EDITOR'S TABLE. 



391 



Cambridge, and is besides an author 

 on economical subjects, and a member 

 of the House of Commons, has pub- 

 lished an article in the Fortnightly 

 Bevieic,^ " On the Recent Development 

 of Socialism in Germany and the 

 United States." He takes the ground 

 that this development is but the natu- 

 ral result of the doctrine of unlimited 

 state functions, and the extravagant 

 notions of what government is capable 

 of accomplishing, which are widely 

 disseminated in both of these countries. 

 In Germany, paternal government, cen- 

 tralization, bureaucracy, and compul- 

 sory military service, all conspire to fix 

 deep in the national mind the idea of 

 the omnipotence of the state, which 

 has therefore only to exert its power 

 and it can confer boundless good upon 

 aU its subjects. In this country gov- 

 ernmental care-taking is most con- 

 spicuous in that protective system by 

 which the people's industries are taken 

 charge of by the state. The notion is 

 thus fostered that the people owe their 

 prosperity to the Government, and 

 from this the inference is ready that 

 the state is responsible for their pros- 

 perity. But the logic of protection 

 does not stop with its application to 

 business ; if it can help people materi- 

 ally it can also help them mentally, and 

 so the belief is now widely maintained 

 that the state owes every citizen an 

 education. With so much conceded, 

 the socialist has no difficulty in draw- 

 ing still further conclusions in the same 

 direction, and so he plants himself at 

 last on the high protective ground that 

 Government shall take possession of all 

 property and take care of everybody. 

 After a careful survey of the claims of 

 socialists and communists as shown by 

 their works, and the proceedings of 

 their Congresses, Prof. Fawcett sums 

 up their programme in the following 

 propositions : 



" 1. That there should be no private prop- 



' Reprinted in The Populae Science Monthly 

 Supplement for December. 



erty, and that no one should be permitted 

 to acquire property by inheritance. That 

 all should be compelled to labor, no one 

 having a right to live without labor. 



" 2. The nationalization of the land, and 

 of the other instruments of production ; or, 

 in other words, the state should own all 

 the land, capital, machinery — in fact, every- 

 thing which constitutes the industrial plant 

 of a country, in order that every industry 

 may be carried on by the state." 



The essence of socialism is thus the 

 subversion of private independence and 

 the substitution for it of entire depend- 

 ence upon the state ; that is, the pro- 

 tection of the citizen is to be no half- 

 w^ay matter, but thorough-going and 

 complete. Carried to this conclusion, 

 the doctrine is of course palpably ab- 

 surd and insane, but have the people 

 not been actually educated toward it 

 by the established and extending doc- 

 trine of state omnipotence and protec- 

 tive guardianship of the people's busi- 

 ness interests ? It is now demanded that 

 the state shall be simply consistent, and 

 carry out its policy. The state has 

 already far transcended its legitimate 

 function of protecting the rights of its 

 citizens by the enforcement of justice in 

 social relations. It has, in fact, neglect- 

 ed and half forgotten this legitimate and 

 incumbent duty in its zeal to take care 

 of those interests and affairs of citizens 

 with which it has no concern, because 

 they are parts of the liberty and re- 

 sponsibility of individuals in free so- 

 ciety. Yet this meddling policy of Gov- 

 ernment is undoubtedly strengthening, 

 notwithstanding its multiform evils. 

 We are boastfully told that the protec- 

 tive system is not declining in this coun- 

 try, as is evinced by the fact that four- 

 teen hundred articles of commerce are 

 the subjects of protective taxation, so 

 that the prices of almost every purchas- 

 able thing are dependent upon legisla- 

 tion, while the people acquiesce in the 

 policy as wise and proper. But this is 

 only so much vantage-ground for the 

 communist who demands the enlarge- 

 ment of the svstem on the basis of its 



