Hohj-Days and Holidays 



and Its affairs, to the crushing in civil life of 

 the individual intellect and resource and spirit 

 as they are crushed in armies ; and we are 

 shouting ourselves hoarse in honour of our new 

 deity the State — the State which is to provide 

 us with everything we most want, whether it 

 be a protected industry, an old-age pension, or 

 a living wage. Externally we are engaged in a 

 fierce and exhausting competition of armament 

 with a nation somewhat further advanced in 

 this business of State organization than our- 

 selves. I once saw a game of golf played in an 

 out-of-the-way part of Africa, when the players 

 were armed with revolvers and the caddies 

 carried rifles. "With the chance of an enemy 

 lurking in every bunker, the eye was apt to 

 wander from the ball. Not dissimilar appear 

 to be the conditions of our national existence. 

 And we may judge how serious is the outlook 

 when the most trusted of our statesmen, a man 

 of practical hard sense, litde given to imagi- 

 native flights, does not hesitate to speak of the 

 ever-increasing expenditure on armaments as 

 likely to submerge our civiHzation. 



And as regards our social future the hand- 

 writing on the wall is plain for us to read. 



235 



