PARTY GOVERNMENT 197

greater or less wisdom; so, in a free country, there will be more
than one party. Second, that no one person can do all the work
of Government, nor can he hope to find many who agree with
him on every topic; the individual's only chance of influencing
the Government is to ally with those of similar opinions and
frame with them a policy representing the highest common
factor of agreement; so there will not be as many parties as
there are citizens.

Party politics, in one form or another, have invariably
accompanied liberty; yet they are one of the commonest objects
of criticism. On the one hand it is said that they divide the
nation; on the other, that they mass individuals into groups
and stifle independent thought. Examination of the form taken
by the party system in Great Britain will enable the validity of
these criticisms to be tested.

CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM.

It is first necessary to discuss the frequently used terms
Capitalism and Socialism. In the present Capitalist order of
society most of the land, factories and other equipment for
the production of wealth are owned by private persons, using
their ownership to secure profit for themselves. These owners
form a minority of the population; the majority live wholly or
mainly by their work; there is legal liberty for everyone .to work
as he pleases, to save and to acquire property. Defenders of
this system argue that the possibility of becoming better off
acts as a stimulus to hard work and thrift, so that the total of
wealth is increased; that since those who manage industry are
the owners of it they will do their best to see that it produces
what the public wants; for it is by such production that profits
are made. Thus Capitalism might be said to take the powerful
desire, implanted in everyone, to do well for himself and his
family, and enlist it in the service of abundant and efficient
production. Supporters of Capitalism will admit that it often
falls short of its ideal; that the inheritance of property allows