Note 4 — Chapter I · THE PRINCIPLE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

It should be remembered, however, that in a society in which success really did depend upon the possession of the highest moral and bodily qualities that the community could display,—which is by no means the case at present,—poverty or failure would undoubtedly have a certain inexpungeable stigma upon it; and quite rightly too. That which removes the stigma from poverty or failure to-day, in the eyes of the enlightened, is the fact that riches and success are frequently achieved by people who could not possibly lay claim to any high moral and bodily qualities,—not to mention the highest.