The Ideal State 255 



happy as long as he or she realises that their own com- 

 fort and luxury depend on the unhappiness of their 

 fellow-men — their brothers and sisters ? 



This brings us to a consideration of a common delu- 

 sion of the middle and upper classes — the fetish of 

 " family." The sooner it is demolished the better for 

 humanity. The sooner it is realised as an axiom, the 

 better for everyone, and chiefly by those afflicted with 

 the delusion that " there is no such things as ' family.' " 

 This soul-destroying doctrine has led to more foolish 

 pride and selfishness on the one hand, and snobbery 

 and deceit on the other, than any of our absurd pre- 

 judices. The sad thing socially is that no sooner do 

 people rise from the industrial army into the moneyed 

 classes than they at once begin to lie about their 

 ancestors in the most barefaced manner, and of neces- 

 sity this entails the shunning of their poorer ac- 

 quaintances and the neglect even of near relatives. 

 " Family " has come to mean " money " ; " nouveaux 

 riches " may be whispered by the aristocrat about 

 some parvenu and his relatives who have pushed their 

 way into the higher ranks by the power of their 

 millions, but it does not last long. The man of so- 

 called " ancient lineage " is soon bowing the knee to 

 the trader or speculator whose wealth surpasses his 

 own. Is it not strange that men take so long to appre- 

 ciate the truth of observed phenomena, that luxury 

 operates so adversely on humanity that in a few 

 generations it must result in decadence ? and hence our 

 aristocrats constantly require renewal from the masses, 

 who can generate a stock capable of virile power and 

 endeavour and maintenance of the standard of physical 

 well-being. So that, scientifically considered, it is the 

 lower orders who should be classed as " good family," 

 seeing it is upon them we depend for the force and 

 vigour of the race. It is not their fault that they cannot 



