Sia,—Mr. Mark Benney is a young man who writes With
authority and not as the scribes on the subjects on which he does write, and writes so prophetically well. He has the same respect for the Oxford Dictionary as I had in my youth for the Holy Scriptures and, like a naughty boy, he loves quoting unusual words ; but, having said that, I have said my worst: His picture of Trafalgar Square is the best (socially con- sidered) ever penned. I know it pretty well myself and every- thing he says is true.
But his admirable article leaves its readers with a dittcult
problem to solve. Ought the social conditions of " the Square " to be tolerated and, as he would say, " fed " by Miss Baxter and others, like the 'pigeons (and pigeons can be troublesome both to statues and human beings), or ought they to be exter- minated like—say, rats or mice ?
I do not think that anyone who has ever been on intimate
terms with the representatives of the Underworld in its widest sense would ever wish to see its apparent members totally abolished. They are, after all, human beings and belong individually and collectively to what a distinguished demagogue called a " so-called demo-plutocracy." The so-called Down- and-Outs—with all their gradations—are no more disillusioned than are the wealthy without an occupation to make life worth while. They are the obverse side of the coin of National Businessdom which has two facets. They are the inverted aristocrats in cases where the aristocrat has been unable to adapt himself honourably to the requirements of progressive British life. Most aristocrats nowadays work nobly for the common cause, if possible; but if it be not possible, they find themselves " Down-and-Outs " in a social world that works from King and Queen downwards from cradle to grave.
. In perhaps the majority if not in all cases it is not their individual fault. There are heaps of good reasons why people fail to be socially successful. They are Society's misfits. What is the solution ?
I must confess I believe in toleration and especially the toleration of human kindness in any form.
Let Miss Baxter go on feeding the pigeons, and let the pigeons go on mistrusting the social workers, and let the police be the police, and let everyone exercise human ingenuity (called
in the Underworld " using your loaf "), and go on playing the dear old British game of "neVer-being-foluid-out-if-you-can- possibly-help-it." It is ever so much better than becoming a Totalitarian State where no more problems exist.—Yours
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