Well and good! On that issue every Socialist is with
them. But their answer to my question is none the less
wrong.
Poverty is the symptom: slavery the disease. The
extremes of riches and destitution follow inevitably upon
the extremes of license and bondage. The many are not
enslaved because they are poor, they are poor because
they are enslaved. Yet Socialists have all too often
fixed their eyes upon the material misery of the poor
without realizing that it rests upon the spiritual degradation
of the slave.[59]
[59] ``Self-Government in Industry,'' G. Bell & Sons, 1917, pp.
110-111.
I do not think any reasonable person can doubt
that the evils of power in the present system are
vastly greater than is necessary, nor that they
might be immeasurably diminished by a suitable form
of Socialism. A few fortunate people, it is true, are
now enabled to live freely on rent or interest, and
they could hardly have more liberty under another
system. But the great bulk, not only of the very
poor, but, of all sections of wage-earners and even
of the professional classes, are the slaves of the need
for getting money. Almost all are compelled to
work so hard that they have little leisure for enjoyment
or for pursuits outside their regular occupation.
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