"Just what I say," retorted Tom; "you cannot check the free and healthful play of competition."
"Yes, you can," replied the doctor; "give men a share in the results of their labour, and their work will be doubly effective, whilst the reward of all parties will be augmented. 'Is it not better,' said the founder of the 'Maison La Claire,' 'to make 500 francs a day and give 300 to the workmen, than to earn 200 francs and keep it all yourself?'"
"But the trouble is," persisted the little man, "your workmen say, 'Share the profits with us, bear the losses yourself!'"
"Not necessarily. Labour will take its fair risk if you put it in a position to do so. Pay the men in cash a quarter of what you give them now. Let the remainder of their interest be invested in the concern."
"But how can they live on a quarter of what they starve on now? You'll be called a sweater, and have the agitators down on you again."
"Men can exist comfortably, if accepted principles of co-operation and economy be adopted, on the fourth of what is now expended. For instance, a man now earns £2 a week. Most of it is expended in the cost of living; nothing remains at the end of the year."
"Owing to your Protection run mad," remarked Tom.
"No doubt the cost of living is ruinous to the working-man, but unavoidably so under existing circumstances. Everything now tends to draw men to the city. Lead back some of them to the country. Let them, through their managers, be their own provisioners and salesmen, and they can live on a fourth of that they now spend."
"The squatter can feed a family well on ten shillings a week," suggested the clergyman.
