“To-Morrow,” of which this book is substantially a reproduction, having been published towards the end of 1898, the reader who has followed me thus far will be interested to learn what has been done, and what is proposed to be done to realise the project which was there set forth. I will endeavour to answer these questions.

At the outset, I perceived that the first thing was to make the project widely known—that the city which was pictured so vividly in my own mind must be pictured more or less vividly by many, and that a strong and widespread desire for its up-rearing must be created before a single step could be wisely taken to put the project in a concrete form. For the task before me was, I was fully conscious, a most difficult one, and demanded the hearty co-operation of men and of women[32] experienced in very numerous departments of human activity; and many of these had to be reached and enlisted. City building, as a deliberately thought-out enterprise, is indeed a lost art, in this country at least, and this art has not only to be revived, but has to be carried to finer issues than those who have before practised it ever dreamt of. Autocrats like Alexander the Great and Philip II. could build cities according to well-thought out and carefully-matured plans, because they could impose their will by force; but a city which is to be the outward expression of a strong desire to secure the best interests of all its inhabitants can, among a self-governing people, only arise as the outcome of much patient and well-sustained effort. Moreover, the building of the first of such cities necessarily involves co-operation on new lines—in untried ways; and, as it is essential that the freedom of the individual as well as the interests of the community should be preserved, very much work must needs be done to prepare the way for the successful launching of such an experiment.

My task—hardly a self-imposed one, for, when I commenced my investigations many years ago, I little dreamed where they would lead me—was rendered especially difficult by the nature of my professional work, which it was impossible for me to give up; and I could, therefore, only give odds and ends of time and energies largely exhausted to the work. But, fortunately, I was not left without help. First the press came to my aid. “To-Morrow” was very widely noticed. Many books have been more fully reviewed, but few have been noticed, and favourably noticed, in such a variety of types of journals as “To-Morrow” has been. Besides the daily and weekly papers of London and the provinces, the project has been favourably commented upon in journals representing widely different points of view. I may mention, merely as illustrations of this—“Commerce,” “Country Gentleman,” “Spectator,” “Leisure Hour,” “Court Circular,” “Clarion,” “Builder’s Journal,” “Commonwealth,” “Young Man,” “Councillor and Guardian,” “Ladies’ Pictorial,” “Public Health Engineer,” “Municipal Journal,” “Argus,” “Vegetarian,” “Journal of Gas Lighting,” “Labour Copartnership,” “Hospital,” “Brotherhood,” “Municipal Reformer.”

Nor was the reason of this widespread interest difficult to discover. The project, indeed, touches life at every point, and when once carried out will be an object-lesson which must have far-reaching and beneficial results.

But, although approval of my aims was general, doubts were often, especially at first, expressed as to their realisability. Thus, the “Times” said: “The details of administration, taxation, etc., work out to perfection. The only difficulty is to create the city, but that is a small matter to Utopians.” If this be so, then, by the “Times’” own showing, I am no Utopian, for to me the building of the city is what I have long set my mind upon, and it is with me no “small matter.” A few months after this, however, the “Journal of Gas Lighting” put my case very forcibly thus: “Why should the creation of a town be an insuperable difficulty. It is nothing of the kind. Materials for a tentative realisation of Mr Howard’s ideal city exist in abundance in London at the present moment. Time and again it is announced that some London firm have transferred their factory to Rugby, or Dunstable, or High Wycombe for business reasons. It ought not to be impossible to systematise this movement and give the old country some new towns in which intelligent design shall direct the social workings of economic forces.”

In my spare time I lectured on the Garden City, the first lecture after publication being given in December, 1898, at the Rectory Road Congregational Church, Stoke Newington, N. In the chair was Mr. T. E. Young, past President, Institute of Actuaries, and I was supported also by Dr. Forman, A.L.C.C.; Rev. C. Fleming Williams, A.L.C.C.; Mr. James Branch, L.C.C.; and Mr. Lampard, L.C.C. The lecture was well reported in a local journal, and I speedily found that, by means of lectures, interest in the project could be widened, because the subject made “good copy.” I, therefore, as far as possible, have always given lectures when requested, and have spoken in London, Glasgow, Manchester, and many provincial towns. Friends, too, began to help, the Rev. J. Bruce Wallace, M.A., of Brotherhood Church being among the first to lecture upon the project; nor shall I ever forget the pleasure I felt at hearing his simple and forcible exposition of it.

