garrulity?'



CHAPTER XV: ON THE LACK OF INCENTIVE TO LABOUR IN A COMMUNIST
SOCIETY



"Yes," said I. "I was expecting Dick and Clara to make their
appearance any moment: but is there time to ask just one or two
questions before they come?"

"Try it, dear neighbour--try it," said old Hammond. "For the more
you ask me the better I am pleased; and at any rate if they do come
and find me in the middle of an answer, they must sit quiet and
pretend to listen till I come to an end. It won't hurt them; they
will find it quite amusing enough to sit side by side, conscious of
their proximity to each other."

I smiled, as I was bound to, and said: "Good; I will go on talking
without noticing them when they come in. Now, this is what I want to
ask you about--to wit, how you get people to work when there is no
reward of labour, and especially how you get them to work
strenuously?"

"No reward of labour?" said Hammond, gravely. "The reward of labour
is LIFE. Is that not enough?"

"But no reward for especially good work," quoth I.