ention of socialists in this respect
is, says one of their best-known American spokesmen,[26] "that the fact
that capital is now in the hands of private persons gives them an unfair
advantage over those who own nothing," for capital consists of the
implements of advantageous production; and socialists, he says, would
secure an equality of industrial opportunity for all by "vesting the
ownership of the means of production in the state"; the result of which
procedure would, he goes on, be this: "that every one would have his own
canoe, and it would be up to each to do his own paddling."

Now, purists in thought and argument might make it a subject of
complaint, perhaps, that the writer, as soon as he reaches a vital part
of his argument, should lapse into the imagery of an old music-hall
song. But such an objection would be very much misplaced, for the ideas
entertained by socialists as to this particular point closely resemble
those which make music-hall songs popular. They consist of familiar
images which are accepted without being analysed; and the image of man
seated in an industrial canoe of his own, and paddling it just as he
pleases without reference to anybody else, very admirably represents the
lot which socialists promise to everybody, and which dwells as a
possibility in the imagination of even their serious thinkers. But let
us take this dream in connection with facts of the modern world, which
these men, in much of their reasoning, themselves recognise as
unalterable, and we shall see it give place to realities of a very
different aspect.

To judge from our author's language, one would suppose that modern
capital was made up entirely of separate little implements like
sewing-machines, and that every one would, if the state were the sole
capitalist, receive on application a machine of the same grade, which he
might take away with him, and use or break in a corner. Now, if modern
capital were really of this nature, the state no doubt might conceivably
do something like what the writer suggests, in the way of dealing out
similar industrial opportunities to everybody. But, as he himself is
perfectly well aware, the distinctive feature of capital in the modern
world is one which renders any such course impossible. Modern capital,
as a whole, in so far as it consists of implements, consists not of
implements which can be used by each user separately. It consists of
enormous mechanisms, with the works and structure