British Socialism. J. Ellis Barker
"And the Masses
"Allowing for the increase since these estimates were made, we may safely say that the manual labour class receives for all its millions of workers only some 690,000,000l."[138]
In a short table the distribution of the national income is then given as follows:
| Rent | £290,000,000 |
| Interest | 360,000,000 |
| Profits and Salaries | 460,000,000 |
| Total (that is, the income of the legal proprietors of the three natural monopolies of land, capital, and ability) | 1,110,000,000 |
| Income of manual labour class | 690,000,000 |
| Total produce | £1,800,000,000[139] |
At first sight it seems outrageous that "the income of the legal proprietors of the three natural monopolies of land, capital, and ability" should come to 1,110,000,000l. per annum, and the income of the manual labour class only to 690,000,000l. per annum, about one-third of the whole, especially as we learn on page 4 of the pamphlet that the "idle rich" are only a small fraction of the community. This statement would prove the assertion that the idle rich are causing the poverty of the poor to be correct if it were honest and fair, but it is neither the one nor the other.
In the first place the foregoing statement divides the nation into two classes "the masses" and "the classes": manual labourers and "the legal proprietors of the three natural monopolies." As the pamphlet is addressed to the uncritical body of general readers, and especially to working men, these will naturally divide, owing to the artful wording of the phrase, the national income between manual labourers and capitalist monopolists. According to this pamphlet everyone who is not a labourer is a capitalist monopolist. Therefore the capitalist monopolist class includes all lawyers and doctors, all parsons and clerks, all officers and salaried officials. Every business man, every farmer, every fisherman, every greengrocer, every baker, every butcher, every sailor, every cobbler, every chimney-sweep, every clerk, being not a wage-earning labourer, is "one of the legal proprietors of the three natural monopolies," or in plainer language, a monopolist. At least, the income of this very large class has barefacedly been credited to the capitalist class, whilst its members have been utilised (on page 4 of the pamphlet) to swell the ranks of the workers. This is dishonesty number one.
The income of the exceptionally skilled artisans, who also form a very large class, is credited on page 7 to the "classes" under the heading "profits and salaries." They also are included among the "monopolists," although their number has likewise been utilised (on page 4) to swell the number of the workers. This is dishonesty number two.
Let us now look at the result of the dishonest Fabian juggling with figures by comparing the statement regarding the national income contained in the Fabian pamphlet with a recent statement of Mr. Chiozza Money, M.P., who is a Socialist, and who divides the national income as follows:
| Income of working class (33,000,000 people) | about | £650,000,000 |
| Income of middle class (all except manual labourers and the rich—small business men, managers, clerks, public servants, &c., with incomes up to £700—9,750,000 people) | about | 475,000,000 |
| Income of rich (with incomes £700 and above) (1,250,000 people) | about | 600,000,000 |
| Total | about | £1,725,000,000[140] |
From the foregoing statement it appears that the rich draw not two-thirds, but only one-third, of the national income, and this fact should be carefully borne in mind in view of the contents of the following pages.
The pamphlet states on page 6 that 650,000,000l. per annum are paid in the shape of rent and interest, "not in return for any service rendered to the community, but merely as the payment for permission to use the land and the already accumulated capital of the country." The national capital is invested chiefly in perishable objects such as houses, factories, railways, steamships, mines, &c., which depreciate unless kept in proper repair. There is wear and tear in capital as in everything else. Capital is lost and destroyed every day. Lastly, the national capital is growing, and must continue growing, in accordance with the growing capital requirements of the time and the growing number of its inhabitants, or the country will decay. New houses, new factories, new railways, new steamships must be built and new mines be opened to increase the comfort of all. From 200,000,000l. to 300,000,000l. are thus reinvested every year in Great Britain, and only by this constant process of reinvestment is it possible to maintain and increase the productive power of the country for the benefit of all. The 200,000,000l. to 300,000,000l. which are yearly reinvested in reproductive undertakings are found by the capitalists, the trustees, directors and managers, not the consumers, of the national industry and of the national wealth. This sum comes out of their earnings, which thus benefit not only the capitalists but the whole nation. Much irrelevant statistical matter is given in the pamphlet, but this large item is left out. That is dishonesty number three.
On page 6 the profits of public companies are treated as "Interest on capital," and interest on capital is disparagingly called "unearned income" on page 7. Most British industries are carried on by limited companies, and limited companies are as a rule formed in this way, that the partners in the former private enterprise become directors. As directors they receive a purely nominal salary. They work as much as they did whilst the business was a private concern, and their income depends on their usually very large holding of shares. The large director-shareholders, and their number is very great, earn their dividends by hard work. Nevertheless their whole income is included in the item "interest on capital," and called "unearned income." This is dishonesty number four.
On page 7 the property of the "manual labour class," or the poor, in land and capital is given as follows:—
| In 1901 the deposits in P.O. Savings Bank were | £140,392,916 |
| The deposits in Trustee Savings Banks were | 51,966,386 |
| Consols purchased for small holders were | 14,450,877 |
| In 1900 the capital of Building Societies was | 46,775,143 |
| The funds of Trade-Unions, Co-operative, Friendly, and Provident Societies were | 72,219,991 |
| The funds of Industrial Life Assurance Societies were | 22,998,793 |
| Total | £348,804,106[141] |
In reality the property of the "manual labour class" in land and capital amounts not to 348,804,106l., but to at least 1,000,000,000l.