THE STATE VERSUS THE MAN. 175 



further find that such a claim is constantly denied by the enactments of our legis- 

 lature. And we find, lastly, that the theory of the co-heirship of all men to the 

 soil is consistent with the highest civilization ; and that, however difficult it may 

 be to embody that theory in fact, equity sternly commands it to be done." " By- 

 and-by, men may learn that to deprive others of their rights to the use of the 

 earth is to commit a crime inferior only in wickedness to the crime of taking 

 away their lives or personal liberties." (" Social Statics," chap, ix.) 



Has Mr. Herbert Spencer changed his opinions as to the proprie- 

 torship of the soil since these lines were written? Not at all, for, 

 in the chapter entitled " The Coming Slavery," he writes that " the 

 movement for land-nationalization is aiming at a system of land-tenure 

 equitable in the abstract." But if society, in depriving numbers of 

 persons of their right of co-heirship of the soil, has " committed a 

 crime inferior only in wickedness to the crime of taking away their 

 lives or personal liberties," ought it not, in common justice, to en- 

 deavour to repair the injury done ? The help given by public assist- 

 ance compensates very feebly for the advantages they are deprived of. 

 In his important book, " La Propriete Sociale," M. Alfred Fouillee, 

 examining the question from another standpoint, very accurately calls 

 this assistance " la justice reparative." The numerous and admirable 

 charitable organizations which exist in England, the keen emotion and 

 deep commiseration manifested when the little pamphlet, " The Bitter 

 Cry of Outcast London," was first published, the growing pre-occupa- 

 tion of Government with the condition of the working-classes, must 

 be attributed, in the first instance certainly to Christian feeling, but 

 also, in a great measure, to a clearer perception of certain ill-defined 

 rights possessed by those who have been kept deprived of national or 

 rather communal co-heirship. Mr. Herbert Spencer has expressed this 

 idea so clearly and eloquently that I hope I may be allowed to quote 

 the passage : 



" We must not overlook the fact that, erroneous as are these poor-law and 

 communist theories, these assertions of a man's right to maintenance and of his 

 right to have work provided for him, they are nevertheless nearly related to a 

 truth. They are unsuccessful efforts to express the fact that whoso is born on 

 this planet of ours thereby obtains some interest in it may not be summarily 

 dismissed again may not have his existence ignored by those in possession. In 

 other words, they are attempts to embody that thought which finds its legiti- 

 mate utterance in the law: All men have equal rights to the use of the earth. 

 . . . After getting from under the grosser injustice of slavery, men could not 

 help beginning in course of time to feel what a monstrous thing it was that nine 

 people out of ten should live in the world on sufferance, not having even stand- 

 ing room save by allowance of those who claim the earth's surface." (" Social 

 Statics," p. 345.) 



When one reads through that substantial essay, " The Man versus 

 The State," it appears as if the principal or, indeed, the sole aim of 

 State socialism were the extension of public assistance and increased 



