PREFACE ix 



the objects which they see in their everyday surround- 

 ings. An interest and love of rural affairs would thus 

 be engendered, and they would be more content to live 

 in the country. In towns, good technical schools ought 

 to be provided for the paid workers as well as for the 

 employers. The capitalist plays a great part in the 

 world, but he might still play a greater part if he were 

 trained in the potentialities of the business to which he 

 intends to devote himself. 



At present, country children are educated to town- 

 ward ambitions, and town children to ambitions and 

 aspirations, far above their capabilities, except in 

 isolated cases of specially strong individualities. 



Many of the absurd prejudices which we Britons 

 have hugged for years are fast disappearing. None 

 is more noticeable in this respect than the position 

 assumed by many landed proprietors, that to know any- 

 thing of, or to be in business, was not compatible with 

 being a gentleman ; but to them sport was everything. 

 The effects have been disastrous. Many of the pro- 

 fessions have tried the same game and failed. It is 

 only now dawning upon many that work is no 

 degradation ; this is being forced on us by our trade 

 rivals the Americans and Germans, who have been 

 gaining ground on us while we have been playing, and 

 who look upon our silly standard of form, with silent 

 pity and contempt. Let us be logical : we cannot live 

 without money, and the only way to make it nowadays 

 is to work for it ; and the harder we work, the more 



