THE CASE AGAINST THE GREAT MAN 65 



ously. Thus rival and independent claims have been Book i 

 made for the discovery of the differential calculus . . . 

 the invention of the steam engine, . . . the methods 

 of spectrum analysis, the telegraph, the telephone, 

 as well as many other discoveries" And then 

 Mr. Kidd proceeds to quote with approval the 

 following sentence from an essay which was written 

 by an American socialist, Mr. Bellamy ; and the 

 sentence has been repeated with solemn and 

 triumphant unction in half the socialistic books 

 which have been given to the world since. 

 "Nine hundred and ninety-nine parts out of the 

 thousand of every mans produce are the result of 

 his social inheritance and environment'' " This 

 is so" remarks Mr. Kidd, "and it is, if possible, 

 even more true of the work of our brain than of the 

 work of our hands." To these passages we must 

 add one from Mr. Sidney Webb, who is, intellect- 

 ually, a favourable example of a modern English 

 socialist. Referring to the socialistic proposal that 

 all kinds of workers, no matter what their work, 

 should be paid an equal wage, " this equality," he 

 says, "has an abstract Justification, as the special 

 ability or energy with which some persons are born 

 is an unearned increment due to the effect of the 

 struggle for existence upon tkeir ancestors, and 

 consequently, having been produced by society, is as 

 much due to society as the unearned increment of 

 rent" 



Here we have then, in the words of these four resolves itself 

 writers, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Kidd, Mr. Bellamy, and ^ 



5 



