Labour's Wrongs and Labour's Remedy

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CIIAPTER VI.THE SOCIAL I3URTIIENS OF TIIE JVORICING CLASS OFTIIE UNITED I
62 LAI~OUR'S WRONGS ANDfor thousalltls of able-boilietl met1 ill Great Britain arecolllpclle(l to stand idle while tile \vorlr \vllic}l tlley ollghtto do is being ~)crfortnetl ' 3 lvomelt ~ and cllil(lren ; andhon(Irc(1s of tllousands of men in Ireland can ol)tain noemployment v~hatever. Tltr~s less titan five nliljions ofmeu, assistetl IJY a f~\v thousands of women ant1 children,hare not only to create protl~tce for the cons~~mption oftl~cmselves and fan~ilics, but liliervise for tile lvltole mass ofwilling ant1 un~villing itllers, an(\ unprofital)le labo~~rers ofevery tfcscription, :~ntou~ltingthe aggregate to twentyfivemillions of Il~~n~an beings.If we \c-cro witl~ollthe vast :tccritn~~lations of macllir~er~of various ltit~ds which I\-c possess, society wortltl not bein the state in which it now is. There ~voultl ncitl~cr I)cso ntany riclt nor so nl;lny poor: for thc present nlttrtbcrof ivorliing tncn, if ~lr~assistcd by tt~acl~it~ery, coultl ]lotsupport ~IIC~SC~VCS and the prcs(l11t n~~nihcr of itllcrs andunl~rofitahle l;lhol~rcrs in the nranncr in \vlticl~ all arc nowsup~~)rt(:(J. 'l'J~c ;igric~~lt~~r:~l at)11 ~t):~~~~~f;ict~lrir]~milchineryof every lii~ld \~rlticll\re bri~~g to our aid in tI~ehusiness of production, has bee11 cotrrpr~tctl to pcrfortn the1;ibour of allout one hundrcti ntillions of efkctivc Inen. Itis this giant auxiliary that has assistctl 11s to repair thevast losses whicl~ nrc 11:tve sulfcrcct by the \vastefr~l antlal~nost incessant wars in arl~icl~ arc I~ave bee11 engaged : itis this mighty power \vhicIr en:lbles the productive classesof Rritaia to create :in :m~o~~nt of r,c:dtb adeqllate to sup- ,port tlre cnorlnous drain which is perpetually tnkil~g placeupon them : it is this gigantic ir~str~lrnertt of good or evil-this tnacltincry-ancl its aj)pliciltion untler the presentsystem, which has generatetl the l~u~ttlreds of tlrousantls ofitllers ant1 livers on profit \vho now press the working classinto the earth.Thus nlachinery contains within itself both x bane andan antidote ; for ~vhile it has, nlore tllan any otller thing,been a means of bringing about the present social crisis, ithas at the same time opened a pat11 by which everyiniioretl ant1 everr tl~reatcnetl evil may be escapetl from.The present constitutio~~ of society has been fertilizetl bymachinery, antl by 1nac11ine.r~ will it be destroyed. Thestcan]-engine, altltouglt it creates \realth, has nothing todo mith tlte application or approl~riation of it ; and whateverInay be the ineclunlity of cotitlition and the sufferinggenerated by the operation of this great poirer, tllc poweritself is not accor~ntable for sucll things, and its destructiotlwoulil not be the true remedy. 'I'l~e lu:~chioery itselfis good-is indispensable ; it is tile application of it-thecircumstance of its being possessed by itrdiriduds insteadof by the nation-that 1s bad. So long as niacl~i~lery isthus exclnsively possessed by individuals anrl classes, itsadvantages will be partially enjoyetl-it \rill be a curserather than a blessing to tllosc classes of the cclmmutiitybv wltom it is not ~~ossessetl ; for it dooms them to be the-Jslaves ant1 tlte pref of their fcllo\rs.It is the grc;it ob.ject of tn:ln, ill all states of society, toobtxin the grcatcst possible nul~o~u~t of et~joymcut wit11 theleast possiblc. pain :~nd l;~\)our to I~itiiscll'; il~~devcrytlti~~~\rllicl~ helps l ~in~ to attail1 tl~is ettrl, IIIIIS~ of itself I)c gootl.Of all tltc :~ssisti~nts, IIC)\~CVCT, \~llic11 IIIII~~;III inge1111ity hilsyet called into existence, none arc so i~r~lortast ;IS tltosacontriv;~nccs \vl~it:l~ coml)eI [ire ;~nd\v:~tcr, ant\ \roocl ;i11(1iron, to (lo tl~c \~orli of Itr1111:ln 1)o11cs :11111 II~IISC~~\S. Thepresent porcbrty of the ~vorl;ing ebss arises, not from thefact t11:~t tlteir Ial~our is s~t~crsedetl 