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 More; a study of financial conditions now 
 
 3 1924 013 743 681 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013743681 
 
More 
 
 A Study of Financial Conditions 
 Now Prevalent 
 
More 
 
 A Study of Financial Conditions 
 Now Prevalent 
 
 By 
 
 George Otis Draper 
 
 Boston 
 
 Little, Brown, and Company 
 1908 
 
<3_ 
 
 Be 
 
 Copyright, igo8. 
 By Little, Brown, and Company. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Published Febeuaet, 1908. 
 
 PRESSWORK BY 
 
 The Univhrsity Press, Cambridge, U. S. A, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 As an introduction and explanation for those who 
 lack acquaintance with the author or his writings, 
 it may suflSce to state that the views herein expressed 
 were formulated during twenty years of industrial 
 activity in connection with an equal number of 
 productive organiziations, operating at various 
 points between Eastern Canada and California. 
 These have included the manufacture of several 
 lines of machinery; several classes of textiles; 
 articles of varied nature in finished product; also 
 such industries as mining, quarrying and building. 
 This present theorizing is therefore derived from 
 practical experience in creation and investment. 
 The knowledge thus obtained should have value — 
 in view of its cost. Effective experience must in- 
 clude losses with the gains. The scarred scent danger 
 sooner than the scatheless. 
 
 The majority of financial literature is written by 
 men who have never made actual value in product, 
 never handled material funds, never known the 
 peril in large financial risks, the joy of substantial 
 material success or the bitterness of severe financial 
 loss. Many prominent space-writers have sought 
 to win applause and reward by lurid condemnation 
 
 \ 
 
VI 
 
 Preface 
 
 of what is already unpopular, using truth, perhaps, 
 in untrue proportion, to please, deceive or confuse, 
 according to their particular purpose. Many enlisted 
 in a good cause court suspicion because of the special 
 pleading which ignores the facts that crave an 
 explanation, because such evidence might mar the 
 argument chosen. 
 
 The author, as it happens, is not driven by neces- 
 sity nor hungry for flattery. He is not an office- 
 seeker. He has no personal interest in the problems 
 under consideration outside his general interests as 
 a producer and a citizen. He is committed to 
 veracity to substantiate a reputation for truth- 
 telling already assumed in previous literary ventures 
 and is urged into the present field of eflFort simply 
 because of the reticence of those who could serve 
 self and country to better purpose. It is time that 
 some one practical man should print his conclusions 
 as an illustration of the business view of business 
 conditions. 
 
 It is not necessary that we should believe the fit 
 solutions for present problems to be either distant, 
 complex, or incomprehensible. All human per- 
 plexities trace back to the origin of human impulse 
 and are decipherable through study of associative 
 desire. They merely require patient analysis, 
 careful comparison and definite deduction. The 
 truths disclosed may vex our vanity or antagonize 
 our traditions, but we should accept them if we 
 cannot disprove them. Truth never injured deserv- 
 ing individuals except in preparation for benefit. 
 
Preface vii 
 
 Diseases often require a temporary pain in treat- 
 ment before cure is possible. Those who are 
 not aware that our financial system is diseased are 
 curiously numb or notably non-observant. 
 
 Positive conclusions arouse discussion and clear 
 the air. The writer is perfectly willing to receive 
 enlightenment from careful criticism and hopes to 
 excite intelligent comment. If critics reveal truth 
 through their own exposure of error, this work will 
 still have served a purpose. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTEB 
 
 
 
 PAOK 
 
 T. 
 
 Preliminary Perils 1 
 
 II. 
 
 Diagnosis op Elementary Associates 
 
 4 
 
 in. 
 
 The Ethics op Ownership 
 
 8 
 
 IV. 
 
 Unwarrantable Acquisition 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 V. 
 
 The Remedy op Retaliation 
 
 
 
 47 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Remedy op Regulation 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 Vli. 
 VIII. 
 
 , Fit Use op Finances 
 Reduction of Costs . 
 
 
 
 130 
 161 
 
 IX. 
 
 Partition op Profits 
 
 
 * 
 
 192 
 
 X. 
 
 Summation .... 
 Appendix .... 
 
 
 
 200 
 207 
 
MORE 
 
 CHAPTER ONE 
 
 PKELIMINART PERILS 
 
 More is the goal of Desire. 
 
 Desire energizes Evolution. 
 
 Evolution is a progress toward Perfection. It 
 advances through knowledge toward happiness, 
 developing more capacity as it employs more tools. 
 Capjicity is ever illustrated by an increase in the 
 products demanded by desire, its active force crav- 
 ing exercise in accomplishment. 
 
 More knowledge should ever precede the gaining 
 of pleasure, capacity or implements. Inexperience 
 thinks to find happiness in excess of pleasure. The 
 power of capacity may be wasted by the untaught. 
 Tools often wound the amateur. Sudden prosperity, 
 from use of many tools and some knowledge, has 
 repeatedly injured development of character in race 
 or individual. It is hardly more than a century since 
 men multiplied their productive capacity by the 
 
2 More 
 
 harnessing of other than animal energy for the turn- 
 ing of dirt, plant, flesh or fluid, into substances 
 desirable. Nature in harness abundantly amplifies 
 our feeble muscular energy. The plane of possi- 
 bility is rising rapidly. 
 
 Uncommon wealth often destroys the weak and 
 enervates the strong; its evils, however, are evils 
 of use, easily eradicated by educated intellect. ItJ 
 were hardly complimentary to decide that the people 
 produced by present civilization are unfit to profit, 
 promptly. We must confess that many of them! 
 seem unfit, but such will finally succumb through^ 
 nature's plan of elimination. Some might be saved 
 did they try to master but a little prosperity at a 
 time. 
 
 We ought to grow so accustomed to surplus that 
 we might ignore its cruder attractions, but sur- 
 feits suggest before they satiate. The world is 
 striving, in mad rush and struggle, for better wages, 
 higher salaries, larger profits and greater savings. 
 Prevailing prosperity abnormally stimulates material 
 desire by its very domination of presence. The 
 wealthy can not escape the worldly influence of their 
 enriched environment and the poor are often roused 
 to anger by envious touch with things desirable. 
 
 Materialism crowds Idealism aside. 
 
 When value is more commonly applied to bulk 
 there is less regard for the ethereal virtues. Char- 
 acter is not a commodity. A growing rapacity of 
 rich and poor alike has lessened esteem for honor. 
 
Preliminary Perils 3 
 
 honesty and patriotism; of this there can be no 
 question — the proofs are too plenty. 
 
 The fault lies in the conditions. 
 
 The world is not used to overmuch prosperity; 
 it caA not promptly meet the problems introduced 
 by unaccustomed surplus. All must share in the 
 responsibility for providing adequate methods for 
 correction of prevailing abuses. We can not always 
 escape epidemics, but we can certainly prevent the 
 intermittent evils from becoming chronic. 
 
 The chronic evils of finance anticipate reactions 
 which will surely injure material and ethical ad- 
 vancement if the cure be unwisely chosen. Those 
 who have nothing can lose with the rest, since de- 
 struction of value makes vacancies in employments 
 and scarcity in chances. The general demoraliza- 
 tion of loss lowers the hope, pride and power of the 
 community as a unit. There is often loss in well 
 intentioned attempts at betterment; the possibilities 
 of change should be carefuUy forecasted. 
 
CHAPTER TWO 
 
 DIAGNOSIS OF ELEMENTARY ASSOCIATES 
 
 More is a measure of Value. 
 
 Value is not gauged by bulk, but rather by the 
 relation of volume to demand — a multiplication of 
 one by the other. If demand be zero, value is nil. 
 Much of demand, applied to little of product, may 
 create more value than small demand for great 
 product. The highest total of value would arise 
 from great demand supplied by great production. 
 
 In the economic interpretation, demand signifies 
 effective desire — a want backed by possibility of 
 purchase through exchange of labor or wealth. A 
 demand for product already created does not neces- 
 sarily stimulate further creation of product, for it 
 may be satisfied with that which is already present. 
 Neither does desire for more product increase per- 
 manent wealth if it be centred on quickly consumed 
 produce. It is the desire for new products of slowly 
 perishable nature that increases permanent wealth — 
 and it logically follows that a desire for new utilities, 
 which of themselves are capable of producing further 
 utilities, will naturally approach the climax of 
 possibility. 
 
 4 
 
Diagnosis of Associates 5 
 
 Since demand must be effective through associa- 
 tion with possession of labor or wealth for exchange, 
 its power varies in proportion to the quality and 
 quantity of labor and wealth in ownership. Increase 
 of intelligent population always increases the wealth 
 of a community. The exchangeable wealth in pos- 
 session assists further production of similar values, 
 and since we use money as a convenience in trade, 
 it is, of course, essential that money itself be sufficient 
 in quantity to ease the process. 
 
 The services offered in exchange for products are 
 naturally valued in proportion to demand for such 
 services and it is demonstrable that they of themselves 
 assist in further multiplication of wealth in propor- 
 tion to their creative power and its fitness of applica- 
 tion. We know that labor is multiplied in effect 
 through use of tools and through wise guidance. 
 The factors of muscle, skill, utensils and brains, all 
 combine in determining the outcome. The absolute 
 limit of production would be reached through 
 employment of all available effort, using the best 
 facilities that were possible. 
 
 The demand that is willing to trade its labor or 
 wealth is based on desire for some return of benefit. 
 The existence of a demand pre-supposes a knowledge 
 of benefits. To increase demand and thus utilize 
 labor and wealth, we must spread the knowledge of 
 benefits through education and advertisement. We 
 must suggest new interests, awaken curiosity and 
 create new habits. It might even be possible to 
 invent some good habits. 
 
6 More 
 
 Both wealth for exchange and tools for assistance 
 are evidence of effort applied in creating surplus of 
 product or imperishable product. Neither wealth, 
 labor or tools can create new wealth faster than 
 demand increases, for wealth is measured by value 
 and value arises from demand. 
 
 Take careful note that value is not a measure of 
 merit — it merely measures the degree of apprecia- 
 tion current at the time. We can increase the value 
 of worthy products by educating an appreciation of 
 true worth. 
 
 In order to induce the application of effort or the 
 giving up of possessions in exchange, it is necessary 
 to make the benefit proffered in the trade sufficiently 
 attractive. Since money serves as go-between, it is 
 necessary to make wages, salaries, profits and 
 prices seem sufficient, and they will naturally seem 
 the more desirable as they become comparatively 
 greater. This principle only applies, however, to 
 such as have a capacity to enlarge their desires. 
 That capacity is by no means universal. If the 
 benefit offered is proved to be insufficient, in view 
 of the value exchanged, a re-active sense of injury 
 makes effort sluggish and harmony impossible, re- 
 ducing the total benefits for all. Men will not 
 exert their full powers to profit others. 
 
 If we are to aim at more true benefits for all 
 entitled to them, we must correctly educate desire, 
 promptly adopt proper processes, supply sufficient 
 media for exchange and distribution of products, be 
 liberal in encouragement of labor, and unite human 
 
Diagnosis of Associates 7 
 
 energy and purpose in a willingness to be creative 
 and mutually helpful. Such plain and simple advice 
 seems trite and unnecessary, but the majority of 
 people do not appear to realize why possible recog- 
 nition is ineflFective. It is because the desire that 
 should spur creativeness centres instead on the 
 jyroducts already produced, sanctioning such course 
 by questioning the present ownership, thus using 
 energy attempting to correct rather than create. If 
 present ownership is open to criticism we should 
 certainly allow examination. We should not neces- 
 sarily assume that the mere fact of ownership is in 
 itself suspicious, yet it were well, before striding 
 onward, to stop and analyze the true relation of 
 present possessors to present possessions. 
 
CHAPTER THREE 
 
 THE ETHICS OF OWNEESHIP 
 
 Some get their wages, or profits, by earning, or 
 making. 
 
 The rest get some of what is thus made, or earned. 
 
 For at least four thousand years human labor has 
 been applied to positive advantage in the production 
 of wealth which stUl possesses value. The world is 
 wealthier now than ever before. Each new-born 
 infant counts an equal number of ancestors and thus 
 might naturally hope to have a share in this accumu- 
 lation. The average child is fortunate, however, if 
 its parents have not drained its vitality in advance, to 
 say nothing of wasting its possible property. It grows 
 up into a sphere of inequality, naturally aspiring to 
 have what others have and holding others responsible 
 because they retain their advantage. What wonder 
 that in its immaturity of logic it plans, at times, to 
 take its supposed share? 
 
 But the more fortunate were possibly more careful 
 in the selection of ancestry. It would not seem 
 sensible to inject disease-germs into the veins of a 
 healthy baby because other infants suffered from the 
 vices of parents, and it is no more logical to propose 
 
The Ethics of Ownership 9 
 
 that a difference in material advantages should be 
 forcibly harmonized. Each child that lives to an age 
 of usefulness has drained from the profits of parents, 
 or pubUc, to pay for its living. It starts as a debtor 
 and should be thinking of repayment rather than 
 despoliation. Could it prove that any one withheld 
 the donation of some earlier producer of wealth, it 
 could properly protest; but the proofs are not easy. 
 It already shares in the vast public resources con- 
 trolled by its government. It is given a free educa- 
 tion at great expense. It shares in the recorded 
 knowledge bequeathed by centuries of brains. In 
 our country, if male, it will not only acquire the 
 right when mature to direct use of public funds 
 through self-chosen officials, but an equal right 
 to raise more funds and even take them from the 
 very possessors who awaken envy or criticism. 
 
 Why then does it not do so? Simply because it 
 must unite with itself a sufficient majority and the 
 majority has discovered that any flagrant attack 
 on the rights of those who own property results in i 
 the stopping of industry and the lessening of earn- 
 ings. It knows that if we stopped making 
 wealth the surplus on hand would last only a few 
 months. It is necessary to keep on producing and i 
 not hamper those who govern the means. 
 
 The one new-bom may say then, "Very well, 
 let me produce ! " but none may proffer opportunity. 
 The land all belongs to others ; there is no chance to 
 earn except by getting employment. It may happen 
 that there is no employment offered. Thousands 
 
10 More 
 
 may be loafing, restless and longing, eager to work, 
 anxious to earn. These hordes may turn to the 
 people and say, " You have made laws that have 
 given you the land, give us chance to work on it ! 
 You have the mines and the shops, give us a chance 
 to work in them ! If we can not earn, we shall take ; 
 and it will cost you more to jail us and feed us than 
 it will to employ us ! " 
 
 They will be perfectly correct. If a man can earn 
 two dollars a day by producing more than two 
 dollars of value, it is poor economy to let him idle 
 and take the two dollars, with which to feed and 
 shelter him, out of the public funds which are 
 drained from many pockets. It is thus evident that 
 it is for the good of the state, the people and the 
 individual, to recognize the right of the willing 
 worker to be useful. It is evident that the state and 
 the people should therefore encourage those who 
 provide employment. 
 
 A surplus of wealth was an unknown quantity 
 until the day when some of superior knowledge 
 supervised the energies of those willing to recognize 
 and profit by guidance. In order to have many 
 men work in harmony it is essential that they obey 
 the dictates of some leader. Out of the process of 
 employment, those of superior ability have often 
 acquired notable surplus, and the envy aroused by 
 such surplus has led to a questioning of the ethics 
 involved in the process. 
 
 Some one must make surplus or we have no 
 progress. 
 
The Ethics of Ownership 11 
 
 Give the workers free access to land, with em- 
 ployers, or no employers, and what will they do 
 without funds with which to build bams, buy cattle, 
 seeds, fertilizers and tools ? There is hardly a section 
 of our country where its present population could 
 exist without the facilities made possible only 
 through accumulation of surplus by some ones at 
 some times. These accumulations could only have 
 been made by those who got more than they needed 
 to consume. Spread the profits of production over 
 the entire mass of the employed and there is no 
 guarantee that they will save anything. 
 
 The employers cannot force employees to work 
 for them. They must certainly plan to earn enough 
 through them to pay the wages agreed on, and com- 
 mon sense dictates that they plan to make enough of 
 a surplus to provide against contingencies. If events 
 are favorable there will be a profit. Should it be ■• 
 divided amongst the employees ? suppose there be i 
 a loss, — will the employees pay back from their | 
 wages already received ? 
 
 They will not, for they never have and probably 
 never can. They spend their wages; they want to 
 have the privilege of spending them. Since they 
 have this security, they should allow the employer 
 to enjoy a fair profit when he gets it. The competi- 
 tion of other employers will prevent any abnormal 
 excess, in the majority of instances. The employees 
 have the right to say what they will work for, and 
 the employer an equal right to say what he will pay. 
 Each roust yield somewhat in order that there shall 
 
12 More 
 
 be work accomplished. In the general conditions 
 and circumstances the rights of both are fairly 
 apportioned. 
 
 Since it is the employer who has made increase of 
 population possible, it is to the employer that the 
 new bom must look for the means of existence. The 
 new born should recognize the importance of en- 
 couraging employers to spread out and be ambitious ; 
 but the new born are young, inexperienced and often 
 conceited. They can not conceive how others can 
 profit except at their expense. Instead of honoring 
 the employer who protects their welfare with his 
 own, they often cultivate a secret envy and encourage 
 indirect antagonism. This is sometimes hastened 
 through the youth, inexperience or conceit of the 
 employers. Human faults are widely distributed. ) 
 
 The employers of to-day are usually corporations, 
 or firms, whose earnings are easily computed. The 
 totals as shown by surplus products serve as a check 
 on the reckoning. It is thus figured that the average 
 business, and the average investment in business, 
 pays an average of but five per cent on the actual 
 capital invested over an average of years if a 
 proper reserve be accumulated for depreciation. The 
 similar showing, compared with total wages, would 
 be about the same, since the value in products of 
 civilization is based largely on human labor, and the 
 general competition of investment evens the returns 
 of varied appUcations. If employers average to 
 retain only five per cent of the earnings available for 
 wages they can not pay more than that five per 
 
The Ethics of Ownership 13 
 
 cent as extra wages. Is it advisable for laborers 
 to disrupt the entire fabric of commerce for a pos- 
 sible five per cent gain ? 
 
 Certain divisions of wage-earners may object to 
 this general statement, claiming that they can cite 
 trades in which laborers have forced permanent 
 increase in wages of ten, twenty or forty per cent, 
 which must have come out of employers' profits 
 — but their deduction is not necessarily as true as 
 the fact. The employers probably paid the higher 
 wages by getting higher prices for products ; and as 
 laborers purchase the bulk of all products, they lost 
 most of the supposed gain when purchasing. 
 
 When brick-layers force a higher price for the 
 laying of bricks, they make all brick buildings more 
 expensive and force up the rents which are paid for 
 these buildings. Even if they do not themselves live / 
 in those particular buildings, they are affecting the\ 
 wages of labor in the mass; for brick stores will 
 charge more for things sold and brick mills for things ( 
 made. Laborers who pay higher rents will demand 
 higher wages in their own employments and increase 
 the price of the things made by their labor. It all 
 works out uniformly in the end. The short spasms 
 of benefit are counteracted by long periods of loss 
 through many indirect channels. Men do not get 
 higher wages by receiving more dollars, if the dollars 
 buy less. 
 
 Were the issue only between the wealth-making 
 employer and his employees, it were easily settled; 
 but the problem is hardly so simple. Aside from 
 
14 More 
 
 those who work and wish for proper pay, there are 
 hordes who aim to avoid work and Hve on others' 
 pay. Some of these are ragged and openly dangerous ^ 
 some are well clad, prosperous, and more danger- 
 ous. 
 
 The old saying that the world owes men a living 
 is mere drivel. It owes some men a living, since 
 they have earned it, but the very definition of debt 
 demands an equivalent. All who exist have had 
 a living; for they exist. The clamorous probably 
 want more than a living, possibly some of somebody 
 else's living ! 
 
 Too many of them get it after giving the world 
 nothing but annoyance. The rest pay for their keep. ( 
 Those who do not produce wealth must live on those 
 who do. How foolish of those in different divisions 
 of producers to fight each other while they all lose 
 through these rejoicing outsiders ! We must have 
 suflScient patience to study and detect the cause of 
 this evil and energy enough to remedy the error. 
 We probably do not trace backward to original 
 sources. We find it simple to raise our voices over 
 some new glaring fault, but do not think of question- 
 ing unethical conditions which have been shedding 
 injustice since the Sphinx was chiseled. 
 
 The man who is making wealth through employ- 
 ment of others is out in the lime-light where his 
 profits are easily figured by practical associates and 
 easily exaggerated by imaginative outsiders. He 
 excites the envy of the unfortunate much quicker 
 than the quiet owner of inactive property, who may 
 
The Ethics of Ownership 15 
 
 be deriving much greater income through more 
 questionable channels. We should revise public 
 opinion to throw the bulk of suspicion from those 
 who make wealth by employing labor to those who 
 get it through no waste of personal energy, no asso- 
 ciative bettering of others. 
 
 A man owns what he makes, after paying a proper 
 per cent to those who furnished him with the means 
 for making. He also owns what another gives him, 
 if that other while sane and sober freely consents to 
 the transfer and is not influenced by false represen- 
 tations. A man also owns a fair proportion of what 
 another makes through his advice, direction or 
 assistance. These are commonly accepted assertions 
 — why should there be any misunderstanding of the 
 conditions? It is, perhaps, because of the large 
 wealth in the hands of those who manifestly have not 
 earned it. All who possess, without having rendered 
 an equivalent, do so at some one's expense; some 
 one, or ones, have suffered an equal loss. 
 
 But the dead do not care. A great proportion 
 of existing wealth is inheritance. If we sanction 
 the giving away of property during life, it may 
 certainly be given away by will, effective after 
 death. The surplus collected and given by in- 
 heritance illustrates self-sacrifice and properly 
 profits some one. If it pleases the owner to enjoy 
 the pleasure of his family through gifts given, it is 
 a matter in which outsiders have no proper concern. 
 
 There are many, not inheriting, who have large 
 profit through, no discoverable exercise of effort. 
 
16 More 
 
 There are others who apply effort that is not pro- 
 ductive nor necessary, and yet they profit. There 
 must be some ways by which the earners lose, since 
 there are many varieties of non-earners who enjoy 
 superior advantages. 
 
 If we were all engaged in the raising of potatoes and 
 gave each laborer his proper share, we should have 
 little need for surmise. Those who were not working 
 would have to come forward and openly ask for 
 charity — potatoes. The use of money allows us to 
 produce other things than potatoes and trade each 
 for the other. The use of money also allows the 
 earner to meet with sharp practice every time he 
 exchanges his earnings for products. It is not neces- 
 sary that we assume a sinister intent in those who 
 profit by the processes of exchange; they simply 
 profit because we recognize them as a necessity — 
 because we have become used to think of them as 
 necessities. 
 
 The earner may be employed in a shoe-shop where 
 he produces a shoe sold by the pair at $1.88 whole- 
 sale. His employer may have made but two cents 
 per pair profit, but when he, or his employer, goes 
 to a store to buy those same shoes, he must pay 
 three dollars. These figures are not fantastic — I 
 have lived in a shoe manufacturing town. Now 
 the average employee is fighting his employer for 
 that two cents of profit, ignoring entirely the one 
 dollar and twelve cents that some one, or ones, have 
 made after the shoes are finished. It is very possible 
 that reforms in system or tools might enable the 
 
The Ethics of Ownership 17 
 
 employer to cut a few cents off the wholesale price 
 — but not very much, if wages remain the same 
 and leather continues to represent considerably 
 more than half of the cost. The open chance for 
 change lies in the absurd proportion of excess 
 added after wholesale sale. Our evils of finance 
 centre in the fact that a dollar does not buy a 
 dollar's worth. 
 
CHAPTER FOUR 
 
 UNWARRANTABLE ACQUISITION 
 
 Wealth is property having power in exchange. 
 
 It is usually acquired in the process of exchange. 
 Of fair exchanges we have no right of criticism. It 
 is in the unfair exchanges that evil breeds. There 
 are varying degrees of error in exchange, as in all 
 else of human application. The greater errors often 
 continue through ignorance rather than malevolence. 
 The exchange may be farcical, in that no value what- 
 ever be contributed by one of the parties, thus illus- 
 trating a direct theft; it may be fraudulent, in that 
 value is claimed in a degree not actually present, 
 or a transfer of value promised which never takes 
 place ; it may be mere sharp practice, in which each 
 side tries to get the better of the other; it may be 
 unscrupulous, in that advantage is taken of another's 
 necessity, ignorance or stupidity. Any of these 
 measures allows unfair acquisition. When we 
 think of correction, or punishment, we must remem- 
 ber that the one who has spent an evilly acquired 
 profit is just as liable as the one who has retained a 
 portion and thus made restitution more easy. It 
 must also be remembered that the general public, as 
 
 18 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 19 
 
 a rule, has no individual rights in recoverable funds ; 
 they belong to the individuals who suffered the 
 individual losses. 
 
 It will be found, on investigation, that many of 
 the present evils are beyond punishment since they 
 have occurred with the sanction of law and custom. 
 Many started with the birth of civilization and thus 
 give precedent to the law which still protects them. 
 We can not punish the dead. The sanction of 
 society for offences against certain non-enforcement 
 of law makes it evident that it is with the future that 
 we have most concern. It might clear comprehen- 
 sion to deal with each division of error in its turn. 
 
 Robbery 
 
 Theft results from lax protection. 
 
 There are well worn maxims suggesting that it is 
 wrong to take from another against his will, but neces- 
 sity is peculiarly forgetful. We could easily increase 
 restrictions were public opinion sufficiently Draco- 
 nian. The individual likes to be protected against 
 chance of loss, but he does not always like to be 
 protected against his own chance of gain. 
 
 People as nations willingly allow themselves to 
 profit by wholesale robbery of other nations' terri- 
 tory, often virtuously excusing the act in view of the 
 moral benefits they intend to shower on the captured, 
 or conquered; although there is hardly an instance 
 in history where a people who have stayed conquered 
 have benefited morally or materially. The public is 
 
20 More 
 
 also callous regarding steals from its own govern- 
 ment by its own members, since it does not feel the 
 scattered loss and hopes to profit from the extra coin 
 in circulation. The individual is highly sensitive 
 when a richer individual directly profits at his ex- 
 pense, but rather lukewarm in condemnation when 
 one, or any, of his own kind, filches from the more 
 fortunate. 
 
 The individual usually sets his standards accord- 
 ing to his intuitive understanding of his own best 
 interests. Policy may lead him into affectation of 
 altruism, or the suggestiveness of great events may 
 actually force him to be definitely generous. We 
 send contributions to those who suffer from great 
 floods, fires and earthquakes, but we do nothing for 
 the single burned-out family in the next street. 
 
 The moralist need not sneer at the continued 
 presence of the primal instinct of self-preseFvation. 
 It is this instinct which has peopled the world with 
 its present inhabitants — such as they are — al- 
 though it might have done much better if allowed a 
 freer rein. The perfect education of this instinct 
 would probably produce results similar to those to 
 which the altruistic supposedly aspire. In order to 
 prevent misconception, it may be well to state that 
 pure altruism, or interest in others, is scientifically 
 considered as the illustration of a rather abnormal 
 sensitiveness to outer impressions. It makes altru- 
 istic individuals suffer to see others suffer, and they 
 naturally seek to please themselves by prevention of 
 others' suffering. The truth-seeker similarly wishes 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 21 
 
 to remove error because of the painful effect of un- 
 truth on his educated sensibihties. 
 
 Under the combinations made possible by language 
 and education, the desires of the individual must 
 conform, more or less, to the will of the most 
 powerful combinations. As these combinations are 
 naturally expedient in purpose, they favor laws 
 which meet the sanction of the majority, but do not 
 always enforce those which are opposed by the 
 minority. Certain acts are so open and flagrant 
 in opposition to defined law that they meet with 
 fairly prompt punishment. The first great problem 
 in the change of ownership comes through the con- 
 tinued effort of minor individuals and bodies to 
 evade the established laws of property rights. When 
 acquisitions are made in spite of law they are gener- 
 ally included within the definition of dishonesty. 
 
 Dishonesty is nothing new. 
 
 It existed before our day, it will exist after we die 
 and after our children are dead. We are merely 
 concerned with the prevailing percentage; and the 
 increase, at times, may well arouse concern. 
 
 The volume of dishonesty increases legitimately 
 with increase of population and naturally with in- 
 crease of wealth, for wealth is the instigator of the 
 guilty desire. It decreases with lack of opportunity 
 and it should lessen with spread of education. 
 We have increased our wealth faster than we have 
 instilled ethical or expedient respect for property 
 rights. The very carelessness of opulence has neg- 
 
22 More 
 
 lected to guard against the growth of desire which is 
 excited by the greater aggregations. 
 
 An ethical morahty is slowly absorbed. The 
 greed inflated by suggestive opportunity stifles the 
 promptings of an artificially educated conscience. 
 The public is unfortunately lowering its standards. 
 There are but a few generations since the time 
 when theft was punished by death. We now have 
 a tolerant and even an admiring attitude, for the 
 brilliant criminals. The very adoption of the word 
 " graft " as a substitute for " steal " illustrates the 
 acceptance of a lesser significance for a definite 
 crime. 
 
 The wide popularity of certain novels and dramas 
 which portray attractive robbers is in itself signifi- 
 cant of a certain element of sympathy. The public 
 shows great interest in the prosecution of wealthy 
 thieves, but only because of the sensationalism 
 involved. It raises little protest when the convicted 
 escape punishment, as they almost invariably do. 
 
 It is somewhat saddening to have to admit that 
 human nature is still so imperfect that those great 
 in ability are often short on morality. It is not 
 unnatural. An over-balance in one direction predi- 
 cates a comparatively lacking qualification. Men 
 of great strength of purpose merely illustrate a fund 
 of vigor, or excess of nerve-force, which can easily 
 stir physical desires that may war with artificial 
 restrictions. It may also, unfortunately, urge ac- 
 complishment of proper purpose without sufficient 
 respect for ethical considerations, since nervous force 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 23 
 
 is impatient for results. We need reins for our 
 racers — possibly blinders, that will shut oflF side 
 attractions — but we are foolish to hamstring 
 them. 
 
 The very artificiality of ownership prevents any 
 gain in the evolution of its morals. Each child that 
 is born has to re-learn the expected deference to 
 possessors. There is no inborn acceptance of 
 property rights. The young will sample forbidden 
 seductives until the punishment is sufficiently fear- 
 some. It is possible that many of those who continue 
 disrespectful of law in after years were brought up 
 by those misguided parents who rely on moral sua- 
 sion in place of strap or slipper. 
 
 We limit the opportunities for direct thefts, but 
 they are always possible to those who create oppor- 
 tunity. We lose mainly by breaches of trust. None 
 may betray trust until trusted. We try to select 
 trustees of higher moral calibre than the average, 
 and they very possibly are. Were we to trust another 
 grade we might easily do worse. It is not necessarily 
 peculiar that many of the detected are prominent in 
 church and other public affairs; it simply shows 
 that the temptations are often stronger than the men 
 we breed to meet them. 
 
 The temptations are growing greater as we con- 
 centrate capital into larger units. With the increase 
 of detail in management it becomes easier for frac- 
 tional pilfering. We cannot well wait to raise and 
 educate another species of trustee, so it becomes 
 necessary to limit the opportunities and reduce the 
 
24 More 
 
 temptations, or to employ an extra force of theft- 
 detectors and inspectors who shall not be hampered 
 by awe of the great, or restricted by personal con- 
 siderations of any kind. We must get people into the 
 habit of being honest by giving them fear of the 
 detection of dishonesty. We must change the lenient 
 attitude and lend our moral approval to the prompt 
 and severe punishment of delinquencies, no matter 
 who is jailed or dishonored. 
 
 The public pretends to disapprove of the great 
 men who steal and the men who steal great amounts, 
 although it hides a furtive admiration and sup- 
 presses a certain feeling of jealousy. It can not be 
 said that any particular class escapes the common 
 motive. The expense account of the United States 
 Senate shows lavish plunder acquired by dignified 
 law-makers in the shape of hair-dye, jack-knives, 
 chewing-gum and chatelaine-bags. Other legis- 
 lators draw mileage for journeys never taken. 
 Legislative committees often divide profits with 
 contractors, as witnessed in the building of noted 
 state Capitols. Elective judges in certain cities have 
 paid thousands of dollars to get their places — and 
 their chances. 
 
 But the mass is not so virtuous that it may criti- 
 cize too sternly. I remember conversation with a 
 bright mechanic years ago while learning my 
 trade. He had read that morning of a defalcation by 
 a bank cashier and was expressing envy of the man's 
 opportunity. On being asked if he really meant 
 that he would steal in similar position, he mumbled 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 25 
 
 apologetically, " "Why, any one would steal twenty- 
 five thousand dollars ! " 
 
 We have those to-day who are tempted by millions, 
 rather than thousands, but they are not the only 
 robbers; petty thievery is common throughout the 
 whole population. Twenty-one thousand towels were 
 stolen from the free public baths of Boston in the 
 summer season of 1907. College rooms are 
 lavishly decorated with appropriated property. 
 Every boat arriving brings back a generous share of 
 customs' cheaters. Such thefts and law evasions are 
 executed by those who have no strong necessity to 
 excuse them. 
 
 The discontented like *to think that possession 
 of wealth in large amounts is evidence of theft, 
 though stolen funds bum the pocket. People hang 
 on only to the money that was hard to get. The 
 thieves spend freely for fear that they may be caught 
 and made to return what is left and also because 
 they may think that they can easily steal more. 
 Much of the thievery that we notice is but evidence/ 
 that some of the bigger thieves are robbing each 
 other. It is the meaner, unpretending, unnoticed; 
 class, which lives like lice upon the poor. It is not \ 
 a picturesque class, or an interesting type. It escapes { 
 prominence through its very unworthiness. 
 
 But the poor readily excuse those who flatter them 
 by personal dealings, no matter what the scale of 
 plunder. They like to imagine that they are robbed 
 indirectly by men of great standing — it gives them 
 a reactive importance. It is the poor who always 
 
26 More 
 
 support the incompetent and thieving politicians 
 who sell away their rights. This was ludicrously 
 proven within recent recollection by a wholesale 
 purchase of aldermen particularly representing a 
 popular people's movement. 
 
 Many, many millions in the shape of public 
 franchises are yearly presented to grateful financiers 
 by the people through their representatives. It is 
 the concentration of the buying power of the people 
 which gives value to these privileges, and some of 
 that value belongs to the people. They let their 
 aldermen sell away their rights for a song, since they 
 do not know what they are losing. It is mathematic- 
 ally evident that they are losing just what the favored 
 ones are gaining. 
 
 I yield to no man in sympathy for the unfortunate, 
 but I would shirk my assumed responsibility did I 
 fail to point out the follies which produce the very 
 misfortunes of poverty and privation. The poor 
 must help those who would help them; they must 
 help in their own helping. 
 
 In the general lines of industry there are thousands 
 who rob their employers of the labor they are paid 
 for, by shirking when not watched. Complicated 
 systems of espionage are necessary in order to make 
 sure that they are personally present at the job for 
 which they draw their pay. There is a steady loss 
 in employment from the goods, supplies and tools, 
 that are usable by the help and easily concealed. It 
 is on record that a labor organization has enforced 
 the right to wear coats into the mines of a rich 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 27 
 
 camp since the pockets were necessary to hold 
 an appreciable amount of stolen ore. One frank 
 individual has told publicly how he carried off fifty 
 pounds at one time in his pant-legs. The author 
 knows personally of a foundry where the trade in 
 certain articles made from stolen brass, on stolen 
 time, grew so large that the moulders employed a 
 salesman to dispose of the products. , 
 
 These petty crimes, which mean much in the ag- 1 
 gregate, especially as indicative of the general morale, 
 are rarely noted in the press ; the public cares to hear 
 only of extraordinary occurrences. The press, in 
 certain instances, actually encourages the employed 
 to injure their employer by falsely claiming that the 
 employer is robbing them. . 
 
 Excuses are no justification for criminality. 
 
 There may be abuses, but we have no right to 
 meet them with other abuses. There are too many 
 directors who feel justified in profiting at the expense 
 of their stockholders, since they are paid little, or 
 nothing, for really valuable services. 
 
 With the conscience once calmed there is little 
 limit to peculation. We have records of trustees 
 who not only absorbed all the income of the property 
 in their charge, but some of the principal as well. 
 There is one ingenious method by which others' 
 funds are used in speculative ventures, any loss being 
 charged to the owners of the funds and all the profits 
 taken by the handlers. Plunder becomes so sanc- 
 tioned, at times, that the detected have not been able 
 to comprehend condemnation, dying of broken 
 
28 More 
 
 hearts under the ungrateful (?) comment of the 
 enlightened public. 
 
 Boards of trustees, who never considered the 
 possibiHty of reformation until exposed in the 
 courts, have appealed to the public for support and 
 re-election, because they have virtuously kicked out 
 a minority of the responsible parties. They have 
 actually published records of the savings they have 
 been forced to make as a justification, although the 
 possibility of saving convicted them of their former 
 laxity. 
 
 The customs of the saintly-select give precedent 
 to the less-immaculate, till a great class assumes a 
 vested right in others' earnings. Our press assists 
 swindlers to advertise boldly their frauds, since we 
 mistakenly authorize the form of theft which takes 
 a dollar and gives back a fraction of its value. The 
 exchange commonly leaves the purchaser with but 
 a paper certificate whose only suitable and appro- 
 priate use is to hold a layer of glue for the purpose of 
 catching flies. We should properly judge economic 
 losses by the totals rather than the morals involved. 
 
 The indirect errors of society in general exert a 
 potent influence on both earnings and their value 
 in exchange. A widely prevalent dishonesty forces 
 the employer to buy safes and pay watchmen ; have 
 extra clerks to check accounts ; have a high per cent 
 of loss through dishonest customers and pay more 
 taxes for the support of police, courts and jails. All 
 such expense lessens the possible earnings of the 
 employee, or raises the prices which he must pay 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 29 
 
 for products. If we could only force citizens to 
 appreciate their indirect losses,' they would sneer 
 at present open swindles as not worthy of comparative 
 notice. Ignorance must be our greatest luxury — 
 for we pay most for it and defend it with our lives. 
 
 Established Anomalies of Acquisition 
 
 In the days when kings got God-given rights, they 
 owned what earth they could hold with their sub- 
 jects' strength. Sometimes they rewarded a skilful 
 soldier, or a satisfactory siren, by grant of territory 
 which remained a family possession until some other 
 king took it away. Now that the rights of monarchs 
 are relegated to the background, citizens of all 
 countries are allowed personal possession of the 
 earth's surface as long as they will pay the taxes 
 assessed, unless the state re-purchases the same for 
 certain state purposes. 
 
 We, as a nation, owe our being to the same kingly 
 ownership; for when one king had given away the 
 local environment, the next king, when not able to 
 pick a quarrel and dispossess a present holder, 
 searched afield for area with which to pay for 
 special effort. He therefore encouraged adventurous 
 sailors to plant his flag on distant soil, annexing con- 
 tinents by the right of sight alone. Deny a race 
 sufficient elbow-room and it is ready to commit any 
 crime on the calendar against the first area-owning 
 innocent encountered. It is not mere accident that 
 has given over the bulk of the earth to the English- 
 
30 More 
 
 speaking people, it is the accident of birth on a 
 small, landlorded island. There be crowded popu- 
 lations of other islands which are destined to 
 stir alarm amongst the adjacent in the near future ; 
 Japan will hardly be satisfied with Korea. 
 
 Ownership by multiplied force sanctions itself. 
 There is no logical reason why some great naval 
 power shall not some day declare itself the owner of 
 the sea and parcel out its surface to favored citizens 
 who shall have the right to collect toll from passing 
 ships. We might protest, but hardly with consist- 
 ency; for after denying the right of Britain to 
 make our laws and prating of the rights of the 
 whole people, we deliberately copied our system 
 of land tenure from Britain, although it is founded 
 on the self-given rights of a self-chosen minority. 
 
 The primal error took root long before England 
 was visited by men who wore shirts. It was an error 
 peculiarly favorable for powerful minorities in days 
 when assumption was unquestioned. That a free 
 people should sanction a custom which allows any 
 one, or ones, to inherit, or acquire, the right to future 
 profits in which it need not have a hand in making, 
 is archaic and grotesque. We do not have to venerate 
 customs merely because they are ancient. Did we 
 think so, we should still be burning witches. 
 
