He had lost his wife some five years ago and was now alone in the world, for his three children had died in their infancy.

Slyme's reference to drink had roused Philpot's indignation; he felt that it was directed against himself.

The muddled condition of his brain did not permit him to take up the cudgels in his own behalf, but he knew that although Owen was a tee-totaller himself, he disliked Slyme.
'There's no need for us to talk about drink or laziness,' returned Owen, impatiently, 'because they have nothing to do with the matter.
The question is, what is the cause of the lifelong poverty of the majority of those who are not drunkards and who DO work?
Why, if all the drunkards and won't-works and unskilled or inefficient workers could be by some miracle transformed into sober, industrious and skilled workers tomorrow, it would, under the present conditions, be so much the worse for us, because there isn't enough work for all NOW and those people by increasing the competition for what work there is, would inevitably cause a reduction of wages and a greater scarcity of employment.

The theories that drunkenness, laziness or inefficiency are the causes of poverty are so many devices invented and fostered by those who are selfishly interested in maintaining the present states of affairs, for the purpose of preventing us from discovering the real causes of our present condition.' 'Well, if we're all wrong,' said Crass, with a sneer, 'praps you can tell us what the real cause is ?' 'An' praps you think you know how it's to be altered,' remarked Harlow, winking at the others.
'Yes; I do think I know the cause,' declared Owen, 'and I do think I know how it could be altered--' 'It can't never be haltered,' interrupted old Linden.

'I don't see no sense in all this 'ere talk.