IN speaking of administrative organisation, budgets,
taxation, purchasing, and technical matters we are dis-
cussing the machinery by which the work of a city may
be done effectively. Moreover we are speaking of mat-
ters capable of a more or less precise definition--matters
on which there is a large body of accepted scientific opin-
ion. It is therefore relatively easy in this sphere to lay
down principles which, if not scientifically exact in all
cases, rest on solid foundations of experience.

On the other hand, when we consider the use which
is made of this machinery, we confront an entirely dif-
ferent set of data and problems. When we inquire why
a city does or does not rapidly introduce all the comforts
and conveniences of modern science, we encounter very
complex social forces--forces difficult to define, to locate,
and to understand. As a Tokyo journalist recently re-
marked, no one has yet explained why thousands of
Tokyo citizens will sit enraptured for three hours at a
lecture by Dr. Einstein, and then be wholly content to
wade home through mud, ankle-deep, in unpaved streets,
with open drains on each side. It may be answered that
it is nobler in mind to cultivate things of the spirit than
the comforts of the flesh, but it might be added that
Dr. Einstein evolved his theories in a city which does
possess the conveniences of modern civilisation. The two
are not incompatible.

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