HENRI. More wages.
JOE. Less machinery.
MARTIN. Close the factories.
MATTHEW. And whatever you do, give a fellow-creature a chance of living, Mr. Barlow.
EPHRAIM. Will one of you speak for all? What are your complaints?
MARTIN. I'll speak, Mr. Barlow. We complain of starvation, of being driven into your factories and——
EPHRAIM. Stop there. We drive nobody. There's no compulsion to enter our factories.
MARTIN. There's the compulsion of need. You won't have hand-looms and you've forced us into factories. You've got us there and we've been helpless before you. We've to work your hours and take your pay, and the pay's not fit to keep a dog alive. We're tired of factories. We want to live.
(Murmurs of agreement from the men.)
GUY (rising). Listen to me, men. Everything must have a beginning. A great system is springing into birth. It isn't perfect yet——