A free lance himself, with a table in the British Museum, some
books and a deficit instead of an income from his intellectual labors,
he attacked the vested interests of his world.
He exposed the dangers which wait upon all miraculous religions,
the shams which they give birth to. But not because he was
obsessed with theology. If he had lived in the nineteen hundreds
he would have studied, I think, sociology and economics instead of
theology and biology. He would have attacked, in England, the
House of Lords instead of Oxford, and had an eye for the
intellectuals who are beginning to sway the mighty power of the
labor unions. He would have been a Radical-Conservative and voted
against both the British Labor party and the Coalition. In America
he would have lashed the trusts, execrated the Anti-Saloon League,
admired and been exasperated by Mr. Wilson, hated the Republican
party, and probably have voted for it lest worse follow its
defeat. He would have been, in short, a liberal of a species very
much needed just now in America, a bad party man, destructive
rather than constructive, no leader, but a satirist when, God
knows, we need one for the clearing of our mental atmosphere.
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