26 How to Pay for the Wat 



it is doubly correct when applied to ourselves. To prosper 

 and be happy in this world one must work' — really work, 

 a fact that many, even in old England, seem quite oblivious 

 of. By this we mean that many of those who are above 

 the poverty line do not know what real work is. To get 

 up, to go by train or tram, to do routine work in an office 

 or factory so as not to be dismissed, to strike for more pay 

 yourself whilst others are getting less, this is not real work, 

 especially in these days, and the country that is farther 

 removed from living such a life is bound to come out top — 

 in the end. Those who do not think so will be well 

 advised to sit up and watch this War out and the five 

 years that follow the declaration of peace. At the end of 

 that period we are quite sure that it will be seen that our 

 view is the correct one. It is not enough to exist, to move 

 automatically and be indifferent of the world outside. For 

 an empire to prosper its people must think and struggle 

 to be always doing better, if not for themselves then for 

 their country. Routine workers, or lotus eaters, whichever 

 you like to call them, should be tied by cords to heavy 

 chairs, and left in a room with food about which they can 

 only get at if they manage to extricate themselves from 

 their bonds. Muscles, mind, and method would all be 

 developed to an astonishing degree after a course of this 

 treatment was ordered for those who imagine that life is 

 easy in spite of the War, and that the country goes on 

 because the average man or woman exists and does the 

 minimum of work for the maximum of pay that he or she 

 can bully out of the world. But this is a mistake. 



If this country means to prosper and keep ahead, her 

 people must give up being lotus eaters ; everyone must be 

 trained to give up keeping their eyes just in front of their 

 nose or with an expression in them as if bored to death, 

 as some still do who have escaped joining up. Every man, 

 and even every woman, should be trained to specialize in 

 and become more or less expert in some country abroad, 

 so that the nation as a whole would he correctly and fully 

 informed of what is going on in all parts of the world. To 



' Tolstoy is very emphatic on this, as when he makes Levin, in 

 " Anna Karenina," say, " I must have some physical exercise or my 

 character will spoil. . . . To sleep you must work and, to be happy, 

 you must also work." 



" I will not be kept alive to do nothing,'" said the late Sir Charles 

 Dilke. 