Soon after the publication of “To-Morrow,” I began to receive many letters, and these often from business men. One of the first of these was from Mr. W. R. Bootland, of Daisy Bank Mills, Newchurch, near Warrington, who wrote heartily commending the project as “sound business,” and yet as likely to confer great public benefits.

After a few months of such fitful work as I could undertake, I consulted a friend, Mr F. W. Flear, and we decided it would be well to form an Association with a view to securing supporters in a more systematic manner, and of formulating the scheme more completely, so that, at as early a date as possible, a suitable organisation might be created for carrying it out. Accordingly, on the 10th June, 1899, a few friends met at the offices of Mr. Alexander W. Payne, Chartered Accountant, 70 Finsbury Pavement, E.C., Mr Fred. Bishop, of Tunbridge Wells, in the chair, and the Garden City Association was formed—Mr. Payne being its first Hon. Treasurer, and Mr. F. W. Steere, a barrister, who had written a very useful summary of “To-Morrow” in Uses, its first Hon. Secretary. On the 21st of the same month, a public meeting was held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, E.C., which was presided over by Sir John Leng, M.P., who, at a very short notice, gave an interesting outline of the project, and urged those present to support me in my very difficult task. At this meeting a Council was formed, and at the first sittings of that body Mr. T.H.W. Idris, J.P., L.C.C., was elected chairman, a post which he resigned at a later stage on account of ill-health, though remaining as firmly convinced as ever of the soundness of the Garden City idea.

Lecturers now began to come forward in different parts of the country, and additional interest was afforded by lantern slides and diagrams. The Association steadily grew, and three months after its formation I was able to write to the “Citizen”:—“The Association numbers amongst its members, Manufacturers, Co-operators, Architects, Artists, Medical Men, Financial Experts, Lawyers, Merchants, Ministers of Religion, Members of the L.C.C., Moderate and Progressive; Socialists and Individuals, Radicals and Conservatives.”

Our subscriptions, however, were very small. We had put the minimum at the democratic shilling, so that none should be shut out, but, unfortunately, some who could afford much more were content to subscribe that sum, and, from the formation of the Association until August 13, 1901—a little more than two years—the total subscriptions to the general funds of the Association only reached £241 13s. 9d.

A change suddenly came over the Association. I learned early in 1901 that Mr. Ralph Neville, K.C., had written in “Labour Copartnership” expressing his full approval of the essential principles of the Garden City project, and when I called upon him he at once consented to join our Council, and, shortly afterwards, was unanimously elected its chairman. At about the same time, though our financial position hardly justified such a step, we took an office of our own, and engaged a paid secretary, who agreed to devote his whole time to the work.

And here the Garden City Association was very fortunate. It secured the services of Mr. Thomas Adams, a young Scotchman, who has proved active, energetic, and resourceful—to whose suggestion was due the Conference held last September at Mr. Cadbury’s beautiful village of Bournville, which has done more than anything else to make the Garden City Association and its project known to the great public, and to give to our members ocular proof of the feasibility—indeed, the wonderful success—of a scheme in so many respects like our own.[33]

Since our Annual Meeting in December our membership has increased—thanks mainly to a special effort of members—from 530 to 1,300; and, as many of our friends, anxious to put the project to the test of experiment at an early date, are offering to subscribe very considerable sums, a Joint Stock Company, to be called the Garden City Pioneer Company, Limited, with a small capital of about £20,000, is being formed for the purpose of securing the option of a site, and of preparing and presenting to the public a complete scheme adapted to the development of the site thus selected—a scheme which will be in accordance with the general principles set forth in this book, but differing, of course, in many details. Subscribers to this preliminary Company will, of course, run considerable risk; and, as the profits, even in the event of the most complete success, will only be nominal, the appeal will be addressed only to those who take an interest in the project as public-spirited citizens. The Secretary of the Garden City Association will give the latest information on this subject, and will also gladly enrol members.

No one can possibly be under a greater obligation than he who has an idea which he earnestly wishes to see carried out and who finds others helping him to make visible that which exists only as a thought. Under this greatest of debts am I. By writing; by speaking; by organising public meetings and drawing-room meetings; by suggestion, encouragement, and advice; by secretarial and other work; by making the project known among their friends; by subscribing funds for propaganda work; and, now, by offering to subscribe considerable sums for practical steps, many have helped and are helping me to do that which, without their aid, must have been quite impossible. They have thus multiplied my strength a thousandfold; and from the very bottom of my heart I thank them for the assurance of speedy success which their efforts have thus given me. Ere long, I trust we shall meet in Garden City.