[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, I have read
with interest Mr. Hamilton Fyfe's letter and your able reply. The allusion of his American friend to " King Canute and the waves " reminds me of that poem by William Watson where, speaking of the sea, he says : " Though haply on the morrow she shall rise. And summon her infernal Ministers— And charge her everlasting barriers—
With wild white fingers snatching at the skies."
These last two lines describe, to my mind, the policy of the extreme Socialists. The everlasting barrier is Capitalism.
They can destroy capital ; they are doing it now ; they can even destroy capitalists—as they did in Russia—but they can never destroy capitalism. It is natural for man to acquire and to possess, and until that instinct can be eliminated from human nature capitalism will continue to be the basis of all material progress. He speaks airily of the breakdown of the
capitalist system, but I have watched for more than fifty years the operation of this system and have seen the striking improve-
ment in the conditions of life of the people. I have seen the savings of the thrifty, under the Limited Liability Acts, invested in industry and commerce leading to a tremendous expansion of wealth in which, broadly speaking, all have shared.
For the shareholders, Mr. Fyfe has only the usual So'cialist abuse. They are " parasites," animated by greed, cruelty, and class hatred ; while the workers are " wage slaves " ground under the heel of oppression, but full of the beatific . vision of life under a Soviet, government. Was there ever a more absurd travesty of the facts 1 The slogan " Wage Slaves" is not only unfair, but false. My experience is that the so- called " Wage Slaves " control the industrial situation to a large extent, and at the present time are in many instances getting more out of the industry than it can afford, and capital is being depleted—that is, the wage fund is being depleted—. to such an extent that unemployment and poverty are bound to follow.
With Mr. Fyfe's ideals for the betterment of the workers I have every sympathy—and have indeed devoted my life largely to this end—but his method, I am convinced, is false. He is snatching at the skies with wild white fingers—but he will never pass the everlasting barrier.—I am, Sir, &c.
Tubal Works, Barrhead, tar. Glasgow.
WILLIAM SHANKS.
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