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Price One Penny.
THE
J. THEODORE L’AUTON.
w
London :
THE MODERN
PRESS, 13, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1887.
�;•I'
�THE NATIONALISATION OF SOCIETY.
POVERTY.
HERE is in the nature of every man a desire tor happiness, enjoyment, and
pleasure ; a horror of pain and oppression. The physical constitution of
man has craving instincts ; the intellectual part of him has also its desires.
These desires must be satisfied; they cannot be oppressed. All oppression
of a man’s lawful instincts means misery and death for him. The instincts
of human nature are like dormant volcanoes, ready to burst forth when the opportunity
offers. The passions of human nature may lie calmly beneath the surface, but when
they break forth, they break forth with rage: men have in the course of the world's
history risen against their fellow men, and like savage hyaenas have made them their
food. A man will slay his fellow man for the slightest angry word or look.
The lowest and meanest man will strive to avenge an insult; but why should he bear
so meekly the monster of Poverty ? Poverty is the crime which outrages all a man’s
instincts and feelings. What is it which condemns you to live in hovels unfit for
brutes ; to eat the food of swine ; to wear out your life, health, strength, and beauty in
a desperate inhuman struggle for your existence ? Poverty. What is it which robs
you of education, crushes your natural intelligence, and destroys the distinguishing
mark of your superiority ? Poverty. What is it that changes a man from contentment
tQ sedition ; from sobriety to debauchery, from humanity to brutality? Poverty.
What is that it makes men criminals, society a barbarism, and hands down to posterity
as an heirloom, deformed, stupid progenies ? Poverty.
Poverty is the worst crime in the world. The greatest criminal is not shunned as the
poor man. If you are poor, the rich man will not sit beside you, will not eat with you,
will not speak with you; but will sneer at you. While you are delving for a mere crumb
to eat, he is enjoying himself at your expense. While you are passed by as an insig
nificant object he is honoured. Who is he, this rich man ? The man who has taken
advantage of your stupidity and mean opinion of yourself.
Are we rich enough ? Do you think there are no men poor except those who
ask for a crumb of bread for God’s sake ? Poverty means the inability to satisfy your
lawful instincts; if you cannot satisfy your lawful instincts with ^10,000 a-year, you
are poor. But nothing can be more barbarous than our idea of civilisation. If you
can by a self-denial that eats out your very heart; by the economy of a miser, appear
well before the eyes of men, then those that cannot practise your self-denial or your
economy will deem you rich and blessed. Are we free from Poverty, when by a struggle
that wears out our lives we can barely manage to cover our bodies and keep our blood
circulating? In the present social condition of the world, the majority will consider
themselves happy if they can find these two necessaries. Must we then rest satisfied
with these ? Is there no grander civilisation for us ; no more blessedness than a life and
death struggle ? I for one do net believe it; I see in reality no cruel Destiny com
manding it to be so. All things have a cause ; and there is a cause for Poverty. There
is Poverty, universal, degrading, damnable Poverty; men have a life and death
Straggle for existence ; but who is responsible for such a state of things ? Are we not
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ourselves responsible? The remedy is before us ; we need only apply it. There is no
Tyrant-God ruling over us. Is not the world ours ? The earth will grow us corn and
cotton if we only sow ; will give us food, clothing, light, and heat. Where lies the
fault ? Is it not ours ? The life of mankind is not a life of blessedness at present; we
must make it a life of blessedness. Not the bare necessaries of existence should be the
ultimatum of our desires ; but the abundance that will make life worth living. Let us
try. If in the nature of things such an acquisition be impossible ; if it be decreed by
the immutable laws of the universe that Poverty must exist, then I say with Carlyle,
“ So scandalous a beggarly universe deserves nothing but annihilation,”
WHY WE ARE POOR.
1
How can a man become rich ? What is it that will make a man rich ? You would
say if a shoemaker was making 1,000 pairs of shoes in a day instead of two pairs, that he
was on the road to wealth. Precisely so. If a shoemaker, who by making two pairs
of shoes in a day struggled through life, then he certainly has a better chance of a more
human existence when he can make 1,000 pairs in a day. So also a farmer who rears
1,000 head of cattle has a better chance of being richer than if he only reared ten head
of cattle. For i,ooo pairs of shoes are worth more than two pairs; and i,ooo cows are
worth more than ten cows. The first condition of wealth therefore is;—A man must
have a large amount of saleable commodity of some kind. The greater the amount the
richer he will be.
But though that is the first condition, it is not sufficient. What would be the use of
you making i,ooo pairs of shoes per day if competition with other shoemakers forced you
to sell at a trifling profit; or if people were so poor that they could not buy your shoes.
So then it is not enough that you have a great amount of saleable commodity ; another
condition is necessary. Other persons must have commodities to give you in exchange
for your shoes. What would be the use of you making i.ooo pairs of shoes per day if you
could not exchange them for other commodities necessary for your daily wants ? Tobe
wealthy, or in other words, to have all your wants satisfied, implies two conditions,
viz., you must by your labour produce a great amount; secondly, others must also pro
duce an equivalent amount. The most illiterate workman knows that these two condi
tions are implied in a good day’s wages. If you are a shoemaker, you know that the
more work you do in the day, and the greater the demand for shoes, the greater will be
your wages for that day. So also with every other occupation. The more you produce,
therefore the richer you will be; provided there be a demand for the produce of your
labour. If a shoemaker can make two of pairs shoes in a day, he will be twice as rich if he
can make 4 pairs in a day ; he will be fifty times as rich if he can make 100 pairs in the
day; provided that the condition of demand is co-existing. The question, therefore,
“ How can we become richer ? ” is reduced to this one, “ How can we increase the
produce of labour, and at the same time maintain an equivalent demand for that
produce? ”
HOW INCREASE THE PRODUCE OF LABOUR.
'T
.IP,
Do you imagine that a shoemaker or tailor, who works before his fire plying his awl
or his needle, will ever become richer by that means ? Never. He may by working late
and early add a little to his income ; but that little would be totally insignificant. Take
your ordinary shoemaker or tailor, and you will say that in order to live a life worthy of
being called Life, they should be at least twenty times as rich as they are. They must
consequently produce twenty times as much as they are producing inorder to be twenty
times as rich. Men can never become richer till the produce of their labour increases.
How then can the produce of labour be increased ? Evidently men cannot be left to
themselves, to -work when and how they wish. The shoemaker cannot be left to ply his
aw’l at his own leisure, “ far from the busy haunts of men.” The greatest result in
labour is got from combination or co-operation. A man who by his own aid can make
ten pins in a day, will in a factory make 1,000 in the same amount of time. It is the
combination of all sorts of skill working in union that has enabled men to become
millionaires. We say, therefore, that the only means of increasing the produce of man s
labour is the combination of all the individual workers into factories adapted for their
several employments. Machinery is the great increaser of the labour of man. Brain
and muscle power is valued a thousandfold when applied to machinery. The shoe
maker who expends his energy in finishing off a shoe, can finish 100 shoes with the same
amount of energy when it directs the forces of Nature. The highest result of individual
labour is obtained, therefore, by co-operation and scientific machinery.
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HOW MAINTAIN A DEMAND FOR THE PRODUCE OF LABOUR.
A shoemaker may make 1,000 pairs of shoes in the day by the aid of machinery : even
the enormous produce of our factories may increase a hundred-fold ; but what advan
tage would all that be if competition forced down the prices to an irreducible minimum;
or if the poverty of would-be buyers was the cause of the goods lying on hand unsold ?
In order that any advantage may arise from increased production, there must be a
demand for that increase; that is, these two phenomena, Competition and Poverty,
must cease to exist. Competition which forces a man to sell at the lowest possible rate,
and Poverty which condemns the produce of a man’s labour to rot on shelves, are
the two evils which would render an increase of produce on the part of a portion of the
community of no appreciable utility. As we stated before, the only two conditions of
wealth are: ist. increased produce on the part of workers; 2nd. a universal demand
for that produce. To increase the produce of your labour, with a co-existing co
ordinate demand means to increase your wealth; the same conditions carried to an
indefinite degree means indefinite wealth. We have shown how the produce of labour
can be increassd ; we have now to show how a demand for that produce can be main
tained.
The two evils which prevent a universal demand for the produce of labour are poverty
and competition. Let us deal first with poverty. We mean that if a certain portion of
a community work, and produce a certain amount of commodities, and the other
portion, for whom part of these commodities are intended, do not work and produce,
and consequently have nothing to give in exchange for their wants, these commodities
so produced will have to lie unsold. The poverty therefore of those who do not work
is a direct reason why there is no demand for commodities produced ; it nullifies the
labour of those who have produced ; it leaves the producer in the same position as if
he had not produced at all.
It is evident, therefore, that all must work ; there must be no exceptions. There is
no use in one-half of a population working and producing, and leaving the produce to
rot because the other half who have not worked are not able to buy. Labour must be
compulsory. The more labourers, the more wealth. If the poverty of a portion of a
community be the direct cause of the poverty of the other portion, no matter how much
the other portion may produce, then, the only remedy is to remove the poverty by
compelling all to work. No other remedy is possible, Not only must all be compelled
to work, all must be compelled to work in such a manner as to obtain the maximum
result from their labour : the more work the more wealth.
But though actual poverty may be removed by compelling all to work, and a demand
in general created for saleable commodities, still the evil of competition would remain.
Certain branches of industry would compete with other branches of the same industry ;
and while such a condition would exist increased production would only have the effect
of increasing the evil. Competition, therefore, must cease to exist. How. can com
petition be made to cease ? There is only one way : there must be equilibrium ot
occupations, that is, the various industries must be so balanced, that the amount pro
duced in any one industry must not be a surplus of what there is a demand for. If the
produce of any one industry were more abundant than there was a demand for, then
there would be depression or stagnation in that industry. We do not mean, as
some political economists mean who cry out that there is overproduction, that
industries in general should be restricted ; we mean only that industries should not
be allow to overgrow themselves. That does not mean that men should be kept half
idle; if men are not wanted in one industry, there are plenty of other industries for
them.
Hence we conceive that with every man working so that he may have something to
to give in exchange for his wants; with every man, aided by science, producing the
greatest possible amount so that he may have the greatest possible amount to give in
exchange for his unlimited wants ; with equilibrium of occupations, so that no particular
industry would produce more than the population naturally demanded, we conceive
that poverty would be unknown; that the present barbarism and savagery of our
civilisation would disappear ; and society would have more of the elements of perfection.
NO-CAUSES AND FALSE REMEDIES.
I. Ov.er-Population.—Since the dawn of political economy as a science, " over
population ” has been adduced as one among the causes of poverty. That " over-popu
lation ” is essentially a source of poverty is self-evident, if we attach any meaning at all
to the word. If the population of the British Isles were such that in town and country,
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moorland and upland, a man could just rind elbow room, then indeed you would say we
were over-populated ; and should try to find elbowroom in some other part of the globe
But we have not arrived at such straitened circumstances as that yet; we are in fact a
considerable distance from that. It is one thing to say over-population is an evil • it is
another to say the British Isles are over-populated. What part of the habitable’globe
was ever yet over-populated ?
