The Light of Reason; Showing the First Step the Nation Should Take Toward a Social Order Based on...

8/2/2019 The Light of Reason; Showing the First Step the Nation Should Take Toward a Social Order Based on Justice ([c1899

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.JWts

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r /_/_ /y /_/_ / /Accession No. /JO O (O . Clews No.


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iE LIGHTOF REASONA SOLUTION OF

THE ECONOMIC RIDDLE

BYA. B. FRANKLIN

\RLES H. KERR & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS56 FIFTH AVENUE, CHICAGO

35 CENTS


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The Light of Reason

SHOWING THE FIRST STEP THE NATIONSHOULD TAKE TOWARD A SOCIALORDER BASED ON JUSTICE

BYA, B. FRANKLIN

CHICAGOCHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY56 FIFTH AVENUB


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Copyright, 1899,By A. B. FRANKLIN.

Library of Progress, No.


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PREFACE.A glance at the opening chapters of this book might

lead to the impression .that it is a mere work of fictionwithout particular aim or purpose other than to enter-tain, but such is far from being the case.

Though it contains a story it is in reality, as indi-cated by its title, a treatise on the living questions ofthe day with which we are one and all concerned.

Its particular claim to public favor lies in the factthat it elucidates the manner by which the obstructionsllrat lie in the path of progress may be removed, so thatman kind may receive the full benefit of the discoveriesmade, and the knowledge gained by the human intellect.

That some of its readers, especially such as are wellalong in years, will disagree with its conclusions is butto be expected.Youth is progressive. Its hopes lie in the future,and for that reason it readily approves of innovationswhich it is convinced are for the public good.On the other hand, old age is conservative. It livesin the past, and is loath to adopt usages other thanthose to which it has become accustomed. But whilethe older generation is gradually relinquishing controlof affairs, the younger is acceding to power, and will, asit

inevitably must, mould the destiny of the nation inthe immediate future.Yet, if the adult reader will for the time being, di-

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vest himself of preconceived prejudice so that he mayperuse the pages of the "Light of Reason" with unbiasedunderstanding, he will he surprised to find how readilythe mental haze surrounding public questions will dis-solve, and how clearly the significance of current eventswill, in an atmosphere of altruism, unfold itself to hisvision.


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THE LIGHT OF REASON.CHAPTER I.Xo premonition of danger came to banker RodneyHolcomb as, pale, haggard and depressed in spirit, he

crossed the gang plank of a steamer lying at a Philadel-phia wharf, for an extended trip to foreign lands.

Man}' years before, he became enamored of EleanorMarlowe, a dark-haired, prepossessing, stately heiresswhom he subsequently married.

Their combined means left no doubt of their abilityto keep the wolf from the door, and when, in time, amale heir put in an appearance their cup of happinesswas full to overflowing.A few months before our story opens, this son, theironly child, had reached his majority, and, owing per-haps to having in the course of years imbibed the hu-manitarian views of an instructor in the college he at-tended, he neither developed the aristocratic tendenciesof his mother, nor the money getting propensities ofhis father.

The home relations of the family, however, movedalong serenely until Arthur Holcomb showed a predi-lection for a young lady who did not find favor in themother's eyes, which circumstance led to the first dis-cord of moment that ever found its way into the bank-er's luxurious home.

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About that time it happened that an importantbusiness complication upon the Pacific slope requiredattention, and upon this mission, which it was expectedwould take several months to straighten out, youngIlolcomb was dispatched.But within sixty days a letter from him impartedthe information that the matter had been satisfactorilyarranged. In addition it announced the young man'sintention to start immediately upon a trip to the goldfields upon the tributaries of the Yukon, and that atleast six months would elapse before his return.

This sudden determination on his part rather metwith his parents approval, his mother especially con-cluding that a prolonged separation from the object ofhis affections might assist in bringing about a change ofmind.

But one day word came from the far north of a ter-rible disaster to a party who had ventured along a dan-gerous mountain path at an inopportune time, andamong the list of those who had met their fate appearedthe name of Arthur Holcomb.

The parents of the young man were naturally terri-bly shocked on receipt of the news, and while it nearlydrove the father to distraction, it brought on an attackof heart failure in the mother which caused her death.Continued grieving over his double bereavement soonbrought Rodney Ilolcomb to the verge of physical col-lapse, and upon the advice of his physician and friends,he was embarking upon his journey in the hope thatchanging scenes, preoccupying his mincl 7 would restorehim to his former self.

As the sequel proved, the immediate object of thetrip upon which he had embarked was more than ac-


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eomplished. hut the undesirable results otherwise couldcertainly not have been anticipated.The steamer which carried him across the Atlanticlanded him safely on the other side, and his journeyacross the continent, including stops -more or less pro-longed at various places of interest, was devoid of anyiii( ident of an unusual character.

I Jut a steamer 0,1 which he subsequently took pass-age for the Orient, met with disaster while speedingalong off the African coast.Her machinery broke down while laboring under thestress of a furious gale with a heavy sea running, andher machinists being unable to repair the damage, for aweek or more she was buffettcd about in a helpless con-dition, drifting completely out of her course, and awayfrom the usual track of the merchant marine.

And one day. in the midst of a dense fog which hadhung about the ship for hours, something not altogetherunexpected happened.

There came a sudden shock, a grating and creakingnoise, and a crushing of timbers as the vessel struckupon a submerged rocky formation. *

Intense excitement immediately possessed passen-gers and crew, and orders were rapidly given to lowerboats and provision them, but before this could be donethe ship careened to one side, her prow rose in the air,and sliding off the ledge on which she struck she wentdown stern foremost carrying those on board of her to awatery grave.

Not all, for strange to say, only Rodney Holcombclinging for life to a piece of flotsam survived to tellthe tale.

For many hours he drifted thus about until finally


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cast ashore upon an island which, providentially enoughfor him, provided food sufficient to sustain life; and onthis island for twenty long years he lived, like RobinsonCrusoe, solitary and alone, scanning many times a daythe vast expanse of water that encompassed him about,to discern the possible approach of some vessel uponwhich he might return to civilization. Now and thena. sail appeared upon the horizon, but not until thelapse of two decades did any of the various signals heregularly hoisted attract attention.A merchantman considerably out of its course, senta row boat to investigate what appeared to be indica-tions of human life upon a seemingly barren island, andshortly he was once again in the companionship of menof his own race who generously supplied him with suchraiment as he urgently stood in need.

In two short weeks he disembarked at the wharf ofa great city on the African coast.

Here had been located a financial institution whichin former times* had honored letters of credit he hadissued to tourists and commercial men.

But was it Mill in existence? And if so, was hisfriend, Silas Burton, still connected with it, or for thatmatter, still in the land of the living?

These were the questions he asked himself as hewended his way towards the business district of the city.He shortly discovered that the banking concern nomore existed, but the friend of his youth, like himselfwell along in years, was still enjoying life, and theywere soon in each other's presence;

They had grown up in the same town, were chumsat school and at college, and their intimacy had beencarried into their business careers through the transac-


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tions of exchange connected with the banker's vocationin which they had both embarked.Once before since Burton had located in the Englishcolony on the African coast he had been visited by Hoi-comb, on which occasion the pranks of their boyhooddays, reappearing in the wreaths of smoke that rosefrom their cigars, had been successively recalled.

But more than twenty-one years had passed sincethat last meeting, and so changed were they in appear-ance that only on close scrutiny could either recognizethe other.

Nevertheless the old familiar lines of their featuresdisclosed themselves rapidly on contemplation, theirvoices had but slightly changed with advancing age, andshortly after their meeting face to face, long before theyhad once again begun to recall the by-gone days of"auld lang syne," he of the bronzed visage was cordiallygreeted as one who had seemingly returned from thodead who had embarked on a ship which never reachedits destination, and from which no tidings ever came.


