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Leader (1850-1860), 11th October 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 968

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      John Bellers takes a very common-sense view of the question of social reform . He endeavours to prove that " It ' s the interest of the rich to take care of the poor and their education , by which they will take care of their own heirs , " and accordingly proceeds to petition " the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament , ' in the following terms : — •* The cries and miseries of some , and idleness and lewdness of others , of the poor , and the charge the nation is at for them being great , hath encouraged me to present with some proposals of embodying the

      you poor so together , that thereby they may be made of equal value to money ( by their raising a plentiful supply of all conveniences of life ) . And by this example the parish rates , and many commons , may be most profitably employed , and the present hospitals of England may be greatly improved , and also from it the most successful fishery may be raised , and our manufactures best and fully wrought in our own nation . I do not say it may be increased to make . England the mart and treasury of Europe , but that time and practice may shew the profit one or two such colledges

      Will bring . "I humbly pray you would be pleased to consider it , and as may be agreeable to your wisdom ( like the summer sun to a fruitful tree ) , ripen these proposals to the nation ' s advantage . Or , when any subscribers to such a colledge shall petition you ( for their better government , and not to exclude others ) to incorporate them , you would please to grant it . And if several models shall be proposed to you , that private persons will undertake , with submission I conceive it ' s the publick ' s interest they have encouragement , because the nation will then have the advantage of following what their experience shall prove the best method ; if you shall not think fit to make any of these more national before . "

      John Bellers then proposes , to " the thinking and public spirited , " a general subscription and meeting of the subscribers , where every one may have an opportunity of proposing any other useful thought he may have on this subject ; and in order to draw up suitable rules and methods for such an undertaking . He then gives—4 < A Specimen , showing how the rich may gain , the poor maintain themselves , and children be educated , by being incorporated as a Colledge of all sorts of useful trades , that shall work for one another , without other relief : Suppose three hundred in a Colled » e to work the usual time or task as abroad , and what any doth more , to be paid for it to encourage industry .

      " Two hundred of all trades I suppose sufficient to find necessaries for three hundred ; and , therefore , what manufacture the other hundred make , will be profit for the founders . " £ 10 , 000 to buy an estate in land of £ 500 per

      annum . •• £ 2000 to stock the land , and £ 3000 to prepare necessaries to set the several trades in work . £ 3000 for new buildings , or repairing old . In all £ 18 , 000 . * ' None to subscribe less thnn £ 2 . 5 . " Every £ 50 or £ 100 to have a vote in making by-laws , and choosing officers ; but no one to have nbove live votes . ' Once a year twelve or more proprietors to be chosen a committee , as inspectors and counsellors , for tho governors and workmen to apply to . " Corrections to be abatements of food rather than fltripes ; such as deserve greater punishment to be expelled .

      " Also at the sea-coast may be raised several colledges , as nurecrieH to the most effectual and successfullest fishery ; the collegians being taught industry and temperance ( idleness and drunkenness greatly spoiling the lost English fishery ) , the colledge can supply all conveniences and necessaries ., and spare one third of their company to fish ; and what fish is got out of the « e ; i is as the addition of bo much hind to the undertakers . "

      For further < let ; iils of John IJelloiVs proposals for raising a College , or Joint Stock Association of Capital and Industry , I must refer your readers to his own pamphlet . William Conjnoham .

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      W II A T 1 S N () ( , ' I AI . ISM ? To Tjioknton Hunt , Ehu . Ho |) teinb ( ir 29 , 1 HM . Dkak Sik ,- Every one who profiles a new faith , a faith of which the terms are not defined to the body of thoHf ! among whom he liven with Hufhcicnt distinctness hy it * cuBtomary appellation , must l > e prepared for tho question , " What w this new thing which you profc-Hs ? " The man who avows himself a Socialist in the present day , if Inn character or position preserves him from being supposed to de-¦ i n the plunder of hi » neighbour 8 goods or the Reduction of "their wives and daughters , must De propmrcd for a » imilar question : What do you mean

