IO 
THE SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. 
many had no share in them.” From that moment he took the 
resolution to fathom this problem, and it left him no more 
peace. 
First he studied the condition of the different classes in the 
civilized countries, and everywhere he found poverty, embar 
rassment, unrest ; suffering among employers as well as 
employed, in the large towns, where dwelt luxury and opulence, 
as well as in the peasant’s cabin ; in the fertile plains of Bel 
gium and Lombardy, no less than on the mountainous regions 
of Sweden and Bohemia. Seeking afterwards for the causes of 
this wretched state of things, he convinced himself that it 
resulted not from nature and her laws, but from the laws and 
institutions of man. He therefore came to the conclusion 
that the only way to remedy the evils from which society suffers, 
is to reform and improve social organization. His researches 
convinced him that industrial improvements, however great 
they might be, could never result in making comfort general. 
The ulterior progress of civilization depended, therefore, upon 
the advance of Political Economy, and accordingly he considered 
this science as the most important of our day. Nothing can 
be more true ; the economic question is at the bottom of all 
our discussions. It is the claims of “those who have not” 
which alarm “ those who have ” and imperil liberty. Plato said 
that in every city there were, face to face, two hostile nations, 
the rich and the poor, and modern democracies are disclosing 
a similar situation. The Communists of Paris detested “ the 
Versaillists ” far more than the Prussians; and in 1870 the 
German Socialists expressed wishes in favour of the triumph 
of the French Republic, and against the success of their own 
country. 
How comes it that in modern communities, with all their 
opulence, there should be so much want and wretchedness? 
How is it that England, who weaves cloth enough to put a 
girdle round the globe, should have so many poor in need of 
clothes ? Science subdues the forces of nature, the power of 
machinery is unbounded ; how is it, then, that so many families 
lack the very necessaries of life ? Is it because labour does 
not produce enough, or because the products are badly dis-