Part 33 (2/2)

Employers of labour, for instance, are as great a cause of poverty as landlords are.'

This extraordinary statement was received with astonished silence.

'Do you mean to say that if I'm out of work and a master gives me a job, that 'e's doin' me a injury?' said Cra.s.s at length.

'No, of course not,' replied Owen.

'Well, what the b.l.o.o.d.y 'ell DO yer mean, then?'

'I mean this: supposing that the owner of a house wishes to have it repainted. What does he usually do?'

'As a rule, 'e goes to three or four master painters and asks 'em to give 'im a price for the job.'

'Yes; and those master painters are so eager to get the work that they cut the price down to what they think is the lowest possible point,'

answered Owen, 'and the lowest usually gets the job. The successful tenderer has usually cut the price so fine that to make it pay he has to scamp the work, pay low wages, and drive and sweat the men whom he employs. He wants them to do two days' work for one day's pay. The result is that a job which--if it were done properly--would employ say twenty men for two months, is rushed and scamped in half that time with half that number of men.

'This means that--in one such case as this--ten men are deprived of one month's employment; and ten other men are deprived of two months'

employment; and all because the employers have been cutting each other's throats to get the work.'

'And we can't 'elp ourselves, you nor me either,' said Harlow.

'Supposing one of us on this job was to make up 'is mind not to tear into it like we do, but just keep on steady and do a fair day's work: wot would 'appen?'

No one answered; but the same thought was in everyone's mind. Such a one would be quickly marked by Hunter; and even if the latter failed to notice it would not be long before Cra.s.s reported his conduct.

'We can't 'elp ourselves,' said Easton, gloomily. 'If one man won't do it there's twenty others ready to take 'is place.'

'We could help ourselves to a certain extent if we would stand by each other. If, for instance, we all belonged to the Society,' said Owen.

'I don't believe in the Society,' observed Cra.s.s. 'I can't see as it's right that a inferior man should 'ave the same wages as me.'

'They're a drunken lot of beer-swillers,' remarked Slyme. 'That's why they always 'as their meetings in public 'ouses.'

Harlow made no comment on this question. He had at one time belonged to the Union and he was rather ashamed of having fallen away from it.

'Wot good 'as the Society ever done 'ere?' said Easton. 'None that I ever 'eard of.'

'It might be able to do some good if most of us belonged to it; but after all, that's another matter. Whether we could help ourselves or not, the fact remains that we don't. But you must admit that this compet.i.tion of the employers is one of the causes of unemployment and poverty, because it's not only in our line--exactly the same thing happens in every other trade and industry. Competing employers are the upper and nether millstones which grind the workers between them.'

'I suppose you think there oughtn't to be no employers at all?' sneered Cra.s.s. 'Or p'raps you think the masters ought to do all the b.l.o.o.d.y work theirselves, and give us the money?'

'I don't see 'ow its goin' to be altered,' remarked Harlow. 'There MUST be masters, and SOMEONE 'as to take charge of the work and do the thinkin'.'

'Whether it can be altered or not,' said Owen, 'Landlordism and Competing Employers are two of the causes of poverty. But of course they're only a small part of the system which produces luxury, refinement and culture for a few, and condemns the majority to a lifelong struggle with adversity, and many thousands to degradation, hunger and rags. This is the system you all uphold and defend, although you don't mind admitting that it has made the world into a h.e.l.l.'

Cra.s.s slowly drew the Obscurer cutting from his waistcoat pocket, but after a moment's thought he replaced it, deciding to defer its production till a more suitable occasion.

'But you 'aven't told us yet 'ow you makes out that money causes poverty,' cried Harlow, winking at the others. 'That's what I'M anxious to 'ear about!'

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