"
That terrible indictment was doubly underscored in his MS.
What, in his mature judgment, were the causes and remedies? He set them
out in this order:
1. The evils are due, broadly and generally, to our living under a
system of universal competition for the means of existence, the remedy
for which is equally universal co-operation.
2. It may also be defined as a system of economic antagonism, as of
enemies, the remedy being a system of economic brotherhood, as of a
great family, or of friends.
3. Our system is also one of monopoly by a few of all the means of
existence--the land, without access to which no life is possible; and
capital, or the results of stored-up labour, which is now in the
possession of a limited number of capitalists, and therefore is also a
monopoly. The remedy is freedom of access to land and capital for all.
4. Also, it may be defined as social injustice, inasmuch as the few in
each generation are allowed to inherit the stored-up wealth of all
preceding generations, while the many inherit nothing. The remedy is to
adopt the principle of equality of opportunity for all, or of universal
_inheritance by the State in trust for the whole community_.
"We have," he finally concluded, "ourselves created an immoral or
unmoral social environment. To undo its inevitable results we must
reverse our course. We must see that _all_ our economic legislation,
_all_ our social reforms, are in the very opposite direction to those
hitherto adopted, and that they tend in the direction of one or other of
the four fundamental remedies I have suggested.
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