142 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



The cheques would be honoured by the production of the goods and not 

 by the production of gold. A man working well for a year might earn 

 cheques valued at 40,000 francs. Some of these he would exchange for 

 food and necessities ; but after each one had done his share of the work, 

 he would enter into his inheritance and the cheques would be balanced 

 against the things he would receive. 



To get over labour troubles, the arduous duties would be given to all 

 the young men and women irrespective of class. The greatest honour 

 would go to those who did the most arduous tasks. 



There is a spirit of adventure in youth that makes the taking on of new 

 work easy. Anyone who has lived in a mining village knows the eager- 

 ness with which a young miner takes up the work to help his father. The 

 learning of new processes in our factories by young hands is in most cases 

 a matter of a few weeks. Only in some specially skilled trades does it 

 take long to become expert. The machine is fast taking the place of the 

 expert craftsman. The number of years that young men and women 

 would be required for manual work need not be too great in these days 

 of machinery, and the number of hours' work per day would be few. A 

 very high standard of life can be earned in a few hours of work per day 

 when all are useful workers and all operations are carried out in the most 

 efficient manner. Think of all the young men and women standing 

 behind counters in shops all over the civilised world. Not one-quarter 

 of them would be required under a really efficient system of distribution. 

 The other three-quarters should be at work a few hours a day, contributing 

 their share to the work of the world. Some of the hours not required for 

 manual labour would be given to higher education, and it would, of course, 

 be possible to give special facilities to the best brains and put them to do 

 intellectual work. Physical culture would form a part of the day's 

 programme for all young people. 



The present factories need not pass out of the present management. 

 That is in most cases very efficient. But the object in view would be to 

 produce goods wanted by the people. Many factories at present con- 

 centrate more on making a profit than on making commodities that are 

 useful to the buyer. Interest would be paid on the capital invested in 

 factories and other undertakings. That interest would be paid by 

 cheques and the cheques would be honoured by commodities or other 

 services rendered. The fundamental idea in the scheme is, of course, that 

 all wealth comes from the soil by the application of labour and intelligence, 

 and it is possible by good organisation to create and distribute ten times 

 as much wealth as is being done at the present time. In a country like 

 America, where they have available vast natural resources and manufac- 

 turing facilities, the average standard of life should not be less than the 

 equivalent of three thousand dollars per annum. This comfortable state 

 of affairs does not exist in the United States or in any other states. The 

 reason is that no arrangements are made whereby everyone does his share 

 of the work ; and even when a man does his share, and more, he very 

 often does not get his share of the product. Things will never be better 

 as long as they are controlled by people who are not engineeringly minded. 



