290 MY LIFE 



not the chief factor in the production of wealth; that though 

 they might have money, they would not possess wealth* The 

 Government stores would, of course, be used by socialists only, 

 by means of a system of tickets or paper money, as described 

 by Bellamy; capitalists and their managers would gradually 

 have to join the socialist ranks as organizers or superinten- 

 dents if they had the capacity, or if they preferred to live 

 idle lives they might go to other countries where the com- 

 petitive regime still prevailed. It may, of course, be said 

 that this would not succeed ; that the Government could not 

 compete with private capitalists, manufacturers, and shop- 

 keepers. But few people who really think of the matter will 

 believe this. The American Trusts do succeed in competition 

 with the whole world, because they posess some of the 

 advantages a Government would possess in a still greater 

 degree. But they result in small traders beggared and 

 workers no longer wanted, and in the production of a hun- 

 dred or more of multi-millionaires. If a socialist regime 

 cannot, in the nature of things, succeed, why are all the great 

 capitalists so dreadfully afraid of allowing any approach to 

 a fair trial of it by municipalities or other local authorities ? 



After much consideration, however, I have come to the 

 conclusion that this will not (probably) be the way in which 

 socialism will come about in England, and that it would not 

 be the easiest or the best way. I think it more likely that 

 we shall pass through a stage of true " individualism," in 

 which complete " equality of opportunity " will be established. 

 I have sufficiently explained this in my " Studies," vol. ii., 

 chap, xxviii. ; and if to this we add the broad scheme of 

 general education outlined by Mr. John Richardson in his 

 admirable little book, " How it can be done," we shall have 

 prepared the way for the rational society of the future. 

 Equality of opportunity is, as Herbert Spencer has shown 

 in his " Justice," the correlative of natural selection in human 

 society, and has thus a broad foundation in the laws of 

 nature. But Spencer himself did not follow out his principles 

 to their logical conclusion as I have done. 



Many good people to-day who are almost horror-struck 



