Excerpt from Whiterward?: Hell or Eutopia

An explanatory word as to the aims and method of this Paper, and of the series to which it belongs. A question is sometimes heard what is the modern point of view? And on the heels of that query may come another, What is its Civilization value? The professed philosopher answers by a cheque on the Bank of Abstrae tions, which more often than not, holds insufficient assets to meet it. The plain man answers more concretely; but gives one answer to-day, another to-morrow, and a third the next. In the end his mind IS thrown into confusion by the diversity of replies. Happily there are ways of answering which avoid the pitfalls of the professed philosopher and also of the plain man. One such way it is claimed is exhibited throughout this Paper; intimately concerned with the two questions above, since its main theme is an analysis of the current political situation. But this is not treated in isolation. On the contrary, the political issue is handled as something unintelligible except in relation, on one side to industry, trade and finance, and on the other to education, science, art and even religion.

As to the whole series of Papers, they may be described as studies in contem porary social evolution. Their aim is to be both graphic and interpretative. The numbers in brackets throughout the text refer to illustrative lantern slides, detailed in an appendix to the Paper. The purpose of these slides is to present by visual imagery of significant buildings, persons, Situations, the social process which is described and interpreted in the text. The slides are offered on loan to societies, clubs, circles concerned to study current events in the light of such sociological principles as can be brought to bear. As to the standpoint adopted in the Papers, it Will of course be understood that every effort is made to maintain the objectivity and detachment of science; but it should be explicitly stated that responsibility alike for facts and principles rests solely on the Cities Committee and not on the Sociological Society.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.