The Woodpeckers' Tree System
The Woodpeckers were advancing in civilization and took up something like the English land system. It was shown that holes in a tree trunk were fixed improvements which could not be made unless ownership of the tree was secure. Full title to the trees was, therefore, confirmed to various Woodpeckers.
Thereupon the more active and long-headed Woodpeckers began to affix to each vacant tree a little red leaf like a seal, so as "to hold it until is is wanted."
The Woodpeckers increased in number so that there were not unclaimed trees enough for everybody; later all the convenient trees were full, and there were still more applications.
Said one lazy tree owner: "If you common peckers bring me grubs, you
can have a tree to yourselves. " So that tree got quite full, and still
little peckers were coming into the world, for whom, as all the trees
were owned, their creator had neglected to provide a place -- in fact,
"population increased faster than the means of subsistence." The
wormiest trees were held for a rise in values (which appeared in the
census as "increasing the wealth of the community").
But large and growing lower classes of Woodpeckers had nothing to peck. So wicked and lazy did these "lower classes" become that they organized unions, and refused to peck for other birds unless by constant toil they could make enough to keep themselves alive.
Then the upper classes set up trade schools where young Woodpeckers were trained to work, and old ones were taught to accept any pay rather than be idle. They said: "The poor must always have with us (else wages will get too high)." As lords could not consume all that the others produced for them, the community suffered from over-production.
The tree lords left upon the hardwood trees some of the little waste grubs and set the poor beggars to peck them out. Then they sold the fattest grubs. That was "philanthropy and five percent."
They said: "Our principle is not alms, but a friend;" so, when the destitute had nothing to eat, they were exhorted not to drink.
Then the Benevolent Tree-owners subscribed to a Woodyard as a "labor test," where disemployed Woodpeckers might peck the grubs out of a cord of wood for half a grub a day. This prevented the pauperization of the poor.
They formed an "Employment Bureau," where the hungriest birds were helped to get situations by underbidding the discontented Trades-union peckers.
They washed the poorest birds and set them in the fresh air for two weeks. They investigated them and found that their own Intemperance, Imprudence, Impudence, Ignorance, Idleness, and Incompetence (and everything beginning with I) were the Causes of Pauperism. The tree-owning birds taught the poor to live upon chips instead of grubs, and when they had "organized" the means of relief they said: "We have Improved the Condition and greatly increased the number of the Poor."
But large and growing lower classes of Woodpeckers had nothing to peck. So wicked and lazy did these "lower classes" become that they organized unions, and refused to peck for other birds unless by constant toil they could make enough to keep themselves alive.
Then the upper classes set up trade schools where young Woodpeckers were trained to work, and old ones were taught to accept any pay rather than be idle. They said: "The poor must always have with us (else wages will get too high)." As lords could not consume all that the others produced for them, the community suffered from over-production.
The tree lords left upon the hardwood trees some of the little waste grubs and set the poor beggars to peck them out. Then they sold the fattest grubs. That was "philanthropy and five percent."
They said: "Our principle is not alms, but a friend;" so, when the destitute had nothing to eat, they were exhorted not to drink.
Then the Benevolent Tree-owners subscribed to a Woodyard as a "labor test," where disemployed Woodpeckers might peck the grubs out of a cord of wood for half a grub a day. This prevented the pauperization of the poor.
They formed an "Employment Bureau," where the hungriest birds were helped to get situations by underbidding the discontented Trades-union peckers.
They washed the poorest birds and set them in the fresh air for two weeks. They investigated them and found that their own Intemperance, Imprudence, Impudence, Ignorance, Idleness, and Incompetence (and everything beginning with I) were the Causes of Pauperism. The tree-owning birds taught the poor to live upon chips instead of grubs, and when they had "organized" the means of relief they said: "We have Improved the Condition and greatly increased the number of the Poor."
-- This is from Bolton Hall's book of parables entitled "The Game of Life."
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