THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY 61 



do not make the community poorer, but give increased zest to life by 

 interfering with the few plundering the many. If it were practicable 

 to restore the unlawful pickings of industrial combinations to those 

 whose pockets have been filched, there would be no destruction of prop- 

 erty, but merely a return of value to those to whom it rightfully be- 

 longs. The control which the community is asserting over children, in 

 so far as it makes the child stronger mentally and physically, increases 

 the value of the property right which the child at maturity has in him- 

 self. The greater freedom accorded women, married or single, includ- 

 ing the recognition of their individuality in the ownership of property, 

 has merely lodged a control in them which was formerly exercised by 

 their husbands or fathers. 



Furthermore, an increase of collective property may enlarge rather 

 than contract the sphere of private property by giving the individual 

 more playroom in life. This is the normal consequence of public ex- 

 penditures for education. The municipalization of public works, such 

 as water, lighting and surface transportation, has contributed to the 

 prosperity of private industry in many European cities. If the state 

 were completely freed from the control of special interests, if all forms 

 of exploitation were abolished, including the various kinds of corporate 

 rascality, it may well be that private property in numberless directions 

 would be given a new lease of life. The lack of sympathy between cap- 

 ital and labor is an ominous fact. But every successful attempt to 

 bridge the chasm, every reform that makes the working class feel that 

 it has something more than a stipulated wage at stake in industry or 

 that makes the relation between wages and efficiency more obvious, will 

 make for the continuance of the existing order. It is no longer prudent 

 for the state to take a negative attitude toward the social problem. 

 Positive action is imperative or it will fall into the hands of the more 

 venturesome portion of society. The Liberal party in Great Britain 

 has pointed the way. By keeping abreast of the times it has helped to 

 prevent a radical brand of socialism from sweeping the country. As 

 Lowell puts it : 



It is only when the reasonable and practicable are denied that men demand 

 the unreasonable and the impracticable; only when the possible is made difficult 

 that they fancy the impossible easy. 20 



It is possible that our institutions may be wrecked by innovation, 

 but our danger lies rather in not responding rapidly enough to the 

 reasonable demands of the times. Our different states are so many po- 

 litical experiment stations for the trying out of new ideas, and a dan- 



20 Op. cit., pp. 16-17. 



