Men of Ability.

 There is in England a society that is called " The Fabian." It professes to represent the Socialists, who are doubtless to be found here and there in Great Britain, and now and then it advocates socialism in magazine articles and pamphlets. A few months ago it issued a more or less intelligible document, which was said to be the preliminary of a manifesto, that has never since been heard of in the politics of the United Kingdom or of any other country. Of its members little is known. Some may be young men who are filled with an enthusiasm for humanity, and who have not learned that they can best serve their country and their fellows by doing some honest manual or intellectual work that is required at the present time ; others may be middle-aged men, who have failed to achieve the extravagant ambitions of their youth, and who still hope that under a system of state socialism they might acquire an influence which is refused to them at the present time by the constituencies. But nothing is to be gained by discussing the merits or the demerits, the occasional wisdom or the many literary follies and logical blunders, of the Fabian Society. It has nothing to say that is new; it has not shown the slightest desire to test the socialist theories by experiments. It repeats theories that are stale to Englishman, who in their practical and matter-of-fact way have tried socialist schemes and found them wanting ; and it has not the courage shown by the promoters of the New Australia movement, who have honestly, though it may be unsuccessfully, attempted to translate their ideas into deeds.

The Fabian Society in itself is not worth a minute's thought by the people in the colonies, who know perfectly well that, even if a grant is given by the Government, the mining industry and the agricultural industry must be carried on by private enterprise, and who bear no grudge against any man who has worked and lived in the colony because he may have happened to make a bigger profit than someone else. Since the first rush to Ballarat and Bendigo there was never a time in the history of Victoria when hard work in the way of prospecting for gold or of cultivating the soil, when as a matter of fact the labour and skill and capital and courage of the individual settler were more required than at the present moment. But the Fabian Society has achieved one triumph. It has given Mr. W. H. MALLOCK the opportunity of dilating on a fact that we have often referred to in our own columns. That fact is that the wealth of the industrial world in modern times has been made by the ability of the few, by the intellectual genius of a small minority. It is claimed by the Socialists that wealth is simply the result of labour. What truth is there in this proposition ? The working man is paid a certain amount for the building of a house, or for the making of a railway, or for any other project. When the job is over his work comes to an end. He has done his duty, but he is not able to make even a suggestion as to how employment can be made both permanent and productive. The same remark may be applied to all the professions. The clergyman, the medical man, the barrister, the engineer, the architect—all of these people simply undertake to do a certain amount of work for the current rate of remuneration. When that is done they have no further hint to give to the community; they themselves have to trust to chance or nature or the law of averages or something else for their next opportunity of employment.

But now and then there appears the able man, the man of ability and originality, who is able to give employment to thousands of people. He may be a great inventor, or he may be a man of exceptionally good judgment in matters of commerce, or he may be a pioneer in new countries, or he may have a practical geological knowledge and become a discoverer of new mining fields. The inventions, however, and the expansion of commerce and the discovery of new mines are all due to the enterprise and the ingenuity and the ability of a few men. It is not capital or labour that provides work. The capitalist, unless he be grievously misled, only embarks upon an enterprise from which he expects a moderate rate of interest. The labourer, whether professional or manual, must be content with the work that is offered to him. At this hour it may be said, in spite of the depression, that a certain number of investors will draw dividends and that a certain number of workmen will receive wages in this colony of Victoria throughout the year. But this fact, however satisfactory it may be, does not increase employment. England, without its inventions and without its commercial enterprise, would only maintain about a fifth of its present population. What would have been the position if GEORGE STEPHENSON had not built a little railway ? What would the country have been if the steam blast had never been heard of in the working of iron ? What would have occurred if BESSEMER had not discovered a cheap process of making steel, and turned the latter end of the nineteenth century into the age of steel? What would happen if manufacturers and merchants were suddenly bereft of all stimulus to find out foreign markets, and in this way make work for their fellow-countrymen? The matter may be put in this way. As a rule, we work for a certain object that only gives employment to a small number of people for a time. The great inventor or the great man of business comes, and, indirectly through his individual energy, he gives an opportunity of employment to thousands. And, as the Socialists admit, the men of intellect are few and far between.

In a country like Great Britain, which possesses the savings of three centuries, and in which there has been both the greatest individual and public enterprise in commercial and industrial affairs, it might be possible for a socialist Government to find work for everybody during a few years. But, as Mr. MALLOCK points out, this would be simply ruinous. What is wanted, what by an inexorable law of nature is essential, is productive industry. It is easy to squander the savings of the past, but the real problem is to make savings for the future. There is no guarantee that this problem can be solved by the state. It is the men of ability, not the capitalists or the labourers, who provide employment and make a general prosperity. This minority is the more entitled to consideration because, as Mr. MALLOCK shows, the great bulk of the people are not anxious for any industrial change, even though it may benefit them in the long run. They are content to go on from day to day and week to week and year to year. It is only a few men who ever feel a desire to make innovations in the industrial methods. Some of those few have made fortunes ; some have been shamefully paid. But would any one of them—and this is the question that affects all socialist theories—sweat out his brains if he knew that he could easily obtain a maximum Government salary of £800, and that he could by no possibility get another penny ? Experience gives answer.

Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Monday 19 March 1894, page 4