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CHAPTER II.Notwithstanding the many years of his involuntary

isolation, Rodney Holcomb found himself possessedof considerable means. Before embarking on his fate-ful journey, he had remitted Burton, with instructionsthat he retain the same until called for, bills of exchangefor ten thousand dollars.

These funds, intended to meet whatever expense hemight incur in the Orient, still remained intact in thehands of his friend. When they had been transferredto his credit on the books of the government bank, heprovided himself with attire suitable to the station inlife in which he had formerly moved, and, at least so faras his physical comfort was concerned, felt compara-tively at ease.

"Oh,Mr. Holcomb,read this," remarked Mrs . EudoniBurton on the evening of his arrival, directing his at-tention to an article in the afternoon edition of the localpaper.

They had been acquainted even before her marriageto his old chum, and he attended their nuptials but ashort time before their departure for their present placeof abode.

She had ever been of a happy cheery disposition, andit may be imagined that when Rodney Holcomb re-appeared so unexpectedly, she was the most surprised


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woman on earth. "If ever a miracle happened this isone/' she had exclaimed in the exuberance of her joyns she cordialty greeted him on his arrival.

The newspaper which she handed him was datedJune 12, 1919, and the item to which she referredproved to he an account of his extraordinary adventurein detail,

Already the telegraph had flashed the story of hisstrange experience, and the fate of the "Cleopatra," herpassengers and crew, to every portion of the civilizedworld.

A most welcome surprise one which filled the heartof the elderly man just returned from involuntary exilewith joy and gladness was the information impartedto him shortly after his arrival that his son, whom hehad considered dead, was alive and well in his Americanhome, and more than that, had become prominent inthe affairs of the republic.

"Arthur had grown up to be a sensible, level-head-ed young man," he remarked the following evening inthe luxurious drawing room of the Burton home, "andI now perceive that we were wrong in our opposition tohk marriage to the young lady of his choice:""We naturally expected him to wed some one of themany estimable young ladies of his acquaintance movingin aristocratic circles, but one day he declared his prefer-ence for Gertrude Wiloughby who had been teachingschool to help support her younger sisters and her wid-owed mother, and nothing we could say could influencehim to depart from that decision."

"A sensible young man can usually be depended up-on to make a wise choice of a life partner without pa-


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rental advice," said Silas Burton, and turning to hiswife, he added in a spirit of badinage, "can't heDora?"

"You think because you did, everybody can/' re-plied Mrs. Burton, scoring a point in repartee.

"'And then,' 7 said Mr. Burton, continuing the threadof his friend's discourse after the smile provoked by thebit of pleasantry indulged in had subsided, "Arthurwent off on a western trip, and quite unexpectedly toAlaska."

"Yes," coincided the other, a momentary shade ofsadness passing over his features, "he went to Alaska.And you tell me," he continued, "that the Arthur Hol-comb whom the dispatches reported lost in the aval-anche was not our Arthur Lut some other person of thesame name, and that after it was certain the ship onwhich I embarked had met with disaster, my son cameover here, nearly to the antipodes, in order to be wherehe might render me possible assistance!""Yes," said Mrs. Burton, "he declared that some-thing told him you had not been drowned, and whenSilas offered to turn over to him the funds you had re-mitted for your requirements, he refused to accept themsaying that you would yet call for them in person. Iconsider the intuitive belief in your safety which he en-tertained a most remarkable circumstance."

"And more than that," added Mr. Burton, "he saidhe would come again, and that he believed we wouldmeet you here uninjured and restored to perfect health."

Just then Edna Burton, lovely as a picture attiredin pink and white, appeared in the open doorway, andannounced the arrival of a cablegram for Mr. Holcomb.


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It was a message from his son, and after bestowing aglance upon it, he read aloud its contents which ran asfollows :

"Gertrude and I and the children will meet you atBurton's.' Stay until we arrive." ARTHUR.


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CHAPTER III."There!" exclaimed Mrs. Burton after those present

had surveyed each other's countenance for a momentin silent surprise. "What he as well as predicted iscoming true to the letter. Jt is simply wonderful."'

"It does seem extraordinary," said the recipient ofthe welcome message, "but after all, what he said anddecided upon must have been based entirely upon whathe hoped would come about. It was impossible for himto know."

"Of course," he continued, "he related to you hisexperiences in the gold fields of Alaska?""He did, and his account of them was quite enter-taining," replied Mrs. Burton."He mentioned, however, that he did not journeyto the far north for the purpose of searching for gold,but through a desire to observe and study human na-ture amidst the successes, failures and excitements ofa mining region. He seemed thoroughly possessed ofthe advanced ideas which have since been accepted bvgovernments the world over, and he ridiculed the ideaof society retaining in use as money a commodity toobtain which, men traversed dreary wastes in the faceof cold, hunger, privation and death, when its use forsuch a purpose could just as well as not be dispensedwith .

He stated then that he had started to write for pub-16


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li cat ion upon the subject, and it is generally concededthat his treatise on the science of government whichsubsequently appeared, contributed in no small degreeto the enlightenment of the masses upon the currencyand other questions."

"I am glad to hear that," said the father of theyoung man thus praiseworthily alluded to, "and it iswhat might have been expected of him, judging fromthe many works on government he accumulated, whosecontents he eagerly devoured."

"In many things Arthur was altogether differentfrom the sons of the rich in general. He had a keensense of natural right and justice, sympathized with theweaker elements of society, and once remarked that hecould understand how men would always do society use-ful service in the production and the distribution ofcommodities, in the professions, the arts, the sciencesand in other ways, but while it might be a necessaryevil under the existing state of affairs for individuals togain a livelihood through the taking of interest and thediscounting of commercial paper, he did not considersuch vocations as that of the private banker at all nec-i's


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lie questions," said Mr. Burton, "and was considerablysurprised when I exhibited to him one of his "earlier es-says in print, the one you once enclosed in a letter ifyou remember. He remarked when he saw it in thescrap book in which I had it preserved that it was thefirst paper he presented to the 'Good Government Club'after becoming a member, and that it merely hinted atchanges which it was becoming evident would beforelong be made in home government."

"I recollect sending you the clipping," said the manaddressed, "but its contents has entirely slipped mymemory/'"Would you like to hear it read, Mr. Holcomb?"asked Edna who had remained in the room after the de-parture of the uniformed employe of the telegraph ser-vice who delivered the cablegram, "it is not verylengthy."

"I think I would enjoy having it recalled at this par-ticular time," the elderly man addressed replied.

Edna, though not quite seventeen, had very nearlycompleted her education, and besides the usual run ofstudies she had taken a course in elocution. The book-case was near at hand and in a few moments she beganthe reading of the essay in a clear, musical, well modu-lated voice.


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CHAPTER IV.It ran as follows:We take a natural pride in our common country, and

truthfully claim to have, on the whole, the grandest,democracy that has as yet been reared on earth.

But even its founders admitted that it was far fromperfect at its inception, and since their day it has notbeen materially improved upon.Such being the case, why not set about to ascertain ofwhat those imperfections consist, and in what directionimprovement in government lies?We frame our own social regulations, so that we canmake our institutions conform to whatever will bestconduce to the prosperity, happiness and contentmentof the people, and to that end can without let or hind-rance alter or abolish laws or constitutions that stand inthe way at will.

When we contemplate society and find a limited fewin possession of the bulk of the wealth of the nation; findIhcm usurping governmental functions in transporta-tion and exchange, controlling the avenues of intelli-gence and monopolizing the necessaries of life, whilethe many are madly competing with one another for anexistence, and an army of unemployed clamor, not forcharity, but for an opportunity to gain a livelihood byhonest labor, we naturally conclude that something19


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must be radically wrong in the regulations by which so-ciety is governed to bring about such results.But what is to be done?

