CHAPTER XXXIII.
LEGITIMATE, OR ILLEGITIMATE.
The doctor only stayed a short time, which was mostly employed in discussing the famous enterprise of the great French capitalist at Guise—the Familistère, or Social Palace. The count had been there on a visit, and he was eloquent in the praise of the work, which he called the most important and significant movement of the nineteenth century. “It points unmistakably,” he said, “to the elevation and culture of the people, and to a just distribution of the products of labor.” None present, except the doctor and Miss Delano, had ever heard of the great enterprise, and they listened eagerly, as if the count were telling an entrancing tale of some other, and more harmonious world.
“It won’t work, though,” said Burnham. “The equal distribution of wealth is a chimera.”
“But, my dear sir, it does work,” said the count. “It has been in splendid working operation several years, and pays six per cent. on the invested capital. Do not lose sight of facts; and then, I did not say an equal, but a just, distribution of the products of labor, or wealth, for all wealth is that and nothing else. Depend upon it, we are living in an age corresponding to that of puberty in an individual. There are no very marked changes from childhood up to this period, except that of increase in size; and then, everything being ripe for it, there is a marvelous sudden transformation in six months or a year, and the child assumes all the characteristics of the man or woman. Ask yourself why the man who makes your plow, or tills your ground, should be inferior to you who muddle your lives away in counting-rooms or offices? You can’t answer it, except to say the chances ought to be in favor of the one who has the most varied exercise of his muscles and mental faculties. I tell you, with the increased facilities for education among the people and for travel and intercommunication, they are beginning to feel their power.”
“Building palaces and living in hovels begins to strike the workers as something more than a joke,” said the doctor; “but up to this time they have done it very composedly. They have woven the finest fabrics, and clothed themselves and their children in rags, or mean and cheap materials. Bettering their condition was next to impossible when they had to work from sunrise to sunset to gain a bare living; but shortening the hours of labor will work wonders. It will give men time to read and improve their mental condition.”
“Yes, if it would only have that effect; but will it?” asked Kendrick.
“Of course it will not,” said Mrs. Kendrick. “There are the three hundred workmen of Ely & Gerrish. They struck, you know, and got their hours reduced to ten; and I hear that most of them spend their extra time in bar-rooms and billiard-rooms.”
“Well, madam,” replied the count, “do you expect men who have been drudges, to suddenly turn out philosophers, and give their spare time to algebra and political economy? Why, many of them are no doubt so degraded by their lives of unceasing toil, that the bar-room is a culture to them, and getting drunk a luxury. But you must remember you have not collected the facts upon which to formulate a judgment. I do not believe the greater part of them, as you say, spend their time in bar-rooms and billiard-rooms.”
“Oh, no doubt of it; no doubt of it,” said Burnham.
“My dear Kendrick, you must have doubts,” said the count.