Month, it had been proved over and over again
+that the men could easily stand a longer working day without physical
+injury.
+
+"And what is the Strenuous Month?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, of course," he said, "you have not studied our industrial system
+as a factor of military organisation. There is a very good account of
+it in Mr. Kwang's _Triumphs of Meccanian Culture_. Briefly it is this.
+Every year, but not always in the same month, the signal is given for
+the Strenuous Month to begin. The workmen then work at top speed, and
+for as many hours a day as the Industrial Psychologists determine, for
+thirty days consecutively. It is excellent training, and incidentally
+has a very good effect on the output for the other months of the year.
+The men are so glad when it is over that, unconsciously, they work
+better for the rest of the year."
+
+"But I should have thought they would be so fatigued that you would
+lose as much as you gain, or more perhaps," I said.
+
+"Oh no," he answered; "they are allowed one day's complete rest, which
+they must spend in bed; their diet is arranged, both during the time
+and for a month after. They must go to bed for two hours extra every
+night for the following month. The effect is most beneficial. They like
+it too, on the whole, for they get paid for all the extra product--that
+is to say, it is added to their pension fund."
+
+"But I thought the pension fund was so calculated," I said, "that it
+tallies exactly with what is required for the support of each man from
+the time he ceases to be able to work."
+
+"Certainly," he replied. "After fifty-five most of our men work an
+hour a day less every two years, with variations according to their
+capacity, as tested by the medical examinations."
+
+"Then how do they benefit," I asked, "by the product of the strenuous
+month, if it is only added to their pension and not paid at the time?"
+
+"If it is added to the pension fund," he replied, "it is obvious that
+they must benefit."
+
+I did not pursue the matter further. He asked me if I had been to the
+Annual Medical Exhibition. I said I had not heard of it, and did not
+suppose I should receive permission to see it, as I was not altogether
+well qualified to understand it. He said it was most interesting. He
+was not a medical man himself, of course; but as an officer in the army
+he had had to get some acquaintance with physiology.
+
+"The medical menagerie gets more interesting every year," he said.
+
+"The medical menagerie!" I exclaimed. "Whatever is that?"
+
+"It is a wonderful collection of animals, not only domestic but wild
+animals too, upon which experiments have been carried out. There are
+goats with sheep's legs. There are cows with horses' hearts, and dogs
+with only hind-legs, and pigs without livers--oh, all sorts of things.
+The funniest is a pig with a tiger's skin."
+
+"And what is the object of it all?" I said.
+
+"Oh, just a regular part of medical research. The most valuable
+experiments are those with bacilli, of course; but only the experts can
+understand these, as a rule."
+
+"But it is not safe to infer that the results of experiments on animals
+will be applicable to human beings," I said.
+
+"Of course not, without further verification; but the Special Medical
+Board have ample powers to carry out research."
+
+"What, upon human beings?" I exclaimed.
+
+"People do not always know when they are being experimented upon," he
+remarked significantly. "Besides, if a man is already suffering from an
+incurable disease, what does it matter? Of course, we use anæsthetics,
+wherever possible at least; that goes without saying."
+
+After dinner we drank wine for a little time, seated in little groups
+after the manner of a custom in some of the colleges in Luniland.
+Here, instead of being placed with the two gentlemen who had been my
+neighbours at table, I was one of a group of four, the others being two
+professors and a high official in the Sociological Department. One of
+the professors was Secret Councillor Sikofantis-Sauer, an Economist;
+the other was Church Councillor Muhgubb-Slimey, a Theologian. We
+talked of indifferent matters for some time until the High Official
+left us, when the idea occurred to me to try whether the Economist
+would enlighten me upon the subject of the ultimate destination of the
+phenomenal production of the Meccanian economic organisation.
+
+I remarked that I had never seen in any country so few signs of
+discontent as in Meccania, and I asked if this was due to the great
+wealth that must necessarily be produced by the efficiency of the
+methods of production. Professor Sikofantis-Sauer, the Economist, said
+that my question betrayed that I was not acquainted with the Meccanian
+System of Ethics. I wondered why the Professor of Economics should
+begin talking of Ethics. He went on, "Social discontent was never
+really due to lack of wealth. Properly speaking, it has no relation
+to material wealth at all. This has been proved up to the hilt--if it
+needed any proof--by our researches in Economic and Social History.
+In a nutshell the proof is this. What was called poverty in the early
+nineteenth century would have been considered affluence in, let us
+say, the fifth or even the tenth century. The whole idea of wealth is
+subjective. Now anyone knows that, where wealth is allowed to become
+the main objective of the social activities of the people, the desire
+for individual wealth is insatiable. The notion that you can ever
+reach a state of contentment, by increasing the wealth of the people,
+is one of the greatest fallacies that even the economists of Luniland
+ever entertained--and that is saying a good deal. Consequently, if we
+have succeeded in eradicating discontent, it has not been by pursuing
+the mirage of a popular El Dorado. No, you must replace the insane
+desire for the gratification of individual indulgence by a conception
+of a truer kind of well-being. If the individual once grasps the fact
+that in himself, and by himself, he is little better than an arboreal
+ape, and that all he possesses, all he can possess, is the gift of the
+State--which gives him nourishment, language, ideas, knowledge; which
+trains him to use his powers, such as they are--he will assume an
+entirely different attitude. Our system of education, far more than
+our system of production, is responsible for the eradication of social
+and of every other kind of discontent."
+
+"Then I suppose," I said, "the lower classes, as we sometimes call them
+abroad--your Fifth and Sixth and Seventh Classes, for example--never
+inquire whether they receive what they consider a fair share of the
+national product?"
+
+Professor Sauer laughed aloud. "Pardon me," he said, "but you remind me
+of a story I used to hear when I was a boy, of a man who had slept in
+some cave or den for fifty years, or was it a century, and woke up to
+find a different world. Such a question belongs to the buried fossils
+of economic theory. Who can say what is a fair share? You might as well
+ask whether one musical composition is more just than another."
+
+"Well, perhaps you can tell me this," I said. "Considering the
+superiority of your methods of production, I should have expected
+to find a much higher standard of individual wealth, or comfort, or
+leisure--you know what I mean--among not only the lower classes, but
+all classes. I cannot help wondering what becomes of all the surplus."
+
+"We have all enough for our needs," he said, "and the requirements of
+the State are of far more importance than the gratification of the
+tastes of individuals."
+
+"May I put in a word?" said Professor Slimey the Theologian. "In the
+modern world, the productive powers of man have outstripped his other
+powers. It is one of the mysteries of the ways of Providence. The
+discipline of labour is necessary for the development of the soul, but
+the devil has sought to seduce mankind by teaching him how to produce
+more than is good for him, in the hope that he will become corrupted by
+luxury. In other countries that corruption has already taken place. The
+strenuous life is the only life consistent with moral health. Under the
+Divine guidance our ruling classes--I am old-fashioned enough to use
+that expression, for in the eyes of God there are no First or Second
+Classes--have preserved the sense of duty; they are a discipline unto
+themselves. God's blessings have been multiplied unto them, and they
+have not forgotten the Divine injunctions. We cannot expect that the
+masses of mankind can discipline themselves, and for them the only
+safety lies in well-regulated and well-directed labour. There can be no
+greater curse for a people than idleness and luxury. Fortunately, we
+have been able to preserve them from the evil effects of superabundant
+wealth."
+
+"I have sometimes wondered," I said, "whether the requirements of the
+State in regard to what is called National Defence were so great as to
+account for the surplus product."
+
+"Undoubtedly the demands of the army are very considerable," replied
+Sauer. "You must remember that we have to protect ourselves against
+the whole world, so to speak."
+
+"But no estimate has been made, I suppose, of what is required for such
+things?" I said.
+
+"That is a matter of high policy," replied Sauer. "It would be
+impossible to estimate for it as a separate item in National
+expenditure. There again you betray your Lunilandish conceptions
+of National finance. No doubt they keep up this practice still in
+Luniland, but such a notion belongs to a bygone age. The State must be
+able to mobilise all its resources; that is the only logical policy, if
+you mean to conduct the affairs of the nation successfully, not only in
+time of war but in time of peace. Your asking how much National wealth
+is devoted to Defence is like asking a man how much of his dinner is
+devoted to sustaining his religion."
+
+"But is it not important to be able to form some approximate idea, from
+the economic point of view?" I said. "For, in one sense, it represents
+so much waste."