Happily an answer is at hand. Every nation ofearth labors under difficulties more or less similar to ourown, and if we examine into the remedy to which thepeople of older settled countries are turning, we soonbecome convinced that the measures for improvementin government which they propose to introduce willbring full and adequate relief. If we expect to progress,we must not shut our eyes to what is going on in thegreat world of which this nation is but a part.Would it be wise for the Chinese say, to ignore theadvances we and other nations have made, in a consider-ation of the adoption by them of an improved form ofgovernment?And does a monopoly of wisdom rest with us whohave made use of the printing press, the chronometer,the cathode ray and a thousand other things of foreignorigin? '

If so, how is it that We alone of the great nations ofearth are confronted by either a railroad or a telegraphproblem? And do we take notice that in all those coun-tries where the operation of the railroads and the tele-graph runs along as smoothly, uninterruptedly and assatisfactorily as does our mail service, both railroadsand telegraph are owned, controlled and operated bythe nation by the people collectively?

True, we are agitating for government railroads andtelegraph, but what are the millions in France and Ger-many and Belgium and other countries where such in-stitutions are already collectively owned agitating for?Surely not to turn such institutions over to individuals.


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Of the various political parties in those 1 countries nota single one makes claim that government ownershipis a failure and demands its abolition. On the contraryno fault is found with collective ownership in any coun-try.What they are agitating for, is, that the remainderof the industries, including agriculture, now conductedby private enterprise, be similarly placed under collec-tive management and control.

More and more of the citizens of those nations arebecoming convinced that the welfare of the people as awhole, which is the primary object of government, canbe best promoted by each respective nation taking en-tire charge of its industrial affairs, and that only in thismanner can the rights of the individuals of a nation beproperly adjusted, and a more equal distribution of thecomforts of life be secured.

It is the practical application of this theory, whichaccords with the trend of natural and unobstructed evo-lution, that is being urged for adoption by the pro-gressive element in every advanced nation of earth, andwithin the range of its potentiality will be found a so-lution of the various problems with which the peopleof our republic are confronted .As a nation, we are not ready for the adoption ofso radical a change of industrial conditions in its en-iirety, but the time is ripe when the first steps leadingin that direction should be taken.


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CHAPTER V."Now that my memory has been refreshed, the sub-

stance of the article comes back to me very clearly,"said Mr. ITolcomb, when Edna had finished reading theclipping, "and from what I observe," he continued,"things seem to have shaped themselves into a systemvery similar to the social order whose adoption he wasassisting to bring about."

"Precisely," remarked his life long friend, "'and,"he continued, "notwithstanding the fact that when thatarticle was penned the people of the United States werein some respects more conservative than those of othercountries, they were, after all, the first to discover theroad leading to permanent prosperity."And then day by day while awaiting the arrival ofArthur and his family, Rodney Holcomb took notice ofthe stupendous changes that had been made in businessmethods since on a May-day morning in the closingyear of the previous century, twenty years before, fromthe hurricane deck of an ocean liner, he had watchedthe spires of the city of his abode fade gradually awayuntil lost to view in the distance. And the more he ob-served those changes, the more did they gain favor inhis estimation.

Industry was being carried on by the people collec-tively. Xo capitalists gathered to themselves the sur-plus wealth which the toilers produced. This now22


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found its way into the national treasury, and with thesocial capital thus created the people built factoriesand workshops and opened up to themselves the hither-to closed avenues of employment.The citizens through their postal savings system didtheir own banking. No commercial banks were neces-sary, because both production and distribution werebeing carried on by society as a whole. Individuals pur-chased their necessaries in great trade bazaars ownedcontrolled and supervised directly by government. Landwas being cultivated collectively with the latest im-proved appliances and inventions. Such a thing as tax-ation was unknown; there was no necessity for it what-ever. Speculation in commodities, commission broker-age and insurance of every description was abolished.Neither was there a private charity organization in ex-istence. Society as a whole provided the best of medi-cal attendance to its membership when required, and itdischarged its proper duty of caring for the blind, thecrippled and for those in any way incapable of render-ing useful public service.And the construction of public works, which in-cluded the erection of commodious homes for the peo-ple, went on without cessation.

All these things which tended to enhance the happi-ness of the

peopledrew forth from him

expressionsof

approval and admiration. "I doubt," said he one dayenthusiastically, "if you people who have seen thesechanges made slowly and gradually realize their grand-cur as I do who have had them suddenly unfolded tomy vision. It is amazing! bewildering! wonderful!"One evening on leaving the Burton home after theusual social chat, he took with him for perusal the pub-


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lication which Arthur had composed, which, a.s he hadheen told, had contributed greatly toward bringingabout the new social order.

It was entitled "Society," and, substantially repro-duced, ran as follows:


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SOCIETY

Not that society in frills and lace andgold, but that composite whole embracingall mankind*


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PREFACE.The reader has perhaps seen and remembers the old

wooden block puzzle, the pieces of which when fittedtogether formed a symmetrical bunch roughly round.

It was a perplexing thing which could not be put to-gether without making use of each and every block, andassigning it to its proper position in the make-up of thewhole.

When the pieces were properly arranged and thepuzzle was solved, like when the details of an inventionor discovery are made known, it all became very simple.There is a good deal of similarity between the old wood-en puzzle and the social organization.

Society is a compact body whose tranquility dependsupon the harmonious relation towards each other of theelements of which it is composed. Every problem withwhich it is confronted admits of ready solution. Butall public questions are inter-related, and each musthave its proper place in a correct alignment.When this is done, like when one knows how to putthe wooden puzzle together, it will all seem very simple.But until each and all of the questions which affectour material, existence are properly adjusted, the times,like the blocks of the wooden puzzle when not correctlyput together, must continue, as they are now, "out ofjoint/'

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INTRODUCTION.As part of the inscrutable design of the Creator of

the Universe, man alone of the various forms of animallife on earth has been endowed with reason, understand-ing and superior qualities of mind otherwise, which ena-ble him to provide for his immediate subsistence andcomfort, to transmit and perpetuate his discoveries inthe intellectual field, and to appreciate the mental pow-ers and advantages with which he has been favored.Man is pre-eminently a thinking creature, and tothe extent that he has utilized the mental faculties withwhich he has been endowed has civilization advanced.

There is a marked difference, however, in the ad-vance of mechanical and scientific knowledge promotedby the individual, and of social progress which necessi-tates the co-operation of the individual members ofwhich society is composed.

Progressive ideas in the field of scientific discoveryand invention are given to the world after successfulexperimentation or demonstration, and are utilized atonce.

Not so with a theory indicating how the peoplethrough their government might proceed to better theircondition.

Such a theory admits of experimentation only whenpractically applied. Nevertheless, one by one, indivi-duals may perceive that in some certain theory sug-27


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gestcd, the right road to a betterment of social condi-tions has been pointed out, and when the circle of thoseco-operating for its adoption becomes sufficiently ex-tended, we have social progress.

Consequently, the advancement of society as a wholedepends entirely upon the intelligent discernment ofits members as regards what is best for its welfare.


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SOCIETY. I.LAND.

Some six thousand or more years ago, man andwoman awoke to the consciousness that they were be-ings endowed with superior 'intelligence, and were, bythe Creator of all, given dominion over the land andthe waters of the earth.

The land was fair to look upon even as a garden.Luscious fruit and other edibles sprung in profusionfrom the soil, cattle and sheep in an undomesticatedstate roamed the hillsides, and with fish and fowl con-veniently at hand, the earlier progenitors of the racehad but to reach out into nature for their subsistence.

And, in the course of time, long before the adventof any who cultivated the soil in even the most crudeand primitive way, came those who upon the unclaimedpastures stretching away , in every direction, tendedflocks and herds.

For several centuries in the infancy of civilizationwhile land was plenty and population sparse, it was notdifficult for individuals to maintain fairly amicable re-lations towards each other as regards the possession ofland. Nevertheless the land question made its appear-ance at a comparatively early period.Some portions of the land, just as they are at thepresent time, were better than others, and for that iva-scn were eagerly taken possession of by the 'owners of29


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the ever increasing flocks and herds; and later on, whenmen began to cultivate the soil, the strife for land be-came intensified.

