Adela returned to the graver subject.
‘All the people at New Wanley are Socialists?’
‘Yes, all of them. They join the Union when they come to work, and we take a good deal of care in choosing our men.’
‘And you pay higher wages than other employers?’
‘Not much higher, but the rents of the cottages are very low, and all the food sold at the store is cost price. No, we don’t pretend to make the men rich. We’ve had a good lot coming with quite mistaken ideas, and of course they wouldn’t suit us. And you mustn’t call me the employer. All I have I look upon as the property of the Union; the men own it as much as I do. It’s only that I regulate the work, just because somebody must. We’re not making any profits to speak of yet, but that’ll only come in time; whatever remains as clear profit,—and I don’t take anything out of the works myself—goes to the Propaganda fund of the Union.’
‘Please forgive my ignorance. I’ve heard that word “Propaganda” so often, but I don’t know exactly what it means.’
Mutimer became patronising, quite without intending it.
‘Propaganda? Oh, that’s the spreading our ideas, you know; printing paper, giving lectures, hiring places of meeting, and so on. That’s what Propaganda means.’
‘Thank you,’ said Adela musingly. Then she continued,—
‘And the workmen only have the advantage, at present, of the low rents and cheap food?’