 very much,« I said.
    »Not at all,« was Dr. Leete's reply, »but the conditions of human life have
changed, and with them the motives of human action. The organization of society
with you was such that officials were under a constant temptation to misuse
their power for the private profit of themselves or others. Under such
circumstances it seems almost strange that you dared entrust them with any of
your affairs. Nowadays, on the contrary, society is so constituted that there is
absolutely no way in which an official, however ill-disposed, could possibly
make any profit for himself or any one else by a misuse of his power. Let him be
as bad an official as you please, he cannot be a corrupt one. There is no motive
to be. The social system no longer offers a premium on dishonesty. But these are
matters which you can only understand as you come, with time, to know us
better.«
    »But you have not yet told me how you have settled the labor problem. It is
the problem of capital which we have been discussing,« I said. »After the nation
had assumed conduct of the mills, machinery, railroads, farms, mines, and
capital in general of the country, the labor question still remained. In
assuming the responsibilities of capital the nation had assumed the difficulties
of the capitalist's position.«
    »The moment the nation assumed the responsibilities of capital those
difficulties vanished,« replied Dr. Leete. »The national organization of labor
under one direction was the complete solution of what was, in your day and under
your system, justly regarded as the insoluble labor problem. When the nation
became the sole employer, all the citizens, by virtue of their citizenship,
became employees, to be distributed according to the needs of industry.«
    »That is,« I suggested, »you have simply applied the principle of universal
military service, as it was understood in our day, to the labor question.«
    »Yes,« said Dr. Leete, »that was something which followed as a matter of
course as soon as the nation had become the sole capitalist. The people were
already accustomed to the idea that the obligation of every citizen, not
physically disabled, to contribute his military services to the defense of the
nation was equal and absolute. That it was equally the duty of every citizen to
contribute his quota of industrial or intellectual services to the maintenance
of the nation was equally evident, though it was not until the nation became the
employer of labor that citizens
