Page 1424 - les-miserables

command of God, a great deal by the agency of man, inter-
ests combine, unite, and amalgamate in a manner to form a
veritable hard rock, in accordance with a dynamic law, pa-
tiently studied by economists, those geologists of politics.
These men who grouped themselves under different appel-
lations, but who may all be designated by the generic title of
socialists, endeavored to pierce that rock and to cause it to
spout forth the living waters of human felicity.
From the question of the scaffold to the question of war,
their works embraced everything. To the rights of man, as
proclaimed by the French Revolution, they added the rights
of woman and the rights of the child.
The reader will not be surprised if, for various reasons,
we do not here treat in a thorough manner, from the theo-
retical point of view, the questions raised by socialism. We
confine ourselves to indicating them.
All the problems that the socialists proposed to them-
selves, cosmogonic visions, revery and mysticism being cast
aside, can be reduced to two principal problems.
First problem: To produce wealth.
Second problem: To share it.
The first problem contains the question of work.
The second contains the question of salary.
In the first problem the employment of forces is in ques-
tion.
In the second, the distribution of enjoyment.
From the proper employment of forces results public
power.
From a good distribution of enjoyments results individ-

1424 Les Miserables