“Absolutely: when they realize that the industry comes before the individual.”

“But must you own the industry?” she said.

“I don’t. But to the extent I do own it, yes, most decidedly. The ownership of property has now become a religious question: as it has been since Jesus and St. Francis. The point is not : take all thou hast and give to the poor, but use all thou hast to encourage the industry and give work to the poor. It’s the only way to feed all the mouths and clothe all the bodies. Giving away all we have to the poor spells starvation for the poor just as much as for us. And universal starvation is no high aim. Even general poverty is no lovely thing. Poverty is ugly.”

“But the disparity?”

“That is fate. Why is the star Jupiter bigger than the star Neptune? You can’t start altering the makeup of things!”