278 



The Ideal State 



the ethics of the Christian faith, and that all is con- 

 trolled by the Eternal, who maketh for righteousness. 



It may appear that this law of spiritual evolution is 

 too often repeated and insisted on. We do not admit 

 this, and do not think it can. If it is not realised and 

 acted upon, the social evolution and higher spiritual 

 development of mankind can only be delayed, and the 

 struggles to improve his lot rendered fruitless and vain. 

 The sooner man universally comes to a knowledge of 

 the operation of this law of spiritual evolution, under 

 the guiding hand of the Eternal, the more rapid of 

 necessity will be the advance of the social amelioration 

 of humanity, and the voluntary self-sacrifice of each 

 individual for the benefit of all. 



We must now, for a brief space, consider the " theory 

 of value " of Mill and Marx, which means that every 

 article must be valued according to the amount of 

 labour expended upon it. This definition can hardly 

 be said to be exact, as many articles are of value 

 according to the rarity of the original substance, or the 

 difficulty of securing it, before any actual labour has 

 been expended in the way of producing the finished 

 product. And the awful condition of those engaged in 

 the sweated industries proves that the amount of 

 labour is a small factor, and that unless the interests 

 of those engaged in these are safeguarded — in other 

 words, until they form a trade union to defend their 

 own interest — the workers cannot expect to receive a 

 return in proportion to the labour expended. Mill and 

 Marx contend that the share of the value of a given 

 total of products, which is taken by the employer as 

 his profits, is due to the fact that labour produces more 

 than is necessary for its own support. Mr. Mallock, on 

 the other hand, contends that the labour of average 

 men, when directed by a man whose mind is above 

 the average, produces indefinitely more than it would 