+
+"So much waste?" exclaimed Professor Slimey indignantly; "to what
+nobler purpose could the energies of the people be directed than to the
+defence of their Emperor, their God and their Fatherland?"
+
+"I did not mean that it might not be necessary," I replied, "but it is
+like a man who has to build a dyke against floods. It may be necessary,
+but if he could be sure that the floods would not come, he could
+devote his energies to something more profitable."
+
+Professor Slimey shook his head solemnly. "No, no," he said, "that
+is another of the fallacies current among foreign peoples. We should
+sink to their level if our people had not ever before them the duty
+of serving God by upholding the power of Meccania, his chosen nation.
+Indeed, I often think what a dispensation of Providence it is that it
+involves so much labour. Imagine the state of the common people if they
+could maintain themselves by the aid of a few hours' work a day!"
+
+"Would there not be so much more scope for the spread of your Culture?"
+I said. "In fact, I had been given to understand that your Culture
+had reached such a high level that you could easily dispense with the
+discipline of long hours of labour."
+
+"Our Culture," he replied, speaking with authority, "is not an
+individual culture at all. It must be understood as a unity. It
+includes this very discipline of which you seem to think so lightly. It
+includes the discipline of all classes. The monks of the Middle Ages
+knew that idleness would undermine even their ideal of life, for they
+knew that life is a discipline. Our National Culture is the nearest
+approach to the Christian ideal that any nation has ever put into
+practice."
+
+"I cannot, of course, speak with confidence upon such a question,"
+I replied, "but I thought the Christian ideal was the development
+of the individual soul, whereas the Meccanian ideal--I speak under
+correction--implies the elimination of the individual soul: everything
+must be sacrificed to the realisation of the glory of the Super-State."
+
+"The Super-State," answered Slimey, "is itself the Great Soul of
+Meccania; it includes all the individual souls. What you call the
+sacrifice of the individual soul is no real sacrifice; it is merely a
+losing oneself to find oneself in the larger soul of Meccania. And just
+as the individual soul may inflict suffering on itself for the sake
+of higher self-realisation, so the Super-Soul of Meccania may inflict
+suffering on the individual souls within itself for the sake of the
+higher self-realisation. The soul of Meccania is as wonderful in the
+spiritual world as the material manifestation of Meccania is in the
+material world."
+
+"I am sure you are right," I said, "although it never struck me in that
+light before. The soul of Meccania is the most wonderful phenomenon in
+the history of the world."
+
+"No," replied Professor Slimey, with his solemn air, "it is not
+phenomenon: it is the thing in itself." Here he paused to drink a
+liqueur. Then he went on, "It is purely spiritual. It has existed
+from eternity and has become clothed and manifest through the outward
+and inward development of the Super-State. You foreigners see only
+the outward forms, which are merely symbols. It is the Super-Soul
+of Meccania that is destined to absorb the world of spirit, as the
+Super-State is destined to conquer the material world."
+
+Professor Sikofantis-Sauer gazed with his fishy eyes, as if he had
+heard all this before. "Some day," I said, "I should like to hear
+more of the Super-Soul, but while I have the privilege of talking to
+both of you I should like to learn some things which probably only a
+Professor of Economics can tell me. You, as Meccanians, will pardon
+me, I know, for seeking to acquire knowledge." They nodded assent. "I
+know something of the economic ideas of other nations in Europe," I
+said, "but your conditions are so different that I am quite at sea with
+regard to the economic doctrines of Meccania. What Economic Laws are
+there within the Super-State?"
+
+"A very profound question," answered Sauer, "and yet the answer
+is simple. What you have studied in other countries is merely the
+economics of free exchange, as carried on among peoples of a low
+culture. Our Economics have hardly anything in common. Some of the laws
+of large-scale production are similar, but beyond that, our science
+rests upon other principles. Our science is based upon Meccanian
+Ethics. The laws of demand have quite a different meaning with us. The
+State determines the whole character and volume of demand, and entirely
+upon ethical grounds."
+
+"And distribution too, I suppose?"
+
+"Naturally. That is implied in the regulation of demand. The State
+determines what each class may spend, and in so doing determines both
+demand and distribution."
+
+"But I was under the impression that the well-to-do--the Third and
+higher classes generally--had much more latitude than the lower classes
+in these respects," I said.
+
+"Quite so. That again is part of our national ethical system. Just
+as our Economics are National Economics, so our Ethics are National
+Ethics. The higher functions discharged by the higher classes demand
+a higher degree and quality of consumption. You will find some most
+interesting researches upon this subject in the reports of the
+Sociological Department. Dr. Greasey's monograph on the _Sociological
+Function of the Third Class_ is also a masterpiece in its way."
+
+"And the Second Class?" I said. "They will require still more latitude?"
+
+"The Second Class, like the First," replied Sauer, "stands outside
+and above the purely Economic aspect of Society. Their function
+is to determine what the National-Social Structure shall be. Our
+business as economists is to provide ways and means. No doubt they are
+unconsciously guided, or shall I say inspired, by the workings of the
+Meccanian spirit, of which they are the highest depositaries; and all
+the organs of the State are at their service, to give effect to their
+interpretation of the will of the Super-State."
+
+"You do not find any tendency on their part, I suppose, to make large
+demands for themselves in the shape of what we non-Meccanians persist
+in calling 'wealth'?" I said.
+
+"Such a question," answered Sauer, "does not admit of any answer,
+because it involves a conception of wealth which we have entirely
+discarded. The Second Class--and with them, of course, I include
+the First Class, for they are indivisible in their functions and
+spirit--exists for the Super-State. Whatever they consume is consumed
+in the discharge of the highest duties of the State. Whatever is
+required by them is simply part of the necessary expenditure of the
+State. But although no limit is set--and who would presume to set any
+limit?--it is remarkable how little of this expenditure assumes the
+form of personal consumption. For the sake of the dignity of the State,
+their life must be conducted--collectively--on a magnificent scale.
+But, as you know, a dignitary like the Pope may live in the finest
+palace in Europe and yet be a man of simple tastes and habits; so
+our noble class--and no nobler class has ever existed--may represent
+the glory of the Super-State and yet be the embodiment of the purest
+virtues."
+
+"I would go further," said Professor Slimey at this point. "Our noble
+Second Class--and of course I associate the First Class with them, for
+in reality they are all one--are the true Protectors of the State:
+they are the guardians of us all. Have you not noticed throughout
+all history that, after a successful war, the people are ready to
+bestow all manner of honours and benefits upon those who have saved
+their country? Well, I say those who have given us all the glory and
+honour, ay, and the spoils of victory too, without going to war, are as
+deserving of the rewards as if they had come back from a long campaign.
+We cannot honour them too much. Besides, it is good for the people to
+feel that there is a class upon whom they can bestow the natural warmth
+of their affection and their admiration. The desire to bow down in
+reverent admiration, the desire to do honour to the worthiest of our
+race, is a God-given impulse, and should be encouraged, not checked.
+Our people feel this. We do not bargain with them as to what share
+they shall have: we do not lay aside a tenth, or some such absurd
+proportion: we say, take our wealth, take whatever we can give, it is
+all yours, you are the fathers of the State, you are our saviours."
+
+"And you think this spirit prevails throughout Meccania?" I said.
+
+"I am perfectly sure of it," replied Slimey. "All our greatest artists
+offer their works freely to the members of the Second Class; all the
+most gifted scientists compete for places in the colleges for the
+training of the Military; the services of our best writers are at
+their disposal: we withhold nothing from them."
+
+"Then it is true, I gather, that the custom I have heard of, by which
+wives and daughters of other classes, if they are thought worthy by
+the Eugenics Board, are--shall I say--dedicated to the service of the
+Second Class, arouses no feeling of indignation?"
+
+"Indignation!" exclaimed the Professor of Theology. "It is a duty and a
+privilege."
+
+"But is it not contrary to the principles of the Christian religion?
+I confess I speak with some hesitation, as I do not belong to the
+Christian communion; but I have been told by some of the strictest
+of the Christian sects in other countries that such a practice is a
+violation of the Christian code."
