| Title | The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists |
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| Page | 1705 |
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| Chapter | -- |
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they did not live in it. The profits made by this Company were so great that, being prevented by law from paying a larger dividend than ten percent, they frequently found it a difficult matter to decide what to do with the money. They paid the Directors and principal officials - themselves shareholders, of course - enormous salaries. They built and furnished costly and luxurious offices and gave the rest to the shareholders in the form of Bonuses. There was one way in which the Company might have used some of the profits: it might have granted shorter hours and higher wages to the workmen whose health was destroyed and whose lives were shortened by the terrible labour of the retort-houses and the limesheds; but of course none of the directors or shareholders ever thought of doing that. It was not the business of the Company to concern itself about them. Years ago, when it might have been done for a comparatively small amount, some hare-brained Socialists suggested that the town should |
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