 Under the system which we adopted, it was easily 
 possible for a king to have presented the entire 
 island of Manhattan to some slavering flatterer 
 whose descendants, however limited in number, 
 might have retained secure possession to this day 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 31 
 
 and even collect the entire rental for a million years 
 to come. We have a small family, even as it is, which 
 owns enough of New York to derive a revenue there- 
 from equal to that of fortunate monarchs. The 
 value of the property is given by its position — no 
 man placed it. This position draws vast hordes to 
 work, and spend, and use this particular piece of 
 earth surface. The land-owners did not bring them 
 all, they may not have brought any. 
 
 But do not make the mistake of supposing that 
 the value known as the unearned increment belongs 
 to the population gathered. It rather belongs to 
 those who gather them — to those who furnish them 
 means of employment and to those who make such 
 employment necessary. 
 
 Yet there is no absolute private ownership of land, 
 since we recognize the right of the state to take as it 
 pleases for streets and even pass the right to private 
 corporations when building railroads. It is evident 
 that the individual is but a tenant at will, paying the 
 state a rental in taxes. 
 
 It were folly to advise that we promptly disrupt 
 the established system merely because it was founded 
 in error and has wrought questionable changes in 
 civilization. We can not correct the record of history 
 nor refund to those unfortunately conditioned in the 
 past. We can correct certain of the most obvious 
 evils yet attendant, however, and clear the way for 
 a gradual re-adjustment. 
 
 We should not pass to a short-time lease, for that 
 has been tried in private application and found 
 
32 More 
 
 wanting. We can widen the bounds of present 
 state confiscation, however, and there is great pos- 
 sibility of betterment from such a change. If it be 
 logical to take land for a recognized public improve- 
 ment, why, not make it legal to take land for any 
 improvement ? If it be legal to pass private owner- 
 ship to a private corporation which is to give service 
 or value to the public, why not allow transfer to any 
 desiring new owner who can prove and carry out a 
 purpose of value to the public ? 
 
 It is not proposed that land be taken without proper 
 recompense, it is not proposed that in the transfer we 
 try to remedy the errors attached to the earlier owner- 
 ships. It is simply suggested that unused land may 
 be taken by paying a fair value, such value to be 
 determined precisely as when land is taken for a 
 street. Even if the land be in use, it should change 
 ownership providing a better use can be guaranteed. 
 Under our present system it is not always easy to 
 advance. A magnificent building might be con- 
 templated that would improve the vital character 
 of a whole neighborhood. Options on all the land 
 necessary might be secured — all save one little jog 
 within the boundary. The present law would not 
 allow that jog to be taken at a generous valuation — 
 it would not allow it to be taken at any valuation. 
 The owner could even set up a hideous sign-board on 
 his roof, or make his place obnoxious in any one of 
 many ways without chance for redress. This is no 
 vague possibility of the imagination; we see such 
 sights in constant view. 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 33 
 
 There is too much talk of vested right because 
 certain men, long dead, with less development by 
 experience, started erroneous customs. We are 
 arbiters of present justice and need not continue 
 injustice because of mistaken respect for ancestors. 
 They did as well as could be expected with the con- 
 ditions then present — but present conditions are 
 not similar. If changes of civilization multiply 
 abuses of rights granted by government, we, who 
 govern government, can assert our right to substitute 
 different rights. 
 
 But if people are too timid to use the rights exist- 
 ing, there is faint hope that they will ask for more. 
 The author lives in a state which allows the con- 
 demnation of land for park purposes. Noting in his 
 country town large areas of unused land, he awakened 
 enough interest to result finally in the setting off of 
 one tenth of the town area as a park reservation — 
 not a formal, forbidding domain, where children 
 may not step on the grass, but an open, clear breath- 
 ing space, accessible for all, vrith trees and brooks 
 and birds on bushes, playgrounds, bathing beach and 
 sand heaps for the babies. Any majority of voters 
 could attempt a fair imitation in any one of a hun- 
 dred near communities at little expense — but their 
 fathers got along without, and their grandfathers 
 would have thought it folly ! Why do anything ? 
 
 Grant the right of the state to change ownership of 
 land and a means is found by which monopoly of 
 natural resources may be prevented, especially any 
 monopoly which restrains any resources from use 
 
34 More 
 
 to allow extortion by limit of supply. With such a 
 plan there could be no " spite-houses," no continuing 
 of dirty or disreputable business in decent environ- 
 ments, no garbage dumps on vacant lots in resident 
 sections, no unsightly gaps made by land held vacant 
 for some expected rise. This plan would not injure 
 the farmer nor the manufacturer — they profit 
 through use; it would simply penalize those who 
 purchase for position and profit from the necessities 
 of others, only bartering property which exists in 
 spite of them, which would have been there just the 
 same if they had never existed and which could have 
 served its purpose equally well if they had never 
 known of its existence. 
 
 Since we are aiming at encouraging the employer 
 — which means the one who uses land to good pur- 
 pose — we should naturally discourage the one who 
 owns land for no purpose of benefit to others. This 
 is easily accomplished by re-arrangement of taxes, 
 a granting of special privilege, or any change by 
 which the burdens of the profitable elements of the 
 community may be lessened. It is not always easy 
 to distribute profit amongst those who really earn it, 
 but it is usually simple to take away the profit of 
 those who do not earn it. 
 
 The holdings of property, that illustrate unwar- 
 rantable chances for profit at the public's expense, 
 are as nothing to the holding of place from which to 
 extract profit in return for service that is unnecessary. 
 The great importance of this division prevents proper 
 consideration as a part of this chapter. It is enough, 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 35 
 
 perhaps, to mention the existing dupKcation of retail 
 stores, which multiply the tax of distribution; the 
 vast armies which many nations withdraw from 
 honest labor to spend time in learning how to destroy 
 others; the great percentage of men who make 
 unnecessary and intricate laws, enforcing another 
 great per cent who must sue and defend under 
 them; the quantity of servitors who do merely the 
 acts which should be accomplished by those they 
 serve; and countless smaller divisions who only 
 exist because we think we can afford to pay them, 
 unmindful of the better uses of our surplus. 
 
 Tyrannical Acquisition 
 
 The public condones the thievery (from others) 
 that displays individual cleverness or audacity, but 
 it does not relish the deductions made by concen- 
 trated power in defiance of public sentiment. We 
 have reached the day of The Great Corporation, 
 whose concentration of capital has enabled the 
 control of certain sections of transportation and 
 certain divisions of production. Lack of com- 
 petition leaves those who supply necessity almost 
 free to exact whatever price the consumer can 
 pay and make a profit without rendering a fair 
 equivalent. It is no more just to take advan- 
 tage of an artificial stringency, designedly created, 
 than it might be for a surgeon to stop in the 
 middle of an operation to demand excessive pay, 
 after sending all the other surgeons out of reach 
 
36 More 
 
 through cunning or collusion. Certain necessary 
 articles, like milk for children, could be sold at 
 oppressive prices, were milk-men and cow-owners 
 to combine, but we should feel like hanging a few 
 of them to convenient lamp-posts if enough of our 
 children died during the scarcity. It is never safe 
 to rely on the generous impulses of those in absolute 
 power. It were better to limit the power, or its 
 capacity for harm. 
 
 Yet it is difficult to grasp a popular remedy, for 
 the farmer will not favor legislation that would 
 prevent him from profiting largely by the scarcities 
 of crop which send prices kiting. The manufacturer 
 will not want his profits limited in times of over- 
 demand, nor will the laborers themselves desire to 
 give up the chance for higher wages when scarcity 
 of help prevails. Carefully limit the law to the 
 greater corporations and we shall not prevent indi- 
 viduals from speculative buying of raw materials in 
 great quantity in order to create stringency. In 
 fact, the whole cotton industry was thrown out of 
 gear for months by the gambling in its raw material 
 by men comparatively unknown as financial factors. 
 We may have to depend in the end on that com- 
 mon contempt for the human hog which penetrates, 
 in time, through the thickest skins. Publicity and 
 I disgust can accomplish wonders. Condemnation 
 loses force, however, when not discriminating and 
 impartial. We must not heed every yellow cur 
 which barks at the heels of the prominent, nor con- 
 fine our disapproval to the bigger pigs alone. 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 37 
 
 Combinations of men are just as dangerous as 
 combinations of capital. Our labor unions often 
 monopolize the means for producing certain values 
 and exact a very substantial penalty from the 
 public at large. Our voters also have an unfortunate 
 power of plunder when organized to grab. Con- 
 certed action may be most unethical when multiply- 
 ing ethical conditions. We may prate of a work- 
 man's right to cease work, but should the crew of a 
 ship all cease at once, it would be a sorry day for the 
 passengers. 
 
 Tyrannical acquisition should certainly include 
 all forms of unjust levies made by the majority when 
 controlling a form of government. Many think that 
 the acts of the majority become sanctioned when 
 it acts under the robe of authority, but the laws 
 forced by the people have no more ethical fitness, 
 necessarily, than the acts of the majority when acting 
 as a lawless mob. Law should be founded on justice, 
 not force. 
 
 It is in the systems of local taxation that the indi- 
 vidual meets the possibly tyrannical application of 
 power. While the states vary in detail, we have our 
 general local taxation based on property ownership, 
 whatever its character. It often happens that the prop- 
 erty of a corporation is taxed where it exists and then 
 taxed again in the form of stock certificates held by 
 individuals. The man who buys a piece of land and 
 holds it in unkempt condition, an eyesore and a 
 possible detriment to the character, or convenience, 
 of the neighborhood, is taxed only on the value; 
 
38 More 
 
 while he who builds on a similar lot, affording hous- 
 ing to citizens or chance for employment in shop or 
 factory, is penalized by an additional tax on the very 
 improvements installed. 
 
 Henry George sought to do away with the evil of 
 unearned increment by concentrating all taxes on 
 land. Such a method would have great value in a 
 limited appHcation. We do not want to do away 
 with the right of the government to tax semi-harmful 
 products or producers ; neither do we wish to adopt 
 a system generally which would not apply with 
 equity in all cases. I have in mind a sparsely settled 
 town which would have to raise twenty dollars per 
 acre each year under the George plan to pay its 
 present expenses. 
 
 George was clearly correct, however, in advising 
 that improvements should not be penalized. It is 
 bad enough to pay more than one's share of com- 
 munity expense because one saves rather than 
 spends, without emphasizing the penalty whenever 
 one definitely benefits the community. It has 
 actually been declared illegal in certain states for 
 towns to exempt business from taxation in order to 
 induce growth of local industry. 
 
 George also suggested doing away with the taxes 
 on personal property, which include the taxes on 
 stocks, bonds, mortgages, loans, cash and funds 
 generally. Most such property is simply representa- 
 tive of actual property already taxed where it exists, 
 and the papers which are thus representative are' 
 easily hidden and their ownership not necessarily 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 39 
 
 known. It is demoralizing to attempt to tax 
 it at all, for any tax is immoral that incites 
 gross and general immorality. This one urges 
 liars to profit at the expense of the honest. It 
 teaches evasion and subterfuge, the silence which 
 profanes. 
 
 Do not infer that the very wealthy are alone delin- 
 quent. They usually pay some tax on unseen prop- 
 erty, while those of moderate holdings usually pay 
 nothing at all. It is possible that the taxable wealthin 
 the hands of those of small means, escaping taxation, 
 is greater in the aggregate than that of the notably 
 rich. Take any great corporation and note the thou- 
 sands of share holdings scattered throughout the 
 land credited to names unheard of in financial 
 circles ! The man with no property also dodges his 
 poll-tax with sufficient frequency to prove that no 
 division of society can claim exemption from criti- 
 cism. 
 
 Some states lessen tax-dodging by giving a per- 
 centage to a back-tax collector. The process of 
 proof is arduous, however, and such officials natu- 
 rally confine their attention to the detection of 
 large holdings — or the acceptance of bribes from 
 large holders. The moderate properties escape 
 as now. 
 
 I speak with some knowledge of these matters 
 since I served as a tax-assessor for eleven years in a 
 town where the duty took only a few weeks' time 
 per year. I found observance of the law so scantily 
 enforced that few outside those at the top knew that 
 
40 More 
 
 personal property was taxable at all. The greatest 
 indignation at effectual enforcement of law was dis- 
 played by those who had escaped all their lives and 
 thereby thought a precedent had been established. 
 There was a strong general feeling against an increase 
 of the usual per cent of personal property tax, since 
 it would force this one community to pay more than 
 its share of state and county taxes in comparison 
 with other towns and cities supposedly not as drastic. 
 The average assessor is human. He does not like 
 to make personal enemies or appear Quixotic in 
 upholding a dead law. 
 
 The evasion is so common that when one wealthy 
 woman of a large Western city presented an accurate 
 list of property for taxation it became a matter for 
 newspaper headlines and press comment throughout 
 the land. Give me the right of search and five per 
 cent of the taxable untaxed property discovered, 
 and I can make history ashamed of Croesus and 
 literature blush for the comparative meanness of 
 Monte Cristo ! 
 
 Unscrupulous Acquisitions 
 
 This division would naturally come under the 
 head of fraudulent methods were it not understood 
 that folly must always pay a price for its education. 
 This fact does not make the trade of the teacher 
 more savory. Some shrewdness seems to be sanc- 
 tioned since it shears those who are themselves trying 
 in their turn to be too sharp. 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 41 
 
 Legitimate Trade 
 
 Business has to be caxried on by discussion of 
 values between buyer and seller at some period 
 during the shifting of ownerships. It does not pay 
 those who intend to continue in business to cheat 
 their customers or drive too hard bargains. The 
 most dignified trade is carried on by those who can 
 set and maintain uniform prices to all. The presence 
 of competition makes it possible for an intermediate 
 lot of traders to intervene between buyer and seller 
 and get a living without producing any actual value. 
 When done on a large scale, a real convenience is 
 furnished by gathering together the products of 
 many sellers for the convenience of the buyer. No 
 active business agent is uneconomic in a time that 
 finds use for his activities and pays for his activities ; 
 but the time may be uneconomic. 
 
 Investment Profits 
 
 Any one can get value without rendering equiva- 
 lent if he can find another, less fortunate, who will 
 gamble with him. He can also gain by purchase of ' 
 property that is destined to rise in value, or by sale 
 of property that is destined to lose in value. If such 
 investors influence others to sell, or buy, by untrue 
 representations, they are swindlers. If they merely^ 
 offer their judgment in opposition to the judgment ' 
 of others, the outside public has no legitimate con- 
 cern in the outcome and no rights in the profit of the 
 party profiting. 
 
42 More 
 
 There is so much exchangeable wealth in this 
 country that there is a continuous interchange of 
 ownership through the efforts of many to acquire 
 more. If a thousand men risk and lose a thousand 
 dollars each, some one man may get a million. The 
 wages of a regiment usually flow toward the pockets 
 of a few good poker players. Those who risk are 
 willing to consider the pleasure of wagering for 
 anticipated winnings as an economic equivalent. 
 The profits of the few are proportionate to the vanity 
 of the many, for the many consider themselves fully 
 equipped for a battle of wits. 
 
 When investing in property, one always buys from 
 a former owner, unless the investment is in the 
 creation of new value. The profit, if any, is therefore 
 commonly made at the expense of the one who could 
 have had the profit — unless he has opportunity to 
 make an equal, or a greater profit, with the receipts. 
 The profits of mere ownership should not, and prob- 
 ably do not, aggregate as great in proportion to the 
 investment as profits made in creation of new 
 values. 
 
 The marketing of properties naturally creates a 
 clever class who live by trading in them. They must 
 necessarily live on the losses made by those who 
 produce the properties — that is, they make a profit 
 that the producer misses. It is not singular that 
 those who make a business of knowing values should 
 get the best of those whose time is spent in producing 
 them. Our system of property exchange certainly 
 creates a contingent who live on the ignorance of 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 43 
 
 buyers and sellers and who flatter and feed that 
 ignorance for their continued profit. 
 
 Many who lose do not know it, since they make 
 a profit without noting that it is not the whole profit 
 possible. They may, of course, be willing to pay a 
 commission to the one who finds them a customer, 
 but there may be many commissions and many 
 customers before the real value is attained. 
 
 Losers never like to admit that they are lacking in 
 skill, shrewdness or experience. They prefer to 
 think that the winner profits by better luck or by 
 taking advantage of fraudulent methods. The 
 commercial game is usually played within the rules 
 sanctioned by consent of the players, and those 
 who dislike losing should choose other games or 
 other playmates. There is common contempt for the 
 one who is willing to win, but complains when he 
 loses. Such are commonly known as squealers. 
 
 Some are so worried with sjmapathy for the losers 
 that they would stop the game for all time. They 
 are like those who would cancel athletics because 
 of unpleasant adjuncts, or burn buildings to get rid 
 of rats. There are many ways to prevent evil 
 which would poison activity. We shall never eraseJP' 
 folly, if we continually save it from its natural conse- 
 quences. The world continues many grave errors 
 since sentimental meddlers will not allow them to ^^ 
 attain their final destiny of destruction. 
 
 The changes in ownership of one kind of property 
 are similar to changes in others. The middle-man 
 exists on all sides, because we find him useful, and 
 
44 More 
 
 values change hourly, allowing judgment to test 
 itself. All business is speculative, the farmer guess- 
 ing on the weather and the market in the same way 
 that the manufacturer guesses on value of raw 
 material and product price, and the merchant on 
 styles and reserve stocks. There is more chance for 
 loss in business than in any other gamble, since the 
 usual game of chance allows some to win what the rest 
 lose, while in business the majority may lose. The 
 whole process of wealth-production and distribution 
 is a battle of brains, in which judgment controls the 
 outcome nine times out of ten. 
 
 Those successful are not always gifted with pleas- 
 ing personality, nor do they ever furnish attractive 
 ideals in either character or capacity outside the one 
 line in which their skill is pre-eminent. That is 
 no reason why they should not have their legitimate 
 winnings. Their gains will come from their com- 
 parative superiority and the losses of the less clever 
 may stimulate to more wealth production since the 
 fascination of the game urges them to continue to 
 engage in it and to acquire the means by which to 
 follow it. 
 
 The game is a good game. 
 
 It needs a few changes in the rules and a stricter 
 enforcement of the penalties, but the broad principle 
 of risk for reward is the principle that has developed 
 human .capacity to its present multiplied efficiency. 
 We could not change it even if we would, for 
 the matching of brains and resources is the very 
 
Unwarrantable Acquisition 45 
 
 trial of fitness by which evolution weeds out the 
 unfit. Those who will not adapt themselves to 
 the plan may look on from a distance in lonely 
 isolation. We are not here to reform the laws 
 of the universe but rather to conform intelligently 
 to their ends and profit by the quickening of their 
 aims. 
 
 The majority do not necessarily lose because 
 a few are dividing their surplus by methods agreeable 
 to those contributing. The majority make no sur- 
 plus and a large portion of the minority avoids chance 
 of loss by trusting its earnings to savings-banks or 
 other secure trustees. If the people virtuously wish 
 to interfere in the business of others to prevent the 
 possible fault of profiting without the giving of due 
 equivalent, they should remember that a reformation 
 might be far reaching. The public profits largely 
 and continuously by acquisitions for which it has 
 paid too little or nothing. It has profited because 
 thousands of merchants have gone bankrupt, or lost 
 heavily by selling too cheaply, and because thousands 
 of manufacturers have unwittingly done the same. 
 There are thousands of publicly used inventions 
 which have never profited the owner or the introducer, 
 thousands of ideas which have been adopted with 
 no thought of recompense to the originator. Were 
 it possible to apportion equitably the wealth of the 
 world according to the actual merit of the exchanged 
 services, the public might find that, instead of profit- 
 ing from the hoarded wealth of the envied, it would 
 be called on to pay back enormous sums for value 
 
46 More 
 
 had without equivalent. We may possibly arrive at 
 a clearer comprehension of equities if we consider 
 each apparent discrepancy in turn, together with the 
 remedies publicly proposed. 
 
CHAPTER FIVE 
 
 THE REMEDY OF RETALIATION 
 
 All the rich are robbers — let us rob the rich ! 
 
 The dehghtful simphcity of this artless proposition 
 appeals strongly to ignorant intellect. It also 
 appeals to those who cynically disclaim regard for 
 principle and wish to wallow in the unbridled lust 
 of desire. Should the unsatisfied who honestly feel 
 aggrieved ever succeed in forcing a violent change 
 in present ownerships, they must deal with the 
 unawed power of the lawless, who will demand 
 reward for their assistance and take advantage of 
 the new precedent still further to disrupt and dis- 
 tribute. It is hard to check the self-exciting power 
 of a mob. Revolutions loose a spirit of loot, rape and 
 murder. Those who have wives and daughters 
 should certainly hesitate in approval of the early 
 courses which excuse the culmination. 
 
 Anarchy 
 
 Hatred of property-owners naturally leads to 
 hatred of the law which protects property and the 
 makers of the law. Foreign revolutionists have 
 
 47 
 
48 More 
 
 made of this hate a creed, in the name and shape 
 of anarchy. There may be much distress and 
 injustice in some other lands to encourage and 
 foster this spirit amongst the down-trodden, but such 
 principles are absurd in a country like ours where 
 the majority control the power of the ballot. The 
 problems of monarchies are not for us to solve; 
 we have enough of our own. 
 
 The anarchist would like to destroy all property 
 that would be of use only to a special class and 
 divide all other property amongst the worthy, 
 which, of course, would mean the anarchists. 
 Each could satisfy any private grudge while the 
 blood was flowing and there would be ample oppor- 
 tunity for the curious to sample certain pleasures 
 considered of interest by the epicure. When one 
 figures the losses from the disrupting of business, 
 the disorganizing of commerce, the frightening away 
 of foreign capital and the heavy expense of civil 
 war, there is small chance for enthusiasm about 
 sharing in the remainder. It would take force to 
 tear wealth away from its present owners, and the 
 individuals who used the force successfully would 
 probably insist on an unequal division of the spoils. 
 Such conditions could not appeal to any reader of 
 this book; the victors would be recruited from the 
 ranks of those who do not read books. 
 
 The man who earns $500 per year is deriving an 
 income from himself as an investment. He is worth 
 $10,000 to himself on a five per cent basis. He would 
 be ten times a fool to swap his job for $1,000 worth 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 49 
 
 of property with no job in sight, and he would have 
 hard work to get that amount of property from any 
 anarchistic division of existing wealth. He would 
 still have the power to work, but what would he work 
 at and whom would he work for? 
 
 Some are inclined to smile at dread of anarchy 
 within our boundaries, but we serve as a refuge for 
 the hunted criminals of other lands and we have 
 lost more rulers through anarchistic crimes than any 
 other country within the same period of time. The 
 antagonism to capital grows ominously. Bad feeling 
 is encouraged by the impolitic remarks of those who 
 pile up popularity. There is no discrimination 
 between the rich who have taken and the rich who 
 have made. The votes received by those who stand 
 for thinly- veiled anarchistic principles are alarming in 
 number. Many of our chosen representatives suffi- 
 ciently fear this trend to favor measures which are 
 not only un-ethical and therefore anarchistic, in 
 spirit, but irrespective of property rights and 
 reeking with class-interest. Such recognition simply 
 breeds more demand and strengthens the confidence 
 of the wreckers. It is never advisable to compromise 
 with error. 
 
 It were a dreary prospect for civilization did 
 anarchists ever knife all the rich and destroy all 
 their property. When the liquor was all drained and 
 the bread aU eaten, brutality would have full sway. 
 None would care to produce, with prowlers waiting 
 to snatch the product. Self -protection would eventu- 
 ally bring together little bands of the sobered, who 
 
50 More 
 
 would resist further assault. Slowly and painfully a 
 new society would arise from the ashes of the old 
 one. It would not equal the old society; there 
 would be too much loss in men and things. A 
 simple experiment is sufficient to illustrate. Let 
 the anarchist pull out a few of his own teeth and note 
 how much his happiness is thereby multiplied. If 
 still in doubt, cut off the right arm above the elbow. 
 
 Anarchy is, fundamentally, a protest against laws 
 that protect property. We hear continual talk about 
 property being favored against the requirements 
 of human beings — but what is property ? — what 
 but the fruit of human thought, energy and purpose, 
 created in the spirit of self-restraint and protected 
 through the operation of a self-control governed by 
 appreciation of justice and consideration for one's 
 fellows ? 
 
 In protecting property we are protecting the most 
 deserving humans in one of their most legitimate 
 fields of effort. The property laws are for the 
 interests of the better human beings. No wonder 
 that they meet with the suspicion of their inferiors ! 
 
 It is often urged that men of property weaken 
 their defences by contempt for law, thus sanc- 
 tioning the anarchist or the criminal. It is 
 true that they do often disobey the edicts of our 
 governmental bodies, but laws are of various kinds. 
 The laws that penalize direct theft, personal violence 
 and similar disregard of others' welfare, are estab- 
 lished by acceptance of continuous civilizations in 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 51 
 
 wide-spreading territory; but new laws of intricate 
 nature and special application, hastily passed by 
 bodies urged by unthinking constituents, are not 
 necessarily valid nor respected. Many of them are 
 proved to be illegal when tested in the higher courts 
 and many of them are ignored by the very oflScers 
 of the law, who do not enforce them. It is easily 
 possible for our representative bodies to do foolish 
 things at times. Law could easily declare that 
 brunettes must always marry blonds, but we should 
 have the very deuce to pay if enforcement were at- 
 tempted. Many expect that existing law should 
 always meet with veneration and awe, although we 
 owe our existence as a nation to a direct rebellion 
 against established authority. 
 
 Legislation is merely a balance between cross 
 purposes. The test of trial often secures important 
 modifications. Accurate definition of the line 
 between crime and propriety is often impossible. We 
 can not have confidence in law unless it be devised 
 by those who have our confidence, or until it be 
 proved impartial and improving. 
 
 Those who pass laws are not necessarily urged by 
 the wish to establish justice and secure progress. 
 They often wish to secure personal benefit at the 
 expense of others. It is considered patriotic in cer- 
 tain sections to urge for special governmental favours 
 at the expense of other sections. If we are to consti- 
 tute a country, instead of a snarl of jealous little 
 states, we can have within our borders no special 
 rights of locality, heredity or custom. 
 
52 More 
 
 Still, the defiance of law by the well-meaning 
 encourages too much imitation in the ill-meaning. 
 We have no right to break laws unless we, at the same 
 time, use all available influence to correct them. 
 This applies with equal force to laws that are not 
 enforced. Such weaken the whole structure of 
 government by the unfortunate precedent which 
 they establish. 
 
 Many, to secure results that they consider of 
 qualifying importance, evade proper laws, with full 
 recognition of their equity. The impatient think it 
 necessary to accommodate themselves to conditions 
 when they cannot control them. They argue, in 
 excuse, thflt they have no time in which to reform 
 the means of accomplishment — they must use men 
 as they are used to be used. 
 
 Thus we have a vast amount of bribery and cor- 
 ruption, certain bribable legislators standing in the 
 path of necessary legislation to obstruct until the 
 price is paid. The public frowns on those who pay, 
 but it is the public which elects the bribe-takers to 
 office and it is stingy public opinion which limits the 
 salaries of legislators to meagre figures. The 
 bribes are almost sanctioned by the acts of venerated 
 public officials in the very highest places. Presidents, 
 themselves, are known to have yielded their better 
 judgment in the proffering of place to incompetents 
 in order to influence the Senator whose pet is thus 
 favored. There is no moral difference between such 
 gifts and actual cash. It were better for some 
 reasons if cash were substituted. 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 53 
 
 The excuse lies in the old Jesuitical maxim — 
 " The end justifies the means ! " The ends do not 
 justify such means. There are no means which 
 sanction a cowardly surrender to bribe-takers, bul- 
 lies or black-mailers. We may have distinguished 
 examples, but they need not be distinguished by our 
 approval. 
 
 The shifts of political policy give no credit to those 
 responsible. We see customs-ports which collect no 
 customs, public buildings built where population 
 does not justify them, rivers dredged where steamers 
 never sail. The taking of petty plunder, cheerfully 
 known as " pork," is a fixity made possible by 
 public apathy. 
 
 The strong man likes to Do, but he should scorn 
 to be Done. It would do this country no great harm 
 if legislation halted for a while, to bring clearly to 
 light those responsible for clogging the wheels. An 
 engineer would certainly stop his engine if it gave 
 evidence by jar and squeal that something was out 
 of order. He might keep running till the trip were 
 over, but that would be the greatest concession that 
 he would possibly consider. 
 
 We are hampered in our legislative bodies because 
 ideas must filter through large assemblies which 
 can easily continue conventionality but distrust 
 change. A majority of human beings, acting as a 
 unit, can be likened to a soggy mass of clay. It can 
 be twisted and moulded by definite outside exertion, 
 but it moves of itself only when in the unstable 
 equilibrium which precedes a fall. 
 
54 More 
 
 We must favor the raising of men who can fitly 
 mould majorities. Such men must be trained toward 
 confidence and power by careful nurture of individu- 
 ality, rather than by Procrustean trimming to the 
 average stature. It is the emphasizing of the 
 stronger traits that develops capacity of uncommon 
 kind. The schooling of the future should adapt its 
 training to the pupil rather than mould over the 
 scholar to fit the course. 
 
 But we can not have exceeding merit, or exceeding 
 ability, if the jealousy of the inferior may vent its 
 spite and utter its slurs to discourage development 
 above the average. There is little enough material 
 reward for extra energy without withholding the 
 cheap approval of humanity. Analysis of hate dis- 
 covers envy of power, success and superiority; in 
 fact envy is a distinct brand of inferiority — it 
 betrays by its very ejdstence. 
 
 Sodalism 
 
 We are heading squarely toward socialism. 
 
 While at the time of writing neither of the greater 
 political parties has formally adopted the creed, 
 they are both showing fear of the public opinion 
 that is forcing the government into lines of inspec- 
 tion, control and creation, which not only enlarge its 
 scope, but materially increase its expenses. There 
 is a definite movement toward education of the voter 
 with the idea of making the majority socialistic by 
 degrees. The growth of this factor is significant of 
 changes to come. 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 55 
 
 Instead of breathing fire and fury like anarchy, 
 socialism professes to spring from love of the human 
 race and respect for its primal rights. It has enlisted 
 men of good brain-power, men of considerable 
 wealth, men of kindly feelings and good natural im- 
 pulses. Sympathetic, susceptible natures are im- 
 pressed by known injustice and distressed by the 
 presence of poverty and want. They are so eager 
 for reform that they sometimes adopt the first novel 
 panacea proposed. Many such were formerly fas- 
 cinated by free silver, though now ashamed to admit 
 it. Two sound-money presidents wabbled in per- 
 plexity before deciding to espouse their later course. 
 The evil wrought witli good intent by far outweighs 
 the error of design. 
 
 The anarchist wants no law. 
 
 The socialist wants Toore law. 
 
 He wants legislation that shall prevent him from 
 using his functions as he chooses, from profiting fully 
 from the exercise of his faculties. He would not 
 admit this, of course, but he would have to submit 
 to the inevitable results of the forces which he would 
 blindly set in motion. Regulation and supervision 
 are as logical within the home as within the packing- 
 house. We already have excellent examples of 
 socialistic communities within our prisons. The 
 food, pay and shelter are practically alike for all. 
 It is said that the inmates usually improve in health, 
 but the regimen is hardly popular. 
 
 Government interference surely paves the way to 
 
56 More 
 
 government ownership. When supervision becomes 
 a drain on the tax-payer he will welcome the control 
 that shall not need to inspect itself. The present 
 owners will be glad enough of such relief themselves 
 if the espionage increases. 
 
 Not that the author would sanction any of the 
 abuses which have seemed to make supervision 
 necessary ! Abuses can be cured without constant 
 supervision. Let proper officials make unexpected 
 visits and jail those found committing crimes against 
 the public health, and we could restrict evils for a 
 fraction of the present expense. It might be urged 
 that the officials could be bribed — yes, and why 
 not the inspectors, as well ? 
 
 Carry the system of supervision to its logical end 
 and we shall have each cow inspected during milking 
 time, each nursing mother periodically examined 
 by competent authority, each cook watched cease- 
 lessly during the preparation of each meal and all 
 servants made intermittently to prove their necessary 
 neatness. Inspectors must swarm through the 
 refrigerator-cars, nose into the butcher shops, haunt 
 the groceries. The spying system is endless in 
 adaptation and costly beyond computation. 
 
 Socialism might relieve the necessity for profit 
 from sale of impure food, but it would not necessarily 
 make food-handlers less careless or more cleanly. 
 When we all fare alike it is not easy to foresee what 
 is to be done with the lean steaks and the skim- 
 milk. All will want the porter-house and the 
 cream. 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 57 
 
 Some mistakenly suppose that socialism will 
 bring about an equal sharing in present property. 
 Theoretic socialism may aim to bring about an 
 equal sharing in fviure earnings, but it can only 
 accomplish national ownership of present property 
 by purchase from present owners. We should have 
 prompt war with other countries did we attempt 
 to confiscate properties which are often owned in 
 part by foreign stock-holders. Socialists aim at 
 government ownership of railroads; but they must 
 pay for them — probably by issue of bonds — and 
 the rich would have the bonds. Any proposition for 
 absorption of property without paying full value 
 would be anarchistic — - not socialistic. 
 
 In all definite remedies there are advantages in 
 full adaptation which are lost in half-way trial. 
 With complete socialism all voters would serve the 
 same master and spUt up into cliques based on 
 various whims and complaints. With partial govern- 
 ment ownership of great utilities we should have a 
 great army of government employees who would 
 vote solidly to support the system in use, no matter 
 how inefficient it might become. The party in power 
 might thus dare abuses beyond anything in our past 
 experience, requiring actual revolution to dislodge it. 
 There is no more conservative state than Massa- 
 chusetts; but the attempt of the city of Boston to 
 run a printing plant resulted in a record of extrava- 
 gance and plunder that might well make honest 
 voters hesitate to endorse further trial of similar 
 ventures. The fact that certain foreign countries 
 
58 More 
 
 can honestly administer a few of their own utilities, 
 in special and particular instances, is of no signifi- 
 cance in considering our own problem. It is very 
 possible that the freedom of spirit under American 
 institutions breeds an idea of license as well. A 
 clever, resourceful people is not necessarily moral; 
 a brave people is often lacking in ethical virtue. 
 
 Socialism in its extreme and logical adaptation 
 means equal hours for all and equal pay, irrespective 
 of capacity. It aims at final absorption of all property 
 by the state, through over-taxing the rich or making 
 them so uncomfortable as to leave the country. 
 When property is common, beauty naturally follows 
 suit. No selfish man may think he is to monopolize 
 the attractions of a superior wife, when sociahsm 
 shall gain full sway. 
 
 The methods of governments are not going to 
 change simply because they widen. Some fatuously 
 think that under socialism they will have a new 
 breed of official — a type of highest integrity, 
 brilliant in ability and unerring in judgment. They 
 might easily employ a few such in present offices — 
 when they catch them ! No, the people are going to 
 select from themselves whether under socialism 
 or any other form of government. We should have 
 greater armies of clerks, thicker jungles of red-tape, 
 multiplied inefficiency, incompetency, lack of initia- 
 tive and paucity of result. The supervising positions 
 would still go as prizes for political pimps in a vast 
 number of instances and effort would still be directed 
 toward making a fat job last, instead of hastening its 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 59 
 
 conclusion. Governmental method invariably seeks 
 the lines of least resistance, instead of boldly daring 
 those of great resistance . Men are not honest enough, 
 or willing enough, to give their best effort when 
 employed on fixed pay in positions where promotion 
 largely depends on personal favor. 
 
 Some might point to the spread of civil service 
 and think that it can easily avoid the errors of in- 
 efficiency. Civil service, however, is most disen- 
 heartening to those who note its practical appli- 
 cation. In letting many compete for place the 
 tests are not satisfactory, being largely academic in 
 character. The supervisors are so shorn of power, 
 to prevent their using possible prejudice, that they 
 cannot remove incompetents and cannot economize 
 by lessening the jobs. 
 
 Some persons have a sublime faith that no great 
 evil can possibly continue with the sanction of 
 the people, but they are strangely lacking in remem- 
 brance or erudition. They forget our own long 
 struggle to rid ourselves of slavery. They forget our 
 periodical panics, artificially brought on by our own 
 stupid experimenting or our notably inefficient cur- 
 rency system. False legislation .can change the 
 fundamental characteristics and even the morality 
 of a race. The frugal Scotch were once made 
 notoriously shiftless under a short-time lease system, 
 and a liberal provision for illegitimate children so 
 upset the morality of England, that a member of 
 Parliament declared it had practically abolished 
 chastity. 
 
60 More 
 
 It is not easy to turn back time. It is always 
 difficult to repeal enactments, for certain men find 
 profits in the sufferings of others and they will use 
 those profits to preserve their sinecure. One member 
 of our House of Representatives may cause exas- 
 perating delay in legislation and one Senator has 
 often prevented the majority from voting as it de- 
 sired by using up time in oratorical antagonism, or 
 threatening so to do. 
 
 Those who fail to understand the stultifying effect 
 of governmental management should compare our 
 freight rates with those of foreign countries where 
 governments run railways with the advantage of 
 low-paid labor and dense population to help them 
 out. We beat them out of sight. It is true that we 
 have better facilities, but we have them because 
 of that same private management. Governments 
 do not readily adopt new ideas. They are not 
 forced into improvement by competition and it 
 is always easier to go along the same old way. 
 There is always a grave risk of reputation in the 
 trial of a novelty. The individual may chance it 
 for the profit in view, but the government official 
 gets no more salary for introducing a change, and 
 while there may be some extra credit possible, there 
 may be more fear of discredit. 
 
 The profits of business are now possible to a few, 
 because that few are smarter, or more enterprising, 
 than those in competition. Under socialism, the 
 less intelligent would dominate in voting power and 
 very possibly divide up the directing positions. 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 61 
 
 Profit is made to-day under stress and strain. Social- 
 ism designedly aims to relieve these. Government 
 ownership of utilities would hardly give profit when 
 run by the sort of government that wotild sanction 
 such ownership. 
 
 Put an incompetent one in control of thousands 
 and his worthlessness is multiplied thousands of 
 times. Let the public supply itself with jobs and 
 it would reduce the hours of labor, diminish the 
 output per individual and cheapen the charges it 
 must pay. The losses would be made up out of 
 increased taxation as long as any individual property 
 remained to be taxed. 
 
 The author had an ancestor of altruistic, semi- 
 socialistic ideas, who at one time joined a socialistic 
 community. He lived far more simply than his 
 means would warrant, shunned public honors and 
 gave much more to the world than it ever returned in 
 kind. He used to say that he would be perfectly 
 willing to give his skill and labor for an equal share 
 with the rest of the world if he could only be assured 
 that those directing the application of his talents 
 would know enough to turn them to their best uses ; 
 but he found that he could not permit the control of 
 his labor by the type of overseer that the public 
 favors when selecting by its own choice. 
 
 The author himself grew up in this same socialistic 
 spot, though some years after the experiment had 
 reached its logical conclusion. Many of the social 
 customs continued to give the place an individuality 
 of its own. The saintly originator never was recon- 
 
62 More 
 
 ciled to the failure, but the test of human nature was 
 bound to evolve a final mastery by the efficient. 
 
 Socialism ranks massed mediocrity above individ- 
 ual intellect. The principles of equality can never 
 apply to people that are unequal in capacity, educa- 
 tion, refinement and courage. It can certainly 
 prevent the development of unusual capacity, but 
 is such prevention wise ? It is not profitable to limit 
 ambition. If no one can have more than the mass 
 he can aspire only to the mean little average of the 
 mass. The fact that our successful men usually rise 
 from the ranks under the present system of competi- 
 tion allows all in the ranks to hope, and dream, and 
 plan to rise alike. Limit hope and we halt evolution ; 
 we make of man a careless, shiftless animal. 
 
