Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/453

Rh spared for a time from the necessity of work, but, as has been well said by Colonel Henry Lee, "under a free distribution of property it is but three generations from shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves."

The entire capital in the richest nation or state, consisting of railways, mills, factories, workshops, and dwellings, together with all the goods and wares of every kind—comprising all that has been saved in a useful form, aside from opening of the ways, the clearing of the land and bringing it into productive condition—will not exceed three or possibly four years' production; in most states it is less. If all could be reconverted into food, fuel, and clothing, and the world should rest wholly from work, all would be consumed in two or three years. In respect to food, the world is always within a year of starvation, yet there is always enough somewhere. Whether the product of each series of four seasons shall be distributed so that all may share the necessaries of life depends upon personal liberty, upon freedom of exchange, and upon the maintenance of the right of every man "to use his faculties in all lawful ways, to live and work where he will, to earn his livelihood in any lawful calling, and to pursue any lawful trade or avocation." (Judge Peckham, of New York. People vs. Gilson, 109 N. Y., 399.)

"The patrimony of the poor man lies in the strength and dexterity of his own hands; and to hinder him from employing these in what manner he may think proper, without injury to his neighbor, is a plain violation of this most sacred property." (Judge Snyder, of West Virginia. State vs. Goodwill, 10 S. E. Rep., 287.)

In the progress of invention, and by the application of science to the art of material production, all that can be expected or hoped for in the improvement of the condition of the great body of the people is that the more noxious pursuits may be done away with and that the conditions of the most arduous may be ameliorated; but the work must go on and in the sweat of his brow man must always eat his bread. The true gain that comes in the course of years is that a part of the time which is at the disposal of men may be saved from the necessity of hard work for the enjoyment of more and more leisure. Whether the leisure hours will be well spent or not will rest wholly upon the individual. The best definition of leisure that I have ever met is that "leisure consists in the diligent and intelligent use of time." Time saved from the necessary work of life may be worse than wasted or it may be well spent.

In dealing with this subject we are often brought face to face with a singular paradox. If all were rich, all would be poor alike; each might then be disinclined to serve the other for compensation, and thus all would be obliged to do all their own work