CHAPTER XI
CONSEQUENCES
THE consequences of the error of distribution now demand our attention.
The congestion of so much of the entire income and accumulated wealth of the United Kingdom in a few hands has a most profound influence upon the national development. It means that the great mass of the people—the nation itself—can progress only in such fashion as is dictated by the enterprise or caprice of a fraction of the population. The possessors of wealth exercise the real government of the country and the nominal government at Westminster but timidly modifies the rule of the rich. When we say that about one million people command one-third of the entire income of the nation we mean, broadly, that one million people have under their control the lives of one-third of the population or of 15,000,000 people. When we say that about five million people command one-half of the entire income of the country we mean, broadly, that five million people control the lives of one-half of the population, or of 22,000,000 people. Expenditure is a call for material or immaterial commodities, and a demand for commodities is a demand for labour. That call rules the continuous series of employments which form the main activities and which mould the lives and character of our people. If the call be for worthy things, our people are directed into noble occupations. If the call be for unworthy things, labour is misdirected and degraded.
The self-degradation of a limited number of unduly rich persons would be a little thing from a national point of view if its effects could be confined to the rich themselves. Unfortunately, those effects are not a stagnant pool which we may avoid, but a stream which flows through and pollutes the lives of the majority of our people. A working man may resist the temptation to ape the vices which are bred of idleness, but the highest standard of morality cannot save him from degrading his manhood in the service of waste. Without his knowledge the product of his toil may be bartered for the toy of a moment, and the skill of his hands pass to the foreigner in exchange for the means of wanton luxury. The rare steam coal of South Wales, got in blood and tears in a fiery mine, may be exported to France in exchange for a racing automobile. It would matter little that a limited number of drones inhabited the hive if they had no command of the work of the community. It matters everything when these drones, by their expenditure, can each command thousands of workers to attend their idleness.
There are certain well-defined servants of the rich wholly devoted to their pleasure, such as menial servants, grooms, stablemen, gardeners, makers of expensive articles of food, clothing, furniture, etc., hotel servants, many of the inhabitants of the rich quarters of towns and of fashionable pleasure resorts, many tradespeople and their shop assistants, and other workers. Again, there are certain well-defined servants of the poor, such as petty tradespeople, general storekeepers, the workmen and officials engaged in institutes, charities, free libraries, municipal tramways and other services, public gardens, and so forth. There is often, however, no clear distinction between those who serve the few rich and those who serve the many poor. Every trade, however useful nominally, has to give of its best to be poured into the cup of luxury and spilt in wanton extravagance. Our 1,300,000 builders, our 1,400,000 metal workers, engineers and shipwrights, our 1,300,000 textile workers, our 1,300,000 clothiers, and all the other persons engaged in our "useful" industries, furnish their large quota of products for the rich and their small quota of products for the poor. The edict of the rich man goes forth and industry hastens to obey it. Bricks from Berkshire which are sadly needed for the building of decent cottages for agricultural labourers are taken into Surrey to form part of one of the vulgar and pretentious red-brick villas which mock every canon of architecture and make hideous the most beautiful portions of that Garden of England. Good fir from Sweden, imported in exchange for the toil of Lancashire or the sweat of Cleveland, roofs in the tenth, fifteenth or twentieth bedroom of the man who has more rooms than children, and more menial servants than guests, while the Census shows us that in England and Wales there existed, in 1901, 3,286,526 tenements of fewer than five rooms, of which 251,667 had but one room, 658,203 but two rooms, 779,992 but three rooms and 1,596,664 but four rooms. The mechanic, the electrical worker, the girl at the loom, all appear to be usefully employed in contributing to the well-being of the nation. As a matter of fact, the lion's share of the wealth they create goes to add to the income of a few, while the remainder is distributed amongst a number so great as to constitute nearly the whole of the population. If we consider the case of the cotton industry alone, it appears, on the surface, that 582,000 workers (172,000 men and 410,000 women and children) are most usefully employed in the production of articles of the first necessity. They do work, each year, upon some 16,000,000 cwts. of raw cotton which they manufacture into about £120,000,000 worth of cotton goods. But trace the history of these goods. Are they consumed by the countrymen of the people who make them? Alas! no. Of the yearly output of £120,000,000, as much as £100,000,000 is exported to foreign countries and British Possessions, chiefly to foreign countries. Only £20,000,000 worth of the magnificent output of our cotton workers is retained by our 44,000,000 people. In addition there is a consumption of a few million pounds worth of imported cotton goods. Can it be true that our population need to renew their household and personal stock of cotton fabrics to the extent of a value of but 10s. per head per annum? Of course it is not true. From cotton is manufactured, for the person, dresses or blouses of muslin, lawn, cambric, prints, mercerized stuff, etc., shirts and underclothing in great variety for both sexes, handkerchiefs, lace, hosiery, etc., and for the household, cotton sheets and other bed furnishings, curtains of lace, cretonne and muslin, towels, dusters, and a host of other things. Yet so poor are the mass of our people that 10s. per head per annum furnishes them with all the cotton goods which they can afford to buy for both their persons and their households. Great is their need and small are the means available for its satisfaction. If it were not so, our cotton trade would need many thousands more bales of raw cotton per annum, first to supply a quite ordinary home demand and second to export to the foreigner to obtain in exchange the satisfaction of other ordinary needs.
In the following table I have estimated a demand for cotton goods by a household of five persons. The prices are wholesale and relate to the materials only. It should be distinctly understood that nothing is included for retail profit or for the manufacture of the materials into garments. I have estimated for all the cotton goods used on the person or in the household, not forgetting the cotton linings commonly used in woollen clothing.
CALL (AT WHOLESALE PRICES) BY A HOUSEHOLD
OF 5 PERSONS, FOR COTTON MATERIALS
| For the Person: | ||
| (1) The Man | £0 16 0 | |
| (2) The Woman | 1 9 0 | |
| (3) Three Children | 1 2 1 | |
| For the Household | 1 10 6 | |
| £4 17 7 | ||
In framing this estimate I have imagined an exceedingly modest standard of comfort, one such as few readers of these lines would probably care to adopt, and the prices, as I have said, refer to the wholesale cost of the material only. Yet, modest as it is, the estimate works out at nearly 20s. per head. Given such a modest demand, our cotton trade would need to produce about £45,000,000 worth of cotton goods per annum for home consumption alone. As we have seen, it finds a call for only £20,000,000 worth, a great part of which, of course, is absorbed by the "rich" and "comfortable" classes.