for those folk. See how it can be done and make proposals; as the Ind. Rem. people pay me, it would be well to use the occasion.
As to your letter re Bax, I am not quite sure that it would be wise to put it in as it would be cutting the dam of the waters of controversy, since, of course, Bax must be allowed to reply. I will consult with him next Wednesday, and do you please consider the matter yourself. The letter is well written and there is of course much reason in it, but on the whole I agree with Bax. The religion-education-family question is a difficult one, if one looks at it from the point of view of transitional Socialism, and we might, I think (not agreeing with Bax here) be content to let it alone in that stage. But when Socialism is complete the new economics will have transformed the family, and this will clear up the difficulty; nor do I believe there will be any necessity for using compulsion towards rational education. Meantime we must be clear about one thing, that, in opposition to the present bourgeois view, we hold that children are persons, not property, and so have a right to claim all the advantages which the community provides for every citizen. Again, as to the woman matter, it seems to me that there is more to be said on Bax's side than you suppose. For my part, being a male man, I naturally think more of the female man than I do of my own sex: but you must not forget that child-bearing makes women inferior to men, since a certain time of their lives they must be dependent on them. Of course we must claim absolute equality of condition between women and men, as between other groups, but it would be poor economy setting women to do men's work (as unluckily they often do now) or vice versa.
However, this is rambling. I hope you will do all you can to push Commonweal, and have a little patience if it is not all you could desire at first. I think the May 1st number will be a good one. Notes especially on Labour questions are much looked for from the branches; we want to keep alongside the times as much as possible.
