(3) That with proper arrangements for variety and good cookery, vegetable food is better for health of body and mind.—­Yours very truly,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

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TO MR. JOHN (LORD) MORLEY

Parkstone, Dorset, October 20, 1900.

Dear Sir,—­I look upon you as the one politician left to us, who, by his ability and integrity, his eloquence and love of truth, his high standing as a thinker and writer, and his openness of mind, is able to become the leader of the English people in their struggle for freedom against the monopolists of land, capital, and political power.  I therefore take the liberty of sending you herewith a book of mine containing a number of miscellaneous essays, a few of which, I venture to think, are worthy of your serious attention.

Some time since you intimated in one of your speeches that, if the choice for this country were between Imperialism and Socialism, you were inclined to consider the latter the less evil of the two.  You added, I think, your conviction that the dangers of Socialism to human character were what most influenced you against it.  I trust that my impression of what you said is substantially correct.  Now I myself believe, after a study of the subject extending over twenty years, that this danger is non-existent, and certainly does not in any way apply to the fundamental principles of Socialism, which is, simply, the voluntary organisation of labour for the good of all....—­With great esteem, I am yours very faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

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MR. JOHN (LORD) MORLEY TO A.R.  WALLACE

57 Elm Park Gardens, S.W.  October 31, 1900.

My dear Sir,—­For some reason, though your letter is dated the 20th, it has only reached me, along with the two volumes, to-day.  I feel myself greatly indebted to you for both.  In older days I often mused upon a passage of yours in the “Malay Archipelago” contrasting the condition of certain types of savage life with that of life in a modern industrial city.  And I shall gladly turn again to the subject in these pages, new to me, where you come to close quarters with the problem.

But my time and my mind are at present neither of them free for the effective consideration of this mighty case.  Nor can I promise myself the requisite leisure for at least several months to come.  What I can do is to set your arguments a-simmering in my brain, and perhaps when the time of liberation arrives I may be in a state to make something of it.  I don’t suppose that I shall be a convert, but I always remember J.S.  Mill’s observation, after recapitulating the evils to be apprehended from Socialism, that he would face them in spite of all, if the only alternative to Socialism were our present state.—­With sincere thanks and regard, believe me yours faithfully