We maintain that “ over-population ” is not the cause of either of the two great evils
which we have pointed out as the causes of poverty. We maintain there is no such
phenomenon in the British Isles as " over-population.” That there are multitudes who
can get no employment is no reason for saying there are too many people here. These
multitudes could get employment if labour were properly organised.
Evidently a large population does not diminish the productiveness of labour. Neither
does the fact that there are multitudes without employment prove that there can be no
work here for them ; and that they should go elsewhere to find employment. That
would be the case if the work of a country were identical with the work of miners, who
having a limited quantity of work to do, must necessarily have it finished at some time.
When the mine is worked out, they must go to some other mine. But the work of a
nation is not identical with that. The manufacturer will never be in want of materials
for labour. He can dig down 4,000 miles without injuring his neighbour. To illustrate
further Suppose a settlement of 1,000 persons had formed a society among themselves,
and by judicious apportioning of occupations, had formed themselves into a miniature
nation, in which each man found ample demand for the product of his labour, why could
not 1,000, or 10,000 more settle down there too, provided they adopted and maintained
the same internal.organisation as the first thousand. Where everyone found demand for
the product of his labour, there would be no cry of ‘‘over-population.” But if that
internal organisation were destroyed, and occupations lost their commercial equilibrium,
then, necessarily there would be a loss of employment for some. Suppose a few thousand
missionaries were to go to Africa to evangelise the Hottentots, there would probably be
a cry from some after a time that there. was" over-population " in the Hottentot terri
tory. But [let these few thousand missionaries betake themselves to the making of
drums, wooden pipes, spears, or whatever may be in demand, and the “ over-popula
tion ” would disappear. It is not “ over-population ” that causes want of employment;
it is want of employment that causes “ over-population.” It is the want of equilibrium
or organisation in the occupations of life that condemns men to walk about idle, when
they earnestly desire to work. The existing poverty will not be alleviated by diminish
ing the population. As long as'the various industries remain unorganised, as long as
some are permitted to live in voluntary pauperism and beggary, as long as one industry
is permitted to compete with another, to reduce the value of labour to its lowest value,
so long, with ‘‘overpopulation,” or a sparse population, poverty will exist.
II. Landlordism.—No greater despotism or diabolical wrong than our present
system of landlordism could exist on the surface of the earth. It has been the cause of
misery and death to millions through all the centuries of its existence. It has given a
few a monopoly over the soil of this earth, which was made for the human race; and
thereby has consigned the happiness and lives of the many to the caprice or selfish
tyranny of the few. Men have been forced by landlordism to life-long slavery, not for
their own benefit, but for the benefit of others.
Humane men, therefore, seeing the evils of the accursed system, have cried out for
the destruction of landlordism. Such a cry cannot and will not be vain. Landlordism,
or private property in land, is unjust, and must be swept away. But though landlordism
has restricted the spirit of progress in man, and prevented the development of natural
wealth; it . must be remembered that its abolition would be only half a remedy.
Abolished it must be; but its abolition will not alone suffice as a foundation for
national prosperity. There are many who believe that if private property in land were
abolished, we would then be on the road to wealth and happiness. But land nationali
sation would only be a means towards the first condition of wealth, viz., increased pro
duction. It would not accomplish the second condition, viz., equilibrium of occupa
tions. Were the land owned by the State, we would then have co-operation in labour,
aided by scientific machinery, as the suitable means of getting the greatest produce
from the land, We would then expect increased production from the land. But with
out equilibrium of occupations there would be the same life and death struggle as now.
Were the land possessed by the State there would be increased production ; but what
would that avail if competition forced down the prices of that produce to a low degree.
Land must be nationalised, as the first condition towards increased production ; it must
be followed by equilibrium of occupations.
If State ownership be not of itself the whole remedy, how much less the ownership
�called “ Peasant Proprietary,’’ You will not abolish the evils of landlordism by creating
an army of landlords. You will not destroy a great evil, says Henry George, by
chopping it up into small pieces. To talk of “ peasant proprietary ” bringing any appre
ciable happiness to the cultivators of the soil is to talk nonsense. It is said existing
rents are too high. But suppose all the rent of the United Kingdom were abolished,
what perceptible benefit would it be to any individual in the United Kingdom? The
rental of the land of the “ United Kingdom ” is about ^67,000,000. Wererent abolished,
it would be equivalent to a donation of less than £2 for every one of the population.
“ Well, you say that itself would be something.” Yes, indeed; it would procure for
each a suit of clothes, or some trifling playtoy. It may be said that present high rents
are the cause of great poverty ; but you will not introduce an era of blessedness or
tolerable prosperity by merely reducing them, or even abolishing them. In our present
social condition a few pounds is a matter almost of Life or Death for many ; but if the
life of'man is to be anything beyond the damnable inane anarchy of to-day, a few
pounds will be a matter ®f indifference.
The present cultivators of the soil may desire to have the land sub-divided and allotted
to them, to take their stand on it, and call it their own ; but there are more people in
the British Isles besides the cultivators of the soil. To-day the majority when they rise
in the morning cannot point to any spot of earth, and say, “ Here can I rest unsubjected
to the caprice of any one man to drive me forth a wanderer.” Were land allotted even
in minute sub-divisions to individuals the same could not be said. The entire abolition
of private property is necessary for the first condition of wealth. To sub-divide land
would be a means of preventing co-operation, and far from introducing wealth, would
probably be not a means towards a greater increase of production than we have at pre
sent. But whether there would be increased or decreased production would not be a
matter of much moment as long as our present anarchy of labour existed.
The worst evils of humanity are associated with landlordism. These evils will not
be abolished by instituting the system of landlordism on a small scale, or on any scale
of it. The improvidence, recklessness, and poverty have been a necessary outcome of
the system; and the effects will not be removed till the cause is removed.
III. Overproduction.—-Many remarkable cries have been raised since the creation
of the world, but this cry of “ Overproduction ” seems to be the most remarkable. I
do not. see how any man of common intelligence would say there was such a thing as
overproduction. “You have produced too much,” they say; “the supply is greater
than the demand.” Well, I can only say with Carlyle “ That is a novelty in this in
temperate earth, with its nine hundred millions of bare backs ! ” Good heavens ! what
shall we say of the audacity of the man who stands up and declares too much has been
produced. “ The supply is greater than the demand.” Indeed ! And will you tell me
at what time since the creation of Adam was there a greater demand for all the com
modities which this world can supply ? Millions of bare backs, shoeless feet, hatless
heads, and empty stomachs ; and still the cry is “ there is too much produced.” We
who are workers call God to witness that we cannot lay our hands upon one-twentieth
of what we demand. A supply to satisfy us may be existing on the earth, but gods and
demons forbid us to touch it.
There are millions of commodities hanging up in the shops, and no one buys them.
Very true. But if people came and bought as fast as you could take them down, you
would not say then that there was “overproduction.” People say there is overpro
duction when commodities cannot be sold. But why cannot they be sold ? Evidently
because those who would buy them have no money. And now the ultimate question,
why the would-be buyers have no money, is the very question.we are trying to solve,
and certainly will not be solved by saying that overproduction is the cause of poverty
and no demand; when the fact is that there was never in the world’s history a time
when workers required more if they could only obtain it. There are millions of com
modities, I say, hanging up in shops and we cannot obtain them. We have no means
of obtaining them. Give us the means of obtaining them and then there will not be
overproduction. Grant us the means of producing more, and then we will have more to
give in exchange for all these commodities rotting on shelves.
Increased production on the part of every one is the first condition of wealth ; what
absurdity then to say there is overproduction. For such a ravenous, covetous animal
as man there could never be such a thing as overproduction.
And you would remedy what you call overproduction by compelling workers to cease
their producing for some time until we all get naked and hungry, and then, you say
there will be a universal demand for all kinds of commodities. But if I cannot
obtain one-hundreth of what I want now, how will I obtain all what I want by ceasing
to produce ? The evil lies not with overproduction ; it lies in the fact that there is not
universal production—equilibrating production on each individual’s part.
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. IV. 1. REE I rade.—What does Free Trade mean ? It means free and unrestricted
importation of goods. Free Trade has been condemned as the cause of poverty and
depression of trade. The various industries of the “ United Kingdom ’• have had to
compete with foreign produce. Such competition has had the effect of decreasing
prices here, and creating overflowing markets. On such grounds has Free Trade been
condemned.
But suppose we returned to either partial or complete prohibition, how would the
two great evils of deficient production, and anarchy of occupations be remedied ? To
institute protection or prohibition either partially or wholly would be useless unless the
industries were organised. The two essential remedies of increased production on the
part of all and equilibrium of occupations, must be instituted first; all other remedies
will be merely subsidiary.
Absolute Free Trade has its evils just as landlordism has its evils. But the abolition of
,fee Jrade or landlordism would be of themselves only half remedies. No one can ration
ally deny that absolute Free Trade may ruin a country. Were the sole industry of the
United Kingdom orange-growing, and had it to compete with Spain, it is evident our
orange-growmg would be useless. The natural advantages of one country may render
some of its industries capable of destroying similar industries in other less favoured
countries. Absolute Free Trade has not the advantages claimed for it. Its advocates
point to the extension of our industries as a result of Free Trade. They point also to
cheapened prices and say it has brought luxuries within the reach o’f all. But if prices
of commodities have been cheapened, labour has also been cheapened, and consequently
its good effects have been counteracted. As to the extension of industries, they have
been forced into existence by pressure of competition. Absolute Free Trade cannot
continue. It would be antagonistic to the equilibrium of occupations. We will retain
what is lawful of tree Trade; we will abolish what is detrimental. We must have free
what we cannot produce; we must prohibit what we can produce in abundance.
V. Non-Co-Operation.—There are some who say the poverty of the people can be
remedied by co-operation among the people themselves. No one will deny that co
operation is the only means of getting the highest production from labour ; but it must
be remembered that there are two conditions for wealth and prosperity, viz :—-Increased
production and equilibrium of occupations. With co-operation, increased production
would come, but not equilibrium of occupations. Competition would still be in exist
ence, and would be at a higher rate than now. The fact that there is not general co
operation at present does not account for the universal poverty ; for with co-operation,
the competition of the various trades would tend towards their destruction.
. V?' Capitalism.—The Socialists of to-day cry out for the abolition of capitalists.
