CHAPTER XXI

aggregations of houses would clearly not be absolutely necessary. These are now of two kinds: first, the manufacturing towns, which are seldom capitals, or of importance as centres of anything else than the commerce connected with their special industries, Manchester being an obvious example of this class of great town. The other kind of overgrown town gives us examples of great capitals, which are essentially seats of centralised government, and of general financial operations, and incidentally and consequently of intellectual movement. For example, institutions like the British Museum, the Louvre or Bibliotheque Nationale, the Berlin Royal Library, or the Galleries at Dresden could hardly exist except in 314 capital cities. As to the manufacturing towns, it is clear that according to either of the theories of factory work put forward above, they would be superfluous, while on the other hand there would be no great centres of government or finance to attract huge populations or to keep them together. In the future therefore towns and cities will be built and inhabited simply as convenient and pleasurable systems of dwelling-houses, which would include of course all desirable public buildings.