LUCIE. And yet there are little children going about in rags.
SOUS-IN. God must be less interested in them than in the lilies of the field.
COL [to Jacques Poiret] But, monsieur, you need hands, too, in harvest-time.
JACQUES. I have a cutting-and-binding machine. It does the work of twelve men, and only cost a thousand francs. A child costs more.
CHEV. We must have workmen to make machines.
JACQUES. We buy the machines ready-made in America much cheaper than we can make them in France.
CHEV. If there were a greater number of workmen we might cut down wages and produce at lower prices.
JACQUES. Cut down wages! The workmen are complaining already that they can’t live on their wages.
CHEV. Bah! give them twenty francs a day, and they’ll still complain.
SOUS-IN. You have not tried that yet.