 If socialism is to equalize wages, the present well- 
 paid laborers in lines requiring skill and judgment 
 can expect a sharp scaling downward. It is not 
 many years since a government investigation found 
 that farm hands averaged only little over $200 each 
 per year in wages, even when they paid their own 
 board. There are many great industries where the 
 laborers average less than the factory employees. 
 An average wage would be much less than that 
 now earned in factories. Were the socialist humane 
 enough to include the whole world in his plan, we 
 should naturally anticipate a wage average some- 
 where between the ten cent a day coolie and the 
 three dollar a day American — it would come much 
 nearer the ten cents than the three dollars. I say 
 three dollars, because that is about the best average 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 63 
 
 wage of the better class workman of America — 
 above the average of all workmen. We forget the 
 countless millions in other lands who own nothing 
 but breech-clout and turban, and die like flies in 
 time of famine. 
 
 Socialists have been misled by a slight error of 
 definition. They think that they want equal wages 
 for all, when they ought to want equal wages for all 
 of equal economic importance. They will still have 
 the problem of properly paying those who are more, 
 or less, important and common sense suggests the 
 only fair plan — apportion their wages to the value 
 of their services. 
 
 The academic socialist quotes figures to show 
 the large product per worker, of wheat, or cloth, 
 arguing that since one may produce enough for one 
 hundred, a re-division of labor might accomplish all 
 necessary production with but a fraction of present 
 toil. The supercilious way in which the ignorant 
 outsider approaches practical problems is very 
 irritating to the practical man. The mere labor 
 in making things is often immaterial. I know' of 
 products that cost more for inspection than for 
 manufacture — more for counting than for making. 
 It is countless handlings, and sortings, and packings, 
 and notings, that cost money-; the selling, the adver- 
 tising, the bookkeeping, the time-keeping, the fur- 
 nishing of factories, power, light, heat, water, etc. 
 Then there are the items of taxation, freights, raw 
 material, insurance, interest, depreciation, salaries, 
 stationery, suppUes — we all know what they mean^ 
 
64 More 
 
 all except the kind gentlemen who could tell us how 
 much better things might be done were we to 
 materialize their idle dreaming. Even were certain 
 products cheapened by elimination of competition 
 (it is just as possible that they would be made more 
 expensive), there would be little gain in view of the 
 demanded diversity of products. The offered variety 
 of products is amazing when analyzed. It has been 
 figured that there are as many as a thousand varie- 
 ties in the patterns of woven goods for women's 
 garters in one country for one season alone — ten 
 thousand in ten seasons — for what, and why? 
 There are plenty of chances to save costs, as we 
 shall see later — but the savings are possible without 
 socialism. 
 
 There are many sentimental theorists who would 
 welcome a change to a world in which there was no 
 want, no sickness, no sorrow and no crime. They 
 might be gravely disappointed in the realization. 
 The incompetent, the weak and the vicious, might 
 improve their status, but the gifts which should 
 make them thus afl3uent and improved might 
 impoverish the faithful and the diligent. We can 
 easily equalize present discrepancies by sending 
 billions in cash to Africa, India and China, if we 
 are truly altruistic ; but the plundering of the capable 
 would hardly develop much future capacity. We 
 hear of sections of the world where they are trying 
 experiments with applications of government for 
 the private interests of the majority at the expense of 
 a more efficient minority; but it is not shown that 
 
The Remedy of Retaliation 65 
 
 these sections have developed illustration of superi- 
 ority in men and women — any great inventions, 
 any worthy philosophy, literature, art, or other 
 indications of highest intellect. Our own country 
 was peopled by emigrants who have made greater 
 stir than any other wanderers of recent history ; but 
 we have allowed individual freedom, reward for 
 effort and protection for property. We have patented 
 more inventions than any other people since we give 
 our inventors the hope of a profitable monopoly. 
 If Australia and New Zealand are so far ahead of us 
 in ethics of government, why may not our labor- 
 leaders and socialists set forth and join their com- 
 rades in progress, embarking for those distant shores 
 with the same enterprising spirit in which our ances- 
 tors left the conventional domains of Europe? We 
 know why they do not — they want to stay and share 
 in the prosperity which has come from American 
 competition and American combination. They 
 would not really care to change for lands where poor 
 men profit — out of poor profits. 
 
 When advising for the true interests of mankind 
 by pointing out its mistakes of action or inclination, 
 one is ever open to the antagonism or suspicion of 
 those who would rather believe they are injured by 
 others than themselves. Many are arousing anger 
 and indignation amongst the soldiers of industry, 
 by attacking the character or motives of their officers. 
 
 Now there never was an army of any nature 
 officered by angels nor by humans perfect in wisdom, 
 truly clairvoyant, or unfailing in genius. The men 
 
66 More 
 
 in high position simply average a superiority proven 
 by the fact that they have attained position in our 
 free-for-all competition. It were foolish to mutiny 
 because there may be a small per cent incapable, or 
 because there may be a few still in the ranks who 
 deserve better place. 
 
 But do not make the mistake of thinking of our 
 politicians as the officers referred to. They are not 
 necessarily in position through competition in 
 ability — they simply represent competition in 
 popularity, or promises. It is the leaders of industry 
 who dominate in the end, for the prosperity of 
 industry appeals to the industrious, and they will 
 control the politicians in any real test of strength 
 that comes following the failure of some tried 
 fallacy. Intelligence must and shall rule in the long 
 run, and intelligence is a power wielded by the in- 
 telligent. 
 
CHAPTER SIX 
 
 THE REMEDY OF REGULATION 
 
 We have already noted that restriction and super- 
 vision lead insensibly toward government ownership. 
 Forced regulation always crosses the danger line 
 when it accepts responsibility for the results of its 
 application. The government can be responsible 
 only by engaging in every stage of activity or 
 supervising every stage. It costs about as much 
 to pay for one to watch a man work as it does to do 
 the work. The government should not shoulder 
 another's obligations; it should simply make its 
 citizens live up to their obligations by sufiGicient 
 penalty for evasion. 
 
 What Shall We Do with the Rich? 
 
 Why, of necessity, do anything ? What are these 
 riches that excite so much alarm and perturbation ? 
 The total money of the country amounts to only 
 about $35 per head. The houses and playthings 
 of the wealthy are not enough in number to afford 
 the majority any great satisfaction from a division. 
 The total wealth of the country means little when 
 
 67 
 
68 More 
 
 divided by our whole population — especially the 
 wealth that would retain value after such a division. 
 
 We have become so sodden with hereditary 
 American ideas of equality that we consider anything 
 abnormal as evid nee of an unhealthy source, though 
 it may simply represent a single unit of individuality 
 that is superior to the mass. Great fortunes particu- 
 larly excite resentment, unless the owner is so foolish 
 in expenditure as to prove himself of common tastes. 
 The envious one sees corporate stock double in value 
 on the stock exchange, and figures that some one 
 has been robbed of the excess — although no one 
 need buy at the high price and few do buy, except 
 in the hope of unloading on some other amateur. 
 Where so much wealth is made and so few have 
 power to hang on, it is not remarkable that some 
 should prosper abnormally. 
 
 We know that some do prosper, for we see what 
 they have purchased. Palaces arise in profusion, 
 private yachts fringe the coast-line, private cars are 
 plainly promiscuous. The billionaire is a twentieth- 
 century possibility. We hear that those with less 
 than ten millions of property are hardly expected to 
 entertain frequently in our largest city. Lofty heights 
 confront the aspirations of yeasty desire. 
 
 But the masses would not necessarily be any better 
 off if the wealthy spent for less showy toys than 
 yachts and cars. Were the money to be given in 
 charity — divided amongst those who tramp and 
 beg, fill asylums and poor-houses, loaf, steal and 
 live on others in ways peculiar and unwarrantable — 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 69 
 
 it is very possible that it would only increase the 
 total of mendicants, multiply improvidence and 
 rebuke honest labor. We do not want to put a 
 premium on poverty. There are millions who spent 
 instead of saving, who took their pleasure, and 
 would still be glad to share in another's saved 
 pleasure. 
 
 To those who would not accept charity it makes 
 but httle difference whether the waste of the scat- 
 terers is garnered by few hands or many. There are 
 good reasons why it is even better to have it centred 
 in the few. The few will waste less than the many 
 might and that which is not wasted will usually be 
 put to uses which benefit the community as well as 
 the owner. We have many countries which lack our 
 quota of multi-millionaires, but as a rule they show 
 no amazing lack of paupers. 
 
 There are honest men to-day as in all time, and 
 honest rich men too. The rich can hardly afford to 
 be dishonest as a class, since they would suffer most 
 from a spread of dishonesty. The envious do not 
 really care whether riches were fairly obtained or not. 
 It is the wealth itself which excites their jealousy 
 and their unreasoning antagonism of unsatisfied 
 desire. They argue in a crude, blunt way, that favor 
 is in evidence, if not force or fraud. They will not 
 even admit the right of the wealthy to share with 
 their own offspring. 
 
 The favored profit whenever the wealthy are weak, 
 vain or generous. Those burdened with a surplus 
 must eventually give away what they do not waste or 
 
70 More 
 
 consume. Hang on however grimly, death at last 
 relaxes the clutch. The exigencies of the case create 
 a favored class. It profits by kinship, amiability or 
 suggestive influence. What right has the outside 
 world to share, unless it, too, has pleased, or fawned 
 or flattered? 
 
 It may claim a right since it can prove that the 
 wealth was stolen from its individuals, but even if 
 the proof be positive, it were braver to insist on 
 restitution while the holder were living. If there is 
 no proof, the world had better maintain a respectful 
 distance and mind its own business. 
 
 People seem to think that they have a vested right 
 in large fortunes because of some mysterious special 
 protection given the large wealth-owner. The law 
 uses less effort, however, in protecting the million 
 dollars of the one, than the thousand fortunes of one 
 thousand dollars each, owned by the smaller capital- 
 ists. The small fortunes are protected by much 
 extra oversight given gratuitously by unpaid trustees 
 of savings banks and other semi-public institutions. 
 People think they grant great favor in allowing a 
 man to accumulate a million, but they are rather 
 allowing conditions which give them their own 
 desired chance to attempt to do the same. 
 
 There is a definite scheme now formulating to 
 effect the final pillage of the rich through graduated, 
 or special taxes. The precedent is already estab- 
 lished, since the wealthy already bear nearly all the 
 cost of local expense and improvement. In large 
 centres the sphere of public expenditure is widening 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 71 
 
 to include parks, libraries, hospitals, boulevards, 
 swimming-pools, gymnasiums, nurseries and dancing- 
 pavilions. The public is already schooled and pro- 
 tected at the expense of the tax-payer; it is only a 
 step to provide the poorer classes with more material 
 necessities. A graduated income tax would supply 
 an extra revenue for such a purpose and inheritance 
 taxes are also proposed. Since we have grown so 
 lax in penahzing criminality, we are going to make 
 up for it by penalizing ability, thrift, prudence and 
 good judgment. 
 
 When we make it unprofitable for men to make 
 wealth beyond a certain fixed quantity, we encourage 
 them to extravagance or cut short their activity. It 
 would be as logical to chloroform them when arriving 
 at this fijced state of utility, or condemn them to 
 enforced existence in the vacuous realms of our so- 
 called pleasure resorts. By no means should they 
 be allowed to connect in any way with useful purpose 
 by which they could possibly add to the world's 
 wealth with any fraction of extra personal gain ! 
 
 The profits that make men rich are not necessarily 
 made at any one's expense. When a man actually 
 saves a million out of the profits of production he has 
 usually created other millions for the public at the 
 same time. The author has personal knowledge 
 of a monopoly which controlled a certain invention 
 for a term of years, making a gross profit of some 
 $12,000,000 within this period. There were heavy 
 expenses for subsidiary patents, experiments, litiga- 
 tion and introduction, to come out of this sum, and 
 
72 More 
 
 yet the saving of actual costs of production to the 
 public by use of the device in the United States 
 alone was over $250,000,000 — a fact publicly stated 
 and never questioned. Other countries profited with 
 no payment whatever to the introducers, and the 
 profits of all continue to grow. 
 
 Under modern sentiment the public might have 
 stepped in to say that enough profit had been made 
 and the introducers could now retire; but the 
 same men took hold of a luckless idea, which had 
 stripped confiding capitalists for over half a century, 
 and they won a success which prompted a high 
 authority to claim publicly that the yearly profits 
 of use would be sufficient nearly to pay the interest 
 on our national debt. Would it pay to discourage 
 this sort of ambition ? 
 
 It were a poor plan to harass the man who creates 
 ten dollars of value because he keeps one. It were 
 better to restrict the profits of another who lives on 
 the income of property which he did not create nor 
 improve. We can reduce the common rate of income 
 from existing property by enacting laws that shall 
 keep us liberally supplied with currency and by 
 establishing a popular respect for property rights 
 that shall give capital confidence and loosen the 
 hoards of the timid. Interest rates are usually low 
 in times of stability and confidence, if no artificial 
 stringency of currency exists. Capital always 
 demands a premium to offset uneasiness when voters 
 get impractical. Reduce interest rates and a lot 
 of people who now live on income will have to en- 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 73 
 
 croach on their capital or go to work. Make capital 
 suflBciently timid and it will not flow at all. The 
 rich can stand a temporary loss, but the people suffer 
 extremely when industry is paralyzed for want of the 
 capital which is its very life-blood. 
 
 Since we get our earnings, or profits, in money, 
 which is spending-power, any surplus piled up repre- 
 sents restraint of the natural desire to spend available 
 funds at the earliest opportunity. We may be 
 simply postponing the spending until we can get 
 enough surplus to make a splurge, or we may be 
 saving to buy stable property of an income-producing 
 character. In either event we have a perfectly 
 ethical right to withhold from immediate waste, the 
 public meanwhile often charging a commission in the 
 form of taxes to pay for protection against the 
 lawless and the envious. Those who preferred to 
 enjoy the immediate possibilities in their earnings 
 have no right to direct use of a saved surplus, unless 
 it be employed to injure the community. 
 
 Yet we find that the utterers of public opinion 
 assume that a man should use a certain per cent of 
 large surplus in charity and devote a certain per cent 
 at death for public benefit. There seems to be a 
 curious idea that surplus always represents the fruit 
 of luck, or gift, or theft, or fraud, — an unearned 
 or ill-gotten hoard, really belonging to the poor 
 plucked people. 
 
 It is certainly evident that any surplus represents 
 an amoimt which has not yet been used to profit the 
 owner, except as he derives income from its use. 
 
74 More 
 
 Were it spent in silent debauch, the public would 
 show no interest and make no demand. The public 
 really puts a premium on extravagance and self- 
 indulgence. 
 
 Many have a cordial dislike for the average type 
 of wealth gatherer since it is self-evident that amongst 
 any group of equally capable and equally courageous 
 men, the meaner, more selfish type will probably save 
 more out of earnings. The possessors are leavened 
 somewhat by a few liberal spirits who have profited 
 by great audacity or good fortune, but such are not 
 often permanent factors. Critics must remember 
 that the very meanness which they condemn is one 
 of the stable factors by which progress is possible. 
 We would not have clean streets it certain men did 
 not sweep up the muck, and we shall not have much 
 property if certain men do not love property more 
 than their fellow-men, — more than themselves. 
 
 Wealth is impersonal. The wealth of the rich is 
 not different from the wealth of the less rich or from 
 the small savings of the strugghng. Fair treatment 
 of wealth means encouragement of wealth production. 
 More wealth means more wages, more wages more 
 wealth. Those who wish to win fairly can have no 
 logical envy of those who won fairly themselves. If 
 there are any now capable of using fair means there 
 were certainly others like them who accumulated 
 some of the wealth now existing. The possession of 
 wealth is no evidence of evil — the shoes on our 
 feet are wealth. There is no invisible line where 
 just ownership stops and injustice commences. The 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 75 
 
 one who proclaimed that no man could possibly 
 properly earn a million dollars must have been 
 brought up in a land devoid of inventions, devoid of 
 the genius of organization and devoid of financial 
 pluck. If any allow that a man can properly amass 
 a thousand dollars, it is easily proved that the simple 
 investing of such a sum in any one of several standard 
 investments, fifty years ago, would have returned a 
 million to-day by simple re-investing of dividends 
 meanwhile in the same or similar lines. There are 
 many men who earn enough from their advice to 
 accumulate a million in a brief term of years. There 
 are plenty of inventors who have added a hundred 
 millions to the world's wealth and explorers who have 
 opened up possibilities equal in amount. Others 
 have discovered ways of preventing great waste, 
 introduced economies of system, suggested schemes 
 of betterment. Plenty of wealth has been truly 
 earned — if the earners had only taken it ! 
 
 The public must learn to draw a distinction 
 between those who make wealth and keep a fraction 
 and those who make nothing but get much. The 
 profits of either class are grossly exaggerated as we 
 almost invariably discover when estates are summed 
 up after the death of the owner. Many with good 
 incomes are living as if they owned the source of 
 supply — when the source owns them. The wealth 
 supposedly in private hands lies often in bank vaults 
 as collateral for loans. It is not what a man has, 
 or what he spends, that determines his fortune — it is 
 the difference between what he has and what he owes. 
 
76 More 
 
 The quickly enriched are mostly in evidence. 
 
 There is a distinct line of demarcation between 
 those who make and those who inherit wealth. The 
 larger makings are incited by the spirit of pride. 
 The wealth-gatherer likes to expose the measure of 
 his gatherings. Inheritors are more moderate in 
 their display. Few like to boast of what another 
 has done for them. 
 
 In 1850 a fortune of fifty millions was unknown 
 within our borders. To-day, we talk of one holding 
 of ten times that sum. We ought to be grateful, by 
 contrast, to many who have done as much and taken 
 less, for there are peculiar chances open to those 
 with abundant resources — chances that exist be- 
 cause of wide-spreading prosperity and reckless 
 incapacity amongst the prosperous. One man with 
 fifty millions of quick capital could create small 
 panics in our financial centres at will. Manipulators 
 with much less of resources have governed the market 
 price of wheat, cotton, pork, coffee and other staples. 
 These audacious swash-bucklers cut quite a swath, 
 at times, concentrating much public attention on 
 their monetary exploits, but the unpleasantly ob- 
 trusive sink out of sight as the wheels roll on ; it is 
 the quiet sow which absorbs the most swill. 
 
 The profits of those who use capital are earned in 
 a competition which is open to the entire world. 
 There is no tariff to assist the money-lender, no trust 
 controlling financiers or finances. If we attack, or 
 annoy, capital, we simply drive funds and their 
 owners to foreign shores. There are plenty of natural 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 77 
 
 attractions in other countries to make existence there 
 pleasurable, and it were dangerous to make the com- 
 parison with our cruder delights yet stronger. 
 
 The owners of great fortunes will hold them until 
 they are taken away from them, or until they waste 
 them, or give them away. In the giving to heirs, 
 wealth is gradually scattered, but the only giving 
 that directly benefits the immediate majority is that 
 which is made in the form of gratuities. 
 
 One might expect that the public would welcome 
 such division of assets, but the public usually sniffs 
 and criticizes. Part of the comment comes from 
 those who dislike kindness since they wish to retain 
 their cherished injuries ; but there is much that rests 
 on a better foundation, appreciating the evils in 
 undeserved charities. 
 
 Ill advised gratuity can do much to weaken self- 
 reliance and pauperize the self-respecting. If 
 charity encourages dependency, degeneration has 
 set in and dissolution threatens. When a magnate 
 meets public criticism of the manner of his makings 
 by heavy donations for public uses, the public treats 
 the concession as a confession. Let those uneasy 
 from surplus devote it to developing utilities by 
 which the world will be enriched as a whole, rather 
 than provide an excess of mental literary excitement 
 for devourers of light literature or more halls of 
 learning where the immature absorb the stale views 
 of the dead. 
 
 It is often assumed that the poor deserve a share 
 in the wealth of the mighty because they have been 
 
78 More 
 
 robbed by the aggression of the very trusts and 
 monopolies which have multiplied individual wealth. 
 The poor were worse oflF, however, before the great 
 aggregations of capital were known. Men still 
 living tell of the times when they worked as children 
 in this country, fourteen hours a day for half a cent 
 an hour, and skilled workmen were glad to get a 
 dollar a day. The profits of capital have been 
 steadily diminishing with the advance of civilization. 
 One hundred per cent was recognized as legitimate 
 yearly interest on capital in the time of Charlemagne. 
 There are now standard popular investments which 
 yield not over three per cent on the price that in- 
 vestors are willing to pay for them. 
 
 Not that the general improvement should blind us 
 to the associating imperfections ! We must establish 
 sufficient security for fitly acquired riches so that 
 the fitly enriched will join in stripping the criminally 
 enriched and preventing criminal acquisitions. When 
 we assail riches, as such, we encourage the rich of 
 all sorts to join in defence. It is the false loyalty of 
 such associations that hampers us in effective ref- 
 ormation. There would be much less suspicion in 
 the ranks of the restless if some well-to-do thief 
 went to jail once in a while and served out his sen- 
 tence without a pardon. 
 
 The views of the majority are supposedly expressed 
 in the periodicals read by the majority. Those who 
 prepare the printed thought may try to cater to their 
 understanding of the actual belief of the people, or 
 they may try to cultivate belief in their own particular 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 79 
 
 view. In either case they may utterly fail to represent 
 the true current of public feeling. 
 
 Public opinion is not a voluntary expression. The 
 people do not publicly express their original opinions. 
 They only know of public occurrences through 
 evidence selected by others with more or less preju- 
 dice and purpose. In a health hearing in which 
 evidence distinctly unfavorable to a great class of 
 advertisers was presented, the press of a great city 
 gave its readers no detail whatever, although the 
 information was of great importance to its readers. 
 Without evidence the public could have no knowl- 
 edge. Its opinion is necessarily a reflection from the 
 opinions of its policy-shapers — its paper, politician 
 or preacher. It does not adopt all the suggestions 
 of its expounders, but it does not wander outside the 
 lines of their suggestions. 
 
 When the press, platform or pulpit touch on 
 questions of wealth, we should remember that indi- 
 vidual circum^ances affect mental processes, un- 
 consciously biassing decisions. Editors, politicians 
 and clergymen — of the type appealing to the 
 majority — are not over-burdened with property, 
 as a rule, neither do they create wealth in any direct 
 sense. Their sympathies are not naturally with the 
 wealth-owner or the wealth-creator. Their attitude 
 on financial matters is inevitably warped, to a 
 certain degree, and that degree must be accounted 
 for in the reckoning. 
 
 Why then is not the author's view a prejudiced 
 one ? It is, but it is prejudiced in favor of prosperity 
 
80 More 
 
 for the majority, since the author makes his living 
 out of the profits of sales of products which are 
 in best demand when the country is prosperous. 
 Were he running a pawn-shop, or selling coffins, 
 his advice might properly arouse suspicion. 
 
 The only wealth regulation that is necessary is a 
 regulation that shall prevent some from taking what 
 does not belong to them. The people have the power 
 to correct existing evils, but they spend their effort 
 in petty wars of party rather than in co-operation 
 for reform. By reform, I do not mean the equal 
 waste of effort which concentrates on the indictment 
 of a few unfortunates without giving a thought to 
 the devising of law that shall meet the conditions 
 presented by our rapidly changing circumstances. 
 
 We need not only better protection but better sense 
 of self-protection and self-interest. It is we who 
 scatter the money that the grabbers pocket, who turn 
 over funds to men miles away, whom we do not know 
 and never will see. It is we who invariably buy 
 what the-man-who-knows does not want. 
 
 A noticeable element in the community secretly 
 applauds when some clever one cheats the rich, but 
 perhaps the rich will pass the loss along, even as 
 the grocer makes us pay the bad debts of his worth- 
 less customers. The elements of society are inter- 
 dependent in the main. It is possible for a few to 
 profit at the expense of the others — but we are con- 
 sidering the others. 
 
 It is appalling to note what men will do for wealth. 
 They draw teeth from corpses for the gold filling, cut 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 81 
 
 fingers from dying soldiers on the field of battle and 
 swallow rough stones at the diamond fields. They 
 will poison the milk for children to make a profit 
 and cheat the suffering with substitutes for required 
 drugs. They will erect unsafe buildings, use arsenic 
 in wall-paper, let sewer-gas leak through cheap 
 plumbing and place lead weights in life-preservers 
 since they are cheaper than cork; and, still, it is 
 questionable whether the possession of wealth in 
 the average ownership offsets the attendant annoy- 
 ances and the attending incentives toward folly 
 and deterioration. The robber often acquires his 
 punishment in the profit of his crime. 
 
 Regulation of Monopolies 
 
 Monopolies include both majorities of men and 
 means. Our political system illustrates rule by 
 majority of voters, and the monopolies thus estab- 
 lished often bleed great cities of enormous sums. 
 We waste time in pointing out the remedy for such 
 simple problems. The questions introduced by 
 business aggregations are more difficult, since they 
 often claim to have organized for betterment. The 
 organizations of the workers demand first notice 
 since they anticipated, and possibly incited, the 
 organizations of capital. 
 
 Labor Unions 
 
 Labor unions are as old as civilization. In days 
 of autocracy the workers had to band together to 
 
82 More 
 
 have any forceful significance. Such unions seem 
 somewhat anomalous in lands where the laborers 
 vote equally with their employers, dominate them in 
 number and direct the course of law, whenever they 
 choose to exert their united power. 
 
 In union there is strength. But strength is danger- 
 ous without fit guidance. It takes the very best 
 brains to govern properly the strength of united 
 human desire. The masses will not respect the 
 advice of intelligent men unless it panders to the 
 unethical demands of greed, or is backed by authority 
 of force. 
 
 There is no legal force within a labor union. Such 
 power is pre-empted by our greater Union — the 
 United States. Our labor unions by their very 
 existence imply that a government by the people 
 does not serve their purposes. They must, therefore, 
 have purposes that are opposed to the wishes of the 
 majority — purposes of special privilege — at the 
 expense of the rest of the people, for equal privileges 
 are guaranteed them under the Constitution. 
 
 The opposition of unionism to Nationalism is 
 clearly seen in the attitude of unionists to the govern- 
 ment as a whole. Not only have union members 
 been officially advised against joining the militia, 
 but the flag of our country has been publicly hissed 
 in a great gathering of labor union delegates, 
 supposedly representing picked men, the very best, 
 if such a class would choose its best. Those who 
 are unwilling to sustain our government are traitorous 
 as citizens under this government, especially when 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 83 
 
 the antagonism is expressed for the government as 
 a whole, rather than to some single policy which 
 might be fairly open to criticism. 
 
 Labor unites to gain strength by volume. If its 
 acts en masse were guided by clear reasoning and 
 justice, they could effect good purpose. When 
 guided by mere greed, envy of those more fortunate, 
 or a spirit of revenge for real or fancied injury, they 
 are commonly unethical and unwise. 
 
 Even were the actual needs of the majority to 
 govern, the results might be fairly estimable; but 
 bodies banded in organization are swayed by a few 
 clever leaders who naturally look after their own 
 personal interests while assuming to represent the 
 whole. When such leaders live by salary they must 
 show capacity for their earnings and are thus stirred 
 into questionable activity. 
 
 Unionists often show deep-felt loyalty to their 
 organization, thinking of it as higher than duty to 
 family, country or law. They yield allegiance be- 
 cause it is theirs — not shared with envied rich or 
 contemptuous superiors. Since it is theirs they should 
 cherish its honor — and not use it in a spirit of greed, 
 malice or folly. 
 
 Antagonistic organizations usually owe some 
 strength to the errors of the antagonized. There are 
 many questions necessarily arising between employer 
 and employee — questions which can not always be 
 settled between workmen and their foremen. If, 
 when workmen select one of their number to present 
 their view, occasion is soon after found to dispense 
 
84 More 
 
 with the exponent's services, no wonder that the men 
 join unions which furnish special officers to act in 
 representation. 
 
 Employers often will not recognize the right of 
 any outsider to interfere, and strikes often ensue. 
 The primal error may consist in the arbitrary posi- 
 tion assumed in not recognizing the rights of work- 
 men to discuss matters of possible moment. The 
 employer who cannot explain the reason for any 
 existing condition is admittedly defenceless in sup- 
 porting that condition. There might be more good 
 feeling, good work and common loyalty, were rela- 
 tions between employers and employed more con- 
 fidential. 
 
 The arbitrary policy has given us the unions and 
 the strikes, the desire to strike, to limit supply of 
 help, to limit service and to antagonize in politics. 
 Mistakes breed errors and errors are evidence of 
 mistakes. No class, or kind, is so virtuous that it 
 can wholly deny complicity for prevailing abuses. 
 
 Unionism aims at higher wages, less hours of 
 labor, and easier, or healthier, conditions of toil. 
 It also expects, in time, to secure indemnity for 
 injury, whether caused by negligence on the part of 
 the laborer or not, some system of old-age pension 
 and some protection against discharge without 
 notice. Higher wages for all would be of no value 
 to any, since all prices would rise proportionately. 
 Less hours for all would reduce the earnings of all. 
 Other suggested changes tend to eliminate the owner 
 of property as a factor in deciding how he shall run 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 85 
 
 his own business. These changes are to be brought 
 about by voters, which eUminates the necessity for 
 the union as a factor. The unions are clever enough 
 to aid in measures that please the whole body of 
 workers, but they are first interested in getting higher 
 wages and shorter hours for union members alone. 
 
 Were all workers unionized they would soon find 
 that they can not have more than the whole profit — 
 for an appreciable period — and some of them get 
 that already. Favored sections, however, can force 
 higher wages by raising the price of product, or 
 service, in which they are interested. Thus, if there 
 were ten trades, and the unions controlled five, 
 they could profit by raising their own wages, for they 
 would be able to buy from the other five trades at 
 the old price. 
 
 The trades in which unions can succeed in raising 
 wages and prices are limited by the competition from 
 countries which the local unions do not control. 
 Even with the tariff, we get brisk competition in 
 various Unes of manufactured products. It is im- 
 possible to raise wages when the price of production 
 here is so high that we can not compete with foreign 
 importations. 
 
 Unions, therefore, find their logical utility in lines 
 that are naturally protected, or of local significance. 
 Foreigners can not ship us houses ready built, they 
 can not print our daily papers. Local traffic de- 
 mands men conversant with our streets and addresses. 
 Immigrants may not promptly replace them. It is, 
 then, in the building trades, the printing trades and 
 
86 More 
 
 the trucking and teaming trades, that we find the 
 strongest unions and the highest pay per unit of 
 efficiency. 
 
 We have had successful strikes in the anthracite 
 coal industry, but they were possible because no 
 other country has such coal to spare for us at reason- 
 able rates. We all know what the success of the 
 unions has meant for us in getting higher pay in the 
 favored trades — costlier buildings, higher rents, 
 costlier coal. The merchants of Chicago had to 
 build a freight tunnel to outwit the truck-drivers 
 and the newspapers are forced to accept questionable 
 advertisements to offset the extra cost in their print- 
 ing departments. 
 
 The conditions in the building trades furnish an 
 excellent illustration of unionism gone mad — -less 
 buildings and higher rents for the community, in 
 order that some special limited class shall have 
 shorter hours and higher pay than other laborers of 
 equal capacity. The great mass who suffer from 
 high rents blame the landlords, but the landlords 
 are able to demand higher rents only because new 
 capital can not be profitably invested in other build- 
 ings since the cost is so high. Every dweller in a 
 foul-aired flat should stop and think out why he 
 has to sacrifice his self-respect. It is because he, and 
 we, do nothing to prevent the tyranny of men's 
 monopoly — the greed of the unfairly paid workmen, 
 unfair in the excess enforced. 
 
 All trades can not demand higher wages as they 
 would wreck unprotected employers. Limited 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 87 
 
 sections can get advantages within any trade and 
 these advantages are always at the expense of the 
 majority, since the majority is thus kept from 
 sharing in any natural increase. If there is a general 
 rise, the unions claim the credit, although prosperity 
 also brings higher wages to sections of the country 
 in which the unions have no footing. 
 
 In ordinary times in any wide trade there is one 
 section on the verge of bankruptcy, one section keep- 
 ing even, and one section making good profit. In 
 good times, the last section will be making great 
 profit and the rest some profit. In bad times the 
 first section fails, the second section loses money and 
 the last section holds its own. It is possible for these 
 variations to exist in individual instances when the 
 plants and equipment are similar, the difference being 
 solely in the management. 
 
 Now the unions want the profiting section to give 
 them higher wages, but why should it? It would 
 dissatisfy the workmen in the other sections, or force 
 their employers also to raise wages and run at more 
 loss. The consumers will urge that the profiting 
 section should reduce the prices of its goods; but 
 that would also ruin the other sections which must 
 meet the prices. There is no justice in giving unions 
 extra profits that are not due to any extra exertion 
 of their members. 
 
 Yet the sentimental public expects prosperous 
 employers to raise wages, reduce prices and dispense 
 any possible left-over surplus in private charities. 
 The fact that some yield to the suggestivity of 
 
88 More 
 
 expectation does not necessarily establish a precedent 
 for the rest to follow. 
 
 There are many individual industries where the 
 cost of producing the goods is not low, nor the 
 processes economical, yet they profit by shrewdness 
 in purchase of raw material, or cleverness in placing, 
 or advertising, their goods. The workmen may be 
 an average lot or actually low in comparative effi- 
 ciency. Through what twist of logic are they entitled 
 to a share of such extra profits ? 
 
 Workmen have a perfect right to say they will not 
 work without a certain pay, but their say is of no 
 consequence unless it be a fairly universal decision. 
 When the laws of supply and demand have adjusted 
 the standard there is no reason why one employer 
 should pay more than another for the same serv- 
 ice. 
 
 An employer is certainly justified in paying extra 
 wages if his men are more loyal and more efficient 
 than the average, but even then there would be 
 diversity in capacity which should properly require 
 adjustment to individuals. Any discriminations 
 of this nature are strongly fought by unions since 
 they want to have their members get increased pay 
 because they are unionists, irrespective of their 
 varied capacity. 
 
 It is common knowledge that unions discourage 
 extra effort on the part of their more competent 
 members for fear it will emphasize the inferiority 
 of some other union members. This has resulted in 
 the setting of a scale in England that determines 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 89 
 
 how many bricks a mason can lay pef hour, with 
 union inspectors keeping count to see that none do 
 more than the poorer workmen. There is no dis- 
 position to assist the employer in obtaining results; 
 the unionists are working for themselves and aiming 
 at giving the least work, in the fewest hours, for the 
 highest possible pay. 
 
 The piece-work system affords a just method by 
 which an individual can profit by extra skill and the 
 premium system for perfect work is an associative 
 means for better results. The unions always antago- 
 nize reward for capacity. Their lowering of labor 
 to the level of the least fit is so plainly unfair as to 
 bring contempt on the whole union body. If the 
 stupid and the slothful are to determine output, why 
 not go further and set standards by bed-ridden 
 cripples ? 
 
 Many considerate people believe in a shorter- 
 hour day whenever it is feasible. They argue that 
 more leisure will expand desire, exercise faculty and 
 aid progress toward a higher civilization. Develop- 
 ment demands diversification and we need it more 
 than ever since specialization makes toil more 
 tedious. 
 
 Eight hours may seem long enough for any em- 
 ployment of continuous application, but we cannot 
 have an eight-hour day unless our tariff barrier be 
 kept towering and unless a better profit be allowed 
 to the employer. The plant which runs less hours 
 loses in almost every line of general expense. 
 
90 More 
 
 And we cannot have the universal eight-hour 
 day without less wages or higher prices — which 
 amounts to the same thing. We hear a lot of cheap 
 talk about workmen producing more in eight hours 
 than in ten, but how can this apply to industries in 
 which the machine does the producing ? Manufac- 
 turers run their machinery as fast as they can now — 
 it is absurd to think that a machine can produce 
 more in less time. 
 
 We can imagine a possible re-adaptation of con- 
 ditions under which factories can run with double 
 shifts even longer than now, and we might rhapsodize 
 on a beatific routine of labor under which the worker 
 shall do his little stunt in the mill in the morning and 
 refresh his soul with the weeding of potatoes in the 
 afternoon, some other worker, fresh from the farm, 
 exchanging to the vacant mill job. There are many 
 things possible, but few practical. If the workers 
 want the eight-hour day to-day, they must pay for 
 it out of their pay. 
 
 The average wage of the worker has doubled in 
 dollars and more than doubled in purchase power 
 within the last fifty years. This rate of gain can not 
 continue indefinitely. We have had a new country 
 to exploit, rich in fertility and mineral wealth. The 
 best land is now taken and further development of 
 area must come through expensive irrigation or 
 other reclaiming. Machinery is reaching its logical 
 limits in certain lines — the improvement to come 
 will be of minor importance. There are many 
 machine applications to-day in which an operative 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 91 
 
 now does the work of a thousand operatives one 
 hundred years ago. Were one to replace a thousand 
 of the present type he must do the work of a miUion 
 of the eariier grade — which is absurd. The pro- 
 ducing power of the soil is decreasing under use. 
 There are few radical changes conceivable in our 
 farming operations. 
 
 The worker can not therefore depend on the in- 
 ventor to keep up the present scale of cost reduction. 
 He must begin to do more of himself. He must aim 
 to help instead of to hinder — to get higher wages 
 by doing more work or better work. If he does not 
 get fair pay for his labor he should change his em- 
 ployer. If he cannot be loyal to his employer it were 
 better for both that they should work apart. 
 
 One should not place a false value on his capacity 
 when conditions affect its value. Worth is not 
 determined by capacity at all times — it is deter- 
 mined by supply and demand. A machinist may 
 be more intelligent than a bricklayer but he will 
 get less pay if bricklayers happen to be scarcer 
 than the demand. Poets illustrate a refined type, 
 but the world pays them poorly because it has but 
 little use for poetry, refined or otherwise. It is well 
 to be ambitious — but not too ambitious. Many 
 restlessly reach for positions beyond the limits of 
 their capacity. The one who knows when he has 
 " arrived " is saving himself a lot of worry and dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 The world receives in rain just the amount of 
 water drawn up into the clouds. Certain sections 
 
92 More 
 
 get more than their share, which necessitates less 
 than their share for other sections. There is a certain 
 amount of product made and that product limits 
 the wages of those engaged in its production. If 
 some of them get too much, the rest must get too 
 little. If the union members are over-paid, some of 
 the rest must be under-paid. You can get but two 
 pints out of a quart pot. 
 
 A herd of wild horses is of no economical impor- 
 tance. Break them to harness and they can pull 
 the plough and help in the raising of farm produce. 
 No one contends that they shall eat all the grain 
 that they assist in raising; yet many assert that 
 labor is entitled to the whole product made, although 
 machinery does most of the work. If brains design 
 a device which enables one workman to do the work 
 of two, it is the brains and the dollars which pro- 
 duced the device which are doing the labor of the 
 man discarded, and those who supplied the brains 
 and the dollars are entitled to that man's pay. 
 
 Were it not for the complications introduced by 
 money, the problem of division would be easily 
 solved. Were laborers paid a share of the product 
 actually made by their efforts, they could easily see 
 how much was left for the employer. The use of 
 money enables the laborers to take at times more 
 than they actually make — though they will never 
 believe it. They get their pay while the product is 
 making — it may be sold at a loss. 
 
 The ultimate evolution of the corporation system 
 will undoubtedly yield some sort of profit-sharing 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 93 
 
 opportunity for all those workers whose individual 
 control of results aids in determining the size of the 
 profit. When each worker appreciates a personal 
 loss from the shirking of his fellow-worker, there will 
 be less shirking and less waste. 
 
 The only way in which to get all that one makes is 
 to work for one's self — but one's self may be a very 
 incompetent master. The majority are no more fit 
 to employ themselves than they are to physic them- 
 selves. 
 
 The unions have not only forced under-payment 
 of some through their own excess, but they have 
 forced many out of work entirely. They have forced 
 minimum rates of pay in certain lines which are so 
 high that the employer will not hire any but the very 
 efficient. The old men and the slow men can not 
 ply their trades at all. The unions have also dis- 
 couraged the cheapening of products to the consumer 
 by discouraging the use of labor-saving machinery 
 in demanding all its profits. The author has personal 
 knowledge of a case where men split stone by ham- 
 mering on small drills for two dollars each per day. 
 Expensive air-compressors were installed and pneu- 
 matic drills given the men which greatly reduced 
 their effort and required no more skill — the men 
 changed over to the air drills on a day's notice. 
 Appreciating the profit to the employer in the use 
 of the new process, these men struck for an increase 
 to four dollars and fifty cents. 
 
