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 people will of course facilitate the acquirement of this competence, and the right to vote on foreign affairs will doubtless be a coveted social] distinction, subserving the perennial love of titles and the childlike pleasure of having letters after one's name. Nor need we be too much daunted in this conjecture by the whispered word "oligarchy." When oligarchy really means government by those best qualified to govern—the nature of this "bestness" being intelligently determined—oligarchy will be recognised as the most satisfactory form of government: and in order to exclude objectionable one-sidedness in the method of selecting voters for the high duty of guarding the nation's honour, no doubt some method of selection by vote can be discovered, free from liability to reintroduce the baleful evil of party.

Coming now to other functions of a State, the most obvious subject for conjecture is that suggested by the tendency in recent times of governments (and following their example of municipalities) to engage in trade. The comment which gained currency over a decade ago, that we were all socialists then, is still more justified now. Will States continue their increasing practice of usurping the place of private adventurers? Will railways, canals, telephonic and teleautographic systems, street conveyances, and so forth, be owned and