第83章

The Reign of Terror.The Great Money Trick During the next four weeks the usual reign of terror continued at `The Cave'.The men slaved like so many convicts under the vigilant surveillance of Crass, Misery and Rushton.No one felt free from observation for a single moment.It happened frequently that a man who was working alone - as he thought - on turning round would find Hunter or Rushton standing behind him: or one would look up from his work to catch sight of a face watching him through a door or a window or over the banisters.If they happened to be working in a room on the ground floor, or at a window on any floor, they knew that both Rushton and Hunter were in the habit of hiding among the trees that surrounded the house, and spying upon them thus.

There was a plumber working outside repairing the guttering that ran round the bottom edge of the roof.This poor wretch's life was a perfect misery: he fancied he saw Hunter or Rushton in every bush.He had two ladders to work from, and since these ladders had been in use Misery had thought of a new way of spying on the men.Finding that he never succeeded in catching anyone doing anything wrong when he entered the house by one of the doors, Misery adopted the plan of crawling up one of the ladders, getting in through one of the upper windows and creeping softly downstairs and in and out of the rooms.

Even then he never caught anyone, but that did not matter, for he accomplished his principal purpose - every man seemed afraid to cease working for even an instant.

The result of all this was, of course, that the work progressed rapidly towards completion.The hands grumbled and cursed, but all the same every man tore into it for all he was worth.Although he did next to nothing himself, Crass watched and urged on the others.He was `in charge of the job': he knew that unless he succeeded in making this work pay he would not be put in charge of another job.On the other hand, if he did make it pay he would be given the preference over others and be kept on as long as the firm had any work.The firm would give him the preference only as long as it paid them to do so.

As for the hands, each man knew that there was no chance of obtaining work anywhere else at present; there were dozens of men out of employment already.Besides, even if there had been a chance of getting another job somewhere else, they knew that the conditions were more or less the same on every firm.Some were even worse than this one.Each man knew that unless he did as much as ever he could, Crass would report him for being slow.They knew also that when the job began to draw to a close the number of men employed upon it would be reduced, and when that time came the hands who did the most work would be kept on and the slower ones discharged.It was therefore in the hope of being one of the favoured few that while inwardly cursing the rest for `tearing into it', everyone as a matter of self-preservation went and `tore into it' themselves.

They all cursed Crass, but most of them would have been very to change places with him: and if any one of them had been in his place they would have been compelled to act in the same way - or lose the job.

They all reviled Hunter, but most of them would have been glad to change places with him also: and if any one of them had been in his place they would have been compelled to do the same things, or lose the job.

They all hated and blamed Rushton.Yet if they had been in Rushton's place they would have been compelled to adopt the same methods, or become bankrupt: for it is obvious that the only way to compete successfully against other employers who are sweaters is to be a sweater yourself.Therefore no one who is an upholder of the present system can consistently blame any of these men.Blame the system.

If you, reader, had been one of the hands, would you have slogged? Or would you have preferred to starve and see your family starve? If you had been in Crass's place, would you have resigned rather than do such dirty work? If you had had Hunter's berth, would you have given it up and voluntarily reduced yourself to the level of the hands? If you had been Rushton, would you rather have become bankrupt than treat your `hands' and your customers in the same way as your competitors treated theirs? It may be that, so placed, you - being the noble-minded paragon that you are - would have behaved unselfishly.

But no one has any right to expect you to sacrifice yourself for the benefit of other people who would only call you a fool for your pains.

It may be true that if any one of the hands - Owen, for instance - had been an employer of labour, he would have done the same as other employers.Some people seem to think that proves that the present system is all right! But really it only proves that the present system compels selfishness.One must either trample upon others or be trampled upon oneself.Happiness might be possible if everyone were unselfish; if everyone thought of the welfare of his neighbour before thinking of his own.But as there is only a very small percentage of such unselfish people in the world, the present system has made the earth into a sort of hell.Under the present system there is not sufficient of anything for everyone to have enough.Consequently there is a fight - called by Christians the `Battle of Life'.In this fight some get more than they need, some barely enough, some very little, and some none at all.The more aggressive, cunning, unfeeling and selfish you are the better it will be for you.As long as this `Battle of Life' System endures, we have no right to blame other people for doing the same things that we are ourselves compelled to do.Blame the system.