THE SAFETY VALVE OF DEMOCRACY 195 



machinery of government into their own hands. 

 The elaboration of the argument was as follows : — 



"The machinery of production would then be 

 transformed into the collective property of all. All 

 would then take their part in the production and 

 would have the right to consume to the full value of 

 their production, and modern wage slavery would 

 become as extinct as the earlier forms of chattel 

 slavery and serfdom." 



An American statesman remarked at a socialistic 

 meeting in Canada that the plutocratic class in the 

 United States mustered 9 per cent, of the population 

 and possessed ;f 13,400,000,000, or 70 per cent, of the 

 wealth ; the middle class numbered 21 per cent, of 

 the population and held ;^4,8oo,ooo,ooo, or 25 per 

 cent, of the wealth ; that the lower class numbered 70 

 per cent, of the population and owned 5 per cent of 

 the wealth. 



Without entering into the merits of the question, 

 Socialism and the free expression of opinion on that 

 and other questions prove the strength and stability 

 of the Canadian Government. It recognizes that 

 freedom of speech is the safety valve of a great 

 democracy ; that these public discussions exhibit the 

 strength and weakness of every movement. If there 

 are elements of good sense and sound logic in the argu- 

 ments, it is for the good of the State that they be, as 

 far as practicable, embodied in the statutes of the land. 

 If they are weak, unpractical, it needs but the light to 



