322 ARISTOCRACY AND EVOLUTION 



Book iv is produced by him. On the contrary, of that con- 

 stantly growing product which is added by the 

 The majority great man's faculties to the product of ordinary 

 IS So acquire labour, and out of which the income of the great 

 mcre^em ^ro- man comes, a portion is capable of being appro- 

 ducedbythe p r j a t e d by the ordinary labourers themselves. 



great man f J J 



Indeed, the masses of the community are partakers 

 in material progress, and have an interest in material 

 progress solely because, as an actual fact, a consider- 

 able percentage of this added product goes to them ; 

 and though few of our so-called "labour leaders" 

 recognise this truth, all the hopes of enrichment 

 which they hold out to their followers imply nothing 

 whatever beyond the securing a larger amount of 

 an increment which is produced not by themselves 

 but others. An important question, therefore, 

 arises in this way as to how far the product of the 

 great men can be taxed and handed over as a 

 bonus to average labour without weakening the 

 but whatever motives which prompt the great men to produce it. 



this share may r^i ,_ ! t "t__ A * 



be, it can never This is a question to which, by a priori reasoning, 

 rendefsoda? ^ * s absolutely impossible to give any definite 

 answer. It is a question that can be solved only 

 by cautious practical experiment ; and the answer 

 will vary constantly with times, places, and circum- 

 stances. All that can be asserted here, and it is all 

 that requires to be insisted on, is that the amount of 

 wealth which the exceptional wealth - producer can 

 secure must be proportionate to what is produced 

 by him, however far short of the whole of it ; and 

 that it must not be diminished to such an extent as 



