Page:The Case for Capitalism (1920).djvu/171

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

is, not regarded by the sense of the community as being immoral; (4) Constitutional—that is, by legal enactment sanctioned by a democratic Parliament."

He then quotes, with disapproval, Mr. Arthur Balfour, who had stated in a speech at Birmingham in 1907 that "Socialism has one meaning only. Socialism means, and can mean nothing else than that the community or State is to take all the means of production into its own hands, that private enterprise and private property are to come to an end, and all that private enterprise and private property carry with them."

Mr. Snowden thinks that this definition "is not an accurate and precise statement of the aims of present-day Socialism. . . . Socialism only proposes to make such of the means of production into public property as can be conveniently and advantageously owned and controlled by the community. . . . If private enterprise can carry on any productive works, or conduct any public service better than the community can do it, a Socialist State might certainly be trusted to encourage that form of enterprise which would bring the best results to the community. . . . But whatever private