LINES  OF  SOCIAL  POLICY

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because  he  used  it  in  defence  of  the  luxury  of  the  classes.
Malthus  saw  that  the  over-saving  of  the  wealthy  was  the
direct  economic  force  which  kept  trade  back.  His  remedy
was  an  increase  of  luxurious  expenditure.  But  this,  even
were  it  otherwise  desirable,  is  wholly  impracticable.  We
have  seen  that  the  motives  which  induce  the  wealthy  to
withhold  the  present  use  of  consuming-power  are  natural
and  necessary.  A  piece  of  academic  advice,  unbacked
by  any  economic  force,  is  absolutely  futile.  The  owners
of  “  unearned”  elements  of  income,  as  we  see,  must
accumulate  capital  which  from  the  social  standpoint  is
excess.  A  more  natural  distribution  of  consuming-power,
under  which  the  power  to  consume  shall  be  accompanied
by  the  desire  to  consume—not,  as  now,  severed  from  it—
is  the  only  possible  remedial  policy.
§  2.  Lines  of  Social  Policy.  Taxation  of
w  Unearned”  Income.
Towards  this  policy,  parties  of  social  progress  are
slowly  gravitating.  Unfortunately  their  path  is  lighted
by  no  clear  intellectual  conceptions,  and  they  move  with
hesitant,  uneven,  staggering  steps,  often  by  circuitous
routes,  along  a  road  which  should  be  recognised  as  clear,
straight,  and  fairly  smooth.  The  policy  of  progressive
consumption  has  two  direct  lines  of  advance  which  may
here  be  briefly  indicated.
The  surplus  of  consuming-power  in  the  hands  of  the
rich  may  be  “  unearned  ”  by  its  owners,  but  it  is  not,  for
all  that,  “  unearned.”  Part  of  it—for  example,  the  growing ­
  value  of  town  lands—is  earned  by  public  effort,  and
forms  a  property  designed  for  public  consumption  in  the
support  of  wholesome  public  life