Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/77

III] "Yet surely," I said, "there is something wrong somewhere, if these four people are well able to do useful work, and if that work is actually needed by the community, and they elect to sit idle?"

"I think there is," said Arthur: "but it seems to me to arise from a Law of God——that every one shall do as much as he can to help others——and not from any rights, on the part of the community, to exact labour as an equivalent for food that has already been fairly earned."

"I suppose the second form of the problem is where the 'idle mouths' possess money instead of material wealth?"

"Yes," replied Arthur: "and I think the simplest case is that of paper-money. Gold is itself a form of material wealth; but a banknote is merely a promise to hand over so much material wealth when called upon to do so. The father of these four 'idle mouths,' had done (let us say) five thousand pounds' worth of useful work for the community. In return for this, the community had given him what amounted to a written promise to hand