siastic
applause.

'There you are, you see,' said Philpot, addressing the meeting. 'It's
no use booin' and threatenin', because 'e's one of them lecturers wot
can honly be managed with kindness. If it 'adn't a bin for me, 'e
wouldn't 'ave agreed to speak at all.'

Philpot having been unanimously elected chairman, proposed by Harlow
and seconded by the man on the pail, Owen commenced:

'Mr Chairman and gentlemen:

'Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, it is with some degree of
hesitation that I venture to address myself to such a large,
distinguished, fashionable, and intelligent looking audience as that
which I have the honour of seeing before me on the present occasion.'
(Applause.)

'One of the finest speakers I've ever 'eard!' remarked the man on the
pail in a loud whisper to the chairman, who motioned him to be silent.

Owen continued:

'In some of my previous lectures I have endeavoured to convince you
that money is in itself of no value and of no real use whatever. In
this I am afraid I have been rather unsuccessful.'

'Not a bit of it, mate,' cried Crass, sarcastically. 'We all agrees
with it.'

''Ear, 'ear,' shouted Easton. 'If a bloke was to come in 'ere now and
orfer to give me a quid--I'd refuse it!'

'So would I,' said Philpot.

'Well, whether you agree or not, the fact remains. A man might possess
so much money that, in England, he would be comparatively rich, and yet
if he went to some country where the cost of living is very high he
would find himself in a condition of poverty. Or one might conceivably
be in a place where the necessaries of life could not be bought for
money at all. Therefore it is more conducive to an intelligent
understanding of the subject if we say that to be rich consists not
necessarily in having much money, but in being able to enjoy an
abundance of the things that are made by work; and that poverty
consists not merely in being without money, but in being short of the
necessaries and comforts of life--or in other words in being short of
the Benefits of Civilization, the things that are all, without
exception, produced by work. Whether you agree or not with anything
else that I say, you will all admit that that is our condition at the
present time. We do not enjoy a full share of the benefits of
civilization--we are all in a state of more or less abject poverty.'

'Question!' cried Crass, and there were loud murmurs of indignant
dissent from several qu