CONTENTS xxvii 



PAGE 



for they themselves admit that it has not been so in the past, and is 



not actually so now ...... 287 



Are there any signs, then, that the desire for exceptional wealth is 



beginning to lose its power ?..... 288 



We shall find that the socialists themselves maintain just the contrary; 288 



for they appeal to the desire of each producer to possess all he pro- 

 duces as the'most universal and permanent desire in man ; . 289 



and never questioned this so long as they believed that the sole pro- 

 ducer was the labourer ...... 289 



They questioned the doctrine only when they came to see that the 

 great man is a producer also ; and they confine their questioning 

 to his case ........ 290 



But if the labourer desires to possess what he produces, much more 



will the great man do so ; . . . . . . 290 



for even if he gives away what he produces, he desires to possess it first 291 



There is no sign, therefore, that the desire for exceptional wealth is 



losing force as a motive ...... 292 



Are, then, other desires acquiring new force as motives to wealth- 

 production ?....... 292 



Are the joys of excelling, of benefiting others, or of being honoured by 



others, doing so ? . . . . . . . 293 



The desire of these joys is a motive to certain kinds of exceptional 



conduct ........ 293 



It is a motive to benevolent action and religious work ; . . 293 



But neither of these is the same thing as wealth-production . . 294 



It is a motive to artistic production, certainly, . . . 294 



and also to scientific discovery ;..... 295 



and works of art are wealth, and scientific discovery is the basis of 



industrial progress ;...... 296 



but great art forms but a small part of wealth, . . . 296 



and artistic effort other than the highest is motived by the desire of 



pecuniary reward, ....... 297 



whilst scientific discoveries, though made generally from the desire for 

 truth, are applied to wealth -production because the men who 

 apply them desire wealth ...... 297 



What, however, of the fact that the desire for honour makes the soldier 



work harder than any labourer ? . . . . . 298 



Why, the socialists ask, should not the same desire make the great 



wealth-producer work ? . . . . . . 299 



