THE EXPEDIENT OF MONEY-LOVE. 507 



were bestowed, not on their masters, but on themselves, 

 the habit of work would become with them a second 

 nature, as it is with us, and they would learn to 

 require luxuries which industry only could obtain. 

 A man is not a slave in being compelled to work 

 against his will, but in being compelled to work with- 

 out hope and without reward. Enforced labour is 

 undoubtedly a hardship, but it is one which at present 

 belongs to the lot of man, and is indispensable to 

 progress. Mankind grows because men desire to 

 better themselves in life, and this desire proceeds from 

 the Inequality of Conditions A time will undoubtedly 

 arrive when all men and women will be equal, and 

 when the love of money, which is now the root 

 of all industry, and which therefore is now the 

 root of all good, will cease to animate the human 

 mind. But changes so prodigious can only be 

 effected in prodigious periods of time. Human 

 nature cannot be transformed by a coup d'etat, as the 

 Comtists and Communists imagine. It is a complete 

 delusion to suppose that wealth can be equalised and 

 happiness impartially distributed by any process of law, 

 act of Parliament, or revolutionary measure. It is 

 easy to compose a pathetic scene in a novel, or a 

 loud article in a magazine by contrasting Dives 

 lunching on turtle at Birch's with Lazarus feeding 

 on garbage in a cellar. But the poor man loses 

 nothing because another man is rich. The Com- 

 munist might as well denounce one man for enjoy- 

 ing excellent health, while another man is a victim 

 to consumption. Wealth, like health, is in the 

 air ; if a man makes a fortune he draws money 

 from Nature and gives it to the general stock. 



