Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/204

 182 obstacle of which I have spoken; for it need not be pointed out that the morality or immorality of such an appropriation cannot depend upon whether it is done in half-a-dozen instalments instead of one cut. If the acquisition on behalf of the public of certain properties hitherto held by private undertakers constituted such a strong illustration of the coming substitution of Socialism for Individualism, it would be strange that almost, if not quite, the last act of one who has just left us—a most stubborn adherent of Individualism—should have been the achievement of a triumph in the first stage, and a certain prelude to triumphs all along the line, in the municipalization of local markets. If the taking over of markets by local authorities be Socialism, Mr. Bradlaugh was a Socialist, but those who are most jealous of his memory need not be much affected by the imputation.

I proceed to another and wide-reaching branch of the inquiry—the difficulties of Socialism as a working solution of the problem of human life. The simplest way of approaching this task appears to me to be that of supposing Socialism installed and society renovated upon its principles. Industries are organized either directly by the nation, or indirectly through subordinate and affiliated municipalities providing a complete hierarchy of labour. A willing and eager people have adopted the new life. The moral difficulty has been completely overcome. Every one who is of the working years of life is at work in his appointed place; and the increased produce of their diminished toil is distributed with the least possible machinery, and the least possible waste. The quantity of commodities apportioned to each is enough, and so is the lodgment. More than enough would not be desired, and indeed ought not to be allowed, though this is a point upon which the most thoroughgoing reformers appear a little undecided. I gather, however, that enough would imply a full rather than a hare subsistence, so that each recipient might have a margin upon the disposition of which he could exercise a choice, and ome of which he might within defined limits of time and quantity be permitted to accumulate. Yet in this lurks the germ of individualism which a more rigorous organization would stamp out. To carry on our conception we must contemplate our new society as a 'going concern,' taken over in full swing with strictly regilated interchanges and distribution of products. It must at the same time be capable of improvement as an industrial machine. No one will think we have come to an end of invention or of the development of economy and efficiency in the processes of production. What has been done in the last