316 National Life and Character 



all the great books have been written, all the great 

 discoveries made, all the great deeds done. He 

 thinks that the adoption of State socialism in some 

 form will crush out individual merit and the higher 

 kinds of individual happiness. Of course, as to this, 

 all that can be said is that men differ as to what will 

 be the effect of the forces whose working he por- 

 trays, and that most of us who live in the American 

 democracy do not agree with him. It is to the last 

 degree improbable that State socialism will ever be 

 adopted in its extreme form, save in a few places. 

 It exists, of course, to a certain extent wherever a 

 police force and a fire department exist; and the 

 sphere of the State's action may be vastly increased 

 without in any way diminishing the happiness of 

 either the many or the few. It is even conceivable 

 that a combination of legislative enactments and 

 natural forces may greatly reduce the inequalities 

 of wealth without in any way diminishing the real 

 power of enjoyment or power for good work of 

 what are now the favored classes. In our own coun- 

 try the best work has always been produced by men 

 who lived in castes or social circles where the stand- 

 ard of essential comfort was high; that is, where 

 men were well clothed, well fed, well housed, and had 

 plenty of books and the opportunity of using them ; 

 but where there was small room for extravagant 

 luxury. We think that Mr. Pearson's fundamental 

 error here is his belief that the raising of the mass 

 necessarily means the lowering of the standard of 

 life for the fortunate few. Those of us who now 



