flaws and none at all for the big,
strong and enduring things in a man's work. I never think of these
critics of Marx without calling to mind an incident I witnessed two or
three years ago at an art exhibition in New York. There was placed on
exhibition a famous Greek marble, a statue of Aphrodite. Many people
went to see it and on several occasions when I saw it I observed that
some people had been enough stirred to place little bunches of flowers
at the feet of the statue as a tender tribute to its beauty. But one
day I was greatly annoyed by the presence of a critical woman who had
discovered a little flaw in the statue, where a bit had been broken
off. She chattered about it like an excited magpie. Poor soul, she had
no eyes for the beauty of the thing, the mystery which shrouded its
past stirred no emotions in her breast. _She was only just big enough
in mind and soul to see the flaw._ I pitied her, Jonathan, as I pity
many of the critics who write learned books to prove that the economic
principles of Socialism are wrong. I cannot read such a book but a
vision rises before my mind's eye of that woman and the statue.

I believe that the great fundamental principles laid down by Karl Marx
cannot be refuted, because they are true. But it is just as well to
bear in mind that Socialism does not depend upon Karl Marx. If all his
works could be destroyed and his name forgotten there would still be a
Socialist movement to contend with. The question is: Are the economic
principles of Socialism as it is taught to-day true or false?

_The first principle is that wealth in modern society consists in an
abundance of things which can be sold for profit._

So far as I know, there is no economist of note who makes any
objection to that statement. I know that sometimes political
economists confuse their readers and themselves by a loose use of the
term wealth, including in it many things which have nothing at all to
do with economics. Good health and cheerful spirits, for example, are
often spoken of as wealth and there is a certain primal sense in which
that word is rightly applied to them. You remember the poem by Charles
Mackay--

Cleon hath a million acres, ne'er a one have I;
Cleon dwelleth in a palace, in a cottage I;
Cleon hath a dozen fortunes, not a penny I;
Yet the poorer of the twain is Cleon, and not I.

In a great moral sense that is all true, Jonathan, but from the point
of view of political ec