CONCLUSION 423 



whole case of the Socialists is well summed up by an 

 historian as follows : " Their scheme utterly ignores 

 liberty. The individual man is no more than a me- 

 chanical part of the whole community ; he has no free- 

 will, no independence of thought or action. Each act 

 of his life is prescribed for him. Individual liberty is 

 surrendered to the State. Everything that men prize 

 most in their life is taken out of their hands, their 

 education, their property, their industry, their earnings 

 are dictated by ruling powers . . . they are required 

 to prostrate themselves before their equals among 

 men for the sake of an arbitrary scheme of govern- 

 ment in which all are called on to sacrifice their liberty 

 for the remote and speculative good of the community. 

 . . . The natural effect of such theories would be to 

 repress the energies of mankind . . . proscribe all the 

 more elevated aims and faculties of individuals, and 

 all the arts and accomplishments of life. "^ 



It is with some humility but with firm conviction 

 that the present writer claims that the scheme set 

 forth in these pages, especially if coupled with Mr. 

 Chamberlain's fiscal proposals, would gradually but 

 surely provide a cure for the evils described. He 



holding of 12 acres, the rent of which, with house, was £4$. He stayed 

 there six years and saved £100. He left this holding because he would 

 not submit to a rise in rent, and then took a farm of about 60 acres at a 

 rent, with outgoings, of ^175 a year. He stayed there about three years 

 and lost money. He is now renting about 1 5 acres and, with a wife and 

 six children, is making a living. If he could get 30 or 40 acres he would 

 do well and save money. There are very many men of this class who 

 are growing ordinary farm crops. They are doing fairly well, and would 

 do very well if they could get enough land — say 50 acres. This they 

 cannot do, though there are large — sometimes very large — holdings 

 around them. The large farmers, as a rule, will not spare an acre of 

 land, and landlords generally give these striving men but little sympathy 

 or help. 



* "Democracy in Europe," Sir Thomas Erskine May (Longmans). 



