CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 199 



becoming a power in America. They already influence public 

 opinion, and will soon influence the legislatures. The glaring 

 fact is now being widely recognized that with them, as with 

 all the old nations of Europe, an increase in wealth and in 

 command over the powers of nature such as the world has 

 never before seen, has not added to the true well-being of any 

 part of society. It is also indisputable that, as regards the 

 enormous masses of the labouring and industrial population, 

 it has greatly increased the numbers of those whose lives are 

 " below the margin of poverty," while, as John Stuart Mill 

 declared many years ago, it has not reduced the labour of any 

 human being. 



An American (Mr. Bellamy) gave us the books that first 

 opened the eyes of great numbers of educated readers to the 

 practicability, the simplicity, and the beauty of socialism. It 

 is to America that the world looks to lead the way towards a 

 just and peaceful modification of the social organism, based 

 upon a recognition of the principle of Equality of Opportunity, 

 and by means of the Organization of Labour of all for the 

 Equal Good of all. 



