SOCIALISM AND THE FARMING INTEREST 



without much difficulty, by a simple change 

 of social order, be radically bettered so 

 that sin and misery shall in effect disappear. 

 This I judge to be faith only and not rea- 

 soned conviction. In common with all 

 healthy men I indulge an optimistic faith, 

 but I cannot exalt it to the level of dogma 

 or of scientific prediction. Its basis is 

 primarily religious, though it derives more 

 or less support also from the progress which 

 humanity seems to have made in the past. 

 Each of these grounds is worthy of recogni- 

 tion. The cheerful belief I venture to hold 

 is therefore not to be ranked as mere 

 credulity. It cannot, however, on the other 

 hand, be accepted as a scientific premise. 

 We hope for a city of God, to be established 

 right here in this actual earth; but if you 

 ask for a demonstration that it will come I 

 can give you nothing of the kind, and no 

 one can. 



On the contrary, also, the scientific data 

 all seem to point the other way. There is a 

 sadly convincing deduction, familiar to 

 students of social history, that whenever 



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