--than every average Australian. And every
average Belgian produced yesterday, or any day, more wealth than every
average Englishman. These are facts you can see in any collection of
statistics. The conservative political economists don't deny them; they
only try to explain them away."

"But how does it come? Men produce more there than we do here and earn
less. How's that?"

"Simply because they're robbed more."

"Look here, Mr. Geisner!" said Ned, gathering his knees into his arms.
"That's what I want to know. I know we're robbed. Any fool can see that
those who work the least or don't work at all get pretty much everything,
but I don't quite see how they get it. We're only just beginning to think
of these things in the bush, and we don't know much yet. We only know
there's something wrong, but we don't know what to do except to get a
union and keep up wages."

"That's the first step, to get a union," said Geisner. "But unless
unionists understand what it's all about they'll only be able to keep up
wages for a little while. You see, Ned, this is the difficulty: a man
can't work when he likes."

"A man can't work when he likes!"

"No; not the average man and it's the average man who has to be
considered always. Let's take a case--yourself. You want to live.
Accordingly, you must work, that is you must produce what you need to
live upon from the earth by your labour or you must produce something
which other working men need and these other men will give you in
exchange for it something they have produced which you need. Now, let's
imagine you wanting to live and desiring to start to-morrow morning to
work for your living. What would you do?"

"I suppose I'd ask somebody."

"Ask what?"

"Well, I'd have to ask somebody or other if there was any work."

"What work?"

"Well, if they had a job they wanted me to do, that I could do, you
know."

"I don't 'You know' anything. I want you to explain. Now what would you
say?"

"Oh! I'd kind of go down to the hut likely and see the boys if 'twas any
use staying about and then, perhaps, or it might be before I went to the
hut, that would be all according, I'd see the boss and sound him."

"How sound him?"

"Well, that would be all according, too. If I was pretty flush and didn't
care a stiver whether I got a job or not I'd waltz right up to him just
as I might to you to ask the time, and if he came any of his law-de-dah
squatter funny business on me I'd give him