there is a full pound avoirdupois
in Britain."[578] "It is extremely doubtful, indeed, whether either
slavery or the slave-trade would be abandoned in the British Empire if
they still existed to-day, and their abrogation and suppression
depended upon the English House of Commons. The hideous corruption in
that assembly and the utter indifference of the majority of its
plutocratic members and their retainers to the welfare of any people,
at home or abroad, where money is to be made by neglecting the
commonest rules of ethics, have never been so clearly manifested as
they are to-day."[579]

"The suffrage in Great Britain is very unsatisfactory, as the
following table shows:

Per cent. of the
population
having a vote.
France 27.9
Switzerland 23.5
Greece 23.0
Spain 22.4
Belgium 21.5
Germany 21.2
Bulgaria 21.2
Norway 19.9
Austria 19.9
Portugal 19.0
Great Britain 16.5
Denmark 16.4
Servia 16.0
Holland 16.0

As to England, she occupies a very low place in the scale. But then
the people here have not even got universal suffrage! And this is a
'democratic,' 'self-governing' community."[580]

Furthermore, "The time has come when members of Parliament will have
to receive payment for their services in the House of Commons, because
the people have realised that they cannot be adequately represented
only by men of wealth and position who are able to pay their own
expenses."[581]

The national Administration is quite as unsatisfactory to Socialists
as is the national Parliament. "To-day honesty wears rags, and
rascality and idleness wear robes. Every pint of beer, and every drop
of wine or spirits the workers drink, every pipe of tobacco or cigar
they smoke, every cup of tea, coffee, or cocoa they drink, every
patent medicine they purchase, every dog they keep, every pound of
sugar they use, even their playing cards and their insurance policies,
are taxed to help to pay big salaries and pensions to the younger sons
of the aristocracy, &c. The eldest son