[To THZ EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]
Ssa,—No League of Good Citizens can be permanently effective In its promotion of goodwill amongst men unless it is cosmo- politan in character. In a word, it must freely embrace members of every class without distinction, or else, sooner or later, it will become fissiparous and develop a spirit of antagonism or suspicion. The term "good citizens" is in itself a hindrance: it savours aggressively of pharisaism. Who that has made a conscious effort to accept work as a life's trust but realizes how too often he has failed because of some crotchet In his own mood or of some testinese of temperament? We crave for good fellowship in industry and a closer understanding between employers and employed, but, unfortunately, the seeds of their past relationship were imperfect in nature and we have to-day to reap the tares with the sheaves of wheat. Had not a large number of employers been indifferent towards the interests of their workmen trade unions would have incor- porated both masters and men in mutual trust discovering the remedies for better housing, unemployment, and old age, as well as for a more liberal education based on high ideals. Our ancestors were too prone to chafe when the Income Tax exceeded eightpence or one shilling in the pound, so the capi- talist of to-day has, however honourable and well disposed, tss suffer the contumely of being misjudged.
The problem is how to gain successfully the coveted end; you cannot label a man here or a woman there with the distinguish- ing badge of "good citizen." The iron bands that fetter the different sections of the community must be riven by some magnetic influence so that a sufficient number of persons out of every section can unitedly dispel the mist of misunderstand- ing and procure an honest reconciliation between all classes. Political organizations cut acmes the narrow cliques of trade unions and employers' associations, but they create artificial barriers which as effectually unmake the homogeneity of the British race. One political organization can only exist because there is some alternative caucus which holds contending views. Even the Churches have failed to attain to the ideals that would make all men of one mind and transform the community into one large family. It is comforting to see that the patronizing air of the squire, as he walked to church in front of the rustic, hardly exists and the aloofness between different circles of the middle class is less intense than in a past generation. There is excellent testimony of unostentatious work which is bringing the rich and the poor together on even terms and with a frank acceptance of a common purpose in life, but it is just this vibrating charity in its highest form which is so much wanted to permeate through the whole of our national life. I cannot but think that, when the poorer classes discover that those who have been most hard hit by the costliness of the Great War were wont to maintain the larger part of the charities, and when those also, in such new circumstance, accept their altered position in wealth without complaint, a new vision will quicken all of us and will engender a new sense of harmony in thought and work, but the guiding force must spring from some spiritual emanation, without which all experiments are bound to fail.—I am, Sir, &c., A. EDMUND SPENDER. Belle Vue House, Plympton.
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