ence, and in securing independence, prosperity, power, civilisation, and the future well-being of

a nation."

The people have the power of selecting their own Government, and they should make certain of selecting ministers who can lead the country according to its needs. And what better service could any Government render to the community it serves than to balance and provide favourable conditions of employment for all, with favour to none?

We take stand with Colwell that there can be no other basis for the science of national economics than the one of human advantage and prosperity, taking man as a moral, intellectual and labouring being. The labour, the production, the wealth, treated heretofore independently, are but means to an end. In future they must be regarded more comprehensively. To seek to develop the science from secondary elements without keeping in view the original and primary elements of consideration is the great error of the free trade school.

From the general observations we have made, in our previous work and in this one, our theory of the division of labour and exchangeable values may therefore be summarised as follows:

1. In order that exchangeable values may be placed on a true and equitable basis, every

man employed in industry should be guaranteed a minimum wage of 25s. per week. It is only by that means that we can obtain a true starting-point.

2. That the theory of developing exchangeable values as an operation between individuals is a false one; that a workman's occupation is part of an industry, as his prosperity depends upon the favourable opportunities he may find therein. No man can live unto himself.

3. Consequently exchangeable values can only be determined as an operation taking place between industries.

4. And that such an operation, to be effective, depends upon the existence of a properly balanced division, and subdivision, of labour.

5. That the National System is the only science that can properly maintain a properly balanced division, or subdivision, of labour. 6. That the efficiency of national productive power depends upon the maintenance of a properly balanced division, or subdivision, of labour.

7. That the abolition of poverty depends upon the efficiency of national productive power,

i.e. upon the combined efforts of united endeavour.

In order, however, to approximately achieve the ideal of a properly balanced division and subdivision of labour, it is not necessary, nor is it desirable, for a Government to actively direct, or ration, industry as a whole. All that is necessary for a Government to do in this respect is to create favourable working conditions for any industry that may prove to be in a backward condition. The ideal of a properly balanced division of labour can never be effectively achieved, but it can be approximately attained, provided the nation works harmoniously and in unison to that end.

CHAPTER V

ON EQUALITY

THE more we study the ideals of the Maximalists, the more utopian do we find them, and it is quite obvious what the end of the whole movement is bound to lead to-abject poverty and misery. The leaders of this movement attempted to distribute all existing wealth in Russia among the peasants and the proletariat (this is their definition of equality), but they seem to have forgotten, if they ever knew, that all existing wealth is relative and not actual.

Confidence and credit constitute the basis of all existing values. Take these away and what remains to the Maximalists for distribution? Nothing but the material value of property and land, because the principles governing exchange and stability of prices cease cease to operate. If this be so, it is obvious that the policy of the Maximalists could result only in driving the Russian people back to a primitive condition of life wherein each man would be a law unto himself.

It is through sheer misunderstanding of the issues involved that all the trouble has arisen, and in playing lightly with that will-o'-thewisp, "Equality," from the historic aspiration, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," which, if pursued literally, as ignorant and passionate minds are apt to do, must inevitably lead to revolution and counter-revolution.

Now what is meant by "Equality" in the sense in which revolutionary Socialists use the word, i. e. as applied to human existence? It is impossible to apply the principles involved in it to the conditions of human society for the simple reason that they would run counter to all natural laws. We have weak men and strong men, we have weak men with strong intellects and strong men with weak intellects. We have also wild animals and tame animals, coarse plants and fine plants. The bees have their queen bee, and the primitive races have their kings. It may be taken for granted that the so-called capitalists did not create the natural world. On the contrary the natural world evolved the capitalists. In view of these facts where can equality come in, or how is it possible to enforce it without mankind becoming the poorer? Bearing in mind that mankind always strives after ideals, and that it will endeavour to rise to the level of its creative genius, obviously