Page:James Ramsay MacDonald - The Socialist Movement.pdf/125

 Rh already shown its full social results of good and evil, the cry is being raised: "Let the nation own the trusts."

Such is the Socialist survey not merely of things as they have been and now are, but of the drift of things. The oceanographer puts out his little floats and the currents carry them hither and thither; thus the investigator knows whither the waters run, and he maps the path of the drifting streams until he has mastered the circulating system of the sea. The naturalist gets his bone or his tooth, and from it he can build up, limb upon limb, muscle upon muscle, organ upon organ, the unknown animal of which these things were parts. The student of human nature from a casual remark, a glimpse of a man’s library, his poise in walking, can tell what manner of man he has met and his life lies open to the observing eye like a book. So the sociologist, by studying the social changes going on around him can map the drift of progress; by noting the motives and the assumptions upon which men act, can trace the course of history through some part of the misty future; by discovering the dream cities which men have built in their hearts as abiding places for their souls, can tell what social fabrics they are to raise by legislation and administration as dwelling-places for their reason.