THE STATE VERSUS THE MAN. i 79 



Compare the life of the soldier with that of the hired workman 

 either in a mine or a factory. The first is the type of the serf in 

 " The Coming Slavery," and the second the type of the independent 

 man in an industrial organization under the free contract regime. 

 Which of the two possesses the most real liberty ? The soldier, when 

 his daily duties are accomplished, may read, walk, or enjoy himself in 

 accordance with his tastes ; the woi'kman, when he returns home 

 worn out with fatigue after eleven or twelve hours' hard labour, too 

 often finds no other recreation than the gin-palace. The labourer at 

 his task must always, and all day long, obey the foreman or overseer, 

 whether he be employed by a private individual, by the State, or by 

 a co-operative society. 



"Hitherto," says Mr. Herbert Spencer, "you have been free to 

 spend your earnings in any way which pleases you ; hereafter you 

 shall not be free to spend it, but it will be spent for the general bene- 

 fit." The important point, he adds, is the amount taken from me, not 

 the hand that takes it. But if what is taken from my revenue is em- 

 ployed to make a public park which I am free to enter whenever I 

 feel inclined, to build public baths where I may bathe in summer or 

 winter, to open libraries for my recreation and instruction, clubs 

 where I may spend my evenings, and schools where my children may 

 receive an education which will enable them to make their own way 

 in the world ; to build healthy houses, let at a low rent, which save 

 me the cruel necessity of living in slums, where the soul and the body 

 are alike degraded ; if all this be done, would the result be the same 

 as if this sum were taken by some private Croesus to spend on his 

 personal pleasures and caprices ? In the course of last summer, while 

 in Switzerland and Baden, I visited several villages where each family 

 is supplied, from forests belonging to the commune, with wood for 

 building purposes and for fuel ; also with pasturage for their cattle, 

 and with a small plot of ground on which to grow potatoes, fruit, and 

 vegetables. In addition to this, the wages of aH public servants are 

 paid for from the communal revenue, so that there is no local taxation 

 whatever.* Suppose that these woods and meadows, and this land, 



* I may mention as an example, the township of Freudenstadt, at the foot of the 

 Kniebis, in Baden. Not a single farthing of taxation has been paid since its foundation 

 in 1557. The commune possesses about 5,000 acres of pine-forest and meadow-land, 

 worth about 10,000 sterling. The 1,420 inhabitants have each as much wood for their 

 building purposes and firing as they wish for, and each one can send out to pasture, 

 during the summer, his cattle, which he feeds during the winter months. The schools, 

 church, thoroughfares, and fountains are all w^ell cared for, and every year considerable 

 improvements are made. 100,000 marks were employed in 1883 for the establishment 

 in the village, of a distribution of water, with iron pipes. A hospital has been built, and 

 a pavilion in the market-place, where a band plays on fete-days. Each year a distribu- 

 tion of the surplus revenue is made amongst the families, and they each obtain from 50 

 to 60 marks, or shillings, and more still when an extraordinary quantity of timber has 

 been sold. In 1882, 80,000 marks were distributed amongst the 1,420 villagers. What 

 a favoured country, is it not ? 



