Then and Now 23 



lectual existence, though there can hardly be 

 another peasantry in the world more mentally 

 inclined by nature. Waste of mind is waste of life 

 at its best, and this means national ruin ; but crime 

 is openly preferred to culture by those who control 

 the collective psychology. Not far from me, 

 there was an empty building. Nobody had any 

 use for it, and somebody suggested that it ought 

 to serve some public purpose. It was bought, and 

 the roof pulled down, for no reason that could 

 ever be discovered but to prevent it becoming a 

 reading room while the progressive communities 

 of the world are taxing themselves to provide 

 books and libraries. The Local Government 

 empowers us to apply the Free Libraries Act, but 

 in the only attempt that I know of to start a 

 reading room in Connaught, the bulk of the books 

 were stolen. So much is crime preferred to cul- 

 ture. Is it any wonder that the work of one 

 little boy, intelligently directed, can be more pro- 

 ductive than that of three or four average men ? 

 Paying wages, I am not in a position to waste 

 working power ; I must either make the expendi- 

 ture reproductive or stop farming. From end to 

 end of the year, my agricultural neighbour has 

 not a shilling a day for his work on his own land, 

 but I must pay wages at more than twice this rate 

 of his working value, necessitating more than 

 twice his result in production, per unit of energy 

 applied. Working for himself, he can limit his 

 standard of living to his rate of production, 

 however low, while I must meet the wage bill 