Yet the only title to land during those centurieswas the right of use and control conceded to individualsbecause of priority in taking possession, and of occu-pancy.

But as time passed, the more powerful, the morecunning, and the more grasping of the citizenshipclaimed and took possession of great bodies of land, andthe ignorant, the weak, and the less calculating weretaken advantage of, just as they are at the present time,and soon came to consider those who had amassedwealth in cattle and sheep and landed estates as the per-sons to whom to look for a chance to labor in order togain a subsistence, and it might be added that this wasperfectly natural and proper, then, as it is even now, ina competitive state of society.Land being the natural storehouse from which allthat is essential to the support of man is derived, it fol-lowed, that men who were not possessed of land, norwere indirectly deriving support from it through laborperformed for land-owners or in some other legitimateway, were of necessity compelled to wander off to newlocalities in search of opportunities to earn a compe-tence wrhich in the older settled communities were pre-sented to but a limited number, and in this mannerpopulation, perhaps at first limited to portions of Asia,spread into Africa, into Europe and completed its cir-cuit of the globe when, after its discovery by Columbus,it took possession of the American continent.

Early in the world's history the right to the posses-sion and use of land came to be looked upon as trans-


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ferablc property, and passing by inheritance, and fromhand to hand for a consideration, we can readilyconceive how, in time, the original relation of man toland became obscured, and the idea that the absolutetitle to land would for all time, be transferred from in-dividual to individual became fixed in the minds ofmen. However, as long as free land could still be ob-tained, no harm came to society from regulations per-mitting private land ownership and providing afor its transfer.

In fact, laws providing for the ownership afer of land were unquestionably right, proper,equitable throughout the period in which the earthbeing taken possession of.Have the lands of the earth been appropriated, idthe query to which these reflections give rise!

Vast tracts of land have never as yet been cultivated,but the conceded right of the individual to the unlim-ited ownership of land carries with it the absolute rig! itof its disposition, and since the introduction ofparchment, whereby documentary evidence relating toland ownership might be preserved, it has become pos-sible and an every-day occurrence to obtain and retaintitle to land without either actual use or occupation.And it has come to pass that the title deeds to the earthare on record, so that 'men can not anywhere take upfree land to acquire that competence which, thoughstill earned by a limited number who either directly orindirectly derive their support from land, is denied toan ever increasing percentage of the population.


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SOCIETY. II.LAND (Continued).

When we reflect upon the fact that we are compelledto resort to land for food, raiment, shelter and everymaterial thing which we create for either ornament oruse, it becomes clearly evident that land, by the will ofits Creator, was intended for the support of the entirehuman race.

Not alone for the living of any one era in time, butfor all succeeding generations as well. When throughsocial regulations permitting the . transfer of the titleto land for a consideration, or the acquirement of theeame by inheritance, the soil of a nation has passed intothe possession of a limited number of individuals, withpopulation ever on the increase, it manifestly becomesdiverted from its intended purpose the support of alland no matter how plentiful may be the harvestswhich it yields, the disinherited are not permitted 1>share in its bounties.*

*"Natural justice can recognize no right in one man tothe possession and enjoyment of land that is not equallythe right of all his fellows," says Henry George in "Pro-gress and Poverty," and by way of annotation he adds:"This natural and inalienable right to the equal use andenjoyment of land is so apparent that it has been recognizedby men wherever force or habit has not blunted first per-ceptions." To give but one instance. The white settlers ofNew Zealand found themselves unable to get from the Maoriswhat the latter considered a complete title to land, because.32


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We now have laws sustaining the absolute owner-ship of land by individuals.

liut laws are the creation of society, and wheneverthe condition of a considerable portion of the citizen -sdiip indicates that a change in social regulations so asto abolish private ownership in land would be for thepublic good, codes and constitutions may and ought tobe changed accordingly. Existing titles to land mustbe considered, what they really are; temporary expe-dients to adjust the rights of settlers in a new countryuntil such a time as land can no more be taken up free.For with the coming of the first individual who can nomore obtain free land when payment is demanded be-fore he can derive his support from the soil the situa-tion changes, the temporary expedient by which thelands have become settled up is at an end, and it be-comes the duty of the collectivity, in whom the title tothe land parcelled out is naturally vested, to make suchcollective use of land that each and all may derive thatsupport from the soil to which they are naturally andof right entitled. The time has come when free landcan no more be obtained; when it is clearly against pub-lic policy to continue disposing of the remaining landsof the nation as in the past, and when collective use ofthe soil must be made for the common good. For thesereasons, keeping in view the interests of the disinher-ited members of our common society, and our dutv soalthough a whole tribe might have consented to a sale theywould still claim with every new child born among theman additional payment on the ground that they had onlyparted with their own rights, and could not sell those ofthe unborn. The government was obliged to step in andsettle the matter by buying land for a tribal annuity, inwhich every child that is born acquires a share.


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to arrange that the mill ions yet unborn will not be de-prived of their rightful share in the. world into whichthey will be ushered, it behooves us to refrain fromgranting away even a single foot of the lands still col-lectively owned by the people, for any purpose or forany consideration whatsoever.


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SOCIETY. III.LAND (Concluded.)

It seems rather idle to speculate upon what mighthave hoe 11 done as regards laud by the founders of ourgovernment, yd \ve may with profit indulge in a few re-flections upon that subject.

Following European customs the colonists had be-fore the War of the Revolution, individually acquiredtitle to the lands they occupied, so that the conditionsthen existing as regards land were virtually recognizednnd incorporated into the new social compact with noattempt at change. Still there remained the vast terri-tory stretching away toward the setting sun the splen-did domain the last remnants of which we are parcellingout this very day.*

Had government retained the title to this land,leased it out in small tracts at a low rental, and lateron, when steam succeeded horse power in locomotion,built short stretches of railroad between the most prom-ising points, extending such from time to time until theland was gridironed with these modern vehicles of

*While we are still disposing of the remnant of our pub-lic lands, New Zealand is repurchasing its landed estates,and leasing them to ac'tual cultivators for fixed terms. Tothis end laws have been enacted that government have theoption to acquire land at the valuation at which i't has beenreturned for taxation.

35


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- 36transportation, the major portion of the problems thatnow confront the nation would not have arisen.But it was not done, and this misstep so momentousin its consequences will .yet have to be retraced theselands will have to be repurchased by the collectivityfrom the individuals into whoso possession they havelegitimately come under the policies which wo pursued.

It is only when population has increased to such an.extent that the amble hinds of a new country are alltaken up, that the truth dawns upon the people that noprovision for support of the generations yet unborn hasbeen made, and that these, when ushered bare-handedinto the world will find the land of the earth and itsresources in the possession of those with whom theywill be compelled to make terms before they will be per-mitted to derive a subsistence from the soil.

All men should have recourse upon the land for sup-port, but this does not mean that all men should derivetheir support in whole or in part from agriculture,though in fact all men do either directly or indirectlyderive their support from the earth.Were farms reduced in size to keep pace with in-crease in population they would, in time, become soemail that the use of even ordinary machinery in theircultivation would not be profitable.

Population, especially in the older settled districts,is becoming dense, and patches of land in millions ofsmall holdings are being cultivated the world over.And how much unremitting toil, and how little of cheerand comfort comes into the lives of these agrarians whoperhaps manage to eke out a hand to mouth existence!The tendency in agriculture, like in manufactures, isaway from small production, and in the direction of


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- 3? -production on ;m extensive scale. With the so-calledbonanza farms of the west, approximating an entirecounty in sixe. the raiser of wheat on a small scale cannot successfully compete, and the large tracts of landwhich capitalists are acquiring for cultivation are be-coming more numerous year by year.

