512 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL CHAP. 



problem. What is the fundamental error in our social 

 system that has allowed this state of things to persist, 

 notwithstanding all our increase in wealth, and how we 

 may most certainly and most safely bring about the 

 desired change to a social state in which none who are 

 willing to work shall ever suffer the extreme of want ? 



The Society of the Future. 



I am myself convinced that the society of the future will 

 be some form of socialism, which may be briefly defined as 

 the organization of labour for the good of all. Just as the 

 Post Office is organized labour in one department for the 

 benefit of all alike ; just as the railways might be 

 organized as a whole for the equal benefit of the whole 

 community ; just as extensive industries over a whole 

 country are now organized for the exclusive benefit of com- 

 binations of capitalists ; so all necessary and useful labour 

 might be organized for the equal benefit of all. When a 

 combination or trust deals with the whole of one industry 

 over an extensive area/there are two enormous economies ; 

 advertising, which under the system of competition among 

 thousands of manufacturers and dealers wastes millions 

 annually, is all saved ; and distribution, when only the 

 exact number of stores and assistants needful for the work 

 are employed, effects an almost unimaginable saving over 

 the scores of shops and stores in every small town, com- 

 peting with each other for a bare living. What then 

 would be the economy when all the industries of a whole 

 country were similarly organized for the common good ; and 

 when all absolutely useless and unnecessary employments 

 were abolished such as gold and diamond mining except 

 to the extent needed for science and art; nine-tenths 

 of the lawyers, and all the financiers and stock-gamblers ? 

 It is clear that under such an organized system three or 

 four hours work for five days a week by all persons 

 between the ages of twenty and fifty would produce 

 abundance of necessaries and comforts, as well as all the 

 refinements and wholesome luxuries of life, for the whole 

 population, 



