h of it is
wantonly wasted. They also make fortunes by selling some of it in
foreign countries; but they consume a great part of it themselves,
because the amount of labour expended on the things enjoyed by these
people is greater than that expended in the production of the things
used by the workers. Most of the people who do nothing get the best of
everything. More than three-quarters of the time of the working
classes is spent in producing the things used by the wealthy. Compare
the quality and quantity of the clothing possessed by the wife or
daughter of a rich man with that of the wife or daughter of a worker.
The time and labour spent on producing the one is twenty times greater
in one case than in the other; and it's the same with everything else.
Their homes, their clothing, boots, hats, jewellery, and their food.
Everything must be of the very best that art or long and painful labour
can produce. But for most of those whose labour produces all these
good things--anything is considered good enough. For themselves, the
philanthropic workers manufacture shoddy cloth--that is, cheap cloth
made of old rags and dirt; and shoddy, uncomfortable ironclad boots.
If you see a workman wearing a really good suit of clothes you may
safely conclude that he is either leading an unnatural life--that is,
he is not married--or that he has obtained it from a tallyman on the
hire system and has not yet paid for it--or that it is someone else's
cast-off suit that he has bought second-hand or had given to him by
some charitable person. It's the same with the food. All the ducks and
geese, pheasants, partridges, and all the very best parts of the very
best meat--all the soles and the finest plaice and salmon and trout--'

''Ere chuck it,' cried Harlow, fiercely. 'We don't want to 'ear no
more of it,' and several others protested against the lecturer wasting
time on such mere details.

'--all the very best of everything is reserved exclusively for the
enjoyment of the people in divisions one and two, while the workers
subsist on block ornaments, margarine, adulterated tea, mysterious
beer, and are content--only grumbling when they are unable to obtain
even such fare as this.'

Owen paused and a gloomy silence followed, but suddenly Crass
brightened up. He detected a serious flaw in the lecturer's argument.

'You say the people in one and two gets all the best of everything, but
what about the tramps and beggars? You've go