“Now every thoughtful person can clearly see by this illustration that the more these twenty islanders would become non-producers, the more toilsome the burdens of the producers would become; and if the monopoly was so complete and effective that only the _least favored one_ had to produce all the wealth for himself and for his nineteen social parasites, the social and industrial conditions would be in a very deplorable state to both the producer and the non-producers, as compared with those conditions which would exist if the whole twenty persons would be industrious producers, intelligent thinkers and judicious actors. So it is with your society. The producers must support themselves and the vast army of non-producers, which gives but a miserable support to both classes. “But do not understand me here that the Marsites laud and preach poverty like many of your people do, especially the orthodox, who claim that the poor will get their reward in heaven. The Marsites detest poverty and its evil consequences--ignorance, crime, cruelty, dissipation, disease and premature death. Poverty would be an intolerable burden for a Marsite to bear. If the consequences of poverty were as agreeable and produced as much happiness as the consequences of plenty, then poverty would be as good as abundance, and very likely all worlds would always remain poor. “A Marsite then, does not object to the wealth of your wealthy class, but he would strenuously condemn the _method_ by which they acquired their wealth--the method of appropriating it from the products of the productive laborers, because this vicious, unjust method, leaves the greater portion of one’s companions and associates poor, ignorant, uncultivated, narrow, cruel, superstitious, unjust, slavish, slovenly, dissolute and generally invasive; and a cultivated person can feel no safety and find no happiness in living a life under such lamentable conditions; for this reason each Marsite finds pleasure in doing his part in the promotion of universal prosperity, intelligence, broadmindedness, freedom, kindness, culture, justice, order and neatness, purity and non-invasiveness. “This advantage, then, that the rich man has over the poor man, is the point which we are here considering; and, no doubt, all whose sense of equity has not been totally destroyed by vain selfishness, as you call it, and avaricious strife, can easily feel and see this great evil which your unjust system of money entails on the inhabitants of your world on this point. “10. The tenth feature of a just and convenient system of money is, the money must be such that the _payee_ may _accept_ or take the money instead of the actual wealth which the money represents. “On Mars, in a country the size of the United States, there are over 20,000 communities, if all the land is settled, but which it never is, in each of which money is issued and redeemed.