RIGHT  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  OF  RELIEF  WORKS  157

§  24.  Right  Economic  Conditions  0/  Relief  Works.
Three  tolerably  obvious  economic  rules  should  guide
the  organisation  of  such  relief  works,  where  they  are
deemed  necessary.
First,  the  product  of  the  labour  employed  on  public
relief  works  should  not  be  brought  into  competition  with
the  products  of  outside  labour.
Secondly,  the  wages  paid  should  be  somewhat  lower
than  those  paid  for  similar  work  in  the  outside  market.
Thirdly,  the  work  should,  so  far  as  possible,  be  adapted
to  the  circumstances  and  the  capacity  of  the  individuals
relieved,  e.g.,  a  stenographer  or  a  working  jeweller  should
not  be  set  to  do  the  work  of  a  navvy.
The  validity  of  the  first  two  rules  will  only  be  contested ­
  by  those  who  seek  by  relief  work  to  provide  for
the  growth  of  a  surreptitious  and  an  uneconomical  form
of  state-socialism.  All  relief  works  are  of  course  socialistic
in  the  sense  that  they  form  a  part  of  that  definite  social
support  which  the  State  deems  it  expedient  to  give  to
certain  of  its  members  who  are  unable  without  it  to  live
in  a  condition  consistent  with  public  safety  and  with
public  self-respect.  But  it  is  of  urgent  importance  to
recognise  the  folly  of  endeavouring  to  build  a  system  of
public  industry  upon  the  foundation  of  such  relief  works.
If  in  contravention  to  the  first  of  the  above-mentioned
rules,  municipal  bakeries  were  started,  not  for  the  sake  of
providing  cheaper  and  better  food  to  consumers,  but  of
giving  employment  to  bakers  who  were  out  of  work,  one
of  two  results  would  reasonably  follow.  If  the  municipal
bakery  paid  the  same  or  higher  wages  than  outside
bakeries,  it  would  gradually  induce  the  employees  in  the