+
+Professor Slimey refreshed himself, and I could see another long
+speech was coming. "That is a sample of the uncharitable criticism
+which is constantly being aimed at us, by those who cloak their envy
+and spite under the name of Christian doctrine. Yet they are utterly
+inconsistent with themselves. They admit the Doctrine of Development,
+yet they deny its application, except to suit their own purposes. Take
+Usury, for example. Christian doctrine, as expounded by the Fathers,
+regarded usury as sinful. Yet usury is practised in all so-called
+Christian countries without protest. Why? Because their system of
+Economics cannot work without it. I might give other illustrations,
+but that will suffice. Now Ethics must undergo development if there
+is to be progress in morals. The supreme well-being of the State
+gives the key to all progress in Ethics. If the custom you refer to
+were due to private concupiscence, we--and I speak for all Meccanian
+theologians--would be the first to denounce it. The sin of adultery is
+a spiritual sin, and exists only where carnal desire is the motive.
+Every theologian knows that the same physical act may be performed
+in conformity with the behests of the Mosaic law, or in direct
+disobedience of it. The one is a sacred duty, the other is sin. It is
+like the alleged obligation to speak the truth upon all occasions.
+There is no such obligation. We must look to the end in view. Where the
+supreme needs of the State demand concealment or even deception, the
+private ethical impulse to speak the truth to an enemy is superseded
+by the greater obligation to the State. The virtue of Chastity is not
+violated; it is raised, if I may say so, to its transcendent degree,
+by an act of sacrifice which implies the surrender of merely private
+virtue to the interests of the State; for you must remember that the
+State as developed by the Meccanian spirit is the highest embodiment of
+the will of God upon earth."
+
+"We seem to have been carried rather a long way from Meccanian
+Economics," I remarked, turning to Professor Sauer by way of apology
+for having carried on the conversation for so long with Professor
+Slimey.
+
+"Not at all," he answered. "Meccanian Ethics and Meccanian Economics
+cannot be separated."
+
+"It must make the science of Economics much more difficult in one
+sense; but, on the other hand, what a relief it must be to have got rid
+of all those old troublesome theories of value!" I observed.
+
+"We have not got rid of theories of value," answered Sauer; "they too
+have only been developed. The basis of our theory of value is to be
+found in Meccanian Ethics."
+
+"In other words," I said, laughing, "the value of a pair of boots in
+Meccania is determined by the theologians!"
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Sauer.
+
+"I mean that the remuneration of an artisan in the Fifth Class will
+purchase so many pairs of boots; and the remuneration of the artisan is
+determined by what the State thinks good for him; and what the State
+thinks good for him is determined by Meccanian Ethics; and I suppose
+the theologians determine the system of Meccanian Ethics."
+
+At that point our conversation was interrupted by an announcement that
+the toast of the evening would be drunk. This was the signal for the
+party to break up. We drank to the success of the Meccanian Empire and
+the confounding of all its enemies, and I went home to the hotel to
+find a message from Kwang asking me to see him the following day. I
+spent the morning as usual with Lickrod, who was initiating me into
+the method of using the catalogues in the Great Library of Mecco. It
+was indeed a marvel of 'librarianship.' There was a bibliography upon
+every conceivable subject. There was a complete catalogue of every
+book according to author, and another according to subject. There was
+a complete catalogue of the books issued in each separate year for the
+last twenty-five years. There were courses of study with brief notes
+upon all the books. Lickrod was in his element. As we came away, about
+lunch-time, I said to him, "Suppose I want to take back with me, when I
+leave the country, a dozen books to read for pure pleasure, what would
+you recommend me to take?"
+
+"Upon what subject?" he asked.
+
+"Upon anything, no matter what. What I am thinking of are books which
+are just works of art in themselves, pieces of pure literature either
+in poetry or prose."
+
+"A book must be about something," he said; "it must fall into some
+category or other."
+
+"Is there no imaginative literature?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, certainly, we have scores of treatises on the imagination."
+
+"But I mean books that are the work of the imagination."
+
+"I see. You want them for your children, perhaps: they would be found
+in the juvenile departments; fables and parables, and that sort of
+thing."
+
+"No, I mean books without any serious purpose, but for grown-up people.
+I seem to remember such works in the old Meccanian literature."
+
+"How very odd," answered Lickrod, "that you should express a wish to
+see works of that kind."
+
+"Why?" I asked, in some surprise.
+
+"Because we find works of that kind in great demand in the asylums for
+the mentally afflicted. You see, we treat the inmates as humanely as
+possible, and our pathologists tell us that they cannot read the books
+by modern authors. We have to let them read for a few hours a day, and
+they beg, really rather piteously, for the old books. It is always
+old books they ask for. I suppose in a way they are cases of a kind
+of arrested development. At any rate, they have not been able to keep
+pace with the developments of our ideas. Doctor Barm reported only last
+year that the only books that seem to have a soothing effect on these
+patients are those written, oh, two hundred years ago, and of the very
+kind you probably have in mind."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE LATEST INSTITUTION
+
+
+I went to see Kwang in the afternoon, and found him in a state
+of suppressed excitement--at least I could not help having that
+impression. After a little time, when I had given him some brief
+account of my experience at the dinner-party, he said, "I told you the
+other day that I had some thoughts of returning home. I shall be off in
+a fortnight."
+
+"This is rather sudden," I said; "have you received bad news from home?"
+
+"No," he said; "I told you I had practically completed my work. The
+fact is, that things are beginning to develop rather fast here. I see
+signs of preparation for a 'forward move.'"
+
+"Oh!" I said. "Not another war?"
+
+"Not necessarily," he replied. "Light your cigar and I will tell you
+all you need know." I did so and waited.
+
+"The next war," he said, "will be a chemical war."
+
+"A chemical war? What on earth is that?" I said.
+
+"They have been experimenting for thirty years and more, and they think
+they have discovered what they want. It may take them several years to
+perfect their arrangements; it will certainly take them a year or two,
+and may take six or seven. But one never knows. I suppose you never
+heard of the three days' war, did you?"
+
+"No," I replied; "what was it?"
+
+"The State of Lugrabia, with which the Meccanians are in permanent
+alliance, refused to ratify a new treaty that seemed unfavourable
+to them in some respects, and feeling ran so high that there was
+some talk in Lugrabia of putting an end to the alliance. Without any
+declaration of war the Meccanian Government dispatched a small fleet
+of air-vessels, planted about a dozen chemical 'Distributors,' as they
+are euphemistically called, and warned the Lugrabian State that, unless
+their terms were complied with, the twelve chief cities would be wiped
+out. The war was over in three days. And to this day the outside world
+has never heard of the event."
+
+"How can it have been kept secret?" I said.
+
+"Ask rather how could it leak out," replied Kwang.
+
+"Anyhow," he went on, "they think they have got something that will
+enable them to defeat any combination. There is no question in dispute
+with any foreign power. The political 'horizon' is perfectly clear.
+But it is time for me to go home."
+
+"Do you think this idea of theirs is really dangerous?" I asked.
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+"But can it not be counteracted in any way?"
+
+"If it can't it will be a bad look out for the rest of us," he said.
+
+"But do you see any means of meeting it?"
+
+"There is, if I can get the Governments to act. But they are at a
+tremendous disadvantage."
+
+"Why?" I said.
+
+"Because everything they do will be proclaimed from the housetops.
+However, what I wanted to do immediately was to arrange with you about
+leaving the country. Of course you will stay as long as you like, but I
+should advise you not to stay too long. I shall not announce that I am
+going away permanently, and I shall leave nearly all my things here to
+avoid suspicion; but within three months they will know that I am not
+likely to come back, and then they may want to look _you_ up if you are
+still here."
+
+"I shall go as soon as you think it is advisable for me to go," I
+said. "The only thing I wanted to make sure of was the thing you have
+apparently found out. Once or twice since I came I have felt sceptical
+about the Machiavellian designs attributed to the Meccanian Government
+by all these neighbours. Naturally they see a robber in every bush. I
+have sometimes been inclined to think the Meccanians like organising
+just for the love of it, but you are satisfied that there is more in it
+than that."
+
+"My dear child," said Kwang, "there are some people who can't see a
+stone wall till they knock their heads against it, and who can't tell
+that a mad bull is dangerous till he tosses them in the air; and from
+what I learn you are almost as bad," he said, laughing. "You have
+been here, how long? Four or five months at any rate. Well, you have
+a very unsuspicious mind. But I am going to give you an interesting
+experience. I am going to take you to see a friend of mine who has
+been a prisoner in an asylum for the mentally afflicted for the last
+fifteen years. I enjoy the privilege of talking to him alone, and I
+have permission to take you. I won't stop to explain how I obtained the
+privilege, but it has been very useful."
