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204 John Galsworthy
themselves with every blow they strike and every breath
they draw, against a thing that fattens on them, and
grows and grows by the law of merciful Nature. That
thing is Capital! A thing that buys the sweat o men s
brows, and the tortures o their brains, at its own price.
Don t I know that? Wasn t the work o my brains
bought for seven hundred pounds, and hasn t one hun
dred thousand pounds been gained them by that seven
hundred without the stirring of a finger. It is a thing
that will take as much and give you as little as it can.
That s Capital! A thing that will say "I m very
sorry for you, poor fellows you have a cruel time of it,
I know," but will not give one sixpence of its dividends
to help you have a better time. That s Capital! Tell
me, for all their talk, is there one of them that will con
sent to another penny on the Income Tax to help the
poor? That s Capital! A white-faced, stony-hearted
monster! Ye have got it on its knees; are ye to give up
at the last minute to save your miserable bodies pain?
When I went this morning to those old men from Lon
don, I looked into their very earts. One of them was
sitting there Mr. Scantlebury, a mass of flesh nour
ished on us: sittin there for all the world like the share
holders in this Company, that sit not moving tongue nor
finger, takin dividends a great dumb ox that can only
be roused when its food is threatened. I looked into his
eyes and I saw he was afraid afraid for himself and
his dividends, afraid for his fees, afraid of the very share
holders he stands for ; and all but one of them s afraid
like children that get into a wood at night, and start at
every rustle of the leaves. I ask you, men give me a
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