Lord Balfour of Burleigh presided at a meeting of the
British Constitution Association held in London on Wednesday afternoon. His address was one of the ablest exposures of the fallacies and perils of Socialism delivered in the present controversy. He came to close quarters, and showed by a series of pertinent questions how sophistical are the arguments which support the demands of his opponents. "How," he asked, "under the proposed system, is the value of any given service, whether it be that of the agriculturist, the chimney. sweep, the carpenter, the blacksmith, the postman, or the driver of a motor-car, to be valued P The demand for no article, in however common use that article may be, remains constant. Varying quantities of the commonest articles are used by each household from day to day. Under our present system private enterprise for private gain brings together supply and demand." How would the public anthority know how many suits of clothes to put into stock for use in his district six months or a year hence P And what about the pattern chosen P Is individnal taste to be consulted, or is it not P Again, who is to select and determine careers for children P Here Lord Balfour put his finger on an essential point. Our present system secures a freedom of choice which is essential if human nature is to remain what it is. The Socialists will no doubt tell us that under their system it will not remain what it is, but be immensely improved. The fact that they are obliged to say this is surely nothing less than a proof of the impracticability of their schemes, or at any rate of their impracticability short of the enslavement of the human race.
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