 I know that there are decent men in the union 
 ranks — honest, but misled men. There are some 
 
94 More 
 
 honorable men on both sides of every great question, 
 but one side is usually wrong. We must ignore 
 individuals and consider principles. 
 
 The unionists might have attained more as a 
 whole, if they had never organized. It is poor policy 
 to force employers to do what they might have done 
 by their own volition ; they will ever after wait to be 
 forced and fight against enforcement. 
 
 Workmen don't like to work — as a rule. They 
 hold the employer responsible for the existence 
 of work and therefore cherish a fundamental griev- 
 ance. They should remember that the employer 
 is also responsible for the wages and not legally 
 bound to pay any particular price for labor. It is 
 not good taste to demand a favor as a right. Little 
 is gained by bullying a weak employer into bank- 
 ruptcy; it simply hastens the breeding of martinets. 
 
 It is useless to criticize men for taking legal advan- 
 tage of opportunity. We should rather criticize 
 those who allow the opportunity. It is just as natural 
 for unionists to gain selfishly as it is for any other 
 sect which disregards primal ethics. It is just as 
 natural for them to support their law-breakers as it 
 is for social lights to hush up the evidence of crime 
 in high circles. When the notorious Sam Parks was 
 found guilty of blackmailing contractors, his cohorts 
 put him at the head of a labor procession to empha- 
 size their continued regard. As one expressed it, 
 " We don't care how much he made on the side ; he 
 got us four dollars a day." This seems distressingly 
 immoral, but why different from the publicly printed 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 95 
 
 recommendations for re-election of supine life 
 insurance directors, or the acts of their whitewashing 
 committees ? 
 
 No, it is useless to grow indignant when strikers 
 maul scabs or jack up wages on a contractor in the 
 middle of a contract job. We should rather rejoice 
 that success tempts to excess, since reformation is 
 thereby hastened. Combinations of workers must be 
 handled by combinations of employers ; and remem- 
 ber that the employers always have the right to stop 
 and wait whenever it is really necessary. 
 
 Many of that great indefinite class known as the 
 people, think of the union as a valiant knight, fight- 
 ing for the rights of laborers in the whole. Non- 
 sense ! little effort is wasted for others in this hard- 
 headed age. Laborers should be wearying of those 
 who think to flatter by sympathizing with them as 
 poor abused weaklings. There is too much senti- 
 mentalism squirted into labor discussions. The 
 demagogue appeals to sympathies since he is not 
 qualified to appeal to reason. The unions are lessen- 
 ing the value of the average laborer's dollar, while 
 claiming that they get their excess of wages out of the 
 pocket of the employer. Of course they get it out 
 of some one, but the employer is a man who has 
 qualified himself as an expert in looking after his 
 own interests and it is hardly likely that he suffers 
 from those whose experience in finance is far 
 less. 
 
 High pay for short days profits little if the days are 
 few. These high wages in the building trades have 
 
96 More 
 
 brought about long spells of idleness. Let the 
 higher paid workman honestly figure his total yearly 
 earnings and see if there be any real increase. If 
 there seems to be a surplus, let him figure the added 
 cost of common purchases increased through higher 
 wages to other trades. If he really thinks he has 
 profited, what has he got to prove it ? Has he had 
 any better food, any better home, any more money 
 in the bank ? Is he as sure of his job and on as good 
 terms with his employer .f" Is he not a bit nervous 
 at the thought of possible business depression which 
 will make his services unnecessary ? 
 
 Yet, while the unions may have hindered more 
 than they have helped, it is not too late for reform. 
 Their increasing intelligence, acquired through 
 experience, wiU teach them that they have great 
 power for self-help if they join with their employers 
 for mutual benefit. The problems of the future are 
 to be solved in halls of legislation and the producers 
 should be strongly united in defence of their legiti- 
 mate interests. Too commonly we see employers 
 straining all their energies to protect industries, 
 which employ laborers, to find that their most serious 
 opposition comes from the very voters within their 
 plants who fight their own future favors because of 
 blind antagonism to those from whom they get their 
 pay. Did they know how those enriched through 
 their stupidity laugh in secret at their folly, they 
 might be shamed into sense; but the very existence 
 of profit-sucking do-nothings is evidence that igno- 
 rance courts chastisement. 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 97 
 
 Trusts 
 
 Great aggregations of capital are making great 
 profits. 
 
 Many think that they are making unfair profits. 
 They see dividends paid on stock issued on the very 
 capitalization of concentration and urge that it is 
 not just that the consumer should make value for 
 intangible assets. 
 
 The consumer has possibly forced his own un- 
 doing. 
 
 It was the organization of the workers and the 
 sharp competition of the employers that forced the 
 first to combine. The consumers did not prevent 
 the hardships that produced the necessity, they even 
 hastened the outcome by threatening our financial 
 standards and fooUng with our tariflf schedules. On 
 discovering that combinations of the weak can bully 
 a few of the strong, employers conceived the bright 
 idea of combination amongst the strong. 
 
 The individual employer did not willingly yield 
 his freedom to become a mere unit in an aggregation. 
 Many still hold out against the modern method 
 since they will not sink their personality and sur- 
 render their control. The new system still demands 
 leaders, but fewer in number and bigger in brain. 
 The trusts that have found such men are uniformly 
 successful. 
 
 If no newlegislation interferes, we shall very possibly 
 see in time the preferred stocks of the stronger trusts 
 sell on a three and a half per cent basis, as our best 
 
98 More 
 
 railroad stocks have often sold. If this happens, 
 the holders will gain at least one hundred per cent 
 by the increase in value of this stock, which was 
 usually transferred for the actual value of their 
 former properties, and make at least another hundred 
 per cent from the value of the common stock, usually 
 given as a bonus, but averaging, in normal times, to 
 be worth more than par in the better established 
 of these large aggregations. 
 
 It must be said that the original holders of trust 
 stocks have been generous with the public since they 
 have not always been loyal to their own properties. 
 People have had ample opportunity to purchase 
 Sugar-common and Steel-preferred around sixty dol- 
 lars a share. Amalgamated Copper under forty, etc., 
 etc. The well-managed trusts have not only increased 
 in valuation, but they have also increased in assets. 
 The original water in the common stocks is being 
 soaked up by surplus. The possible new competitor 
 is daily put at an increased disadvantage. While 
 it is comparatively easy to combine existing indus- 
 tries, it is relatively hard to get large cash capital to 
 fight the combinations, especially when the larger 
 capitalists are so connected by investment and 
 association as to desire no increase of competition. 
 
 If the profits of the trusts are due to the economies 
 of the new system, they are entitled to them for 
 awhile, just as much as is the one who adopts any 
 profitable betterment. If they are due to restriction 
 of output in time of over-demand, they are tyrannical 
 and vulnerable. 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 99 
 
 We used to hear something of this restriction of 
 product in the early days of combinations, but that 
 particular bogy seems to have been lost sight of 
 recently. The steel trust has not only been forcing 
 all its furnaces but putting millions of capital into 
 new plants. The Amalgamated Copper Co. in- 
 augurated its early career by breaking the price of 
 copper and keeping it low for a period. No one has 
 claimed that the tobacco trust does not sell as good 
 cigarettes for the same price as did its component 
 companies, nor has it reduced the size of the plug. 
 The Standard Oil Company has certainly had to 
 take a great deal of criticism, but even if all that 
 we read is true, it does not necessarily follow that 
 all other trusts are equally culpable. There are 
 differences in corporations as in individuals. 
 
 If we admit a certain percentage of lawlessness in 
 the average human being it is logical to suppose that 
 a large corporation, acting necessarily through 
 thousands of officials, should show more of human 
 error than a single individual, or small corporation. 
 It has not yet been shown that any one trust is more 
 unlawful, in the whole, than were its component 
 companies before assimilation. 
 
 If a trust lowers prices the public denounces it as 
 a sneak, bound on ruining a small competitor. If 
 it raises prices, the same public, in its role of con- 
 sumer, is ready to sanction lynch-law. Tbeidutfcries 
 spring from envy rather than injury. There is 
 always a howl when a trust adds a cent to thfe plica 
 of a gallon of oil or a pound of su^ar, but none re- 
 
 : ' ' ' ' ' I ; I ; , 
 
100 More 
 
 buke the farmer when wheat sells at a dollar a 
 bushel, or when cotton nets him one hundred per 
 cent profit. The rich are always in the wrong ! 
 
 When the great department stores reduced prices 
 and began to lessen the profits of the small store- 
 keeper, there was a great splutter of wrath. Legis- 
 lators actually tried to prevent the cheapening of 
 distribution by urging laws, at popular demand, 
 that should prevent the selling of varied goods in one 
 establishment. Public sympathy was actually en- 
 listed against lower prices because they might make 
 some rich man richer. It is said that the war against 
 the mail-order houses is preventing us from having 
 a cheap postal-parcel system with its great economic 
 advantages for all who live outside of cities. The 
 public protects the small dealer at its own expense, 
 because he is a small dealer. 
 
 As to the question of higher prices, we should re- 
 member that in the fierce competition before trusts 
 were organized, prices often went below the actual 
 cost of production. It is not fair to quote those 
 prices and insist that the trusts should duplicate 
 them. The trusts often have to raise prices because 
 of high prices for raw material which they use. We 
 should have had high prices at times if trusts had 
 never been known. We have high prices in many 
 lines in which trusts have not been attempted. We 
 have Ijigh prices for hay when there is no hay trust, 
 high prices for lumber when there is no lumber trust. 
 Thpre, l;as been great outcry against those who con- 
 trol a ceiftain range of food products, but there is 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 101 
 
 still plenty of land on which to pasture cattle and 
 raise chickens. 
 
 If we analyze the bulk of criticism, we shall find 
 that the small producer, who claims that the trust 
 is immoral because it under-sells him, . is just as 
 noisy as is the consumer who claims that trusts have 
 caused higher prices. It is plain to all that trusts 
 will encourage competition if they keep prices too 
 high. The fact that they do have plenty of competi- 
 tion proves that they allow the smaller concerns to 
 make profit enough to keep them alive ; and if they 
 do not allow them a fair profit, it is we, the con- 
 sumers, who get the benefit. We hear some talk of 
 trusts profiting by rebates; but they are said to 
 profit because they can under-sell competitors by 
 means of the rebates. Take note that the consumer 
 is getting low prices through the very rebate that he 
 condemns. 
 
 The public is not educated into understanding 
 the spreading benefit of an economical application. 
 When a trust makes a profit by elimination of ex- 
 pense, that profit adds to the real wealth of the world 
 — if the world makes use of the released labor, as it 
 invariably does. These profits increase capital, 
 reduce interest-rates, lessen taxation and give means 
 by which to produce more wealth, or still further 
 reduce expense. The savings by system are identical 
 in kind with savings by inventions. 
 
 The trusts may have driven weak competitors to 
 the wall, but why might not common competition 
 have done the same? The weak are falling every 
 
102 More 
 
 day in every line. It is easy to pile up responsibility 
 on a common scape-goat. Why not make the trusts 
 also assume the burden of flood, fire, earth-quake 
 and summer-complaint? 
 
 If we make so much to-do before we are really 
 hurt, we shall have no vigor left with which to re- 
 monstrate when the coming greater evils arrive. 
 Corporations are definitely aiming at control of 
 necessary raw material and whenever this is done 
 they are in a position of absolute domination. The 
 world is not so large but that we can easily conceive 
 of single corporations controlling the bulk of its 
 fuel oil, its anthracite coal, its copper mines, its ore 
 lands, etc., etc. The limits of extortion under such 
 a system are to be governed solely by the greed of 
 those profiting or the laws which shall define their 
 limits. 
 
 The percentage of mean trusts might be no greater 
 than the percentage of mean men, but that is suffi- 
 ciently ominous. We should not expect trusts to be 
 any better than the people who compose them, or 
 oppose them, unless we make them act better by 
 laying on the law. 
 
 Some day the trust magnates will look back on 
 present possibilities, exclaiming, like Clive, that they 
 are astonished at their former moderation ; for were 
 they to pattern more closely by the labor trust, they 
 would not only raise prices one hundred per cent, 
 or more, where possible, but would join with other 
 trusts in " sympathetic " action, refusing to sell us 
 anything at all unless we patronized them exclusively 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 103 
 
 at the prices demanded. They would hire sturdy 
 thugs to use brass-knuckles and lead pipe on any 
 small competitor who dared show independence, 
 inciting mobs of boys and women to insult his family 
 and break his windows. We may remember that 
 in the St. Louis street-car strike women caught 
 riding on the cars were stripped naked and whipped 
 with the rags of their torn dresses. In Chicago, 
 within recent recollection " scabs " were kidnapped 
 and ingeniously tortured at leisure. Horses pulling 
 non-union teams were made unmanageable by 
 brittle missiles loaded with vitriol. Why should not 
 the trusts adopt these popular reprisals ? How 
 would it seem if we were refused coffins by the coffin 
 trust and burial-lots by the cemetery trust? It 
 seems quite different when the boot is put on the 
 other foot ! 
 
 How do we know but that the trusts may temporize 
 with the labor question by granting absurd wages 
 and then forcing us to pay them? Forced wages 
 might stimulate forced profits. When force is in 
 evidence some one is going to get hurt. The inno- 
 cent often blunder within range of the bullets. 
 Those of us who do not own trusts or belong to 
 unions, might be whip-sawed — cut both ways. 
 
 If the trusts destroy individuality and threaten 
 independence, if they clutch the consumer by the 
 throat and shake him till the dollars drop, the people 
 will be largely responsible; for the people have 
 treated the large employer as a robber baron, a man 
 without soul or honor, a man delighting in grinding 
 
104 More 
 
 down labor and gloating over the purchaser, a man 
 who bribes the legislator, a man socially dubious 
 and morally incomplete. What wonder that some 
 should be willing to deserve the blame ! 
 
 The producing trusts have simply copied the 
 routine of railroad evolution. The railroads gradu- 
 ally consolidated little lines, joined their tracks, 
 centralized stations and adopted uniform gauge. 
 We had hundred-million dollar railway corporations 
 long before the manufacturers combined. We would 
 hardly care to go back to the annoyances of earlier 
 time when a days' journey meant several transfers, 
 with stations connected by horse vehicles, with 
 many purchases of tickets and several changes in 
 checking baggage. It is bothersome enough as it is, 
 but far worse in earlier history. 
 
 Regulation of monopolies can only be accom- 
 plished by limiting the prices they charge, the profits 
 they make, or the size of their capitalization. If 
 there be true economy in large corporations, a 
 restriction of size would be opposed to public policy. 
 Profits might be limited by change of charter, pre- 
 venting the declaring of dividends beyond a certain 
 figure, or accumulating surplus beyond a certain 
 amount ; but such a plan would remove the incentive 
 to reduce costs and be ethically pernicious for that 
 reason. It would be almost impossible to set definite 
 prices for products in view of changeable prices for 
 labor and raw material. There seems to be only one 
 feasible way, and that way has never been suggested, 
 so far as the writer knows. 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 105 
 
 Suppose we were to have large corporations re- 
 chartered under National charters, as has been already 
 proposed, we might have their prices subject to con- 
 trol by the Inter-State Commerce Commission, but 
 changes would be slow and infrequent with such a 
 method of correction. Suppose that, instead of 
 limiting these corporations, we forced them to ex- 
 pand, when successful, by incorporating in their 
 charters an obligation to sell new issues of stock at 
 stated periods if purchasers ofifered payment, in 
 amounts sufficient to meet the subscriptions. 
 
 Under this plan, large dividends would attract 
 purchase of new stock and force the corporation to 
 pay dividends on a new issue by using the new capital 
 to advantage. It might not be wise to let the new 
 subscribers have the stock at par. It might be well 
 to have them pay a premium for it, so as to put the 
 original contributors on a relatively better footing. 
 There ought to be an extra profit for those who risk 
 the first capital. Once set the proper price for new 
 stock subscriptions and the price could never rise 
 above that figure. There could be no stock-market 
 manipulation forcing high prices to arouse interest 
 and ensure loss to the duped investor. There 
 could be no assured stock control, since new stock 
 could be purchased indefinitely. Such a plan would 
 make the successful corporations grow and they 
 would naturally eat up the unsuccessful sort — all 
 of which is economical and evolutionary. The 
 managers would be driven to make profit in order 
 that their own stock should retain value. The ex- 
 
106 More 
 
 periment would be interesting — and we learn only 
 through experimenting. 
 
 With any such continued increase of capital it 
 would be necessary to guard in advance against the 
 familiar robbery by which those who vote for pur- 
 chase profit by ownership in the company purchased. 
 The dominators in a corporation often own but a 
 small per cent of its stock. If they make their parent 
 corporation buy up some other company, in which 
 they have larger ownership, they will naturally profit 
 when paying more than it is worth. This trick is 
 hoary with antiquity, but common enough in present 
 practice. 
 
 It is not necessary that all corporations should 
 have National charters, for it is impossible for the 
 majority to monopolize with their limited resources. 
 It would be simpler to try the new plan on a few at a 
 time and those with more than $100,000,000 of assets 
 would furnish plenty of opportunity. It would be 
 difficult for any corporation to monopolize any source 
 of raw material with less resources. In the re-char- 
 tering there should, of course, be a new capitalization 
 of assets, since they are so variously valued under 
 present systems. 
 
 A uniform charter for all corporations would have 
 definite advantages, since different states now allow 
 different privileges, and thus secure incorporation of 
 certain companies in sections which have no great 
 share of their business. The fees thus earned by 
 certaiq states pay all their expenses at the expense of 
 other states where the money ethically belongs. 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 107 
 
 There are artificial monopolies, such as rights of 
 way for railroads, exclusive use of streets for pipes 
 or conduits, etc., which are not necessarily capitalized 
 in large amounts. They illustrate local problems, 
 however, properly dealt with by the immediate 
 powers which granted the rights. There are also 
 patent monopolies, but these are specially licensed 
 since they give special value to the public. They 
 can not control necessities, since they only control 
 things of recent conception which the public has not 
 known of prior to their invention. Control is limited 
 to a short term of years to free them for use by the 
 time they have become necessities. 
 
 It might be urged that under the increase-of -capi- 
 tal plan, the insiders would know in advance of any 
 large profits and thus get stock just before some 
 extra dividend. The time of issue of new stock 
 might be governed to meet this objection, but even 
 if the men who ran the corporation did get a slight 
 advantage they would be certainly more justified in 
 having the advantage than the outside public which 
 does nothing to assist in making the profits. 
 
 It would be most unwise to prevent all possibility 
 for large profits, since the possibility stimulates 
 activity in economy and betterment. It is well to 
 have some productive ventures appear extraordi- 
 narily profitable in order to attract capital into 
 productive lines. Were it not for the known profits 
 of the few, business would contract and stagnate. 
 Investors will put money into any venture that gives 
 a rare chance at a great profit, sooner than into one 
 
108 More 
 
 which gives more frequent chance at a lesser profit. 
 They will even invest in lines which average a loss, 
 if there be a chance for a big winning once in a while. 
 This is proved daily at Monte Carlo. It will not do 
 for the envious to plan to eliminate the extra profits 
 that make progress possible by feeding confidence. 
 
 Pin-headed people wish to confine the scope of 
 progress within the narrow Hmits of their own com- 
 prehension. They should realize that large enter- 
 prises demand the use of large units of capital in a 
 liberal, time-annihilating spirit. They would pro- 
 tect themselves by prevention against the possible 
 evils of untried methods and also prevent the 
 possibility of gain. 
 
 The very hesitancy of the suspicious will possibly 
 prevent any radical attempt to introduce novel 
 methods of regulation. We shall probably fall back 
 on the policy of pin-pricks, publicly annoying the 
 ponderous whenever the public eye glares in their 
 direction. We may comfort ourselves with the faith 
 that the men who are large enough to handle these 
 enormous properties are possibly big enough to 
 ignore injustice and spite, far-seeing enough to re- 
 frain from provoking the more virile of the popula- 
 tion, who will not stand intentional, or constant, 
 abuse. If there are evils in great power they can be 
 rectified by greater power. We may have to develop 
 that power with considerable care. It needs a type 
 of legislator as its agent which is not only above the 
 chance of bribe, but sufficiently intelligent to plan, 
 or follow, the necessary line of reformation. 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 109 
 
 Public sentiment should prepare the way for 
 corrective edicts — it may even prevent the necessity 
 for their application. We should show the strong 
 that it is cowardly to take unfair advantage. Appeal 
 to the better instincts of the able men in charge of 
 these great organizations, rather than fume in puny 
 rage, condemning actions that most would imitate, 
 or exaggerate, if equally sure of profit. 
 
 The problems of the moment always seem more 
 serious than those of any other time. We find the 
 solutions as we go along, or we find expedient 
 make-shifts that serve immediate purpose. We 
 shall secure justice the sooner if we are judicious in 
 our criticisms and judicious in our desires. 
 
 Our industries may eventually be managed like 
 well-disciplined armies — some head centre of 
 authority dictating general policy to various lesser 
 authorities. In the gradual swallowing up of the 
 little by the big, we may some day have one great 
 producing, transporting and distributing corpora- 
 tion; or, at least, one great holding company with 
 ownership of a control in the majority of the other 
 corporations. Under such a plan the individual 
 wiU be as a cog in a wheel and that individual will 
 have to exercise his individuality outside shop hours. 
 With the final application of such a system there 
 might be more of such outside time available. 
 
 There is never a gain without some loss and there 
 are always plenty who will magnify the loss. The 
 trusts may be purified and perfumed in the coming 
 regeneration, but they will not give us back the old- 
 
110 More 
 
 fashioned employer of the better type, the picturesque 
 and dignified factory-grandee, who over-lorded his 
 little village with a, stern sense of personal responsi- 
 bility for the welfare of his help, both in and out of the 
 mill. His sense of ownership made him considerate 
 of those whom he owned. The agent of others feels 
 responsible to the others alone. 
 
 Every marked change thus brings errors of crudity, 
 which seem, at first, to over-shadow the benefits. 
 The use of steam-power brought the factory and the 
 invention of power-driven, labor-saving machinery, 
 which seemed at the time to threaten the means of 
 existence of the majority and enslave those unfortu- 
 nate enough to be enticed within the grim buildings. 
 The machines were often dangerous, the buildings 
 were ill-lighted and poorly ventilated, the hours 
 were too long and the pay too low. We had to pass 
 through the stage of trial in order to arrive at better- 
 ment, and none would now wish to go back to the 
 day of the spinning-wheel and the hand-loom. The 
 trusts are as yet but an experiment; it were foolish 
 to condemn them too early. 
 
 In using the common term " trust," for a large 
 corporation, I merely follow public habit, without 
 meaning to imply that these corporations follow 
 the lines of combination which were introduced at 
 the time when the term first found application. 
 Certain forms of pooling and price-agreement are 
 now forbidden by law. The prominent trusts are 
 carefully chartered to come within the rules applying 
 to all corporate bodies. 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 111 
 
 Some of those surface students who evade the 
 labor of analysis, speak of corporations, or magnates, 
 as floundering in profits which crop up wherever 
 their capital is planted. As a matter of fact, in the 
 recent most prosperous period of our history, it was 
 difficult for men with means to decide how to invest 
 their earnings. Stories of large profits did not tempt 
 them to duplicate the rolling mills of the steel trust, 
 or the refineries of the sugar trust. The large 
 profits of the cotton mills were not creative of new 
 mills in plenty, for capitalists remembered years 
 when profits were nil. It may be generally stated 
 that there is no general line of business which seems 
 to offer extraordinary attractions to idle money, 
 because people have begun to realize the dangers 
 and the hardships attending any industry which has 
 to face keen competition, antagonistic labor, possible 
 disturbance of tariff and hostile legislation. 
 
 Revision of the Tarijf 
 
 Many think to regulate the trusts and limit great 
 fortunes by restricting the governmental favors 
 which, according to their own interpretation of 
 causes and results, have enriched certain individuals 
 and corporations. They thus assume that a tariff 
 is a tax on the many for the benefit of the few, — an 
 unethical, abominable fallacy. 
 
 The tariff-defenders, or protectionists, on the 
 other hand, point to the records of past and present 
 history, which show how a high tariff revived the 
 
112 More 
 
 finances of France under Colbert, redeemed its 
 credit , under Napoleon, and is now adopted by 
 practically every civilized nation but one. They 
 point to proof that certain protected nations are 
 forging ahead of that one and point to our own short 
 record in which the periods of low tariff have in- 
 variably been accompanied by panic and distress. 
 
 The whole question rests on comparative benefits. 
 Are the rights, or wants, of those who will prosper 
 by lower tariff more important than the rights and 
 wants of those in opposition ? The low-tariff group 
 certainly includes a considerable element of intelli- 
 gent, educated men — ■ men of means, position and 
 influence. They dominate the printed thought of our 
 older sections and are assisted by a great political 
 party. It is possible that the tariff prospers them 
 in spite of their outcry, but we can assume, for 
 argument, that it does not. 
 
 Tariff either exacts a tax from imported articles 
 or enables a home producer to sell somewhere near 
 the price of the imported article plus its tax. Home 
 competition often brings this price considerably 
 under its possible foreign competition mark, but 
 there is no question but that the effect of tariff is to 
 encourage production in lines where higher prices 
 are taken from the consumer than might be possible, 
 on the average, with no tariff at all. 
 
 We are asked, as consumers, to pay the higher 
 prices, since we are therefore enabled to keep our 
 money at home, increase productive population, 
 vary the possible application of effort and pay high 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 113 
 
 wages. This is all very well, as long as we, as pro- 
 ducers, or dependents on producers, profit suffi- 
 ciently to more than pay this extra cost. 
 
 It is foolish to think that we gain mathematically 
 by raising prices and giving ourselves extra profits to 
 pay them ; we shall not profit, necessarily, by making 
 more wealth while letting in a larger population 
 to share it. The concrete value of a worker's product 
 is just the same whether he be paid one dollar, or 
 two, for making it, or whether he pays one dollar, 
 or two, for it as a consumer. 
 
 It is equally foolish, however, to think that human 
 problems can be solved by equations. If the worker 
 is given more encouragement to work by calling his 
 wage two dollars instead of one, we not only get 
 more work, but we encourage idle men to try and get 
 chance for work. The value of an economical policy 
 is practically determined by the percentage of men 
 it engages io wealth-production, or, still more care- 
 fully stated, the percentage of value to population 
 which it causes workers to produce. 
 
 It might be found more economic to have one 
 million men raising wheat rather than to have two 
 million men raising corn. There is a definite limit 
 to the consumption of all food products, since we 
 have limits to our digestive capacity. There is 
 practically no limit to the use of manufactured goods, 
 so that all thinking nations wish to encourage growth 
 of manufactures. 
 
 We can conceive of a government so tyrannical 
 that it might enslave its producing population, pay 
 
114 More 
 
 them no wages, put them on cheap diet and undersell 
 every civilized community. There are, in fact, 
 nations so enslaved by tradition and so dominated by 
 circumstances, that their workers are willing to live 
 on poor wages and do thus undermine the scale of 
 living in more ambitious regions. Some say that it 
 is profitable to take their goods as long as they are 
 foolish enough to sell them at cheap prices; others 
 say that such encouragement reacts on the pros- 
 perity of the purchasers. 
 
 Here, again, the mathematics in question would 
 clearly limit the answer, if mathematics were 
 reUable. Laborers become less and less of a factor 
 in production, however, as machinery takes their 
 place. Machinery is developed where laborers are 
 quickened in mind by encouragement and also where 
 there is an extra incentive for labor-saving machinery 
 because of the high wages paid those who run it. 
 There are many industries in this country which 
 needed the protection of a tariff to enable them to 
 start, which now produce cheaply in spite of high 
 labor-cost because of the betterments inherent in 
 our acute activity. 
 
 But the " infant industries " often continue to 
 demand protection, and this offers the tariff-reducer 
 his most logical argument for revision. Is it policy 
 to continue the forced high prices after giving the 
 producer opportunity to get fairly started.'' It 
 certainly is, if there be good reason why manu- 
 factures should be encouraged at all, for the very 
 improvements which might give the new industry a 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 115 
 
 chance in foreign competition are often copied by 
 foreign rivals. Sometimes we note revisers quoting 
 with glee statistics proving that we are actually 
 exporting certain manufactures which are protected 
 by tariff; but such instances almost universally 
 illustrate circumstances in which there is some 
 temporary advantage because of patent, or process, 
 which cannot be instantly adopted abroad. 
 
 The problem is so complex as almost to baffle 
 accurate analysis. If we buy at home what costs 
 $100, we have the thing and the $100 as well, while 
 if we buy from a foreigner for $75, we have the thing, 
 some one of us has saved $25 — but the country has 
 lost $75 of its capital. If we add a tariff of $25 and 
 buy of the foreigner at $100 the government gets $25, 
 we get the thing and the country has $75 less of 
 capital. We have not, however, used up any of our 
 raw material, in the last instance, and much of our 
 raw material is distinctly limited in volume, so that 
 use diminishes our reserves. It is possible, but not 
 inevitable, that the foreigner may spend the money 
 received here, taking something in return, leaving 
 us with our money and losing to us the value in the 
 thing thus exported. The question of which gets the 
 freight rates complicates the already intricate situa- 
 tion. Then it might be shown that to produce all 
 at home involves the necessity of immigration, thus 
 making more individuals to share in our wealth. 
 
 While we may hesitate in evolving theories, we 
 can not avoid facts. Protection does increase the 
 industries protected. In our own country it has 
 
116 More 
 
 certainly enabled a relatively high rate of wages in 
 such industries. We have adapted our whole com- 
 mercial system to a protected basis. 
 
 Admit that great industries have grown up under 
 the protective system and it must be admitted that 
 there is no gain to the tariflF-reducing consumer unless 
 he is to purchase the produce of those industries, or 
 others like them, at a less price. This can happen 
 through entire elimination of the home producer in 
 favor of a foreign seller, but that eliminates the wealth 
 in the home producer's facilities and turns loose an 
 army of laborers who may not be fitted for other 
 employment, even if such employment offered itself. 
 
 The elimination of wealth increases the burden 
 of taxation on any remaining wealth. The laborers 
 are hardly going to find employment through increase 
 of other industries when purchasing capital is going 
 abroad in extra volume. The percentage of the 
 unemployed would undoubtedly increase, though 
 some of them might possibly return to the countries 
 where more production was thus stimulated. 
 
 Those remaining out of work are going to eat, 
 whether they earn wages or not. They are also 
 going to drink — more than usual — and they will 
 have other reasonable and assumed necessities. The 
 general public will have to stand the expense of their 
 keeping, no matter how indirectly the cost may be 
 assessed. 
 
 Lower prices are also possible if a lower tariff 
 forces the home producer to reduce costs, as he 
 must, and still keep running. Some might say that 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 117 
 
 he could lower prices by reducing profits, but the 
 public would not be greatly interested in any measure 
 that simply gave it the average margin of profit on 
 tariff-protected goods. Profit is based on capital 
 employed. The proportion of profit to wholesale 
 selling price is often too small to be seriously con- 
 sidered by the retaU consumer, and it is the retail 
 consumer who is supposedly active in forcing lower 
 prices. The manufacturing profit on certain grades 
 of cloth is but a fraction of a cent a yard, a few cents 
 on a barrel of flour. 
 
 But the manufacturer is not going to give up his 
 profit. He only profits now through severe struggles 
 with competitors and he will have still harsher 
 competition with foreigners additional. He is going 
 to keep his own profit preserved so long as he can 
 reduce costs in other ways, and his pay-roll is going 
 to suffer the first cut. 
 
 If the help will not work for lower wages, it will 
 crowd into other competition and possibly release 
 those who will. With any notable unsettling of 
 tariff rates there would be periods of stoppage and 
 uncertainty which would scare labor into the accept- 
 ance of any living wages at all. We know what 
 results at such times, for we have had repeated 
 experience. The threat of less profit in production 
 holds up investment in new productive enter- 
 prises. Lower wages limit purchasing capacity, for 
 the lower prices do not spread evenly or quickly. 
 Interruption of the accustomed flow of capital 
 threatens values, securities fall, loans are called, 
 
118 More 
 
 bankruptcies follow, hard times set in, trade slackens, 
 jobs lessen and soup-houses are inevitable. The 
 voting protected-producers should be careful that 
 it is not their own unthinking folly that assists in 
 these blunders which bring so much sorrow and 
 mortification to the blunderers. 
 
 The very lessening of property values would be 
 sufficient of itself to bring about a panic. Surely 
 any one can see that if reduced tariff brings reduced 
 prices, we must have an immediate and sharp reduc- 
 tion in value of all the goods on hand made on the 
 old scale of values, and also in all the property in 
 which protected produce was an element. Every 
 corporation and every property-owning individual 
 would have to re- value much property. The cor- 
 porations would show heavy losses on their capitali- 
 zation. They would have to defer payment of divi- 
 dends till they made up such losses. The panic, 
 failure, horror of such an upheaval are utterly beyond 
 computation. 
 
 No class can profit, except at the expense of another 
 class, or classes, unless it directly increases the pro- 
 duction of wealth. Those who ask for lower tariff, 
 who do not produce wealth and who would not 
 thereby increase their production, must expect to 
 profit at others' expense. They must get that profit 
 from employers or their workmen. 
 
 Some of the more honest tariff-reducers are per- 
 fectly willing to admit privately that they do expect 
 to take it out of the workmen. They say that our 
 workers are over-paid, extravagant, vicious, unrea- 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 119 
 
 sonable and disrespectful. They justify any change 
 that gives the cultured non-producer a comparative 
 advantage over the laborer. 
 
 This type unquestionably believes itself superior 
 to the masses and justified in profiting at their ex- 
 pense. It has a thinly disguised contempt for pro- 
 ducers, since it considers itself a finished product. 
 It takes great satisfaction in be-fuddling the more 
 ignorant workers, enticing them into voting against 
 their own interests by harping on the supposed sins 
 of their employers. Fair measures hardly require 
 false means. The tariff-reducers want to buy the 
 products of cheaper labor. Let them 'put that 
 issue frankly before the voters! 
 
 Those who have never done have little sjmipathy 
 for the doer. The doer wants no sympathy, but 
 he does want justice. He wants a chance to employ 
 his faculties and sell his products. He is not wiUing 
 that the government should eliminate the value of 
 his property after encouraging him by promise of 
 protection, nor is he willing that those who live on 
 the money which he circulates should spend that 
 money in assisting foreign competitors. 
 
 The small business man is often quieted by 
 assertion that tariff reduction is only intended to 
 limit the extortion of the trusts; but any measures 
 that hurt the larger corporations may annihilate 
 their weaker competitors. Flood a territory six feet 
 deep and short men must drown. It is very possible 
 that the trusts would profit enough by the killing of 
 competition to offset their losses through lower 
 
120 More 
 
 prices, especially as they would make their laborers 
 shoulder a good portion of any possible loss. 
 
 The professed spokesmen of opinion treat of the 
 protected manufacturer as a most selfish, grasping 
 tyrant, — a kind of fat hog wallowing in the trough 
 of political favoritism. They will not credit him with 
 any real interest in the welfare of his workmen or 
 any true pride in the prosperity of his community. 
 It would serve that same public justly if the manu- 
 facturer folded his hands and let events take their 
 undoubted course. Without his struggles, a trial 
 of low tariff would be inevitable. He could, if 
 solvent, tide over the preliminary depression and start 
 up later on the low- wage scale. He would have no 
 more trouble with help, no strikes, no lack of laborers. 
 Plenty would be willing to work for any wages at all 
 in view of the prevailing distress. His own profits, 
 reduced though they might be, would have greater 
 purchase power. He would escape the competition 
 of new enterprises and be a more dominant factor in 
 many ways. 
 
 Such an object lesson is necessary every little 
 while to prove to the wage-earner that he is the one 
 who gets the true benefit of tariff. He should have 
 enough intellect to see that high wages can not com- 
 pete with low wages unless some barrier intervene, 
 or some better system be employed. The tariff- 
 reducer sneers at the necessity of protecting the strong 
 against the weak, but he misplaces adjectives. 
 Are the Japanese weak .'' Ask Californians what they 
 think of free Chinese competition? We are weak 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 121 
 
 because we are civilized. We can not live on the 
 wages that suffice those who eat coarser food and 
 wear coarser clothing. We have no racial advan- 
 tages over foreigners since we are foreigners our- 
 selves. The labor which some think of as superior 
 to workmen in England, Germany or France, is 
 often Negro, Armenian or Russian-Jew. Why 
 should Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Poles or Swedes, 
 immediately acquire extra capacity when stepping 
 on American soil ? They do not ! They have 
 value for our purposes since our protective system 
 has built up our prosperity faster than our popula- 
 tion. We take in these people and put five times 
 their former wages into many of their pockets be- 
 cause we need them — because our American-born 
 want to work with their wits rather than their backs. 
 We use them because there is profit in it — and 
 they share in that profit. 
 
 There are those who think it were better if we 
 were not so prosperous, if we did not tempt this large 
 immigration, if we should restrict it and retain a sur- 
 plus of jobs to better the conditions for our own 
 people, through existence of an unfilled demand ; but 
 our own people want to evolve above the brainless 
 work and the dirty work. We must allow inferior 
 races to come in as long as we have inferior jobs for 
 men to fill. 
 
 Not that we should make the mistake of consider- 
 ing all jobs inferior that associate with dirt and 
 grime ! There is no labor more repellent to logical 
 judgment than that of the physician who handles 
 
122 More 
 
 serious diseases. The engineer is often bettered by 
 a bath. Work should be graded according to the 
 human capacity engaged. Our growing youths 
 often prefer to clerk rather than create, but the 
 association of a certain amount of muscle with 
 labor keeps the physique strong and the vitality 
 abundant. 
 
 It is poor economy to underpay the laborer. 
 Lower the purchase-power of his wages and we 
 cheapen the man; we lower his own opinion of 
 himself; we starve him in body and stunt him in 
 soul; we put him in a lower grade, a more vicious 
 grade, a class which will seek the begging, cheating 
 and pilfering means of existence, rather than wish 
 to work for much less than the accustomed pay. It 
 is hardly necessary to detail the unhappy results of 
 lower wages for female help. 
 
 The progressive intelligence awakened by greater 
 spending power is one of our best national assets, 
 but it is not always promptly stimulated. I have 
 seen whole States where a rapid rise in wages, due to 
 scarcity of labor, made still further scarcity, since 
 the higher pay allowed the workers to work less days 
 per week and have the same spending power. Those 
 who worked magnified their importance and shirked 
 so that there was a marked falling oif in product 
 per operative employed. In the competition for 
 help there was continual migration, due to the 
 promises of agents. Debts were ignored in the 
 exodus or paid by the agents, thus encouraging help 
 to run into debt. So many workers lived on the trains 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 123 
 
 that railroads actually changed their schedules to 
 arrange more frequent stops at labor centres. There 
 was a general lowering in tone noticeable to all. 
 
 But the evils of prosperity are as nothing to the 
 evils of privation. The general optimistic spirit in 
 good times creates a better brand of human char- 
 acter and makes the world more livable. It is the 
 richer countries which develop — they sometimes 
 develop too quickly. Wages should increase about 
 as fast as the comparative value of the worker's 
 capacity increases. 
 
 The tariff-reducer uses a clever argument in 
 pointing out the small proportion of protected pro- 
 ducers as compared with the whole population, 
 asserting that the interests of the majority demand 
 that the rights of the protected should cease. The 
 fallacy in such talk lies in the non-appreciation of 
 the importance of a wealth-producer to the rest of 
 the community. The wealth-producers not only 
 support their own families, but they indirectly 
 support a vast number of service-sellers and their 
 families. Stop the protected industries and we ruin 
 many of the railroads, depopulate manufacturing 
 centres, lessen value of real estate and kill the trade 
 of the local merchants, doctors, lawyers, barbers, 
 ministers, etc., etc. Many forget that our farmers 
 receive protection in many lines. The new wheat 
 fields of Canada are going to make them realize the 
 necessity of protection even more keenly. 
 
 The public must also realize that it is the last 
 fraction of patronage that pays the profit. Lessen 
 
124 More 
 
 trade fifty per cent and it does not lessen profit to the 
 trader fifty per cent — it lessens it into a loss. Were 
 we a new country we could consider choice of policy 
 more easily; but we are built up on the protective 
 system and change will cause serious losses. 
 
