nsible writer on the subject, that such a consummation represents
rather a danger than an advantage. I wish to see individuality
strengthened, not crushed, to encourage men to develop the widest
possible diversity of tastes, talents, and pursuits, and to attain
unity of opinion, not by a calm assumption that this or that creed is
true, but by encouraging the sharpest and freest collision of opinions.
The equality of which I speak is that which would result, if the
distinction into organs were not of such a nature as to make one class
more favourable than another to the full development of whatever
character and talents a man may possess. In other words, the
distribution into classes would correspond purely and simply to the
telling off of each man to the duties which he is best fitted to
discharge. The position into which he is born, the class surroundings
which determine his development, must not carry with them any
disqualification for his acquiring the necessary aptitude for any other
position. It was, I think, Fourier who argued that a man ought to be
paid more highly for being a chimney-sweep than for being a prime
minister, because the duties of a sweep are the more disagreeable,--a
position which some prime ministers may, perhaps, see reason to doubt.
My suggestion is, that in Utopia every human being would be so placed
as to be capable of preparing himself for any other position, and
should then go to the work for which he is best fitted. The equality as
thus defined would, I submit, leave no room for a sense of injustice,
because the qualities which determine a man's position would be the
qualities for which he deserves the position, desert in this sense
being measurable by fitness. Discontent with class distinctions must
arise so long as a man feels that his position in a class limits and
cramps his capacities below the level of happier fortunes. Discontent
is not altogether a bad thing, for it is often an _alias_ for
hope; remove all discontent and you remove all guarantee for
improvement. But discontent is of the malignant variety when it is
allied with a sense of injustice; that is, of restrictions imposed upon
one class for no assignable reason. The only sufficient reason for
classes is the efficient discharge of social functions. The differences
between the positions of men in social strata, supply some of the most
effective motives for the struggle of life; and the effort of men to
rise into the wealthy o