that, for the immediate future at least, self-interest promises to be
much more widespread than altruism. The love of gain may not be the
highest motive in life, but it is better than none, and for a long
time to come it will probably be the one which appeals most strongly
to the average man. Socialists and non-socialists alike deplore the
domination which self-interest exercises over human affairs. But
whereas the non-socialist wisely tries to adapt a program of
industrial reform to this hard fact, many socialists appear to believe
that because the principle of self-interest often works out badly,
they ought to act as though that principle did not exist.

158. SOCIALIST THEORY OF DISTRIBUTION UNSOUND.--Both socialists and
non-socialists admit that poverty is an undesirable condition. But
over the method of improving the condition of the poor the socialist
and the non-socialist disagree. The defender of capitalism begins by
pointing out that, under competitive conditions, the unskilled laborer
is poor primarily because his labor is not highly productive. The
socialist ignores this fact, and insists that the laborer shall
receive a share of wealth which shall be adequate to his needs. As we
shall have occasion to point out in the next chapter, this attitude of
the socialist indicates a fundamental defect in his theory. Socialism
pays more attention to who shall eat and how much shall be eaten, than
it does to the more fundamental question of how food is to be
produced, and how much can actually be produced. Laws may oblige an
employer to give his workmen twice as much as they add to the value of
his product, but though this will benefit the workmen while it lasts,
such a practice would, if widely adopted, lead to industrial
bankruptcy. [Footnote: It is assumed, in this section, that the
productivity of the laborer is determined from the point of view of
the employer. This is in accordance with the productivity theory which