◆¹ Let me then repeat that we start with assuming cupidity as not only the general foundation, but also as the inevitable, the natural, and the right foundation, of the interest which ordinary men of all classes take in politics. We assume that where the ordinary man, of whatever class or party, votes for a member of Parliament, or supports any political measure, he is primarily actuated by one of two hopes, or both of them—the first being the hope of securing the continuance of his present income, the second being the hope of increasing it. Now, to secure what they have already got is the hope of all classes; but to increase it by legislation is the hope of the poorer only. It is of course perfectly true that the rich as well as the poor are anxious, as a rule, to increase their incomes when they can; but they expect to do so by their own ability and enterprise, and they look to legislation for merely such negative help as may be given by affording their abilities fair play. [Sidenote ◆1 The poor alone look for an increase of income by direct legislative means. They are right in doing this.] [Sidenote ◆2 The cupidity which this book chiefly deals with is the cupidity of the poorer classes.] ◆¹ But with the poorer classes the case is entirely different. They look to legislation for help of a direct and positive kind, which may tend to increase their incomes, without any new effort of their own: and not only do they do this themselves, but the richer classes sympathise with the desire that makes them do so. It is, for instance, by no means amongst the poorer classes only that the idea of seizing on the land, without compensating the owners, has found favour as a remedy for distress and poverty generally. Owners of every kind of property, except land, have been found to advocate it; whilst as to such vaguer and less startling proposals, as the “restoration of the labourer to the soil,” the limitation of the hours of labour, or the gradual acquirement by the State of many of our larger industries—the persistent way in which these are being kept before the public, is due quite as much to men of means as to poor men. ◆² It is then with the cupidity of the poorer classes that we are chiefly concerned to deal; and the great question before us may briefly be put thus: By what sort of social legislation may the incomes of the poorer classes—or, in other words, the incomes of the great mass of the community—be, in the first place, made more constant; and, in the second place, increased? [Sidenote ◆1 The first question to ask is: What is the maximum amount which it would be theoretically possible for them to obtain? For this is much exaggerated.]