‘Inequality begins from the very cradle. Some are born into an easy and sheltered affluence. Others are the children of mean and sordid want. For some the long toil of life begins in the very bloom time of childhood and ends only when the broken and exhausted body sinks into a penurious old age. For others life is but a foolish leisure with mock activities and mimic avocations to mask its uselessness.’
Written during the troubled times following World War I, Leacock documented the common social problems that existed and criticized the practices that fueled those problems. He expounded and criticized the practice of individualism and its application in classical economics. However, he was also against socialism and instead advocated a middle path. Industrial society has yet to recover from the war. Wages were low but businesses cannot afford to increase them without further increasing prices. Inequality was massive and the sheer quantity of inflated currency going around at the time forced prices higher still. Society simply cannot continue functioning under the individualist economy that existed. Leacock’s own program of individualism modified by social control to alleviate the intense social problems is a possible middle road between individualism and socialism. The similarities between Leacock’s time and today are uncanny and this book is worth studying even today not just to understand Leacock’s era but to understand our current era as well.
Stephen Leacock was a Canadian humourist, lecturer, and political scientist. He was one of the best known English-speaking humourist in the world during the early 20th century.