“I should like to know something about your social and political arrangements, your industrial economy and your form of government,” said I. “If the government controls the increase of population, I suppose it must control labor and production; and consumption too—how is that?”
“The sort of control, which the government exercise is almost exclusively advisory. There is no government control in the sense of the term as used on earth. All productive labor is expended for the creation of common property, to which, when created, every individual has equal title. Not the slightest compulsion however is put upon labor, nor the least prohibition upon consumption.”
“Do you mean to say that nobody is obliged to work, and yet everyone can take what he wants from the common stock?”
“Yes.”
“Then yours is an angelic race, truly. We have not anything like that on this earth, and I reckon, we never will have.”
“The human race, as a whole, is not yet like it, although the tendency is certainly that way and it would be rash to predict it never will be, but there are other and older races on earth, that you overlook. Consider our relatives the Bees; did you ever see a lazy bee or one that wanted more than a reasonable share of the common property?”
“Yes,” said I, “it has become instinctive with them to work and their wants are likewise, only such as instinct dictates.”
“Instincts,” he replied, “are only crystallizations of reason. They are habits become hereditary to such a degree that the person is liable to fall into them with little or no teaching. I know that the people of the human race pride themselves greatly on the assumed fact that they act from reason, while other animals act from instinct, but the fact is, that 99 out of every 100 good acts that human beings perform, are done through instinct or inherited disposition to do them, while only one is reasoned out. And your teachers appear to understand that your instincts alone are to be depended upon to produce good actions, since they always depreciate and throw suspicion on good acts not done from the “heart” that is, not done from instinct. They give little or no credit for such actions, and strive by cultivation of the emotions to substitute disinterested impulse or in other words instinct, for mere calculating reason. Now, we Lunarians have long since passed this stage. Lazy Lunarians are as impossible as lazy bees. To work is instinctive with us and so is consideration for the rights and dues of the rest, and as everyone can be relied on to obey his instincts, it is not necessary to watch any one to keep him from plundering the public or shirking out of his duties.”
“There have often been socialistic communities with us,” said I, “that have endeavored to live on the principles you speak of. But their lives have been of the most monotonous dead level sort. There is no chance for individuality or for the development or exercise of the superior talents, which some are certain to possess in a higher degree than others. They are merely little despotisms and endure only while their leaders are people of exceptional ability. We do not regard such a state of society as desirable even if it could be made permanent.
“With us,” he replied, “the greatest liberty is accorded to the individual, but so well grounded is our predisposition to work for the benefit of the community, that no one has any fear or suspicion that another is not doing what he ought, or is able to do for the common good. There are extensive colleges for art, literature, science and invention, accessible to any according to their several tastes. If a person thinks, for example, that he has the conception of a valuable invention, he is admitted to the college of invention where there is every facility and appliance for developing the idea and constructing the machine or instrument. In these colleges there are depositories of models something like your patent office, and professors are on hand familiar with physics, chemistry and kindred sciences to advise and assist the inventor. As they are all working for the good of all, the inventor is not afraid his idea will be stolen, he finds the assistance he gets invaluable, and is often saved the useless labor of doing something that has been done already or attempting something in contravention of the principles of physics and therefore impossible. An invention, when made, is the property of the public, and if it lightens labor in any direction, it allows it to take on greater activity in some other direction.