Capitalists have tyrannised over the workers; have given them wages barely able to
sustain life ; these have been the evils of capitalism. But capitalism is not universal;
and yet poverty is universal. Were the existing system of capitalism swept away, and
the operatives themselves formed into co-operative communities, by each one contri
buting a share of capital, I say even that would be no safeguard against competition
and consequent depression. Co-operative societies have flourished ; but that has been
because of their limited number : if the whole British Isles were formed into co-opera
tive communities there would still be competition. Co-operation truly means increased
production, and consequently increase of wealth ; but it in nowise means just distribution
of wealth. With co-operative communities alone men may work as long and laboriously
as now, and still reap very little benefits of it.
VII. Intemperance, Improvidence, Want of Education.—It is said the evils of intem
perance and improvidence have kept portions of the masses in a condition bordering on
absolute starvation. The amount we spend in intoxicating drinks yearly in the British
Isles is /126,000,000. It is about ^3 per head of the population. Do you believe that
by rooting out intemperance, and thereby saving to everyone that ^3, you will per
ceptibly increase the welfare of the people ? Three pounds granted to each individual
in the year is only a matter of a plain loaf or a sweet one occasionally. We claim for
every individual a life embracing all the advantages which modem civilisation can
bestow. Do we possess that now; or are we in any slight degree approaching it ?
Intemperance must be destroyed as one cf the many evils of life ; but its destruction
must be accompanied by intelligent scientific organisation of mankind. The one will
not suffice without the other.
The want of technical education among our industrial classes has been assigned as
one of the causes of our chronic poverty. We are said to be far behind some of the
Continental countries. Truly. Germany was the first European country to recognise
the advantage of technical training ; and, as a consequence, she has made more progress
than any other country in manufacturing. But at the same time there are two techni-
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callj' trained men in Germany for every one that can find employment suited to his
training. All these so-called remedies are useless without equilibrium of occupations.
You may train workmen to the highest degree in their profession but unless the number
trained in each profession be regulated by the demand for them you will have com
petition among the members of these professions, and consequent low wages. Educa
tion alone therefore is no remedy.
HOW APPLY THE REMEDY.
Who is to apply the remedy? Who is to compel the unwilling to work; locate
isolated workers into co-operation; and determine the equilibrium of occupations ?
Evidently such work is the work of a government.
At first sight there may appear difficulties in the way of applying the remedy. But
why should there be a difficulty in applying a remedy if that remedy be proved to be
for the benefit of the people. The first duty of the government would be to divide the
population into industrial communities, so that each community may be capable of
being centres for factories. The next duty would be to determine approximately the
amount of every saleable commodity for which there would be a demand in every com
munity. Let us suppose one of these industrial divisions to consist of 10,000 persons.
We can determine approximately the number of shoes for these 10,000 persons to be
50,000 pairs in the year ; the number of hats 40,000; the number of loaves of bread
30,000. per week. That being determined for such a community, we see that if one
shoemaker could make 1,000 pairs of shoes in a year, then 50 shoemakers would be re
quired for such a community. More shoemakers than 50 in that community would be
an injury to each other. So if one hatter could make 1,000 hats in a year, then 40
hatters would be required for the same community. And if one baker could bake
3,000 loaves in a week, then 10 bakers would be required.
But you say, " What would the remaining 9,900 persons be doing?” Have we not
wants enough to keep these 9,900 employed, even supposing an occupation to be allotted
to each man. There are about 12,000 different occupations in the British Isles ; every
man needs a little of the service of each. Given the amount required to be produced ;
and also the amount each person is capable of producing, it is only a problem of arith
metic to find how many workers are required in each occupation, so as to create an
equilibrium of supply and demand. The population of the British Isles is about
35,000,000 ; the amount of every commodity utilised in daily use by such a population
can be determined. The number to be employed in each occupation can be determined.
We look forward to the development of science, and the means of shortening human
labour, or, at least, the means of getting the greatest possible produce from a man’s
labour, as the principal means of increasing the welfare of man. You may object :
In case machinery and science should be so developed, that comparatively few would be
able by working all day to supply all the necessaries required by the population, multi
tudes would have no occupation; for the very reason, you say, that machinery, and all
means of high production, would tend, as it has tended in the past, to throw persons out
of employment. Granting that such a high rate of production may arise, and that
comparatively few could supply multitudes, it would not follow, that equilibrium of
occupations would be destroyed. If comparatively few, working ten hours a day could
supply ten times their own number, then by reducing the time of labour down to one
hour a day, both suppliers and supplied would have their share of work. The approxi
mate amount of commodities of every description required for the population being
determined ; the numbers to be employed in each occupation, based on the resources
of scientific research being determined ; the next duty of the State would be to organise
the factories already existing, and to institute others in localities naturally adapted to
such factories.
In order that the State may institute and organise factories to the best advantage,
it will be necessary for the State to be the owner of all lands and buildings. Land
must therefore be nationalised. Society must be nationalised. Private individuals
could not be left in possession of either buildings or land ; because the tenants would
have to pay rent to the owners ; and the payment of rent or interest to any private indi
vidual is another name for tyranny and robbery. The State must become the owner of
all lands, railways, ships, buildings, and all means of distribution and exchange. Com
pensation must be given for all these. How much compensation should be given ; or
whether any should be given for land, are debatable questions; but those who are
desirous that our present system of anarchy and poverty should cease, will not dispute
about reasonable compensation. Following, however, computations already made, the
land value of the United Kingdom has been estimated at £,2,000,000,000 ; the railways
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�12
world, what then can be said in its favour ? Poverty has existed now for some hundreds
and thousands of years ; but that is no proof that it is impossible to remove it.
Poverty has existed for centuries, not because of any laws of the Creator, but because
of the laws of men—because of Might against Right. The day has now come when the
few shall not trample the many ; when Might and Right shall be on the same side. A
nobler life than the present is possible for every man; I have shown it to be possible.
No laws of God or the Devil prevent it being possible ; it is man himself that renders it
impossible.
The human race want organisation of labour, equilibrium of occupations. The era
that introduces that, will be a blessed one. Then the time, money, and energy a man
will expend will not be spent in vain ; he will gain some reward for his labour. If his
ambition be reasonable he will have the satisfaction of seeing it gratified. The inhuman
feline scramble for wealth will then cease. The evil deeds which men commit in order
to attain ends they cannot attain by fair means will no longer be necessary. Men will
not then be afraid to live; self-destruction will not be necessary to end the miseries
which are the companions of poverty.
Men too will become more human; more God-like; less brutal: less demon-like.
Incessant drudgery, which deforms the body and leaves no opportunity for intellectual
culture or enjoyment will vanish into the past. Society then will deserve the name.
Each human being brought into this world will be deemed a blessing, not a curse. A
bright era of intelligence will take the place of stupidity and ignorance. Men will
realise that we cannot live without society ; that the more intelligent a man is, the
better for his neighbour. “ It is as reala loss," says Emerson, “ that others should be
low, as that we should be low; for we must have society."
WHO IS TO APPLY THE REMEDY ?
Here let us ask the question : How is it that although schemes for the welfare of
mankind have been propounded, have been demonstrated to be for the good of the
people, have been fought for, still they are unaccomplished ? The masses through all
ages have wished to be emancipated from their slavery ; there have been brave men
through all ages who have struggled for their redemption ; yet their redemption has
not been realised. How comes it ? Well, the reasons are clear. The people of a
country are compelled to be subject to the laws of the country. The laws for the
masses of mankind have through centuries been made by the few who have made them
in their own interest. From the dawn of history the few who have managed to get
possession of the wealth and power have made laws to degrade others in order to elevate
themselves. The laws were not made to benefit the people, because those who made
the laws did not represent the people.
But you say we have changed all that now; the lawmakers now represent the people—
at least the people give them the opportunity of making laws. Perfectly true. But
though the masses have the power of electing persons to represent them in national
assemblies, of what use is that if the people who are to decide for or against Reform are
so ignorant concerning social evils and social remedies that they are unable to knowtbe
merits or demerits of the remedies proposed. One-half of the people of a country are
generally opposed in their opinions on social questions to the other half. Not till the
majority of the people are freed from hallucinations ; not till they come to understand
thoroughly the real causes of human poverty, and the futility of the so-called remedies
of to-day, can you expect any more blessed era than the one we live in. The people
must be educated. Till that is accomplished, nothing is accomplished. It is folly to
suppose that because people are taught to read, they will read, or will be capable of
seeking out for themselves a solution t® the problem of human misery. It is true the
masses are able to read: it is in nowise true that they are able to think. For the
thousand men says Ruskin, who can read and speak, you will find one who can think.
The masses are ignorant and indifferent. If there is to be a nobler life for them their
ignorance and indifference must vanish. "Why are the masses," says Emerson,
" from the dawn of history down, food for knives and powder "? The heirloom of the
masses from the dawn of history down, has been poverty and misery ; and they have
grown so accustomed to it that they take it for granted that poverty must exist in the
world. They have no hope beyond the present. Their only desire is to obtain sufficient
to keep them alive. We can account for such a low standard of human progress ; for
anyone who looks around him, and sees the cruel wrongs and sufferings that men endure
without uttering a word of complaint, will also see that poverty and misery are looked
upon as a thing which must necessarily be, and for which there is no remedy.
When the ignorance of the people will pass away, their indifference will pass away.
They must be educated : in that lies the hope of better things. They must be taught
�13
that there is a remedy for poverty, They must be made to know what that remedy is.
Alas ! what a world of labour lies open there before all earnest men.
One of the many reasons which have kept, and are still keeping nations in a state of
slavery, has been the absence of organised union. They who fight for nobler aims
must fight in unison. And not a union of sentiments alone will win the battle ; but
steady, wise co-operation. Can you point to any nation where the people as a whole
are acting in real unison for their common good ? No. The masses condemned to toil
for mere subsistence, either in the dingy lanes of crowded cities, or on the lone wastes
of mountain land, have no time or energy to think of remedies for social evils even if they
would. Do I then expect from these downtrodden masses the commencement of a new
era? No; but I look forward to those select few to whom the favour of Nature and
Human Destiny have given souls capable of feeling for the degradation of their fellow
men, and clear-sighted intelligence to see wherein lies the cause of our miseries. I look
forward to those noble and courageous few who have endured the worst hardships of
life, have triumphed over them, and are determined to lead a nobler existence or die.
I look not to the things called “ Governments ” for the advancement of a nation, but to
the nation itself. “What intellect,” says Carlyle, “can regulate the affairs of these
millions of labouring men ? No one—great and greatest intellect can do it. What
can ? Only these millions of ordinary intellects, once awakened into action ; these well
presided over may do it.” By each individual getting a clear idea of what he is to do,
and what must be done—only by that means can a nation prosper.
But how can the people be educated ? Let us learn from the past. Men have
laboured in the past, and have written books to point out to mankind a pathway from
their slavery, but their efforts have been vain ; they have passed away unknown to the
working millions. Even to-day movements are on foot for the regeneration of the
human race ; but the nature of these movements are known only to those immediately
connected with them. It is not sufficient to scatter noble opinions broadcast; there are
barren soils for them to fall on. It is in the real contact of mind with mind that the
dormant intelligence rouses itself into action. Men come together in the market place
to buy and sell the scanty produce of each others' labour; but they must also come
together in order to elevate human existence.
