“Our government has no statute laws and has, therefore, no profit, interest, rent and taxes. Your government monopolizes land by the deed system, hence your _rent_. Our government has nothing to do with the ownership of land; every one may occupy and use all the vacant land he wants. Your government monopolizes the making of money, which makes money scarce, hence your _interest_; in our government, each individual gets his money made at the end of each month, and as much as he has produced wealth; money is plenty, and hence no interest. Your government enforces compulsory taxation, whether the individual wants it or not; we have no compulsory taxation. From the foregoing and other monopolizations your profit results. Your government has enacted laws for the collection of debts, hence your many failures and unpaid accounts. Our government has no need of such laws, because we have always plenty of money and, therefore, always pay cash. Your government endeavors to enforce its mandates by an _external_ agency of soldier and policeman, while our governmental force resides in the internal promptings of the individual. The desire of the non-invasive individual is the highest authority on Mars. “Of course we all understand that your government, as a whole, is better now than it ever was before. The government of the United States, in many respects, is perhaps better than any of its predecessors or any of its contemporaries. But you must remember that all ages had a _best_ government. The question is not whether it is the _best_ that ever was, but whether it is faultless. _Best_ is not good enough unless it is _faultless_. Can we find any faults? If so, we should labor to remove them. “I do not desire to have you understand me that I blame your government or your rich men for what they have done, or for what they are now doing. Under the same conditions the Marsites did the same things. With the _present_ amount of intelligence, human conduct, in your world, is just about what it should be; and the only force in the universe that can ever change that course is additional intelligence. All your labor for advancement, then, should be most economically directed in the diffusion and assimilation of this additional intelligence. As long as a person is ignorant enough, he does not feel the burden unjustly imposed upon him by others; but as he grows in intelligence, the bearer of the burden becomes continually more sensitive to its weight, and the imposition becomes continually more repugnant to the imposer. Let us remember, then, that all wrong and injustice arise from ignorance. Intelligence is the only motive power that can move the physical world to higher and nobler planes.” “Do you have insane asylums, Mr. Midith?” asked Mrs. Uwins.