+
+In another quarter of an hour we were rolling along in Kwang's
+motor-car to a place about forty miles outside Mecco. The roads were
+as smooth as glass and the car made no noise, so we could converse
+without raising our voices. Kwang observed that if I wished to stay in
+Meccania there was only one way of getting behind the screen, and that
+was to become a convert. The rôle of a convert, however, was becoming
+more difficult to play. He had lately begun to suspect that he was
+being watched, or at any rate that one or two people at the Foreign
+Office were jealous of his privileges. Some years ago, the Head of
+the Foreign Office had given him practically the free run of the
+country, and had utilised him as a sort of missionary of Meccania. His
+books on the _Triumphs of Meccanian Culture_ and on _Meccania's World
+Mission_ had been given the widest possible publicity, both in Meccania
+and abroad. He still enjoyed all his privileges, for Count Krafft
+was a powerful friend at the Foreign Office. Consequently the Police
+Department had orders not to interfere with him, and he had free passes
+for almost everything. But another Under-Secretary had lately begun to
+question the wisdom of his colleague, not openly but secretly, and was
+trying to get hold of evidence.
+
+"They lie so wonderfully and so systematically themselves," said
+Kwang, "that they naturally suspect everybody else of lying too. But
+this suspicion very often defeats its own object. Still, they can't
+expect to have a monopoly of lying. I have seen official pamphlets for
+circulation in the departments, on the methods of testing the _bona
+fides_ of foreigners; and elaborate rules for finding out whether
+foreign Governments are trying to deceive them."
+
+"And you have satisfied all their tests?" I said.
+
+"Absolutely," replied Kwang, with a smile; "but I am not yet out of the
+country, and I don't propose to risk it much longer, or I may not be
+able to get out. However," he added, "there is not the slightest risk
+in taking you to visit the Asylum for _Znednettlapseiwz_. I have made
+a special study of these asylums, of which there are only about half a
+dozen in the whole country. I got permission some years ago. I had been
+discussing with Count Krafft the difficulty of dealing with a certain
+class of persons, to be found in every modern State, who act as a focus
+for all opposition. They cling obstinately to certain ethical and
+political doctrines quite out of harmony with those of the Super-State,
+and profess to regard Bureaucracy and Militarism as inconsistent
+with liberty. He told me a good deal about the methods employed, and
+suggested that I should visit one of these asylums. I did so and asked
+permission to make a study of a few individual cases. Eventually I
+wrote a monograph on the case of the very man we are going to see, and
+although it was never published Count Krafft was much pleased with
+it. The man we shall see, Mr. Stillman, represents a type that has
+almost entirely disappeared from Meccania. He has had a remarkable
+history. At one time, for two or three years, he was the chief
+political opponent of the great Prince Mechow. He belongs to an older
+generation altogether, a generation older than his contemporaries, if
+you understand what I mean. Nearly all his contemporaries are 'Good
+Meccanians,' but there are still the remnants of the opposition left.
+When Stillman was a boy there were left alive only a handful of men
+who had stood up to Prince Bludiron. Most of these former opponents
+had emigrated, some to Transatlantica, some to Luniland and elsewhere.
+The rest ultimately died out. Stillman attempted to create a new
+opposition, but it was a hopeless task. If you want to understand the
+political history of Meccania you cannot do better than get him to talk
+to you if he is in the mood."
+
+We approached the asylum, which stood upon a lonely moorland, far away
+from any village. The gates were guarded by a single sentinel. As we
+walked along the path, after leaving our car in a yard near the lodge,
+we passed little groups of men working upon patches of garden. They
+looked up eagerly as we passed, and then turned back to their tasks. I
+noticed they were dressed in ordinary black clothes. It struck me at
+once, because I had become so used to seeing everybody in the familiar
+colours of one of the classes. On my mentioning this to Kwang, he said,
+"That is perfectly in accordance with the Meccanian system. These men
+now belong to no class; they are shut off from the rest of the world,
+and their only chance of returning to it is for them to renounce,
+formally and absolutely, all the errors of which they have been guilty."
+
+"And do many of them 'recant'?" I asked.
+
+"Very few. Most of them do not want to return to the ordinary life of
+Meccania, but occasionally the desire to be with some member of their
+family proves too strong for them. They are nearly all old people here
+now. None of the younger generation are attacked by the disease, and
+the authorities hope"--he smiled sardonically--"that in a few years the
+disease will have disappeared entirely."
+
+We first went to call upon Hospital-Governor Canting. He was in
+his office, which was comfortably furnished in very characteristic
+Meccanian taste. The chairs were all adjustable, and covered with 'Art'
+tapestry. The large table had huge legs like swollen pillars--they
+were really made of thin cast-iron. There were the usual large
+portraits of the Emperor and Empress, and busts of Prince Mechow and
+Prince Bludiron. There was the usual large bookcase, full of volumes
+of reports bound in leather-substitute, and stamped with the arms of
+Meccania. Governor Canting wore the green uniform of the Fourth Class,
+with various silver facings and buttons, and a collar of the special
+kind worn by all the clergy of the Meccanian Church. He was writing at
+his table when we were shown in. He greeted Kwang almost effusively and
+bowed to me, with the usual Meccanian attitudes, as I was introduced.
+
+"So you have brought your friend to see our system of treatment,"
+he said, smiling. "It is very unusual for us to receive visits at
+all,"--here he turned to me,--"but Mr. Kwang is quite a privileged
+person in Meccania. If only there were more people like Mr. Kwang we
+should not be so much misunderstood, and the victims of so much envy,
+malice and uncharitableness. Still, it is a sad experience for you."
+
+"Do many of the patients suffer acutely?" I asked, hardly knowing what
+was the right cue.
+
+"Oh, I did not mean that. No, no, _they_ don't suffer much. But it is
+sad to think that men who might have been worthy citizens, some of
+them as writers, some as teachers, some even as doctors--men who might
+have served the State in a hundred ways--are wasting their talents and
+hindering the spread of our Culture."
+
+"It must be a terrible affliction," I said. "Do they not sometimes feel
+it themselves in their moments of clearness of mind?"
+
+He looked at me, a little in doubt as to my meaning, but my face must
+have reassured him. "The strange thing about this disease," he said,
+"is that the patients suffer no pain directly from it; and you must
+remember that in practically all cases--just as in alcoholism--it is
+self-induced. There may be some little hereditary tendency, but the
+disease itself is certainly not inherited, and can be counteracted
+in its early stages by prophylactic treatment, as we have now fully
+demonstrated. As I say, it is self-induced, and it is therefore very
+difficult, even for a Christian minister who realises his duties to the
+State as well as to the Church, always to feel charitably towards these
+patients. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact of moral responsibility,
+and when I think of the obstinacy of these men I am tempted to lose
+patience. And their conceit! To presume that they--a few hundreds of
+them at most--know better than all the wise and loyal statesmen of
+Meccania, better than all the experts, better than all the millions of
+loyal citizens. But it is when I see what a poor miserable handful of
+men they are after all that I can find in my heart to pity them."
+
+"And how is my special case?" asked Kwang, when he could get a word in.
+
+"Just the same," said Canting--"just the same. You will find him
+perhaps a little weaker. I will not go with you. You seem to succeed
+best with him by yourself; and no doubt you have instructed your friend
+as to the peculiar nature of his malady."
+
+"Yes," said Kwang; "my friend has read my little monograph, and he
+thought the case so remarkable that with the consent and approval of
+Dr. Narrowman I brought him to see Patient Stillman in the flesh. I
+shall get him to talk a little."
+
+"Good," replied Canting; "but you will never cure him. You were quite
+right in what you once said--Prevention is the only cure. If we had
+developed our prophylactic system earlier it might have saved him, but
+he is too old now."
+
+After some preliminary formalities we were taken by one of the warders,
+who was evidently acquainted with Kwang through his many previous
+visits, to a room at the end of a long corridor, where we found Mr.
+Stillman, who greeted us cordially but with old-fashioned dignity.
+His manner struck me as being very different from that of the modern
+Meccanians. Clearly he belonged to another generation. The room, which
+was about twenty feet by ten, was a bed-sitting-room, furnished with
+one of those contrivances which becomes a bed by night and a false
+cupboard by day. There was an easy chair with the usual mechanical
+adjustments, a table, two bedroom chairs, a small sideboard and
+cupboard, a few other articles of necessity and a shelf of books.