Looking forward earnestly to the advent of a more human existence, and asking
myself the grounds of my hope, I again appeal to those noble few in whom the spirit of
Right and Justice must make itself known against oppression and injustice. Ye
courageous Few! my hope rests upon you. Organize! organize! organize your fellow
men. They are ignorant, and know not the way ; you must point it out to them. The poor
two-footed slave far away on his mountain patch knows nothing of you or of your thoughts
till you speak. Hide not, I say, the light that has been given you. Gather together
your fellow-men in the thoroughfares and there teach them that a nobler life than a life
of slavery is possible for every man. The doctrines which have caught men’s hearts,
and which they have followed for centuries, were so preached. Teach them there is a
remedy for all the miseries of our present existence ; that they themselves are to apply
it. Is there a man who shall dare to say we are well enough ? For the base, worthless,
indifferent you must have pity. You may have enemies, as all noble men have had
since the creation of the world. But fear not; the spirit of a nobler existence is abroad,
and the time of man’s redemption is at hand. The institutions of the past have failed
to bring social happiness to mankind. They must change. There are some who cannot
foresee the good a change may bring them ; but fear they may lose by it. These will be
your enemies. But venture forward ; you shall have the many millions on your side.
You may make sacrifices, but you should remember that there is but one life given you,
and no chance for you for evermore after that. The tomb shall close over you, and
your chance of leading a noble life and of causing others to lead it shall have passed
away for ever.
Is life worth living at present ? “ Life is an ecstasy” says Emerson; but alas how
few there are who can say likewise. Is it worth living a life of monotonous drudgery ?
There is no form of life worth living at the present moment if it be not in combatting
with all the energy that is in you against the tyrannical wrongs, the insane bedlam delu
sions of our age. No Demon-God is ruling over and condemning you to misery and
scorn. If we are in misery it is because of our own unwisdom. Then why are we
unwise ? If the life of man can be elevated why not attempt it ? This beautiful earth
was made for us, and shall we be condemned to drag out our existence in some obscure
corner without any chance of beholding the fairest portions of it? The wonders of
creation and the knowledge and secrets gained by generations are unknown to the mass
of men : they are born and they die as the lower animals. Let us then urge forward,
fearing not for the cause that has Justice and the masses of men on its side, heeding not
�M
the opposition of those who foolishly fear a change, and be determined that we mus;
have a better life, or die nobly struggling for it. Let us not fear: we shall not be alone
the whole civilized world has risen against tyranny, oppression, and slavery. When all
men shall know each others efforts, and shall be bound together in one common brother
hood, to demand freedom it shall not be denied them.
SUMMARY.
Chap. I.—The feelings of man are easily aroused; he will rise up in resentment
against an angry look er word. But why not arise with noble indignation and with
earnest endeavour strive to throw off the yoke of poverty that outrages all the dearest
instincts of man ?
Chap. II.—Why are we poor ? We are poor because, first, we do not produce enough :
second, the demand for the products of labour is not co-ordinate with production itself.
Chap. III.—How, then, can we increase the produce of labour ? By co-operation ; bv
the establishment of factories; by the highest adaptation of scientific machinery ; by
compulsory labour.
Chap. IV—How maintain a co-ordinate demand for the produce of labour? By
establishing equilibrium of occupation ; by having as many workers in an occupation
and no more than the wants of the community necessitate.
Chap. V.—What are the false remedies for our universal poverty? Diminution of
population, destruction of landlordism, restriction of production, protection, co-opera
tion, abolition of capitalism, education, temperance, providence.
To diminish population by emigration or other means, and still leave occupations
disorganised, will not cause any decrease in the universal poverty.
The United
Kingdom seems to be over-populated because the workers are not organised. In a
community either populous or otherwise, without equilibrium or organisation of occupa
tions, the great monster of Competition will exist. So with the other false remedies,
which are no remedies because such phenomena as over-population, over-production,
intemperance, improvidence are the effects of poverty and the disorganisation of
occupations ; while the abolition of landlordism, free trade, and capitalism would be
only half-remedies.
HOW APPLY THE REMEDY.
Chap. VI.—The State would (ist) determine approximately the amount of every saleable
commodity necessary for the population. (2nd) It should determine the number of workers
to be employed in each industry, so as to produce the amount required, and no more.
(3rd) The occupations so organised should be carried on co-operatively, totally under
State supervision, compulsorily. The State must be the owner of all lands, conveyances,
means of transit, of distribution and exchange. Everything tending to destroy equi
librium of occupations should be prohibited.
OBJECTIONS.
Chap. VII.—Is not our production as high as we could expect ? Does not competition
bring cheap articles within the reach of all ? How is it possible for the State to buy up such
immense property as the land, railways, ships, buildings ? At the high rate of produc
tion proposed, would not some industries in a short time produce so much that there
would be no further use for them ? Would not increased habits of industry, thrift, and
temperance remove poverty ?
ADVANTAGES OF THE REMEDY.
Chap. VIII.—Life would cease to be an inanity and a warfare. To become rich it would
not be necessary for one to prey on another. A man’s ambition would be realised.
Inhuman strife and dark deeds would be unknown.
Man will become more god
like, less demon-like.
WHO IS TO APPLY THE REMEDY ?
Chap, IX.—The people must apply the remedy, The people must be educated, must be
made to understand there is a remedy for poverty ; that they themselves are to apply the
remedy. They must be taught that poverty is the worst crime in the world ; that they
are many, their oppressors few. They must know that henceforth their watchwords
must be “ Union ! ” “ Organisation ' ” You whom nature has gifted with a love of.
justice and nobleness, be you in the vanguard, and in social circle or public thorough
fare, by word and action, proclaim the doctrine of man's social redemption !
�OBJECT.
The Establishment of a Free Condition of Society based on the prin
ciple of Political Equality, with Equal Social Rights for all and the
complete Emancipation of Labour.
PROGRAMME.
1. All Officers or Administrators to be elected by Equal Direct Adult
Suffrage, and to be paid by the Community._
2. Legislation by the People, in such wise that no project of Law
shall become legally binding till accepted by the Majority of the People.
3. The Abolition of a Standing Army, and the Establishment of a
National Citizen Force; the People to decide on Peace or War.
4. All Education, higher no less than elementary, to be Free, Com
pulsory, Secular, and Industrial for all alike.
5. The Administration of Justice to be Free and Gratuitous for all
Members of Society.
6. The Land with all the Mines, Railways and other Means of Tran
sit, to be declared and treated as Collective or Common Property.
7. Ireland and all other parts of the Empire to have Legislative
Independence.
8. The Production of Wealth to be regulated by Society in the com
mon interest of all its Members.
9. The Means of Production, Distribution and Exchange to be
declared and treated as Collective or Common Property.
As measures called for to palliate the evils of our existing society the
Social-Democratic Federation urges for immediate adoption
The Compulsory Construction of healthy artizan’s and agricultura
labourers’ dwellings in proportion to the population, such dwellings to
be let at rents to cover the cost of construction and maintenance alone.
Free Compulsory Education for all classes, together with the provision
of at least one wholesome meal a day in each school.
Eight Hours or less to be the normal working day in all trades.
Cumulative Taxation upon all incomes above a fixed minimum not
exceeding ^300 a year.
State Appropriation of Railways, with or without compensation.
The establishment of National Banks, which shall absorb all private
institutions that derive a profit from operations in money or credit.
Rapid Extinction of the National Debt.
Nationalisation of the Land, and organisation cf agricultural and
industrial armies under State control on Co-operative principles.
As means for the peaceable attainment of these objects the SocialDemocratic Federation advocates :
Adult Suffrage. Annual Parliaments. Proportional Represen
Payment of Members ; and Official Expenses of Election
out of the Rates.
Abolition of the House of Lords and all
Hereditary Authorities.
Disestablishment and Disendowment
of all State Churches.
tation.
Membership of Branches of the Federation is open to all who agree
with its objects, and subscribe One Penny per week.
Those ready to form Branches should communicate with the
Secretary, Social-Democratic Federation, Bridge House, Blackfriars, E.G.
�Socialism and Soldiering ;
with some comments on the
Army Enlistment Fraud. By George Bateman (Late 23rd Regi
ment), with Portrait. With an introduction by H. H. Champion
(Late Royal Artillery). Price One Penny.
The Working Man’s Programme
(Arbeiter Pro-
gramm). By Ferdinand Lassalle. Translated from the German
by Edward Peters. Crown 8-vo., paper cover, price 6d.
The Robbery of the Poor.
Demy 8-vo., paper cover, price 6d.
By W. H. P. Campbell.
The Appeal to the Young.
By
Prince
Peter
Kropotkin. Translated from the French by H. M. Hyndman and
reprinted from Justice. Royal 8-vo., 16-pp. Price one penny.
The most eloquent and noble appeal to the generous emotions ever penned bv a
scientific man. Its author has just suffered five years' imprisonment at the hands of the
French Republic for advocating the cause of the workers
Wage-Labour and Capital.
From the German of
Karl Marx translated by J. L. Joynes and reprinted from Justice.
New and cheaper edition, Royal 8-vo., price id.
By Edward Carpenter.—Social
Progress and Indi
The Man with the Red Flag:
B eing John Burns’
vidual Effort ; Desirable Mansions ; and Co-operative Production.
One penny each.
I ’Ik
14
Speech at the Old Bailey, when tried for Seditious Conspiracy, on
April gth, 1886. (From the Verbatim Notes of the official short
hand reporter.) With Portrait. Price threepence.
The Socialist Catechism.
with additions from Justice.
By J. L. Joynes. Reprinted
Demy 8-vo., price id. 20th thousand.
Socialism and Slavery.
By H. M. Hyndman,
(in
reply to Mr. Herbert Spencer’s article on “ The Coming Slavery.”)
New Edition, with portrait. 16 pp. Royal 8-vo., price one penny.
The Emigration Fraud Exposed.
By
What an Eight Hours Bill Means.
By T. Mann
H.
M.
Hyndman. With a Portrait of the Author. Reprinted by per
mission from the Nineteenth
for February, 1885. Crown 8-vo.,
price one penny.
(Amalgamated Engineers). New edition with portrait.
Thousand. Price one penny.
Socialism and the Worker.
By F.
A.
Sixth
Sorge.
Price id.
An explanation in the simplest language of tne main idea of Socialism.
The Chicago Riots and the Class War in the
United States. By H. M. Hyndman. Reprinted
from Time, June, 1886.
Price one penny.
International Trade Union Congress,
t
August, 1886. Report by Adolphe Smith.
Price Three-Halfpence.
held at Paris,
24-pp., Royal 8-vo.
�
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Title
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The nationalisation of society
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L'Auton, J. Theodore
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An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 14, [2] p. ; 27 cm.
