The “Happy Warrior’s” munificent reward. (1915)

From the October 1915 issue of the Socialist Standard

The two advertisements which follow were were culled from the “Daily Chronicle” recently, and show how “patriotic” the capitalists are, how truly “generous,” “noble,” and “truthful,” when offering jobs to their wage-slaves :

HANDY-MAN, used to controlling men ; ex-soldier minus limb preferred ; wages 25s. week. Write, stating age, Box C 7180, “Daily Chronicle,” Fleet-st

HOUSEKEEPER wanted for City offices ; must be hard worker ; ex-soldier with limb missing not objected to : wages 25s. week. Write, stating age, to Box C 7178, “Daily Chronicle,” Fleet-st.

After such an exhibition of generosity who will dare say that the employers did not speak the truth when they told their employees that their jobs would be kept open for them after the war. They knew that many would never come back, and that those who did, minus a limb, could then be had cheaply.

Of course, it is obvious that a man who has lost a limb cannot be as useful as one with all his members intact. The fact that he has lost a limb in “his” country’s service does not weigh with the master class when they are on the look-­out for cheap labour. But what a reward for fighting a whole TWENTY-FIVE BOB A WEEK. If the applicant happens to be a man with a family he must indeed be a grumbler who would not jump at such a chance of showing his appreciation by at once applying for one of the above-mentioned jobs.

T. W. Allen