"Dear Sir,--I have just finished reading your admirable little work 'Merrie England,' and in consequence have ordered your paper the Clarion. I have never seen the argument for Socialism set forth so clearly, so forcibly, or so persuasively, and it makes me feel happier to know that there are men like yourself to carry on the good work of persuading those who have the power in their hands that it is possible to get rid of the miseries and horrors that so abound amid our boasted advances in science and our misnamed civilisation. Bellamy's 'Looking Backward' converted me to Socialism, since which time I have done what little I could to call attention to it. I cordially agree with every argument in your book, several of which I have advanced--though with less force and vigour--in my own writings. My own efforts, as you perhaps know, have been mainly directed to getting the people back to the land, and the land itself under the control of the local representatives of the people, and I still think that that is the essential first step to raise the people sufficiently to enable them to take further steps towards economic and social co-operation."