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 I The Appeal's 
 
 i Pocket Series No. 8 
 
 A Trip to 
 Plutopia 
 
 15 Cents Per Copy 
 
 Published by Appeal to Reason 
 
 G!inicl, Kansas 
 
The Appeal's Pocket Series No. 8 
 
 A Trip to 
 Plutopia 
 
 15 Cents Per Copy 
 
 Published by Appeal to Reason 
 Girard, Kansas 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive 
 in 2010 witli funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/triptoplutopiaOOIiald 
 
A Trip to Plutopia 
 
 BY EMANUEL HALDEMAN-JULIUS. 
 
 Plutopia is Greek for Hog: Island. 
 It is still in the experimental stag'e. 
 The dream back of this venture is to 
 try out the latest ideas in exploita- 
 tion, and if successful the plan is to 
 be applied generally. 
 
 Plutopia is the heaven of the ex- 
 ploiters, the haven of the twelve per- 
 centers, the paradise of the dividend- 
 ists. It is a small body of land com- 
 pletely surrounded by graft. 
 
 The system of government is sim- 
 plicity epitomized — in fact, there is no 
 government. It is sublimated anarchy. 
 The administration of affairs at Plu- 
 topia approximating perfection, there 
 is no need for an organized govern- 
 ment. 
 
 At present, there are 50,000 inhab- 
 itants at Plutopia. All but 500 are 
 working people. 
 
Let me begin with the 49,500. When 
 one describes the first he has prac- 
 tically described the last, for they are 
 about alike in dress, habits and tastes. 
 
 They do not have names; each has his 
 own number and answers to it like a 
 
 convict. 
 
 I had occasion to interview No. 
 31497. He told me he was satisfied 
 with the way things were run and 
 hoped there would never be a change. 
 He was very thankful to the 500 in 
 the palaces, because they gave him 
 an opportunity to work twelve hours 
 each day in one of the rolling mills. 
 He said the first thing he learned was 
 to believe that the 49,500 who worked 
 should do nothing but work, while the 
 remaining 500 who worked not should 
 do everything but work. He con- 
 fessed this was a difficult theory to 
 get into his head, but as his head had 
 never been overtaxed in any way he 
 managed to adopt the idea. 
 *> ♦ ♦ 
 
 "At present," he said, "it seems 
 
that I always believed that we were 
 supposed to work all the time. The 
 plan is easy to understand. We have 
 absolutely no worries, and we are 
 taken care of as well as we've been 
 taught to expect." 
 
 This point needed explanation, 
 which 31497 was glad to supply. An 
 inventor in the employ of the 500 
 Plutopists had produced a pill, which 
 was placed on the tongue and per- 
 mitted to dissolve. Three pills went 
 to a worker each day. It was con- 
 sidered sufficient to keep him strong 
 enough to work twelve hours each 
 day. As for clothes, wood pulp was 
 used for the manufacture of paper 
 sacks, on the back of which was 
 printed the number of the worker. 
 
 One huge building housed the 49,- 
 500, each being assigned to his room 
 which measured six by eight feet. 
 The lights were turned off at 8:50. 
 Once a year, on Christmas Eve, all 
 were given free tickets to a movie. It 
 
was figured out scientifically that the 
 upkeep of each hand was exactly 11 
 cents and four mills a day. 
 
 No. 31497 said one good feature 
 about the new system at Plutopia 
 was that the men did not have to 
 take care of their families. In fact, 
 they were not permitted to have fam- 
 ilies. The women were housed in a 
 separate building. The children were 
 sent to a sort of an orphanage where 
 they were educated to take their place 
 in the industrial order when they be- 
 come of age, which was placed at nine 
 years. 
 
 ^ ^ 4> 
 
 This is highly interesting. Let us 
 now turn our gaze towards the re- 
 maining 500. 
 
 Where the 49,500 were housed in 
 one building, there was a palace for 
 each of the beneficiaries of Plutopia. 
 Having solved the problem of labor, 
 and having cut down expenses to the 
 lowest possible point, the income was 
 
enormous. They no longer figured 
 in dollars and cents. They struck off 
 currency that began at $100,000, be- 
 cause they never cared to bother with 
 less, as it v/as considered very discom- 
 moding to be cluttered up with a lot 
 of loose change. While they believed 
 it was ideal for the workers to par- 
 take of food-pills three times each 
 day, they preferred to satisfy their 
 gastronomical desires with more tan- 
 gible edibles. They imported chefs 
 who were, in reality, Arabian magi- 
 cians who waved a wand and brought 
 rare dishes from their culinary al- 
 chemy. 
 
