Mankind in the MakingWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Philosophy
Mankind in the Making
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Social problems; Social sciences
There are certain lines of action in this matter that cannot but be
beneficial, and it is upon these that the New Republican will, no doubt,
go. One excellent thing, for example, would be to insist that beyond
the limits of a reasonable amount of personal property, the community
is justified in demanding a much higher degree of efficiency in the
property-holder than in the case of the common citizen, to require him
or her to be not only sane but capable, equal mentally and bodily to a
great charge. The heir to a great property should possess a satisfactory
knowledge of social and economic science, and should have studied with
a view to his great responsibilities. The age of twenty-one is scarcely
high enough for the management of a great estate, and to raise the
age of free administration for the owners of great properties, and to
specify a superannuation age would be a wise and justifiable measure.
[Footnote: Something of the sort is already secured in France by the
power of the _Conseil de Famille_ to expropriate a spendthrift.]
There should also be a possibility of intervention in the case of
maladministration, and a code of offences--habitual drunkenness, for
example, assaults of various kinds--offences that established the fact
of unfitness and resulted in deposition, might be drawn up. It might be
found desirable in the case of certain crimes and misdemeanours, to add
to existing penalties the transfer of all real or share properties to
trustees. Vigorous confiscation is a particularly logical punishment for
the proven corruption of public officers by any property owner or group
of property owners. Rich men who bribe are a danger to any state. Beyond
the limits of lunacy it might be possible to define a condition of
malignancy or ruthlessness that would justify confiscation, attempts to
form corners in the necessities of life, for example, could be taken
as evidence of such a condition. All such measures as this would be
far more beneficial than the immediate improvement they would effect
in public management. They would infect the whole social body with the
sense that property was saturated with responsibility and was in effect
a trust, and that would be a good influence upon rich and poor alike.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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