Only by production on a large scale, and the em-ployment of the latest discoveries that tend to lessencost of production can agriculture even now be maderemunerative where farmers compete with each otherin the home market, and all in turn compete with theproducers of food products in foreign lands.Do not the agriculturalists of the country then per-ceive that it is the grinding down process of competi-tive production which is the cause of the depression inagriculture, and that an inconceivable amount of drud-gery, worry and hardship could be averted by consolid-ating the landed interests of the country so that the en-tire soil of the nation would be operated, managedand controlled as a single industrial enterprise for thepublic good?

Such an arrangement would not alone make foreigncompetition in agricultural products a thing of the pastbut it would also solve the problem of how best to dis-pose of the vast stretches of territory known as the aridlands of the west. These would be made fertile throughgreat irrigating canals which government would con-struct, and the resources of the land put to collectiveuse.

The time is not far distant when the title to all thela ml within our borders will be vested in the collec-tivity. The arduous tasks of agriculture will then be per-formed by steam and electric machinery whose arms of


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- 38 -steel will sweep over vast areas unimpeded by a maze offences such as are now set up as lines of demarkationbetween neighbors whose interest in the common soilshould be identical.

There can be no grander conception than the greatnational farm of a co-operative commonwealth, extend-ing from ocean to ocean, studded with a thousand mag-nificent cities beside which the urban conglomerationsof the present time would appear but as shabby cari-catures.

Only in this manner can the foundation of a systemby which all may be assured the opportunities to ac-quire the comforts of existence, be laid. Upon thisfoundation will rest all the departments of human ac-tivity, carried on by the people collectively, furnishingavenues of employment to all, and in this manner willall men have recourse upon the land for support.


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SOCIETY. IV.WEALTH.

We may reasonably conjecture that, beginning ata very early period in the history of mankind, indivi-duals realized the necessity of laying up a store for fu-ture subsistence and comfort out of what nature lavish-ly produced. They proceeded to accumulate a foodand a fuel supply; the skins of animals which they en-trapped and slew served them as raiment, and rude hab-itations constructed of logs and the branches of treesgave tliem shelter.

These fruits of their labor together with such othernecessaries as their primitive mode of living suggestedand their creative capacities enabled them to produce,were wealth, just as are solely and alone the comfortsof life at the present time.

Individuals in this manner provided for their ownnecessities until men began to exchange commoditieswhich they produced for those which others produced,each seeking not to give more labor value in exchangethan what he received, and thus the competitive meth-ods of acquiring a living to which we still adhere,sprang into existence. Selfishness immediately be-came the foundation upon which the industrial struc-ture was erected, and the accumulation of the meansof subsistence and as many of the comforts of life aspossible a praiseworthy and laudable endeavor,39


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But in the nature of things no one knew when hohad a sufficiency when he had a competence, and so 1>\universal custom which by continued usage came to In-considered a lawful right, even like unto this very day,individuals proceeded to accumulate wealth withoutlimit.

Such a social order worked comparatively littlehardship before the days of steam and electricity whenmen were unable to produce more than could be con-sumed; but in these days of labor saving machinerywhen we can produce more than we can possibly con-sume: when the title deeds to the earth are on recordand men moving from locality to locality in seeking togain a livelihood stand at bay, it becomes an easy mat-ter for the few who have come into possession of themost profitable sources of production to appropriate tothemselves the wealth which under more equitable so-cial conditions would provide necessaries of life for themany, and enable them to share in the conveniencesand comforts which the age has produced.

But men are gradually coming to see that they havenot equal opportunities in the gaining of a competence,and that social regulations under which it is possiblefor an individual to acquire wealth which representsthe food, shelter and raiment taken from millions of hisfellow beings ought not to be continued.The fortune of John D. Rockefeller accumulated inless than three decades is estimated at one hundred andthirty million dollars. The better to realize the immen-sity of such a sum let us compare it with the earningpower of individuals engaged in manual labor.More than four thousand years have elapsed since.Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers who had


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41 -boon sent into Kgypt after corn to relieve th'e distressof the kindred they had left behind them in a faminestricken land.

Let us now imagine the twelve sons of Jacob aswage earners, and from the time of their reunion re-eeiving such a munificent stipend as to be enabled tolay by each the sum of five dollars per day over andabove living expenses.

This would sum up sixty dollars per day for thetwelve young men.

Let us further imagine them as for ages retainingthe vigor and energy of their early manhood as nevergrowing old, and with the one object of accumulatingmoney in view, laboring on and on and on, throughdynasty after dynasty, and century after century, all ofthem finding continuous employment at good wages,and each of the twelve saving up five dollars a day forthree hundred days in the }Tear as in the beginning.One might suppose at a venture that if the twelvemen so laboring were still at work in our day, their ag-gregate savings would at least equal the accumulationsof the great oil magnate, but such is far from being thecase. Were that their aim, well might they feel dis-couraged at the task before them, because, each layingby five dollars per day as before, to accumulate a totalof one hundred and thirty million dollars would requirethat they still labor on and on, century in and centuryout. for more than three thousand years beyond thepresent time!

But in view of the fact that under our social regula-tions Mr. Rockefeller may legitimately obtain controlof every gallon of oil in the country and dispose of thesame to the public at any price he may without limit a-


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tion or hindrance demand, the wonder is that instead ofonly having passed the hundred million mark he hasnot already become a billionaire.

Fifty years ago an individual possessed of twentythousand dollars was accounted wealthy, and many aman who had accumulated such a sum retired frombusiness life.

The business man of to-day who would retire onsuch a sum would be considered a commercial freakby his compeers. The custom now is to invest in cor-poration stock which earns a dividend throughout thelife of him by whom it is possessed, then for his legateesafter earthen clods have rattled o'er his bones.

Some men like some beasts are more ravenous thanothers.

Though they mete out ruin and disaster to thou-sands, their avariciousness can ne'er be satiated.And yet these human carnivori who feed on fleshand blood as well as gold, are not wholly responsiblefor their rapacious natures. Xever beyond the fear ofpossible adversity under the competitive system, theyare impelled by a vague ever present dread of a reverseof fortune, to accumulate on and on without limit.The fault lies in the system. Make land and the oil,coal, andother resources which it contains collectiveproperty as it ought to be, and the accumulation of in-ordinate wealth in the hands of individuals would be-come an impossibility.


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SOCIETY. V.TRUSTS AND COMBINES.

\

As in the earliest of times we still compete with oneanother for the means of subsistence. Manufacturercompetes with manufacturer, farmer with farmer, mer-chant with merchant, and laborer with laborer.

In the struggle for existence and a competence inwhich the individual members of society are by forceof circumstances compelled to engage, every man's handis industrially and commercially raised against his fel-low.

And the endless chain of cruelties and tragedieswhich accompany the warfare for subsistence bear wit-ness to the fact that we have not as yet fully emergedfrom a social status bordering upon the barbaric. Butmen are beginning to realize that the well springs ofcompetition in production and commercial distributionare being dammed up by the great trusts and combinesin existence and forming. And they comprehend thatthe crushing out of competition enables the few to levytribute upon the many. But the majority do not as yetknow the direction in which to look for relief.

That element of the population which shuts it-eyes to the fact that in the great monopoly the logicalclimax of competition has been reached, franticallyurges legislation against trusts and combines.Yet we readily perceive that combinations of capi-43


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tal industrially directed are perfectly in accord with thetenets of competition.If two men may combine their capital as partners in

business, and a score or more in a corporation, then aprecedent has been recognized for combinations of capi-tal without end.

The law that would say that two or more weak cor-porations may combine, but that strong ones must re-frain from so doing, would certainly be an extraordi-nary example in legislation.

