30

THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  UNEMPLOYED

ever  moderate  the  salary,  indicates  that  every  grade  of
the  arts  and  professions  is  over-supplied.
§  75.  The  Upper  Class  of  Unemployed.
In  viewing  the  subject,  not  from  the  exclusive  standpoint ­
  of  poverty,  but  from  that  of  the  social  economy
of  labour-power,  two  other  classes  must  be  taken  count
of  before  we  realise  the  full  waste  of  labour-power.  The
first  is  the  class  of  upper  “  unemployed”,  euphemistically
described  in  the  Census  Reports  as  “  unoccupied.”  In
1901  there  were  in  England  and  Wales  no  fewer  than
328,111  males  between  the  age  of  twenty  and  sixty-five
who  were  not  even  nominal  members  of  any  trade  or
profession.  This  represents  a  large  mass  of  adult  labourpower
  utterly  wasted  for  purposes  of  social  work,  subsisted
out  of  the  labour  of  others  and  contributing  nothing  in
return.  A  large  proportion  of  this  class  are  well-nourished,
capable  men,  whose  idleness  injures  both  themselves  and
the  society  upon  which  they  live.  The  casual  voluntary
work  which  some  of  these  may  undertake  cannot  be
regarded  as  a  serious  contribution  to  the  aggregate  of
social  work,  being  amateur  in  character  and  commonly
misdirected,  since  from  the  economic  nature  of  the  case
it  is  not  amenable  to  social  direction  and  control.
§  16.  Waste  of  “Pauper  ”  Labour.
The  sum  of  labour-waste  is  not  complete  without  an
allusion  to  the  lowest  class  of  “  unemployed”—the  ablebodied
  pauper  class.  There  were  on  January  1  of  1903,
in  England  and  Wales  alone,  106,412  able-bodied  adult
paupers.  It  is  true  that  most  of  these,  regarded  from
the  working  point  of  view,  would  be  found  hopelessly