medy for this evil is to remove the cause;
and while that is in process, there is something else that can be done
and that is, instead of allowing filthy drinking dens, presided over by
persons whose interest it is to encourage men to drink more bad beer
than is good for them or than they can afford,--to have civilized
institutions run by the State or the municipalities for use and not
merely for profit. Decent pleasure houses, where no drunkenness or
filthiness would be tolerated--where one could buy real beer or coffee
or tea or any other refreshments; where men could repair when their
day's work was over and spend an hour or two in rational intercourse
with their fellows or listen to music and singing. Taverns to which
they could take their wives and children without fear of defilement,
for a place that is not fit for the presence of a woman or a child is
not fit to exist at all.

Owen, being a teetotaller, did not spend any of his money on drink; but
he spent a lot on what he called 'The Cause'. Every week he bought
some penny or twopenny pamphlets or some leaflets about Socialism,
which he lent or gave to his mates; and in this way and by means of
much talk he succeeded in converting a few to his party. Philpot,
Harlow and a few others used to listen with interest, and some of them
even paid for the pamphlets they obtained from Owen, and after reading
them themselves, passed them on to others, and also occasionally 'got
up' arguments on their own accounts. Others were simply indifferent,
or treated the subject as a kind of joke, ridiculing the suggestion
that it was possible to abolish poverty. They repeated that there had
'always been rich and poor in the world and there always would be, so
there was an end of it'. But the majority were bitterly hostile; not
to Owen, but to Socialism. For the man himself most of them had a
certain amount of liking, especially the ordinary hands because it was
known that he was not a 'master's man' and that he had declined to
'take charge' of jobs which Misery had offered to him. But to
Socialism they were savagely and malignantly opposed. Some of those
who had shown some symptoms of Socialism during the past winter when
they were starving had now quite recovered and were stout defenders of
the Present System.

Barrington was still working for the firm and continued to maintain his
manner of reserve, seldom speaking unless addressed but all the same,
for several reasons,