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 his hut more, or on making him a new suit of clothes, or on building a Sedan chair for him, and carrying him about the island, thus relieving him of the trouble of walking, and giving him the savage counterpart of the joys of motoring. In other words, he might have turned their activities into a non-productive channel, which would have increased his enjoyment of a slothful existence but left the total output enjoyed by the rest of the community unimproved.

He also might have spent the resources that he had available for feeding his workmen on his own gluttonous enjoyment, instead of investing it in improving the equipment of the island for further production. Had he done so, he would have had what is called a "good time" for the moment, but his band of workmen would have been thrown out of employment, because he would have had nothing wherewith to pay them, and they would have to go and fend for themselves and pick up what they could in other parts of the island, either becoming capitalists themselves and building up for themselves possessions out of their own past labour, or leading a hand-to-mouth existence with a considerable chance of dying from hunger.