In the first place, Britain will be a revivified country after the war,
chastened in some ways, teeming with new thoughts, pulsing with a new
virility for at least a generation. Class prejudice will be lessened,
perhaps in some directions will be completely wiped out. There will
probably be a centralized effort after the trials which all the people
have suffered together to reconstruct the social fabric so that all the
people of the country, with the exception of those who are lazy or
criminal, shall have the means by which they may be able to secure a
decent livelihood and need have no fear of poverty-stricken old age. I
foresee the disintegration of the older political parties and the
building up of new ones, in which the great contending features will be
the means and methods by which the new Britain shall be established.
The old party shibboleths will be swept away. Mere words and windy
generalities will be displaced from influence and the nation's leaders
will deal with facts.
The education of the war has brought everybody in the country up
against hard realities. While prejudices and so-called principles have
been put in the background, there has been going on a learning of new
lessons. Lloyd George will undoubtedly be the main figure in the
building up of the national edifice. The war will effect political
changes which a generation of Parliamentary efforts could not have
brought about. Hundreds of thousands of men drawn from shops,
factories, offices, who have been hardened and stimulated by their
out-of-doors campaigning, will be averse from returning to their old
drab conditions, and coincident with this the rich and beautiful
farmlands of England will be made available in holdings for such as
wish to settle on the land and to establish themselves there. Cottage
dwellings and farm buildings will be put up by the thousand with the
assistance of the state. The settlers from the towns will not only
find health for themselves and families, but by their activities will
add enormously to the food-supplies of the country through their market
gardens, their dairy farms, as well as by the extra corn which will be
produced by them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account