Moreover, may not the staunchest monopoly right-fully claim that it is subject to the competition of anysimilar combination of capital that may be made?The agitation against the trusts however has a mis-sion, and that is to direct the attention of the peopleto the fact that the end of competition is drawing near,and that something must be done to prevent the spolia-tion of the masses by the few who arc rapidly becomingmasters of the industrial and commercial field.For a few years yet, trust will compete with trust;but combination and consolidation goes steadily on, andwere it not for the probability that, before worst comesto worst, the people collectively will in their sovereignright assume control of industry, the processes bywhich undreamed of wealth accumulates in the handsof a few individuals would go on until there would re-main but one great trust when all the smaller fish havebeen devoured.

There is no good reason why strife, contention, andmutual destruction need longer attend the carrying onof industry, and in so far as the trusts are crushing outcompetition they are unwittingly doing a real serviceto human it v.


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The more the circle of competition is contractedthe nearer we approach the co-operative commonwealthin which the la-t vestige of competition in the produc-tion and (listrihntion of commodities would disappear.To attempt to legislate the trusts and combines outof existence otherwise than by organizing the entirepopulation into a greater combine which would assume*control of the entire range of production would be anattempt to stem the tide of evolution, and would onlyby so much longer continue the hardships the peoplewould be compelled to endure.


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SOCIETY. VI.INTEREST WEALTH.

As universally understood, interest may be definedas money charged or paid for the use of money.But in an economic sense it embraces rent and prof-it, the latter term including all dividends on the stockof corporations., and all incomes upon investments ingeneral. Thus every piece of city real estate, everyfarm, and every business enterprise is supposed to yielda certain return upon its cost, and, in the economicsense remarked, this return is interest.

In so far as the loaning of money at an interestcharge, and the accumulation of wealth in the hands ofindividuals have, in the past, facilitated production,and aided to develop the resources of newly settled dis-tricts they have proven beneficial to society. But \\vhave arrived at a stage of progress where society needno longer depend upon individual enterprise for thecarrying on of either economic production or distribu-tion; and among the many circumstances which indi-cate that the time has come when society should assumeits duties and responsibilities in this regard none arcmore in evidence than is the fact that from a blessingthe interest charge for the use of money has beenturned into a curse, and the further fact that the own-ership by individuals of vast moneyed, landed, andother estates has become a positive menace to society,46


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_ 47Some time ago the Xew York Tribune published a

directory of American millionaires which contained atotal of 4,04? names. The following is a list of the for-tunes with which forty-seven of these home capitalistswere accredited according to the estimates at that time,leaving four thousand estates whose estimated fortunesdo not appear but which range from one to several mil-lion dollars

respectively:J. D. Rockefeller $125,000,000W. AY Astor 120,000,000Jay Gould Estate 100,000,000Russell Sage 90,000,000C. Vanderbilt 80,000,000W. K. Vanderbilt 75,000,000II. M. Flagler 60,000,000AVm. Rockefeller 60,000,000Hetty Green 60,000,000John .1. Astor 50,000,000( '. P. Huntington . 50,000,000F. AY Yanderbilt 35,000,000S. C. Tiffany 35,000,000T. A. Havemeyer and II. Estate 30,000,000P. R. Payne 30,000,000G. AAr . Yanderbilt 30,000,000Robert Goelet 25,000,000J. P. Morgan 25,000,000Schermerhorn Estate 25,000,000H. H. Rogers 25,000,000John AY Mackay 25,000,000Ogden Goelet 20,000,000E. T. Gerry 20,000,000H. 0. Havemeyer 20,000,000Henry Hilton

"

20,000,000


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Andrew Cnrnegie '. 20,000,0(10Win. ('. Whitney 20,000,000Darius (). Mills 20,000,000Amos ]?. Kno 20,000,000John I). Arehbold 15,000,000IF. V. Newcomh 15,000,000Adrian Iselin 12,ooo.oooBradley Martin 10,000.000Eugene Kelly 10.000.oooDr. W. S. Webb 10,000,000J. M. (Constable 10,000,000'Hicks Arnold 10,000,001)Anson P. Stokes 10,000,000S. I). Babcock 10,000,000(Jeo. F. Haker 10.000,000Austin Corhin 10.000.000John Claflin 10,000,000AV. 1?. Grace 10,000,000F. A. Constable (;,000.oooAdrian Iseling, ,Tr fi.000,00oAbram S. Hewitt . :>.000.oooJames Stokes . 5.000,000Aggregate . .$1,489,000*0004,000 others 4,000,000,000

Total $5,489,000,000Kstimating the fortunes of the remaining estates ai

the minimum figure of one million each, we obtain agrand total as above, approximating five and a half bil-lion dollars, a sum equalling one-twelfth of the on tirewealth of the country in 18


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Wealth increases slowly at first but as it accumu-'s it gains a wonderful impetus. Computed retro-y on a basis of increase equalling five per cent

compounded annually, the millionaire of the presentday would have been worth half a million fourteenyears ago, a quarter of a million twenty-eight years agoand one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars for-ty-two years ago*We therefore perceive that while at a five per centrate of increase compounded annually it woi/id havetaken an individual forty-two years to increase his for-tune from $125,000 to one million dollars, at a similarrate of increase it would take him but fourteen years todouble his fortune, twenty-eight years to be wortli fourmillions, and forty-two years to possess a fortune ofeight million dollars.At a similar rate of growth, with prevailing busi-ness 'methods continued, the 54 billions which 4,047individuals possess would increase in1 1 years to 11 billions.v?s years to 22I-.1 years to 445(5 years to 88 ":


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-50 -more than one and a third times the total wealth of thecountry in 1890, and in less than a century, theseestates if kept intact would aggregate more than tentimes the combined wealth of the people at the lastcensus.

In the light of these figures must we not concludethat social regulations under which wealth may boaccumulated to the detriment ol' the masses who pro-duce that wealth ought not to be continued!The time of the possessors of the larger fortunes isnearly altogether occupied in re-investing their ac-cumulated earnings, and never satisfied with a suffi-ciency they continually strive to become the richestof the rich.

It is very rarely that any of these large fortunesbecome dissipated.Let us imagine a ten million dollar scion of plu-

tocracy indulging in the most senseless extravagance.Were he to give an elaborate breakfast, dinner, andsupper to his friends every day in the year at an ex-pense of one hundred dollars for each meal so partaken,and in addition squander two hundred dollars dailyupon clothes and incidentals, notwithstanding suchoutlay which would sum up five hundred dollars forevery day in the year, at a five per cent return, his for-tune instead of diminishing would be still increasingover and above his expenditures at the rate of nearlyeight hundred and seventy dollars a day!

Interest as commonly understood is one of the mostaggressive of the various means by which wealth is ac-cumulated in modern times. The aggregate of interestbeing paid on national, state, county, municipal, schooldistrict, railroad, mortgage and individual indebtedness


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is enormous, and the bulk of it goes to still furtheraugment the great fortunes of the world.*The many pay tlu-.se vast interest charges, and thefew receive them. How will the principal of this in-debtedness ever be paid?

\Vere competitive methods continued indefinitelyuniversal repudiation would of necessity result.

Happily a way has heen found by which the indus-tries may be carried on without the necessity of look-ing to moneyed men for either capital or superin-tendence. When land, and the machinery of produc-tion shall have been socialized, the opportunities foraccumulating vast individual wealth will no longerexist, interest as a disturbing element in the socialeconomy will disappear, and the charging of rent andprofit become a sole prerogative ( f the collectivity forthe carrying on of public work and the maintenanceof government.

*The census of 1890 places the aggregate national, stateand territory, county, municipal and school district indebt-edness at $2.027,170,546, and the real estate mortgage indebt-edness for the year 1889 (that of the years which preced-ed it and in force in 1890 notbeingincluded) t |1,752, 568,274.The railway handed indebtedness is above five billion, sothat the aggregate of indebtedness from these sourcesalone approximates nine billion dollars. Individual andcorporate indebtedness otherwise at a conservative estim-ate would exceed ten billion dollars.


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SOCIETY. VII.TAXATION.

