A second obstacle to the socialistic goal is the institution of private property. For centuries individuals the world over have been accustomed to hold various forms of property to the exclusion of all the rest of mankind. Each one speaks of his land, his money, or his goods. No other race of people has held so stubbornly to this principle as have the English, who insist that a man's house is his castle. For the individual to give up his property rights to society is beyond the conception of the ordinary man. It is doubtful if more than a scant few, all avowed socialists, would subscribe to such a principle. The assumption might be drawn from what has just been said that socialism is opposed on the ground that practically every one in this country owns property which a socialistic state would take over. Such, however, is not the case, for in so far as land is concerned more than one-half of the people of the United States are propertyless. Why, then, we may ask, do not those who would profit under socialism immediately vote to adopt the system? The answer is easily given when once we really understand human nature. First, the great bulk of men have never questioned, even in their own minds, the sanctity of private property rights. Second, the typical propertyless individual hopes some day to possess property of his own. Here, as in the case of economic motives, considerable education will be needed before any thoroughgoing socialistic program can be carried out. A broad education it must be, which will emphasize the superior needs of society, the subordination of individual rights to social rights, and the spiritual admonition that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Copyright Underwood & Underwood, New York

Soldiers and Sailors Breaking up a Socialist Meeting (in Boston, Mass.).