blic
utilities, and the common operation of all industries for the
general good. Socialism is opposed to monopoly, that is, to
private ownership of land and the instruments of labor, which
is indirect ownership of men; to the wages system, by which
labor is legally robbed of a large part of the product of
labor; to competition with its enormous waste of effort and
its opportunities for the spoliation of the weak by the strong.
Socialism is industrial democracy. It is the government of the
people by the people and for the people, not in the present
restricted sense, but as regards all the common interests of men.
Socialism is opposed to oligarchy and monarchy, and therefore to
the tyrannies of business cliques and money kings. Socialism is
for freedom, not only from the fear of force, but from the fear
of want. Socialism proposes real liberty, not merely the right
to vote, but the liberty to live for something more than meat
and drink.

"Socialism is righteousness in the relations of men. It is based
on the fundamentals of religion, the Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood of men. It seeks through association and equality to
realize fraternity. Socialism will destroy the motives which make
for cheap manufacturers, poor workmanship and adulterations; it
will secure the real utility of things. Use, not exchange, will
be the object of labour. Things will be made to serve, not to
sell. Socialism will banish war, for private ownership is back of
strife between men. Socialism will purify politics, for private
capitalism is the great source of political corruption. Socialism
will make for education, invention and discovery; it will
stimulate the moral development of men. Crime will have lost most
of its motive and pauperism will have no excuse. That," said
Shirley, as she concluded, "is socialism!"

Ryder shrugged his shoulders and rose to go.

"Delightful," he said ironically, "but in my judgment wholly
Utopian and impracticable. It's nothing but a gigantic pipe dream.
It won't come in this generation nor in ten generations if,
indeed, it is ever taken seriously by a majority big enough to put
its theories to the test. Socialism does not take into account two
great factors that move the world--men's passions and human
ambition. If you eliminate ambition you remove the strongest
incentive to individual effort. From your own account a
socialistic world would be a dreadfully tame place to live
in--everybody depressingly g