"I wish we could say that," said Mrs. Allerton. "We are not telling you of our present day problems and difficulties, you see. No, Mr. Robertson, we have merely removed our most obvious and patently unnecessary difficulties, of which poverty was at least the largest.
"What we did, as we have rather confusedly suggested, I'm afraid, was to establish such measures as to insure better births, and vastly better environment and education for every child. That raised the standard of the people, you see, and increased their efficiency. Then we provided employment for everyone, under good conditions, and improved the world in two ways at once."
"And who paid for this universal employment?" I asked.
"Who paid for it before?" she returned promptly.
"The employer, of course."
"Did he? Out of his own private pocket? At a loss to himself."
"Why, of course not," I replied, a little nettled. "Out of the profits of the business."
"And 'the business' was the work done by the employees?"
"Not at all! He did it himself; they only furnished the labor."
"Could he do it alone—without 'labor?' Did he furnish employment as a piece of beneficence, outside of his business—Ah, Mr. Robertson, surely it is clear that unless a man's labor furnished a profit to his employer, he would not be employed. It was on that profit that 'labor' was paid—they paid themselves. They do now, but at a higher rate."