Notes: Publisher's list and information on the Social-Democratic Programme on unnumbered pages at the end.
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The Modern Press
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1887
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G4980
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Socialism
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Nationalisation
Socialism
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Text
Price One Penny.
THE
NATIONALISATION
OF OUR
RAILWAY SYSTEM,
ITS JUSTICE AND ADVANTAGES.
By F. KEDDELL.
(Reprinted from JUSTICE.)
LONDON:
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
AND
W. L. ROSENBERG, 36, EAST FOURTH STREET, NEW YORK CITY.
�All who are interested, in
should, read.
Socialism
The Co-operative Commonwealth: an Exposition
of Modern Socialism. By Laurence Gronlund, of Philadelphia.
Demy 8-vo., paper cover, is.
This book supplies the want, frequently complained of, of definite proposals for the
administration of a Socialistic State. Mr. Gronlund has reconciled the teaching of
Marx with the influence of Carlyle in the constructive part of his work, which is
specially recommended to English Socialists.
“ JUSTICE,” the Organ of the Social Democracy. Every
Saturday, one penny.
Socialism and Soldiering ; with some comments on the
Army Enlistment Fraud. By George Bateman (Late 23rd Regi
ment), with Portrait. With an introduction by H. H. Champion
(Late Royal Artillery). Price One Penny.
The Appeal to the Young.
By Prince Peter
Kropotkin. Translated from the French by H. M. Hyndman and
reprinted from Justice. Royal 8-vo., 16-pp. Price one penny.
The most eloquent and noble appeal to the generous emotions ever penned by a
scientific man. Its author has just suffered five years’ imprisonment at the hands of the
French Republic for advocating the cause of the workers
Wage-Labour and Capital. From the German of
Karl Marx translated by J. L. Joynes and reprinted from Justice.
New and cheaper edition, Royal 8-vo., price id.
The Socialist Catechism. By J. L. Joynes. Reprinted
with additions from Justice.
Demy 8-vo., price id. 20th thousand.
Socialism and Slavery. By H. M. Hyndman.
(In
reply to Mr. Herbert Spencer’s article on “ The Coming Slavery.”)
New Edition, with portrait. 16 pp. Royal 8-vo., price one penny.
The Emigration Fraud Exposed.
By H. M.
What an Eight Hours Bill Means.
By T. Mann
Hyndman. With a Portrait of the Author. Reprinted by per
mission from the Nineteenth Century for February, 1885. Crown 8-vo.,
price one penny.
(Amalgamated Engineers). New edition with portrait.
Thousand. Price one penny.
Socialism and the Worker.
By F.
A.
Sixth
Sorge.
Price id.
An explanation in the simplest language of tne main idea of Socialism.
Summary of the Principles of Socialism
By
H. M. Hyndman and William Morris. Second edition, 64-pp.
crown 8-vo., in wrapper designed by Wm. Morris, price 4d.
This gives an account of the growth of capitalist production, and concludes with a
statement of the demands of English Socialists for the immediate future.
THE MODERN PRESS, 13, Paternoster Row, London, E.C.
(The Publications of the Modern Press can be obtained from W. L.
Rosenberg, 261, East Tenth Street, New York City.)
�NATIONALISATION of oar RAILWAY SYSTEM.
ERY few of those who considered the future of railways when they
V were first introduced foresaw the important part they would play
in the economy of the nation. To the Railway Companies the Legisla
ture granted a virtual monopoly over the means of communication
between town and town, and the towns and the country. The mono
poly was fenced about with certain restrictions, some of which were in
favour of the owners of land : these have been stringently adhered to ;
others were designed to protect the interests of the community: these
have gradually lost the little vitality they ever had. The monopoly was
granted under the middle-class sophism that it would always be to the
interests of the Railway Companies to serve the community well inas
much as their profits would increase if they did their work well, and
would decrease if they did it badly. But, being companies started with
the main object of making profit, they have steadily kept that aim in
view, and have constantly neglected the interests of the community as
much as they dared. Manufacture for profit has brought us adultera
tion and shoddy; distribution for profit, of which the transport is an
important part, has brought us evils equally great.
From time to time members of the middle class have approached this
subject with a full appreciation of the evils of the present system of
railway management, aud they have invariably ended with proposing
the transfer of the railways to the State. But, being middle-class men
with all the prejudices of that class, they have also invariably advocated
a system of compensation that would render the whole business a
failure. The Irish Land Purchase Bill broke the back of the Home
Rule Bill, and compensation breaks the back of all schemes put forward
up to the present day for the Nationalisation of Railways.
Mr. Charles Waring in a recent number of the Fortnightly Review
stated with precision the evils of the present system. He is somewhat
in advance of most of those who have written on the subject as yet. He
summed up the situation fairly enough in these words: “ The facts
which confront Society are exigent. Labour is unemployed, trade is
stagnant, enterprise is suspended, and the people in large numbers are
hungry and disaffected.” All this we say, and we say something more
that Mr. Waring does not, for he gives no idea of tracing these evils
back to their source, that of production and distribution being carried
on for profit and not for use. Mr. Waring further states that “ Her
(England’s) welfare can then be maintained in spite of the increased
competition of other countries if her instruments of industry, of which
railways are the greatest of all, be made properly available.” With Mr.
Waring’s plan for making the railways properly available we will deal
�^\^:\x.ck\x^x\XVXxvvx>s-?-? ;
;v;.‘
.x
4
later on. With his contention that under the present system they are
not “ properly available ” we heartily agree, and we will proceed to con
sider the facts on which this conclusion is based.
In the first place we will consider the magnitude of the problem. The
Capital value, that is the nominal amount spent in building up the pre
sent network of railways, is in round figures eight hundred million
pounds.sterling. The number of miles of railway are 20,000, the pas
sengers carried per annum are nearly 700,000,000, the goods carried
(exclusive, of live stock) are 260,000,000 tons. The receipts amount to
^671,000,000, of which ^33,300,000 are paid away as dividends. The
shareholders are estimated to be 400,000, the debenture holders 100,000;
the persons employed are nearly 400,000. These figures, however, give
us no idea of the power and influence the present railway system
has over the prosperity of the country. We can only appreciate
this, though but faintly, when we consider that there is not a single
exchange of commodities in which distance is involved that is not mate
rially affected by the grasp the Railway Companies have over the means
of communication and transport. The supply of food, of building mate
rials, and of clothing, is affected by the rates that the railway may
choose to levy. The managers of our railways can build up an industry
in any town by preferential rates, they can destroy it by levying maxi
mum rates. They can, and do prejudice home industries by conveying
foreign produce at a less rate than that imposed on home produce. The
only rule that they follow is that of declaring the highest dividend they
can ; all else is subsidiary ; a home industry may be destroyed, the pros
perity of the nation may be impaired for aught they care, so long as they
can maintain their dividends. The question, however, that we have to
consider is not how to preserve the interests of a few possessed of a
monopoly, but whether or no the monopoly granted by the Legislature,
when it represented not the nation but a couple of classes, should be
continued to the great detriment of the interests of the nation.
The only valid ground for maintaining the monopoly would be the
proof that the Railway Companies have made a fair and proper use of
their great powers, and have conduced to the prosperity of the people.
But the exact contrary is the case. The Railway Companies have
abused their powers, they have used them constantly to the furtherance
of their own interests, and they have grievously mismanaged their busi
ness to the great harm of the community. As is well known the indus
tries of this country are rapidly passing from the purely individualist
into the company form, whaile the business is carried on, directed, and
managed by salaried officials. In the case of the Railways, the Company
form, by the necessities of the case, was assumed at the very outset.
Now the workers know well enough how much harder are the conditions
when working for a Company than for an individual master, but this
effect on the condition of the workers, great though it is, is only a small
part of the evils that competition and production for the profit in the
Company form inflict upon the community.
In the case of the railways, however, we have ample evidence of the
great injury done to the community generally by distribution for profit
under the Company form, which may serve as some guide in estimating
the evils of production for profit under the same phase.
We stated that the capital value of the railways is estimated at about
eight hundred millions, and the amount divided yearly amongst share
holders, &c.. at ^33,300,000. The National Debt amounts tO;f740,330,000,
and the interest paid to the holders is ^28,883,670. These two items
. A:.
�5
show the burdens placed upon the workers of the present day by the
class legislation of former years. It is generally known that of the sums
borrowed which form the National Debt an enormous amount was abso
lutely wasted, but it is not so generally known that much of what is
called the capital value of the Railways is in part wealth absolutely
wasted, in part purely fictitious.
The waste consists principally of the ridiculous compensation extorted
by landowners for the ground required by the railways. The Legisla
ture when railways were first introduced consisted almost entirely of
landlords, the whole of whose power was used to extort this unjustifiable
compensation. Joseph Locke, an authority on this matter, estimated the
excess of compensation at about ^80,000,000. This amount is appa
rently arrived at after allowing a “ fair” compensation for the land, but
does not take into account the increased value given to the remainder
of the property by the mere presence of the railway. Had the landowners
made a free gift of the land required they would still have gained largely.
Some idea of the excessive compensation for land may be gathered from
the following instances quoted by William Galt. A parcel of land was
bought by one company for ^3,000 ; a further sum of ^10,000 was
claimed and paid for consequential damages. The London and Bir
mingham Railway Bill met with so much opposition in Parliament from
the interested landowners that the requisite land was ultimately pur
chased at three times its fair value, that being the only way in which
the opposition could be bought off. When the Eastern Counties Rail
way was planned, a few miles were required of the estate of a noble
lord under one plan and of that of a right honourable gentleman under
another plan. The noble lord stipulated that he should be paid
£120,000 for his five or six miles, and although the Bill was amended,
the noble lord obtained his ^120,000 and the right honourable gentleman
^35,000. The following table taken from William Gait’s Railway
Reform shows the cost per mile for land compensation only, paid by
four companies :
L. and S. W.
... ^4,000
London and Birmingham ^6,300
Great Western ... ^6,300
London and Brighton ... ^8,000
Against these amounts may be placed the case of the Peebles and Edin
burgh line, which was constructed shortly after the era of excessive
compensation at a cost of ^1,131 per mile for land and compensation,
and at a total cost of a little more than ^6.000 per mile.
The second source of waste is found in the enormous legal expenses in
curred by the companies, partly on account of the opposition offered by the
landed interest, and partly by the quarrels between the companies to
obtain control of certain districts, In the case of the four railways
above mentioned, Galt estimates the Parliamentary expenses per
mile, viz:—
L. & S. W....................... £^5° I Great Western .......... ^1,000
London & Birmingham... ^650 | London & Brighton ... ^3,000
The whole of the Parliamentary expenses of the Peebles and Edinburgh
Railway were ^1,569, say /"So per mile.