 If the change brings suflicient profit, the chance of 
 loss is immaterial. Where is the profit to come from ? 
 We might buy foreign produce cheaper and we might 
 force our own producers to cheapen their prices; 
 but we have gained nothing in actual value if we 
 reduce our power to pay prices. We are not going to 
 make profit out of outsiders unless we swap what we 
 have for what they want, taking what they have in 
 return on a basis that gives us more than we give in 
 return. Why should we assume that we are going to 
 get the best of the bargain ? Under the present sys- 
 tem we sell them more than we take and grow rich 
 faster than any country on earth. If we gained 
 much more at their expense we should ruin them 
 utterly and destroy their purchase-power entirely. 
 Our country is a world in itself, able to furnish itself 
 with almost every needed necessity. It doesn't 
 profit a shoemaker to buy shoes for his family from 
 a competitor. Some one else said this first, but it is 
 true enough to bear repetition. 
 
 We hear glowing accounts of trade advantages 
 that shall be opened up when China awakes; but 
 what shall be the outcome when China uses modern 
 machinery with Japanese ships dumping the prod- 
 ucts in San Francisco ? We shall not only need to 
 retain our present tariff, but raise our rates yet 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 125 
 
 higher — unless our workmen are willing to wear 
 their shirts outside their trousers and call them coats, 
 like their pig-tailed possible competitors. 
 
 Tariff simply prevents those who pay their 
 laborers too little from forcing us to meet them on 
 an even basis. Certain nations have to pay their 
 laborers too little, since they must carry enormous 
 burdens in war debts and in the keeping of great 
 armies of idle soldiers, ready to prevent aggression. 
 We are not forced to copy their military measures, 
 neither are we forced to reduce our standard of living 
 to their necessities. 
 
 Tariff is the most ingenious tax ever devised. A 
 country could protect its citizens from cheap com- 
 petition by insisting that foreigners should not sell 
 below our own prices — but tariff makes the for- 
 eigner give up the profit between his and our prices. 
 It is this profit that pays a large share of our heavy 
 government expense. 
 
 Some who think they are protectionists claim that 
 a tariff should simply represent the difference in 
 labor cost between competing sections ; but a simple 
 equalizing of conditions is not sufficient protection, 
 for it allows the cheaper-producing country to unload 
 surplus at cost price — and all manufacturers know 
 that many times it is profitable thus to get rid of a 
 surplus. It must also be remembered that in any 
 system run by human agency there is always a cer- 
 tain percentage of fraud. The tariff should include 
 an extra assessment to offset a certain inevitable 
 element of undervaluation. 
 
126 More 
 
 It is not fair to treat the foreign producer on equal 
 terms with a home manufacturer, for the foreign 
 producer does not contribute the same value to our 
 country. The home producer pays taxes here, em- 
 ploys our citizens and spends most of his profits in 
 our own country. He is a contributor to local sub- 
 scriptions and supports local institutions. The 
 consuming power of himself and his people is a 
 valuable asset for the community and the country. 
 
 Prevent a foreign manufacturer from sending in 
 wares and he often builds a branch establishment 
 within our territory, increasing our national wealth 
 and transferring foreign capital to our shores. I am 
 not personally afraid to advise a tariff that should 
 practically prohibit importation of goods which we 
 could easily produce from our raw material, that 
 should impose reasonable taxes on unnecessary 
 things for purpose of revenue, and that should give 
 preference in rates to goods brought in by American 
 ships. Even were we at present incompetent to 
 originate all the desired styles in goods, we could 
 possibly learn. There would be no world-wide 
 catastrophe resulting if our feminine population did 
 have to wait a few weeks before being able exactly 
 to duplicate the latest selections of frail foreign 
 females. Such a course might possibly reduce 
 revenue — I think it would. Revenue obtained at 
 the expense of American wealth-producers ought 
 to be reduced. 
 
 But if the producers themselves are not manly 
 enough to stand for their own interests, they deserve 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 127 
 
 plucking. Many who vote for high tariff assume 
 an apologetic attitude as if it were dishonorable to 
 profit from a protected industry. They might as 
 logically feel ashamed to be protected by fire insur- 
 ance, police, or night-watchmen. We five in an age 
 of temporizing, arbitrating and yielding of principle 
 — an age which makes honest and courageous men 
 feel unfitted to their environment. We also live 
 surrounded by some who are ready to sacrifice their 
 own kind for selfish gain, forgetting the need for 
 united ranks when dealing with a formidable ad- 
 versary. 
 
 Were an utter stranger to our institutions to come 
 amongst us to note the detail of our industrial prog- 
 ress, he would learn that under a high tariff we 
 prospered as never before, that our property was at 
 its highest value, that there were never so few un- 
 employed and that wages were never so high. He 
 would hear tariff-revision spoken of in many places, 
 urged by many people and advised in many period- 
 icals. Without noting the detail of the comment, 
 would he not naturally assume that we had found 
 such advantage in exclusion that we proposed to 
 revise the tariff to raise it still higher? Of course 
 he would ! No logical mind could draw any other 
 conclusion ! 
 
 But there are loose minds which are not logical. 
 There are men of splendid lung capacity who are 
 ready to advocate any alleged reform that seems 
 destined to catch the public favor. The quick- 
 firers who write editorials between meals are equally 
 
128 More 
 
 pliable, and they always have the approval of those 
 who would kill hens to get eggs the sooner. 
 
 Those who ask for revision of a high tariff in- 
 variably desire lower tariff. They do not expose 
 their logical intent by demanding free trade, but a 
 concession simply paves the way to further reduc- 
 tions until free trade is finally reached. That well 
 worn illustration of cutting off the dog's tail by inches 
 to lessen pain seems fitly pertinent. A barrier can 
 serve even if its top be jagged. Let the trimmers get 
 to work and the height shrinks continuously. Every 
 time one levels a section he requires readjustment 
 in other sections. 
 
 Just a word on foreign trade ! 
 
 There is ever a glamour associating with things far 
 away and dully realized. Before the days of tele- 
 graphs, clever traders often made huge profits at the 
 expense of ignorant barbarians. But we have no 
 monopoly of knowledge now, no monopoly of shrewd- 
 ness. The necessities of poorer races have even 
 sharpened their trading wits to a dangerous edge. 
 We have not proved special fitness for the business. 
 Other countries seem to have peculiar advantages 
 over us in tact, persistence and government assist- 
 ance. 
 
 The future is to be controlled by the specialists. 
 We should develop our best • capacities and exercise 
 our abilities in the lines in which we make greatest 
 progress. We have made a home market which is 
 superior to any on earth. It is ours. Let us keep 
 
The Remedy of Regulation 129 
 
 it and not risk the substance to gain the shadow, 
 like the dog who dropped his meat in the stream 
 while snapping at the reflection. 
 
 The tariff is a subject for volumes rather than 
 paragraphs. Many of its advantages have not been 
 mentioned and the same might be said of the ad- 
 vantages accruing with no tariff at all. Many ardent 
 protectionists would rather have absolute free trade 
 than an emasculated tariff; they would no longer 
 suffer from unpleasant forebodings of worse things 
 threatening. We can adapt ourselves to clearly 
 defined conditions, but half-way measures exasperate. 
 It is better to go both feet bare than limp with one 
 shoe. 
 
 Having dealt with the more important of the pro- 
 posed reforms it might be well to consider some less 
 prominent suggestions — which may have equal, 
 or greater, value. It is well to deal with public prob- 
 lems from the standpoint of probabilities, and also 
 from that of possibilities. Strange changes in public 
 sentiment occur within short periods. A simple 
 analysis will disclose the possibilities; no one can 
 foretell the probabilities. 
 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
 
 FIT USE OF FINANCES 
 
 Before we plan for more, we might prove more 
 worthy of present profits. We may be ethically 
 entitled to what we earn, but there are duties in use 
 as well as justice in acquisition. We certainly need 
 no further accretions if we are wasting present 
 resources. Before further consideration of general 
 reforms, it might be well to note necessities for 
 present individual correction. 
 
 Expenditures 
 
 We have first use of our earnings. 
 
 No one can profit from manufacture, transpor- 
 tation, trade, or service-selling, until consumers pat- 
 ronize them. We can dominate the producers and 
 other value-sellers by concerted discrimination in 
 purchase. Even if we go on in our independent ineffi- 
 ciency, we can still improve on our accustomed 
 exchanges of value, for we not only fatten those 
 who give us little of value in return, but we throw 
 away the values that we purchase. Foreigners from 
 lands that are necessarily frugal watch our waste in 
 130 
 
Fit Use of Finances 131 
 
 absolute amazement. They consider us extravagant 
 and careless. They attribute our folly to excess of 
 surplus and wonder that we should excite still further 
 desire for expenditure. 
 
 The personal expenses of the individual may 
 seem petty and absurd, but they dominate in the 
 aggregate. We note the expenditures for wealth 
 that remains visible and do not realize the vastly 
 greater wealth that disappears in daily consumption. 
 All these great farms, shops, railroads and stores 
 are mainly busy in furnishing products for men and 
 other animals to digest, wear out, burn up and break. 
 The multiplied craving of some tantalized nerve 
 may require expenditure that would double the 
 instructive pleasures of the whole people, double 
 their educational facilities, or greatly increase their 
 home comforts. Some odd accident of choice may 
 start a fashion that spreads the necessity of duplica- 
 tion over continents and over centuries. We can not 
 grasp the greater problems of finance without a due 
 appreciation of these apparently insignificant details. 
 
 Wealth should properly seek channels that sustain 
 life and make it pleasurable. Many popular 
 pleasures actually shorten and sadden the existence 
 of which they become a part. The human imagina- 
 tion readily adjusts itself to false suggestions, finding 
 pleasure in all sorts of mean substitutes for original 
 excellence. 
 
 There were lands once where food had to be eaten 
 while fresh since they had no means of preservation. 
 Houses were well-aired by reason of their very 
 
132 More 
 
 imperfections. Manufactured articles were made 
 by those who took a pleasure in pleasing. A knowl- 
 edge of truth in form and color seemed diflFused 
 throughout the whole population. 
 
 To-day, in spite of the added years of civilization, 
 increase of knowledge and betterment of means for 
 spreading knowledge, the majority have no realiza- 
 tion of pleasure in true art, pure food, or fresh air. 
 Travellers find articles of beauty in countless foreign 
 villages — Pompeii disclosed high art in every 
 corner — yet what will excavators of a distant 
 future find in the twentieth century strata of our 
 ruins? Will they find anything worthy of preser- 
 vation in their museums, outside the few things 
 which we have saved from the past or copied from 
 such savings? Do travellers from other shores 
 buy souvenirs in our villages ? 
 
 Our wealth gives us no fit equivalents in many 
 of the simpler necessities. Let the supposed traveller 
 relate what he thinks of our hotel fare in any but 
 the larger cities ! Let him say what he truly thinks 
 of the service rendered, of the laundries where 
 clothes are ruined in one wash by machines that 
 tear and acids that fade and destroy, of the common 
 use of harmful chemicals in food and drink of 
 every kind, of the soot from belching chimneys, 
 the stench of all-pervading sewer-gas, the ugly 
 disfigurement by advertisements ! He might pos- 
 sibly say that we have nothing worth while but our 
 unimproved scenery and our unappreciated possi- 
 bilities. 
 
Fit Use of Finances 133 
 
 We ourselves once knew a sensible, healthy method 
 of living — the day of the big farm-house and the 
 sweet-smelling orchard — the wide avenues with 
 elm-tree borders in the country towns and the 
 dignified exteriors of the larger cities. We then 
 had an architecture of our own — a Colonial style 
 that still wins admiration. We started well, but cul- 
 ture was over-ridden in the prosperous pushing of the 
 rising plebeians. The money made by clever men 
 was often spent by uncultured wives, who thought 
 it necessary to copy foreign customs in everything 
 but manners. We duplicated but we did not har- 
 monize. Our commercialism often demands display 
 and our utility often includes bad taste. It is fortu- 
 nate, perhaps, that the majority are not sufficiently 
 refined to suffer from the frequent atrocities of their 
 environment. 
 
 Some think such language unpatriotic, but are 
 they not rather lacking in patriotism who make this 
 country unattractive to impartial judgment ? Why 
 does not the ability which has produced the best 
 machinery in the world contrive to make attractive 
 products with the machines ? We furnish other 
 countries with raw material and go to them to learn 
 how best to utilize it in the finer applications. They 
 are even besting us in many of the fields of invention 
 which we once thought to claim for our own. We 
 must fight hard to keep out of a secondary class 
 — to prevent them from rating us as producers of 
 quantity without quality. 
 
 A great portion of expense goes for conventional 
 
134 More 
 
 and assumed essentials. The force of habit con- 
 tinues customs that have no present relevance. A 
 certain king once put buttons on the sleeves of 
 uniforms to remind his soldiers not to wipe their 
 noses thereon. Hundreds of millions of coats have 
 since borne sleeve buttons, although handkerchiefs 
 have removed the former necessity. 
 
 One half of the expense of the average family is 
 for swallowed stuff. Much of it serves no economic 
 purpose — patent medicines, poisons, sloppy drinks 
 and unnutritious fodder. Take out the harmful 
 fraction and add the loss from poor cookery and 
 ignorant waste, and we should eliminate one half, 
 at least, of the entire cost and thus add twenty-five 
 per cent to the average family income. 
 
 This statement will bear investigation. It implies 
 a possibility of gain larger than anything suggested 
 by trust regulation, tariff reform, or any other 
 popular movement. It may be urged that it is sug- 
 gested that we deprive people of their pleasures, 
 but that is not necessarily the case, for even if we 
 allow that pure liquors give pleasurable satisfaction, 
 it should be plain to all that poisons yield no net 
 return of value. An overwhelming proportion of 
 the wines and liquors sold are not made by natural 
 processes but cheapened and adulterated by harmful 
 substitutes. Raw alcohol is blended with all sorts 
 of flavoring and coloring chemicals to fool the palates 
 of the public. Poorly distilled liquors reek with fusel 
 oil, so the choice is often between two evils. 
 
 The use of refuse and rot in manufactured foods 
 
Fit Use of Finances 135 
 
 is fairly appreciated. In the loss from use of 
 deleterious substance we have not figured the 
 expense of unnecessary cooking with its waste of 
 labor, fuel and wear and tear of utensils. The 
 carbonizing by heat certainly destroys nutrition in 
 a great proportion of food that can be as well eaten 
 raw, and there is a great loss of energy in digesting 
 poorly cooked foods. The fancied necessity for 
 three hot meals per day, with hot drinks attendant, 
 is an economic absurdity. It over-burdens wives 
 and domestics, and tires hundreds of thousands of 
 little children who make long daily journeys with 
 the dinner pail. A breakfast could easily be made 
 up of uncooked or unwarmed materials, likewise 
 the lunch. The hot and heavy meal should come 
 after the day's work is done — a fact admitted by 
 all the more intelligent people of the higher civiliza- 
 tions. Light breakfasts and cold luncheons are 
 common in countries and with classes which our 
 people are eager to ape in non-essentials. Few ever 
 ape the sensible actions. The craving for weak 
 hot drinks three times a day illustrates a slavery to 
 habit, indefensible and unnecessary. 
 
 We think of our laborers as well nourished, 
 simply because they consume more meat and other 
 expensive foods than the laborers of other countries ; 
 but there is more dyspepsia in this land of lard and 
 luxury than in all others put together. The drug 
 sales prove it. One company claims to sell ten 
 million boxes each year of a certain digestive aid; 
 another sells thirty million capsules a year. There 
 
136 More 
 
 are hundreds of other pill-rollers and bottle-fillers 
 yet to be heard from. Drug-stores are becoming as 
 common as groceries. 
 
 The poorer classes like to think of the wealthy as 
 mired in excess of gluttony, but it is the poorer classes 
 who average the higher in consumption of Uquor, 
 tobacco, cofiFee and pie. They can find plenty of 
 millionaires breakfasting on baked apples and 
 lunching on bread and milk. 
 
 It would be better for all if we had more 
 respect for our insulted internals. Were men to 
 insist on pure liquors when they do drink, there 
 would be less riot and disorder and a great saving 
 in court expenses. It is useless to bar small vices 
 in the present weak development of self-control, 
 but they certainly might be better regulated. The 
 world, for instance, could save enormously in wealth 
 and health, by deferring its drinking of intoxicants 
 till after business hours. The only logical use of 
 stimulants is the postponement of fatigue, or the 
 enlivening of spare hours. Those who have spare 
 moments in the day-time could possibly find other 
 amusements to keep them occupied till evening set 
 in. 
 
 Scientific experiment with people of various grades 
 and occupations has proved that our men, as a 
 rule, consume about twice as much food as they 
 require. This was shown by feeding selected squads 
 on half rations while they performed their regular 
 work or exercise. They not only retained their 
 weight, but increased in muscular power and mental 
 
Fit Use of Finances 137 
 
 energy. There was no attempt to govern the diet 
 except in quantity. Had they selected the food 
 scientifically, the results might have been still more 
 surprising. 
 
 All over the world we see health cures for those 
 who can afford the trips and the treatment, where 
 people are boiled outside and washed inside to cure 
 rheumatism and other diseases which result from a 
 surplus of poison in the system brought on by clog- 
 ging the organs with more than they can assimilate. 
 Excess of wealth tempts to over-indulgence in pur- 
 chasable produce, the wealth-acquirers gorging their 
 systems at the very period when they lessen the 
 exercise which might otherwise assist in consuming 
 substance. 
 
 It is therefore possible that after eliminating fifty 
 per cent of average expenditure by fit selection it 
 might be possible to ehminate another fifty per cent 
 of the remainder by restricting quantity within 
 proper limits. No other country affords such a 
 chance for economy, since other countries economize 
 of necessity. A possible reduction of seventy-five 
 per cent in the greatest item of human expenditure 
 should awaken some intelligent interest, but those 
 who suggest reform in diet are dubbed " cranks " 
 and referred to in a mildly contemptuous way. The 
 world is not only gorged with unassimilated decom- 
 position but stuffed ahke with its own conceit. 
 
 The possibility of saving enormously in the present 
 system of sustenance does not necessarily imply that 
 the savings should all be used for other purposes. 
 
138 More 
 
 There is no reason why they should not be used in 
 part to raise the quality of the food purchased. We 
 not only weaken the race by eating too much, but 
 we injure it by eating stale, rotten, unfit substance, 
 since competition forces inferior products into trade. 
 The infant mortality through bad milk is appalling. 
 There is no excuse for buying a lot of poor stuff 
 when the same price would buy a sufficient amount 
 of good stuff. 
 
 Clothing is the second largest item in average 
 family costs. It is made unnecessarily expensive 
 by the constantly changing requirements of style. 
 Male tastes are comparatively quiet, compared 
 with former ages, but we still allow too great a 
 tyranny in the tailor. The styles of one year differ 
 from another to force us into buying new clothes 
 that would otherwise be unnecessary. Our softer 
 sex is much more slavish in abnegation, but will 
 some day recognize the greater attractiveness in 
 improvement of self rather than swathings. Some 
 of them are fortunate enough to serve as ideal 
 bearers of drapery, but the waste of high art on the 
 angular is deceptive in intent, unwise and illegitimate. 
 Were we to limit the use of frills to those qualified 
 to adorn, as well as to be adorned, we might sur- 
 reptitiously influence a development of physique 
 that would react happily on the health of the present 
 and future race. We are gallant enough to over- 
 praise American beauty in the whole for the ideals 
 that merit admiration are wofuUy uncommon. 
 
 Both sexes are limited to garments which seem 
 
Fit Use of Finances 139 
 
 ingeniously devised to impede movement and avoid 
 convenience. It is even deemed essential to wear a 
 specified number of particular and peculiar layers 
 of cloth. Courts have fined men for contempt who 
 were decently covered, but lacked some special 
 tailor-built wrapping known as a coat. Hotels have 
 refused entrance to men who wore shirt-waists in hot 
 weather, although glad to welcome similarly attired 
 females. We have heard of a community where 
 men are happy in simple sweater and trousers. 
 The priggish should certainly visit this town and 
 soak in a little common sense during the sojourn. 
 
 Rent is the third item of general family expense, 
 in spite of the fact that a large fraction own their 
 own homes. We can not limit rent till we can build 
 cheaper houses or quicken transportation from 
 suburbs where land is cheap. It has been shown 
 how the unions have increased the cost of buildings 
 and the remedy is evident. 
 
 Another great item of expense, not always figured 
 into averages of families as they run, is the item of 
 personal service, including not only the domestics, 
 but the barbers, bootblacks, laundry operatives, 
 police, firemen, janitors, watchmen, etc., etc. We 
 are getting so luxurious that we shun personal effort. 
 The doUar-a-day clerk pays five cents for a shine 
 and fifteen for a shave, when he could apply his own 
 effort with no expense but for blacking and soap. 
 By engaging the services of so many others we are 
 becoming dependent and losing the sense of self- 
 sufficiency. Many of our public servants are neces- 
 
140 More 
 
 sary because we do not behave ourselves. We tax 
 ourselves to pay for our own supervision. When 
 we catch an offender we penalize ourselves with 
 paying for his food and lodging. Why not let the 
 minor offenders run free, but force them to wear 
 prominent badges for a period? If they offended 
 deeply, slicing off the nose would make them suffi- 
 ciently distinguished to warn the innocent from con- 
 tact and the guilty from patterning. 
 
 The cost of homes and furniture is heavy in the 
 whole . We waste by building cheaply, for the present, 
 buildings that can not stand the ravages of time and 
 fire. Perhaps it is wise, as long as our taste might 
 offend surviving descendants. Prevailing archi- 
 tecture often errs in following the fads of the moment, 
 instead of consulting the calm standards that ever 
 endure. Europe still uses dwellings built hundreds 
 of years ago, — buildings that we pay steamer-fare 
 to find and gawp at. Our fire waste alone is about 
 thirty per cent of new construction. It would profit 
 the doers to do things well. 
 
 Sham refinement considers utility contemptuous. 
 Furniture should be designed to last for generations, 
 but it is purposely fragile and unnecessarily uglified 
 by paint-streaks, plush atrocities, and ornamental 
 stuck-on do-nothings. Our ancestors had better 
 taste. They made furniture that collectors cherish. 
 They did not invite dust and dirt by catering to its 
 convenience. The majority of homes would be 
 be cleaner, brighter and better pleasing, to correct 
 taste if plainness prevailed. 
 
Fit Use of Finances 141 
 
 It were well if the public could have better pro- 
 tection against the products of poor design which 
 lower the general scale of comparison. When things 
 were made by hand, each producer could exhibit a 
 little personal pride in fashioning to his own taste, 
 but our duplication by machinery seems to multiply 
 inadequacy. The patterns in vogue seem to cater 
 to prevailing taste, instead of forcing standards to 
 a higher level. There is no reason why machine- 
 made articles should not duplicate the best of models. 
 It is a curious test of human culture to compare 
 human products with the forms and tints of nature's 
 masterpieces. We now know that the development 
 of beauty in flowers and birds is due to the dis- 
 criminating selection of fertilizing insects and mating 
 bipeds. Their taste is far finer than our own. 
 Some of the grosser animals are distinctly enraged 
 at the sight of colors in popular use. 
 
 Our domestic progress in manufacture is often 
 hampered by the prejudice of buyers who think 
 foreign goods necessarily superior to those of Ameri- 
 can manufacture. This stirs deceit, since the Ameri- 
 can producers are thus led to copy foreign marks. 
 The fact that the goods are not really inferior is proved 
 since the buyers are not aware of the deception 
 practised. Even if the goods were actually inferior 
 during the earlier trial, it would still be patriotic for 
 purchasers to encourage domestic manufacture. It is 
 by such encouragement that domestic products have 
 often outclassed competition. No new industry can 
 develop without support of the buying public. 
 
142 More 
 
 Let any thoughtful" man traverse the avenues of 
 trade in any great city with the idea of noting the 
 goods offered for sale, and he will be astonished, if 
 he carefully computes the proportion of non-essen- 
 tials. A large proportion of the necessary things 
 are made needlessly expensive by labored, and often 
 unsuccessful, attempts at decoration. This were, 
 perhaps, of little import, could the world afford 
 such extravagance, but the same people who buy 
 these things are complaining of high prices and 
 pretending to economize by buying cheap necessities. 
 The way to have better things is to do without the 
 unnecessary things and services. Money spent 
 without increase of health or happiness is wasted 
 as surely as if it were thrown overboard at 
 sea. 
 
 Our prosperous people may be eating twice as 
 much as they should, but if still more prosperous 
 they can hardly increase further. We can wear 
 but a few pounds of clothes at a time, or occupy 
 but one bed at a time. The workers can easily 
 supply themselves generously with essentials. They 
 therefore use the surplus in support of non-workers, 
 such as wives and children of the unproductive type, 
 or partial workers, servants, etc. There is no limit 
 to the number of people that may aid a man to use 
 up his produce. 
 
 The ability to buy naturally excites desire for 
 things purchasable, so that it is not strange that the 
 more wealthy should buy much personal service and 
 thereby lessen self-reliance. It is only by the exercise 
 
Fit Use of Finances 143 
 
 of faculty and muscle that men are kept alert and 
 intelligent. The nation is growing richer in re- 
 sources, but weaker in character. Go into any 
 gathering of prominent citizens and note how those 
 of marked individuality are the left-overs from a 
 previous era, or reared on old-fashioned principles ! 
 Hear what physicians have to say about the prevailing 
 characteristics of the civilized female ! The oppor- 
 tunities of prosperity cater to laziness and coddle 
 weakness. They deaden the true power of enjoy- 
 ment. They cushion contact instead of hardening 
 resistance. Hair drops out, appendices curl up in 
 disgust, tissue grows flabby and blood gets thin. 
 It is impossible that men should develop with mis- 
 use of means — impossible that any such sap- 
 drained class can ever continue existence. It doesn't 
 continue — it does not reproduce itself. It is con- 
 tinually replaced by those rising from the ranks who 
 lapse in turn, illustrating the definite limits of our 
 present faulty civilization, — an unflattering exhibi- 
 tion of surfeited incapacity. 
 
 Could we direct expenditure of surplus toward 
 improvements instead of harmful luxuries, we should 
 flnd that there need be no fear but that the extra 
 wealth can be expended. One may properly sur- 
 round himself with space, light, scenery, beautiful 
 things and intelligent associates. Expenditures to 
 please the eye and improve the mind are easily 
 warranted. Travel is an expense that repays grandly 
 if the observations be well judged. There is no limit 
 to the possibilities of education. 
 
144 More 
 
 The developed human being rises to the gratifica- 
 tion of its imaginations, but imagination feeds on 
 recollection and needs the stimulus of fit companion- 
 ship, art, music, beauty and brightness. Wealth 
 can certainly aid in the obtaining of some of these 
 associations ; it can also allow time in which to enjoy 
 them. 
 
 It were foolish, then, to despise surplus because 
 owners do not always use it profitably. Rather 
 despise those who can not sensibly see the fault in 
 the people rather than in the possibility. It is 
 certainly a sad sight to see some great acquirer of 
 capital devoting enormous sums to be expended in 
 charity by other people, instead of dominating some 
 purpose as carefully conceived as were the plans by 
 which the fortune was attained. 
 
 The higher types of mind aspire to acts, things 
 and forms, that are generous, yet simple. We may 
 not yet be wealthy enough to adopt the generous 
 scale, but we can certainly adopt simplicity. We 
 should stop the running after so many fads and insist 
 that the fewer pleasures should be more substantial. 
 A little more exercise, sunlight, fresh air and pure 
 water would possibly quicken and cleanse us into a 
 better appreciation of worth. 
 
 The ambition of the American-born often leads 
 them into a silly attempt at imitation of those con- 
 fessedly better off. Each aspirant wants the sem- 
 blance of some envied luxury, in the vain attempt 
 to appear wealthier than the facts warrant. As each 
 class imitates the one just above, the majority are 
 
Fit Use of Finances 145 
 
 imitating imitations. The time of absorption from 
 grade to grade sometimes leaves slower copyists 
 aping styles or customs which have long been dis- 
 carded by the innovators. Poor imitations often 
 encourage false conceptions. It is all very well to 
 duplicate superiority because it is superior, but this 
 weak amenability to suggestion uses no logic to apply 
 the test of quality. There is also a false pride that 
 strains after superfluities, that many better off do 
 without, for fear that some spying neighbor might 
 think that economy were forced. 
 
 It ought to be thought most worthy to econo- 
 mize in foUies. People of sense admire prudence 
 and applaud good judgment. The majority care 
 little, however, for the praise of superiors; they 
 would rather arouse envy in their equals. 
 
 A general cultivation of individualism would be 
 a strong factor in economic reform. Originality 
 would scorn to imitate for the mere sake of imita- 
 tion. It would cause a very slaughter in the trade 
 of duplicate products, other than necessities. It 
 would destroy the vogue of dominant fashion and 
 allow some freedom of choice. It is said that the 
 Chinese bum up some $400,000,000 each year in 
 incense and other offerings to the dead. We cut up 
 mountains of rock to mark the plantings of our 
 ancestors for an uncaring future, but are even more 
 extravagant in reverence to traditions of daily 
 expenditure which should have been decently buried 
 aeons ago. 
 
146 More 
 
 Investments 
 
 Investments are permanent uses of surplus. 
 
 Surplus accumulates by an excess of earnings. 
 The excess may be due to a disproportion of creative 
 power to appetite or to a logical restriction of present 
 desire. In primitive times, if a man accumulated 
 an excess of dried fish, he would have time in which 
 to fashion an axe from a well ground flint and a 
 thong-bound handle. The axe represented prop- 
 erty, since it had value in the construction of 
 dwellings and it could bring in revenue, since 
 others would gladly pay in fish for the privilege of 
 its use. 
 
 If the axe lessened the former labor necessary in 
 building houses, it was doing work and therefore 
 earning pay. Its value differed according to the 
 brains guiding its application, but so does the value 
 of any human agent. By saving surplus, we can 
 multiply human efficiency, providing there is idle 
 labor, or labor relatively inefficient. Were all the 
 workers of the world fully employed to the best of 
 their ability, surplus could pile up in volume, but it 
 could not then increase further production. 
 
 Since we shall never reach the millenium, it is 
 evident that surplus vsdll continue effective as a 
 means of increasing income. Investments in prop- 
 erty will not only bring in revenue, on the average, 
 but they will also average to increase in value since 
 population is increasing while the world grows no 
 larger. The increase in intelligence also assists by 
 
Fit Use of Finances 147 
 
 the enlarging of desire, and value, as we have noted, 
 is created by desire. 
 
 If a man earns two dollars by one day's work and 
 spends only one, he can idle a day, having saved 
 enough to give him a day's spending power. If he 
 invests the dollar to net five per cent income, he will 
 have two days' spending power at the end of twenty 
 years (not compounding the interest), four days in 
 forty years, etc. All this can happen without effort 
 on his part, solely because of the relatively low pro- 
 portion existing of those who can restrain their 
 expenditure below their earning capacity. If every 
 one saved appreciably we should have little income 
 from investments. 
 
 Savings were naturally less in earlier times, when 
 produce was scanty and protective law not well 
 enforced. Interest rates were naturally high, and 
 those who owned property were forced to be sus- 
 picious, fearsome and niggardly. The general type 
 of wealth-owner was naturally disliked, evoking 
 such criticism as is evidenced by the strong dis- 
 approval of earlier teachers of philosophy, who 
 counselled to take no heed for the morrow and 
 condemned accumulation repeatedly and insistently. 
 We have since discovered that it is only through 
 saving that capital can be acquired to experiment 
 with new methods and create new utilities. Large 
 bodies of laborers can not be employed on large works 
 without a saved store from which to pay their wages. 
 Labor is only effective, for great purposes, under 
 guidance. Mastery of power can force results from 
 
148 More 
 
 labor, but modern civilization requires capital to 
 recompense effort. Savings have outlawed despotism 
 and made civilization possible. 
 
 Since savings simply represent so much hire of 
 labor, it is evident that they are inutile until a use 
 for this extra hire is discovered. New desires must 
 be imagined and spread, to encourage the applica- 
 tion of extra effort. It is to those who awaken such 
 desires that we owe all our material advance, except 
 the fit proportion of credit due those who use the 
 savings to supply the demand. These who use their 
 own savings for such a purpose are necessarily 
 limited in scope, but those who borrow the savings 
 of others are only limited by the total of savings that 
 can be borrowed. 
 
 Those who do not use their own savings must 
 lend them in order to derive income from them. It 
 is only through lending that capital can be easily 
 used in large units, with the attendant economies 
 which allow the payment of interest for use. Borrow- 
 ing would not be possible did the borrowers not, as 
 a rule, make a profit and give a profit. 
 
 Money invested in stocks is lent, as well as when 
 invested in bonds or mortgages, or deposited with 
 the banks or insurance companies. The variety in 
 method simply allows different degrees of risk in the 
 constant attempt to derive income without impair- 
 ment of principal. 
 
 In the olden days the instability of governments 
 and the wide prevalence of robbery and confiscation 
 limited the range of investment. People often 
 
Fit Use of Finances 149 
 
 preferred to hide away their wealth and deny them- 
 selves the possibiUty of income rather than take the 
 risks of exposing their property or relinquishing 
 their grasp thereon. Progress was stifled, encourag- 
 ing the very poverty which bred thievery. Law 
 and order are of great commercial value. Changes 
 in laws and methods often frighten financial powers, 
 curtailing the flow of investment funds and prevent- 
 ing the employment of extra labor. Purchase-power 
 is thus limited, the trade of producers and distributors 
 injured, profits disappear, bankruptcies are incited, 
 banks gutted, population impoverished and evil 
 made dominant. 
 
 We know such things are possible, for panics are 
 periodical. They usually start with some foolish 
 or drastic change in public policy that opens up a 
 vast area of possibilities. Our quick changes of 
 political domination bring equally quick changes in 
 method. It might be well to have every vital change 
 applied by degrees or with several months of warning. 
 
 Banked funds should logically be used to create 
 new values, but they are often prevented from 
 accomplishing this end by the laws which intend 
 to protect the depositor. Savings banks and life 
 insurance companies are so limited in legal lines of 
 investment that they can not purchase securities 
 in new companies and therefore have to lend on 
 notes, or property, in a way that actually enables 
 many to secure the means of waste. There ought to 
 be some method of protecting preferred-stock issues, 
 that would make them acceptable for cautious fund- 
 
150 More 
 
 controllers, allowing the money saved to go directly 
 into beneficial use. 
 
 The individuals who inspire confidence from 
 investors are a most important element when they 
 use entrusted funds for the benefit of the com- 
 munity; in fact, it is possible that they are of first 
 importance. It takes abundant courage to risk 
 one's own reputation and others' funds in the 
 attempt to obtain a profit for all. Some object 
 when such a one makes a profit for himself, but why 
 should he not ? — ■ The profit in any legitimate ven- 
 ture should be in absolute proportion to the risk run. 
 
 A borrower must have either collateral or credit. 
 He can borrow only a certain per cent of the value 
 of his collateral, so such loans are definitely limited 
 by the collateral in possession. Fortunately, there 
 is no limit to loans on reputation, and the wise bor- 
 rower builds up his character for its commercial 
 utility, if for nothing more. 
 
 Business is founded on credit. 
 
 Those who assume that all are dishonest may be 
 nearly correct, if they mean that all have had dis- 
 honest moments, but a vast majority are honest 
 most of the time, so that the percentage of active 
 dishonesty is really small. Those who stay in busi- 
 ness have to be reasonably honest, or none will do 
 business with them save those equally discredited 
 or abnormally ignorant. 
 
 Prosperity feeds on confidence. Every swindler, 
 every bankrupt, not only injures the immediate 
 victims of his deceit, or folly, but he destroys a 
 
Fit Use of Finances 151 
 
 certain amount of public trust. Those possibly 
 well-meaning exposers of dishonor in popular 
 periodicals are more or less culpable, likewise, unless 
 they are balanced by an honest proportion of evi- 
 dence in favor of honor existing alongside. 
 
 The effective borrower must be not only honest — 
 he must be able, adventurous and imaginative. 
 Those who accumulate great funds should take a 
 personal interest in educating their own, or others' 
 progeny fitly to handle funds of volume. Those 
 born to inherit large properties are usually taught 
 to do nothing. It is not necessarily their own fault. 
 The fathers should think it well to make men, as 
 well as to make money. 
 
 The sillier sections see no difference between 
 expenditure for waste and expenditure for invest- 
 ment — or they even think the former preferable, 
 as far as the pubUc is concerned. When the wealthy 
 give in charity, they praise the act, although the 
 world might profit much the more were the money 
 kept in individual possession and invested to increase 
 property. Waste may stimulate production or trade 
 while it is active, but there is no continuity. An 
 extravagant king once spent hundreds of millions 
 on needless palaces, encircled with squirting foun- 
 tains and roads covered with salt to simulate snow. 
 Labor found employment and money circulated 
 rapidly — but a revolution was ripening. 
 
 We give kings less rope to-day, but our money- 
 kings could duplicate their past folly if they liked. 
 The men who earn money wiU rarely fritter it away, 
 
152 More 
 
 although their heirs often attempt the imitation of 
 certain noble spendthrifts. Our capitalists, as a 
 whole, have done fairly well when sticking to lines 
 in which they have full knowledge. When they 
 try to give away their wealth, they often show an 
 amazing lack of foresight and a woful penury of 
 ideas. The public will some day appreciate the 
 man who builds a new railroad — for his own profit — 
 better than the one who gives it monumental build- 
 ings to perpetuate his vanity. 
 
 In spite of our system of credit, our funds available 
 for borrowers are more or less limited by the volume 
 of currency in circulation. Banks must retain a 
 certain percentage of actual cash against their 
 loans. In times of prosperity, when there is more 
 use for borrowed money, the people are retaining 
 more in pocket and home hoards, there is more cash 
 in the tills and the office-safes. The banks, as 
 restricted, charge higher rates of interest. The 
 lack of money causes some one scheme to fail — the 
 crash pulls others down — some one bank fails — the 
 people, panic stricken, withdraw their deposits from 
 other banks and soon financial students are trying to 
 discover what precipitated the catastrophe. We areso 
 unscientific as to base the volume of our currency on 
 values that do not accrue in a;ny fixed or comparative 
 ratio. We coin all the gold brought to the mints, 
 but there is a constant and unknown depletion from 
 use of coins as raw material for jewelers and other 
 manufacturers. We put silver dollars and silver 
 certificates in circulation, agreeing to redeem them 
 
Fit Use of Finances 153 
 
 in gold on request, although we do not extend this 
 favor to fractional currency. We call our silver 
 dollars worth par in treasury reckoning, although 
 we know that they are not, since we have adopted a 
 single gold standard. We retain an immense issue 
 of greenbacks with but a moderate gold reserve to 
 give them value in public estimation. We allow 
 banks to issue bills with government bonds as 
 security and thus stand in the peculiar position of 
 tempting panic if we praiseworthily pay our debt. 
 The gold that we coin does not always stay in the 
 country, so that we never know just how much 
 currency we may depend on. Surplus of govern- 
 ment revenue withdraws coin from circulation, as it 
 piles up in the treasury with no quick chance for 
 use except through questioned deposits of govern- 
 ment funds in national banks. We sapiently look 
 to the banking interests to suggest currency reforms 
 to our Congressmen, although banks profit by the 
 high rates of interest due to the very imperfections 
 which they are asked to remove. As well consult 
 brewers as to the means by which to moderate the 
 consumption of beer ! 
 
 We tried state banks, but have learned that states 
 can repudiate their obligations. We have tried 
 money based on metal value and have found that 
 comparative values of ore products are not con- 
 stant. We have heard the Greenback party argue 
 that the nation was foolish to issue bonds and pay 
 interest on them, when it might as well issue bills 
 that promised to pay — which is all the bonds can 
 
154 More 
 
 do. The penalty of interest charges, however, 
 impresses the nation with the necessity for raising 
 revenue sufficient to prevent the necessity for so 
 costly a means, while the issues of greenbacks 
 which could replace revenue — for a while — con- 
 tinually enlarge the postponed obligation. 
 
