ed
these sources of wealth to pass out of its hands, and that property of
these kinds has freely passed from one man to another in the market, in
the belief that it stood and would stand on the same basis in law as any
other. Hence, it is not possible for society to insist on the whole of
its claim. It could only resume its full rights at the cost of great
hardship to individuals and a shock to the industrial system. What it
can do is to shift taxation step by step from the wealth due to
individual enterprise to the wealth that depends on its own collective
progress, thus by degrees regaining the ownership of the fruits of its
own collective work.

Much more difficult in principle is the question of the more general
elements of social value which run through production as a whole. We are
dealing here with factors so intricately interwoven in their operation
that they can only be separated by an indirect process. What this
process would be we may best understand by imagining for a moment a
thoroughgoing centralized organization of the industrial system
endeavouring to carry out the principles of remuneration outlined above.
The central authority which we imagine as endowed with such wisdom and
justice as to find for every man his right place and to assign to every
man his due reward would, if our argument is sound, find it necessary to
assign to each producer, whether working with hand or brain, whether
directing a department of industry or serving under direction, such
remuneration as would stimulate him to put forth his best efforts and
would maintain him in the condition necessary for the life-long exercise
of his function. If we are right in considering that a great part of the
wealth produced from year to year is of social origin, it would follow
that, after the assignment of this remuneration, there would remain a
surplus, and this would fall to the coffers of the community and be
available for public purposes, for national defence, public works,
education, charity, and the furtherance of civilized life.

Now, this is merely an imaginary picture, and I need not ask whether
such a measure of wisdom on the part of a Government is practically
attainable, or whether such a measure of centralization might not carry
consequences which would hamper progress in other directions. The
picture serves merely to illustrate the principles of equitable
distribution by which the State should be guided in dealing with
property. I