"But we shall be on our guard against all that -- we shall take precautions to ward off such disasters," will doubtless say the enthusiasts. Be they "practical" politicians with their new regulative measures, or communists with their schemes for re-organizing labour, their reply is ever the same: -- "It is true that plans of kindred nature have, from unforeseen causes or adverse accidents, or the misdeeds of those concerned, been brought to failure; but this time we shall profit by past experiences and succeed." There seems no getting people to accept the truth, which nevertheless is conspicuous enough, that the welfare of a society and the justice of its arrangements are at bottom dependent on the characters of its members; and that improvement in neither can take place without that improvement in character which results from caring on peaceful industry under the restraints imposed by an orderly social life. The belief, not only of the socialists but also of those so-called Liberals who are diligently preparing the way for them, is that by due skill an ill-working humanity may be framed into well-working institutions. It is a delusion. The defective natures of citizens will show themselves in the bad acting of whatever social structure they are arranged into. There is no political alchemy by which you can get golden conduct out of leaden instincts.
NOTE -- Two replies by socialists to the foregoing article have appeared since its publication -- Socialism and Slavery by H.M.
Hyndman and Herbert Spencer on Socialism by Frank Fairman. Notice of them here must be limited to saying that, as usual with antagonists, they ascribe to me opinions which I do not hold.
Disapproval of Socialism does not, as Mr Hyndman assumes, necessitate approval of existing arrangements. Many things he reprobates I reprobate quite as much; but I dissent from his remedy. The gentleman who writes under the pseudonym of "Frank Fairman," reproaches me with having receded from that sympathetic defence of the labouring classes which he finds in Social Statics; but I am quite unconscious of any such change as he alleges. Looking with a lenient eye upon the irregularities of those whose lives are hard, by no means involves tolerance of good-for-nothings.
NOTES:
1. Hansard's Parliamentary History, 32. p. 710.
2. Fortnightly Review, January, 1884, p. 17.
3. Factories and Workshops Act, 41 and 42 Vic., cap. 16.
4. See letter of Local Government, Times, January 2, 1884.
5. Verification comes more promptly than I expected. This article has been standing intype since January 30, and in the interval, namely on March 13, the London School Board resolved to apply for authority to use local charitable funds for supplying gratis meals and clothing to indigent children. Presently the definition of "indigent" will be widened, more children will be included and more funds aked for.
6. Fortnightly Review, January, 1884.
7. Russia, I. 422.
8. Socialism made Plain, Review, 185, Fleet Street.
9. If any one thinks such fears are groundless, let him contemplate the fact that from 1867-8 to 1880-1, our annual local expenditure for the United Kingdom has grown from *36,132,834 to *63,276,283; and that during the same 13 years, the municipal expenditure in England and Wales alone, has grown from 13millions to 30 millions a year! How the increase of public burdens will join with othe causes in bringing about public ownership, is shown by a statement made by Mr W. Rathbone, M.P., to which any attention has been drawn since the above paragraph was in type. He says, "within my own experience, local taxation in New York has risen from 12s 6d per cent to *2 12s 6d per cent on the capital of its citizens -- a charge which would more than absorb the whole income of an average English landlord."Nineteenth Century, February, 1883.
10. Fortnightly Review, November, 1883, pp. 619-20.
11. Lactant. De M. Persecut, cc. 7, 23.
12. Taine, L'Ancien Regime, pp. 337-8 (in the English translation).
13. Report of Commissioners for Inquiry into the Admistration and Practical Operation of the Poor Laws, p. 37. February 20, 1834.