+There were no bolts or bars or chains--the room suggested a hospital
+rather than a prison. Mr. Stillman was a fine old man, and, although
+growing feeble in body, was still vigorous in mind. When seated he held
+his head erect, and looked us frankly in the face, but with a wistful
+expression. He had evidently been a good-looking man, but his face
+bore traces of long suffering. Except that he did not pace about his
+cell, he reminded me of a caged lion. One of the orderlies brought in a
+tray of tea for the three of us. Mr. Stillman said what a pleasure it
+was to see a human being now and then, and, turning to me, explained
+that, except to Mr. Kwang and the officials and the doctors, he had
+not spoken to anyone for five years. "Until five years ago," he said,
+"I was able to do a little work in the gardens, and could converse
+with my fellow-prisoners--patients, I mean--but only about our work,
+and in the presence of a warder. Still, that was some relief. Indeed,
+it was a great relief, for every one of the patients is a kind of
+brother--otherwise he would not be here. There are only a few hundreds
+of us left--perhaps a couple of thousands altogether--I don't know. We
+have about two hundred here, and this is one of the largest hospitals,
+or prisons, in the country--so at least I was told."
+
+"But why is conversation not permitted?" I said. "To be deprived of
+conversation must surely aggravate any tendency to mental instability."
+
+"The theory is that communication with our fellow-patients would hinder
+our recovery," he replied, with a significant smile.
+
+"But what are you supposed to be suffering from?" I said.
+
+"A mental disease known only to the Government of Meccania," he
+answered. "You must have heard of it. Mr. Kwang knows all about it.
+The real name for it is 'heresy,' but they call it _Znednettlapseiwz_.
+I suffer very badly from it and am incurable--at least I hope so," he
+added bitterly.
+
+At this point Kwang announced that he wished to visit another patient,
+and that he would leave us together so that I might have a long talk
+undisturbed. It was evident that he occupied a privileged position, or
+he would never have been able to have such access to these patients.
+When he had left the room I did my best to get Mr. Stillman to talk,
+but I hardly knew how to induce him to tell me his story. I said, "I
+suppose you are not treated badly, apart from this prohibition about
+conversing with your fellow-sufferers?"
+
+"We are fed with the exact amount of food we require," he replied; "we
+are clothed--and thank God we do not wear any of the seven uniforms;
+and we are decently warm, except sometimes in winter when, I suppose,
+something goes wrong with the apparatus."
+
+"What?" I said. "Can any apparatus go wrong in Meccania?"
+
+"Well," he said, "perhaps the fact is that I want to be warmer than the
+experts think is necessary. Yes; that is probably the explanation."
+
+"And for the rest," I said. "Have you no occupation? How do you spend
+the time?"
+
+"In trying to preserve the last remains of my sanity," he answered.
+
+"And by what means?" I asked gently.
+
+"Chiefly by prayer and meditation," he replied after a short pause.
+
+He used the old-fashioned expressions which I had not heard from the
+lips of any Meccanian before. "But it is difficult," he went on, "to
+keep one's faith, cut off from one's fellow-believers."
+
+"But they allow you to attend religious services surely?" I said.
+
+"The Meccanian State Church keeps a chaplain here, and holds a service
+every day which is attended by all the officials and a few of the
+patients; but you have heard the maxim _Cujus regio ejus religio_,
+have you not?" I nodded. "It has acquired a new significance during the
+last fifty years. I have not attended any of the services since they
+ceased to be compulsory about ten years ago."
+
+"That sounds very remarkable," I said.
+
+"What does?"
+
+"It is the first time I have heard of anything _ceasing_ to be
+compulsory in Meccania," I said.
+
+"The fact was that they discovered it had a very bad effect upon the
+disease. My chief relief now is reading, which is permitted for three
+hours a day."
+
+"And you are allowed to choose your own books?"
+
+"As a concession to our mental infirmity," he said, "we have been
+granted the privilege of reading some of the old authors. It came about
+in this way. Dr. Weakling, who is in charge of this hospital, is the
+son of one of my oldest friends--a man who spent several years in this
+place as a patient. He came in about the same time as I did, but his
+health gave way and he 'recanted,' or, as they say, he 'recovered.'
+But while he was here he begged to have a few of the old books to save
+him from going mad. The authorities refused to let him have any books
+except those specially provided, and I believe it was this that made
+him give way. Anyhow he used his influence with his son afterwards,
+for his son had become one of the leading medical specialists, to
+obtain for the older patients at any rate a number of the books of
+the old literature which nobody else wanted to read. He only got
+the concession through on the ground that it was a psychological
+experiment. He has had to write a report on the experiment every year
+since its introduction. That is our greatest positive privilege, but we
+have a few negative privileges."
+
+"What do you mean exactly?" I said.
+
+"We have no compulsory attendances; we have no forms to fill up; we are
+not required to keep a diary; we are not required to read the _Monthly
+Gazette of Instructions_, nor play any part in State ceremonies.
+Indeed, if I could talk to my friends who are here I should have little
+to complain of on the score of personal comfort."
+
+"Then why do you speak of the difficulty of preserving your sanity?" I
+said, rather thoughtlessly, I am afraid.
+
+"Why do you think I am here at all?" he replied, for the first time
+speaking fiercely. "I could have my liberty to-day if I chose, could
+I not?" Then he went on, not angrily but more bitterly, "Did I say I
+could have my liberty? No; that is not true. I could go out of here
+tomorrow, but I should not be at liberty. I stay here, because here I
+am only a prisoner--outside I should be a slave. How long have you been
+in Meccania did you say?"
+
+"About five months," I said.
+
+"And you are free to go back to your own country?"
+
+"Certainly," I said--"at least, I hope so."
+
+"Then go as soon as you can. This is no fit place for human beings.
+It is a community of slaves, who do not even know they are slaves
+because they have never tasted liberty, ruled over by a caste of
+super-criminals who have turned crime into a science."
+
+"I have not heard the ruling classes called criminals before," I said.
+"I am not sure that I understand what you mean."
+
+"Then you must have been woefully taken in by all this hocus-pocus of
+law and constitution and patriotism. The whole place is one gigantic
+prison, and either the people themselves are criminals, or those who
+put them there must be. There is such a thing as legalised crime. Crime
+is not merely the breaking of a statute. Murder and rape are crimes,
+statute or no statute."
+
+"But what are the crimes these rulers of Meccania have committed?" I
+said.
+
+"In all civilised countries," he replied passionately, "if you steal
+from a man, if you violate his wife or his daughters, if you kidnap
+his children, you are a criminal and outlawed from all decent society.
+These rulers of ours have done worse than that. They have robbed us of
+everything; we have nothing of our own. They feed us, clothe us, house
+us--oh no, there is no poverty--every beast of burden in the country is
+provided with stall and fodder--ay, and harness too; they measure us,
+weigh us, doctor us, instruct us, drill us, breed from us, experiment
+on us, protect us, pension us and bury us. Nay, that is not the end;
+they dissect us and analyse us and use our carcasses for the benefit
+of Science and the Super-State. I called them a nation. They are not
+a nation; they are an 'organism.' You have been here five months,
+you say. You have seen a lot of spectacles, no doubt. You have seen
+buildings, institutions, organisations, systems, machinery for this and
+machinery for that, but you have not seen a single human being--unless
+you have visited our prisons and asylums. You have not been allowed to
+talk to anybody except 'authorised persons.' You have been instructed
+by officials. You have read books selected by the Super-State, and
+written by the Super-State. You have seen plays selected by the
+Super-State, and heard music selected by the Super-State, and seen
+pictures selected by the Super-State, and no doubt heard sermons
+preached by the Super-State."
+
+"Your friend tells me other nations are still free. What drives me
+to the verge of madness is to think that we, who once were free, are
+enslaved by bonds of our own making. Can you wonder, after what you
+have seen--a whole nation consenting to be slaves if only they may make
+other nations slaves too--that I ask myself sometimes whether this is
+a real lunatic asylum; whether I am here because I have these terrible
+hallucinations; whether all that I think has happened this last fifty
+years is just a figment of my brain, and that really, if I could only
+see it, the world is just as it used to be when I was a boy?"
+
+Presently he became calmer and began to tell me something of his life
+story.
