◆¹ I will speak first of the kind of legislation, popularly called Socialistic, which certain people now regard with so much hope, and others with corresponding dread; and I shall show that both of these extreme views rest on a complete misconception of what this so-called Socialism is. For what is popularly called Socialism in this country, so far as it has ever been advocated by any political party, or has been embodied in any measure passed or even proposed in Parliament, ◆² does not embody what is really the distinctive principle of Socialism. Socialism, regarded as a reasoned body of doctrine, rests altogether on a peculiar theory of production, to which already I have made frequent reference—a theory according to which the faculties of men are so equal that one man produces as much wealth as another; or, if any man produces more, he is so entirely indifferent as to whether he enjoys what he produces or no, that he would go on producing it just the same, if he knew that the larger part would at once be taken away from him. Hence Socialists argue that the existing rewards of Ability are altogether superfluous, and that the existing system of production, which rests on their supposed necessity, can be completely revolutionised and made equally efficacious without them. [Sidenote ◆1 As all the so-called Socialistic legislation in this country rests on the very system of production which professed Socialists aim at destroying.] But whatever may be the opinions of a few dreamers or theorists, or however in the future these opinions may spread, the fundamental principle of Socialism, up to the present time, has never been embodied in any measure or proposal which has been advocated in this country by any practical party. ◆¹ On the contrary, the proposals and measures which are most frequently denounced as Socialistic—even one so extreme as that of free meals for children at Board Schools—all presuppose the system of production which is existing, and thus rest on the very foundation which professed Socialists would destroy.[55] They merely represent so many ways—wise or unwise—of distributing a public revenue, which consists almost entirely of taxes on an income produced by the forces of Individualism.