G.— ENGINEERING 143 



These people talk about ' over-production,' ' low prices,' ' effect of the 

 gold standard,' and other things that are mere incidents. They have 

 not enough logicality to see the real cause. 



One cannot in a short address of this kind propound a complete plan 

 for the reformation of the world ; but it is easy to see how the methods 

 of distributing wealth might be made very much more efficient than they 

 are at present. The first step, of course, is that there shall be a definite 

 plan with that end in view. Instead of having as many persons as possible 

 making profits out of the needs of the people we should have as few as 

 possible engaged in distribution, and they should be concerned with the 

 problem of how to supply the goods rapidly and efficiently. As things 

 are at present, a small town of twenty thousand inhabitants may have as 

 many as three hundred shops. None of them will have a really good stock 

 to choose from. Two really good departmental stores would be of very 

 much more service to the inhabitants, especially if these stores directed 

 their energies to efficient methods of supply instead of useless display for 

 advertising purposes. At present we have hundreds of men and women 

 standing behind counters while customers are making up their minds as 

 to what kind of ribbon to buy or how many yards of stuff they will want. 

 Buyers should be encouraged and helped to do all this thinking before 

 they ask for the goods. A departmental store should have elaborate 

 show-cases in which samples of all materials and finished articles can be 

 seen and studied independently of the man behind the counter. Rapid 

 methods of getting full information about all products are easy to devise 

 when we are concerned with only a few comprehensive stores instead of 

 with hundreds of shops. Quantities can be weighed and wrapped by 

 machinery. Goods can be placed in containers and delivered cheaply 

 by express vans when the thing is done on a system. As many as three 

 dozen business vans at present visit a small street in the course of a single 

 day. Three delivery vans in a day bringing everything for everybody 

 should be quite sufficient. 



Starting with a small self-supporting state, it would be possible within 

 a few years to demonstrate the high standard of life obtainable by good 

 organisation and modern methods. Do some of my hearers say, ' Oh, 

 this was tried by Robert Owen years ago, and failed ' ? Men tried to fly 

 before the Wright brothers, and failed. Robert Owen was right in some 

 of his theories and would have succeeded better if he had had some of 

 the advantages we have to-day. To say that we are not to try a properly 

 organised system merely because some previous attempts have failed is 

 to condemn the world for all time to the muddle in which it now finds 

 itself. Having succeeded on a comparatively small scale, the region 

 under sane control would be extended until it gradually embraced the 

 whole world. The natural resources would be developed and each country 

 would supply those commodities for which its climate and natural pro- 

 ducts made it most suitable. There should be only one monetary system 

 common to the whole world, and one universal language taught in all the 

 schools. Nationalism ^eed not die, but there need no longer be a clash 

 between nations since the wants of all would be bountifully supplied. 



