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All rights take their origin in the natural rights of man; and of these, says Cabet, there are only two, namely, (1) "his right to existence, and (2) his right to freely exercise all his physical and intellectual faculties."

"If men are equal in the freedom and exercise of their natural rights, they are also entitled to an equal share of justice. For instance, if a a stout and powerful man should want twice as much food as others, he has a just claim, in virtue of his natural right to existence, to demand a double portion of food. But if there is not food enough for all, his claim must be lessened, for he would not be justified in exercising his natural right to the injury of others. In such a case, all will have to abate their demands for food."

The communistic state will also demand from all its citizens an equal performance of the duties incumbent upon each citizen; for, as Cabet says, in a communistic state all people are associates. "In Icaria, all the people are associates, and equal in rights and duties; they form but one family, whose members are all united by the ties of fraternity."

CHAPTER XIX.-EQUALITY IN THE CLAIMS TO HAPPINESS.

THE

HE claim to happiness is a correlative to man's natural right of existence. Babeuf says:-"Nature has given to each individual an equal right to the enjoyment of all the goods of life." The equality of these claims is beautifully argued by Mr. Mill, who says: "The principle of utility, or the greatest happiness principle, is a mere form of words without rational signification, unless one person's happiness is counted for exactly as much as another's. Those conditions being supplied, Bentham's dictum, 'Everybody to count for one, nobody for more than one,' might be written under the principle of utility as an explanatory commentary."

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Mr. Mill also states that equality of goods must be the inevitable consequence of the satisfaction of these claims, saying: The equal claim of everybody to happiness, in the estimation of the moralist and the legislator, involves an equal claim to all the means of happiness."

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CHAPTER XX.-EQUALITY OF THE AGES.

YOMMUNISTS view this form of equality under two aspects; first, in relation to the equality, which is common to all the four ages, and secondly, in relation to the equality to be established amongst the members of different ages.

All human beings, of whatever age, have the same claim to the satisfaction of their natural wants. Children, youths, young and old persons, all want food, shelter, sleep, recreation, and enjoyment. The satisfaction of these wants may vary within an unimportant fraction for the various ages, the same as for each separate individual, but, on the whole, the quantity of food consumed by children, young and old people, the cloth used by each class, the shelter required by all, will vary very little in quantity and quality. It is rather remarkable that children in robust health can eat quite as much as grown-up persons, and that they wear out in their careless way quite as much clothing as adults. There is therefore a natural equality common to all the ages, and the claims derived from it can be satisfied by an almost equal distribution of food, cloth, shelter, and other means of rendering the life of all healthy, comfortable, and joyous.

When Robert Owen says, "Nature has defined the only true inequality that can justly exist; it is the inequality proceeding from age," he seems to have overlooked the natural equality common to all the four ages. His statement, however, does not exclude the equality which may reign amongst the members of each age.

The realization of the equality of membership in each age is the great purpose of the communistic doctrine, and it is at once an answer to Mr. Stephen's statement that "the difference of ages is a distinct case of inequality." How all children and youths are maintained and educated on the principle of equality, how they are all equally and gradually accustomed and trained to the performance of the duties of life, how manhood is kept to activity by equally sharing all the dangers and hardships of physical labour, and how old age may enjoy repose, has been detailed in previous chapters. Nothing is more praiseworthy than the regard which Communism pays to

each of the four ages of men, by appointing to each duties commensurate with its physical and intellectual growth and decline. The communistic organization will in this respect show a marked contrast with the present state of society, in which youths and old men are often seen to break down under the burden of heavy physical labour, whilst robust manhood is but too frequently engaged in work and occupations which would be better fitted for children and old age.

Equality in the treatment of children is especially demanded on account of the utter helplessness of infancy, childhood, and youth to work out their own destiny; and as no one can know beforehand what special aptitudes and talents the children may possess, all educational appliances and systems of training must be worked on a plan of absolute equality. In a communistic state no more children will be born with silver spoons in their mouths. The same liberal education will be provided for all.

