Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/674

 658 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Society does not put socialism forward as a panacea for the ills of human society, but only for those produced by defective organization of industry and by a radically bad distribution of wealth.

In addition to the official contributions of the Fabian Society in literature and practical politics, the Fabian spirit has been abundantly manifested in independent publications of its members, some of them among the most important contribu- tions to practical politics, economics, and sociology, and many ephemeral but important contributions to newspapers. 1

David G. Ritchie is proving the ablest of the many pupils of T. H. Green. No one has done more efficient service in the application of evolutionary principles to politics, with the result among others of extending Green's influence in the defense of state intervention as an instrument in securing personal liberty. 2

Among those who have developed more scientifically than Morris, Ruskin's ideas of wealth and consumption, and applied them to economics and sociology, are Ingram, Toynbee, Geddes, Mackenzie, Hobson, and Smart. The most active and influen- tial of these writers are John A. Hobson and William Smart. The latter has undone some of Marx's influence by popularizing the theory of value of the Austrian school. An unusual interest attaches to their economic writings because the subject they chiefly treat, consumption, lies on the threshold of sociology.

The problem to which they are contributing is to determine the influence on both producer and consumer of a transition from quantitative to qualitative consumption, that is, to enable indi-

1 References. Fabian Essays, London and Boston ; Fabian Tracts (last No., 74), London. BEATRICE POTTER (WEBB), The Cooperative Movement ; Soc. Sci. Ser. Trade Unions and Cooperation, Manchester, 1892. WEBB, S., Socialism in England, Soc. Sci. Ser. ; Three Years' Work on the London County Council, London, 1895 5 ^ London Pro- gramme, Soc. Sci. Ser.; "Municipal Progress," Cobp. Soc. Annual, 1896. WEBB, S. and B., The History of Trade Unionism, 1895 ; numerous articles in the Economic Review, the Economic Journal, the Political Science Quarterly, etc.; WEBB, S. and Cox, H., The Eight Hours' Day. BALL, S., "The Moral Aspects of Socialism," Int. Jour. Ethics, April 1896.

2 References. RITCHIE, State Interference, Soc. Sci. Ser.; Darwinism and Poli- tics, Soc. Sci. Ser., 2d ed., 1891; Natural Rights, London, 1895; "Social Evolu- tion," Int. Jour, of Ethics, January 1896.