uns for Japanese soldiers to kill Russian soldiers with? So we go to
the manager and ask him to explain the matter. He very politely tells
us that, like the man at the bench, he has no interest in the matter
at all, and that the shareholders are in the same position of being
quite indifferent to the quarrel of the two nations. "Why, we are also
making guns for Russia in our factory," he says, and when we ask him
to explain why he tells us that "There is profit to be made and the
firm cares for nothing else."

All our system revolves around that central sun of profit-making,
Jonathan. Here is a factory in which a great many people are making
shoddy clothing. You can tell at a glance that it is shoddy and quite
unfit for wearing. But why are the people making shoddy goods--why
don't they make decent clothing, since they can do it quite as well?
Why, because there is a profit for somebody in making shoddy. Here a
group of men are building a house. They are making it of the poorest
materials, making dingy little rooms; the building is badly
constructed and it can never be other than a barracks. Why this
"jerry-building?" There is no reason under the sun why poor houses
should be built except that somebody hopes to make profit out of them.

Goods are adulterated and debased, even the food of the nation is
poisoned, for profit. Legislatures are corrupted and courts of justice
are polluted by the presence of the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker
for profit. Nations are embroiled in quarrels and armies slaughter
armies over questions which are, always, ultimately questions of
profit. Here are children toiling in sweatshops, factories and mines
while men are idle and seeking work. Why? Do we need the labor of the
little ones in order to produce enough to maintain the life of the
nation? No. But there are some people who are going to make a profit
out of the labors which sap the strength of those little ones. Here
are thousands of people hungry, clamoring for food and perishing for
lack of it. They are willing to work, there are resources for them to
work upon; they could easily maintain themselves in comfort and
gladness if they set to work. Then why don't they set to work? Oh,
Jonathan, the torment of this monotonous answer is unbearable--because
no one can make a profit out of their labor they must be idle and
starve, or drag out a miserable existence aided by the crumbs of cold
charity!

If our social economy were such that