ntially a New-Englander. His background was that of
Boston and its remote suburbs. And when he preaches the necessity of
the cooperative commonwealth, he does it with a Yankee twang. In fact,
he is as essentially native American as Norman Thomas, the present
leader of the Socialist Party in this country.

I cannot confess any vast interest in the love story which serves as a
thread for Bellamy's vision of a reconstructed society. But it can be
said that it is so palpably a thread of sugar crystal that it need not
get in the way of any reader.

I am among those who first became interested in Socialism through
reading "Looking Backward" when I was a freshman in college. It came
in the first half-year of a course which was designed to prove that
all radical panaceas were fundamentally unsound in their conception.
The professor played fair. He gave us the arguments for the radical
cause in the fall and winter, and proceeded to demolish them in spring
and early summer.

But what one learns in the winter sticks more than words uttered in
the warmth of drowsy May and June. Possibly I took more cuts toward
the end of the lecture course. All I can remember is the arguments in
favor of the radical plans. Their fallacies I have forgotten.

I differ from Bellamy's condescending converts because I feel that he
is close to an entirely practical and possible scheme of life. Since
much of the fantastic quality of his vision has been rubbed down into
reality within half a century, I think there is at least a fair chance
that another fifty years will confirm Edward Bellamy's position as one
of the most authentic prophets of our age.

THE AUTHOR OF "LOOKING BACKWARD"

"We ask
To put forth just our strength, our human strength,
All starting fairly, all equipped alike."

"But when full roused, each giant limb awake,
Each sinew strung, the great heart pulsing fast,
He shall start up and stand on his own earth,
Then shall his long, triumphant march begin,
Thence shall his being date."

BROWNING.

The great poet's lines express Edward Bellamy's aim in writing his
famous book. That aim would realize in our country's daily being the
Great Declaration that gave us national existence; would, in equality
of opportunity, give man his own earth to stand on, and thereby--the
race for the first time enabled to enter unhampered upon the use