Moreover, their condition would have all the "instability"
which, as Spencer rightly says, is inseparable from "the homogeneous."
It could not last. Still, while it lasted, they could live; and, in
theory, at all events, the mass of the human race must be recognised as
capable of keeping themselves alive by the labour of pairs of hands
which, in each case, are undirected by any intelligence superior to, or
other than, the labourer's own. In theory, at all events, therefore,
this self-supporting multitude would be capable of choosing whether they
would continue in this condition of industrial autonomy, with all its
hardships, its scant results, and its unceasing toil, or would submit
their labour to the guidance of a minority more capable than themselves.
Such being the case, then, if by submitting themselves to the guidance
of others they were to get nothing more than they could produce when
left to their own devices, they would, in surrendering their autonomy,
be giving something for nothing--a transaction which could not be
voluntary, and would be not the less unjust because, as all history
shows us, they would be ultimately unable to resist it.
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