Human Physiology. 



those around him of his neighbours of all whom he can 

 reach and benefit. 



There is no right in any individual to waste the wealth which 

 comes from the labour of others ; no right to hoard it for his 

 own selfish enjoyment; no right to lay it up so that his children 

 can live in idleness upon the industry of others. All surplus of 

 wealth is for the common welfare. The possessor holds it 

 strictly in trust for the good of all. His power to control and 

 administer it is' a matter of sufferance, or agreement, convenient 

 in an immature society; but the custom of disposing of wealth 

 by will, so as to determine what use shall be made of it for 

 generations to come, is often a serious wrong to the public. If 

 there is no absolute right of property, or none beyond very 

 narrow limits, there can be no right to control it after one's 

 death. There is surely no right to make of it any capricious 

 and inequitable distribution. The whole wealth of a nation 

 natural and artificial, or accumulated should be held and used 

 for the benefit of its entire population; and not, as now, to 

 enable a few to live in idleness, and luxury, and splendour, 

 while millions are in poverty and misery. 



If we are really brethren children of the same Father no 

 one of us can have the right to any luxury, while any one we 

 can help is in want of the necessaries of life. Justice requires 

 that every one should have the opportunity to live in comfort 

 on the products of his industry benevolence demands that 

 those who cannot work should still be cared for. This is the 

 communism, if you please to call it so, of the poor law, taught 

 in every pulpit and is simply the dictate of common humanity. 



The production of wealth in this country, and probably in 

 every country is, or might be, abundant for all the needs of its 

 inhabitants, if there were no waste and no inequity of distribu- 

 tion. The land of England, under good culture, without the 

 waste of making its produce into fermented and spirituous 

 liquors, would afford abundant food for a much larger popula- 