Old John Jacob Astor in his life time owned con-siderable of the real estate in the City of Xew Yorknow controlled by his descendants.

Being importuned by a friend to join a movementlooking to a reduction of the rate of taxation he de-clined his aid, remarking that he was not interested,

"Xot interested!'' exclaimed his friend, "and youthe largest holder of realty in the city?*'

"I will tell you confidentially/' he explained, "thatwhether the rate of taxation is high or low I do notpay a dollar of it. I add a percentage to rentals tocover taxation, and my tenants pay it all." And theold gentleman laughed at his joke. He knew there wasnothing to be kept in confidence because in fixing therentals of buildings a percentage to cover insurance,taxes and repairs is invariably included.

Yet in that incident there is ample food for thought.In effect, the successful man under individual com-

petitive enterprise pays no taxes whatever. It is theunsuccessful men who are largely in the majorityamong the common people and among these must benumbered the men who do not own much more thana modest home who pay the bulk of the revenueraised by taxation. 52


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And this shifting of burdens is notice-able through-cut l lu i fill ire modus operand! of the competitive sys-tem. The merchant adds the interest he pays at thebank, his rent, his taxes, and other expenses of hisbusiness to the price of his goods, and the commonpeople pay the bill. Railway companies, express com-panies, and other corporations shift their burdens ontothe masses, and every dollar of their taxes and interestcharges, like those of all successful business enterprises,is paid by the public which gives them its patronage.

In this way the burdens imposed by society restlightest on the successful man, while those of the un-sucessful are increased by having added to them a shareof what should be contributed by those who succeed.And this shifting of burdens must continue as longas the competitive system lasts. Only through collec-tive control of industry will it ever come to an end.

As regards our methods of taxation it may be truth-fully asserted that no just and equitable system of taxa-tion has ever been devised or put into effect.The existing system gave fair satisfaction up to,say sixty years ago when land and the improvementsthereon formed the great bulk of taxable property be-fore great estates in railroad, telegraph, telephone, ex-prc-s, gas and electric stocks had an existence.

But even in those days the cry of unfair and ex-cessive taxation went up continuously, and in ourtimes, even to ascertain the just proportion which in-dividuals should contribute toward the support of gov-ernment, not to speak of compelling its payment, seemsan utter impossibility.*

*There seems to be a general criminal eagerness to evadetaxation. A current newspaper item runs as follows: "It


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- 54 -The one great factor which renders our system of

taxation an absurdity as an economic measure is the un-knowableness of property values. No fixed value na-turally attaches itself to any material thing, and neitherprice demanded, purchase price, nor the sale of prop-erly at public vendue unerringly indicate propertyvalues which are altogether artificial, ever tluctualiii;:,and therefore, as regards exactness, unascertainable.

Especially is this true of landed property, the vain'.1of which for purposes of taxation can be approximatelydetermined when property values in general are ad-vancing, but in an era of falling prices the fact thatland values are a mere mental conception can be clear-ly discerned.

The most conscientious assessor finds himself at seaas to real estate values in a period of stagnation whensales of landed property can be made only at enormoussacrifice.

And how is such an official to ascertain the valueof a mining claim, an oil well, a coal field, a. railwayor telegraph system, or of the franchises granted tocorporations by municipalities!

Must he not have occult powers to determine the

was published not long ago over the sworn affidavit of theauditor of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, that the farm-er's tools and machinery of Cook County were assessed for$30,000 more than all the money and securities of the banksof Chicago. All the money and securities of the banks ag-gregating hundreds of millions of dollars were assessed at$53,925. The agricultural tools and machinery at $84,392.The securities of the banks without the money were as-sessed at $10,000. All the diamonds and jewelry in the citywere assessed at $17,760. while it was known that singlefamilies owned more than ten times that amount."


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amount of money of which individuals are pos-sessed?*

And, taking notice of the manner in which cus-tom duties are collected at our seaports and upon ourborders, is not the searching of the person and belong-ings of individuals a disgrace to our civilization and theage in which we live?

Vet such barbarities are a fitting accompanimentof the industrial warfare in which we are one and allparticipating.With the downfall of competition in economic pro-duction we will be enabled to dispense with all customson imports, and to brush away the entire network ofslate and national taxation which is possessed of thestrange quality of catching the little fish while per-mitting the big ones to escape through its meshes.

Taxation was originally instituted as a means of de-fraying the necessary expense of government, but it isnow urged as a panacea for the various ailments of thebody politic produced solely and alone by the competi-tive methods of industry now in vogue.

Of such a nature is the proposition to protectAmerican industries by the imposition of a high tariffwhich carries with it an increased tax on commoditieswhich our people consume. This policy is now beingenforced. At the same time the high duty levied on

*Speaking of personal property of the class denominatedsecurities including stocks, bonds, notes, mortgages and thelike which escapes taxation ex-President Harrison says:"The delinquency appears to be located largely in our greatciti.-s. Recent investigations have disclosed an appallingcondition of things. The evil seems to have been progress-ing until in some of our great centers of population andwoalth these forms of personal property seem to have beenalmost eliminated from the tax list."


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imports does not and can not raise the price of com-modities which we export and offer for sale in foreignmarkets one iota.

The entire idea is as absurd as would be a provisionattached to the tariff bill making it unlawful for anyforeign nation to retaliate in kind.*

Simmered down, high tariff legislation, beyond aschedule providing a sufficiency of revenue for the car-rying on of government is nothing more nor less thanclass legislation by which some receive an advantageat the expense of the remainder of the population.

The taxation route is also urged as a cure for themillionaire evil, but neither a graduated income tax,nor a tax on inheritance would prevent the accumula-tion of vast fortunes in the hands of individuals.Nothing short of the overthrow of competition in pro-duction will accomplish that result.

Another proposition which attempts to reconcile theinconsistencies of the competitive system is the singletax on land. "Place the entire burden of taxation uponland," say the advocates of this plan, "then large hold-ings will be broken up, a series of small farms will resultand all will be well/*

We remarked in a previous chapter that the ten-dency is away from small farms and small productiontoward collective production on a national scale.The more farmers the more competition would en-sue, and, as robber barons of old relieved the peasantryof the fruits of their labor in the davs of feudalism, so

*Since the above was written, Germany i? retaliating inkind by closing her markets on various pretexts to anumber of the commodities we produce.


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would modern exploiting barons swoop down uponthem from elegantly furnished apartments in the rail-way and hanking centers and the corridors of the stockexchange, and despoil them of their wealth as fast ascreated.

Moreover, to exempt the valuable improvementsupon land in city and country from taxation would beas unjust and inequitable as would be the theory of anopposing school urging a single tax upon improvementsand exempting the land itself. The proposition to taxlandowners "out of existence" upon their holdingswould be in reality only another form of confiscation.When government now takes private property for col-lective use it purchases it at an appraised value. Aprecedent has therefore been set as regards the methodby which land in general will eventually be acquired bythe collectivity. With the advent of a collective dem-ocracy the system of taxation as now maintained withits legion of assessors, collectors, clerks and other offi-cials would be abolished in city, county, state, andnation.

The main sources from which taxes are now derived,namely, land and the improvements thereon, machin-ery, merchandise, and the means of transportationwould then be public property, whilst private propertysuch as household furniture, books, pictures, moto-cycles, musical instruments, wearing apparel, and soon, would be entirely exempt from taxation.

Cost of administration would include the carryingon of industry in general, and be defrayed out of re-ceipts from rental of buildings, from profits upon com-modities which the collectivity would both produce, and


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distribute, from charges for transportation, and fromthe revenues for other service supplied to the people.The co-operative commonwealth then becomes theremedy for the inequalities of the existing system oftaxation. There is no other solution of the problem.


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SOCIETY. VIII.LABOR.

The labor problem has met with but little consid-eration in the past, the result probably of a realizationthat nothing of moment could be done towards secur-ing to the laborer continuous employment and a fairremuneration for his toil m a competitive state ofsociety.

