IN THE NEAR FUTURE. 601 



more lands belonging to weak peoples are being seized on 

 one or other pretext; so that whereas about 1850 we had 

 48 territories, colonies, settlements, protectorates, we have 

 now (counting each extension as another possession), as 

 many as 77, and so that at the present time every journal 

 brings reports of the progress of our arms, often in more 

 places than one.* 



Along with increases in that direct State-ownership of the 

 individual which is implied by use of him as a soldier, let us 

 now observe the increase in that indirect State-ownership 

 which is implied by multiplication of dictations and re 

 straints, and by growth of general and local taxation. Typi 

 cal of the civil regime which has been spreading since the 

 middle of the century, is the system of education by public 

 agency, to support which, partly through general taxes and 

 partly through local rates, certain earnings of citizens are 

 appropriated. Not the parent but the nation is now in chief 

 measure the owner of the child, ordering the course of its 

 life and deciding on the things it must be taught; and the 

 parent who disregards or disputes the nation s ownership is 

 punished. In a kindred spirit control is extended over the 

 parent himself in the carrying on of his life and use of his 

 property. In 1884 I named fifty-nine Acts, further regu 

 lating the conduct of citizens, which had been passed since 

 1860. (The Man versus the Slate, chap. I.). Since then, 

 coercive legislation affecting men s lives has greatly ex 

 tended. A digest made for me of legislation up to 1894, 

 inclusive, dealing with land, agriculture, mines, railways, 

 canals, ships, manufactures, trade, drinking, &c., shows 

 that 43 more interfering Acts have been passed. An enor 

 mous draft on men s resources has accompanied this growth 

 of restrictions and administrations. An authoritative table 

 shows that in the 24 years from 1867-8 to 1891-2, the ag 

 gregate of local expenditures had considerably more than 



* It is impossible to make more than a rude enumeration since many 

 minor annexations, changes of divisions and administrations confuse the data. 



