Some time since you intimated in one of your speeches that, if the choice for this country were between Imperialism and Socialism, you were inclined to consider the latter the less evil of the two. You added, I think, your conviction that the dangers of Socialism to human character were what most influenced you against it. I trust that my impression of what you said is substantially correct. Now I myself believe, after a study of the subject extending over twenty years, that this danger is non-existent, and certainly does not in any way apply to the fundamental principles of Socialism, which is, simply, _the voluntary organisation of labour for the good of all_....--With great esteem, I am yours very faithfully, ALFRED R. WALLACE. * * * * * MR. JOHN (LORD) MORLEY TO A.R. WALLACE _57 Elm Park Gardens, S.W. October 31, 1900._ My dear Sir,--For some reason, though your letter is dated the 20th, it has only reached me, along with the two volumes, to-day. I feel myself greatly indebted to you for both. In older days I often mused upon a passage of yours in the "Malay Archipelago" contrasting the condition of certain types of savage life with that of life in a modern industrial city. And I shall gladly turn again to the subject in these pages, new to me, where you come to close quarters with the problem. But my time and my mind are at present neither of them free for the effective consideration of this mighty case. Nor can I promise myself the requisite leisure for at least several months to come. What I can do is to set your arguments a-simmering in my brain, and perhaps when the time of liberation arrives I may be in a state to make something of it. I don't suppose that I shall be a convert, but I always remember J.S. Mill's observation, after recapitulating the evils to be apprehended from Socialism, that he would face them in spite of all, if the only alternative to Socialism were our present state.--With sincere thanks and regard, believe me yours faithfully JOHN MORLEY. * * * * * TO MR. C.G. STUART-MENTEITH _Parkstone, Dorset. June 6, 1901._ Dear Sir,--I have no time to discuss your letter[52] at any length. You seem to assume that we can say definitely who are the "fit" and who the "unfit." I deny this, except in the most extreme cases. I believe that, even now, the race is mostly recruited by the _more fit_--that is the upper working classes and the lower middle classes. Both the very rich and the very poor are probably--as classes--below these. The former increase less rapidly through immorality and late marriage; the latter through excessive infant mortality. If that is the case, no legislative interference is needed, and would probably do harm.