THE COMING OF SOCIALISM 93 



not spring from that cause. On the contrary, he objects 

 to it whether it be wasteful or not, and objects to it more 

 vigorously even if it is not wasteful, for in that case it 

 invades the province of individual rights more success- 

 fully, commits a wrong without bringing immediate retri- 

 bution, and therefore, in the long run, brings the greater 

 social danger. For he, too, sees in communal appropria- 

 tion ' ' hostility to private property," and in State and 

 municipal trading the competition of the whole with its 

 own members. 



Full agreement as to the exclusive relation of the private 

 and the public will, and the direct antagonism of private 

 and public rights of ownership such is the attitude of 

 both Individualists and Socialists. 



It follows that this social problem is material or eco- 

 nomical only on the surface. In its deeper bearings it 

 is ethical : it is the question of the rights of personality. 

 And questions of right are always fundamental ; for rights 

 are ultimate, and involve the person. A nation or indi- 

 vidual which is fighting for its rights is fighting for its 

 life. It is as a right that the Individualist would limit 

 the enterprises of the State or municipality ; it is as a 

 right that the Socialist would extend them. And to do 

 them justice we must admit that "rights" are sacred to 

 both alike. No Socialist would advocate the violation of 

 a citizen's rights : but he does not admit that the citizen 

 has rights of property against the State. All property, 

 he believes, belongs to the State ; it is held by the indi- 

 vidual as a loan or trust ; and the State can resume its 

 borrowed property whenever, in peace or war, it sees 

 occasion. The Individualist, on the other hand, believes 

 that the rights of the individual are final. Even if they 



