“The answer to this question is—There are undoubtedly more than sufficient of all the raw materials.
“Insufficiency of raw material is therefore not the cause. We must look in another direction.
“The next question is—Are we short of labour? Is there not a sufficient number of people able and willing to work? Or is there not enough machinery?
“The answers to these questions are—There are plenty of people able and willing to work, and there is plenty of machinery!
“These things being so, how comes this extraordinary result? How is it that the benefits of civilization are not produced in sufficient quantity to satisfy the needs of all? How is it that the majority of the people always have to go without most of the refinements, comforts, and pleasures of life, and very often without even the bare necessaries of existence?
“Plenty of materials—Plenty of Labour—Plenty of Machinery—and, nearly everybody going short of nearly everything!
“The cause of this extraordinary state of affairs is that although we possess the means of producing more than abundance for all, we also have an imbecile system of managing our affairs.
“The present Money System prevents us from doing the necessary work, and consequently causes the majority of the population to go short of the things that can be made by work. They suffer want in the midst of the means of producing abundance. They remain idle because they are bound and fettered with a chain of gold.
“Let us examine the details of this insane, idiotic, imbecile system.”
Owen now asked Philpot to pass him a piece of charred wood from under the grate, and having obtained what he wanted, he drew upon the wall a quadrangular figure about four feet in length and one foot deep. The walls of the kitchen had not yet been cleaned off, so it did not matter about disfiguring them.