When the civilised World-Market coveted a country not yet in its clutches some transparent pretext was found--the suppression of a slavery different from, and not so cruel as that of commerce; the pushing of a religion no longer believed in by its promoters; the `rescue' of some desperado or homicidal madman whose misdeeds had got him into trouble amongst the natives of the `barbarous' country--any stick, in short, which would beat the dog at all. Then some bold, unprincipled, ignorant adventurerer was found (no difficult task in the days of competition), and he was bribed to `create a market' by breaking up whatever traditional society there might be in the doomed country, and by destroying whatever leisure or pleasure he found there. He forced wares on the natives which they did not want, and took their natural products in `exchange', as this form of robbery was called, and thereby he `created new wants', to supply which (that is, to be allowed to live by their new masters) the hapless helpless people had to sell themselves into the slavery of hopeless toil so that they might have something wherewith to purchase the nullities of `civilisation.' "Ah," said the old man, pointing to the Museum, "Ihave read books and papers in there, telling strange stories indeed of the dealings of civilisation (or organised misery) with `non-civilisation'; from the time when the British Government deliberately sent blankets infected with small-pox as choice gifts to inconvenient tribes of Red-skins, to the time when Africa was infested by a man named Stanley, who--""Excuse me," said I, "but as you know, time pressesd; and I want to keep our question on the straightest line possible; and I want at once to ask this about these wares made for the World-Market--how about their quality; these people who were so clever about making goods, Isuppose they made them well?""Quality!" said the old man crustily, for he was rather peevish at being cut short in his story; "how could they possibly attend to such trifles as the quality of the wares they sold? The best of them were of a lowish average, the worst were transparent make-shifts for the things asked for which nobody would have put up with if they could have got anything else. It was the current jest of the time that the wares were made to sell and not to use; a jest which you, as coming from another planet, may understand, but which our folk could not."Said I: "?What! did they make nothing well?""Why, yes," said he, "there was one class of goods which they did make thoroughly well, and that was the class of machines which were used for making things. These were usually quite perfect pieces of workmanship, admirably adapted to the end in view. So that it may be fairly said that the great achievement of the nineteenth century was the making of machines which were wonders of invention, skill, and patience, and which were used for the production of measureless quantities of worthless make-shifts. In truth, the owners of the machines did not consider anything which they made as wares, but simply as means for the enrichment of themselves. Of course, the only admitted test of utility in wares was the finding of buyers for them--wise men or fools, as it might chance.""And people put up with this?" said I.
"For a time," said he.
"And then?"
"And then the overturn," said the old man, smiling, "and the nineteenth century saw itself as a man who has lost his clothes whilst bathing, and has to walk naked through the town.""You are very bitter about that unlucky nineteenth century," said I.
"Naturally," said he, "since I know so much about it."He was silent a little, and then said: "There are traditions--nay, real histories--in our family about it; my grandfather was one of its victims. If you know something about it, you will understand what he suffered when I tell you that he was in those days a genuine artist, a man of genius, and a revolutionist.""I think I do understand," said I: "but now, as it seems, you have reversed all this?""Pretty much so," said he. "The wares which we make are made because they are needed: men make for their neighbours' use as if they were making for themselves, not for a vague markeet of which they know nothing, and over which they have no control: as there is no buying and selling, it would be mere insanity to make goods on the chance of their being wanted; for there is no longer any one who can be _compelled_ to buy them. So that whatever is made is good, and thoroughly fit for its purpose. Nothing _can_ be made except for genuine use; therefore no inferior goods are made. Moreover, as aforesaid, we have now found out what we want; and as we are not driven to make a vast quantity of useless things, we have time and resources enough to consider our pleasure in making them. All work which would be irksome to do by hand is done by immensely improved machinery; and in all work which it is a pleasure to do by hand machinery is done without. There is no difficulty in finding work which suits the special turn of mind for everybody; so that no man is sacrificed to the wants of another. From time to time, when we have found out that some piece of work was too disagreeable or troublesome, we have given it up and done altogether without the thing produced by it. Now, surely you can see that under these circumstances all the work that we do is an exercise of the mind and body more or less pleasant to be done; so that instead of avoiding work everybody seeks it: and, since people have got defter in doing the work generation after generation, it has become so easy to do, that it seems as if there were less done, though probably more is produced. I suppose this explains that fear, which I hinted at just now, of a possible scarcity in work, which perhaps you have already noticed, and which is a feeling on the increase, and has been for a score of years.""But do you think," said I, "that there is any fear of a work-famine amongst you?""No, I do not," said he, "and I will tell why; it is each man's business to make his own work pleasanter and pleasanter, which of course tends towards raising the standard of excellence, as no man enjoys turning out work which is not a credit to him, and also to greater deliberation in turning it out; and there is such a vast number of things which can be treated as works of art, that this alone gives employment to a host of deft people. Again, if art be inexhaustible, so is science also; and though it is no longer the only innocent occupation which is thought worth an intelligent man spending his time upon, as it once was, yet there are, and I suppose will be, many people who are excited by its conquest of difficulties, and care for it more than for anything else. Again, as more and more of pleasure is imported into work, I think we shall take up kinds of work which produce desirable wares, but which we gave up because we could not carry them on pleasantly. Moreover, I think that it is only in parts of Europe which are more advanced than the rest of the world that you will hear this talk of the fear of a work-famine. those lands which were once the colonies of Great Britain, for instance, and especially America, suffered so terribly from the full force of the last days of civilisation and became such horrible places to live in, that they are now very backward in all that makes life pleasant.
Indeed, one may say that for nearly a hundred years the people of the northern parts of America have beeen engaged in gradually making a dwelling place out of a stinking dust-heap; and there is still a great deal to do, especially as the country is so big""Well," said I, "I am exceedingly glad to think that you have such a prospect of happiness before you. But I should like to ask a few more questions, and then I have done for to-day."
