Now, so far as the matter is a mere question of words, we may call such proposals or measures Socialistic if we like. On grounds of etymology we should be perfectly right in doing so; but we shall see that in that case, with exactly the same propriety, we may apply the word to the institution of Government itself. The Army, the Navy, and more obviously still the Police Force, are all Socialistic in this sense of the word; nor can anything be more completely Socialistic than a public road or a street. In each case a certain something is supported by a common fund for the use of all; and every one is entitled to an equal advantage from it, irrespective of his own deserts, or the amount he has contributed to its support. [Sidenote ◆1 What is called Socialism in this country is a necessary part of every State;] [Sidenote ◆2 And the principle may probably be extended with good results, if not pushed too far.] ◆¹ If, then, we agree to call those measures Socialistic to which the word is popularly applied at present, Socialism, instead of being opposed to Individualism, is its necessary complement, as we may see at once by considering the necessity of public roads and a police force; for the first of these shows us that private property would be inaccessible without the existence of social property; and the second that it would be insecure without the existence of social servants. The good or evil, then, that will result from Socialism, as understood thus, depends altogether on questions of degree and detail. There is no question as to whether we shall be Socialistic or no. ◆² We must be Socialistic; and we always have been, though perhaps without knowing it, as M. Jourdain talked prose. The only question is as to the precise limits to which the Socialistic principle can be pushed with advantage to the greatest number. [Sidenote ◆1 That it can easily be pushed too far is obvious.]