And, of course, these same persons believe that the bulk of the suffering and poverty of the poor is due to drink, to thriftlessness, and to imprudent marriages. I know that many, very many, do believe these things, because I used to meet such persons when I went out lecturing. Now I know that belief to be wrong. I know that if every working man and woman in England turned teetotaler to-morrow, if they all remained single, if they all worked like niggers, if they all worked for twelve hours a day, if they lived on oatmeal and water, and if they saved every farthing they could spare, they would, at the end of twenty years, be a great deal worse off than they are to-day. Sobriety, thrift, industry, skill, self-denial, holiness, are all good things; but they would, if adopted by _all_ the workers, simply enrich the idle and the wicked, and reduce the industrious and the righteous to slavery. Teetotalism will not do; industry will not do; saving will not do; increased skill will not do; keeping single will not do; reducing the population will not do. Nothing _will_ do but _Socialism_. I mean to make these things plain to you if I can. I will begin by answering a statement made by a Tory M.P. As reported in the Press, the M.P. said, "There was nothing to prevent the son of a crossing-sweeper from rising to be Lord Chancellor of England." This, at first sight, would seem to have nothing to do with the theories regarding thrift, temperance, and prudent marriages. But we shall find that it arises from the same error. This error has two faces. On one face it says that any man may do well if he will try, and on the other face it says that those who do not do well have no one but themselves to blame. The error rises from a slight confusion of thought. Men know that a man may rise from the lowest place in life to almost the highest, and they suppose that because one man can do it, _all_ men can do it; they know that if one man works hard, saves, keeps sober, and remains single, he will get more money than other men who drink and spend and take life easily, and they suppose because thrift, single life, industry, and temperance spell success to one man, they would spell success to _all_. I will show you that this is a mistake, and I will show you why it is a mistake. Let us begin with the crossing-sweeper. We are told that "_there is nothing to prevent_ the son of _a_ crossing-sweeper from becoming Lord Chancellor of England." But our M.P. does not mean that there is nothing to prevent the son of some one particular crossing-sweeper from becoming Chancellor; he means that there is nothing to prevent _any_ son of _any_ crossing-sweeper, or the son of _any_ very poor man, from becoming rich and famous. Now, let me show you what nonsense this is. There are in all England, let us say, some 2,000,000 of poor and friendless and untaught boys.