Further: the capital accounts of all the railways in the United Kingdom is
taken to be about ^800,000,000 ; but this is the nominal amount, and does
not represent the sum actually received and spent. Some of the stocks
have been issued at a discount, and even debentures at a fixed rate of
interest have been granted for an amount larger than that paid for them.
To establish anything like an approximate statement of how much of
�6
these £800,000,000 was actually received and paid away, and how much
is purely fictitious, would require an exhaustive research into the
financial history of our railway companies since they were first estab
lished. We can, however, glean from the statements issued for the
half-year ending 31st December 1885 sufficient facts to warrant the con ■
elusion that a heavy reduction on the £800,000,000 could on this score
alone be easily made.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway pay dividend on
£"17,696,175 shares and stock; the accounts show that only £”17,413,500
were received. In the accounts of the Great Eastern, allowance is
made for £”1,609,054, difference between nominal amount of the ordinary
stock and its price of issue, and for £”1,542,758, for a similar difference
on the guaranteed and other stocks. Dividend is paid on £"27,833,289;
ordinary and guaranteed stocks together.
The Metropolitan Railway have issued perpetual Preference stock for
£”2,502,038, of which £”400,408 is nominal, and has never been received
by the Company. On an issue of £”1,500,000 Preference stock by the
Metropolitan District, a discount was allowed of £”548,766 ; this item
alone reduces the nominal capital of the Company (£”7,860,519) by
nearly 7 per cent.
In the account issued by the Chatham and Dover of their expenditure
of capital during the half-year ending 31st December 1885, there is an
item of £”137,296, discount on issue of arbitration Preference stock; the
amount received during that half-year for this stock was £”443,159.
The London and North Western accounts show that they have
received for stocks and shares, £"66,185,705, which rank for dividend
and as capital for £"75,539,781. The difference is startling, £”9,354,076.
Leaving out of account the difference on the Chatham and Dover
accounts, as the figures given in it do not allow of any precise statement,
we find that the capital accounts of the other five companies referred to
are 12 per cent, greater than they should be, and are £"13,737,737 in
excess of the cost of the railway. If a mere cursory glance at halfyearly statements gives this result we may reckon with confidence that
an exhaustive investigation would materially reduce the swollen nominal
capital of our railways.
There is a further heavy reduction to be made on account of the mis
management, to use a mild term, of the railway companies on the score
of having paid dividends out of capital. The greatest ingenuity is shown
by railway managers in their efforts to keep up high dividends, especial,}’
in times of crisis and depression. This national concern is run for profit
and not for use, and every nerve is strained to show the most profit,
even when the means adopted are such as to prejudice future
interests.
Under the present system, where the transport of
commodities is left to companies to exploit for their own benefit, we
can hardly be surprised if dividends are objects of greater anxiety than
the national welfare; but we have a crowning proof of the incapacity of
the middle-class to manage their business in the manner in which the
managers-of railway companies have deliberately sacrificed the future
interests of the shareholders.
The way in which dividends are provided, in ordinary times partially,
and in bad times entirely, is simplicity itself. It consists of meeting
expenses that should be paid out of the yearly income by the issue of
further shares or debentures. The accounts that the companies render
show nothing of this except to skilled investigators. The ordinary
shareholder believes that the dividend has been fairly earned, and that
�the formation of further capital can be justified by principle. But the
dividend has not been earned so long as one item of legitimate current
expense is met by the creation of further liabilities. Every share thus
issued is a mortgage on the future, and is a proof of mismanagement.
Nor do the railway officials content themselves with piling up the capital
account to meet current expenses; to give a show of prosperity they will
starve the permanent way, and will keep down necessary expenses to a
dangerously low level. Further, to keep up the appearance the officials
will encourage enterprises that have but faint expectations of proving
remunerative, and embark on an extravagant outlay of capital on lines
that are open. To such a pitch was this method of doing business car
ried that Willliam Fleming, a high authority on railway figures, calculates
that in 1878 the following dividends were paid out of capital:
77 per cent, of the Great Western dividend. 57 per cent, of the Glasgow & S W. divnd
19
ditto
Gt. Northern ditto
The whole of the Manchester, Sheffield &
Lincolnshire dividend.
90
ditto
L. & N. Western ditto. Ditto
Caledonian dividend.
Lan. and York, ditto.
49
ditto
Ditto
North British ditto.
North Eastern ditto.
22
ditto
An examination of recent accounts show the same mismanagement
The sound principle that all the costs of working, including additional
accommodation and new rolling stock on all lines open for traffic, should
be met out of the receipts is completely ignored. Even such details as
huts for fogmen (N. W.), miscellaneous expenditure (L. C. & D.), lamps
(G.E.R.), are met by fresh capital. Re-signalling, interlocking signals,
continuous breaks, the cost of which at the most should be spread over
a few years, become a perpetual charge.
The rolling stock is on some lines starved as long as possible until a
big outlay of capital becomes inevitable. During the half-year ending
31st December, 1885, the Midland spent on rolling stock £80,074, the
South-Western, £93,858, the Great Eastern, £43,766, and the Great
Northern, £95,463, whilst the North-Western expended only £11,496.
and the Great Western, £11,763. Rolling stock from an engine down
to a coal truck has a limited life, and its cost should be defrayed out of
the income of the periodofits existence. To meet such charges by increase
of capital is financial jugglery, but it is almost inevitable when dividends
are made the chief object of a railway manager’s care.
T o sum up when the capital account of the railways is put at £800,000,000,
it must always be remembered that this amount is susceptible of very heavy
reductions. To arrive at anything like the real cost of the railways
serious reductions must be made: 1, on account of excessive and ridi
culous compensation paid for land ; 2, money wasted on legal expenses ;
3, the nominal character of part of the capital; 4, the payment of divi
dends out of capital by charging working expenses to capital account.
The next point to be considered is that of the rates the Railway Com
panies charge for the services they render; they have a practical
monopoly of the transport of commodities and passengers, subject only
to a control by the Legislature which has been and is still oc
the most grandmotherly description. In the various Acts of Parlia
ment establishing the different companies there is a list of maximum
rates to be levied on some fifty to sixty articles. To remedy this
absurdly inadequate schedule the Railway Clearing House has drawn up
a list of some 4,080 articles which are divided into seven classes with a
rate for each class. But this list is drawn up by the traffic managers of
the different companies, and the public has no voice in the matter. The
list bristles with anomalies, and is acknowledged to be imperfect and
�8
jl
jr
unfair by the railway officials themselves. No effort, however, is made
by the legislature to exercise any control over this classification, and
any proposition to rectify the anomalies and to subject the whole matter
to exhaustive amendment is met by the railway interest, which is second
to none in the influence it possesses in our middle-class House of
Commons, with persistent and hitherto successful opposition. As matters
are now, the maximum rates, established by the Legislature many years
ago under very different circumstances to those that now obtain, remain
in full force. The cost of locomotion, the time occupied in transit, the
character and bulk of the goods handled have all materially changed,
but the maximum rates remain the same. The reason why the railway
companies fight against any control in this matter is that these rates
afford them the means of granting preferential rates to districts and to
individuals. The maximum rates are so much above the cost of trans
port that ample opportunities are given of favouring one town or one
manufacturer by-granting him a special rate whilst other towns and
individuals are charged full rates.
The maximum rates fixed by the legislature apply only to carriage,
and the companies are further empowered to charge “ a reasonable sum
for loading, covering and unloading of goods, and for delivery and the
collection, and any other services incidental to the business or duty of a
carrier.” This extra charge is now known by the name of “ terminals,”
and to the items enumerated is now added, owing to carelessness in
drawing an Act of Parliament, a charge for the sidings and ware
houses. The amount of the charge is only limited by the word
‘ reasonable,” and the railway companies have not been slow to
avail themselves of the almost unlimited power to charge what
they like for terminals. The control exercised by the Legislature over the
charges of the railway companies for carriage of merchandise is there
fore a perfect farce. The mere transport is regulated by an antiquated
list of maximum rates which have little or no reference to the present
day, and the terminals are left to the discretion of the officials. The
result of such a “ control ” is aptly shown by the evidence of the Goods
Manager of the South Eastern Railway before the Parliamentary Select
Committee in 1881. The total charge on hops from Sevenoaks to Lon
don is 24s. a ton, from Redhill, 27s., from Staplehurst, 36s. Allowing
5d. a mile per ton for transport (the L.B: & S.C.R. charge 2d., and the
L. &S.W., 3d. per mile) the Sevenoaks rate leaves 15s. 8d. for terminals,
that from Redhill, 18s. 3d., and that from Staplehurst, 19s. 4d. The
Goods Manager admitted that ns. 6d. a ton for terminals would “ satisfy ”
the Company. A “reasonable sum” for terminals therefore means
according to the S.E.R. official a surcharge of 4s. 2d. to 7s. iod. per
ton in addition to a rate for transport that is double the average charge
of two other companies.
Under these fossil maximum rates and these elastic terminals a system
has grown up of preference to districts, to individuals, and to foreign
produce. Part of what has been done might of course be defended with
some show of reason, but it has been done by the wrong men. Such
important questions as creating new industries, and protecting old ones
by low railway rates, should be settled by the representatives of the
Nation, and not by Directors of a Company carried on for profit. The
tendency to consider first and foremost how to declare a good dividend
must warp the judgments of the railway officials, when they fix new or
revise old rates. The same cause must lead them to take advantage of
the public whenever they can; the Committee of 1882 found that the
�9
charges for conveyance were such as the managers thought “ the traffic
would bear,” or in other words as much as could be got without reference
to the cost of performing the service.
Competition is practically
absent; there is complete monopoly at 4,500 stations out of the 6,000
in the United Kingdom, and as Mr. Findlay, L. & N.W. manager,
confesses frankly the Companies agree between competing points. Mr.
Findlay as frankly states that to certain stations they charge higher rates
than to others further off “ simply because it is within our power.”
As regards preference shown to towns or districts the course adopted
by the railway companies has been in some cases apparently very judi
cious. For instance, at Westbury there is iron ore but no coal. The
Great Western Railway, therefore, grants low rates for the import of
coal and coke, and an industry that would not otherwise exist springs
into life The iron industry of South Staffordshire could not exist
were it not for the very low rates charged on the import of iron ore.
. But these are national concerns, and should not be left to the discretion
of indirectly interested railway officials. Further, who will guarantee
that the directors will never have any direct personal interest in the pro
tection of this or the other district ? A future director of the G.W.R.
might have a strong personal interest in stifling the inconvenient com
petition of W estbury with other iron producing districts. The commer
cial morality of the middle class of the present day does not stand so
high that such things are so improbable as to be practically impossible.
The preference shown to individual traders admits of no defence. Mr.
Horrocks, who takes a very moderate and middle-class view of the evils
of our railway systems, calls the inequalities “startling.” Traders find
out that they have been handicapped for years; more favourable rates
having been granted to their rivals. The defence of the managers is
refreshing in its coolness. They see no objection to individual preferences.
