It is this sociological and psychological truth that even the clearest-headed amongst the socialists are continually forgetting. They perceive it at one moment, at the next moment they entirely forget it, and solemnly proceed to build up their visionary polity on foundations which their own arguments had previously condemned. A curious example of this “_inability_,” as Mr. Spencer calls it, “_to comprehend assembled propositions in their totality_” is to be found in a remarkable passage by Mr. Sidney Webb. Having observed that “_socialists would nationalise both rent and interest by the State becoming the sole landowner and capitalist_,” he goes on to acknowledge that great fundamental fact which it is the main object of the present work to elucidate. “_Such an arrangement, however_,” he says, “_would leave untouched the third monopoly—the largest of them all—the monopoly of business ability_.” In these last words he appears to be like a Daniel {281} come to judgment. He recognises in the fact that the few have a natural monopoly of faculties, the exercise of which is required for the progressive well-being of all, a genuine and a formidable difficulty in the way of the realisation of socialism; but now comes the passage for the sake of which these others have been quoted. Great as this difficulty is, he tells us, “_the more recent socialists_” have devised a way for getting over it. And what does the reader think this way is? It has at all events the merit of being very simple. “_The more recent socialists_,” says Mr. Webb, “_attack this third monopoly also by allotting to every worker an equal wage, whatever may be the nature of his work_.”