 As a preliminary measure, we could recoin all 
 the silver dollars into fractional currency, or legislate 
 such dollars into the same unredeemable position 
 as fractional currency. We should continue to 
 coin gold as presented, since the outside world 
 accepts the gold standard and since we produce gold 
 we profit comparatively by this artificial assumption 
 of value. We might allow an increase of national 
 bank notes, by allowing such banks use of other 
 collateral than government bonds; but the banks 
 would have no incentive to increase currency and 
 thus lower rates of interest, beyond a certain figure. 
 What we need is an issue of government money 
 based on absolute value and on values that increase 
 in quantity as trade increases. 
 
 Theoretically, the issues should be based on newly 
 created values since such values bear a definite 
 relation to expansion of business. If the issues 
 could actually stimulate creation of new values, 
 there could be a double benefit — a force that would 
 increase in power through its constant increment of 
 human assistance and encouragement. 
 
 Why not, then, let the government issue paper 
 money in purchase of new property or in loans on 
 new property? Remember that the government 
 
Fit Use of Finances 155 
 
 cannot place money in circulation except by purchase 
 or loan. Why should not laws be passed allowing 
 the government to thus invest in special bonds 
 of solvent corporations for the providing of funds for 
 enlargement of resources, limiting the application, 
 for convenience, to corporations of sufficient size? 
 
 This would be a form of government ownership 
 associated with no interfering responsibilities and 
 subject to none of the evils of government manage- 
 ment. We are supposed to be suffering because we 
 lack sufficient railroads. Here is a method by which 
 all solvent roads could get plenty of assistance — 
 unless it were found wise to limit the assistance to 
 such roads as showed respect for present law. 
 
 Were it ever necessary to replenish the gold 
 reserves, the government could sell sufficient of the 
 bonds — for gold — to gain the necessary sums. 
 Any receipts from bonds sold, or retired, should be 
 balanced by an immediate cancellation of an equal 
 amount of paper currency. Were four per cent 
 bonds bought, the revenue would replace the original 
 issue of currency every twenty-five years and the 
 government would be actually deriving income from 
 its currency, rather than losing income through 
 issuing its own bonds. This gain would far more 
 than balance any possible loss through shrinkage in 
 value of the property bonded. 
 
 The increase of funds in circulation would lower 
 the rates of interest, encourage investments, employ 
 idle labor and enforce a prosperity which might 
 almost demoralize through its very grandeur. Is 
 
156 More 
 
 it possible that we should have to refuse success 
 because of our incapacity of assimilation ? 
 
 The possibilities of such a plan stagger the 
 imagination in the same way that imagination could 
 be bewildered through correct anticipation of the 
 great results from any true reform. Think of the 
 incredible profits from the adaptation of the use of 
 steam in one century ! — currency based on newly 
 created value could equal and surpass it ! We have 
 spent years of political life in continuous discussion of 
 the advisability of changing tariff-schedules which 
 protect home industry, while neglecting the evils of 
 a financial system which throttle advance whenever 
 industry expands to the limits allowed by restricted 
 currency. We have in use a most ingenious device 
 which automatically quenches prosperity when 
 passing a certain fixed point. 
 
 No reform is easy while great interests profit from 
 the existing errors. We may have to convince the 
 interests that they might profit better out of a higher 
 general prosperity, even with lower rates of interest. 
 Less interest on more funds might mathematically 
 overbalance high interest on few funds. 
 
 The voters of the country almost recognized the 
 need for currency reform a few years ago, but they 
 chose a substitute which merely expanded the 
 present system within similar lines. It is even 
 possible that free silver might have worked better 
 than the faulty present anomaly, which was only 
 saved from flat failure through the providential 
 discovery of new gold deposits. No system is logical 
 
Fit Use of Finances 157 
 
 which confines itself to piling up unused material 
 in treasury vaults. It were surely more sensible to 
 base currency on value created by labor which 
 remains active to serve continually profitable purpose. 
 'I am perfectly willing to accept the authorship 
 for this plan until anticipation be proved and I 
 am perfectly willing to continue advocacy of the 
 plan should another prove ownership. I will assume 
 sufficient spirit of prophecy to declare that posterity 
 will some day find such a plan feasible and profitable 
 and properly characterize those who can not now 
 comprehend its advantages nor trust themselves to 
 bear the burdens of the greater prosperity that 
 would be possible. 
 
 It may not be remembered that we were practically 
 free from debt in 1835 — and a blighting panic 
 followed shortly after. We had great increase in 
 prosperity following the large borrowing attending 
 the various war loans. In recent times we have seen 
 call-money go to one hundred per cent and more 
 through the inelasticity of our present system. It 
 is all very well to sneer and say that speculators are 
 the only sufferers from high interest, but no one 
 can compute the curtailment of legitimate growth 
 when funds are so scarce that speculators take all 
 available funds. The author has had bitter personal 
 experience with legitimate industries that lacked 
 money in such times of stringency, and others 
 innumerable could tell similar tales. 
 
 When interest on borrowed money gets higher 
 than the income of investments, it is difficult to get 
 
158 More 
 
 subscribers to new investments. The lessened 
 demand for investment stocks under such conditions 
 lowers their prices, reducing the value of the collateral 
 in the banks. Loans are called, credit is shaken 
 and general confidence injured. We halt progress 
 by the very results of its advance, under our primitive 
 use of a restricted trade medium. We might as well 
 limit the stock of plows and axes, for money also is 
 a tool. 
 
 The use of funds in investment affects the indi- 
 vidual investor and also other individuals, but not 
 necessarily in like manner. It matters little to the 
 individual whether he buys a share in an established 
 enterprise that pays five per cent, or puts the money 
 into a new enterprise that will net the same return ; 
 but it may matter much to the community. By 
 purchase of a present holding, money is passed to 
 another who may use it to create a new value, or 
 who may live on it or spend it foolishly. No one is 
 sure that his savings, or borrowings, are of advantage 
 to the world as a whole, unless he personally assures 
 himself that they actually assist in the creation of a 
 betterment. The world does not necessarily advance 
 because men are clever in choice of values already 
 created. 
 
 Some imagine that the creation of a new industry 
 is of no advantage to the world, as the competition 
 lessens the value of some similar industry already 
 established. They fail to see that the labor employed 
 in starting and running the industry enlarges the 
 consuming power of the world and demands an 
 
Fit Use of Finances 159 
 
 increase of products from others who can thus easily 
 absorb the products of the one new industry cited. 
 Such an absorption is possible always so long as 
 there is idle labor to be employed or non-productive 
 labor that will become productive. 
 
 In times of panic and unrest, when investors 
 hesitate and when idlers are plenty, the country does 
 not merely stop — it goes rapidly backward. The 
 lessening of purchase-power lessens demand for 
 goods, curtailing production to throw more labor 
 out, and thus the sad drop continues. Individuals 
 are helpless at such times; it becomes the duty of 
 the state to prevent demoralization. There should 
 be a larger use of borrowed funds by the states at 
 such periods, for the purpose of employing labor on 
 real public utilities. It would not be necessary to 
 invent jobs; there are plenty of possible uses. Our 
 rivers are polluted by raw sewage and our highways 
 are a thousand years behind our civilization. We 
 could employ vast armies on the improvement of 
 roads and other public channels of transportation 
 for the next hundred years with profit and satis- 
 faction. 
 
 The world grows rich by liberal expenditure for 
 the things and means that continue desirability, 
 the things that are designed to resist wear, fire and 
 decay — the things of good design, honest con- 
 struction and fit purpose — the means that econo- 
 mize effort, encourage ability and incite improve- 
 ment. Such adaptation always follows where intel- 
 ligence is developed — and aids in its development. 
 
160 More 
 
 Intelligence is our best asset. The canals, roads, and 
 tunnels that we make will serve future centuries, 
 and the knowledge that we gain will also survive, 
 recorded for the coming race, and teach it mainly 
 through the associating record of our errors. 
 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
 
 REDUCTION OF COSTS 
 
 While savings are made out of surplus and pro- 
 portioned somewhat by restriction of desire, it is 
 also plain that the surplus can be small or large 
 according to the degree of wisdom applied in its 
 creation. The primitive man who stored a surplus 
 of fish could gain that surplus quicker did he exercise 
 a higher degree of judgment and skill while fishing 
 and thus have time in which to gain other advan- 
 tages. We can increase the amount of wealth per 
 worker by reducing the cost of wealth produc- 
 tion. 
 
 Wealth is produced by those actually fashioning 
 product by manual toil and also by those who increase 
 the value of manual toil by the mental assistance 
 that designs tools, directs effort wisely, creates desire 
 for products and finances the project from con- 
 ception to fulfilment. Reduction in costs is possible 
 if tools are made more helpful, if directing activity 
 be made less necessary, if demand is increased to 
 allow production in larger bulk, if funds are easily 
 obtainable, if we apply u^used effort and economize 
 in the effort which we do apply. The same prin- 
 
 161 
 
162 More 
 
 ciples apply in the transportation and distribution 
 of wealth. 
 
 Improving Tools 
 
 Tools are made more eflfective by increase of 
 skill in the user but also by ingenuity of the designer. 
 The greatest factor in lessening cost of production 
 is found in the application of invention to the creation 
 of labor-saving devices. There are many lines of 
 manufacture in which one man, when assisted by 
 power driven steel, does the work of a thousand 
 former operatives. We may not appreciate these 
 enormous advantages since we have become familiar 
 with them, but to the plainer citizens of to-day are 
 given luxuries through cheap machine product 
 that were impossible for the aflBuent of recent 
 centuries. 
 
 There are still men so dense that they think of 
 labor-saving machinery as evil in effect on the 
 laborers themselves by throwing them out of work. 
 They would be right, did those so replaced find no 
 other employment — but they always do find it, 
 for we are an active people who create the means with 
 which to conquer necessity. Labor would hardly 
 care to go back to the days when the earth was 
 ploughed with crooked sticks by men clad in raw 
 skins. Take the simple product, cotton cloth — 
 which is hardly monopolized by the wealthy — and 
 it is easily computed that the quantity now consumed 
 would require the united labor of the whole female 
 population if using the machinery common before 
 
Reduction of Costs 163 
 
 the war of the Revolution. The labor released 
 apphes itself to the making of other products. We 
 thus have more products. It is said that Northern 
 China becomes one vast weaving mill in the winter, 
 each house having its hand-loom. 
 
 The world should encourage the development of 
 new inventions and we do stimulate inventors by 
 the protection of our excellent patent system. We 
 should have much saving of brain-power and 
 greater issue of valuable ideas could we train the 
 inventive faculty as we train engineering talent; 
 yet, in a country full of educational establishments, 
 there is not one of them which dejBnitely undertakes 
 to develop originality of thought and lead mental 
 effort into creative lines. Genius is not the freak of 
 chance that many imagine. It comes quicker in 
 some than others, but we all have the capacity to 
 regroup ideas. 
 
 The writer has passed the hundred-patent mark 
 himself and has had many years of continuous 
 association with inventors as a class. He knows 
 how rarely genius meets with encouragement in our 
 present commercialism and how much we lack the 
 proper combination of inventive ability and practical 
 judgment. Some philanthropist, who has made a 
 fortune out of inventions, should certainly endow 
 some sort of college where genius could be nurtured, 
 where old knowledge should be used only to illustrate 
 what should be bettered and where students should 
 be taught to forget the blundering past rather than 
 clog the mind with useless records. 
 
164 More 
 
 Directing Effort 
 
 The wise directing of effort demands men with 
 judgment who not only know how men should use 
 muscles and tools, but also how to make them 
 comply with proper demands. Those associated 
 with large industries know how scarce efficient 
 directing ability has become. The proper men can 
 command what salaries they like, if they can prove 
 themselves. The growing antagonism of workmen 
 to employers is making the task of the superintendent 
 more and more arduous. He must be tactful, 
 patient, manly, even-tempered ; in fact, he must be 
 gifted with all the rarer virtues. We shall have to 
 develop the proper type through some process of 
 special training. 
 
 We should need fewer of this class, did we have a 
 better loyalty in the help and a better general intelli- 
 gence. Directing powers are usually necessary to 
 see that workmen do what they ought to accomplish 
 without direction. The workmen who designedly 
 make it difficult for results to be accomplished are 
 cheating the world out of a possible gain. 
 
 There is, of course, a fine chance to save in clerks 
 and general non-producing employees when many 
 small industries are concentrated into one. The 
 trend of the times is plainly economic as far as the 
 trust principle extends. Competition wastes enor- 
 mous effort in the duplication of non-productive 
 units and in the repetition of all the means for 
 inducing custom. It might be accepted as a general 
 
Reduction of Costs 165 
 
 maxim that any one employed in industry who does 
 not do some definite act that produces or delivers a 
 product, or assists in such production or delivery, 
 is but a make-shift, made necessary by faulty con- 
 ditions, which may be never wholly overcome but 
 which certainly will be lessened. 
 
 We know that a certain fraction of men produce 
 actual wealth and that the rest share in that wealth 
 by convincing the wealth-producers that their 
 services are worthy of payment. It is plain that 
 economy will increase directly as we do away with 
 services which are not really necessary. Many 
 serve false or harmful desires, but the majority 
 merely continue conventional customs which exist 
 because we have the habit of feeding them. 
 
 The folly of unnecessary cost is far more serious 
 in economic result than the error of dishonesty. A 
 robbery is a mere shifting of ownership with no 
 destruction of property. A false use of wealth 
 actually destroys value, lessening the property of 
 the community as a whole. Our code of ethics is 
 so dominated by tradition and superstition, that it 
 neglects effects to magnify intents. We decry the 
 swindler who runs off with the contributions of his 
 victims, but have only sympathy for the well-meaning 
 blunderer who loses the wealth of his friends in some 
 ill-considered venture in which no one profits. We 
 are beginning faintly to realize that the one who 
 reduces productive costs increases the wealth of the 
 community, but we do not yet recognize the neces- 
 sary corollary that those who unnecessarily increase 
 
166 More 
 
 costs of production rob the community. Not 
 only does the man who wastes good material 
 injure us all, but so does he who will not use 
 the possible improvements, the labor-saving proc- 
 esses. He hurts the world, for he postpones its 
 possibilities, halts its rate of progress, robs it of its 
 due. 
 
 Increasing Demand 
 
 We have noted that labor-saving tools would really 
 injure the world by making more idlers were there 
 not an increase in desire that absorbs the toil of the 
 freed labor. The encouragement of desire is even 
 more important than the improvement of processes, 
 since the latter feeds on the former. We see so much 
 unfit desire stimulated in the general mass that it 
 would seem wise to limit the application of stimu- 
 lation, but life is a seething mass of conflicting 
 elements and many think it fairly safe to let evolution 
 take care of its destiny by hastening the self-destruc- 
 tion of the unfit. 
 
 Increasing the amount of product always leads to 
 cheapening of cost, so that increase of desire assists 
 in the ease by which desires may be granted. Prod- 
 ucts are increased through increase in the pro- 
 portion of funds invested in imperishable things, 
 especially through the investment in product- 
 producing devices. It is plain to all that increase 
 of products means more employment of productive 
 labor and better chance for the average individual 
 
Reduction of Costs 167 
 
 to increase the value of his spending-power, whatever 
 it may be. 
 
 The definite attempts to excite desire are found in 
 our systems of personal solicitation, advertising and 
 exposure of goods where they meet the eye. Since 
 we should wish to encourage only fit desire, it would 
 be perfectly logical legally to prevent any enticement 
 catering to an unfit need. The enforced truth in 
 labels is a step in the right direction and portends 
 much that encourages. 
 
 Here again the inventor becomes significant. 
 Many a new desire has been kindled by the novelty 
 that appeals to curiosity or the possibility of meeting 
 a long-wished-for requirement. We have seen how 
 universally people have taken up such novelties as 
 the bicycle, talking-machine, type-writer, telephone, 
 etc. The peculiar ingenuity of the mechanism 
 has had no little part in stimulating adoption. 
 
 We are so generally imitative that it becomes of 
 great importance just what desires are active in 
 those who are aped. The leaders made prominent 
 by an alert press could effect great economic changes 
 by making simplicity fashionable. 
 
 Education assists, of course. Modem school- 
 houses, with their good ventilation and high-grade 
 plumbing, teach the children what they ought to ex- 
 pect and aspire to. The novels read by the majority 
 tell of people who live much better than the average 
 and thus excite desire to be like them. As usual, 
 the desire often ends in a cheap pretence, but with- 
 out the desire we should risk a decline. 
 
168 More 
 
 Increase of Funds 
 
 As to reducing costs through the plenteous appli- 
 cation of funds to the development of new industries 
 and the increase of facilities for delivering products, 
 it is not only necessary that funds be suflBcient, but 
 also that confidence be unshaken. We have seen a 
 period when the country was stifled for need of 
 more railways, and when everything that could be 
 done, should be done, to lead capital toward railway 
 investment, seized upon as the fit time to stir up 
 feeling against railroad owners and managers — 
 the time to slaughter their stocks and make investors 
 shrink from considering railway shares. The public 
 would buy neither bonds nor stocks. 
 
 The writer would not for one instant desire to 
 withhold investigation of evil, or punishment of 
 crime, but he would counsel a limitation of attack 
 to those strictly guilty ; and when there are so many 
 evils waiting correction it were just as reasonable to 
 select one less bound up with public service. It is 
 hardly ethical to turn a Gatling gun loose on a crowd 
 in order to bag one offender. Neither is it logical 
 to condemn too hastily and treat too harshly evasions 
 of laws which have remained unenforced for long 
 periods. The public are annoyed because of poor 
 railway service and too frequent accidents — such 
 errors are not corrected by hampering the railroads 
 in securing the funds with which to improve their 
 service and their facilities. 
 
 I have already shown how money could be made 
 
Reduction of Costs 169 
 
 more plentiful. We could erase the timidity which 
 locks up capital by lessening the food of fear — by 
 curbing hysteria, encouraging the philosophic view 
 and having more faith in the possibilities of our 
 race. The very presence of hope and courage is of 
 sufficient value to counterbalance a grave amount 
 of material loss. 
 
 Applying Unused Effort 
 
 The means considered apply to present conditions. 
 We need not necessarily confine our speculations to 
 present routine — it is, at least, instructive, to con- 
 sider the possibilities in drastic changes of system. 
 Not that any such changes are quickly probable — 
 but the world slowly drifts toward change of some 
 nature and it were well that the drift be guided 
 toward a profitable change. 
 
 Reform necessarily brings changes. 
 
 Changes necessarily bring distress to some. 
 Progress is often most cruel when truly reformatory. 
 Life is largely a matter of adaptation to environment, 
 and a change in habits or surroundings must disrupt 
 and destroy. We can not advance rapidly until we 
 have adapted ourselves to the very habit of change 
 itself. 
 
 Active intellects desire change. It is only through 
 new uses that the faculties receive education. It 
 is only through experiment that betterment is pos- 
 sible. It is not natural that the service-sellers should 
 
170 More 
 
 rejoice at a lessening of their ranks — especially 
 those who are lost in the shuflBe. Some may be saved 
 since they have value outside of economic standards. 
 We shall wish to preserve a certain element who 
 play and give pleasure. We are fully warranted in 
 considering means by which to reduce the share of 
 those who do not give a proper — if any — equiva- 
 lent. 
 
 We must certainly take note of those who give no 
 equivalent at all. We have already noted those 
 who dawdle while their land multiplies in value, 
 rabbit-like. There are also the very old and the 
 very young; the idle rich and the idle poor; the 
 sick, the lazy and the incompetent. The world needs 
 the labor of each in the extent that it may be made 
 serviceable without harm to the laborer. 
 
 There are labors to-day in which a man is laid 
 off when he arrives at the age of thirty-five. When 
 the unions set a high minimum wage it is only the 
 alert who can give the high grade of effort demanded. 
 In many old-fashioned establishments there are 
 men of seventy who are kept along at pay propor- 
 tionate to their results and who are glad and proud 
 that they have not become a burden to their families 
 or inmates of the pauper institutions. The union 
 policy is making such employment impossible, 
 where the unions rule. 
 
 There is a strong sentiment against child-labor 
 in any form, yet coincident with the movement is 
 a growing tendency toward teaching scholars useful 
 work. It is wrong to encourage a view of labor 
 
Reduction of Costs 171 
 
 that treats of it as a punishment accompanied by 
 all sorts of foul associations. The average factory 
 gives a cleaner, healthier, more moral environment, 
 than its average workers are accustomed to outside 
 its walls. No one wants to see children stunted or 
 abused, but they can certainly be made useful for 
 a few hours of a day without deleterious results. 
 A half-day shift would possibly solve the problem 
 where parents really need some income from their 
 children. It is shown that growing children eat 
 almost as much as their parents, and food is the 
 greatest item of family expense with the poor. It 
 is a serious problem for a young couple to raise a 
 numerous family beyond school age without the 
 shghtest pecuniary assistance. The thoughtless 
 trust to luck and keep on having children; the 
 thoughtful limit the size of their families. The 
 population is thus recruited more and more from 
 its least worthy elements. 
 
 The children of a laboring man used to be quite 
 an asset and at a certain age they furnished material 
 income. To-day, with our laws and our customs, 
 a large family is a serious burden to a humble 
 earner. There is no question that under modern 
 civilization the worker's wife is less able than formerly 
 to do house-work and raise children. The doctors' 
 bills are an item of increasing importance as the 
 strains of a more complicated existence use up the 
 reserves of the help-mates' strength. 
 
 It is easy to turn this discussion into a most dis- 
 agreeable channel. Nature, insulted, is most 
 
172 More 
 
 revengeful. The native American stock is becoming 
 extinct — not the Indians, but that Anglo-Saxon 
 coast-stock which spread over the West, after filling 
 the East. To-day it is asserted that there are less 
 people of American birth in Massachusetts than 
 there were in 1850. The Puritan strain is dying 
 out. Early in the nineteenth century, families of 
 ten children were common; to-day a family of five 
 is unusual. We must set a greater proportion of 
 men at work producing essentials, so that there will 
 be enough of the essentials to provide for larger 
 families. If we do not hold our own — or more 
 than hold our own — we are going to see our country 
 owned and swarmed over by races vidth unpro- 
 nounceable names, several centuries behind us in 
 civilization. 
 
 The idle-rich excite a deal of comment, but their 
 numbers are so small as to make them an almost 
 negligible factor. As a matter of fact, they are by 
 no means idle, in truth, but rather engaged in selected 
 non-productive pursuits. In living to spend, they 
 often develop a judgment of values which helps us 
 set proper standards. 'They enlarge their view by 
 travel and imbibe correct taste in arts and refine- 
 ments. They set the standards for others who 
 have less time in which to get the necessary educa- 
 tion. 
 
 Our American men of generous means are mostly 
 absorbed in the pursuit of further funds. No one 
 can properly accuse them of idleness. If we look 
 over the whole area of population we find that the 
 
Reduction of Costs 173 
 
 greatest fraction of useless individuals includes the 
 unmarried women too old for schooling and yet 
 superior, in their own sight, to useful employment. 
 A great proportion of the female sex — both married 
 and unmarried — live in the mistaken notion that 
 the men of the earth owe it support in return 
 for — nothing ! The function of womanhood is 
 primarily to mother the race. Those who disdain 
 or avoid this duty might find use as chamber-maids, 
 or in other necessary employment, but they have 
 no excuse to live without serving or producing. 
 This decision might seem hardly in line with senti- 
 mental ideals of chivalry, but such ideals originally 
 and properly appUed to those who were mothers, 
 or thought of as possible wives. 
 
 The idle poor are often willing, but not wanted. 
 If private individuals will not employ them, it 
 becomes the duty of the State to see that they are 
 made productive. The numbers of the sick and the 
 lazy can be lessened by more efficient supervision 
 and the useless can be limited by proper means of 
 deprivation. 
 
 Economizing Effort 
 
 Those who have studied the question know per- 
 fectly well that we have not yet touched the key- 
 note of the situation. Our wealth is not limited by 
 reason of the idle effort that might be apphed, as 
 much as by reason of the present effort that is 
 wrongly applied. It is the wasted effort that is 
 
174 More 
 
 eating up the profit of the new ideas. Active waste 
 is worse than idle inutiHty. 
 
 If we treat each great division of labor in turn, 
 we find that the trust movement has already lessened 
 waste and is destined to spread and continue its 
 economies. The trusts are even going to go beyond 
 the end of monopolizing a field of production and 
 therefore eliminating the expenses of competition. 
 They are going gradually to enlarge their fields to 
 supply themselves with all that enters into their 
 product. They are going to own their own lum- 
 ber-lands, their own ore-fields, their own copper 
 mines, make their own bolts and nails, paint, etc., 
 etc. 
 
 There is just one possibility of trust development 
 that has not yet been fully tried, which is, the 
 corporate ownership of a varied industry munici- 
 pality. We have had whole cities given up to the 
 making of parlor-cars and other special products, 
 but we have hardly had a city of varied industries 
 supplying itself with all its manufactured necessities, 
 all under one corporate ownership, with the bulk 
 of the citizens as stock-holders. Such a plan would 
 eliminate a tremendous amount of transportation 
 expense and practically all the selling expense of 
 the manufactories, if the people were loyal to their 
 own industries. To-day, there is an interchange of 
 similar commodities between points hundreds of 
 miles apart, with terrific loss in transportation. 
 
 Should a corporation acquire a vast tract of vacant 
 land and build up a city thereon, keeping ownership 
 
Reduction of Costs 175 
 
 of the area, it would profit by the rise in value of 
 land brought on by its own act — which is mani- 
 festly fair and equitable. By absolutely dominating 
 the purposes for which its land was rented, it could 
 not only prevent all harmful occupations, but also 
 control waste by preventing the sale of poor products 
 within the territory. It would naturally, as far as 
 possible, confine sales to products made within the 
 territory, thus ensuring employment of its own popu- 
 lation. 
 
 Were such a corporation to increase capital, as 
 required by expansion, allowing its own people first 
 chance to acquire stock, there could be no talk of 
 unjust monopoly or unfair restriction. Those who 
 did not like the plan could move out — they would 
 have no property ownership of home to keep them. 
 It would be wise to have the control of the stock 
 centre in men of more than average wisdom, in order 
 to escape the folly of the impractical experiments 
 which usually wreck community schemes. It 
 might be urged that such a plan would destroy 
 individuality. Not at all ! It would only destroy 
 the right of the individual to practise much folly 
 and inutility. 
 
 Since such a group must purchase much from 
 outside, it would necessarily have to include some 
 form of industry which could market a product out- 
 side. The possible loss from including many small 
 industries, catering only to the population, could be 
 easily balanced by the gains from removal of com- 
 petition. 
 
176 More 
 
 The author has known some minor attempts in 
 similar lines which failed in effecting certain desirable 
 ends because the entire locality was not controlled. 
 Owners of intervening plots of land would not accept 
 generous offers, but reared ugly buildings, sold 
 inferior goods, served as leaders of opposition, 
 encouraging discontent and bad feeling. 
 
 I have seen on the other hand, a single-industry 
 community of seven thousand people in South 
 Carolina, which lives associated with all proper 
 modern conveniences, yet gets along without a 
 single lawyer, editor, court, jail or saloon. Ob- 
 jectionable citizens are turned out of their rented 
 houses and thus forced to go elsewhere. There are 
 hundreds of similar towns with lesser population, 
 but this special one is significant for size as well as 
 success. There is no reason why the same plan 
 would not work on a yet larger scale with more 
 diversity of manufacture. 
 
 There is strong feeling in many centres against 
 the " Company Store ; " in fact, certain states 
 prevent them by legislation. Were the corporation 
 owned largely by its own workmen, there should be 
 no chance for criticism, and the economy in having 
 one centre for distribution is enormous and will be 
 the subject of further discussion. It is, of course, 
 a hardship to be forced to patronize a store that 
 charges above the ordinary rates; but, as a matter 
 of fact, the opponents often base their real opposi- 
 tion on the desire to buy cheap and inferior goods, 
 or they wish for opportunity to contract debt. 
 
Reduction of Costs 177 
 
 It is even possible that such a plan might be used 
 to develop a higher type of human being, by limiting 
 citizenship to those of good health and decent habits. 
 The authority in power could prevent the existence 
 of any unhealthful pursuits within the territory, 
 provide perfect sanitation, prevent crowding of 
 buildings and realize ends that we all aim at, but 
 hardly hope to reach, now handicapped by the 
 necessity of uniform conviction. The suggestion 
 may sound somewhat chimerical, but so do all sug- 
 gestions that propose material improvement. We 
 have tried other plans — why not incorporate 
 betterment ? 
 
 Reforming Transportation 
 
 As to the problems of transportation, there are 
 certainly chances for improvement through increase 
 of facilities, but there is not much hope for future 
 economy in management, since many think that 
 economy, in view of the alarming increase in acci- 
 dents, has gone too far as it is. The adoption of 
 electric hauling may make surprising changes. 
 There is some talk of government ownership, but 
 no sensible man supposes for an instant that such a 
 change would lessen expense. Think of the common 
 waste and theft in building state capitols duplicated 
 in innumerable stations, trackage and bridges ! 
 Think of the indolence and inefficiency of officials 
 governmentally appointed ! If we are too corrupt, 
 as a people, to furnish honest management for private 
 
178 More 
 
 corporations under present conditions, we are cer- 
 tainly unfit to apply governmental methods which 
 commonly allow dishonesty to flourish more freely. 
 
 It might be pertinent to note the popular outcry 
 against over-capitalization so called, which is one 
 of the prime reasons urged for governmental control. 
 Certain states have gone so far as to require that 
 each new mile, or line, of railroad shall, if capitalized, 
 be taken at its actual cost. It were as sensible to 
 insist that a grocery store should sell at wholesale 
 prices. Men build railroads for profit, as they build 
 anything else, and they are entitled to just the 
 profit that the public recognizes as being present 
 in the total value created. Securities cannot be 
 placed without liberal allowance for underwriting 
 and associating expense. The public does not have 
 to pay any figure set by the owner, it can set its 
 own figure and decline to pay until that figure be 
 reached. The profits of railway promoters have not 
 been tempting enough to give us the railroads that 
 we now need. By preventing the promotion of new 
 roads, we play directly into the hands of those who 
 control existing roads. 
 
 The state of Massachusetts has a railroad com- 
 mission which carefully supervises any act of railway 
 corporations that aflFects the roads within its limits. 
 It may be hampered by limiting law, but it cannot 
 be said that its presence has stimulated the building 
 of any new roads or any appreciable amount of new 
 trackage. The people of the South have recently 
 been angry and exasperated at the shortcomings 
 
Reduction of Costs 179 
 
 of its railways, but when a great road, whose stocks, 
 both common and preferred, sold materially under 
 par, started to double track its main line, there was 
 legislation passed which reduced its profits and 
 affected its credit before the possible buyers of its 
 securities. The improvements were held up, and the 
 bad service continued. 
 
 Many fail to realize that railroads are common 
 carriers. They have to accept any business tendered, 
 even when they know that they cannot handle it 
 properly. They are not obliged by law to increase 
 their facilities, and they are not urged to improve 
 facilities by legislation which reduces earnings faster 
 than they are made. 
 
 Since the public will not always treat the com- 
 panies fairly, they are obligingly fooled. New roads 
 are often built by construction companies in which 
 the promoters are interested, the contracts ensuring a 
 handsome profit. The road may then be capitalized 
 on its inflated cost and appear uncommonly virtuous 
 in the eyes of the investor. 
 
 Great sections of country have waited unde- 
 veloped until the enterprise of some far-seeing 
 capitalists has opened them up with railway trackage. 
 Why should not such enterprise be rewarded by a 
 profit similar to that allowed in any other risky 
 venture? It is as legitimate to issue stock on the 
 earning power of a matured railway success as it is 
 to capitalize land value, patent rights, mines, or 
 any other value not determined wholly by actual 
 cost. It is as legitimate to capitalize earning 
 
180 More 
 
 power as it is to capitalize a v/ater power. If 
 there is true power it has value and that value 
 should be salable. If stock is sold to a duped public 
 by false representations, rouse the courts to activity ; 
 but assail the falsity, rather than the property. 
 
 It is assumed that high capitalization gives rail- 
 roads the right to make excessive charges to pay 
 dividends; but the high proportion of roads which 
 do not pay dividends weakens the argument. Rail- 
 roads cannot charge more than shippers will pay 
 and the shippers have the protection of sufficient 
 law if they need to use it. There are plenty of abuses 
 in railroad practice, but why should we expect rail- 
 road men to be different from any other group of 
 imperfect human beings. We shall hardly reform 
 them by suggesting injustice as a cure. 
 
 I anticipate the charge that I am writing in the 
 interests of the monopolies; I plead guilty. I am 
 writing in the interest of progress, growth, develop- 
 ment — the true interests of the whole country, 
 whether controlled by monopolies, aggregations or 
 individuals. It were folly to hamper activity be- 
 cause its methods are often faulty. We must not shut 
 down our industries because they fill the air with 
 cinders. Keep them going while we find a way to 
 prevent cinders. 
 
 Reforming Distribution 
 
 The force of steam has advanced our manufactures 
 and our carriers in one century beyond comparison 
 
Reduction of Costs 181 
 
 with all other centuries together. The application 
 of inventions has multiplied the effort of the producer 
 and the transporter incredibly and continuously — 
 but we still stick to methods and customs in retail- 
 sale that were venerable and expensive in the days of 
 Bildad the Shuhite. The prospective purchaser still 
 travels to market to view' a confusing repetition of 
 similar goods, not always similarly priced, and 
 caution demands that they be felt of, smelt of, and 
 viewed suspiciously, before they are priced, bought, 
 recorded, bundled and delivered. 
 
 We can easily compute the losses in the system 
 from noting the imnecessary expenses which are 
 necessarily paid through an addition to price. 
 When we see thirty groceries in a town of ten thou- 
 sand people, we know that those people are paying 
 for thirty men's profits, for rent of thirty stores, for 
 lighting and heating of the same, for all the duplica- 
 tion of book-keeping, advertising, clerk hire, etc., 
 etc. Even were it necessary for convenience to have 
 stores in different sections, it is evident that four or 
 five would cover sufficient space — in fact, as a 
 matter of course, the majority are huddled together. 
 The same criticism applies to all retail traffic. 
 Shoppers are going from one store to another, com- 
 paring stocks and prices which are commonly uni- 
 form; sales-girls are spending their time showing 
 goods which are not purchased; delivery wagons 
 are going miles to deliver spools of thread, and 
 several wagons may be making the same trip to 
 deliver similar bundles to the same home. Each 
 
182 More 
 
 store is spending large sums to attract patronage 
 from rivals. The whole system is foolish and 
 extravagant in the extreme. 
 
 Suppose that a small store has an expense account 
 of $1,000 to cover rent, light and heat; $1,000 for 
 deterioration of stock and fixtures ; $2,000 for clerk 
 hire and delivery of goods; $1,000 for advertising, 
 taxes and miscellaneous expenses, and $2,500 to 
 cover bad debts and profit; here is $7,500 which 
 must be added to the value of the goods purchased 
 by the consumer. 
 
 Now suppose that another store competes for the 
 same trade. It will have all the expenses of the first, 
 and both will probably have more; for the adver- 
 tising and bad debts multiply under competition. 
 There will be at least $15,000 of extra cost which 
 the consumers must pay. 
 
 But there are not two shops — there are dozens, 
 Uned up side by side, busy with clerks who show 
 more than they sell. There is no sign of improve- 
 ment. In 1890 there were but 264,394 salesmen 
 and saleswomen, according to the census, while in 
 1900 there were 611,139. 
 
 A superfluity of shops increases the time wasted 
 in shopping. Many require a dollar's worth of 
 attention for every ten cents' worth of goods pur- 
 chased. The retailer makes no profit out of this 
 feature of the system — he should welcome a refor- 
 mation. 
 
 Unrestricted competition in retail trade is lessening 
 the possible purchase value of each dollar earned. 
 
Reduction of Costs 183 
 
 Competition does not affect economy until it makes 
 profits scarce. The free field for selling agents 
 stimulates the exciting of other than economic 
 desires. There is a great and growing class which 
 lives off the producer by rendering doubtful service 
 in suggesting uneconomic uses of his earnings. It 
 encourages desire for unnecessary things and services 
 by every art known to human ingenuity. Nothing 
 is made in these miles of stores that front the lines of 
 trade. Nothing is manufactured in the offices of 
 the sky-scrapers. The earnings of those who are not 
 producing are paid by those who produce; why 
 should so much be paid ? 
 
 It is to the advantage of the seller to get rid of as 
 much as possible, or at as high prices as possible. 
 This is especially true of general retail trade where 
 the future prosperity of any individual buyer is of 
 little comparative moment. The latter is attracted 
 by appeals to all his senses and all his vices. He is 
 lured into the contracting of debt and deceived 
 frequently as to the value, condition or construction, 
 of the thing purchased. This is not intended as a 
 wholesale arraignment of retailers; it is simply an 
 exposure of the workings of human nature. Some 
 manufacturers are perfectly willing to supply the 
 fraudulent goods. Cheap stuff and poor stuff is 
 turned out continuously for those traders who make 
 profit out of inferior substitutes. There is a funda- 
 mental feeling that poor goods increase trade since 
 they will not last and thus require continual replace- 
 ment. The truly honest goods are those sold with 
 
184 More 
 
 the name of the maker attached, — the advertised 
 goods that rely on reputation. It is the unfathered 
 goods which are dubious in quality as well as in 
 ancestry. 
 
 The present system not only incites extravagance 
 in the purchaser and multiplication of his fanciful 
 needs, it also cheats him by forcing a progressive 
 deterioration in products. There is a constant hunt 
 for profit on the part of the jobber and retailer by 
 giving less value for the price. Starting with mere 
 adulteration, we have now reached the stage of 
 substitution. Our canned meats are lost in a paste 
 of corn meal; our woollen goods are often shoddy 
 and our silk stufiFs mercerized cotton. One of the 
 meaner frauds is the use of substitutes in medicinal 
 prescriptions, so that the sick do not get the relief 
 prescribed for them. Official tests of drug-stores, 
 by the filling of duplicate prescriptions at many 
 places, have shown up a serious and criminal state 
 of affairs. We seem to live in an age of sham. 
 Imposing buildings are going up in plain sight with 
 thin veneers of stone stuck on to simulate solidity, 
 and concrete is needlessly given a surfacing to im- 
 itate stone. Contractors also tell me that there are 
 plenty of fakes where plaster was cheaper than 
 stone in some of the more venerable structures at 
 Washington. 
 
 It is customary to hold up the manufacturer as 
 an example of greed and avarice, since he sometimes 
 makes a personal profit far beyond the ordinary 
 salary or wage. He is, however, making partly out 
 
Reduction of Costs 185 
 
 of capital invested, which deserves profits of itself; 
 and his other profit is but a small fraction of the 
 price which the retail purchaser pays and but a 
 fraction of the excess added by the retailer to the 
 wholesale price, varying often from one fifth to one 
 twentieth. 
 
 There are several possible ways in which to reduce 
 the excessive expense of present retail methods; 
 by co-operation, combination, state control and 
 government ownership. Co-operation is quite 
 eflfectual already in certain lands, but it does not 
 prevent outside competition and it cannot force 
 patronage. Combination is so feasible that it is 
 certainly peculiar that no really large corporate body 
 has considered this open field. It would require only 
 a hundred millions, or so, to try the experiment, and 
 such a sum is unimportant in these days of high 
 finance. Did such a company establish great stores 
 in a hundred important centres — not necessarily 
 so large as to be already served by great department 
 stores — and concentrate the buying under one 
 head for all, it could get concessions in the way of 
 costs that would shame railroad rebates. For such 
 a purchaser would not only get the very best trans- 
 portation rates, but it could buy in large bulk and 
 make favorable contracts with the producers. It 
 could save substantially in its general expenses as 
 compared with its smaller competitors and be well 
 prepared to drive them out of business. 
 
 If such a company sensibly let its customers 
 become shareholders, it should stand no possible 
 
186 More 
 
 chance of loss and could expand indefinitely. It 
 could even produce many of its own wares if the 
 producing trusts became extortionate. 
 
 The present retailers would naturally suflFer, but 
 they could prevent the loss if they cared — and 
 dared. The counter-move is self-evident — let them 
 anticipate the possibility by uniting themselves 
 into great combinations, concentrating their little 
 stores into great single units equipped with all 
 possible devices to save labor and economize time ! 
 What matter if their leases do run — the profits of 
 the new system would fully pay such associating 
 losses. 
 
