"I grant that's good," admitted Baskerville. "Let the strong help the weak. 'Twas Christ found that out, not you Socialists."
"'Tis found out anyway," said Jack Head. "And 'tis true; and therefore it will happen and we can't go back on it. And it follows from that law of strong helping weak that nobody ought to be too rich, any more than they ought to be too poor. Let the State be a millionaire a million times over, if you like—and only the State. So long as the hive be rich, no bee is poor."
Humphrey did not immediately reply. He was following Head's argument to a still larger conclusion.
"And you'd argue that as the strong man can help the weak one, so in time the strong State might help the weak one instead of hindering it, and the powerful of the earth give of their abundance to strengthen the humble and feeble?"
"Why not? Instead of that, the great Powers be bristling with fighting men, and all the sinews of the world be wasted on war. And it shows the uselessness of the Book, anyway, that the Christian nations—so-called—keep the biggest armies and the largest number of men idle, rotting their bodies and souls away in barracks and battleships."
Baskerville nodded.
"There's sense of a lop-sided sort in much that you say, Jack. But 'tisn't the Book that's to blame—'tis the world that misunderstands the Book and daren't go by the Book—because of the nations around that don't go by it."
"Then why do they pretend they'm Christians? They know if they went by the Book they'd go down; yet they want to drive it into the heads of the next generation. The child hears his father damning the Government because they ban't building enough men-of-war, and next day when the boy comes home with a black eye, his father turns round and tells him to mind his Bible and remember that the peacemakers be blessed."
"I could wish a Government would give Christianity a chance," confessed Mr. Baskerville; "but I suppose 'tis much the same thing as Free Trade—a fine thing if everybody played the game, but a poor thing for one nation if t'others are all for Protection."
"That's a lie," answered Mr. Head. "We've shown Free Trade is a fine thing—single-handed we've shown it, and why? Because Free Trade's a strong sword; but Christianity's rusty and won't stand the strain no longer. We've passed that stage; and if we was to start Christianity now and offer the cheek to the smiter—well, he'd damn soon smite, and then where are we?"