+
+"Until I was about twelve," he said, "I lived with my parents in one
+of the old-fashioned parts of Meccania. My father was a well-to-do
+merchant who had travelled a good deal. He was something of a scholar
+too, and took interest in art and archæology, and as I, who was his
+youngest son, gave signs of similar tastes, he took me abroad with
+him several times. This made a break in my schooling, and although
+I probably learnt more from these travels, especially as I had the
+companionship of my father, it was not easy to fit me into the regular
+system again. So my father decided to send me to some relatives who had
+settled in Luniland, and a few years after, when I was ready to go to
+the University of Bridgeford, he and my mother came to live for a few
+years in Luniland."
+
+"Up to that time I had taken no interest in politics, but I can
+distinctly recall now how my father used to lament over the way things
+were tending. He said it was becoming almost impossible to remain a
+good citizen. He had always thought himself a sane and sober person,
+not given to quarrelling, but he found it impossible to attach himself
+to any of the political parties or cliques in Meccania. He was not a
+follower of Spotts, who, he said, was a kind of inverted Bludiron,
+but he disliked still more the politicians and so-called statesmen
+who were preaching the Meccanian spirit as a new gospel. I think it
+was his growing uneasiness with politics that caused him to drift
+gradually into the position of a voluntary exile. But we were very
+happy. Every year or so I used to go over to Meccania, and in spite
+of my cosmopolitan education I retained a strong affection for the
+land of my birth. I was full of its old traditions, and not even the
+peaceful charms of Bridgeford--an island that seemed like a vision of
+Utopia--could stifle my passion for the pine forests of Bergerland, our
+old home in Meccania. When I had finished my course at Bridgeford I had
+to decide whether I would return to serve my two years in the army. It
+was a great worry to my mother that I had not, like my brothers, passed
+the Meccanian examination which reduced the time of service to one
+year, but I made light of the matter; and although, after my life in
+Luniland, it was very distasteful to me, I went through my two years as
+cheerfully as I could. I learnt a great deal from it. I was nicknamed
+'the Lunilander,' and was unpopular because I did not share the silly
+enthusiasm and boasting which at that time was prevalent. I had got out
+of touch with the youthful life of Meccania, and these two years opened
+my eyes. But I will not dwell on that time. At the end of it I joined
+my father, who had remained in Luniland when he was not travelling. It
+was time to choose a career. I had little taste for business and I was
+determined that I would not become an official of any kind, and when I
+proposed to devote some years to following up the work that my father
+had planned for himself, but had never been able to carry out, he gave
+his consent. We had just planned a long archæological tour in Francaria
+when the great war broke out."
+
+"I shall never forget the state of agitation into which this
+catastrophe threw him. I was about to return to Meccania in obedience
+to the instruction I had received, when he begged me not to go back
+at any cost. He had spent two sleepless nights, and his agony of mind
+was terrible. What he had feared for years had come to pass. He had
+thought it would be somehow avoided. He had been watching events very
+closely for the few weeks before the crisis. The day that war was
+declared between Luniland and Meccania, he declared his intention of
+going back to Meccania; but not to join in the madness of his country.
+He could not do much; probably he would not be allowed to do anything,
+but at any rate he would fight for sanity and right. My mother was
+eager to go back, but for other reasons. She burst out into a frenzy
+of abuse of Luniland. She repeated all the lies that I had heard in
+Meccania about the country in which she had been perfectly happy for
+years. She called me a coward for not being with my brothers. She said
+she had always been against my having come to Luniland. I knew she
+was hysterical, but I could hardly believe my ears. My father stood
+firm. He insisted on my staying. He said he should regard himself as
+a murderer if he consented to my going to fight for what he knew to
+be a monstrous crime. What my mother had said, although of course
+it pained me, did more to convince me that my father was right than
+anything he could have said. I had seen already the accounts of the
+Meccanian crowds shouting for war in a frenzy of martial pride. I had
+seen also the streets of Lunopolis, full of serious faces, awed by the
+thought of war and yet never wavering a moment. I had heard my own
+countrymen jeering at the craven spirit of the Lunilanders. It was a
+cruel position to be in, and in the years that followed I was tempted
+sometimes to regret that I had not gone back and sought peace of mind
+in a soldier's grave. But in my heart I was so revolted by the thought
+that all this horror was the work of my countrymen that I grew ashamed
+of being a Meccanian. For the first two years my father wrote to me
+constantly, and if I had had any doubts of the rightness of my conduct,
+what he said would have sustained me.
+
+"But that is a long story. All I need say is that it was in those years
+of suffering and horror that I discovered where my duty lay, and took
+a vow to follow it. When the war ended I would go back, and if I were
+the only man left in Meccania I would fight for truth and liberty. It
+was a quixotic vow, but I was a young man of thirty."
+
+"Well, I came back. I had to wait three years, even after the war was
+over, until there was an amnesty for such as I. And when I did set foot
+here again, the cause I had come to fight for was already lost. But I
+did not know it."
+
+"My father had already spent two years in prison, and was only released
+in time to die. But through him I knew that there were still some
+left who felt as we did. The idea of Liberty had been lost. Although
+the war had been over three years, everybody was still under martial
+law. The military professed that the country was in danger of a
+revolution. The newspapers preached the necessity for everybody to
+be organised to repair the ravages of the war. The socialists said
+the economic revolution, so long predicted, was accomplishing itself.
+For a few years we could make no headway. Then things began to settle
+down a little. The fever seemed to be spending itself. That was the
+moment when Prince Mechow became Chief Minister of the Interior. Some
+semblance of constitutional government was restored, and we began
+to hope for better things. We started a newspaper, and established
+societies in all the big towns. What we were out for was, first and
+foremost, political liberty. We had three or four brilliant writers
+and speakers. But the only papers that would take our articles were a
+few of the socialist papers which wrote leaders criticising our ideas
+as 'unscientific,' and the only people who came to our meetings were
+socialists who used them to speechify about the economic revolution.
+Then Mechow's reforms began. All education was completely controlled.
+The Press was bought up, and gradually suppressed. The right of public
+meeting was curtailed, till it disappeared altogether. The censorship
+of printing was made complete. New regulations accumulated year by
+year, and month by month. The seven classes were established. And all
+the time the socialists went on prating about the economic revolution.
+Prince Mechow was doing their work, they said. All they would have to
+do would be to step into his place when he had completed it. A few
+hundreds of us, scattered in various parts of the country, tried to
+keep up the struggle. We got into prison several times, but nobody
+cared a straw for our 'Luniland' party, as they called it. I fell
+ill, and then I tried to go abroad for a rest. I was arrested for an
+alleged plot, and sentenced to a term of imprisonment and degradation
+to the Fifth Class! After that I was forbidden to communicate with my
+children, for fear of infecting them. As they grew up in their teens,
+even they grew to look on me as an eccentric. Need I say more? The
+time came when I had either to recant from all my convictions, or be
+treated as a person of unsound mind. I came here determined to hold
+out to the last. What I feared--and I think I feared nothing else--was
+that some of their diabolical medical experiments would undermine my
+will. Fortunately I was sent here, where after a time Dr. Weakling--who
+is at any rate not a scoundrel--has done his best to protect me. He
+represents a type we have in Meccania--perhaps the most common type of
+all--a man who conforms to the system because he finds himself in it
+and part of it, but who is not actively wicked, and who has some good
+nature left. He regards me and those like me as simple-minded fanatics
+who are harmless so long as we are only few in number."
+
+"So you think your cause is lost?" I said.
+
+"No," he said quickly, "our cause is not lost. It is Meccania that is
+lost."
+
+"But is there no hope even for Meccania?"
+
+"There is no hope from within: hope can only come from without."
+
+"That is a hard saying. How can it come from without?"
+
+"Fifty years ago our neighbours--not our enemies, our neighbours--fought
+for liberty: they set themselves free, but they did not set us free.
+They said they would make the world safe for democracy."
+
+"Well, did they not do so?" I asked.
+
+He was quiet for a minute. "I wonder if they did," he said. "I wonder
+if either Liberty or Democracy can be safe so long as there is a
+Super-State. If a tragedy like this can happen to one nation it can
+happen to the whole world. Meccania will never become free whilst the
+Meccanian Spirit remains alive; and Liberty will never be secure until
+the whole world is free."
+
+He sank back in his chair looking very tired after the excitement of
+our interview. At this moment a gong sounded. It was the signal for
+supper, and he got up mechanically to wash his hands in a bowl by the
+side of his bed-cupboard. Kwang then knocked at the door and came to
+bid good-bye. We left our 'patient' preparing to cross the quadrangle.
