of us haven't enough and others have too much. They take
from us what we earn. That's the whole cause of poverty. The Malthusian
theory is all wrong. It's not nature, but man that is to blame."

Farnum knew the little Socialist was right so far. Here in Verden, under
the forms of freedom, was the very essence of slavery. All the product
of labor was taken from it except enough to sustain a mere animal
existence. Something was wrong in a world where a man begs in vain for
work to support his family. Given proper conditions, men would not rise
by trampling each other down, but by lending a hand to the unfortunate.
The effect of efficiency would be to make things easier for the weak.
The reward of service would be more service.

"The principle of the old order is dead," Marchant went on, wagging his
thin forefinger at Jeff. "The whole social fabric is made up of lies,
compromises, injustice. The only reason it has hung together so long
is that people have been trained to think along certain lines like show
animals. But they're waking up. Look at Germany. Look at England. What
the plutocrats call the menace of Socialism is everywhere. Now that
every worker knows he is being robbed of what he earns, how long do
you think he will carry the capitalistic system on his back? From the
beginning of the world we have tried it. With what result? An injustice
that is staggering, a waste that is appalling, an inhumanity that is
deadening."

Jeff let a hand fall lightly on his shoulder. "Of course it's all wrong.
We know that. But can you show me how to make it right, except out of
the hearts of men growing slowly wiser and better?"

"Why slowly?" demanded Marchant. "Why not to-day while we're still alive
to see the smiles of men and women and children made glad? You always
want to begin at the wrong end. I tell you that you can't change men's
hearts until you change the conditions under which they live."

"And I tell you that you can't change the conditions until you change
men's hearts," Jeff answered with his wistful smile.

"Rubbish! The only way to change the hearts of most plutocrats is to
hit them over the head with a two-by-four. Smug respectability is in the
saddle, and it knows it's right. We'll get nowhere until we smash this
iniquitous system to smithereens."

"So you want to substitute one system for another. You think you can
eliminate by legal enactment all this fatty degeneration of greed and
selfishness that ha