      enable me to give a complete answer to this " vexed question . " But as the subject is one which has occupied much of my thoughts , as the answer which I am prepared to give appears to me to explain much of the apparent conflict between the differing systems of Socialist writers , and to afford a standing ground on which the partisans of different systems of Socialism may meet , without rudely jostling each other , to show how men may be thoroughly Socialist while vet thev abstain from any attempt abruptly to change g

      by Socialism ? To make clear to our own minds what Socialism is to us , on what principle it depends , what are its objects , by what means we propose to accomplish them , is then a duty imperative upon all who avow ourselves Socialists , it we would " give a reason for the faith that is in us . " It is not less so if we would secure ourselves from being bewildered amid the diversity x > f systems which have been from time to time put forward by earnest and original thinkers as the expression of true Socialism . I have not the presumption to claim such an insiht into the true principle of Socialism as will

      existing institutions , and may even admit into their fellowship those whose theories are commonly supposed to be most hostile to them , the political economists . I am desirous of proposing my answer for the consideration of your readers ; not indeed as if it had never been made before , and well made in your own columns , but because it has perhaps not been made there in quite the same shape , and because it has , at all events , not been repeated often enough to find its way into public apprehension , and therefore may bear repetition . essentiall

      My answer in brief is this : —Socialism is y not any particular system , but a principle of action arising out of the idea of duty . In a little publication of my own on the characteristic features of some of the principal systems of Socialism , I have defined social science " as the science of the relations in which men must stand to each other on the earth in order to insure the well being of the whole body . " But Socialism is not social science , but the feeling which gives it birth ; and this feeling I consider to be the faith that it is possible to establish such laws and customs respecting all those relations of life which grow out of or concern property , as shall accord with the reason and conscience of mankind , and the conviction that it is a duty of the highest moment to aim at their introduction and

      thus" Ring out the feud ' twixt rich and poor Ring in redress to all mankind . " The wider range taken by those who have endeavoured to contrast systems of Social science is easily enough explained by the vast bearing which the laws and customs concerning property have in our modern world , upon the character and welfare of mankind . But if we look carefully , even into the most comprehensive schemes of this nation which have been proposed , we shall find that that w hich the author has most at heart , the impulse which urges him to theorize , is the desire of bringing the laws and customs which relate to property into accordance with what his reason and conscience approves .

      It is in this characteristic of Socialism that its true strength lies ; here is the secret of its indestructible vitality . For property is by universal admission a legitimate object of human laws . To deny this it would be necessary to maintain that men may act altogether on" The good old rule , the simple plan , That they should take who have the power , And they should keep who can . " But if this be so ; if in questions relating to property we cannot say that might in right ; if it be

      allowed that we are justified in declaring that in these matters the idea of duty is applicable , and that the laws and customs which prevail in respect to it must be considered as expressing more or less perfectly the conceptions men have formed of what it was reasonable for them to do in regard to their property , then the inconvenient questions will for ever cease , whether the laws and customs -which prevail as to this matter in any particular country at any particular time , are what they ought to be ? if not , how ought they to be altered ?

      It is this feature of Socialism which constitutes the ground of its deeply rooted difference with the schools of modern political economy . For the disciples of this school , although all their reasonings proceed upon the supposition of a state of things in which violence and fruud shall he suppressed hy law , and the custom of slavery shall be abolished , that in , on the supposition of a state of society in which considerable progress has been made in bringing the laws and customs relating to property into accordance

      with the requirements of the reason mid the conscience , yet singularly enough in their own reusoniiigM , have been in the habit of disclaiming , for their science , all connection with questioiiH of moral duty . I will not attempt to unfold here alltlie causes which nppenr to have led to this disclaimer . One , however , 1 inuHt discuss , because it has an important benring on the true relation of political economy to Socialism an I comprehend it . It will he admitted on all hands , that one great branch of political economy condemns the conditions under which wealth can be produced .