 The prevailing credit system distinctly injures all 
 solvent and honest customers. We shall not always 
 willingly be saddled with the debts of the debt- 
 shirker. Ask the ordinary provision-dealer about 
 the extent of his dubious custom and then reflect 
 on who really settles for it ! A great industry once 
 tried to help its help by selling them goods from its 
 own store at low prices for cash. It found that 
 they preferred to trade at other stores, where they 
 paid higher prices but could postpone the time of 
 payment — or not pay at all. Such practice puts 
 a premium on dishonesty. 
 
 By state control I designate a system which is 
 already working splendidly as applied to the liquor 
 traffic of the state of Massachusetts. The licenses 
 are limited in proportion to population and a large 
 local income is derived by placing high prices on the 
 licenses. I know of a town which had sixty-four 
 
Reduction of Costs 187 
 
 licensed saloons under the old plan, which had to 
 get along with ten under the new ruling. The ten 
 furnished plenty of convenience to the population, 
 except perhaps to those on the outskirts who there- 
 fore had longer journeying and possibly drank less 
 in view of the multipUed steps of the homeward 
 path. The price of drinks remained unchanged in 
 spite of the high license and the profits were plenty, 
 as proved by the annual scramble for licenses. Think 
 of the actual saving to some one by erasing the 
 necessity for rent, light and heat of fifty-four 
 saloons, to say nothing of saloon owners and bar- 
 tenders ! 
 
 Now why should not a similar method apply to 
 all other trades as well .'' Have a certain number of 
 stores which could sell whatever they liked, except 
 liquor, and make them pay heavily for the privilege. 
 The revenue might allow us to dispense with local 
 taxes on personal property ; it would certainly reduce 
 direct taxation of some nature. Those obtaining 
 licenses would not have to raise prices; they could 
 easily reduce prices, for they could sell much more 
 per store, per clerk and per each item of general 
 expense. Concentrate the stores of a locality and 
 a heavy per cent of local expense disappears instanter. 
 Take a directory and note the proportion of 
 people employed in and by the local stores. The 
 totals are amazing. 
 
 Of course such a plan would eliminate the small 
 trader. It certainly eliminated the small saloon 
 keeper. We cannot have progress without saving 
 
188 More 
 
 cost, which is labor, and making it shift to other 
 jobs. The very fact that a retailer does a small 
 business proves that he has to add a large per cent 
 to prices in order to get a living at all. In oriental 
 countries one may see traders sitting behind a peck 
 of fruit or vegetables, which constitutes their whole 
 stock in trade and over which they will haggle with 
 customers all the day long. We approach such 
 absurdity in proportion as we recognize the necessity 
 for the small dealer. 
 
 The world does not profit by putting able-bodied 
 citizens back of bars or any other form of sales- 
 counter. It profits when they take tools in their 
 hands and busy themselves in production. When 
 the fifty-four saloon-keepers and their assistants 
 were thrown out of work, they got other employ- 
 ment. Many of them began to make things. They 
 became an asset, instead of a liability. 
 
 The reforms that could make all richer are uni- 
 formly opposed by the poor. Poor people always 
 magnify the sentimental side of any question, since 
 they naturally place high value on immaterial 
 personal attributes when lacking material values. 
 The small stores are made possible because of the 
 personal or racial friendships between the store- 
 keeper and his customers, strengthened by associa- 
 tion in church, lodge or what-not. Likes and dis- 
 likes enter where they have no economic relevancy. 
 In small localities the population gets much of its 
 social amusement at the store or the saloon or the 
 barber-shop. If people must have conversation 
 
Reduction of Costs 189 
 
 with their shopping, they must expect to pay for it ; 
 they certainly do pay for it. 
 
 The actual profits of retail trade are strikingly 
 in evidence when cut-rate drug-stores sell dollar 
 patent medicines for sixty-five cents and make 
 sufficient profit at that. If the bottle contains but 
 haK a pint of disguised whiskey, it is certainly dear 
 at the lower figure. The bargain-counter sales of 
 the dry-goods stores give us a fair idea of cost-prices. 
 Any man who has graduated from a primary school 
 can take a pencil and figure the approximate sales 
 and expenses of the merchant that he deals with 
 and get a fair idea of the extra cost added without 
 allowing for profit. 
 
 The comer drug-store does not necessarily grow 
 rich selling sweet water for five cents a glass or by 
 charging ten cents for an ounce of salts bought for 
 a dollar a barrel. If some six other drug-stores 
 were closed up, it could lower prices and make more 
 money. The average retailer is hard run to earn a 
 decent living and deserves earnest sympathy, but 
 he can not continue to balk progress. He may dis- 
 like to give up his independent position, — so did 
 the small boot-makers whose little home shops were 
 common years ago in many sections of New Eng- 
 land. Some one must always give up when the 
 majority gain. 
 
 Government ownership of stores sounds socialistic, 
 but it is one of the very last changes proposed by 
 the socialistic clique. This of itself would go to 
 show that it has superior advantages; in fact, it 
 
190 More 
 
 offers a bewildering vista of possibilities. Govern- 
 ment ownership of factories could easily deaden 
 incentive and dull invention, but stores use organiza- 
 tions more in line with departments already under 
 governmental control. Were it not for the associat- 
 ing concentration of voting power, there would be 
 fascinating chances in governmental domination of 
 retail sale. The economies would be so enormous 
 that the inevitable factor of mismanagement would 
 cut but a minor figure. If it were absolutely illegal 
 for any individual or corporation to sell a finished 
 product — apart from the material or machines 
 used in the making of other products — the govern- 
 ment, as the only buyer in this country, could not 
 only reject all unsatisfactory goods and refrain from 
 patronage of dishonest establishments, but it could 
 collect indirect taxes with ease, absolutely regulate 
 foreign competition, enforce the use of good goods, 
 save enormously in book-keeping, warehousing, 
 delivery, rent, service, lighting, heating — the list 
 is endless. 
 
 Advertising would then be limited to explaining 
 the reasons for purchase of goods rather than used 
 to exploit personality and call attention to mere 
 locality of the selling place. Needless variety could 
 be curtailed, cheapening manufacture as well as 
 saving time for the purchaser. It is now necessary 
 for hundreds of mills to change their patterns every 
 year to meet the unnatural demand of the jobber for 
 novelty that shall excite custom. 
 
 We shall hardly gain much applause for such a 
 
Reduction of Costs 191 
 
 scheme from the spokesmen of public opinion, since 
 the press profits from the extra advertising involved 
 in present conditions. Neither wiU the vendors of 
 unnecessary products take kindly to their suggested 
 elimination. The whole body of consumers could 
 profit — as consumers — but it must realize that 
 any such profit can only be brought about by united 
 effort of those who are to profit. Changes occur 
 only when it profits, or pleases, an active party to 
 have the change, and not until that party appreciates 
 the profit or pleasure thus made possible. 
 
 The people could have this profit for themselves, 
 were they prompt and competent. Present retailers 
 could also take it, were they able to sink their petty 
 jealousies and sufficiently clear-headed to grasp its 
 possibilities." In view of the limitations of all con- 
 cerned, it is far more likely that some trust will grab 
 the opportunity. There is no reason why it should 
 not be grabbed — it is distinctly grabable. 
 
CHAPTER NINE 
 
 PARTITION OF PROFITS 
 
 Justice demands the reward of merit. 
 
 Every profit taken by the undeserving lessens the 
 share of the meritorious. The deserving need not 
 think they shall get their share by simple serving. 
 They must take it and hold it, struggle to get it and 
 fight to keep it, so long as they allow their despoilers 
 free chance at their earnings. 
 
 Many care more for the satisfaction of producing, 
 than for the product; but if they will not take their 
 pay, they feed some scavenger and sanction his 
 unsavory job. If one does not take what belongs to 
 him, he encourages some other to take what does 
 not belong to him. 
 
 It might be figured that each gets just what he 
 deserves since one so foolish as to neglect his rights 
 ought to suffer a punishment for the folly, but that 
 hardly warrants another in profiting by it. There 
 are some who work so hard at producing they have 
 no energy left for protection. 
 
 We always find, on analysis, that value created is 
 proportionate to the brain power or quality evidenced 
 in the means used, except in such unusual instances 
 192 
 
Partition of Profits 193 
 
 as the discovery of mining values, or other lucky 
 strokes of fortune. It is brains, or talent, which 
 increases values, in the ordinary run of affairs. 
 We see races who will not use the assistance of 
 invention ; they live in mud huts and subsist on tree 
 fruit. They do not gain in wealth a dollar a head 
 per year. It is talent that has made the wealth 
 of wealthy nations and that talent deserves its re- 
 ward. 
 
 It rarely gets it. 
 
 The public usually acts like the spoiled child, that 
 demands a bribe before it will obey good advice. 
 People will not adopt a beneficial suggestion unless 
 they are given most of the benefits. 
 
 The advance of the world is made through new 
 combinations, not reproductions. Those who merely 
 reproduce always dislike the necessity for change. 
 They scout innovation and view suggestions for 
 reform in a most pessimistic spirit. It is hardly 
 fifty years since mobs destroyed improved ma- 
 chinery in the civilized country of England. A 
 hundred years ago these same islanders drove 
 inventors across the channel. It is not easy to force 
 a benefit. 
 
 We think of the race as advancing, when it is 
 only the few who improve their status. Men still 
 do the work of oxen in certain countries, since they 
 are cheaper to feed. The capacity of the shoveller 
 has not necessarily increased in the last ten thousand 
 years. The man with the steam-drill may know no 
 
194 More 
 
 more than the one with the hand-drill, but he gets 
 better results. He gets them but he does not make 
 them. The steam does the extra work. The man 
 who thought of confining steam is primarily respon- 
 sible. 
 
 If we profit through tools we owe something to 
 the talent which invented the tools and to the men 
 who directed the talent, or furnished the means by 
 which it became effective. It takes men of ideas, 
 men of judgment and men with capital, to effect 
 durable advance. We often fail to appreciate what 
 we owe to the inventor and his investor. 
 
 Another important class includes men who are 
 not original in thought or method but who grasp 
 existing possibilities and force events which would 
 otherwise fail to occur. These masters of opportunity 
 are unfortunately scarce. Their chief assets are 
 shrewdness and courage. They display true power 
 when they guide conditions, and true intelligence 
 when they foresee results. 
 
 It were the acme of folly for the possible majority 
 of individuals which may control the future plan of 
 production to think that it could do away with 
 the dominator. It could much better avail itself 
 of his talents and encourage the training of more 
 of his kind. The greatest lack in modern methods 
 is in those fitted for the new responsibilities. 
 The massing of capital requires massive men to 
 handle it. Many envy their pay, but they often are 
 not paid enough, in view of the results that they 
 are expected to accomplish. 
 
Partition of Profits 195 
 
 We need more men of individuality and originality. 
 We must get over the false habit of approving imita- 
 tions. There is an economic significance in novelty, 
 as it is only through the introduction of novelties 
 that desire enlarges its sphere, stimulating the 
 necessary increase of activity that shall earn the 
 means of gratification. Each individual can add to 
 the general activity of aroused intellect by avoiding 
 conventionalism in thought, at least, and by exciting 
 a new range of fit desires. 
 
 Many think to be clever and deserving, since they 
 comprehend the problems that others have solved. 
 The art of quick comprehension is merely the 
 appreciative realization of what-is. The slower 
 determining of what-is-to-be will profit better in 
 the long run. 
 
 The reign of justice will be supreme when each 
 factor in production and distribution gets the exact 
 fraction of extra profit which was contributed by 
 his willing effort, correctly applied, in comparison 
 with the returns which he might have expected in 
 pay for the efiFort normally forced from him in the 
 average of conditions. It may be well to increase 
 and cheapen production by giving a per cent of 
 extra profits to all whose efforts can directly control 
 the volume or the cost. 
 
 We have had combinations of laborers and com- 
 binations of capitalists — it is not impossible that we 
 may next be met with a combination of those who 
 sell their talent, their directing power, their tact 
 and experience as managers. They could certainly 
 
196 More 
 
 embarrass business if they struck for recognition. 
 We had better give them no cause for dissatisfaction. 
 This division into classes is the very thing our wise 
 forefathers tried to avoid. All this demagogic talk 
 of the interests of " The People " confessedly selects 
 one certain section for favor. It may be a large 
 class, it may be an unfortunate class deserving of 
 sympathy; but it is not just that any class should 
 have its interests made paramount. When we talk 
 of equal chances for all, we should mean what we 
 say. " All " includes rich with poor, lucky with 
 unlucky. Make the chances equal for all if possible 
 — but do not decry nature because unequal men 
 will profit unequally from the chances present. 
 
 We want more chances for all. 
 
 The clever will get more than at present out of 
 such abundance, but so will the stupid. There is 
 profit for the latter in encouraging cleverness, for 
 there is always a majority of the clever who never 
 take — or get — their full earnings. Expansion 
 and prosperity depend on the activities of a certain 
 distinct type. That type will increase as it is en- 
 couraged — and it is often encouraged as much by 
 generous approval and sympathy, as by more sub- 
 stantial favors. 
 
 The leaders must shape policies and give impetus 
 to projects, but the mass can defeat their aims if it 
 will not be led in the right direction. The people 
 should educate themselves to recognize fit leadership ; 
 they should learn to distrust those who appeal to 
 
Partition of Profits 197 
 
 their passions, those who will not declare their 
 principles, and those who seek nothing but their 
 own aggrandizement. 
 
 The author is not sufficiently optimistic to believe 
 that the average acquirer, or the average voter, is 
 to be educated by reading — no matter how true 
 the writing. We learn through personal experience 
 or illustrative example. The betterment of the 
 world rests with those who are above the average. 
 They must furnish the examples that shall illustrate 
 how the rest can also attain — if they, too, rise above 
 the average. 
 
 The man who reduces cost of production, trans- 
 portation or distribution is a public benefactor. 
 So is the one who stimulates progress by cultivating 
 fit desire, or creating a new and goodly want; but 
 the one who corrects a false want has, perhaps, done 
 more than all, for he not only economizes by stopping 
 a channel of waste, but he improves the race itself 
 by turning it from a harmful habit. It is more 
 important to improve a man mentally or physically, 
 than to fill his pocket. The one who will teach us 
 what to eat and what not to drink will have solved 
 the greatest economic, and possibly the greatest 
 moral, problem of the age. There is a difference 
 between teaching and telling. Great discoveries 
 and clever inventions have been made by single 
 minds long in advance of the ones who are finally 
 credited with them, but the earlier discoverers 
 were not always convincing in manner, or method, 
 or they did not actively enact. 
 
198 More 
 
 It is difficult to convince those whose age has 
 sanctioned habit. We should not trust entirely for 
 action to the men who have accomplished. Acknowl- 
 edged reputation often fears to risk new chances. 
 Those who have given their effort in the past may be 
 looking for recuperation rather than new strain. 
 Give the young men a chance — the eager men an 
 opportunity — for the young men and the eager men 
 are anxious to prove their merit. Their labor is 
 economic since they think more of winning than of 
 reward. There is a refreshing innocence in youth 
 which is also advantageous. It takes time and 
 experience to develop the selfishness which alarms. 
 
 Most of us want more than we deserve — and we 
 ought to have it; for there is plenty of wealth left 
 over from the past which belongs to no one in par- 
 ticular. We have free chance at the stored thought 
 of centuries. We are free to use thousands of ideas 
 that lessen the necessity for experiment. If we 
 ignore the experience of others, we deserve less 
 than those who are willing to profit by it. 
 
 Deserts should be proportioned to deeds. 
 
 Justice not only demands the reward of merit — 
 in proportion to its merits — but likewise the dis- 
 couragement of incompetence. It is as necessary 
 for the unfit to be restrained as for the fit to be 
 recognized. Justice is the defining of rights. It 
 declares that the strong shall not take from the weak 
 without rendering proper equivalent, but our 
 bastard equity does not attempt to prevent the 
 
Partition of Profits 199 
 
 weak from getting more than their due at the 
 expense of the strong. It is not just for the useful 
 to be hampered or for the unproductive to be 
 pampered. 
 
 If this be logical — and who dare say that it is 
 not? — the popular contention of accepted authori- 
 ties in philosophy, to the effect that the world should 
 aim at the greatest happiness of the greatest number, 
 is fundamentally erroneous. The world would be 
 very unfair if it did any such thing. The fit end 
 for the world's effort is the happiness of the deserv- 
 ing, be they few or many. Those should be happy 
 who have made happiness possible, those wealthy 
 who have multiplied wealth. The unfortunate will 
 ever awaken sympathy, but it were untrue and 
 inadvisable to let those who have missed their chances 
 believe that others have stolen them. 
 
 We should not encourage those who rise by 
 climbing on our shoulders. We need not lend the 
 shoulders. In helping them up, we are loaded with 
 a burden that effectually holds us down. We can 
 let them drop, but we need not also pull down those 
 who stand on pedestals of their own making, nor 
 let the jealous batter the pedestals. The oypprs' 
 position is not necessarily enviable — :-<;hey make 
 splendid targets for the mud-thrower. i / 
 
CHAPTER TEN 
 
 SUMMATION 
 
 It is possible to agree with various separate 
 conclusions and still miss the general facts presented 
 in their grouping. It should now be plainly evident 
 that more for any individual can be acquired in 
 varied ways, — from a greater share of existing 
 wealth, or a greater share of future product, or a 
 sufficient share in a greater product, or a sufficient 
 share in a better product. 
 
 In the application of the first plan, the share of 
 some other sharer must be reduced, involving the 
 use of persuasion, force or trickery. The second 
 plan is similar in requirements supposing the same 
 principles of production to apply in future as in 
 the past. It is curious to note that all the popular 
 reforms of recent years. Free Silver, Single Tax, 
 Socialism lor Government Ownership, all include 
 a^ap^ation of these first two comparatively unad- 
 visable fijethods. None of them increase product. 
 Th^.cr^£»te no new value. They only aim to adjust 
 dis(jrppand.es. The energy devoted to correct 
 diyision mi^ht; possibly be better utilized in making 
 more to Jie divided. 
 
 ! 200 
 
Summation 201 
 
 Increase of products, which can give more to 
 all individuals, is siniply attained. It merely re- 
 quires that savings be definitely used in new pro- 
 duction of wealth, rather than go toward foolish 
 waste, worse debauchery, or the support of needless 
 factors. The reason why we progress no faster is 
 simply because there are so many amongst us who 
 are not competent to care for or use the wealth 
 which they now get, creating endless opportunities 
 for plunder by the unscrupulous who are unre- 
 strained by present law, or by the enforcement of 
 present law. When money is scattered the best 
 grabbers profit, and we develop the art of grab by 
 our recklessness and laxity. Lack of care thus breeds 
 temptations and encourages the tempters, lack of 
 instruction leaves false reforms an opening, and 
 lack of experience sanctions false indulgences. So 
 it ever has been and so it will ever be. We can only 
 do our best to limit the number of the unenlightened. 
 We are growing wealthier in spite of our errors, 
 which goes to show how much we could advance 
 did we lessen the errors. 
 
 In order to increase the savings applied to the 
 production of more, we shall certainly have to 
 eliminate some of the present unnecessary expense. 
 We must apply economies and employ competent 
 brains to devise the best methods. We must get 
 good results by paying for results; it is cheaper in 
 the long run. 
 
 We should logically apply effort where the greatest 
 gains are possible. That does not mean that we 
 
202 More 
 
 should necessarily attack the least perfect conditions 
 first. Certain evils are more strongly defended 
 than others — securely intrenched behind impreg- 
 nable defences, the work of continued stupidity of 
 heredity. It were an unpleasant job to destroy the 
 garrisons. They will die soon. Their children may 
 decline to be garrisoned. 
 
 Personally I see the greatest possible chances for 
 stimulation of the increase of actual, wealth-creative 
 property through the plan of additional currency, is- 
 sued on the bonds of wealth-creative utilities. I see 
 greatest chance for economy in a limitation of retail 
 competition and I see how such limitation could 
 easily provide revenue that could serve as a substi- 
 tute for certain present unethical taxes. I believe in 
 continuing the policy of protection to home industry 
 and I would like to see that policy extended to pro- 
 tect the industrious against the mistaken destructive 
 antagonism of their own countrymen. I see im- 
 portant chances for reform through a lessening of 
 theft and swindling; but I despair of change until 
 the people are ready to respect fundamental 
 principles and show equal eagerness to condemn 
 the tyranny of striker or monopolizer, petty thief or 
 rich plunderer. 
 
 Mistaken self-interest so prevails that it is al- 
 most impossible for students to find any generally 
 accepted economic maxims; neither can they find 
 suflGicient impartial testimony from which to draw 
 conclusions. People copy their views from news- 
 papers which contain the quickly recorded thought 
 
Summation 203 
 
 of men who consider the daily problems as they 
 arise, with no chance for calm reflection. Human 
 problems require the thought and investigation of 
 years, with answers considered and re-considered 
 again and again before they should be booked and 
 permanently recorded. Published writings are too 
 often inspired by envy, instigated by expediency, or 
 injured by imagination. The truth is obscured by 
 those who profit from conditions which content 
 them. Some even join in the restriction of enlight- 
 ening influence from a furtive fear that any profits 
 through spread of knowledge will go to those alone 
 who are clever enough to anticipate the application. 
 
 Effective advance requires that true education 
 convince all of the possibilities in concrete gain, 
 enlisting support through practical proof of a profit. 
 We can certainly hasten reform if we prove it profit- 
 able — and it must be profitable if truly reformatory. 
 
 We advance the quicker if we build anew rather 
 than remodel. We should make force constructive 
 rather than destructive, except when it is absolutely 
 necessary to remove obstacles. Time destroys of 
 itself without our assistance. In the economic 
 application of philosophy it is only necessary that 
 the people discover the profit possible for all in 
 effecting an increase of value, rather than attempt 
 sectional advantages through new apportionment of 
 present wealth. I repeat this, for sake of emphasis. 
 
 But what of the better product, the quality which 
 should seem more important than quantity ? That, 
 
204 More 
 
 unfortunately, cannot come through mere legislation 
 or adoption of change in system. It must come 
 through educating our people to know quality and 
 to demand quality. Give us greater quantity and 
 we shall have more time to think of refinements. 
 Even with all our boasted wealth, there are millions 
 of our population who do not live in decency — 
 who cannot afford to live in decency. There is 
 not enough wealth now created to enable all to live 
 on the scale our civilization demands. There never 
 will be enough until the lower grades of efiPort are 
 made more productive by adopting better methods 
 or enlarging the proportion of productive workers. 
 Let our greater effort be given to producing more 
 decencies. A minority can keep up the struggle 
 for the culture which they alone, as yet, appreciate. 
 
 The author would hardly have the reader conclude 
 that wealth is of dominating importance. It is 
 mainly of value as an aid to further effort, a mere 
 necessity in the attainment of achievement. Men 
 of activity and imagination are fretting out their 
 lives, hampered by lack of resources. There should 
 certainly be more wealth available for those who 
 care not to gratify personal desire, but rather to 
 do something of purpose — something that betters 
 the world or its people. If we could only limit 
 improper uses, we should force some wealth into fit 
 uses by merely following the lines of least resistance. 
 
 The world, in justice, can hardly ask for greater 
 riches till it shall prove worthier of riches — till its 
 women aim to be beautiful and intelligent rather than 
 
Summation 205 
 
 artificial and superficial, till its men get strong and 
 virile rather than corpulent and sterile. Given 
 enough of the alert and the active, and ideas will 
 ripen quickly. Those quietly aging can assist 
 much if they lend counsel from their experience. 
 Let the successful see to it that they shall use 
 their proceeds well, not joining in the mad rush 
 for dollars with no fixed purpose other than amass- 
 ing an evidence of prosperity. The mass aspires 
 for wealth to equal the profitless extravagance 
 of the vulgar and to excite comment, whether it 
 be favorable or not. 
 
 Progress is necessarily slow. We shall not arrive 
 at perfection in our day — or any other day. We 
 can steadily improve by adopting logical better- 
 ments, if we are brave enough to change. 
 
 The bravery need not extend throughout the mass. 
 The majority is still slowly plodding through the 
 middle ages. It is only necessary that a sufficient 
 number of the courageous band together to create 
 a definite public interest in the movement. We are 
 on the verge of a new era — an era in which honesty 
 can take first rank if not too modest — in which 
 those who do can claim precedence, if not too 
 generous. We may stay on the verge a long while if 
 we wait for the crowd behind to push us over the 
 edge. If we jump clear, we may land safely, but an 
 accidental fall might seriously injure. We may not 
 hesitate much longer — the present footing is getting 
 insecure. 
 
 THE END. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Correct logic arrives at consistent conclusions 
 irrespective of existing evidence, since such evidence 
 may illustrate illogical conditions. There are certain 
 events and opinions, however, which may strengthen 
 the timid inclination of the wavering, and a few 
 figures are now interspersed in affirmation of previous 
 assertions. It is not to be assumed that these dis- 
 connected excerpts exhaust corroborative research — 
 they are but a few samples selected for special 
 pertinence from a mass that would be indigestible 
 in the whole. 
 
 The Many That Are Less Rich. (See pages 8- 15.) 
 
 Booker Washington has estimated the property of 
 the colored population of the country at $300,000,000 
 and he spoke of this accumulation in a spirit of 
 pride ; but it represents only $30 each for 10,000,000 
 negroes, and any division of property under social- 
 ism, or other confiscation, would require a large 
 contribution from some class of whites to even up 
 the discrepancy. The white demagogue might gulp 
 and swallow several times before agreeing to the 
 turning over of some billions to his colored brethren, 
 
 207 
 
208 Appendix 
 
 yet their equal share would, in the happy days of 
 universal equality, absorb billions of wealth now in 
 the hands of the whites. ' 
 
 Division of Profits. (See page 16.) 
 
 Suppose we take a well known trade article like 
 a pair of three-dollar Goodyear-process shoes. At 
 the time of investigation the value was made up 
 about as follows : 
 
 Leather $1.10 
 
 Sundries .12 
 
 Labor .46 
 
 General expense .10 
 
 Profit and royalties .10 
 
 $1.88 
 Jobber's margin .22 to .27 
 
 Retailer's margin .90 to .85 
 
 $3.00 
 
 What difference would it make to the customer 
 whether the manufacturer made one cent or five cents 
 per pair? What difference if the shoe machinery 
 trust, which gets the bulk of the royalties, made 
 seven or two ? Shoe manufacturers tell me that they 
 do not average four cents profit year in and year 
 out, which is but two cents on each shoe, and they 
 spend much energy of resistance in eluding the 
 machinery trust. This principle of small profits 
 on big sales was never more clearly shown than by 
 this same shoe machinery concern; for its original 
 common stock was capitalized at $25 per share — 
 
Appendix 209 
 
 with the usual sort of common stock assets. In a 
 reorganization this old stock was retired on the 
 basis of one and a half new shares for one, and 
 the new stock has sold at $80 per share, or $480 
 as compared with the original stock, had it been 
 issued at the usual hundred dollar basis. 
 
 There may be profits for the leather trust in selling 
 the leather ; there may be profits for the other trusts 
 who furnish the thread, the nails and the eyelets; 
 but a blind man could see where the real chance for 
 economy lies, and it is entirely outside the scope of 
 manufacture. 
 
 Many shoe manufacturers have tried to save the 
 profits of the jobber and the retailer by owning their 
 own stores, but they still incur the large expenses 
 attached to the vicious system that prevails. Cen- 
 tralization of selling points and education of the 
 buyer could do away with much of the present loss. 
 The mail-order system is already teaching the 
 people that it is possible to purchase without fussing 
 and vacillating. 
 
 Dishonesty. (See pages 21-29.) 
 
 Mr. Bailey Millard in the Saturday Evening Post 
 for May 25, 1907, in quoting the actual returns from 
 the Fidelity and Casuality Company, of New York, 
 states that their records show peculations of those 
 who handle the money of others amounting to 
 $18,883,709 for 1906 against only $12,623,536 for 
 1905. For the first quarter of 1907 the record of 
 banking embezzlements alone was twice as bad as 
 for the same period in 1906, showing no sign of 
 recent improvement, although the banking losses 
 
210 Appendix 
 
 for 1906 were twice as bad as for 1905. Where on 
 earth is this going to stop ? 
 
 The author recently listened to an essay delivered 
 by a most respected business man who championed 
 the idea that we were not deteriorating in business 
 honor ; he might have been right, — I think he is 
 right, — but these figures show that we are certainly 
 deteriorating in certain lines of personal honor. 
 
 During May, 1907, well dressed, supposedly 
 representative people, visited the cruiser Verese, on 
 which the Duke of Abruzzi had come to this country 
 and not only stole his silver toilet articles, but 
 unscrewed brass fittings from the machinery of the 
 ship; in fact, they took everything that was loose. 
 Within a few days the Japanese war-ship which 
 brought General Kuroki was similarly treated, one 
 officer even losing his war medals, which were 
 pinned to a coat hanging in his room. Admiral 
 Evans, of our own navy, speaking in reference to 
 these happenings, said that on his own ship Ameri- 
 can visitors had stolen the gun sights by dozens, 
 also screws from the search-lights and carbons from 
 the lamps. 
 
 After the San Francisco earthquake and fire, the 
 Germania National Bank, which had lost most of its 
 books, asked its customers to state the amounts 
 which they had on deposit. They knew the exact 
 total owed, but not the detailed distribution. The 
 sums specified exceeded the known deposits by 
 more than $75,000, showing that hundreds of de- 
 positors were taking advantage of the situation to 
 lie about their deposits. George Kennan referred 
 to this state of affairs in McClure's Magazine for 
 
Appendix 211 
 
 November, 1907, and it is somewhat disheartening 
 as showing the dishonesty of a class that had already 
 qualified as being both thrifty and prudent. 
 
 Incomes. (See pages 47-50.) 
 
 Since all the equalizers aim at a more uniform 
 general income, it is well to see how present incomes 
 are apportioned. The question of income is neces- 
 sarily linked with that of occupation. 
 
 The classification of the census gives us the 
 relative proportions in various industries, but the 
 census department puts unskilled laborers, who 
 dig and carry, into the service department, while 
 they might be better grouped with the producers. 
 I think the following will fairly represent the pro- 
 portionate employment in various lines in 1907, 
 assuming a population of 85,000,000 people and 
 forty per cent of them employed. 
 
 Employees and 
 Employers 
 Agriculture, including lumbering 
 
 and stock-raising 12,000,000 
 
 Manufacture and other production 11,000,000 
 
 Transportation 1,300,000 
 
 Wholesale and retail trade 4,200,000 
 
 Public and private service 4,000,000 
 
 Professional service 1,500,000 
 
 34,000,000 
 
 It would be interesting to analyze the labors, 
 were there space available. About one half of the 
 laborers work out of doors when the weather per- 
 
212 Appendix 
 
 mits, and have no steady employment when the 
 weather does not permit. It takes as many to sew 
 as it does to make the cloth to be sewn — as many 
 to wash the clothes as to make them. There are 
 more barbers than clergymen, more doctors than 
 lawyers, more servants and waiters than are in any 
 other distinct line of employment. Farmers are 
 decreasing in number, whUe increase emphasizes 
 the growth in the luxury of personal service. 
 
 Now the incomes of the people must come from 
 the wealth produced. Chairman Fowler of the 
 Banking and Currency Committee of Congress is 
 quoted in the Journal of Commerce for Dec. 3, 1907, 
 as saying that our crops for the year are worth 
 $7,000,000,000, our mining products $1,400,000,000, 
 and our manufactured products $17,000,000,000, 
 some $25,000,000,000 in all. The unthinking reader 
 might not know that this total is highly misleading, 
 since it values the same products twice over in several 
 instances. The crop statistics are always inclusive 
 of cattle and also include the food fed to cattle. 
 The manufactures include the greater proportion 
 of the products of the mines, to say nothing of cotton, 
 wool, hides, and other farm products already 
 counted under the misleading heading of crops. In 
 the total is also a continual repetition of value since 
 many manufactured goods use as raw material 
 other manufactures already reported as finished 
 product by their manufacturers. There is also a 
 large percentage of manufacture which is in the 
 shape of repair and replacements that only keep 
 former wealth at par. There should be deducted 
 all the loss by wear, tear and fire, that is not replaced 
 within the year, all the loss by using up capital in 
 
Appendix 213 
 
 the cutting of lumber, wasting of fertility in soil, 
 etc. The net wealth really produced and ready 
 for division would hardly reach $20,000,000,000, it 
 would probably be nearer $15,000,000,000. 
 
 But we can properly add in the value produced by 
 the dirt displacers which is not necessarily included 
 in the total given, and it must be remembered that 
 these values are values at place of production and are 
 therefore wholesale values with nothing added for 
 transportation and retail distribution. There may 
 be over $20,000,000,000 of net value at consumer's 
 costs, which might give $250 to each of us if we 
 neglect to pay any charges for rent, interest and 
 taxes for the concerns or individuals producing. 
 
 There might be some $600 each for the active 
 workers on the same scale of division, but the rest 
 of the population has to be supported out of this 
 wealth and will get a certain share of it. This is 
 all we could get under the equalization of socialism, 
 providing socialism would produce an equal product. 
 
 Of course no sensible person believes for one 
 instant that we could produce an equal product 
 under socialism. The very head expounders of 
 the creed aim at shorter hours and less speed, which 
 must reduce product. Eliminate the competition 
 which forces foremen to drive workmen and the 
 product lessens materially. There are many in- 
 stances where there has been a loss of twenty per 
 cent in product per operative due to an independence 
 stimulated by short labor supply under our present 
 system. 
 
 The figures given will be criticized by those of 
 competent authority as being too high, especially 
 since I have taken a most generous year as typical — 
 
214 Appendix 
 
 a year of great product and the highest price valua- 
 tion known for several decades. The discontented 
 have a notion that they are cheated out of fabulous 
 sums, when the surplus which they dream of does 
 not exist. A clever novelist, professing socialistic 
 views, recently asserted to me that we could have all 
 the produce that we wished under application of 
 socialism by working four hours per day. When 
 told how small the actual figures of production were 
 he simply said that he did not believe them. He 
 represented the popular view and the popular view 
 is wrong; it is almost always wrong. 
 
 A large part of our produce grows in and on the 
 soil. Socialism will not make a cow give more 
 milk nor fill a vein with coal. It might allow a great 
 waste of effort and property in trying visionary 
 experiments and it could also unsettle the law of 
 self-preservation. We usually hear more of the 
 creed in times of high prosperity, proving that it 
 rises from envy rather than necessity. Greed 
 grows on what it grasps. 
 
 Law Not Justice. (See pages 51-54.) 
 
 The Connecticut Blue Laws prescribed a sizable 
 fine for the heinous offence of eating mince pie. 
 There are many laws in many states which prescribe 
 that certain acts are legal within certain artificial 
 limits of time or place, but the limits vary in the 
 different states. We see Presidents in their messages 
 advising the repeal of laws that have not worked 
 wisely, and we see the Supreme Court continually 
 killing the effect of legislation by pronouncing it 
 unconstitutional. 
 
Appendix . 215 
 
 People are not, therefore, necessarily immoral or 
 undesirable because they ignore a law. It is cus- 
 tomary to pronounce them so when they happen to 
 be unpopular, but we have no right to discriminate. 
 As illustrative of common indifference, or ignorance, 
 the Boston Daily Advertiser on Sept. 28, 1907, 
 reported that ninety-five per cent of the churches 
 in the Commonwealth had failed to observe a certain 
 building law requiring exit notices, although they 
 might thus bear a heavy penalty of responsibility 
 in case of loss of death by fire. 
 
 Our recent panic was not due to change in law 
 so much as to change in application. The enforce- 
 ment of a formerly dead law is, of course, identical 
 in result with the passing of a new law. It is not 
 by mere accident that value began to crumble in 
 the fall of 1907 directly after the penalizing of a 
 corporation by the greatest fine on record for an 
 illegality occurring some five years before. 
 
 The $29,000,000 fine was passed on a corporation 
 quite commonly believed to have continuously 
 offended ; but it is an accepted principle of correct 
 law that no one should be considered guilty until so 
 proved ; also that no public assertions should receive 
 credit unless the one assailed shall have the right of 
 cross-examination. It seems evident to all fair- 
 minded men that the judge in passing sentence was 
 thinking of the numberless accusations made for 
 which the company was not on trial, although he had 
 no right to consider any facts or assumptions bearing 
 on offences not then being tried. The fine was wholly 
 out of proportion to the particular offence and 
 multiplied by an arbitrary ruling as to what con- 
 stituted a shipment. It is as if a policeman, who 
 
216 Appendix 
 
 could not entrap a clever burglar in the actual 
 committing of a crime, should haul him before the 
 court for expectorating on the sidewalk and argue 
 that the voiding of each particular molecule of 
 moisture was a separate offence worthy of a separate 
 fine. 
 
 It must be remembered that the very offence so 
 severely penalized had been repeatedly committed 
 by a former member of the President's cabinet — 
 in fact, it has been said that the President selected 
 him as an adviser because of the very experience he 
 had accumulated. And when it became necessary 
 for a body of conservative men to select for a position 
 of trust and confidence, they took this same crime- 
 stained law-breaker and put him at the head of a 
 great life insurance company. They probably 
 chose with prudence and foresight, but such choice 
 certainly emphasizes the fact of apathy for impotent 
 enactments. There should be no tardy penalizing 
 to make up for early tolerance. 
 
 Socialism. {See pages 54-66.) 
 
 " Mr. Sinclair talks quite literally about the guts 
 of hogs and cows; and the nastiness involved in 
 handling the same. I agree with him. The work 
 is not nice work. But will Socialism bring about 
 such a change in the habits and food of cows and 
 hogs that the guts can be cleaned in the front room, 
 as a part of the evening's pastime, while we listen 
 to the phonograph or the pianola ? . . . 
 
 "If under Socialism each man can be what he 
 pleases, no one will do the dirty or dangerous work. 
 If each man is not to be allowed to do what he 
 
Appendix 217 
 
 pleases, some system of coercion will be necessary. 
 And coerced labor is slavery, isn't it ? " — Tfiamas 
 E. Watson (former candidate for President of the 
 Populist party). 
 
 Conversing with a relative, recently home from 
 a sixteen years' sojourn in Australia, it was in- 
 teresting to note his fresh impressions of that 
 semi-socialistic continent. Perhaps in his American 
 contempt for officialdom he exaggerated by noting 
 the evils alone, but the evils themselves are 
 easily confirmed. He spoke of its enormous debt 
 and small total population. It owes considerably 
 over $1,000,000,000, although it has never had a 
 war to be financed. This is more than we owe 
 with a population about twenty times as large, and 
 our debt was incurred through a most expensive 
 civil war. He mentioned the scramble for govern- 
 ment jobs which are obligingly multiplied so that a 
 town of some thousand people may have some 
 two dozen employees, or officials, falling over each 
 other at the government railway station. Cities are 
 sometimes divided into sections, with mayor and 
 sub-officials for each. There is no hearty attempt 
 to create wealth except by shearing sheep and 
 digging gold. The aim of citizens seems to end in 
 support by the government, which must raise the 
 necessary revenue by borrowing on the credit of 
 the coming generations. It might be interesting 
 to know just who holds the bonds that will some 
 day default. No wonder that socialism flourishes 
 in lands where there are debts to be paid ! 
 
 The National Civic Association invited that 
 brilliant English writer, W. H. Mallock, to deliver 
 a series of lectures on socialism in our country 
 
218 Appendix 
 
 which they printed for distribution in February, 
 1907. It is hoped that these few extracts will prompt 
 many carefully to read the whole. 
 
 " Capitalism, regarded under its productive aspect, 
 is essentially a device for imposing, by means 
 of wages given or withheld in accordance to the 
 industrial obedience of the wage-earner, the intellect 
 and the knowledge resident in an exceptionally 
 gifted minority, on the manual operations of the 
 majority of mankind; and when socialists talk 
 about emancipation and economic freedom, the 
 only meaning which their language can really bear 
 is the emancipation of the average man from the 
 aid and guidance of any intellect that is in any way 
 superior to his own. . . . 
 
