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Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith), 1874-1936

"Utopia of Usurers and Other Essays"

It is supposed to be a sort of
Government office; though people do not generally give children's parties,
or go to bed in a Government office. I do not know where Mr. Herbert
Samuel lives; but I have no doubt he does himself well in the matter of
decoration and furniture. On the existing official parallel there is no
need to move any of these things in order to Socialise them. There is no
need to withdraw one diamond-headed nail from the carpet; or one golden
teaspoon from the tray. It is only necessary to call it an official
residence, like 10 Downing-street. I think it is not at all improbable
that this Plutocracy, pretending to be a Bureaucracy, will be attempted or
achieved. Our wealthy rulers will be in the position which grumblers in
the world of sport sometimes attribute to some of the "gentlemen" players.
They assert that some of these are paid like any professional; only their
pay is called their expenses. This system might run side by side with a
theory of equal wages, as absolute as that once laid down by Mr. Bernard
Shaw. By the theory of the State, Mr. Herbert Samuel and Mr. Lloyd
George might be humble citizens, drudging for their fourpence a day; and
no better off than porters and coal-heavers. If there were presented to
our mere senses what appeared to be the form of Mr.


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