+It was growing dark, and we could see the lights in the great hall
+of the hospital. We were just about to walk back to the lodge when
+Kwang suddenly said, "Come with me." I followed him through a long
+corridor, and he led the way to a door which opened into the great
+dining-hall. There we saw, seated at long tables, nearly two hundred
+old men. They had just begun their evening meal. There was a strange
+silence, oppressive and almost sinister. There were no servants to wait
+on them, but some of the more active men handed the dishes, while a
+couple of warders in green uniforms seemed to be patrolling the room
+for the purpose of checking all attempts at conversation. But there
+was not even a whisper. The men did not look sullen or rebellious.
+Perhaps they had got past that. I could see them interchanging looks
+of friendly greeting across the room, and no doubt from long practice
+they had learnt to convey some simple messages by a glance or a smile;
+but there was an air of quiet courtesy about them, so different from
+what I had learnt to know as the typical Meccanian manner. I looked
+at the faces of those nearest me. Many of them might have sat for the
+portraits of senators, or have served as models for some of those
+old-fashioned paintings of assemblies of statesmen and ambassadors
+of bygone centuries. The surroundings were not altogether wanting in
+dignity. The hall was large and lofty, and although bare--save for
+the inevitable Imperial portraits which greet one everywhere--was
+not unsightly. Indeed, the absence of ornament was a relief from the
+perpetual reminders of the latest phases of Meccanian Art. Governor
+Canting had apparently been present at the beginning of the meal and
+was going off to his own dinner. He joined us for a moment. "Do you
+notice," he said, "how ungracious their expression is? One would think
+they had never come under the influence of the Meccanian spirit.
+Their whole bearing is characteristic of their attitude of studied
+disloyalty. They never even give the salute. It has not been insisted
+upon because--you know ..." and he tapped his forehead. "They would not
+meet with such consideration in many countries, but we have respect
+for age and infirmity, no matter what provocation we receive."
+
+We left the hall and took our leave of Hospital Governor Canting. As
+we started on our journey it was dark, and a cool wind was blowing. We
+could see before us the dull glow of light from the great city in the
+distance. The road was perfect, and we passed few vehicles of any kind;
+but we were stopped three times by the police, to whom Kwang showed his
+pass. As we entered the outer ring we slowed down. Although we were
+passing along the main roadway only a few persons were to be seen.
+Here and there near the outer ring in the Business Quarter we passed
+a few groups of workmen marching in step on their way home. The trams
+were running, but there was no bustle and no excitement. No boisterous
+groups of young people filled the streets. No sound of laughter or
+merry-making fell on our ears. Where were the people? Where were those
+crowds that make the streets of all cities in the world a spectacle to
+move the heart of man? This might have been a plague-stricken town, a
+city of the dead. We passed the great station with its lofty dome, and
+the towering pile of the Time Department with the great clock above
+it. As we slowly swung through the great square, the colossal statue
+of Prince Mechow looked down on us like the grim and menacing image of
+this city of Power. Was he some evil Genius that had slain the souls of
+men, leaving their bodies only to inhabit the vast prison-house he had
+built for them with their own labour?
+
+Kwang put me down at the hotel and drove on to his rooms. I found a
+letter awaiting me. It was from my father, and contained painful news.
+My mother was seriously ill and he urged me to return at once. Early
+next morning I hastened to visit Kwang--first obtaining permission from
+the manager of the hotel--and found him busy with his preparations
+also. "Don't be alarmed," he said, when I told him my news. "Your
+mother is not ill. At any rate we do not know that she is. I thought
+it was time for you to be getting ready to leave this country and I
+had that letter sent. It will be a good reason in the eyes of the
+'Authorities.' I go the day after to-morrow. I have a secret mission
+for the Government to the Chinese Embassy at Prisa" (the capital of
+Francaria). "I may not return. I may fall suddenly ill."
+
+I expressed some surprise that Kwang, the most privileged stranger in
+Meccania, the _persona grata_ with all the official world, should think
+it necessary to slip out of the country by a back door, and provide for
+my sudden departure as well.
+
+"You have been here five months," he said. "I have been here fifteen
+years. It is always best in this country to take as little risk as
+possible--consistent with your objectives. A word to the wise.... If
+you have anything that you wish to take out with you, you had better
+let me have it. You will be examined when you go out as you were when
+you came in. I do not propose to be examined when I leave. That is why
+I am going via Prisa on a special mission."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+NEVER AGAIN
+
+
+I did not see Kwang again until we met some weeks after, in Prisa. He
+had begun to suspect that one or two persons in the Foreign Department
+had guessed the nature of the rôle he had been playing. There was
+practically no evidence against him, because all the information he had
+obtained, and it was a great deal, had been furnished to him willingly
+by the Meccanian Government under the impression that he had become a
+sort of missionary of Meccanian Culture. All the same, as he observed
+to me, without arresting him as a spy (a course of procedure which for
+many reasons would have been inconvenient to the Government) he might
+have been made the victim of an 'accident.' He could no longer play his
+part in safety. Anyhow, he succeeded in making his exit in a manner
+that aroused no suspicion, and he managed to return to his own country
+a short time afterwards. Consequently I need say no more about Kwang.
+
+My own departure was also rather a tame affair. I had an interview,
+on the day I received my letter, with Inspector of Foreigners
+Bulley. Although I knew that the letter had been censored, and I was
+morally certain its contents had been made known to him, he betrayed
+no knowledge of the facts. I explained the circumstances and showed
+him the letter. I asked if the three days' notice could be dispensed
+with, as I wished to leave at the earliest moment. He said I might
+possibly leave the day after to-morrow, but not before, as it would
+be necessary to see that all my affairs were in order before issuing
+the certificate of absolution as it was called--a certificate which
+all foreigners must obtain before the issue of the ticket authorising
+them to be conveyed across the frontier. There would be a charge of £1
+for the extra trouble involved. One little difficulty had not occurred
+to me: there might not be a conveyance to Graves, via Bridgetown, for
+several days--perhaps not for a week. Inspector Bulley, who had all
+such matters at his finger-ends, told me there was no conveyance for
+five days by that route, but that he would arrange for me to travel
+by another route, via Primburg and Durven, which lay convenient for a
+journey to Prisa. After that I could either return home direct or go
+first to Lunopolis.
+
+He was sorry my visit had been cut short almost before my serious study
+had begun, and hoped I should find it possible to return. He arranged
+for me to undergo my necessary medical examination on the afternoon
+of the same day, and this turned out to be almost a formality. Dr.
+Pincher was much more polite, and much less exacting, than on a former
+occasion. Clearly the influence of Kwang--for I was now regarded as a
+sort of protégé of his--was evident in all this. Altogether my exit was
+made quite pleasant, and I almost began to regret my precipitancy, but
+when I reflected on what I had to gain by staying longer I saw that
+Kwang was right. I turned over in my mind what I had seen and learnt
+during five months. I had seen a provincial town (or some aspects of
+it), and the capital, under the close supervision of well-informed
+warders. I had talked to a score of officials and a few professors,
+and received a vast amount of instruction from them. I had seen a
+great public ceremony. I had visited a large number of institutions.
+But I had only got into contact with a single native Meccanian who was
+free from the influence of the all-pervading Super-State, and this
+person was in an asylum only accessible by a dangerous ruse. I knew
+little more of the people, perhaps less, than I could have got from
+reading a few books; but I had at any rate got an impression of the
+Meccanian 'System' which no book could have given me. That impression
+was the most valuable result of my tour, but it seemed unlikely that
+a further stay would do anything more than deepen it. For unless I
+were prepared to play the rôle that Kwang had played I was not likely
+to learn anything the Meccanian Government did not wish me to learn,
+and, however much I might be sustained by my curiosity, the actual
+experience of living in the atmosphere of the Meccanian Super-State was
+not pleasant.
+
+I said good-bye to my friends at the hotel, and, after an uneventful
+journey by express train, reached Primburg. Except that it bore a
+general resemblance to Bridgetown, I can say nothing of it, for we were
+not permitted to go out of the station whilst waiting for the motor-van
+to take us across the frontier. I say 'us,' because there were about
+half a dozen other travellers. The fact that not more than half a dozen
+persons a week travelled from Mecco to Prisa--for this was the main
+route to the capital of Francaria--was in itself astounding. Even of
+these, three looked like persons on official business. At Primburg
+I was spared the indignity of a further medical examination, as I
+had already obtained the necessary certificate from Dr. Pincher, but
+nothing could exempt me from the examination which all foreigners had
+to submit to in order to ensure that they carried nothing out of the
+country except by leave of the chief inspector of Foreign Observers.
