MUNIFICENCE AND DESIRE OF WEALTH 291 



weaker, in exact proportion as their productive Book iv 

 powers are great, and the amount produced by them 

 appeals to their intellects rather than to their 

 necessities. 



So far, then, as a study of this motive itself can 

 inform us, the socialistic idea that it will ever cease to 

 be paramount has no foundation whatever, and is con- 

 tradicted even by the socialists themselves. The only 

 fact connected with this motive directly which wears 

 so much as a semblance of serious evidence in their 

 favour is the fact often dwelt on by emotional writers 

 like Mr. Kidd, that many men who have made enor- 

 mous fortunes have given away a large part of them 

 for what he calls " altruistic " purposes ; and writers 

 of the kind in question take this fact for evidence for even if he 

 that the desire of possessing great wealth is ceasing to what hepro- 



be the motive for producing it. But those 



allow themselves to argue thus, show a curious p ssess il first - 



carelessness in their examination of human action ; 



for the fact referred to, so far as it proves anything, 



negatives rather than supports the conclusion they 



seek to draw from it. It is perfectly true that 



many men of great industrial ability have produced 



large fortunes and given them away afterwards. 



But in order to give, a man must first possess ; and 



it is in the act of giving magnificently for some 



specified purpose that many men most fully realise 



the power with which wealth endows them. Thus the 



fact that many men will produce in order that they 



may have the delight of giving is no more a proof 



that they would produce under the regime of social- 