“ It is in accordance with commercial principle to charge one customer
10 per cent,, another 20, another 50, and another possibly 100, for doing
the same service.”
The preference shown to foreign over home produce is a kind of “ topsy
turvy ” protection. There is no doubt about the practice. Mr. Charles
Waring is emphatic on this point. He says, “ The companies not only
charge less for foreign than for home produce over equal distances, but
they charge less for foreign produce over a long distance than for home
produce over a short distance. They also grant facilities for getting early
into the market to foreign produce which they refuse to home produce.”
We would recommend this aspect of the question to the Fair Traders.
Here are companies to which the State has delegated one of the most
important functions of modern society: that of the transport of
commodities. The powers of these companies are such that they can and
do protect, by preferential rates, home industries in some cases and foreign
industries in others. This apparent contradiction is, however, solved by
the consideration that the companies use their vast powers simply and
solely for the purpose of making profits and declaring dividends. If pro
tecting home industries will increase their dividends, then preferential
rates will be granted to them, but if protecting foreign industries at the
expense of home industries will swell their dividends, why home indus
tries may and do go to the wall.
The next point to consider is the treatment and remuneration of
the workers on the railways, who are in one respect better off than those
who are employed in the production of wealth, for as yet few, if any, rail
way companies have shut their doors and discharged their hands, neither
�IO
do we find any parallel to overproduction causing a glut on the market,
and culminating in short-time and a large addition to the number of the
unemployed. This, however, does not apply to those employed in the
construction of railways who are discharged when their work is done.
The workers on the railways are, nevertheless, as much at the mercy of
the capitalists as any other workers; their wages are low, their hours are
long, and their occupation, in many cases, is one of great risk. But the
competition in this, as in other branches of industry, is so keen that men
are easily found who are willing to work under the present onerous and
dangerous conditions. It is a fact beyond dispute that in consequence
of the railway companies refusing to take proper precautions a large
number of their workers are every year killed and injured at their work.
The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants has, year by year,
specially called the attention of the Companies to the very dangerous
conditions under which the shunters have to work. But the Directors
have taken no step to remedy the evil; apparently the only thing they
have done has been to issue a rule that no one is to go between the car
riages or trucks whilst in motion. The utility of this measure is that in
case of a fatal accident the rule is produced at the inquest, the Company
is exonerated from blame, and the Employer’s Liability Act is shut out
of operation. The Companies thus protect themselves from any claims for
damages, although they know well that the work could not be done if the
rule were acted upon.
In the ten years ending December 31st, 1884, 1,081 shunters were
killed outright, and 9,256 injured; in rough numbers, three out of every
four of those engaged in this work were at the end of ten years killed or
injured, the injuries from the nature of the work being almost always
serious. This holocaust to capital grasping for dividends continues ;
in 1885 no less than 451 workers were killed and 2,117 injured, as will be
seen from the following tabulated statement of accidents to railway
servants.
Number
1885.
employed.
Killed. Injured.
—
6,165 station masters
7
7,407 brakesmen and goods guards 5°
435
37,840 permanent way
102
134
2
1,605 gatekeepers ...
3
149
12,874 engine drivers
23
48,070 porters and shunters
82
586
12,795 firemen
20
196
22
3,518 inspectors
4
5,902 passenger guards
63
5
19,012 pointsmen and signalmen .. 14
4i
70,405 labourers
86
48
1
2,060 ticket collectors, &c....
6
55,940 mechanics
20
23
62,833 other classes ...
87
367
346,426
45i
2,117
Notice should be taken of the proportion between the killed and
injured platelayers ; if a casualty happens to a gang of these workers and
eleven are affected by it, five will be killed outright. The accidents to
brakesmen and goods guards are also very serious ; out of every 150
employed in 1885 one was killed, and out of every 17 one was injured.
It is far safer to be a soldier than a brakesman.
�II
The wages paid to railway servants are an instructive illustration of
the way in which our capitalist society forces the proletariat to run
great risks to life and limb for a mere subsistence wage. Shunters
receive from 2s. 6d. to 5s. for a day of 10 to 12 hours; goods guards and
brakesmen 3s. to.5s. for 10 to 14 hours; and platelayers 2s. 2d. for 9 to
11 hours. The lower rates are those at which they commence, the
higher are those to which they can rise. The hours are no indication
of the length of the day’s work ; overtime is generally paid for at a higher
rate, but in some instances 144 hours per fortnight; 66 and 72 hours per
week must be worked before overtime commences. A statement was
made in the Huddersfield Examiner a short time ago that “ In a full week of
seven days there are 168 hours, and hundreds of railway servants can be
brought forward and produce a time bill of 112 hours.”
The wages of signalmen vary from 3s. to 5s. per day of 8 to 14 hours.
The difference between the length of the day is however not altogether
in favour of the shorter time. The eight hours indicate far greater
strain, and can only be undergone by men of exceptional tenacity and
hardness. The number of eight hours boxes is however small, and they
are only tp be found at points where the traffic is incessant or excep
tionally heavy.
The railway servants have a society established for the purpose of
resisting unjustifiable reductions in wages or increased hours, and for
obtaining reduced hours and fairer remuneration. It is also a benefit
society, making certain allowances to those of its members who meet
with death or injury by accident. It recently granted the sum of £500
to be offered in prizes for automatic and non-automatic safety couplings
to wagons. In this, and in the other matters, the Society is doing good
work, but at the best it is only a palliative, it does not pretend to attack
the root of the evil; it does not concern itself in any way with the social
problem. As long as the railways are private property, as long as the
workers are the proletariat, so long will the companies be able to find
workers only too anxious to work at the present low wage and under
present dangerous conditions.
In 1885 the remuneration of the workers on the railways, taking into
account the large salaries paid to managers and other high officials, the
directors’ fees, the salaries of all officials, and the wages of all the men
w’as met by the payment of about ^17,400,000. The number of officials,
commencing at station-masters downwards, is 346,426, giving an average
remuneration of under 19s. 6d. per week. The actual remuneration is,
of course, something less as the total amount paid away includes the
salaries of the high officials, clerks, book-keepers, &c., who are not
included in the Government returns of the number employed on the
railways.
The remuneration of the “ non-workers,” say the shareholders, deben
ture-holders, &c., in 1885 was ^32,768,000, being at the average rate of
4*02 per cent, per annum on the total capital, loans, &c. Say that the
workers are now at work on an average 12 hours per day, their numbers
could be doubled, that is, increased by over 350,000, their hours of work
reduced to six per day, and their average rate increased from 19s. 3d. to
28s. per week, if what is now paid away to shareholders were divided
among those who do the work.
It is merely a question of calculation how the railway men would be
affected by a gradual socialisation of the railways which would guarantee
a mimimum dividend on the average of 3 per cent, terminable within 30
years, or with the life of the present stock and shareholder. If such a
�scheme were commenced to-morrow, men who are now alive would live
to see the day when the overwork of 346,000 men would be divided
among 692,000 at fair rates of wages.
Again: the reduction of the average dividend to the same rate, 3 per
cent, of interest as Consols say, would increase the payments to the
workers by ^8,200,000 per annum, and would permit the immediate em
ployment of over 200,000 men at the present rate of wages, and in a few
years, long before the railways became the property of the nation, the
number of workers on them would be 700,000, who would receive some
thing approaching a fair wage.
The scheme for the nationalisation of our railway system put forward
by Mr. Charles Waring, is mainly based on the idea that the State shall
not work.the railways with the view of earning profit, but “ utilise this
national instrument in the way most calculated to benefit trade, and by
these means to contribute to and increase national wealth and welfare,
regardless of the remuneration of the instrument itself.” This is a very
taking way of putting forward what is thoroughly unsound. It is quite
correct that the State should not “ earn ” profit out of the railways as it
does now out of the Post Office. The remuneration of the instrument
itself, which we take to be the workers on the railways, is, however, the
most important matter, and should have the most careful regard and
attention. Mr. Waring’s contention that, under his system, “ the un
earned increment of trade will go into the pockets of the people instead
of the pockets of one class of capitalists,” shows at once that his point of
view is diametrically opposed to anything like a Socialistic solution of the
problem, and that he does not see how his plan would work. It is true
that the profits would not go into the pockets of one class of capitalists,
but they would go into the pockets of other classes of capitalists, and
would never reach the people at all. Mr. Waring’s plan is that the
smaller wolves should share between them what now goes to half-a-dozen
big wolves.
As far as regards the revenues of the Railways the receipts derived
from the Passenger traffic are not so important as those derived from
goods traffic. In 1885 the income of all railways in the United Kingdom
from passenger traffic was ^25,585,335, and that from goods traffic
^36,871,945. The return per train mile on the passenger traffic was 4s.
and on the goods traffic, 5s. iod. Passengers, however, embark and
disembark themselves, whilst goodshave to be collected and delivered,
loaded and unloaded. Further the average fare per passenger was last
year eightpence and i-8th ; taking'15 passengers as equal to one ton, the
railways received per ton of passengers 10s. 2d. as against 5s. 6d. say
per ton of merchandize.
The most noteworthy feature in the passenger traffic is the increasing
importance of the third class. In 1878 the number of 3rd class passengers
was 441,202,291, and their fares amounted to ^13,957^03, whilst in 1885,
the passengers were 603,762,117, and their fares amounted to ^17,588,730.
But the number of first and second class passengers in the same period
has fallen from 110,391,363 to 93,450,914, and the amount paid by them
for fares has decreased from ^8,064,726 to ^"6,174,081. In other words
whilst the first and second class passengers paid 36.62 per cent, of the
passenger receipts in 1878, last year they only paid 25.98 per cent.;
their quota of each 20s. received by the Companies has fallen from 7s.
4d. to 5s. 2d. in seventeen years. Considering the extra expense of
carrying first and second class passengers, and the great accommodation
placed at their disposal by the companies, it is manifest that the abolition
�of both or either of these classes will be one of the first steps to be taken
in Railway reform.
The treatment of the third classs traffic by the Companies is out of all
proportion to its importance. The middle class have at the present
day the control of the Public Press, and any shortcoming either in the
number or speed of the trains or in the conveniences and accommoda
tion afforded by the Companies and its officials is promptly enlarged
upon in the papers and as promptly attended to by the managers. The
consequence is that a large number of useless and superfluous trains are
run to suit the middle class, and the cost of running a large number of
nearly empty carriages is incurred without rhyme or reason. On the
other hand the complaints of the third class passengers seldom if ever
come before the public, and invariably meet with no redress. Anyone who
travels third class on our Metropolitan and Suburban lines can testify
to the inferior and scanty accommodation afforded by the Companies.
The passengers are themselves to blame to some extent for this state of
affairs ; they rarely object to being overcrowded, and any passenger who
protests against the presence of more passengers than can be carried
without great inconvenience is promply silenced and often abused by
those wno should protest with him. A second-claSs passenger who finds
no room in the second-class carriage promptly claims and is afforded a
seat in a first-class carriage ; the third-class passenger, however, crowds
into the third-class carriage while standing room remains, and if he com
plains at all, it is of those who obiect to his intrusion.
