238 PART V. WORKING STAGE. 



society would most likely collapse and drag down with it poor 

 and rich alike, since Capitalism is the linchpin in the economic 

 wheel of present-day society. At the same time, adhering to 

 the static view, the charge against Capitalism, of insatiable 

 greed, of ruthless exploitation of the masses, of appalling waste, 

 could not be readily rebutted ; and it is also true that, for ex- 

 ample, if the revenue of England for the past year could be 

 fairly divided between the family groups composing the country, 

 a tolerably adequate income, instead of a pittance, would be 

 assured to all. 



The fact is that the vast wealth of to-day is, broadly speak- 

 ing, primarily the result of the enterprise, the encouragement 

 of inventions and discoveries, the exploitation of opportunities, 

 the alertness and venturesomeness, and the competitive spirit 

 of present-day Capitalism. Manual and clerical labour, as con- 

 ceived by many Labourists, would leave us in the sorry econo- 

 mic position of savagedom. Machinery, for instance, may enor- 

 mously increase the value of labour, and organisation on an 

 imposing scale also vitally contributes to augment possessions. 

 Wealth is like a spinning top which continues in its upright 

 position because it is kept moving. Only the short-sighted 

 would argue that the upright position of the top is independent 

 of the motion periodically imparted to it. Without the worker, 

 it is true, the entrepreneur would accomplish nothing; but 

 without the entrepreneur the productivity of the worker would 

 be comparatively insignificant. For instance, it is said that a 

 spinner now produces in a day what it would have taken his 

 eighteenth century forerunner a full year to produce. 



However, the problem of Capitalism and Labourism is not 

 one peculiar to our day. To ascertain, therefore, the essential 

 meaning of the terms Capitalism and Labourism we must enter 

 more deeply into the question. 



Turning to the past, we find, retrospectively, that Capitalism 

 may be readily divorced from enterprise and progress. At that 

 stage the economic value of the Capitalist was decidedly prob- 

 lematical, and in that case it was as nearly as possible true 

 that wealth is first and foremost the outcome of mechanical 

 labour, since enterprise, competition, and organisation were 

 then a minus quantity practically. On the other hand, if we 

 read aright the signs of our time the growth of the efficiency 

 and the humanitarian movements, we perceive that the Capita- 

 lism of our day will almost certainly undergo radical modifi- 

 cation. The employer will probably come to regard himself 

 as an organiser, and be ready to share equitably with the 

 worker the wealth produced, treating him as a fellow labourer. 

 Cut-throat competition, pitiless exploitation, the accumulation 

 of riches, may well be imagined as ceasing to characterise 

 Capitalism. The Labourist, on the other hand, will undergo 

 an analogous evolution. He will learn that wealth has a double 



