tween working, stealing, or starving.
With the exception of this fundamental law, which is, indeed, merely a
codification of the law of nature--the edict of Eden--by which it is
made equal in its pressure on men, our system depends in no particular
upon legislation, but is entirely voluntary, the logical outcome of the
operation of human nature under rational conditions. This question of
inheritance illustrates just that point. The fact that the nation is
the sole capitalist and land-owner of course restricts the individual's
possessions to his annual credit, and what personal and household
belongings he may have procured with it. His credit, like an annuity in
your day, ceases on his death, with the allowance of a fixed sum for
funeral expenses. His other possessions he leaves as he pleases."

"What is to prevent, in course of time, such accumulations of valuable
goods and chattels in the hands of individuals as might seriously
interfere with equality in the circumstances of citizens?" I asked.

"That matter arranges itself very simply," was the reply. "Under the
present organization of society, accumulations of personal property are
merely burdensome the moment they exceed what adds to the real comfort.
In your day, if a man had a house crammed full with gold and silver
plate, rare china, expensive furniture, and such things, he was
considered rich, for these things represented money, and could at any
time be turned into it. Nowadays a man whom the legacies of a hundred
relatives, simultaneously dying, should place in a similar position,
would be considered very unlucky. The articles, not being salable,
would be of no value to him except for their actual use or the
enjoyment of their beauty. On the other hand, his income remaining the
same, he would have to deplete his credit to hire houses to store the
goods in, and still further to pay for the service of those who took
care of them. You may be very sure that such a man would lose no time
in scattering among his friends possessions which only made him the
poorer, and that none of those friends would accept more of them than
they could easily spare room for and time to attend to. You see, then,
that to prohibit the inheritance of personal property with a view to
prevent great accumulations would be a superfluous precaution for the
nation. The individual citizen can be trusted to see that he is not
overburdened. So careful is he in this respect, that the relatives
usu