man, instincts are combined, aggregated, and amalgamated so as to form
a real hard rock, by virtue of a law of dynamics which is carefully
studied by social economists, those geologists of politics. These men,
who grouped themselves under different appellations, but who may all
be designated by the generic title of socialists, tried to pierce this
rock and cause the living waters of human felicity to gush forth; their
labors embraced all questions, from that of the scaffold to that of
war, and they added to the rights of man as proclaimed by the French
revolutions, the rights of the woman and the child.
For various reasons we cannot thoroughly discuss here, from the
theoretical point of view, the questions raised by socialism, and we
limit ourselves to an indication of them. All the questions which the
socialists proposed--laying aside cosmogonic visions, reverie, and
mysticism--may be carried back to two original problems, the first of
which is, to produce wealth, and the second, to distribute it. The
first problem contains the question of labor, the second the question
of wages; in the first, the point is the employment of strength, and
in the second, the distribution of enjoyments. From a good employment
of strength results public power, and from a good distribution of
enjoyments individual happiness. By good distribution we mean, not
equal, but equitable, distribution, for the first equality is equity.
From these two things--combined public power abroad and individual
happiness at home--results social prosperity; that is to say, man
happy, the citizen free, and the nation great.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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