"And suppose they all choose one job?"
"The state would assign their work in the last resort."
"There you are, once more, bowing down to the same Tom, Dick, and Harry. And you cannot see that Socialism would impose on man the most colossal system of slavery, the most merciless because the most impersonal, the world ever saw?"
"No, I cannot. Give me a chance on one spot of earth free from the corruption of your present system, and I'll show you that man is a child of God, that deep in every human soul is planted the sense of brotherhood, justice, and human fellowship."
"And you will abolish private property?"
"Except what each man earns or makes for himself."
The Colonel laughed aloud.
"Can he earn a wife, or make one for himself?"
"No; nor own one as a slave."
"You can never abolish private property, my boy, so long as any man has the right to say, 'This woman is mine.' The home is the basis of modern civilization. If you destroy it the home will not survive. If the home survives it will kill Socialism. The two things can't mix."