PATH OF WELL BEING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16534, 29 December 1927, Page 10

PATH OF WELL BEING

i ■ '■ LORD BALFOUR OAF WHERE THE SOCIALIST ERRS. LONDON. November 17. The Earl of Balfour was *lhe chief guest at'luncheon of the Individualist Bookshop, Ltd., at the Hotel Cecil, Strand, W.C., when he spoke on iudiI vidualism and Socialism. Points from liis address were:— “You cannot have 100 many rich men. 'lt is quite easy to have too many poor men. That is the goal within the reach of the least competent political experimentalist. “The road to progress is to 1m found in improved knowledge, in the application of science, in improved organisation, and improved harmony between all classes engaged in cooperation. “Socialism never will be carried to its logical conclusions, for I am certain that the mere attempt would be . stopped in mid-journey by the ruin of the society which was attempting to carry it out. “In a country like England there is nobody, or hardly anybody, >who does anything for himself. A great numj her of domestic workers perhaps arc } (lie exception; they do work for | themselves and their families. What I we have got to look to as a community 1 is a general efficiency of production. “Tf you are going to . choose a I particular form or forms of society for carrying on production, the least efficient you can find is one which is represented by a. Government or bureaucracy —a political society. “The Socialist is not in error because he talks nbout common effort. He is in error because he chooses the wrong kiiid of society for carrying out the work. ' “The real path of economic wellbeing along which we must go to raise the material condition of our population is increased efficiency of labor. ”