Utopia of Usurers and Other Essays

The two kinds of social reform, one of which might conceivably free us at last while the otherwould certainly enslave us forever, are exhibited in an easy working model in the two efforts thathave been made for the soldiers' wives--I mean the effort to increase their allowance and the effortto curtail their alleged drinking. In the preliminary consideration, at any rate, we must see the secondquestion as quite detached from our own sympathies on the special subject of fermented liquor....
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The two kinds of social reform, one of which might conceivably free us at last while the otherwould certainly enslave us forever, are exhibited in an easy working model in the two efforts thathave been made for the soldiers' wives--I mean the effort to increase their allowance and the effortto curtail their alleged drinking. In the preliminary consideration, at any rate, we must see the secondquestion as quite detached from our own sympathies on the special subject of fermented liquor. Itcould be applied to any other pleasure or ornament of life; it will be applied to every other pleasureand ornament of life if the Capitalist campaign can succeed. The argument we know; but it cannotbe too often made clear. An employer, let us say, pays a seamstress twopence a day, and she doesnot seem to thrive on it. So little, perhaps, does she thrive on it that the employer has even somedifficulty in thriving upon her. There are only two things that he can do, and the distinction betweenthem cuts the whole social and political world in two. It is a touchstone by which we can--notsometimes, but always--distinguish economic equality from servile social reform. He can give thegirl some magnificent sum, such as sixpence a day, to do as she likes with, and trust that herimproved health and temper will work for the benefit of his business. Or he may keep her to theoriginal sum of a shilling a week, but earmark each of the pennies to be used or not to be used for aparticular purpose. If she must not spend this penny on a bunch of violets, or that penny on anovelette, or the other penny on a toy for some baby, it is possible that she will concentrate herexpenditure more upon physical necessities, and so become, from the employer's point of view, amore efficient person. Without the trouble of adding twopence to her wages, he has addedtwopenny-worth to her food. In short, she has the holy satisfaction of being worth more withoutbeing paid more.