Pig iron and bar steel were sold by the Government at a price yielding a profit of twenty per cent. over cost of production; lead and copper at the same rate of profit, and all the gold and silver mined or brought into Eurasia was coined and went into circulation. Every commodity produced or manufactured by the Government in the above list was sold at the same price, whether the Government warehouse where the goods were sold was in the most populous city of Eurasia or at a lonely fishing-station in the icy regions of the Arctic or in the torrid deserts of the Tropics.
Every person buying a commodity in a Government store was required by law to register his name in the Government account book opposite the list of articles purchased, which was always open to the public for inspection, so that any intelligent person could see who was addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors, and the manager of the warehouse was compelled by law on the complaint of a wife or mother to deny liquor to the husband or son that was complained against and to publish the name in the district newspaper of largest circulation as well as posting it on the bulletin board on the front of the warehouse, and any person who gave liquor directly or indirectly to the person prohibited was sentenced, on conviction thereof, to six months' imprisonment at hard labor. The Magistrate was forbidden by law to release on probation any person over the age of fifteen years convicted of this offense, and a child under the age of fifteen violating this law was sent to the reform school, of which there was one in every district.
No credit was allowed in the purchase of goods from the Government and the manager of the warehouse had discretionary power to limit the sale of any commodity so as to treat rich and poor alike and to prevent speculation. As every purchaser could buy a dollar's worth of any commodity for sale by the Government and as no rebate was granted no matter what the amount purchased, it placed every purchaser on an equality in dealing with the Government. No liquor was allowed to be drunk on or about the premises where it was sold, neither could it be sold by any private party directly or indirectly to any person.
CHAPTER XIII.
PUBLIC UTILITIES.
The Government, through its ownership and operation of all public utilities, placed within the reach of every person the necessaries and some of the luxuries of life, no matter what their trade or profession or where situated, so that when I became acquainted with their system of government I was not surprised at the spirited character and noble bearing of the people, in striking contrast to the cringing servility of the ignorant laborer in England and the negroes of the United States of America, for in Eurasia there were no kings, dukes or lords, but every man was addressed as "Mister" and every female as "Madame" or "Miss," and there was practically realized Burns's famous song: "A man's a man for a' that."