struggle tends to injure the very class which seeks to gain by
advocating it, for true and permanent prosperity for the laboring
class (as well as for all other classes) can result only when all of
the factors of production work together harmoniously. Fundamentally
the quarrel between capital and labor [Footnote: The phrase "capital
and labor" is loose and inaccurate, but is in common use. Used in this
sense the word "capital" refers to the capitalist and employing
classes, while the word "labor" refers to the workers. See Section
181, Chapter XVIII, for a fuller discussion.] is as suicidal as though
the arms of a human body refused to coöperate with the other members.
There are, indeed, many antagonisms between capital and labor, but
socialism seeks to foment, rather than to eliminate them. Socialism
preaches social solidarity and prosperity for all, but by inciting the
class struggle it makes for class hatred and a disharmony between
capital and labor which decreases prosperity and threatens economic
ruin.

162. HISTORY HAS DISPROVED SOCIALISM.--Karl Marx bases his theory of a
future socialist state upon a number of predictions, none of which has
come true. According to Marx, socialism was inevitable. He declared
that the centralization of wealth in the hands of the capitalists, on
the one hand, and the increasing misery of the workers on the other,
would accentuate the class struggle and bring about the downfall of
capitalism. As a matter of fact, laws are more and more restricting
the undue concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. The middle
classes, far from disappearing, as Marx predicted, are increasing in
numbers and in wealth. The working classes are not becoming poorer and
more miserable, but are securing a larger and larger share of the
joint income of industry.