第384章

THE SECRET.

When the very natural astonishment which the arrival of Marshal Simon had caused in Angela had passed away, Agricola said to her with a smile: "I do not wish to take advantage of this circumstance, Mdlle.Angela, to spare you the account of the secret, by which all the wonders of our Common Dwelling-house are brought to pass."

"Oh! I should not have let you forget your promise, M.Agricola,"

answered Angela, "what you have already told me interests me too much for that."

"Listen, then.M.Hardy, like a true magician, has pronounced three cabalistic words: ASSOCIATION--COMMUNITY--FRATERNITY.We have understood the sense of these words, and the wonders you have seen have sprung from them, to our great advantage; and also, I repeat, to the great advantage of M.Hardy."

"It is that which appears so extraordinary, M.Agricola."

"Suppose, mademoiselle, that M.Hardy, instead of being what he is, had only been a cold-hearted speculator, looking merely to the profit, and saying to himself: `To make the most of my factory, what is needed? Good work--great economy in the raw material--full employment of the workman's time; in a word, cheapness of manufacture, in order to produce cheaply--

excellence of the thing produced, in order to sell dear.'"

"Truly, M.Agricola, no manufacturer could desire more."

"Well, mademoiselle, these conditions might have been fulfilled, as they have been, but how? Had M.Hardy only been a speculator, he might have said: `At a distance from my factory, my workmen might have trouble to get there: rising earlier, they will sleep less; it is a bad economy to take from the sleep so necessary to those who toil.When they get feeble, the work suffers for it; then the inclemency of the seasons makes it worse; the workman arrives wet, trembling with cold, enervated before he begins to work--and then, what work!'"

"It is unfortunately but too true, M.Agricola.At Lille, when I reached the factory, wet through with a cold rain, I used sometimes to shiver all day long at my work."

"Therefore, Mdlle.Angela, the speculator might say: `To lodge my workmen close to the door of my factory would obviate this inconvenience.Let us make the calculation.In Paris the married workman pays about two hundred and fifty francs a-year,[30] for one or two wretched rooms and a closet, dark, small, unhealthy, in a narrow, miserable street; there he lives pell-mell with his family.What ruined constitutions are the consequence! and what sort of work can you expect from a feverish and diseased creature? As for the single men, they pay for a smaller, and quite as unwholesome lodging, about one hundred and fifty francs a-year.

Now, let us make the addition.I employ one hundred and forty-six married workmen, who pay together, for their wretched holes, thirty-six thousand five hundred francs; I employ also one hundred and fifteen bachelors, who pay at the rate of seventeen thousand two hundred and eighty francs; the total will amount to about fifty thousand francs per annum, the interest on a million."'

"Dear me, M.Agricola! what a sum to be produced by uniting all these little rents together!"

"You see, mademoiselle, that fifty thousand francs a-year is a millionaire's rent.Now, what says our speculator: To induce our workmen to leave Paris, I will offer them, enormous advantages.I will reduce their rent one-half, and, instead of small, unwholesome rooms, they shall have large, airy apartments, well-warmed and lighted, at a trifling charge.Thus, one hundred and forty-six families, paying me only one hundred and twenty-five francs a-year, and one hundred and fifteen bachelors, seventy-five francs, I shall have a total of twenty-six to twenty-seven thousand francs.Now, a building large enough to hold all these people would cost me at most five hundred thousand francs.[31] I shall then have invested my money at five per cent at the least, and with perfect security, since the wages is a guarantee for the payment of the rent.'"

"Ah, M.Agricola! I begin to understand how it may sometimes be advantageous to do good, even in a pecuniary sense."