bowels of the earth--but they never seem to be able to get their
thoughts above their bellies. If you've got plenty to eat and drink,
and a bit over to keep the missis quiet, you're satisfied. I never
saw such a satisfied bloomin' lot in my life as you Barlow & Wasall's
men are, really. Of course you can growse as well as anybody, and
you do growse. But you don't do anything else. You're stuck in a
sort of mud of contentment, and you feel yourselves sinking, but you
make no efforts to get out. You bleat a bit, like sheep in a bog--but
you like it, you know. You like sinking in--you don't have to stand
on your own feet then.

I'll tell you what'll happen to you chaps. I'll give you a little
picture of what you'll be like in the future. Barlow & Walsall's 'll
make a number of compounds, such as they keep niggers in in South
Africa, and there you'll be kept. And every one of you'll have a
little brass collar round his neck, with a number on it. You won't
have names any more. And you'll go from the compound to the pit, and
from the pit back again to the compound. You won't be allowed to go
outside the gates, except at week-ends. They'll let you go home to
your wives on Saturday nights, to stop over Sunday. But you'll have
to be in again by half-past nine on Sunday night; and if you're late,
you'll have your next week-end knocked off. And there you'll be--
and you'll be quite happy. They'll give you plenty to eat, and a can
of beer a day, and a bit of bacca--and they'll provide dominoes and
skittles for you to play with. And you'll be the most contented set
of men alive.--But you won't be men. You won't even be animals.
You'll go from number one to number three thousand, a lot of numbered
slaves--a new sort of slaves---

VOICE. An' wheer shall thee be, Willie?