1,y macl~incry, butfrom the circ~lnrstat~ce tllat t~early tl~c wllule of tlrc n'ealtllcreated by the n~achincry is swnllo\rcd up by the mpaciousnristocr;~cy of the hall p:trlo~~r ;~ud the mill counting-I~onse.The five nrillions of men already enu~ncrated as assistingin production, \vill include all wl~o labour little or nruc11-the actual distributors as well as the procluccrs-:ill thosewho can be said to yield society any equivalent for thebenefits they receive. Some of tlrese persons do not worlctive hours a day, while otl~ers, again, toil on for fifteenIlorirs ; and wlten to this is ailded the time lost by theconlp~llsory idleness of gre:~t nu~nbcrs in times of depressionin trade, it will be found that our ar~n~~al prodl~ctiot~is created antl distributed by less tl1~11 one-tiftl~ of thecomm~unity,I I working, on the average, ten hours a d:y.Illus it appears that tltere are nearly one nill lion ofable-bodied men who do nothing to\vards the pror111ctio11 orproper distributiot~ of wealth,-comprising lnnded proprietors,large c;~pitalists, soldiers, &c. But if me supposethat the wealtl~y non-prodnccrs of every description, wit11their families, and dependents, amount only to taro millionsof persons, yet this number alone \vould cost the
Page 1 and 2: LABOUR'S WRONGSAND LABOUB'S REMEDY;
Page 3 and 4: and tlie eternity of existing usage
Page 5 and 6: the award. And thus, having the acc
Page 8 and 9: LABOUR'S REMEDY. 17they complain of
Page 10 and 11: from the common course of events, t
Page 12 and 13: on inequality of bodily and ~nental
Page 14 and 15: as firmly as if they had been fette
Page 16 and 17: tion from labour which the latter e
Page 18 and 19: eligious observances on a stated da
Page 20 and 21: proceed,-not from the nature of man
Page 22 and 23: een an actual curse--only because m
Page 24 and 25: 48 LABOUR'S WRONGS ANDbenefited; co
Page 26 and 27: emedy for their wrongs; but it has
Page 28 and 29: This latter condition alorle condem
Page 30: LXUDUR'~ REMEDY.6 1produce tllere i
Page 33 and 34: LABOUR'S WRONGS A ~ DCHAPTER V.THE
Page 35 and 36: 70 LABOUR'S WRONGS ANDthis vast sum
Page 37 and 38: e ascribed to the existence of the
Page 39: 78 LABOUR'S TVRONGS ANDand therefor
Page 43 and 44: LABOCIL'S REMEDY. 67ready seen, fro
Page 45 and 46: he diminished. As for the labour, i
Page 47 and 48: lessness of all such cllanges, eith
Page 49 and 50: another Itas been abandoned, antl e
Page 51 and 52: 102 LAIIOUR'S WRONGS ANDwages to th
Page 53 and 54: LABOUR'S REMEDY. ! 07ploycc! neighh
Page 55 and 56: LABOUR'S REMEDY. 111their labour \v
Page 57 and 58: or make it independent of external
Page 59 and 60: ation, or the union and direction o
Page 61 and 62: u11ior1 csccl)t where 1;ibour is un
Page 63 and 64: LXUOUII'S REMEDY. 127man feelings a
Page 65 and 66: tl~inh-, feel, or act precisely tli
Page 67 and 68: 134 I,?\ ROUR'S I\'ROTi\'GS ANDmany
Page 69 and 70: may easily be conceivctl of; for it
Page 71: vessels of various descriptions, an
Page 74 and 75: connection with the established gor
Page 76 and 77: atocks of metal in the banks decrea
Page 78 and 79: 156 LABOUR'S WRONGS IXDpower of suc
Page 80 and 81: The opinion entertained of a man by
Page 82 and 83: tastes and ignorant appliances of t
Page 84 and 85: then wlll the unknown and now unapp
Page 86 and 87: the protluctive classes must still
Page 88 and 89: 176 LABOUR'S WRONGS ANDgalling fett
Page 91 and 92:
character of these arrangements in
Page 93 and 94:
duction of lnacliinery and the cons
Page 95 and 96:
L.~BOUIZ'S REMEDY. 191to the existi
Page 97 and 98:
all these companies, and estenlls t
Page 99 and 100:
plished under the joint-stoclc syst
Page 101 and 102:
exchanges. " 1\11 evidence," also,
Page 103 and 104:
206 LABOUR'S JI1I'ICONGS ANDmills i
Page 105 and 106:
2 10 LACOUR'S WRONGS ANDup1)er clas
Page 107 and 108:
In regarding any nntf every ren~edy
show all

Labour's Wrongs and Labour's Remedy

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