Such arguments are not to be swept aside with a wave of the hand. It is perfectly3 true that every one cannot have the best of things; and it is in the nature of things that some boots should be better and some worse. To some people, either by sheer good luck, or through the strength of their determination to have them, the exquisitely4 good boots, those of the finest leather and the most artistic5 cut, will fall. I have never denied that. Nobody dreams of a time when every one will have exactly as good boots as every one else; I am not preaching any such childish and impossible equality. But it is a long way from recognising that there must be a certain picturesque6 and interesting variety in this matter of foot-wear, to the admission that a large majority of people can never hope for more than to be shod in a manner that is frequently painful, uncomfortable, unhealthy, or unsightly. That admission I absolutely refuse to make. There is enough good leather in the world to make good sightly boots and shoes for all who need them, enough men at leisure and enough power and machinery7 to do all the work required, enough unemployed8 intelligence to organise9 the shoemaking and shoe distribution for everybody. What stands in the way?
Let us put that question in a rather different form. Here on the one hand—you can see for yourself in any unfashionable part of Great Britain—are people badly, uncomfortably, painfully shod, in old boots, rotten boots, sham10 boots; and on the other great stretches of land in the world, with unlimited11 possibilities of cattle and leather and great numbers of people, who, either through wealth or trade disorder12, are doing no work. And our question is: “Why cannot the latter set to work and make and distribute boots?”
Imagine yourself trying to organise something of this kind of Free Booting expedition; and consider the difficulties you would meet with. You would begin by looking for a lot of leather. Imagine yourself setting off to South America, for example, to get leather; beginning at the very beginning by setting to work to kill and flay13 a herd14 of cattle. You find at once you are interrupted. Along comes your first obstacle in the shape of a man who tells you the cattle and the leather belong to him. You explain that the leather is wanted for people who have no decent boots in England. He says he does not care a rap what you want it for; before you may take it from him you have to buy him off; it is his private property, this leather, and the herd and the land over which the herd ranges. You ask him how much he wants for his leather; and he tells you frankly15, just as much as he can induce you to give.
If he chanced to be a person of exceptional sweetness of disposition16, you might perhaps argue with him. You might point out to him that this project of giving people splendid boots was a fine one that would put an end to much human misery. He might even sympathise with your generous enthusiasm; but you would, I think, find him adamantine in his resolve to get just as much out of you for his leather as you could with the utmost effort pay.
Suppose now you said to him: “But how did you come by this land and these herds17, so that you can stand between them and the people who have need of them, exacting18 this profit?” He would probably either embark19 upon a long rigmarole, or, what is much more probable, lose his temper and decline to argue. Pursuing your doubt as to the rightfulness of his property in these things, you might admit he deserved a certain reasonable fee for the rough care he had taken of the land and herds. But cattle breeders are a rude, violent race; and it is doubtful if you would get far beyond your proposition of a reasonable fee. You would in fact have to buy off this owner of the leather at a good thumping20 price—he exacting just as much as he could get from you—if you wanted to go on with your project.
Well, then you would have to get your leather here; and, to do that, you would have to bring it by railway and ship to this country. And here again you would find people without any desire or intention of helping21 your project, standing22 in your course, resolved to make every possible penny out of you on your way to provide sound boots for every one. You would find the railway was private property, and had an owner or owners; you would find the ship was private property, with an owner or owners; and that none of these would be satisfied for a moment with a mere23 fee adequate to their services. They too would be resolved to make every penny of profit out of you. If you made inquiries24 about the matter, you would probably find the real owners of railway and ship were companies of shareholders25, and that the profit squeezed out of your poor people’s boots at this stage went to fill the pockets of old ladies at Torquay, spendthrifts in Paris, well-booted gentlemen in London clubs, all sorts of glossy26 people....
Well, you get the leather to England at last; and now you want to make it into boots. You take it to a centre of population, invite workers to come to you, erect27 sheds and machinery upon a vacant piece of ground, and start off in a sort of fury of generous industry, boot-making.... Do you? There comes along an owner for that vacant piece of ground, declares it is his property, demands an enormous sum for rent. And your workers all round you, you find, cannot get house room until they too have paid rent—every inch of the country is somebody’s property, and a man may not shut his eyes for an hour without the consent of some owner or other. And the food your shoemakers eat, the clothes they wear, have all paid tribute and profit to land-owners, cart-owners, house-owners, endless tribute over and over and above the fair pay for work that has been done upon them....
So one might go on. But you begin to see now one set of reasons at least why every one has not good comfortable boots. There could be plenty of leather; and there is certainly plenty of labour and quite enough intelligence in the world to manage that and a thousand other desirable things. But this institution of Private Property in land and naturally produced things, these obstructive claims that prevent you using ground, or moving material, and that have to be bought out at exorbitant28 prices, stand in the way. All these owners hang like parasites29 upon your enterprise at its every stage; and, by the time you get your sound boots well made in England, you will find them costing about a pound a pair—high out of the reach of the general mass of people. And you will perhaps not think me fanciful and extravagant30 when I confess that when I realise this, and look at poor people’s boots in the street, and see them cracked and misshapen and altogether nasty, I seem to see also a lot of little phantom31 land-owners, cattle-owners, house-owners, owners of all sorts, swarming32 over their pinched and weary feet like leeches33, taking much and giving nothing, and being the real cause of all such miseries.
Now is this a necessary and unavoidable thing?—that is our question. Is there no other way of managing things than to let these property-owners exact their claims, and squeeze comfort, pride, happiness, out of the lives of the common run of people? Because, of course, it is not only the boots they squeeze into meanness and badness. It is the claim and profit of the land-owner and house-owner that make our houses so ugly, shabby, and dear, that make our roadways and railways so crowded and inconvenient34, that sweat our schools, our clothing, our food—boots we took merely by way of one example of a universal trouble.
Well, there are a number of people who say there is a better way and that the world could be made infinitely35 better in all these matters, made happier and better than it ever has been in these respects, by refusing to have private property in all these universally necessary things. They say that it is possible to have the land administered, and such common and needful things as leather produced, and boots manufactured, and no end of other such generally necessary services carried on, not for the private profit of individuals, but for the good of all. They propose that the State should take away the land, and the railways, and shipping36, and many great organised enterprises from their owners, who use them simply to squeeze the means for a wasteful37 private expenditure38 out of the common mass of men, and should administer all these things, generously and boldly, not for profit, but for service. It is this idea of extracting profit they hold which is the very root of the evil. These are the Socialists39; and they are the only people who do hold out any hope of far-reaching change that will alter the present dingy40 state of affairs, of which this painful wretchedness of boots is only one typical symbol.
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1
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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3
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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5
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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6
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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7
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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8
unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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organise
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| vt.组织，安排，筹办 | |
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10
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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11
unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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12
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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13
flay
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| vt.剥皮；痛骂 | |
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14
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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16
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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21
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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23
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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shareholders
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| n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 ) | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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27
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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28
exorbitant
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| adj.过分的；过度的 | |
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29
parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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30
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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31
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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32
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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33
leeches
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| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
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34
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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36
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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37
wasteful
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| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
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38
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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39
socialists
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| 社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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40
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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