 There is, as we have already men- 
 tioned;, no government in Plutopia. 
 The 500 have things arranged so pre- 
 cisely that there is no need for a 
 police force. By training the 49,500 
 with the utmost care there is no need 
 to waste money on policemen, consta- 
 bles and the like. As for courts, they 
 also were abolished, as they are con- 
 
sidered unnecessary expenses. In the 
 old days, the capitalists spent huge 
 sums in their courts, but the science 
 of controlling labor through psychol- 
 ogy enabled them to discard the ex- 
 pensive system, at least in this ex- 
 periment station at Plutopia. 
 *> ♦> ■►> 
 
 One of the most distinguished look- 
 ing of the 500, when inteviewed, was 
 quite ready to talk. 
 
 "Here is the ideal system at last," 
 said the Plutopist, unable to conceal 
 his satisfaction. "I'm sure that it will 
 be only a question of time before the 
 world will follow our methods. This 
 is the last word in organization. We 
 have absolutely no doubts about our 
 hands. They are nothing more than 
 hands, because we are careful that 
 nothing should get into their crani- 
 ums except what we want lodged 
 there. There is the secret of success. 
 Our hands are not permitted to 
 study, once they are given a place in 
 
 8 
 
our mills, because study after work- 
 ing- hours is tiring and throws our 
 whole schedule out of whack. You 
 see, we have just so many calories in 
 the three pills the hand gets each 
 day, and if he wastes any effort we 
 might be forced to give him four, and 
 that would increase expenses one- 
 third of a cent, which we could never 
 consider. 
 
 "Besides, thinking is bad for con- 
 tentment. We don't like them to 
 think about anything but their work. 
 If there is any thinking to be done 
 around here, we take the job on our 
 own shoulders." 
 
 "What must be done before a per- 
 son can become one of the 500?" the 
 Plutopist was asked. 
 
 "Nothing. We have a closed cor- 
 poration and we try to pass the prop- 
 erty on only to our blood relatives. 
 Sometimes we reach out and invite 
 outsiders. But the best method is that 
 of inheritance. We got it from our 
 
parents, and our children will get it 
 from us. It's much like being a crown 
 prince." 
 
 "How about the 49,500? Do they 
 stand a chance to join your 500?" 
 
 *'0f course they do. They have a 
 wonderful chance. If we happen to 
 like one, we could have him admitted 
 to our ranks by voting" on the ques- 
 tion. A unanimous vote is needed, 
 however. But that doesn't alter the 
 fact that our hands have an equal 
 chance to take our places." 
 
 "Have you ever admitted one of 
 
 your hands?" 
 
 "No, not yet. We may some day." 
 
 "Aren't you a little afraid that this 
 army of hands might get organized 
 and throw your friends into the dis- 
 card ? " 
 
 "Ah, you mean: Are we afraid of 
 Socialism? Not a whit. Our hands 
 are too well trained. You already 
 
 10 
 
understand how we take them through 
 our training school and turn them out 
 perfect workers. That is our strong- 
 est argument. Our scientists are now 
 at work on a still bigger idea. This 
 is confidential, of course." 
 
 "Certainly," I answered. "Not a 
 word will be said about it." 
 
 "Very well," he answered. "See 
 that it goes no further. We are work- 
 ing on a wonderful idea. We see the 
 possibility of doing away entirely with 
 our expensive training school!" 
 
 This was interesting. Urged to 
 continue, he added: 
 
 "If nature is able to give us human 
 beings with hands, eyes, ears and 
 finger nails, why not have nature go 
 still further and present us with hu- 
 man beings who already have the 
 ideas we try so hard to inculcate?" 
 
 This was too brilliant for syntax. 
 They had hit on the amazing idea of 
 
 11 
 
breeding ideal hands. It was almost 
 unbelievable. 
 
