422 LAND REFORM 



instinctive principle in human nature manifested daily 

 and hourly in the actions of both child and man. It 

 ignores the infinite variety that exists among men. 

 Do what we will, the competitive race in life will con- 

 tinue : what we want is to revise the rules of the 

 running. Private property — the "magic of owner- 

 ship " — whether of field, farm, wife, child, or any other 

 possession, will ever remain the natural and the best 

 means to disclose a man's capacity and to spur his 

 activity. There will always be those who are inclined 

 to an even tenor of life, averse from speculation or 

 exertion, and content with a moderate guerdon for their 

 services. On the other hand, there are many with 

 Vt^hom the desire for a more strenuous life is inborn. 

 It is part of their nature to attempt to achieve distinc- 

 tion in some one of the many careers that life offers. 

 A desire to succeed in their careers is with these men 

 the great dynamic of existence, a force so strong that 

 it waxes with opposition and does not wane even with 

 defeat. This is a legitimate ambition, bred of no un- 

 worthy motives, and its usual product is something 

 which is good for the community. The pleasure of 

 such men as these is more often in the fight than in the 

 victory, if the victory comes at all.^ 



Socialism attempts to deny the exercise of this 

 splendid diversity of aims, powers, and character by 

 reducing all the functions of life to a dead level. The 



^ The qualities here described exist among the agricultural labourers 

 as well as among other classes. Fribblers criticize and doubt the 

 capacity of the labourers, but the individual cases in which these men 

 strive to better their condition are— considering their poor pollarded 

 lives — both remarkable and conclusive. To give one case out of many 

 cases that I could give : A labourer began life at nine years of age by 

 working on a farm at 4d. a day. At fifteen he went into farm service, 

 where he remained four years at wages from los. to 13s. a week. At the 

 end of the four years he had saved ^30. Later on he rented a small 