The immediate abolition of the second-class could be effected without
detriment to the finances of the Companies. The second-class pas
sengers in 1885, were 60,985,772, and their fares amounted to /2,931,111
giving an average of 114d ; the third-class passengers were 603,762,117,
and they paid in all ^i 7,588,730, or close on 7d a head. If all the secondclass passengers were to travel third-class there would, of course, be a
heavy loss, but the experience of the Midland Railway clearly shows
that this reform could be carried out with even an advantage to the
finance of the Companies. This reform, however, can only be considered
as a step towards the establishment of one class only. Those who insist
upon the distinctions that now obtain are mainly people who live largely
on the unpaid labour of the workers, or who are still under the yoke of
middle-class ideas of respectability.
The introduction of working men s trains at low fares shows that at an
early period local trains could be run at one and the same fare for anv
distance within the locality. This plan the London Road Car Company
has followed with success on the streets of London, and there is little
doubt that its introduction on our railways would be equally successful.
The longer journeys could then soon be treated on the same plan, but
the railway companies, who work the railways with the sole view of
earning a dividend, and who never regard the monopoly they possess
other than as a profit-earning machine are most unlikely to introduce so
sweeping a reform. But just as a letter can now be sent from London
to Inverness for one penny, so when the railways are taken over by the
community and managed in the interest of the community will a
passenger travel by train from Euston Square to the Highlands at a low
average fare.
The many complicated questions of rates for goods and passenger
traffic and the evil effects on the industries of the country caused by the
transportation of commodities being under the control and power of
joint stock companies, whose main idea is that of declaring the highest
�■
possible dividend, give rise from time to time to such great dissatisfaction
that railway commissions are appointed to examine into, and Bills are
proposedin Parliament to remedy, the evils and to solve the complicated
questions. The power of the railway companies is, however, so strong
in our present middle-class House of Commons, that both Commissions
and Bills come to naught, and the railway interest retains its old power
and control.
The consequence of this autocratic control of the companies
over the transportation of commodities was foreseen by many
prominent men of the Tory party when the present railway company
system was introduced. Sir Robert Peel declared to the railway mag
nates, “ You shall not have a permanent monopoly against the public,”
and his Government brought in and passed an Act empowering the
State to purchase the railways at the expiration of 21 years. This Act
has remained a dead letter, the principle of resuming the monopoly
is still fully recognised, but in practice the Companies have used
their monopoly as all monopolies have been used, namely for
their own benefit. Let us recite one or two cases of excessive
and of preferential rates. The principle on which the rates are framed
is simplicity itself; it consists in charging as much as the traffic will
bear, and the consequence is a set of rates defensible on no other principle
whatever. The London and North-Western charged 28s. 4d per ton on
steel wire from London to Birmingham, a distance of 113 miles, whilst
from Antwerp to Birmingham, 313 miles, they charged 16s. 8d. Another
Company charged as much for carrying goods 27 miles as for 86, and
again made no difference in the rate when the difference in distance was
116 miles. The Great Western charge id per gallon on milk for 10
miles, and the same rate for ten times the distance. Cattle are carried
from Norfolk to London at 10s. a head, whilst from the Midland
counties to London, a longer distance, the charge is 5s.
Foreign cattle
are carried on one line at 4s. less per head than English. Foreign
produce constantly obtains an undue preference. American meat and
cornare carried at lower rates than English meat and corn for
a shorter distance.
Large quantities of foreign produce are
charged less than home produce over equal distances, and are even
carried longer distances at less than home products over short journeys.
What is the remedy for this state of affairs ? Another Commission ?
All that a Commission can do is to make clear what previous Commis
sions have sufficiently demonstrated, namely, constant unfair preference
and a radically unsound treatment of the great question of the transport
of commodities by those who hold the monopoly, which Sir Robert Peel
declared should not be permanent. And what about a Railway Rates
Bill ? Anyone who followed the treatment by the railway magnates of
the very mild measure brought in by Mr. Gladstone’s Government in the
Spring of 1886 will at once see that any solution by the middle-class of
this important problem may hit a blot or two, remedy one or two evils,
but will never change the present system of monopoly carried on for the
profit and advantage of shareholders. Even supposing that a minister were
thorough enough to propose, and a House of Commons honest enough
to carry such a measure as Mr. Waring proposes, how much better off
would the workers be ? The railway question, as weil as all other
economic questions of the day, can only be solved by bearing steadily
in mind the effect that any proposed solution would have on the condi
tion of the workers.
Mr. Charles Waring is against the State carrying on the railways with
�II
a view of earning profit. He urges that they should be managed so as
to conduce to the “ largest development of trade, and to the “ growth of
commerce ; ” to help forward the establishment of innumerable centres of
industry,” and to “ increase the national wealth and welfare.” All these
are the fine phrases of the capitalist school. There is no reference to the
position of the worker, save such indirect and transient improvement of his
lot as may happen through greater development of trade and commerce.
His proposals might result in the improved position of the British trader,
but would leave untouched the relations between the Capitalist and the
Proletariat. In the domain of production of commodities every invention,
every discovery, every improvement in machinery, benefits the landlord
and the capitalist, and so in the domain of distribution, every improve
ment, every step towards perfection in working, also benefits the landlord
and the capitalist, but leaves the proletariat still the proletariat; the wage
slave of to-day is no less a wage-slave because the means of communica
tion and distribution are being improved day by day; in fact, the
tendency is in the other direction, the accumulation of unpaid labour is
accelerated by every improvement of which we boast so much to-day.
What, then, is the solution of the railway question that can alone be
deemed adequate, that will be able to solve at one and the same time the
two problems, how to manage the transport of commodities so that the
workers on the railways shall receive the full produce of their labour, and
yet at the same time help forward the production of wealth ?
If an energetic minority of the workers of Great Britain were thorough
Socialists the resumption of the monopoly granted to the railway com
panies could be effected in a single day and that without any compensa
tion whatever to shareholders, debenture holders, &c., except such as
they would have in enjoying the advantages of the organised system of
production and distribution which would replace the commercial anarchy
of to-day. Such a sudden change is, however, only possible at a climax
of an overwhelming popular movement. The French Revolution effected
a greater change when the land passed from the nobles to the people,
and the Stein land law brought about a “ Revolution ” in landholding
of equal magnitude in Prussia. This resumption of accumulated “ un
paid labour ” which has built up our railways without compensation is,
of course, the aim of every Socialist, and any deviation from this prin
ciple can only be justified on grounds of immediate expediency. A
moderate compensation might be advisable as solving the problem
sooner than a rigid adherence to the principle of recovering in full the
property of individuals who have no moral claim to it.
If the railways were taken over at once and without compensation,
the number of the workers could be doubled, their hours of work reduced
to six per day, and their average wages increased from 19s. 3d. per
week to 28s. At least 350,000 of the unemployed would be in work at a
decent rate of wages. If, however, full compensation were paid to the
shareholders, &c., not a single man could be added to the workers on
the railways, the wages could not be increased nor the hours of work
reduced. On the other hand, if the very liberal terms were arranged of
an annuity at 3 per cent, per annum for the next thirty years, the number of
workers at the present rate of wages could be increased by 200,000, and
the hours of work reduced to eight per day. What particular settlement
will be arrived at on this point will, however, depend entirely upon the
attitude of the workers ; the spread of Socialism amongst the prole
tariat and their steady combination will most materially affect the solu
tion. The average percentage paid away in dividends and interest
�i6
was 4.19 in i860, it is now 4.02 ; the variation has therefore been small,
but the average return on other investments has considerably fallen
during the same period, for instance, the value of money during the
same period has fallen from 5 per cent, per annum to 3 percent. The steadj^
return on the nominal capital of railways is of course the result of monopoly,
and the abolition of monopoly cannot be expected to carry with it compen
sation at the monopoly rate of return. Neither can the market value of
the shares be taken into account, for that also rests mainly on the return
per annum which is the result of the monopoly.
In any case, whether the railways are resumed by the community after
a long peaceful agitation, or at the climax of a short sharp struggle, the
first step towards reorganisation would be the concentration of all the
Boards that now direct our numerous railway companies. The practical
men, those who are conversant with the working of the traffic, would be
retained, whilst the guinea-pigs, the men of title, and the dummies who
say ditto to the leading spirit that virtually dictates the policy of the
company, would be retired. The practical men would then form a central
executive, and through local executives would carry out the organisation
of the railway service of Great Britain. But this central executive would
be subordinate to a Board which would direct which particular steps
should be taken first. On this Board it is not likely that there would be
a single man now in the service of any railway company. Apart from
the men who do the work on the railways to-day from the porters up to
those officials who actually manage the traffic, there is perhaps not a man
who is not so imbued with the present system of working for dividends
as to be virtually incapable of taking any new views. The direction of
the reorganisation would, therefore, of necessity be entrusted to some few*
thoroughly capable men, who, though they would have much to learn,
would have little to unlearn. In all probability the only apparent change
at first -would be the increase in the number of rhe workers, the
increase in their wages, and the reduction in their hours. It is not to be
doubted that this part of the programme could be carried into effect in a
few weeks. The other and no less important questions, the revision of the
rates on goods, traffic, and the systematisation of short and long distance
passenger fares, the proper use and extension of our canals, now burked
by the railway directors, the establishment of country tramways as
feeders to our trunk lines, would take more time, but all these reforms
would be carried out in a tithe of the time that it has taken the Com
panies to adopt and use a fairly efficient break, or to move one step
towards diminishing the annual slaughter of the shunters.
The main point, however, to be borne in mind is the inadmissibility of
any compromise whatever in the formation of the future directorate, or
in the principles of the reorganisation it is to carry out. In railways, as
in all other processes of production and distribution at present, the dead
instrument, capital, is that which now lives and grows whilst the workers
are changed to mere instruments, the reward of their labours is a sub
sistence wage, just sufficient to ensure the reproduction of the instrument
for the future. The due of the worker is, however, a share of all pro
ducts of labour in proportion to the work that he has done, and one
great step towards the realisation of this aim will have been taken when
the workers on the railways receive the full produce of their work.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
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Title
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The nationalisation of our railway system, its justice and advantages
Description
An account of the resource
Keddell writes of his opposition to the monopolisation of communication, transport and profit by railway companies and the dangerous working conditions experienced by their employees.
Place of publication: London; New York City
Collation: 16 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Publisher's list on unnumbered page at end. Reprinted from 'Justice'.
Creator
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Keddell, F
Date
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[n.d.]
Publisher
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The Modern Press; W.L. Rosenberg
Subject
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Socialism
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The nationalisation of our railway system, its justice and advantages), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Identifier
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G4975
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Nationalisation
Railways