      Now , the desire to produce wealth results from the bodily wants of man . If we needed nothing for our bodily comfort , if "we could live without food , clothes , houses , &c , it is clear that we should make no effort to produce these articles ; or if we did do so , from the desire of finding occupation for our natural powers , the results of our efforts would hot have to us the worth they now have j but would rather resemble the toys of a "hild , prized to-day to be despised to-morrow . But cur bodily wants are essentially individual in their character . They lead to effort for their own satisfaction ; but they lead no

      further . All that there is expansive , generous , selfdevoted in man , arises out of another class of desires ; those with which the idea of duty is connected . Now , Socialism , as I have before said , is especially conversant with this idea . Yet , as it desires to apply this idea to the regulation of that which constitutes wealth , to property , a science which treats of the conditions under which wealth is produced most abundantly , would be a natural and valuable auxiliary in the solution of the problems with which Socialism has to deal ; provided that it is content to take the subordinate position of a mere collector of information : but this position the political

      economists have been unwilling to do . Much as they have disclaimed questions of morals , as belonging to another department of knowledge , they have found it impossible so to separate the action from the motive as not to be continually betrayed into a justification of sophisms , -while dwelling exclusively upon those selfish , individualizing desires , out of which the disposition to produce wealth arises ; and , therefore , do they come into continual antagonism with the views of those who , dwelling principally on the higher aspirations with which the conception of duty is connected , regard the satisfaction of our bodily wants only as means conducive to the end of our so living and working as to fulfil the higher tendencies of our nature .

      To take an instance , at once , of the connection and the opposition which subsist between the political economist and the Socialist . The former have traced out the natural conditions which regulate price . They have observed that the diversity of human powers , and of the physical constitution of the globe on which we live , give to some persons a much greater facility in producing certain articles than to others . They remark that thus a competition between various articles of the same sort will arise

      eventually , so soon as they are brought together , from the comparison of their respective qualities ; and that if free scope be given to the exercise of this comparison , by facility of exchange , the result will be that in each district those articles will be produced in abundance , which can be produced there with less labour than elsewhere ; and that this freedom of competition has a tendency to furnish men with more wealth for less exertion than would otherwise be needed to obtain it . It has become , therefore , a maxim with the econo mists , that freedom of competition is a great principle of human action , which it is

      most mischievous to check . But in course of time , as exchanges rn ultiply . it is found that the occupation of conducting them , if well conducted is extremely lucrative , from the comparative smallness of the capital required , and the greater quickness with which it is turned . Crowds of dealers according y embark in it ; -many more than are absolutely required to supply the wants of thej public with , whom they deal . As larger accumulations of capital take place , larger capatilists , whose larger resources enable them to be content with smaller lVCWUILl , a V-Il UU 1 V > n » v » . » " -- — - * - » g traders

      returns , arise to press upon the smaller , and now the whole body begin a fierce co mP " " tion among themselves , not to supply we public with better articles , but to obtain the lion b share of the demand . Tor this end it is the great object to attract notice ; notice , accordingly , « s sougni atany sacrifice of labour and of truth . The magnificent shop , the walking placard , the advertising puH arise . To pay for the labour thus wasted , com e adulteration , falsification , and all their train of evils . But this is free competitionand tho political

      , economist , true to his ilag , maintains that co mpetition must be left uncontrolled , and the remedy > u looked for only from the very exaggeration ot in disease . Now , here the Socialist parts company wiu him . He insists upon attempting to retain the go without the evil . Perfect liberty of exchange « can be content to pratervo . JIc may be willing leave price to regulate itself hy the law of suppg ¦ J worldBut he insists

      demand in the market of the . upon instituting sucli a machinery for « 'fi ulatlII K , necessary exchanges as shall guard against « nce " \' waste of labour in an employment m itHelt unp ductive , and prevent the growth of such a » y « item fraud and falsehood as threatens now to undcrmn all confidence in the fair dealing of the tr' » le 8 ma" - „„_ parts company , therefore , with the political ceoi mist when the latter Hi « p » over the tound « nc » £ that higher morality , which is the aim oft ? »""* to establish in those relations of life wh . eh concon property , as it is Li « settled belief that sucn morality may be eHtnl > lished . . a , lcccBB . I have endeavoured , I hope not without bucccM . to show how cleur a light tho definition oi Socially

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      968 ffifi * & * £ & *?? [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 11, 1851, page 968, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1904/page/12/