 " The handicrafts of the ancient world, as we 
 see by the work of the masons who built the 
 Parthenon and the Coliseum, were not inferior to 
 the handicrafts of the best manual workers of 
 to-day . . . the ability by which labor is directed 
 has undergone changes of a very important kind. . . . 
 The excess of wealth produced per head of the 
 industrial population ... is due to the cause that 
 has undergone a marked variation and not to the 
 cause which has practically remained unaltered. 
 
 " There was a community called Fraternal Com- 
 munity No. 1 of the practical Christian Republic. 
 This satisfied for a time the wants of its members, 
 but these never, at the most flourishing time, 
 amounted to more than two hundred; and even 
 the two hundred at last had to admit that their 
 enterprise was a failure. And what has happened 
 at the spot where these two hundred persons failed 
 to support themselves by production organized on 
 
Appendix 219 
 
 Christian socialistic principles? An answer was 
 given lately to this question in one of the New York 
 papers. ' The habitation of this community,' it 
 said, ' has been supplanted by a model village 
 erected by a cotton manufacturer for three thousand 
 of his own workmen.' " 
 
 The model village happens to be the home of 
 the author of this book. It has grown up through 
 the continued efforts of several members of one 
 family who manufacture cotton machinery instead 
 of cotton, but this hardly changes the argument 
 advanced. 
 
 In The Exponent for September, 1907, it is stated 
 that since the earliest appearance of Socialism in 
 various countries the Socialist vote has increased 
 as follows: 
 
 In Germany from 30,000 to 3,500,000 
 
 " France " 47,000 " 880,000 
 
 " Italy " 49,000 " 215,000 
 
 " Great Britain " 55,000 " 342,000 
 
 " The United States " 2,000 " 442,000 
 
 It will be well to watch Germany where the gain 
 seems significant of much trouble in store. 
 
 Antagonism to Property. (See pages 67-74.) 
 
 " There are persons who constantly clamor. 
 They complain of oppression, speculation and the 
 pernicious influence of accumulated wealth. They 
 cry out loudly against all banks and corporations 
 and all means by which small capitals become 
 united in order to produce important and beneficial 
 results. They carry on mad hostility against all 
 
220 Appendix 
 
 established institutions. They would choke the 
 fountain of industry and dry all the streams." 
 
 This sounds like some modern subsidized college 
 president, but it comes from even better authority. 
 These are the words of Daniel Webster before the 
 U. S. Senate in 1838. 
 
 How Wealth Increases. (See page 75.) 
 
 A press despatch from Northampton (Mass.), 
 May 7, 1907, states that the probate court of Hamp- 
 shire county has just ordered the division of the 
 estate of John James of Goshen who, one hundred 
 years before, left $100 to accumulate with interest. 
 The proceeds were $19,431.72. This reads like a 
 wild freak of imagination, but it simply shows the 
 possibilities in investment of savings at interest. 
 
 \ Millions. (See page 76.) 
 
 " In 1846 Moses Y. Beach, then owner of the 
 New York Sun compiled a list of ' the rich ' of the 
 American metropolis. To have $100,000 was to 
 obtain entry on the financial rosteV, yet only 1,024 
 names were recorded, and of these only 23 were 
 set down as worth a million or more. That list was 
 the last of the old order. Ever since has the mil- 
 lionaire class been increased till a few years ago 
 there were said to be 1,400 in New York City 
 alone, with 2,600 through the rest of the country, 
 their estates aggregating some $6,500,000,000 . . . 
 Statisticians now (1900) point to 5,027 millionaires 
 in the United States, their fortunes totalling at 
 $9,000,000,000 at the very least." — New York 
 
Appendix 221 
 
 American (the most rabid anti-capital publica- 
 tion in this country). 
 
 Yet even accepting this statement, it means but 
 little over $100 each for the people if divided — 
 can we afford to be anarchists for $100 each ? 
 
 The boy with a red apple in an appleless throng 
 is undoubtedly envied, but it would help that 
 throng little to seize the apple, cut it into infinitesimal 
 parts and invite the whole neighborhood to the 
 feast. 
 
 Even if we accept the popular assumption that 
 one million of our population owns $50,000,000,000 
 of property, it means less than $600 each amongst 
 our 85,000,000 people. 
 
 Some may object because we are including children 
 in the division, but no scheme of equal apportion- 
 ment is logical which does not save a share for each 
 child to have when it matures. It may also be 
 urged that in a division it is not only the $50,000,- 
 000,000 that would be shared, but all the rest of 
 our wealth beside. 
 
 Very well ! The government estimate for 1900 
 assumed our total wealth to be $94,000,000,000. It 
 was supposed to have increased to $110,000,000,000 
 in 1905. What it is at present writing (December, 
 1907) no one knows, for we have had a shrinkage 
 of several billions on listed stocks alone, to say 
 nothing of unlisted securities, un-incorporated busi- 
 ness, real-estate, etc. Whatever figure is chosen 
 includes in the total the wealth owned by foreigners 
 who are heavy investors in American securities, 
 all the property of the government in its National, 
 State, County and Township divisions, all the 
 property of the churches, colleges, lodges, libraries, 
 
222 Appendix 
 
 hospitals and other institutions that exist for the 
 people, and a great proportion of value that cannot 
 be turned into cash, or made the slightest use to 
 the individual if present methods are discarded. 
 
 Trade Unions. {See -pages 81- 96.) 
 
 Both unionists and socialists aim at dividing the 
 profits of present employers, but at the time of 
 writing unionists hesitate to commit themselves in 
 favor of socialism since they would prefer to divide 
 their spoils amongst their own restricted member- 
 ship rather than share with all. Unionism differs 
 clearly from socialism in being a live present issue. 
 It threatens interference in politics and already 
 dominates the employers of many distinct trades. 
 
 And yet the unionists numbered less than 2,500,000 
 out of some 34,000,000 workers in 1907. They 
 could afford to support 7,000 salaried men and pay 
 large expenses in rent of halls, strike-pay, etc. 
 While individual members may earn higher pay 
 through their union affiliation, it is not proved that 
 the majority earn enough more to balance the cost 
 of unionism — especially when noting the higher 
 prices they themselves have to pay for rents, com- 
 modities and other expenditures affected by their 
 own acts. 
 
 At the time of writing there is no section of the 
 country which shows so high a per cent of recent 
 wage-increase as in the South, although unionism 
 has little hold over its main industries. The author 
 spent some seven months travelling in Southern 
 business sections during 1906 and 1907, and found 
 the wages doubled in many lines as compared with 
 
Appendix 223 
 
 the practice of years not far distant. Wages obey 
 the law of supply and demand irrespective of 
 unions and unionists except as they limit the supply 
 — or its effectiveness — which they often do. 
 
 The author is somewhat qualified to speak of 
 the building industry since he has been largely 
 interested for years in the quarrying trade and has 
 personally backed large building contracts as an 
 associate feature. He need not relate the unfor- 
 tunate history of the general business — a direct 
 result of union control, — for the government has 
 unconsciously given sufficient evidence. It may 
 seem rather late to quote from the census of 1900 
 but no one else has apparently shown up the striking 
 conditions in this branch of employment. 
 
 The building trade did not advance at. all in the 
 ten years ending with the taking of the census. The 
 country was increasing rapidly in population, other 
 industries were increasing as a whole nearly thirty 
 per cent in nuniber of workers employed. Use of 
 labor-saving machinery cannot explain it; other 
 industries also were adopting new methods. Houses 
 are stiU built by the trowel, the hammer and the 
 saw. 
 
 Here are the actual figures: 
 * 
 
 1900 1890 
 
 Total of all workers 29,073,233 22,735,661 
 
 Over 6,000,000 gain for 1900 ! 
 Note the poor relative show- 
 ing of the carpenters 600,252 618,242 
 Likewise the masons 160,805 160,845 
 Plasterers still worse 35,694 39,002 
 Mechanics in building trades 9,378 15,485 
 
224 Appendix 
 
 Note how the producers of building material are 
 affected : 
 
 1900 1890 
 
 Brick and tile makers 49,933 60,214 
 
 Marble and stone cutters 54,460 61,070 
 
 Note the effect on the furniture makers : 
 
 1900 1890 
 
 Cabinet makers 35,619 35,915 
 
 Carpet factory operatives 19,372 22,302 
 
 This comparative stagnation occurred in spite of 
 the severe and continual destruction through fire 
 and in spite of the growing wealth which should allow 
 more generous housing. That there is still a great 
 scarcity of buildings is shown in the general rise 
 in rents. The extra wages of the building trades 
 have therefore not only discouraged building, but 
 re-acted on the whole house-using population. A 
 higher price for lumber has added to the complica- 
 tions. 
 
 In many important centres, rents have risen from 
 fifty to one hundred per cent already. Self-respecting 
 citizens are being made to move into squalid, airless, 
 cheerless quarters. They doubtless feel aggrieved 
 and embittered, but it is doubtful if they realize 
 that men of their own kind and class are producing 
 the conditions. 
 
 This is one of the evils which cannot be shoved 
 on the trusts. There is no stone trust — no lumber 
 trust. Bricks can be made anywhere and mortar 
 is plenty. The trouble all arises from the labor 
 trust — an organization which can give points to 
 many less aged imitators. 
 
Appendix 225 
 
 " As they have grown powerful, the unions have 
 themselves become exclusive and oppressive, and 
 their former altruistic spirit has been corrupted 
 by class selfishness. Their modes of action, which 
 were partially sanctioned by a genuine altruistic 
 purpose, have become abhorrent when used for 
 selfish ends. Civil war for freedom, or progress, or 
 security, has a very different ethical quality from 
 civil war about wages or an eight-hour day. The 
 plain fact is that the proscription of non-union men, 
 the strike in sympathy or in support, and the boycott, 
 are weapons which saints and angels could not use 
 without being demoralized." — Charles W. Eliot 
 President of Harvard University. 
 
 " Oh the bitterness with which labor pursues, not 
 wicked capital, but poor and helpless labor. And, 
 strangely enough, everybody is terrorized. Some 
 pulpits have fixed their eyes so intently on the wrongs 
 of the twenty union men that they have no kind 
 words for the eighty non-union families. The 
 politicians will not speak; most papers will not 
 speak." — Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis (successor 
 to Henry Ward Beecher). 
 
 The fact that wages rise with a rise in value of 
 product, especially when that product is protected 
 against foreign competition, is well shown by the 
 extraordinary increase in lumbermen's wages. The 
 North American Review of Reviews for November, 
 1907, contained this extract : — 
 
 " The following comparison of northern pine 
 lumbermen's monthly wages (board included) shows 
 one element that enters into the increased cost of 
 lumber : 
 
1896-7 
 
 1906-7 
 
 $16.00 
 
 $40.00 
 
 13.00 
 
 45.00 
 
 14.00 
 
 45.00 
 
 20.00 
 
 45.00 
 
 14.00 
 
 42.00 
 
 13.00 
 
 40.00 
 
 16.00 
 
 40.00 
 
 35.00 
 
 75.00 
 
 40.00 
 
 75.00 
 
 226 Appendix 
 
 Teamsters 
 
 Swampers 
 
 Choppers 
 
 Loaders 
 
 Sawyers 
 
 Graders 
 
 Chain tenders 
 
 Blacksmiths 
 
 Cooks 
 
 The Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, published by 
 the Department of Commerce and Labor at Wash- 
 ington, No. 71, July, 1907, states: — 
 
 " In the year 1906 the average wages per hour 
 in the principal manufacturing and mechanical 
 industries of the country were 4.5 per cent higher 
 than in 1905, the regular hours of labor per week 
 were 0.5 per cent lower than in 1905, and the number 
 of employees in the establishments investigated 
 was 7 per cent greater than in 1905. The average 
 full-time weekly earnings per employee in 1906 
 were 3.9 per cent greater than in 1905." 
 
 Referring to the purchasing power of wages as 
 figured with investigation of retail prices of food 
 products, the Bulletin states : — 
 
 " A full week's wages in 1906 would purchase 
 1 per cent more food than a full week's wages in 
 1905." 
 
 The comparison with conditions existing in an 
 earlier period are shown by the statement : — 
 
 " As compared in each case with the average 
 for the years from 1890 to 1899, the average wages 
 per hour in 1906 were 24.2 per cent higher." 
 
Appendix 227 
 
 This does not represent a net gain, because the 
 average hours per week were 4.6 per cent lower, 
 bringing the average earnings per full week 18.5 
 per cent higher than the average earnings per full 
 week during the ten years from 1890 to 1899. The 
 raise in retail prices of commodity, however, show 
 the full week's wages in 1906 purchasing 2.4 per 
 cent more, if reckoned on the variation in food 
 prices, than in the average period from 1890 to 
 1899. The increase in rate of wages for the period 
 was by no means uniform. The Bulletin states: 
 
 " The industry showing the greatest increase in 
 wages per hour in 1906 as compared with the 
 average for the ten years from 1890 to 1899 was 
 the building trades, in which the increase in wages 
 per hour was 40.2 per cent. In street and sewer 
 work done by contractors the increase in wages 
 per hour was 39.8 per cent." 
 
 The naturally protected trades also showed great 
 decrease in number of hours. The Bulletin states : — 
 
 " The decrease in hours of labor in printing and 
 publishing, book and job, was 9.3 per cent; in the 
 building trades 9.1 per cent; and in street and sewer 
 work done by municipalities direct, 9 per cent." 
 
 If a gain in wages of 18.5 per cent as compared 
 with the period from 1890 to 1899 only gives an 
 increase of 2.4 per cent in purchase power, it is 
 plainly evident that the higher wages which unionism 
 claims to have produced are largely offset by the 
 higher prices made necessary. 
 
 The Labor Bulletin of the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts, No. 41, issued in May, 1906, gives 
 some interesting data as to wages and savings in 
 
228 Appendix 
 
 Massachusetts for 1904. An investigation of the 
 wages earned by girl grammar-school graduates in 
 Boston, showed that they averaged $3.35 per week 
 at the start, and $3.99 per week some ten months 
 later. An investigation of incomes and expenditures 
 of professional and business men showed an average 
 income for the year of $3,152, with an average 
 saving of $680. The largest incomes were those 
 reported by bankers and brokers; the next largest 
 lawyers; the next, wholesale dealers. The lowest 
 incomes were those of captains and mates of sailing 
 vessels. 
 
 It must be understood, of course, that receivers 
 of very large incomes would be very likely not to 
 respond to an inquiry of this nature, by reason of 
 the annoyance and the time taken. They might be 
 balanced, however, by those ashamed to report a 
 small income ; although the reports were so handled 
 that no personalities were known. 
 
 An investigation of the wages of women workers 
 in general showed an average yearly income of $507 ; 
 average savings, each, $61. It must be remembered 
 that the lower grade receiving lowest incomes would 
 hardly respond readily to an inquiry of this nature. 
 
 The New York Sun for August 3, 1907, printed 
 a report of conditions existing in San Francisco, 
 then dominated by labor unions, whose corrupt 
 mayor had just been sentenced to a maximum term 
 in the penitentiary. It told of a man being spat 
 on by a tobacco-chewing unionist because he had 
 ridden on a street-car then under disapproval, 
 while a policeman viewed the occurrence unmoved. 
 It told how the deplorable conditions were hushed 
 
Appendix 229 
 
 by a mistakenly loyal press for fear they would hurt 
 the city in the eyes of the outside world. Citizens 
 who ignored union edicts were annoyed by having 
 " filth " put in their milk bottles on the door-steps 
 or thrown on ladies' dresses. Car tracks were soaped 
 and passengers shot at — some were killed. Em- 
 ployers were being goaded into concerted action, 
 threatening the discharge of every union man, with 
 wholesale stopping of industry if the tyranny con- 
 tinued. 
 
 It often seems as if there were a sad lack of pluck 
 in those of comparatively decent nature. If persons 
 with property, position and control of employment, 
 submit to such domination, they deserve more or 
 less insolence and aggression — since they invite 
 it. It is not necessary to assume that those fighting 
 the unions are spotless, but let each class try to 
 cure the errors of another by legitimate means 
 rather than increase the evils of the situation by 
 use of measures that are plainly despicable. 
 
 " A man who invented a sewing machine — long 
 ago, before the thing was perfected — was told by 
 his wife that he would put poor sewing women out 
 of work and he was persuaded to break up his 
 model. As a matter of fact the sewing machine 
 employs now ten women for every one that formerly 
 worked with the needle. Clothing is made cheaper 
 for all, and the machine workers are far better paid 
 than the needle workers. Waste of human labor is 
 always a crime. To have three men doing the work 
 of one is a tax on all the people, for, as we know, 
 they pay all the bills in the end. The labor union 
 man or other who thinks it is a good thing to prevent 
 
230 Appendix 
 
 economy in labor is simply dull minded. He knows 
 nothing about the interests of his own class or of 
 the people generally." 
 
 From what capitalistic sheet do these anti-union 
 words emanate? They are in the editorial column 
 of the Boston American for March 6, 1907 — in 
 one of the Hearst newspapers! It is certainly 
 time that the laborers accept the truth when it has 
 convinced their own accepted expounder. 
 
 Trusts. {See pages 97 - 1 1 1 .) 
 
 The great producing corporations have simply 
 followed the lead of the railroads. Steam trans- 
 portation started with a lot of small systems, not 
 always connected or of similar gauge. Passengers 
 were forced to change cars frequently in going 
 short distances and the methods were unsatisfactory 
 and irritating. Control gradually concentrated 
 until long stretches were under single supervision. 
 Then came the era of parallel lines, followed by 
 more absorption, working agreements, cross owner- 
 ships, etc. We had hundred-million-dollar cor- 
 porations owning railroads long before the coming 
 of the manufacturing trusts. 
 
 There are fifteen railroads to-day which average 
 a stock capitalization of about $350,000,000, each, 
 to say nothing of their bonds which average more. 
 The present market value of the stocks usually 
 averages considerably above par. Some sell at 
 times to net only two and a half per cent. The solid 
 railroad investment stocks rarely net above three 
 and a half per cent. 
 
 We have also to-day fifteen important trusts 
 which average about $200,000,000 each in stock 
 
Appendix 231 
 
 valuation. These fifteen happen to have but few 
 bonds in addition. The leading sixty industrials 
 average about $70,000,000 each of capitalization 
 including their bonds. The stocks of the first fifteen 
 average to sell above par in an average of years 
 and pay much higher dividends than the railroads. 
 It is believed that the common stocks, or perhaps 
 half the stock represented originally, had no tangible 
 assets back of them. The older trusts have un- 
 doubtedly accumulated surplus which does now 
 give some tangible backing. 
 
 Tariff. (See pages 111 - 129.) 
 
 The Statistical Abstract for 1905 shows that in 
 1904 customs receipts were over $261,000,000, being 
 larger by over $17,000,000 than the internal revenue 
 receipts. In the customs duties on food and live 
 animals, the total receipts were over $66,000,000, 
 sugar and molasses furnishing the chief item with 
 over $51,000,000. Fruits and nuts constituted the 
 next largest item, over $5,000,000; fish was the 
 next largest, about $1,500,000. The customs 
 receipts on articles in a crude condition amounted 
 to nearly $25,000,000, wools furnishing over $16,- 
 000,000, and hides and skins over $2,000,000. In 
 customs receipts on articles for use as materials in 
 manufacture, the total was over $18,000,000, chemi- 
 cals furnishing over $5,000,000; tin plate, iron ore 
 and steel over $4,000,000; cotton, silk and wool 
 manufactures over $2,000,000. 
 
 In manufactured articles, the receipts were nearly 
 $73,000,000, with flax and hemp manufactures 
 nearly $15,000,000, cotton manufactures over $10,- 
 000,000, wool manufactures over $16,000,000, pottery 
 
232 Appendix 
 
 nearly $7,000,000, glass manufactures over $3,- 
 000,000, and leather manufactures over $3,000,000. 
 
 Under the head of luxuries, the receipts were 
 nearly $76,000,000, with tobacco furnishing over 
 $22,000,000, silk goods over $15,000,000, cotton 
 goods over $15,000,000, liquors and wines over 
 $12,000,000. 
 
 The changes of note in the last few years are a per- 
 ceptible reduction in customs receipts on rice, sugar, 
 vegetables and lead; and a perceptible increase in 
 receipts on breadstuffs, wood pulp, wool, straw 
 goods, wool dress goods, silk dress goods and furs. 
 
 The imports and exports for 1905 (year ending 
 Jan. 1, 1905) were both the largest on record. The 
 excess of exports over imports was about $400,- 
 000,000, which is below the average of the last ten 
 years inclusive, this excess reaching over $664,000,- 
 000, in 1901. In the ten years from 1886 to 1895, 
 inclusive, however, the high mark was in 1894, with 
 only $237,000,000 excess, and there were three 
 dates, namely, 1888, 1889, and 1893, in which there 
 was an excess of imports over exports. 
 
 The balance of trade is the pendulum of finance, 
 swinging toward prosperity or disaster as it carries 
 the balance to either side. We can easily understand 
 that the trade of a small town languishes if its 
 citizens buy in the neighboring city and the same is 
 true of wider applications. Ireland might have 
 equalled England in progress, had not too much of 
 the earnings of its people been spent in London. 
 
 As an example of the utter ignorance of well 
 educated men on certain practical matters I quote 
 from one of the most widely read family papers — 
 
Appendix 233 
 
 the Saturday Evening Post — which, m a midsummer 
 issue of 1907 said : — 
 
 " Last year the government collected eighty- 
 seven million dollars more than it needed. One- 
 half the revenue was derived from the tariff, which 
 produced a hundred millions more than in 1900, 
 two hundred millions more than in 1894. If duties 
 had been horizontally reduced twenty-five per cent, 
 with the same imports the government would still 
 have had all the revenue it required." 
 
 But what is to keep the imports the same ? Reduce 
 the tariff on any article, which is now paying revenue 
 and thus proving that it can compete in our market, 
 and the importations will naturally increase materi- 
 ally with a lowered duty. Were the present duty forty 
 per cent and it were reduced to thirty, it would mean 
 that the foreign producer would have an advantage 
 of ten per cent over a competitor here whom he was 
 already defeating in part. Imports might increase 
 a hundred per cent under such conditions — per- 
 haps even more. Twice thirty is fifty per cent more 
 than forty. Not only might the government be 
 embarrassed by greater surplus under such a remedy 
 but a lot of American producers would be thrown 
 out of work. The only way to be sure of reducing 
 revenue is to put articles on the free list — but no 
 article may be legitimately free from tariff while 
 any article of its composition pays revenue. This 
 ethically limits the free list to raw materials, or 
 similarly simple products. 
 
 Expenditure. (See pages ISO - 145.) 
 
 To understand how the expenses of an average 
 family are divided, we can refer to the Bulletin of 
 
234 Appendix 
 
 the Commissioner of Labor, published in 1903, which 
 gives investigations of some 25,440 American 
 famiHes, covering 33 states and limited to those with 
 less than $1,200 of income. 
 
 The average income per family was $749.50, 
 including receipts from boarders and wages of 
 children. Those without either boarders, or chUdren 
 at work, averaged $650.98. The expenses of 2,567 
 families, with an average expenditure of $768.54, 
 showed as follows: 
 
 Food 42.54 per cent 
 
 Clothing 14.04 " 
 
 Rent 12.95 " 
 
 Miscellaneous 5.87 " 
 
 Fuel 4.19 " 
 
 Investments in mortgage payments and 
 
 life insurance 
 
 
 3.59 
 
 Furniture and utensils 
 
 
 3.42 
 
 Liquor and tobacco 
 
 
 3.04 
 
 Books, newspapers and amusements 
 
 2.69 
 
 Sickness and death 
 
 
 2.67 
 
 Taxes, interest on mortgages 
 
 and 
 
 property insurance 
 
 
 1.47 
 
 Lighting 
 
 
 1.06 
 
 Religion 
 
 
 .99 
 
 Club and lodge dues 
 
 
 .67 
 
 Labor Union dues 
 
 
 .50 
 
 Charity 
 
 
 .31 
 
 100.00 
 
 It is interesting to note the difference in customs 
 between those of different parentage and different 
 locality. Those of Scotch ancestry spent the most 
 
Appendix 235 
 
 for food, of French the most for rent, of Dutch the 
 most for fuel, of Welsh the most for clothing. The 
 husbands of Georgia spent the least for clothing — 
 $18.20 per year on the average — but the wives of 
 Tennessee averaged only $10.75. The Califomians 
 averaged $28.35 in labor dues and the West Vir- 
 ginians $17.90 for religious purposes. Missourians 
 spent the most on amusements, $50.92 per family, 
 while Minnesota averaged $47.47 for sickness and 
 death. 
 
 It must be understood that the families selected 
 were of a respectable class, so that the expenses do 
 not include a proper share of the nation's liquor 
 bill. It is probable that the larger proportion of 
 liquor expense is paid by those who do not live with 
 families. 
 
 It seems hardly pertinent to suggest economies to 
 those who clothe whole families on $100 per year, 
 but these expenses are larger than those of any 
 similar class of family in any other country on the 
 globe, and there is plenty of waste within this 
 moderate scale. A special investigation as to the 
 expenses of a still poorer class in the District of 
 Columbia as shown in Labor Bulletin No. 64, shows 
 that they lost from 33 to 66 per cent of value by 
 buying fuel in small lots; 100 per cent by buying 
 furniture on the installment plan ; borrowed money 
 from loan companies at rates as high as 150 per 
 cent and universally paid for life insurance, on 
 which in the majority of cases they let the policies 
 lapse. Their food was made dear by the piece-pay 
 plan — ten cents for a can when they sell three for 
 a quarter, etc. The only way in which they could 
 possibly profit by such wasteful systems is by not 
 
236 Appendix 
 
 paying their bills, or decamping with the goods on 
 which loans were made, or payments still due. 
 
 The gradual increase of expenditure for non- 
 essentials is proved by undeniable statistics. The 
 consumption of alcoholic beverages in the United 
 States for comparative periods is said to be as 
 follows: — 
 
 Beer, 16.8 gals, per head in '07 against 14.6 in '01 
 Spirits, 1.26 " " " " " " 1.13 " 
 
 Wine, .43 " " " " " " .32 " 
 
 18.49 16.05 
 
 An increase of fifteen per cent in five years is most 
 significant, especially in view of the great spread of 
 prohibition in the South. Remembering how unusual 
 it is for women and children of this country to con- 
 sume such beverages and also remembering our 
 large fraction of non-drinking males, it seems safe 
 to say that this total is nearly all consumed by one 
 quarter of the whole population, or about 21,250,000 
 people in 1907. Multiply the total by four, then, to 
 get the individual average of this quarter, and we 
 would have a total of about 74 gallons each per year, 
 or not quite a quart each per day. Average the cost 
 to the consumer at twenty-five cents per quart — 
 remembering its component parts, — and we have an 
 average annual cost of $74 each for the drinkers. 
 This tallies very closely with the assumed cost of 
 alcoholic drinks for the nation — $1,500,000,000 
 per year. This does not include patent medicines, 
 which are mostly disguised alcoholic beverages, it 
 does not include tea and coffee. People that can 
 
Appendix 237 
 
 afford such personal luxury can hardly appeal to 
 the sympathies. 
 
 Savings. {See pages 146 - 148.) 
 
 There have been majorities in all times which 
 would not acquire property, no matter what they 
 earned. Those of moderate income, who do save, 
 give better chance for comparison. The savings- 
 banks of 1850 had only $43,431,130 of deposits and 
 there were no life insurance or building fund assets 
 of importance. In 1905 the savings-bank deposits 
 were some $3,000,000,000, life insurance assets 
 $2,500,000,000, and building fund loans $600,000,- 
 000. Here is a total of 6,100 millions against 43, 
 to say nothing of the known increase in small 
 ownerships of many other kinds of property. The 
 wealth of the whole country in 1850 was officially 
 given as $7,145,780,000 or about $308 per capita. 
 It was assumed to be $1,325 per capita in 1905, 
 showing an increase of less than five times. This is 
 so small in comparison with the savings funds in- 
 crease as to prove incontestably that the moderate 
 property holders must have accumulated far more 
 in proportion than the large property holders. As 
 a matter of fact, we have developed this class of 
 moderate property holders within recent years. 
 The stocks of our large corporations are so scattered 
 as to show thirty and forty thousand names at times 
 on their lists of stockholders. 
 
 Currency Reform. (See pages 152 - 157.) 
 
 " The Sub-treasury has gone on in this work of 
 accumulation, increasing week by week its cash 
 
238 Appendix 
 
 holdings at the expense of bank reserves, until it 
 had in Treasury vaults on September 1, 1906, 
 $346,664,328, against $303,769,532, on the same 
 day of 1905." — The Commercial and Financial 
 Chronicle. 
 
 And that paper was bitterly critical of the con- 
 ditions ! Call money reached fifty per cent in that 
 same month after the above was written. In Novem- 
 ber, 1907, the treasury surplus had been practically 
 all deposited in the banks, and emergency notes 
 amounting to $100,000,000 additional were offered 
 for purchase, though the government itself did not 
 need the money. Is it not evident to all thinking 
 men that our present currency system makes interest 
 rates depend largely upon the generosity of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, who may unconsciously 
 favor either bullish or bearish speculators according 
 as pressure accumulates ? 
 
 The author outlined his suggestion for new 
 currency based on Railroad Construction Bonds in 
 a pamphlet circulated in December, 1907, but he 
 did not copy the wording of similar paragraphs in 
 this book. These were left herein as first written, 
 for they were written before the panic and antedated 
 the necessity. 
 
 That others agree with the author's criticism of 
 the present currency system is shown by the speech 
 of Congressman Fowler, chairman of the House 
 committee on banking and currency, Dec. 10, 1907, 
 who said: 
 
 " Can any man, any honest, intelligent, fair- 
 minded man deny that there must be something 
 radically wrong, disastrously wrong, with our 
 present currency making devices . . , Are we such 
 
Appendix 239 
 
 business fools, such economic idiots, such political 
 cowards, that we will not move even though the 
 heavens fall ? . . . The greater our crops and 
 prosperity, the greater our danger and the more 
 imminent our ruin." 
 
 Destroying Confidence. (See pages 168 - 169.) 
 
 In the recent muck-raking saturnalia the tactics 
 of the sly Chinese found favor, since it was remem- 
 bered how they used to create terror and confusion 
 by hurling fragile jars of horrid stinking compounds. 
 Magazines and weeklies openly attacked the most 
 prominent, preferring charges that should have 
 resulted in extremes of penalty were proof obtainable. 
 State and nation set legal ferrets at work and for 
 several years we had a surfeit of investigation, 
 examination and yellow-press hysterics. 
 
 And what is there to show ? — Who went to 
 jail .'' — Who paid a fine ? One or two died of morti- 
 fication, one or two nervously perspired, and a few 
 swollen veins leaked slightly under pressure. We 
 learned what all of us should have known ; namely, 
 that many will steal if not watched — but why 
 should we not have watched ? 
 
 If those who lead to war delight in the boom of the 
 gun and the belch of the smoke rather than in the 
 quiet thud of the shot hitting home, they will run 
 up an awful expense for powder, re-assure the 
 enemy and swell the ranks of the ridiculous. Sup- 
 pose that instead of incommoding the enemy the 
 shell and shrapnel scatter havoc in the camps of 
 the non-combating ? 
 
 The campaign has been fruitful if not exactly 
 
240 Appendix 
 
 satisfactory. It has given us a shrinkage of several 
 billions in the values of our property, spread a 
 common distrust, successfully halted enterprise, 
 increased class hatred and definitely created a lack 
 of confidence in the stability of our republican 
 institutions. 
 
 Public Ownership, {See page 177.) 
 
 In 1904, the net income of the railroads of the 
 United States, as per U. S. Abstract for 1905, was : 
 $278,785,926 (see page 560 of abstract) ; the interest 
 and dividends weve $222,056,595, surplus, $56,- 
 729,331. 
 
 The interest on the bonds and the debt averaged 
 3.78 per cent. 
 
 The interest on the stock averaged 3.31 per cent. 
 
 A majority of the railroads in the country paid 
 no dividends till 1901. 
 
 The average passenger receipts per mile were 
 2.05 cents. 
 
 The average freight receipts per ton mile were 
 .79 cents. 
 
 The capitalization and other liabilities were $14,- 
 095,505,114. 
 
 The gross receipts were $1,977,638,713. 
 
 It has been asserted that the actual cost of these 
 railroads was more than the total liabilities. Even 
 were it considerably less, there is no evidence of 
 great profit to owners in view of the fact that these 
 figures of profit for 1904 are highly favorable as 
 compared with average years. 
 
 A comparison of figures published in 1903 gave 
 our average freight receipts per ton mile as .729 
 
Appendix 241 
 
 cents against an estimate of 2.32 for England, 
 1.42 for Germany and 1.16 (the lowest in Europe) 
 for Belgium. This was accomplished in spite of 
 the longer distances travelled and the higher wages 
 paid. Track laborers in the U. S. were said to be 
 getting $1.17 per day on the average, against $.71 
 in England, and $.29 in Russia. Our enginemen got 
 an average of $4.01 per day against $1.01 in England. 
 Now if public ownership is to control, it should 
 certainly pay the debts, give par for most of the 
 bonds and a fair figure for the stock which is 
 largely held by innocent investors. Government 
 bonds must be issued to raise the money and they 
 would probably have to pay five per cent (or more) 
 if issued by a government that was under socialistic 
 control. Government employment would probably 
 introduce eight hour service or less for employees, 
 and they would certainly all expect to earn at least 
 $2 per day when working for the government. 
 There would be a tremendous pressure brought to 
 reduce passenger rates and more frequent train 
 service would certainly be demanded. Politicians 
 would favor branch roads to small towns. It is 
 said that there is a great waste in extravagant 
 railway stations under the government management 
 of New Zealand. The inevitable result would 
 be greater cost and more taxes. It would not be 
 long before the burden of cost came directly upon 
 the people as a whole. 
 
 Lack of Track. (See pages 178 - 179.) 
 
 The Governor of Massachusetts in August, 1907, 
 stated : — 
 
 " The crying evil in Massachusetts is lack of 
 
242 Appendix 
 
 sufficient trackage on trunk lines to handle through 
 freights and to provide for even more shipments 
 vi^hen we do or can get such shipments. It may 
 not be generally known to the people of the Com- 
 monwealth that in the last ten years between 1896 
 and 1906, an addition of only ten miles of a third 
 track character, of only seventeen miles of a fourth 
 track character, have been added to the steam 
 trackage of Massachusetts. Only 217 miles even of 
 sidings of different kinds have been added in ten 
 years." 
 
 But the Governor did not seem to lay blame on 
 the law which had hedged in railroads with annoy- 
 ances ; he came out against the very plan by which 
 a great railroad proposed to join tracks with an 
 absorbed road to furnish better facilities. Put a 
 tight collar on a dog and then wonder why he 
 chokes! The evident remedy is to pull the collar 
 tighter — he will soon stop struggling. 
 
 Retail Profits. (See pages 180- 191.) 
 
 Colliers Weekly for May 11, 1907, says : — 
 
 " There are about two thousand retail druggists 
 in Greater New York. Their average profits must 
 be very low — five thousand dollars a year would 
 doubtless be too liberal a maximum for all of them, 
 or for any retail line." 
 
 Yet these low profits at the assumed figure mean 
 $10,000,000 added to the prices paid to the con- 
 sumers, not counting the expenses of running the 
 stores. Referring to a special case the paper states : — 
 
 " The gross annual turnover did not reach ten 
 thousand dollars, and profits were not much over 
 thirty-five hundred dollars." 
 
Appendix 243 
 
 " Not much over " — thirty-five per cent of 
 profit — and this thirty-five per cent not including 
 other costs to be added! Were there a drug trust 
 which made a wholesale profit of ten per cent on 
 its products, what a howl would arise — but here 
 are profits of thirty-five per cent for mere handling 
 of goods, spoken of deprecatingly ! 
 
 Possible Perfection, (See page 205.) 
 
 It has been declared by one in high place that if 
 business conflicts with righteousness, business must 
 go to the wall. This certainly signifies that only 
 the perfectly pure shall exist — but how can we 
 learn to improve if we are ruthlessly cut short ? Is it 
 sensible to suppose that anything can be perfect 
 from the start or that anything under human control 
 can ever escape association with human error? It 
 were as sensible to kill all children because they soil 
 their clothes or bum all the dwellings that illustrate 
 incorrect ideals in architecture. 
 
 It is unwise to direct an excess of criticism against 
 the men who are producing results. It is only 
 through business that the increasing population of 
 the world can possibly have food and clothes in 
 sufficient quantity. There is always an open chance 
 for those who sit and criticize to take hold and show 
 us how to do things better. 
 
 American wealth producers are getting somewhat 
 restive under the present glaring search-light of 
 publicity which provides a convenient shade for 
 others not outlined in the rays. We have our faults, 
 but they are common faults — creations of circum- 
 stances for which the higher critics may be them- 
 
244 Appendix 
 
 selves responsible. Some of us were distinctly 
 amused recently to receive a circular letter authorized 
 from a department under direct supervision of an 
 intimate friend of the most high, advising us, in 
 plain, unmistakable terms, to practise bribery and 
 corruption in a special field where our foreign com- 
 petitors had established the custom. I have no 
 malice at heart and no desire to stir contention 
 within the circles of a certain happy family by more 
 explicit reference. I also have a certain obligation 
 in receiving a communication marked " confiden- 
 tial," but as one of the class now under suspicion — 
 as an American business man — I claim the right 
 to reply to insinuations against the type as a whole, 
 if reply continues a necessity. I think it were prefer- 
 able, however, Lf we all were to stop the digging up 
 of dead dogs and pay more attention to the building 
 up of the values shattered by the recent faltering of 
 confidence. We must eliminate fear from the 
 fearful and give hope to the hopeful — most essential 
 of all, protect ourselves against the errors of adversity 
 by strengthening the very foundations of our finances 
 and our trade. 
 
 We have heard a weary repetition of the assevera- 
 tion that investigation is only directed against 
 criminals, but the hired sleuths are too eager for 
 fame and annoy more than they convict. I was 
 personally called as a witness in a government suit 
 where reputable business men were accused, and 
 where after long delay, much worriment and large 
 expense the judge advised the government attorney 
 to withdraw the suit in view of the utter lack of 
 proof and the utter lack of intent to either break 
 or evade law on part of the accused. 
 
Appendix 245 
 
 As a final word, I would beg those disposed to be 
 critical of style, or manner, or detail of construction, 
 in this book, to remember that I am a fully occupied 
 man of affairs, away from home a good part of the 
 time and having chance to write on general topics 
 only in the few home evening hours that can be 
 spared for the purpose. It is difficult to write 
 smoothly and follow all the rules of composition 
 under such erratic application. The very reason 
 for writing under such circumstances is found 
 in the fact that similar restrictions prevent others 
 in my class from expressing themselves at all. I 
 feel that we have an experience that has value and 
 an importance that may claim a hearing. I am 
 not sure that I always represent the personal views 
 6f associates, but I think I may represent the views 
 that associates might readily adopt should they 
 have spent equal hours in similar study and reflection. 
 
 And I would ask those same associates — if 
 they do concur in any of these views — to assist 
 somewhat in a general enlightenment of the people 
 by discussion, if nothing more. We may not assume 
 that others will fight our battles for us — we are 
 not used to assistance. I realize that I may have 
 oflFended some in criticizing whatever has seemed 
 to merit criticism, even those of my own class at 
 times ; but I have tried to be fair with all for I know 
 that no book can live which is not impartial — not 
 honest. Those who wish for flattery rather than 
 facts are easily gratified elsewhere. 
 
 In attempting to cover so much ground within 
 one small volume it is necessary to trust the readers' 
 intelligence to draw obvious conclusions and supply 
 associative deductions. It is not from lack of reflec- 
 
246 Appendix 
 
 tion that certain sections are short and certain com- 
 ment rather curt. Condensation seemed necessary 
 in order to arrive at the logical conclusion without 
 wearying the reader. Careful consideration is so 
 uncommon in these days of rush and mental 
 strain that I trust that those disposed to differ on 
 first reading will kindly retrace to note whether 
 their particular objections may not have been antici- 
 pated by reference or explanation originally over- 
 looked. When one has conscientiously given years 
 of thought and research to solution of problems it is 
 dispiriting to have them disavowed in a momen- 
 tary consideration. The writer only asks that this 
 work be read as seriously as it was written. The 
 subjects considered are certainly worthy of serious 
 thought.