248 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



will be the sole means of acquiring wealth, and by these means alone — 

 under the 7iew conditions of society — very great wealth can never be 

 accumulated by one man. For the land being nationahzed, and the 

 use of some portion of it obtainable by all, the minimum of wages will 

 rise far above the starvation point which now prevails, and every village 

 or other community, however small, will consist of small capitalists, who 

 will be ever ready to unite for the safe employment of their capital. 

 Then will arise a variety of industries on a scale adapted to the size and 

 wealth of the district, and calculated to utilize the surplus labour and 

 spare time of the surrounding population ; and these small industries 

 will compete successfully with the establishments of individual capitalists, 

 because they will have an ample and cheap supply of labour, and because 

 most of the labourers, or their relations, will be shareholders, and will 

 be thus working for themselves. The individual capitalist will then find 

 himself paralyzed for want of labour, unless he offers great temptations 

 in the form of high wages and participation in the profits. For when 

 a large proportion of the population are settled upon the land, and are 

 able to devote their savings and their spare time to local industries, they 

 will not, as now, be forced to become parts of a huge manufacturing 

 machine in the success of which they have little personal interest. 



By the methods here sketched out the labourer will receive, as Karl 

 Marx and other social reformers maintain that he should do, the whole 

 produce of his labour, and he will obtain this general result without any 

 aid from Government, except what consists in remedying injustice, and 

 removing the restrictions on freedom which now hamper him. Without 

 any laws against usury, usury will practically cease to exist. Without 

 any direct restrictions on wealth, those vast and injurious accumulations 

 of wealth which now prevail will be impossible. The " stealers " and the 

 beggars " who now, as Mr. Girdlestone has shown, are so numerous 

 among us, will steadily give place to "workers," and just in proportion 

 as that happens, poverty will diminish, and will ultimately disappear. 

 Now, a large portion of the working population are employed in the 

 production of useless and often tasteless luxuries and trifles, the direct 

 consequence of the large number of persons who have surplus money to 

 spend after all their reasonable wants and comforts are fully satisfied. 

 It is this, much more than the mere number of idle people, that is the 

 dead weight which keeps thousands starving in the midst of so much 

 wealth. When mere extravagant luxuries are less in demand great 

 masses of labourers will be set free to produce the necessaries and 

 comforts of life ; and these will be more abundant and cheaper (what- 

 ever their money price may be), and if all those who are now idle aid in 

 the production of these necessaries and comforts, it is evident that, with 

 free exchange, none can want. 



I would particularly call attention to the fact that the results here 

 indicated would be all brought about by carrying out the true system of 

 laissez-faire now so much abused as if it had failed, when really it has 

 never been tried. Labour, the sole source of all wealth and well-being, 



