CLASS LEGISLATION 447 



If legislation, on the other hand, be carried out by a minority 

 in its own interests, careless of the interests of society as a whole, 

 the result will be doubly disastrous ; for it will weaken society 

 in the present, and prepare a catastrophe for the future, when 

 the antagonism between polity and social reality, as we have said, 

 can be carried no further. Can anyone maintain that an indus- 

 trial system which compelled young children and women to work 

 over twelve hours a day underground, or in the unhealthy atmo- 

 sphere of factories never inspected or controlled, could be carried 

 on without undermining, without ruining the biological value of 

 the entire race, without sapping its vigour and vitiating its 

 energy ? 



But, on the other hand, if class legislation, which takes no 

 account of the interests of those who constitute the labouring 

 population, be pregnant with misfortunes, legislation which is 

 over-zealous in the supposed defence of these interests is equally 

 harmful. We have seen that traditional progress — by which we 

 mean the progress of legislation and institutions — is much faster 

 than biological progress. But the chief maxim of every legislator 

 should be not to outnm too greatly the pace of this organic evolu- 

 tion. Over-hurried legislation is as injudicious as legislation 

 which is too slow. Social evolution in one State must be based, 

 as we have said, on the social evolution in other and neighbouring 

 States ; and it must, in the second place, take account of the 

 reaUties of the internal situation of the State itself. 



To sum up, we may say that traditional and legislative progress 

 is likely to be considerably less rapid than some social enthu- 

 siasts suppose, obstructed as it is by the conflict of opposed 

 interests, and by the indifference and ignorance of the masses. 



very large number of individuals ; it renders such action spontaneous, 

 natural, irresistible. It is the force of gravitation which attracts towards 

 one definite point the multitudinous water-drops of a torrent" (Un 

 Socialisme en Harmonie avec la Doctrine Economique Liberale, p. 307, 

 Paris, 1904). 