Of this education Cabet says:-" After the age of three years, and as soon as children can speak, they are associated for some hours every day to take a walk or to play. This is done for a double purpose; first, it is highly conducive to fortify health, and, secondly, it is greatly valued by communists as the first means of awaking in children the instinct of sociability, by which they will become attached to each other, and which, when they grow up, will develop itself into the strong feeling of fraternity and equality."

Babeuf expects the same benefits from education enjoyed in a communistic state, saying:-"The children being educated in common, and living constantly together, will soon learn to commingle their happiness with that of others, being removed from the contagion of self-interest and ambition."

Cabet lays the greatest stress upon the necessity of education, saying: "Without education, community life is impossible, for it is chiefly education which prepares us both for the duties and enjoyments of life."

CHAPTER XXI.-EQUALITY OF THE SEXES.

"Man was the problem of the eighteenth century; woman is the problem of the nineteenth century. No, I shall never cease to say it, the problem is laid down and it must be solved. She who bears half the burden ought to have half the right. Half of the human race is deprived of equality; it must be given to them."-VICTOR HUGO.

ALL adversaries of Communism have greedily seized the fact

of women's physical and intellectual difference from man as a striking instance of inequality. Mr. Stephen says:-"The physical differences between the two sexes affect every part of the human body. Men are stronger than women in every shape. They have greater muscular power and nervous force, greater intellectual force, greater vigour of character.”

Mr. Mill administers, however, two pungent rebukes to psychologists of Mr. Stephen's stamp, saying:—“The profoundest knowledge of the laws of the formation of character is indispensable to entitle anyone to affirm even that there is any difference, much more what the difference is, between the two sexes considered as moral and rational beings; and since no one, as yet, has that knowledge, no one is thus far entitled to any positive opinion on the subject." And again, “When women have had the preparation which all men now require to be eminently original, it will be time enough to begin judging by experience of their capacity for originality."

Adducing historical facts, Mr. Mill says:-"The Spartan women were more free than those of other Greek states, and being trained to bodily exercises in the same manner with men, gave ample proof that they were not naturally disqualified for them. There can be little doubt that Spartan experience suggested to Plato, among many others of his doctrines, that of the social and political equality of the two sexes."

"In literature (both prose and poetry) women have done quite as much as could be expected from the length of time and the number of competitors. If we go back to the earlier period, when very few women made the attempt, yet some of The Greeks those few made it with distinguished success. always accounted Sapho among their great poets; and we may well suppose that Myrtis, said to have been the teacher of

Pindar, and Corinna, who five times bore away from him the prize of poetry, must at least have had sufficient merit to admit of being compared with that great name. Aspasia did not leave any philosophical writings, but it is an admitted fact that Socrates resorted to her for instruction, and avowed himself to have obtained it."

The following opinion which Mr. Mill holds of women's intellectual capabilities closely resembles that entertained by Plato:"Women, compared with men, may be found, on the average, to do the same things, with some variety in the particular kind of excellence. But that they would do them fully as well on the whole if their education* and cultivation were adapted to correcting instead of aggravating the infirmities incident to their temperament, I see not the smallest reason to doubt."

But even were women only half as strong, half as intelligent half as vigorous in character and moral force as men, it would as little establish inequality in a communistic state as the difference between weak and strong men affects the equal distribution for the equal satisfaction of their natural wants. If the weak man can only do half the amount of the work performed by the strong one, the communistic state will be satisfied with it, and the weak man having done his duty by exerting to the utmost the strength which nature has allotted to him, will be rewarded just the same as the strong one should he require an equal amount of the means of subsistence and enjoyment. The same, if women cannot do the same amount of physical labour as men, they will, nevertheless, be

* In the year 1875 two ladies were graduated with the law class in Iowa State University.

"It is officially announced in Maine that any woman who has been ordained to preach for any organized religious denomination, on proof of such fact and proper recommendation by any persons personally known to the Governor, will be appointed to solemnize marriages in any part of the State. Any woman who has duties to discharge in a public or private office, or in any other position where the discharge of the duties imposed upon her makes it necessary or convenient that she should receive the authority, will be appointed to take acknowledgment of deeds and affidavits, as well as to solemnize marriages, for the county in which she resides, on furnishing the Governor with appropriate recommendations of citizens generally known to him."-The Times, May 17th, 1875.

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