KXVH1 TIMJE INDIVIDUALISM 517 



Inheritance of Wealth causes Inequality. 



But even this is not all. We must also take care that 

 inequality is not introduced by private gifts or bequests 

 to individuals which might enable them to live permanently 

 in idleness and luxury, since every one who so lives must 

 necessarily be supported by the labour of others, and is in 

 all essentials a pauper, as has been so forcibly urged in the 

 remarkable work of Mr. A. J. Ferris " Pauperizing the 

 Rich." It is here that most people (including Herbert 

 Spencer and Mr. Kidd) object to the application of the 

 principle that every man shall receive the results of his 

 own nature and conduct, or, in other words, shall have 

 " equality of opportunity," as being unjust or injurious. 

 But if this principle is the essential feature of social 

 justice, its full application cannot be unjust; while if 

 it is the true correlative in human society of survival of 

 the fittest among the lower forms of life, it cannot be 

 injurious. 



The difficulty seems to arise from the fact that if the 

 accumulation of property either by the labour, the foresight, 

 or the good fortune of an individual, is right, and is for 

 the benefit of society as a whole, as is generally assumed, it 

 is also assumed that the power of transferring this property 

 to another must be also both right and beneficial. This, 

 however, does not logically follow. If equality of opportunity 

 is a true and just principle, then the society that gives to 

 every man that equality, and protects him in his work 

 throughout his life, may fairly claim to inherit any surplus 

 wealth that he leaves behind him, in order to ensure similar 

 advantages to all. And it is still more obvious, that a 

 society which has adopted the principle of equality of 

 opportunity as the only means of securing true individu- 

 alism and competition under fair and equal conditions, 

 may justly prevent individuals from introducing inequality 

 by their injudicious gifts or bequests. From either point 

 of view it follows, that society should protect itself by a 

 strict regulation of the transmission or inheritance of 

 wealth. 



