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第22章

lay morals-第22章

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g this peculiar bowl; but  about the income…tax; as I have said; or perhaps about a  patent; or in the halls of an embassy at the hands of my  friend of the eye…glass; he occasionally sets his lips to it;  and he may thus imagine (if he has that faculty of  imagination; without which most faculties are void) how it  tastes to his poorer neighbours; who must drain it to the  dregs。  In every contact with authority; with their employer;  with the police; with the School Board officer; in the  hospital; or in the workhouse; they have equally the occasion  to appreciate the light…hearted civility of the man in  office; and as an experimentalist in several out…of…the…way  provinces of life; I may say it has but to be felt to be  appreciated。  Well; this golden age of which we are speaking  will be the golden age of officials。  In all our concerns it  will be their beloved duty to meddle; with what tact; with  what obliging words; analogy will aid us to imagine。  It is  likely these gentlemen will be periodically elected; they  will therefore have their turn of being underneath; which  does not always sweeten men's conditions。  The laws they will  have to administer will be no clearer than those we know to… day; and the body which is to regulate their administration  no wiser than the British Parliament。  So that upon all hands  we may look for a form of servitude most galling to the blood  … servitude to many and changing masters; and for all the  slights that accompany the rule of jack…in…office。  And if  the Socialistic programme be carried out with the least  fulness; we shall have lost a thing; in most respects not  much to be regretted; but as a moderator of oppression; a  thing nearly invaluable … the newspaper。  For the independent  journal is a creature of capital and competition; it stands  and falls with millionaires and railway bonds and all the  abuses and glories of to…day; and as soon as the State has  fairly taken its bent to authority and philanthropy; and laid  the least touch on private property; the days of the  independent journal are numbered。  State railways may be good  things and so may State bakeries; but a State newspaper will  never be a very trenchant critic of the State officials。

But again; these officials would have no sinecure。  Crime  would perhaps be less; for some of the motives of crime we  may suppose would pass away。  But if Socialism were carried  out with any fulness; there would be more contraventions。  We  see already new sins ringing up like mustard … School Board  sins; factory sins; Merchant Shipping Act sins … none of  which I would be thought to except against in particular; but  all of which; taken together; show us that Socialism can be a  hard master even in the beginning。  If it go on to such  heights as we hear proposed and lauded; if it come actually  to its ideal of the ant…heap; ruled with iron justice; the  number of new contraventions will be out of all proportion  multiplied。  Take the case of work alone。  Man is an idle  animal。  He is at least as intelligent as the ant; but  generations of advisers have in vain recommended him the  ant's example。  Of those who are found truly indefatigable in  business; some are misers; some are the practisers of  delightful industries; like gardening; some are students;  artists; inventors; or discoverers; men lured forward by  successive hopes; and the rest are those who live by games of  skill or hazard … financiers; billiard…players; gamblers; and  the like。  But in unloved toils; even under the prick of  necessity; no man is continually sedulous。  Once eliminate  the fear of starvation; once eliminate or bound the hope of  riches; and we shall see plenty of skulking and malingering。   Society will then be something not wholly unlike a cotton  plantation in the old days; with cheerful; careless;  demoralised slaves; with elected overseers; and; instead of  the planter; a chaotic popular assembly。  If the blood be  purposeful and the soil strong; such a plantation may  succeed; and be; indeed; a busy ant…heap; with full granaries  and long hours of leisure。  But even then I think the whip  will be in the overseer's hands; and not in vain。  For; when  it comes to be a question of each man doing his own share or  the rest doing more; prettiness of sentiment will be  forgotten。  To dock the skulker's food is not enough; many  will rather eat haws and starve on petty pilferings than put  their shoulder to the wheel for one hour daily。  For such as  these; then; the whip will be in the overseer's hand; and his  own sense of justice and the superintendence of a chaotic  popular assembly will be the only checks on its employment。   Now; you may be an industrious man and a good citizen; and  yet not love; nor yet be loved by; Dr。 Fell the inspector。   It is admitted by private soldiers that the disfavour of a  sergeant is an evil not to be combated; offend the sergeant;  they say; and in a brief while you will either be disgraced  or have deserted。  And the sergeant can no longer appeal to  the lash。  But if these things go on; we shall see; or our  sons shall see; what it is to have offended an inspector。

This for the unfortunate。  But with the fortunate also; even  those whom the inspector loves; it may not be altogether  well。  It is concluded that in such a state of society;  supposing it to be financially sound; the level of comfort  will be high。  It does not follow: there are strange depths  of idleness in man; a too…easily…got sufficiency; as in the  case of the sago…eaters; often quenching the desire for all  besides; and it is possible that the men of the richest ant… heaps may sink even into squalor。  But suppose they do not;  suppose our tricksy instrument of human nature; when we play  upon it this new tune; should respond kindly; suppose no one  to be damped and none exasperated by the new conditions; the  whole enterprise to be financially sound … a vaulting  supposition … and all the inhabitants to dwell together in a  golden mean of comfort: we have yet to ask ourselves if this  be what man desire; or if it be what man will even deign to  accept for a continuance。  It is certain that man loves to  eat; it is not certain that he loves that only or that best。   He is supposed to love comfort; it is not a love; at least;  that he is faithful to。  He is supposed to love happiness; it  is my contention that he rather loves excitement。  Danger;  enterprise; hope; the novel; the aleatory; are dearer to man  than regular meals。  He does not think so when he is hungry;  but he thinks so again as soon as he is fed; and on the  hypothesis of a successful ant…heap; he would never go  hungry。  It would be always after dinner in that society; as;  in the land of the Lotos…eaters; it was always afternoon; and  food; which; when we have it not; seems all…important; drops  in our esteem; as soon as we have it; to a mere prerequisite  of living。

That for which man lives is not the same thing for all  individuals nor in all ages; yet it has a common base; what  he seeks and what he must have is that which will seize and  hold his attention。  Regular meals and weatherproof lodgings  will not do this long。  Play in its wide sense; as the  artificial induction of sensation; including all games and  all arts; will; indeed; go far to keep him conscious of  himself; but in the end he wearies for realities。  Study or  experiment; to some rare natures; is the unbroken pastime of  a life。  These are enviable natures; people shut in the house  by sickness often bitterly envy them; but the commoner man  cannot continue to exist upon such altitudes: his feet itch  for physical adventure; his blood boils for physical dangers;  pleasures; and triumphs; his fancy; the looker after new  things; cannot continue to look for them in books and  crucibles; but must seek them on the breathing stage of life。   Pinches; buffets; the glow of hope; the shock of  disappointment; furious contention with obstacles: these are  the true elixir for all vital spirits; these are what they  seek alike in their romantic enterprises and their unromantic  dissipations。  When they are taken in some pinch closer than  the common; they cry; 'Catch me here again!' and sure enough  you c

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