Property and Inheritance. 
Summary. 
To sum up, property in the last century has changed 
its form and become concentrated in fewer hands. 
The growing inequality of distribution has come 
about in an age which was becoming less and less 
tolerant of social inequality ; the change of form, 
with its separation of ownership from use or control, 
has made it possible to substitute some form of 
public control for private control, and perhaps a 
quarter of the country’s wealth is now so publicly 
controlled. 
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II. 
THE SOCIAL PURPOSE OF PROPERTY. 
The question arises, is private property in its new 
form worth preserving ? Is there any social purpose, 
that a democratic society can approve, which the 
institution in its new form serves ? The democrats 
of the Socialist parties answer the question in the 
negative, and refuse to believe in the democratic 
professions of those who answer it in the affirmative. 
Some consideration of the various theories of pro- 
perty—the explanations that have been offered 
of the fact that the institution of property does exist 
and is maintained—is necessary before we can 
decide. 
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Theories of Property. 
The first, and still perhaps the commonest, theory 
of property is the view that it is a * Natural Right.” 
“Natural ” is a question-begging epithet that saves 
a lot of thinking ; but what this really amounts to 
is that the institution of property responds to some- 
thing so fundamental in human nature that any 
denial or disturbance of property rights would auto- 
matically set up reactions leading to their restoration. 
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