"A man was once engaged in making bricks just outside the wall of a lunatic asylum. Presently a lunatic looked over the fence and asked: "'What are you doing?' "'Making bricks.' "'What are the bricks for?' "'I don't know. What does it matter to me?' "'But why do you make them, if you don't intend to use them for anything?' "'Why? Well it's my work.' "'But I don't see why you should work for no object. If you don't use the bricks, who will?' "'How should I know? It's nothing to do with me.' "'Don't know what you are going to do with your own bricks?' "'They are not my bricks. They belong to the boss.' "'But didn't you make them?' "'Yes.' "'Then how comes it that the boss owns them?' "'It's his brick kiln and his clay hole.' "'Oh, didn't he make the kiln?' "'No; the bricklayers built them.' "'Did he dig the clay hole?' "'No; those men over there dug it.' "'Why do they dig clay holes?' "'It's their work. The boss pays them to do it.' "'Oh! does he pay you, too, to make these bricks?' "'Yes.' "'But where does he get the money to pay you with?' "'He sells bricks.' "'And you made those bricks he sold?' "'Yes.' "'Don't you think you'd better come inside?... "'But I say, how much will the boss sell those bricks for?' "'Oh! about $500.' "'How long will it take you to make them?' "'About ten weeks.' "'How much does the boss pay you for working so hard?' "'Two dollars and fifty cents a day.' "'That will be $150 in ten weeks. Ha! ha! ha! aha! he! he! he!' "'I don't see (wiping the sweat from his brow) the joke, you confounded ass.' "'You must come inside. He! he! he!!!'"
American Socialists, therefore, as well as the early German revolutionists, teach that to the laborer all wealth is due.
Though the low wages that many workingmen receive is a