§ 9

Being better educated or, shall we say, more widely informed and more wisely led, craftsmen in every branch of industry are better citizens, regarding their work as a contribution valuable to the Commune and to the country at large. By degrees it is becoming a habit of mind to regard all labour as noble, if executed honourably. Every man, whatever his calling may be, takes a pride in doing it well. Indeed, as my spirit wandered from place to place watching and listening, I gathered that idleness and slackness, encouraged as they were by the Trades Unions, are now despised. For idle workmen of any sort or in any sphere of life, in trade, profession or craftsmanship, is not only a useless but mischievous item in the social system. The pride engendered by honest labour is the cause of healthy competition. Emulation is a quality which has grown to be a habit; emulation, not envy or jealousy, which are mean. When men grow wise they discard smallness. They do not begin every sentence with the first person singular, but with the second or first person plural; therefore, being inside and a part of the community, the co-worker is an essential link in the chain which binds an entire system and renders it strong.

This is the reverse of Radical tenet, which proclaiming the creed of the Jew Fagin, in his discourse with Noah Claypole, “Look after number one, my dear”—an admirable doctrine for thieves, but the reverse for the welfare of an honest community.