The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists [77]
who lived there you would say - the house. All the tinkering in the world would not make that house fit to live in; the only thing to do with it would be to pull it down and build another. Well, we're all living in a house called the Money System; and as a result most of us are suffering from a disease called poverty. There's so much the matter with the present system that it's no good tinkering at it. Everything about it is wrong and there's nothing about it that's right. There's only one thing to be done with it and that is to smash it up and have a different system altogether. We must get out of it.'
`It seems to me that that's just what you're trying to do,' remanded Harlow, sarcastically. `You seem to be tryin' to get out of answering the question what Easton asked you.'
`Yes!' cried Crass, fiercely. `Why don't you answer the bloody question? Wot's the cause of poverty?'
`What the 'ell's the matter with the present system?' demanded Sawkins.
`Ow's it goin' to be altered?' said Newman.
`Wot the bloody 'ell sort of a system do YOU think we ought to 'ave?' shouted the man behind the moat.
`It can't never be altered,' said Philpot. `Human nature's human nature and you can't get away from it.'
`Never mind about human nature,' shouted Crass. `Stick to the point. Wot's the cause of poverty?'
`Oh, b--r the cause of poverty!' said one of the new hands. `I've 'ad enough of this bloody row.' And he stood up and prepared to go out of the room.
This individual had two patches on the seat of his trousers and the bottoms of the legs of that garment were frayed and ragged. He had been out of work for about six weeks previous to having been taken on by Rushton & Co. During most of that time he and his family had been existing in a condition of semi-starvation on the earnings of his wife as a charwoman and on the scraps of food she brought home from the houses where she worked. But all the same, the question of what is the cause of poverty had no interest for him.
`There are many causes,' answered Owen, `but they are all part of and inseparable from the system. In order to do away with poverty we must destroy the causes: to do away with the causes we must destroy the whole system.'
`What are the causes, then?'
`Well, money, for one thing.'
This extraordinary assertion was greeted with a roar of merriment, in the midst of which Philpot was heard to say that to listen to Owen was as good as going to a circus. Money was the cause of poverty!
`I always thought it was the want of it!' said the man with the patches on the seat of his trousers as he passed out of the door.
`Other things,' continued Owen, `are private ownership of land, private ownership of railways, tramways, gasworks, waterworks, private ownership of factories, and the other means of producing the necessaries and comforts of life. Competition in business -'
`But 'ow do you make it out?' demanded Crass, impatiently.
Owen hesitated. To his mind the thing appeared very clear and simple. The causes of poverty were so glaringly evident that he marvelled that any rational being should fail to perceive them; but at the same time he found it very difficult to define them himself. He could not think of words that would convey his thoughts clearly to these others who seemed so hostile and unwilling to understand, and who appeared to have made up their minds to oppose and reject whatever he said. They did not know what were the causes of poverty and apparently they did not WANT to know.
`Well, I'll try to show you one of the causes,' he said nervously at last.
He picked up a piece of charred wood that had fallen from the fire and knelt down and began to draw upon the floor. Most of the others regarded him, with looks in which an indulgent, contemptuous kind of interest mingled with an air of superiority and patronage. There was no doubt, they thought, that Owen was a clever sort of chap: his work proved that: but he was certainly a little bit mad.
By this time Owen had drawn a circle about two feet in
`It seems to me that that's just what you're trying to do,' remanded Harlow, sarcastically. `You seem to be tryin' to get out of answering the question what Easton asked you.'
`Yes!' cried Crass, fiercely. `Why don't you answer the bloody question? Wot's the cause of poverty?'
`What the 'ell's the matter with the present system?' demanded Sawkins.
`Ow's it goin' to be altered?' said Newman.
`Wot the bloody 'ell sort of a system do YOU think we ought to 'ave?' shouted the man behind the moat.
`It can't never be altered,' said Philpot. `Human nature's human nature and you can't get away from it.'
`Never mind about human nature,' shouted Crass. `Stick to the point. Wot's the cause of poverty?'
`Oh, b--r the cause of poverty!' said one of the new hands. `I've 'ad enough of this bloody row.' And he stood up and prepared to go out of the room.
This individual had two patches on the seat of his trousers and the bottoms of the legs of that garment were frayed and ragged. He had been out of work for about six weeks previous to having been taken on by Rushton & Co. During most of that time he and his family had been existing in a condition of semi-starvation on the earnings of his wife as a charwoman and on the scraps of food she brought home from the houses where she worked. But all the same, the question of what is the cause of poverty had no interest for him.
`There are many causes,' answered Owen, `but they are all part of and inseparable from the system. In order to do away with poverty we must destroy the causes: to do away with the causes we must destroy the whole system.'
`What are the causes, then?'
`Well, money, for one thing.'
This extraordinary assertion was greeted with a roar of merriment, in the midst of which Philpot was heard to say that to listen to Owen was as good as going to a circus. Money was the cause of poverty!
`I always thought it was the want of it!' said the man with the patches on the seat of his trousers as he passed out of the door.
`Other things,' continued Owen, `are private ownership of land, private ownership of railways, tramways, gasworks, waterworks, private ownership of factories, and the other means of producing the necessaries and comforts of life. Competition in business -'
`But 'ow do you make it out?' demanded Crass, impatiently.
Owen hesitated. To his mind the thing appeared very clear and simple. The causes of poverty were so glaringly evident that he marvelled that any rational being should fail to perceive them; but at the same time he found it very difficult to define them himself. He could not think of words that would convey his thoughts clearly to these others who seemed so hostile and unwilling to understand, and who appeared to have made up their minds to oppose and reject whatever he said. They did not know what were the causes of poverty and apparently they did not WANT to know.
`Well, I'll try to show you one of the causes,' he said nervously at last.
He picked up a piece of charred wood that had fallen from the fire and knelt down and began to draw upon the floor. Most of the others regarded him, with looks in which an indulgent, contemptuous kind of interest mingled with an air of superiority and patronage. There was no doubt, they thought, that Owen was a clever sort of chap: his work proved that: but he was certainly a little bit mad.
By this time Owen had drawn a circle about two feet in