36 THE MURDER OF AGRICULTURE 



over the kingdom. Thenceforth these flabby specimens 

 of humanity fasten themselves on to these institutions 

 and become a hfelong burden to the rate-payers and tax- 

 payers of the country. 

 Human Then there is a great lesson to be learned from the 



Wastrels 



wastrel type : your slouching, dirty, public-house corner 

 loafer, the frowzy tramp, professional beggar, et hoc 

 genus omne. These creatures muster in their thousands; 

 they are a curse to the tax-payer, a shame to all honest 

 workers and a scandal to the country. 



The working man is forced to rub shoulders with the 

 loafer daily, and he cannot escape from his touch. He 

 swells the ranks of the honest unemployed in their labour 

 demonstrations merely for what he can get out of it, but 

 he has no intention of doing any harder work than this. 

 He makes a brave show in all such processions, because 

 of his rags and tatters, and because his name is legion, 

 but the real working man knows him to be a fraud and a 

 sham, and would willingly rid himself of his presence if 

 he knew how. The British working man holds in supreme 

 contempt this despicable wastrel, and would loyally 

 support any measures that would get rid of him. 



These human specimens are lost to all sense of shame ; 

 they whine and cringe, or bully and bluster; they cajole 

 and flatter, twist, turn and dodge ; they will do anything 

 for a living, from house to house begging and petty theft 

 up to highway robbery, but they will not work: that is 

 the only thing they will not do ; and yet our comprehen- 

 sive and lavish system of giving away public money 

 applies equally to this human scum as to the deserving 

 poor. The law is: " No man shall starve," and although 



