by the fantastic
process of advertisement.

In order to make clear and irrefutable the statement that the
illusive value of private property is, like "the illusion of dead
matter," a thing conceived, projected and maintained by the
aboriginal power of evil, it is necessary to prove two things. It is
necessary to prove in the first place that the idea of private
property is neither beautiful nor noble nor real. And it is necessary
to prove in the second place that the defence of the idea of private
property arouses the most evil and most malignant passions which
it is possible for the human soul to feel.

That private property is neither beautiful nor noble can be deduced
from the fact that in proportion as human souls become attuned
to finer, more distinguished, and more intellectual levels
they become more and more indifferent to the "sensation of
ownership." That private property is an unreal thing can be
deduced from the fact that no human being can actually "possess,"
in a definite, positive, and exhaustive manner, more than he can
eat or drink or wear or otherwise personally enjoy.

His "sensation of ownership," over lands, houses, gardens,
pictures, statues, books, animals and human beings, is really and
actually restricted to the immediate and direct enjoyment which he
is able in person to derive from such things. Beyond this
immediate and personal enjoyment the extension of his "sensation
of ownership" can do no more than increase his general sense of
conventional power and importance. His real "possession" of his
land is actually restricted to his capacity for appreciating its
beauty. His real "possession" of his books is actually restricted to
his personal capacity for entering into the living secrets of these
things. Without such capacity, though he may call himself the
"possessor" or "owner," he is really no better than an official
"care-taker," whose province it is to preserve certain objects for
other people to enjoy, or, shall we say, for the permanent
prevention of any people ever enjoying them. And just as the
"sensation of ownership" or "the idea of private property" is unreal
and illusive with regard to land, houses, pictures, books, and the
like so it is unreal and illusive with regard to human beings. No
one, however maliciously he may hug to himself his possessive
instinct, can ever actually and truly "possess" another living
person.

One's wife, one's paramour, one's child, one's slave, are