The labor problem, however, occupies an inter-re-lated position to other public questions, and because ofthis it has acquired a new significance, and has beenforced into the political arena for final adjudication.

Under existing conditions it becomes impossible forthe wage earners collectively to obtain either shorterhours or fitting remuneration for their labor, not tospeak of the uncertainty of either obtaining or retain-ing employment, because, under competitive methodsof industry, the price of labor, like the price of com-modities, is regulated by the law of supply and de-mand, and, while the over-stocked labor market con-tinues to be augmented by the men thrown out j)f em-ployment by labor-saving machinery, by foreign im-migration, and by the natural increase in populationand no doubt there will continue to be an over-supplyfrom these sources in the immediate future as in the

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past there is no reasonable ground for hope of a per-manent rise in the price of labor, or that laborersas a class will ever become independent enough to suc-cessfully agitate for a shorter working day.

As matters now stand, employers have at least alegal, if not an ethical or moral right, to employ thecheapest labor capable of performing the requiredwork, to be obtained. And men who lose their employ-ment by reason of such a condition, as well as thosewho are compelled by their necessities to accept em-ployment at any wage offered, have no legal redress.Take for example the case of coal miners who eke outthe barest existence upon next to starvation wages.They follow a hazardous vocation, and, in all reason, areentitled to fair compensation for their labor. But theiremployers own the mines, and under our social regula-tions have the sole right to determine what wages theywill pay, and how they may choose to operate theirproperties.

As' long as the competitive system endures no oneon the outside has a right to interfere.

We hear a great deal about arbitration as a remedyfor the wrongs of labor, but applied it would prove anabsurdity and chimera. It would work something likethis: Say there is a strike in a coal region. The opera-tors select an employer to look after their, interests,and the miners a workingmnn to represent theirs. Snfar good. But when it comes to the selection of thethird arbitrator we may rest assured that he would beeither an employer outright or a mere tool to carry outthe ends of capitalism. He certainly would not betaken from the ranks of labor. Under no consideration


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- 61would tlie lion consent to arbitrate with the lamb ifthere was the least chance of losing his dinner.

Working ])eo])le do not seem to comprehend thatthe competitive system is predicated neither on senti-ment, nor sympathy, nor honesty, nor equity, nor onany other elevating trait or quality which noble menpossess, but solely and alone upon self-interest. It isonly rarely or occasionally to the interest of an em-ployer to raise wages. To do so from any motive ofsentiment, sympathy, or even of moral right is not inaccord with the theory of competition for selfish gain,according to which an employer could not be expectedto increase the compensation of his employes unles-compelled to do so by a scarcity of laborers. Thiswould literally accord with the law of supply and de-mand as remarked, and the reason why strikes in thesulatter }rears do not and cannot succeed is because thereis always a supply of labor conveniently at hand to takethe strikers' places. Just as manufacturer competeswith manufacturer and tradesman with tradesman, solaborer is compelled under existing industrial methodsto compete with laborer for the opportunities for workthat present themselves.

Competition is simply industrial warfare, and ifmen are satisfied with its operation they must not cryout when they get worsted in the fray.

But that does not mean that it is not laudable andright and proper for those who see a better way of carry-ing on industry than by competitive methods to raisetheir voice in an attempt to better the condition of thewealth producers. There are neither strikes, lock-outs,nor boycotts in the postal department; neither would


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there be in any of the many existing industrial depart-ments were they carried on exclusively by the nation.The solution of the labor problem lies in the so-cialization of industry which includes the nationaliza-tion of land from and out of which labor creates allmaterial wealth.


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SOCIETY. IX.LABOR (Continued).

The natural drift is continually away from individ-ual labor producing singly and alone to collective orassociated labor.We see the shoemaker succeeded by the shoe plant,the carpenter by the planing mill, the blacksmith bythe machine shop, and so on; and the further we travel.along the road leading to collective production, themore marked become the indications and signs that weare approaching the goal.When men can no longer produce commodities bytheir individual unaided efforts, and, like in modernmanufactures, costly machinery and the co-operationof a number of workers is required to carry on produc-tion, a new economic factor becomes injected into theindustrial problem, and that factor is the question ofwho ought of right to be entitled to the margin ofwealth created over and above the wage compensationof the workers.Were it absolutely impossible to arrange things inthis regard otherwise than as at present, the owner ofthe machinery would for all time be entitled to theentire margin of wealth created by the co-operation ofhis workmen. But if, in order to prevent a few fromappropriating to themselves the surplus of wealth nv-ated by the many, society were to provide the machin-63


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t-ry necessary to production, the margin of wealthcreated over and above the wage compensation of theworkers could and would be set aside as social capital,or the capital of society, to be reinvested in new ma-chinery thereby opening up avenues and opportunityof employment to all.

In this way, the 20 per cent, say, of surplus wealthwhich the laborers of the country collectively produce,instead of serving to create a few billionaires, wouldmake it possible for society through its industrial chan-nels and its public works to enhance immensely thecomfort and the happiness of the people.When we so arrange that individuals, as now, be-come possessed of this surplus of wealth we uncon-sciously encourage the oppression of labor, because insupplying our wants, impelled by our necessities, wepurchase the lowest priced article of a satisfactory qual-ity we can obtain, and such, as a rule, are manufacturedby firms or corporations paying a low wage compensa-tion to their hands.*

In this manner the very patronage of the peopleserves to build up institutions opposed to their interestsas laborers.**

But such are the beauties of competitive methods ofproduction. .

Under collective control of industry all workers*The manufacturer paying the lowest wage is the onethat usually succeeds in a competitive market. We haveseen a demonstration of this recently in the removal of cot-ton mills from New England to Southern localities where

cheaper labor can be obtained.**The economic term laborer embraces all individualswho do useful labor for society. Not alone wage earners,but business and professional men and women as well areeconomic laborers.


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could l)i> well compensated, hours of labor could beshortened, and what is of the utmost importance, themargin of profit on commodities would go hack to thepeople to swell the accretion of social capital.As it is now, the displacement of men by machinerygoes steadily on, a large number of would-be wealthproducers are unemployed, the average of wages earnedis low, and the majority of the people are but ekeingout a hand-to-mouth existence.

And it remains for the masses to determine whetherthe control of industry shall remain in the hands of alimited number of individuals and corporations withthe assurance that the unsatisfactory status of laborwill continue, or whether by public ownership and oper-ation of the various industries they will emancipatethemselves from the thralldom of capital privately em-ployed, the increment or gain accruing from the pa-tronage of the public going back as a sequence to thepublic which would supply that patronage, and whichbecause of that patronage is to such increment or gainof right entitled.


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SOCIETY. X.PUBLIC SERVICE

The true definition of the word patriot is, k 'onewho serves his country." The people of a nationshould all be patriots should all serve their country.Only those holding public positions now servo theircountry. The remainder of the population merely de-cide upon it as the place in which they will strive toobtain a livelihood. They do this in competition, andcompetition is strife. Were they also public servantsstrife would give way to co-operation.We have no rulers. The president and all exe-cutives, the judges of the national supreme court andour entire judiciary, our congressmen, our legislators,and our officials down to the janitors of our pu))l it-structures are but public servants.

That is why ostentatious demonstrations by thosein high positions do not appear seemly and proper inthe eyes of the people whom they were selected to serve.A public servant cannot but feel the dignity of hisposition, and at the expiration of his term of service-shudders at contemplation of a return into the com-petitive struggle to gain a livelihood.The abuse of their trusts by those holding publicoffice is in no way chargeable to their socialized posi-tions, but is due entirely to the. extraneous influenceswith which they come in contact.66


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All about them surges an ocean of competing hu-manity, and yielding to the temptation to seize uponthe wreckage with which it is strewn, they are drawninto the vortex of the tide, and go down to a moraloblivion.

Society now unjustly discriminates in the distribu-tion

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