+My journal had been entrusted to Kwang, and I had nothing else of any
+importance. I was thoroughly searched, and my clothes and my baggage
+were closely examined by an official called the Registrar of Travellers.
+
+Although I had spent a considerable time in Francaria I had never
+before seen Durven. There was now no reason for hurrying on to Prisa,
+so I decided to spend a day there to look round. I had to report myself
+to the police, owing to the fact that I had arrived from Meccania,
+but my credentials proving perfectly satisfactory I was at liberty to
+go where I liked. It was about four o'clock when I stepped out of the
+police station, and as it was a bright September afternoon there was
+still time to walk about for some hours before dark. At first, for
+about an hour, I could hardly help feeling that I was dreaming. Here I
+was in the old familiar life of Europe again. The streets of the town
+seemed full of people, some sauntering about and gossiping with their
+friends, others shop-gazing, others carrying parcels containing their
+purchases, some making their way home from business, others standing in
+groups near the theatres. There were tram-cars and omnibuses and all
+sorts of vehicles jostling in the central part of the town. A little
+later I saw people streaming out from a popular _matinée_. There were
+old men selling the first issues of the evening papers, and crying some
+sensational news which was not of the slightest importance but which
+somehow seemed good fun.
+
+I was delighted with everything I saw. It was a positive joy not to see
+any green uniforms, nor any grey uniforms, nor any yellow uniforms.
+Green and grey and yellow are beautiful colours, but the plain black
+of the civilian dress of the men in the streets of Durven seemed
+pleasanter, and the costumes of the women seemed positively beautiful.
+There were children walking with their mothers, and little urchins
+racing about in the side streets. I could have laughed with joy at the
+sight of them: I had seen no children for five months, only little
+future-Meccanians. There were old women selling flowers. I wondered if
+they were poor; they looked fat and happy at any rate, and they were
+free to sell flowers or do anything else they liked. I turned into a
+café. A little band was playing some rollicking frivolous music that
+I recognised. I remembered some of my former friends making sarcastic
+remarks about this kind of music. It was not good music, yet it made
+me feel like laughing or dancing. There was such a babel of talk I
+could hardly hear the band. Not that I wanted to! I was quite content
+to hear the happy voices round me, to watch the simple comedies of
+human intercourse, and to feel that I was out of prison. I strolled out
+again. This time I looked at the streets themselves, at the buildings
+and houses and shops. I dived down a side street or two and found
+myself by the river among little wharves and docks, all on the tiniest
+scale. The streets were rather untidy and not too clean; the houses
+were irregularly built. I was in the old town apparently. As I walked
+farther I noticed that by far the greater part of the town had been
+built during the last fifty years or so, yet the place looked as if
+it were trying to preserve the appearance of age. At another time I
+should probably have thought the town rather dull and uninteresting,
+for there was nothing noteworthy about it. If there had once been any
+genuine mediæval churches or guild halls or places of architectural
+interest they must have been destroyed, yet I discovered a strange joy
+and delight in everything I saw.
+
+After dark, when I had dined at the little hotel where I was to sleep
+that night, I went off at once to the nearest theatre, which happened
+to be a music hall. I laughed at the turns until people looked at me
+to see if I were drunk or demented. When they saw I was only a little
+excited they made good-humoured remarks. They were rather pleased that
+I should be so easily amused. "Perhaps he has just come out of prison,"
+said one; "no doubt it is rather dull there." "Perhaps he is a friend
+of one of the actors," said another, "and wants to encourage him."
+"Perhaps he has come from the land where jokes are prohibited," said a
+third. "Perhaps he is a deaf man who has recovered his hearing," said
+another. "Or a blind man who has recovered his sight." "Anyhow, he
+knows how to enjoy himself." Such were the remarks they made.
+
+When I came out I strolled about the streets until after midnight. It
+seemed so jolly to be able to go just where one pleased.
+
+In the morning I looked up the trains to Prisa and found that I
+could reach it in a few hours. So I decided to spend the morning in
+Durven and go on to Prisa in the afternoon. I strolled into the open
+market-place. How strange it seemed! People in all sorts of simple
+costumes were going round to the various stalls picking up one thing
+here and another there. The usual little comedies of bargaining were
+going on. There were all sorts of trifles for sale, including toys for
+children--real toys, not disguised mathematical problems, or exercises
+in mechanical ingenuity. There were dolls and rattles and hoops and
+balls and whistles and fishing-rods and marbles and pegtops and dolls'
+houses and furniture and bricks and a hundred things besides. Then
+there were gingerbread stalls, ice-cream stalls, cocoa-nut shies,
+swings and even a little merry-go-round. I felt I should like to ride
+on that merry-go-round, but as it was early in the forenoon there were
+only a few children--good heavens! what were children doing here? They
+ought to have been at school, or at any rate being instructed in the
+use of Stage II. B toys. I turned into the street where the best shops
+were. Even the grocers' shops looked interesting. There were goods from
+all over the world. There were cheeses packed in dainty little cases,
+and dates in little boxes covered with pictures; tea in packets and
+canisters representing absurd Chinamen and Hindoo coolies. The clothing
+shops were full of the latest fashions, although this was a small
+provincial town; and very dainty and charming they looked. Then there
+were antique shops and bric-à-brac shops, print shops and jewellers'
+shops. I could have spent days wandering about like a child at a fair.
+I had never realised before that the meanest European town--outside
+Meccania--is a sort of perennial bazaar.
+
+I tore myself away, and after luncheon took train to Prisa. The
+confusion and bustle at the stations was delightful; the chatter of the
+passengers was most entertaining. There were people in shabby clothes
+and people in smart costumes. There were ticket-collectors and guards
+in rather dirty-looking uniforms, and an occasional gendarme who looked
+as if he had come off the comic-opera stage. The villages on the route
+were like the villages I had seen before in Europe--fragments of bygone
+ages mixed up with the latest devices in farm buildings and model
+cottages; churches built in the twelfth century and post offices built
+in the twentieth; mediæval barns and modern factories. At length we
+reached Prisa, which needs no description from me.
+
+It looked like an old friend, and I lost no time in resuming the habits
+I had adopted during my previous stay. I looked up some of my old
+acquaintances, and we spent days in endless talk about everything under
+the sun. What a delight it was to read the newspapers, no matter how
+silly they were! How delightful to hear the latest gossip about the
+latest political crisis, the latest dramatic success, the latest social
+scandal, the latest literary quarrel! In a week or two I had almost
+forgotten the existence of Meccania. I had seen nothing to remind me of
+it. I began to understand why the people in Francaria and Luniland were
+so ignorant of that country. Why should they bother their heads about
+it? It seemed to me now like a bad dream, a nightmare. They were quite
+right to ignore it, to forget it. And yet, suppose Meccania should
+startle Europe again? And with a chemical war this time! Would they be
+able to escape? Or would the Super-Insects finally conquer the human
+race? I confess I felt some doubt. It seemed not impossible that the
+nightmare I had escaped from was a doom impending over the whole world.
+And it is because I could not dismiss this doubt that I have written a
+faithful account of what I saw and heard in Meccania, the Super-State.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+Text in italics was surrounded by _underscores_, and text in all
+capitals changed to all capitals.
+
+The following corrections have been made, on page
+
+  xvii "n" changed to "in" (in the manner of a mere spectator)
+
+    17 "chocolate- coloured" changed to "chocolate-coloured" (with
+       chocolate-coloured buttons)
+
+    40 "t at" changed to "that" (but that the Organising Inspectors)
+
+    48 "death sand" changed to "deaths and" (births, deaths and
+       marriages)
+
+   161 , added (unmeaning to a Meccanian, the Meccanians must have lost)
+
+   212 " removed (and much more besides.)
+
+   221 "pr fessions" changed to "professions" (all the functions of
+       the independent professions)
+
+   221 "he told" changed to "the old" (That is the old argument)
+
+   270 "be" changed to "he" (Clearly he belonged to another generation.)
+
+   278 "this" changed to "these" (these two years opened my eyes).
+
+Otherwise the original was preserved, including inconsistent spelling
+and hyphenation.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Meccania, by Owen Gregory
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44074 ***