388 HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



Socialism," Mr. Kidd speaks of tlie progress wMch has been 

 efEected in the conditions of the working classes during the 

 last centuries ; and he quotes statistics which show, among 

 other things, that whereas the national debt of France has 

 doubled from 1869 to 1881, the holders have quadrupled, and 

 that, notably, the number of holders of small bonds tends to 

 greatly increase.^ This is doubtless the case. We can go further, 

 and quote some figures relating to the distribution of wealth 

 in England, furnished by Bernstein, the distinguished German 

 sociologist of sociahstic views, in a very interesting book, which 

 refutes some of the errors of Karl Marx and of his orthodox 

 disciples to-day.^ In 1851, according to Bernstein, the number 

 of famihes in possession of an income of £150 to £1,000 was 

 300,000 ; in 1881 the number of families in possession of incomes 

 varying from a minimum of £150 to a maximum of £1,000 was 

 990,000. In Prussia, according to Bernstein, in the period from 

 1876-90, the number of incomes varying between £100 and 

 £1,000 increased in the proportion of 31-52 per cent. (582,024 

 against 442,534). During this same period the total number of 

 taxable persons increased only in the proportion of 20-56 per 

 cent. The same phenomenon is witnessed in Saxony. And 

 Bernstein concludes that " if the action and prospects of 

 Social Democracy are dependent on the reduction of the numbers 

 of the proprietary class, the former could comfortably dis- 

 appear. But the contrary is true. The prospects of Social 

 Democracy do not depend on the reduction, but on the increase, 

 of social wealth." M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, commenting on 

 Bernstein's criticisms, writes : " While we leave Bernstein his 

 classifications and his quahfications, notably the quaUfication of 

 proprietor apphed to every one possessing a minimum revenue of 

 £300, we must note that the figures which he borrows from the 



1 B Kidd, op. cit., p. 226. 



2 B. Bernstein, Socialisme Theorique et Sociaidemocratie Pratique, 

 pp. 81 ff. Paris, Stock, 1900. 



