206 DANGEROUS THOUGHTS

The escape from this deadlock is easy to see if we concentrate
on a less familiar situation. During a short visit to Iceland during
the summer of last year I heard two views of what was happening,
there. Some said that the Socialists had made the country bank-
rupt. Others pointed to the new hydro-electric power station
which lights the streets of Reykjavik where the houses now have
central heating from the natural hot springs which abound
throughout the island. After a few days I found that both parties
were right. I had come with introductions to two Cabinet
Ministers who were touring Europe and America with the forlorn
hope of raising a new loan. Ten years ago Iceland, which has no
railways and has never been through the age of soot, could not
boast that it possessed a single dynamo. Today Reykjavik is a
modern city struggling to attract tourists. It has the most up-to-
date mental asylum which I have seen. The central heating, the
electric lights, and the asylum are solid social achievements. None
the less they are non-productive services which can be paid for
only by taxing an impoverished local fishing industry and a few
boatloads of trippers.

A century ago Babbage suggested that Iceland might become
the power station of Europe. With its innumerable torrents and
ubiquitous geysers Iceland has probably more resources of natural
power than any piece of land of the same area in the world.
Apart from the fact that fanners' wives bake their bread and do
their washing with the help of the hot springs, the only exhibits
of die productive use of natural power are glass hothouses to
supply roses for the two hotels where summer tourists forgather.
Meanwhile, the country is rife with scurvy owing to the lack of
indigenous fresh fruit or vegetables and the lack of foreign
currency which would pay for fruit from abroad. I am tempted
to mention one other relevant fact. I visited the small university,
where I was told that they have four professors. One teaches
theology. One teaches law. A third teaches philology. According
to my information, the fourth was responsible for any instruction
which may have been given in medicine, chemistry, agriculture,
or engineering. This may help you to see why the Socialist Party