of man over his fellows is absolute and complete. It is not necessary to show that it is the ruling class who own the earth—the owners of the earth must be the ruling class. CHAPTER XIV RULES GOVERNING PENAL CODES AND THEIR VICTIMS The rulers make penal codes for the regulation and control of the earth and all the property thereon—the earth which was made long ages before they were evolved, and will still remain ages after they are dust. Not only do they make these rules to control the earth for their brief, haughty lives, but they provide that it may pass from hand to hand forever. The generations now living, or rather those that are dead and gone, fixed the status of unborn millions, and decreed that they shall have no place to live except upon such terms as may be dictated by those who then controlled the earth. To retain all the means of life in the hands of the few and compel the many to do service to support these few requires the machinery of the state. It is for this that penal laws are made, and the effort of the despoiled to reach out in their despair and obtain a small portion of the natural heritage of all, is directly and indirectly the basis of all property assaults. Every person who has observed cattle knows that if the pasture is good the animals are quiet, and will stay where they are placed; but let the pasture grow thin until hunger comes and they will learn to jump. There were never cattle so quiet and well behaved that they could not be made to jump, and never cattle so breachy that they could not be made tame. Even successive generations of starving and abuse will not so far pervert their nature but that successive generations of kind treatment will bring them back to a peaceful, gentle life. Human beings are like cattle in a field. They are cattle in a field. Give them a chance to live and prosper, and violent acts will be unknown; but bring them close to the line of starvation or want and their natural rights assert themselves above the forms and laws that man has made to hold the earth and enslave his fellows. Of course here and there may be found cases where generations of outlawry and exploitation have left their marks upon men, until they seem to prefer this life; but in those cases fair treatment would generally remove this in the first generation, and always before many generations had come and gone.