Unto This Last, and Other Essays on Political EconomyRuskin, John
General
Unto This Last, and Other Essays on Political Economy
Ruskin, John
Art; Economics
The collateral and reversionary operations of justice in this matter I
shall examine hereafter (it being needful first to define the nature
of value); proceeding then to consider within what practical terms a
juster system may be established; and ultimately the vexed question of
the destinies of the unemployed workmen.[43] Lest, however, the reader
should be alarmed at some of the issues to which our investigations
seem to be tending, as if in their bearing against the power of wealth
they had something in common with those of socialism, I wish him to
know, in accurate terms, one or two of the main points which I have in
view.
[43] I should be glad if the reader would first clear the ground
for himself so far as to determine whether the difficulty
lies in getting the work or getting the pay for it. Does he
consider occupation itself to be an expensive luxury,
difficult of attainment, of which too little is to be found
in the world? or is it rather that, while in the enjoyment
even of the most athletic delight, men must nevertheless be
maintained, and this maintenance is not always forthcoming?
We must be clear on this head before going farther, as most
people are loosely in the habit of talking of the difficulty
of "finding employment." Is it employment that we want to
find, or support during employment? Is it idleness we wish
to put an end to, or hunger? We have to take up both
questions in succession, only not both at the same time. No
doubt that work _is_ a luxury, and a very great one. It is,
indeed, at once a luxury and a necessity; no man can retain
either health of mind or body without it. So profoundly do I
feel this, that, as will be seen in the sequel, one of the
principal objects I would recommend to benevolent and
practical persons, is to induce rich people to seek for a
larger quantity of this luxury than they at present possess.
Nevertheless, it appears by experience that even this
healthiest of pleasures may be indulged in to excess, and
that human beings are just as liable to surfeit of labour as
to surfeit of meat; so that, as on the one hand, it may be
charitable to provide, for some people, lighter dinner, and
more work,--for others, it may be equally expedient to
provide lighter work, and more dinner.
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