 "We'll work it out in time. Our 
 hope is to combine the strength of the 
 ox with the blind loyalty of the dog, 
 the self-sacrifice of the egg-laying 
 hen and the mentality of the jackass. 
 It's revolutionary, but it can be done. 
 When we succeed, our problem will 
 be solved for all time." 
 *:< <? ♦ 
 
 The interview at an end, I applied 
 for a pass to the training school. 
 Being a friendly sort of person and 
 knowing there could be no harm in 
 granting the request, the Plutopist 
 wrote out the order. 
 
 I began my tour in the kindergar- 
 ten. There I saw a large class of 
 children, all under five years of age. 
 They were being taught how to use 
 words. In unison they recited: "I 
 vvant to work!" 
 
 "Very good," said the teacher. 
 "Very good. Now try to put a little 
 
 12 
 
more gladness into your voices." 
 
 With added enthusaism, the chil- 
 dren yelled: "I want to work!" 
 
 It was inspiring. 
 
 Next came: 
 
 "Twelve hours a day! I want to 
 work! Twelve hours a day!" 
 
 The teacher announced, a little later, 
 that the children must say this 100 
 times each day, including Sunday. In 
 the next class, the children are given 
 little jobs. The mills were repro- 
 duced in miniature and the children 
 were impressed with the fact that the 
 greatest happiness would come when 
 they became old enough to go into the 
 genuine mills. In the miniature the 
 youngsters tended machines that were 
 as tiny as dolls and yet able to do 
 satisfactory work. Incidentally, these 
 children, despite the smallness of the 
 tools, turned out quite an amount of 
 goods, but, unfortunately, the output 
 was not enough to cover expenses. 
 
 13 
 
This was the fatal flaw in the system 
 and undoubtedly was the reason why 
 the 500 wanted to do away with it en- 
 tirely and resort to having the chil- 
 dren born with the idea of the virtue 
 of work and the blessedness of pro- 
 ducing for others. 
 
 As stated before, when the child 
 becomes nine years old, a place is 
 found in the mills. Up to then, the 
 total cost of upkeep for each child 
 is four and six-tenths of a cent per 
 day. 
 
 >:* >:♦ *> 
 
 I heard a great commotion. The 
 teachers were rushing about in terror. 
 Something fearful must have hap- 
 pened. I rushed along with them and 
 when the opportunity presented itself 
 I asked the cause of this excitement. 
 
 "It's too terrible for words," an- 
 swered the person to whom I had 
 directed my question. "It's the first 
 time such a thing ever happened." 
 
 "What?" I demanded. 
 14 
 
"The children in the kindergarten 
 were repeating their lesson a few 
 minutes ago and everything was going 
 nicely. They were saying 'I want to 
 work' as they should when one boy 
 forgot himself and said: 'I want a 
 pair of skates!' It's too terrible! too 
 terrible!" 
 
 And then, trying to excuse the slip, 
 the teacher added: 
 
 "It may be a hereditary taint. It 
 must be." 
 
 "What makes you think so?" 
 "It has been reported that this boy's 
 father is a dangerous character who 
 will bear watching. Once he made a 
 remark to the effect that he thought 
 it might be a good idea if the hands 
 got four pills a day instead of three. 
 Think of it! He actually proposed 
 an increase in rations of 200 calories, 
 or 1,400 a week. Oh, we must watch 
 these hands. Even after the best kind 
 of an education they are likely to get 
 socialistic ideas." 
 
 15 
 
"What will you do if they threaten 
 to go on strike for the extra pill?" 
 
 "Oh, there are plenty of ways of 
 handling the issue. If feeling gets 
 strong and it begins to look as though 
 they stand a chance of winning, we'll 
 give in to them." 
 
 "Is it possible?" 
 
 "We will give in, but there won't be 
 any real difference in the end. Let me 
 explain. They get 600 calories a day, 
 and as we control the manufacture of 
 food-pills, we will give them four a 
 day, but there will be 150 instead of 
 200 calories in each. That's one way. 
 But I don't think it will ever come to 
 that point. We have them too well 
 trained." 
 
 Yes, Plutopia is a wonderful island. 
 It will work as long as the hands con- 
 sent to work. But so long as there 
 are youngsters who crave a pair of 
 skates and a grown-up who doesn't 
 
 conceal his desire for an extra pill, 
 there is a standing menace to the 
 future security of Plutopia. 
 
 16 
 

 M 
 
 
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