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Appendix.

Objection 1.—Socialism means a general division of property, after which things would soon return to their present state, as the lazy man would squander his share, and the industrious man increase his. Answer.—When a factory becomes national property, the building and machines cannot be divided among the workers, who only get the articles produced, or an equivalent salary, less necessary expenses, according to the number of hours they choose to work, and to the value of their labour. There can be no division of capital under Socialism. That is just what goes on now; that is why one man can ruin another. When the capital belongs to the nation, no man can ruin his neighbour; each one gets what he produces.

Objection 2.—One man would be able to take the hat or coat of another. Answer,—Nonsense; salaries being private property, everything you buy, will belong to you.

Objection 3.—We should all have to wear the same pattern of clothes, and live in the same kind of houses. Answer.— Nonsense again. A man who spends most of his salary on rent and furniture, will live in better apartments than one of equal income, who prefers swell clothing or anything else.

Objection 4.—Socialism wants to abolish all middlemen. Answer.—No, only the useless ones, for whom it finds paying work (pp. 7 & 8).

Objection 5.—Socialism advises murder. Answer.— Nonsense. This will best be proved by a reduced extract from the "Etoile Beige," a moderate Liberal paper, 25th May, 1890, p. 2, col. 1.:—"Five years ago, some 'agents provocateurs' of Bismark had manufactured a Socialist Conspiracy, which did not exist, to murder the Imperial family, etc. Police Councillor Rumpf, who acted as witness in Court, was found murdered the next day. Dicoke and Rheinsdorf were suspected, unjustly condemned to death, and executed. The real assassin, Gebhardt, an ordinary burglar, who had a grudge against Rumpf, has only just been caught after five years." This is one case Out of many.

Objection 6.—Socialism wants to abolish Capital. Answer.—No, but Capitalism=wrong use of capital.

Objection 7.—The difficulty is, not to produce, but to find buyers. Answer.—There is no difficulty, if we pay the people enough to buy what they produce, and if we produce according to the demand (p. 6).

Objection 8.—Socialists don't act according to their principles. Answer.—They must follow the present system, until they can introduce a better one. With their fortunes, they Can help the cause much more than if they gave up their fortunes.

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Objection 9.—Most great men are individualists. Answer.—So were they on the side of error in Astronomy, betore Copernicus, and Galileo. J. S. Mill was converted to Socialism, after reading the German Scientists, and he was certainly at least as great a thinker as any of our opponents, who are moreover influenced by prejudice or interest.

Objection 10.—This man, judging from the colour of his hands has never done any manual work, and yet he pretends to represent the working classes. Answer.—It is not only manual labour, but also intellectual labour, which has to be protected against the present disorganization and labour robbery. Moreover, the manual workers are becoming far more educated and better organised, since they have intellectual professionals of every kind in their midst, and this is just what the enemies of the people don't like.

Objection 11.—Socialism destroys all individual enterprise, and reduces all men to a low level. Answer.—No, as we have seen that the production of wealth, material and intellectual, would be far greater. But Socialism destroys the enterprise of those gigantic crocodiles, who are gradually swallowing up the smaller fry.

Objection 12.—Under Socialism the government would be paternal and tyrannical. Answer.—No, as it would be controlled by a really democratic Parliament, and as the education and leisure of the people would enable them to superintend the Members of this Parliament efficaciously.

Objection 13.—Most Socialists are in favour of a violent revolution. Answer.—That may or may not have been true formerly, but it is not so now. The first Converts to Socialism were chiefly composed, partly of very noble and disinterested persons, who saw no hope of converting peaceably the brutal selfishness of the rich, and partly of unsuccessful and embittered workers, who desired revenge. But since that time, many matter-of-fact and hard workers, manual and intellectual, had joined Socialism, and the vast majority of them would much sooner a void a revolution. This gradual change towards peaceableness and practicability is daily increasing, in proportion as more people get converted to Socialism, and you cannot judge of the ultimate character of the majority of Socialists, from what it was at the beginning, or even from what it is at present.

Objection 14.—Overpopulation is the real cause of our sufferings, Wars would decrease this. Answer.—As yet we have only reached an apparent overpopulation. By proper organization, we should find that there is no real overpopulation. There is plenty of time to think of this evil, and to prevent its advent. In Ireland, the population has decreased over 50% i.e., far more than any wars cou d have reduced it, and yet great distress prevails there. Therefore the reduction of the population, without the nationalization of the instruments of production, would not cure the social evil.

Remark 1. Sham Individualistic Remedies. I cannot page 21 treat them here owing to want of space, but you know by this time that all remedies, which reject the nationalization of the instruments of production, must be sham ones, as they can never get rid of the evils A B C D E mentioned on page 3.

The Individualists are like Architects of different schools, who have been asked to make plans for improving a house, where every inmate has the typhus fever, and who are quarrelling violently together over the shape of the windows and roof. The Socialists are also like architects of different schools as to some details; but these Socialist Architects all agree in saying that the bad drainage of the house must be arranged first, and that until this is done, all other remedies are downright quackery, and will not remove the fever.

Remark 2. House Rent.—At present we pay it to the agent of some landlord. If this agent represented the Government, we should not know the difference, except that rents would be fair ones.

Remark 3.—The shortening of the hours of labour in the factories, plus better food, better dwellings, larger workshops, would prevent the present shameful destruction of health and degeneration of the race.

Remark 4.—If you wish to judge of the quality of gold which has just been extracted from the mine, you must first free it from the impurities which surround it; otherwise you would be criticising the impurities and not the gold. In like manner, if you wish to judge Socialism, you must first free it from all the hobbies that many persons have mixed up with it.

Remark 5.—The man who writes on Socialism is partly in the position of an artist who is trying to represent by a picture or statue all the qualities of goodness and beauty which he has seen in a lovely woman. It is easy enough to see the qualities, but very difficult to express them, especially so as to bring them home to unartistic minds. To express Socialism properly, a business man like me is not sufficient, nor even is a scientist, but it requires a great artist besides.

Remarks 6. Women.—You must not despise the assistance of women. Men only see some sides of a question, and women other sides. Some of our most scientific lecturers are women. The great J. S. Mill allowed his wife to correct many passages in his works. Moreover, even if women do not all attain much science, or the heroic abnegation of the noble ladies in Russia, yet they are splendid propagandists and help the movement in many ways, such as in distributing tracts, making banners, giving musical entertainments, feeding and teaching poor children, etc. In America, many factory girls have become learned lecturers. A number of female Socialists in Germany once wrote to Bismarck: "If you exile our husbands, we women will convert the public to Socialism."

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Remark 7.—Socialism is not so far off as some people think. At the last elections in Germany, out of 7,000,000 electors who used their vote, 1,500,000 were Socialists, and 1,250,000 Radicals; this makes over one-third of the electorate. This third will soon be one-half and then two-thirds. A real remedy will then be agreed on by Radicals and Socialists, the Radicals coming over to the nationalization of the instruments of production, and the Socialists (i.e., the ideal ones) giving up all unpractical doctrines. The other countries will then be obliged to follow.

Remark 8.—You say that you cannot deliver a lecture. Simply take the following table, which contains a detailed plan of this letter; modify it according to your taste, and then explain it to your audience. There are many Socialist workmen, who would like to lecture so as to bring on the remedy sooner, but they do not know how to set about it. If they follow this advice, they will get over their difficulty. I also add this table, so that you may not lose sight of the main arguments, owing to side issues and objections.

For any further information on Socialism, as to books, newspapers, clubs, lectures, and debates, I advise you to write to The Secretary of the Fabian Society. 276, Strand, London, W.C.