duces so much that his
labour as a producer is at a discount. It is objected that to provide
free State maintenance for all the children would be to destroy
parental responsibility. But it is too late in the day to urge this
objection, seeing that the State has taken upon itself the education
of the children and is prepared to undertake, and does undertake,
their maintenance and bringing-up when the parents are so careless of
their responsibilities as to neglect them entirely."[832] "The
old-fashioned prejudice fostered by the capitalists and their
hangers-on that it is degrading to accept anything from the State is
fast dying out"[833]--That workmen who are daily told by their leaders
that it is unreasonable to expect that they should bring up their
children frequently desert their family is natural. Every year many
thousands of wives and children are deserted. At every police station
the names of such men may be seen posted up, and those desertions are
undoubtedly largely due to Socialistic teaching.

The real object of the Socialists in demanding free maintenance for
the children is not humanity. In making that demand they do not even
think of the welfare of the children, as the following extracts will
prove, which clearly reveal the real object of their demands. "Free
maintenance for children should be accepted by trade unionists as
tending to raise the standard of comfort. All should demand it with
the object of personally benefiting themselves."[834] "In nine cases
out of ten it is the hungry child who breaks the back of the strike.
Let them feel assured that their children's dinner is secure, and they
will continue the struggle to a victorious end."[835] "Free
maintenance for children would be a tax on that surplus wealth which
the capitalists and the aristocracy share between them. To the worker
free maintenance for his children would be equivalent to an additional
income. His standard of living would rise. No doubt the capitalist
would reduce his wages as much as possible, but the worker would then
be able to fight him on more equal terms. His children being well
cared for, he would be able to hold out against the capitalist for an
indefinite period."[836] "We counsel the workers to accept the offer
as a small payment on account of a huge debt, but to accept it with no
more gratitude than is shown by the class which is maintained in
luxury, parents and children alike, by the collective industry of the
workers.