ny other way.

'A large part of the land may be got back in the same way as it was
taken from us. The ancestors of the present holders obtained
possession of it by simply passing Acts of Enclosure: the nation should
regain possession of those lands by passing Acts of Resumption. And
with regard to the other land, the present holders should be allowed to
retain possession of it during their lives and then it should revert to
the State, to be used for the benefit of all. Britain should belong to
the British people, not to a few selfish individuals. As for the
railways, they have already been nationalized in some other countries,
and what other countries can do we can do also. In New Zealand,
Australia, South Africa, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Japan and some other
countries some of the railways are already the property of the State.
As for the method by which we can obtain possession of them, the
difficulty is not to discover a method, but rather to decide which of
many methods we shall adopt. One method would be to simply pass an Act
declaring that as it was contrary to the public interest that they
should be owned by private individuals, the railways would henceforth
be the property of the nation. All railways servants, managers and
officials would continue in their employment; the only difference being
that they would now be in the employ of the State. As to the
shareholders--'

'They could all be knocked on the 'ead, I suppose,' interrupted Crass.

'Or go to the workhouse,' said Slyme.

'Or to 'ell,' suggested the man behind the moat.

'--The State would continue to pay to the shareholders the same
dividends they had received on an average for, say, the previous three
years. These payments would be continued to the present shareholders
for life, or the payments might be limited to a stated number of years
and the shares would be made non-transferable, like the railway tickets
of today. As for the factories, shops, and other means of production
and distribution, the State must adopt the same methods of doing
business as the present owners. I mean that even as the big Trusts and
companies are crushing--by competition--the individual workers and
small traders, so the State should crush the trusts by competition. It
is surely justifiable for the State to do for the benefit of the whole
people that which the capitalists are already doing for the profit of a
few shareholders. The first step in this direction will