“Oh, well, father, I cannot talk any more about it today. It is too terrible.”
Lord Justring looked at his children for a few moments and then said:
“You must remember one thing, that you owe to many others besides your mother and I all the blessings you now enjoy. Had we become discouraged at seeing the terrible things all around us when we were at your age, you would not be enjoying all the recreation that you do now, the holidays or the advantages of travel that afford you so much pleasure. Forty years ago the government secured all the land and gave it back to the people, believing that everything created by nature belonged to all; but it did not give them a particular amount to live upon. Myself and others had to work very hard to convince the majority that it was the only just way to do. Now your income is so large that you will never use it all. I have never used all mine, nor do I need it. If you will read the history of the last fifty years you will see a wonderful difference in the lives of the people. They live longer because they have more time to take care of their bodies. They were not compelled to work so many hours, even forty years ago, as they had done in the ages past, but as I said before, there was no special income for all, as there is now.
“At that time we felt justified in setting a certain sum or value for every individual born in our district. Strange as it may seem, humanity was left until the last, all kinds of property were secured to us in this part of the country, but human beings had not had their right value set. We then enforced a law that every man, woman and child had a right to be fed, housed and clothed. An industrial army had been a fact before and the proceeds of their labor enabled the government to secure to all the people an income.
“You know that even yet those who will not work are locked up and deprived of the income they would have otherwise. When they have had enough of solitary confinement we try them again, but don’t allow them a choice of their occupation until they do the best in what we give them to do.
“The people ran riot on this planet, robbing each other as they now are doing on other worlds. History repeats itself over and over again in everything. Well, after the people had gone through the struggle of gaining so much, they were satisfied to let results remain as they were. The majority could not see the dangers ahead, but we who did were determined to settle matters once and forever. Some wanted money given to each individual instead of cards representing their wants.
“‘No,’ we said, ‘money was the enemy that had robbed labor at all times and now money must go.’
“We told them that without its use we had emptied the cities of its criminals; we had scattered the people into the country where all could have sunshine as well as homes. If we still retained money it would only be a short time before a few people could corner the majority in the cities that we had built.
“Children, every advantage that the people possess, the working people had to fight for and they did it by determination and the exacting of their own rights. Even the public schools had to be fought for. The rich were determined that the ‘common people,’ as they always termed those who served them, should not have them. It would raise the taxes, they said, and why should they pay for other people’s children? Common children didn’t need an education. Then many of those ignorant dependents, like so many parrots said, ‘Oh, no, we did without an education, and so can our children.’ This was all before our time. Every generation has its new duties to perform. We received help from older worlds, just as you have been appointed to do our part to the planet Earth. If they had done as you children wish to do, we would have been just where the people upon that planet are now.”
“Well,” his daughter replied, “I will try it again.”